130 
THE S lENTlST 
fifty-six feet long aud the tail over 250 
feet long and six feet bigli. This, by the 
wixy is a very odd shaped tLirtle,no doubt 
a pre-liistoric pne. Anotlier resembles a 
man walkiiio- with one foot raised, this 
mound is 214 feet long. Another has a 
very gnieef nlly curved tail 32? feet long 
while the body is only 160 feet. Mr. 
Cantield describes a mound in AVisconsin 
as resembling a "•night hawk" the ex- 
panded wings measm-iiig 250 feet across. 
In Adams Co. Ohio there is a mound 
called the "Great Serpent.'' This winds 
in graceful undulations from the head 
and ends in a triple coil at the tail and is 
700 feei long. 
The n ost of the mounds of Ohio and 
New York are in the shape of earth 
works and fortifications, some of them 
magnificent sj'stems of works showing a 
skill and knowledge of defensive warfare 
onl}^ possessed by an intelligent and 
powerful people who had come to stay. 
These lines of defenses crown the hills 
all along the banks of the Ohio, Wabash, 
Miami and Muskingum rivers, extending 
for miles at a stretch and built in such a 
perfect manner as to exist well defined 
to this day. 
Tlie number of mounds in Ohio alone 
is estimated to be 10 000, aud the num- 
ber of enclosures at 1,500. This shows 
that the region must liave sustained a 
numerous population and their support 
was almost entirely derived from agri- 
cnltute. 
At Falls River. Ala. tliere are three 
chambers hewn out of the solid rock. 
The Yond Mt, Campbell Co. Ga., is a 
cone crested with trees, but with almost 
perpendicular sides and inaccessible, ex- 
cept at one point which is protected by 
a stone wall. Stone Mt. is another 
Mountain that was used by these people 
It has only one point that could be as- 
sailed and that place was also protected 
by a stone wall. 
Passing frou-i here to the jMississippi 
Valley we strike an entirely different 
class of mounds, those belonging to a 
peaceful people. The region of the most^ 
wonderful of these mounds is that sur- 
rounding St. Louis and across the river 
into Southern Illinois. Here no doubt 
lived the rulers ot tht^ nation and here 
are found some of the greatest works. 
The great mound at Ea-t St. Louis the 
Cahokia, is a parallelogram seven hun- 
dred by five hundred and ninety feet 
high. On the south-eastoi'n part of this 
is a terrace 200 by 150 feet, this was 
reached by a graded roa lw iy. Fro n 
this platform Miere arose a conical mound 
10 ft high which yi<'l(U d on exploration 
liuman bones, funeral vases and various 
implements of stone. This mass of earth 
contains about 1,000,000 cubic yards and 
in these days with all the conveniences 
used b.y our contractors it would take a 
long time to move it. It is hard to 
conceive the loigth of time it must have 
taken those people without horses or 
mules, scrapers or wagons. 
St. Louis is often called the 
Mound City from the number of 
mounds found tliere when first 
settled. In this region are found innum- 
erable smaller mounds that contain stone 
cists or boxes, made of slabs of limestone 
or slate, enclosing human bones. In these 
graA^es were found beautiful specimens 
of pottery in the shape of drinking ves- 
sels, statuettes and funeral urns. All the 
relics found in tliis region indicate a 
higher class of art than those found in 
any other region indicating that here was 
the center of culture and art and very 
likel}^ the seat of government. 
That Mississippi and Louisiana was 
densely peopled by these enej-getic and 
thrifty inhabitants is evidenced by the 
great number of mounds, dykes and 
levees. All those places that would have 
been selected as favorable spots for plant- 
ing by modern agriculturists show evi- 
dence of having been kept in a constant 
state of cultivation, and mu.'-t have been 
to have supported the population that 
