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eriul nation, of gigantic stature, 'called Tallegewi, Talligeu, or 

 Ailighewi, and which gave its name to the Alleghanian moun- 

 tains (Jllighewian). The Allighewis were more civilized 

 than any of the other tribes found in the northern climates 

 by the Europeans of the 16th century. They inhabited towns 

 founded -on the banks of the Mississipi ; and the fortifications 

 which now excite the astonishment of travellers were con- 

 structed by them in order to defend themselves against the 

 Lenni-Lenapes (Delawares), who came from the west, and 

 were allied at that period with the Mengwis (Iroquois). It 

 may be supposed that this invasion of a barbarous people 

 changed the political and moral state of those countries. 

 The Alleghewis were vanquished by the Lenni-Lenapes, after 

 a long struggle. In their flight towards the south, they 

 gathered together the bones of their relations in separate 

 tumuli ; they descended the Mississipi, and what became of 

 them is not known." (Trans, of the Historical Committee of 

 the Amer. Philos. Society, Vol. i, p. 30.) The first traditions 

 of men are attached arbitrarily enough to such and such 

 localities, because every nation is interested in its own vici- 

 nity j but the lines of fortifications of a prodigious length, 

 observed by Captain Lewis on the banks of the Missouri, 

 opposite the Isle of Bonhomme, (Travels, p. 48) and on the 

 river Plata, sufficiently prove that the ancient habitation of 

 the Allighewis, that powerful people which I am inclined to 

 regard as being of Tolteque or Azteque race, extended far to 

 the west of the Mississipi, towards the foot of the Rocky 

 Mountains. M. Nuttal, in going up the Arkansa to Cadron, 

 was informed of the existence of an ancient entrenchment, 

 resembling a triangular fort. The Arkansas assert that it is 

 the work of a white and civilized people, whom, when they 

 arrived in this country, their ancestors fought, and van- 

 quished, not by force but cunning. They attribute also to a 

 more ancient and polished people than themselves, the mo- 

 numents of rough stones heaped up on the summit of the 



