June 26, 1885.] 



SCIENCE. 



515 



Silver in mounds. 



In the number of Science for May 22 you have an 

 article on ' Silver from a Pennsylvania mound,' which 

 leads me to speak of a recent find here. Within the 

 city limits, on the west side of the river, and in the 

 region of a group of mounds now mainly removed, 

 there were recently found two nodules of nearly pure 

 silver, weighing together upward of twelve pounds, 

 together with a small piece of silver-foil. The nod- 

 ules were irregular in shape, with some admixture of 

 earthy material ; but a competent chemist pronounces 

 them essentially pure silver. With them was found 

 a large copper axe, a large sea-shell (Pyrula?), bone 

 spears, human bones, etc., — the usual contents of the 

 mounds (in this region) of the so-called mound-build- 

 ers. A more complete examination of these articles 

 will be made. E. A. Strong. 



Grand Rapids, Mich., June 11. 



Mound-building tribes. 



4 Name the mound-building tribes,' is the demand 

 now made of those holding the Indian theory. The 

 mound testimony so far obtained (much of it by the 

 bureau of ethnology, and yet unpublished), taken in 

 connection with the historical, traditional, and lin- 

 guistic evidence, leads to the following conclusions: — 



1. That the ancient works in eastern Arkansas, 

 north of the Arkansas River, were chiefly built by 

 the k Akansea' (Quapaws or Kappas), and other allied 

 tribes of the Dakotan stock encountered by DeSoto, 

 and found still occupying this region when first visited 

 by the French explorers. The "evidence in support 

 of this opinion seems to be well-nigh conclusive. 



2. That some ancient works recently discovered in 

 Pontotoc and Union counties, Miss., are probably 

 due to the Chickasaws, who are known to have in- 

 habited this region from the time of DeSoto' s expe- 

 dition until a recent date. These works have been 

 visited and carefully explored by a bureau assistant, 

 who discovered in one of the mounds, in addition 

 to a number of the usual mound- builder's relics 

 found in such works, one blade of a pair of scissors, 

 the blade of an iron 'case-knife,' and a small silver 

 plate stamped with the Spanish coat-of-arms. The 

 vestiges of aboriginal art present marked differences 

 from those found in Arkansas, western Tennessee, 

 and the more southern portions of Mi:*sissippi. Of 

 course the data so far obtained, relating to this locali- 

 ty, are too meagre to justify a decided conclusion. 



3. That most of the antiquities of Alabama and 

 Georgia are attributable to the Muskoki tribes. But 

 the mound explorations indicate that the south-west 

 corner of Georgia, and immediately adjoining por- 

 tions of Florida, were occupied in mound-building 

 times by a different people. It is somewhat signifi- 

 cant that Mr. Gatschet ('Migration legend of the 

 Creeks') locates the Uchees in precisely this area. 

 Some specimens of pottery indicate contact with the 

 whites, but others are more ancient. The indications 

 are that the same people occupied this region at two 

 different periods. 



4. That the Cherokees were mound-builders, and 

 that they were the authors of most of the works of 

 western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee. I 

 have given elsewhere (Magazine of American history, 

 May, 1884) some reasons for this belief. Subsequent 

 explorations have served to strengthen this opinion. 

 A number of mounds around the site of old Fort 

 Loudon, Monroe county, Tenn. (one of them of large 

 size), recently opened, furnish what seem to be abso- 

 lutely connecting-links between the mound-builders 

 and Indians. From the large one, containing ninety- 



one skeletons, were taken dozens of polished celts; 

 several shell masks; some engraved shells; a gallon 

 or more of shell beads, some of them pearls; vessels 

 of clay of ancient type; bone implements; hundreds 

 of perforated shells; a few pipes of a comparatively 

 modern Cherokee type ; four copper hawk-bells with 

 shell-bead and pebble rattles; discoidal stones, etc. 

 No indication of intrusive burials. 



But the mound testimony in regard to this tribe 

 does not stop here. It indicates that to them we 

 must attribute the works of Kanawha valley, near 

 Charleston, those at Grave Creek, and the typical 

 works of southern Ohio: in other words, it is in ac- 

 cord with the tradition mentioned by Haywood, and 

 the theory which identifies them with the Talegwi. 

 The proof is circumstantial, but the chain is un- 

 broken: the pipes alone are sufficient to show this. 

 We can trace them back along their line of migration 

 to Iowa. The works of Ohio indicate several differ- 

 ent waves of population, and occupancy for a greater 

 or less length of time by different tribes; but the 

 works of the Talegwi (Cherokees) are generally easily 

 distinguished. The mound testimony absolutely for- 

 bids the idea that the Ohio mound-builders went 

 south to the Gulf states, and merged into the Muskoki 

 family, or were represented by the Natchez 



5. That the track of the Shawnees can be traced 

 by their works from southern Illinois to north-eastern 

 Georgia. They were undoubtedly the authors of the 

 box-shaped ' stone graves,' or cysts, found south of 

 the Ohio River, and the other works of that region 

 directly connected with these graves. While it is 

 probable they entered it from the west, possibly along 

 the line of the lower Missouri River, the works at the 

 eastern end of the elongate area bear the marks of 

 greatest age, unless we attribute to them the Cahokia 

 pyramid and its companions. The region of the 

 Cumberland valley and middle Tennessee was evi- 

 dently their chief and most permanent seat of power. 

 The later occupancy by them and by the Delawares, 

 of various points in Ohio, is generally indicated by 

 their stone coffins and mode of burial. 



6. That a large portion of the works of Kentucky 

 differ from all others east of the Mississippi, north- 

 eastern Missouri alone presenting any thing similar. 

 The only probable solution of the puzzle is, that a 

 tribe which once inhabited this section has become 

 extinct, or fled west, and was absorbed in some other 

 tribe, or became nomadic. And, last, that Morgan's 

 theory that the mound-builders were from the pueblo 

 Indians is without foundation. 



The evidence on which these conclusions are based 

 cannot be presented here, but will be given in the 

 report on the mound explorations of the bureau of 

 ethnology for the years 1882-85, now being prepared 

 for publication. Cyrus Thomas. 



Abert's squirrel. 



That the credit of first publishing a drawing of 

 Abert's squirrel may be given to the proper pei>on, I 

 beg, through you, to call Dr. Shufeldt's attention to 

 the illustration of it that is contained in Senate ex- 

 doc. No. 59, 32d congress, 2d session, 1853: "Re. 

 port on the natural history of the country passed 

 over by the exploring expedition under the command 

 of Brevet Capt. L. Sitgreaves, U. S. topographical 

 engineers, during the year 1851, by S. W. Wood- 

 house, M.D., surgeon and naturalist to the expedi- 

 tion." 



Plate 6 is a full-length view of the animal, and on 

 pp. 53, 54, is a description in detail of this Sciurus. 



New York, June] 5. L. S. FOSTER. 



