Antiquities.—book n. 
185 
and at stated periods placing them in some common tomb. The 
barrows were not the only receptacles; caverns were also used, 
and places, which, from being extraordinary, were considered 
the residence of Manatoos or spirits. 
3. The mounds or pyramids appear to me to belong to a 
period different from the others. They are much more ancient, 
and are easily distinguished from the barrows, by their size and 
the design which they manifest. Remains of palisadoed towns 
are found in their vicinity, which may be accounted for from the 
circumstance of the mounds occupying the most eligible situa¬ 
tions for villages, or from the veneration of the Indians, for 
whatever appears extraordinary. From the growth of trees on 
some of them, they show an antiquity of at least several hundred 
years. The Indians have no tradition as to the founders of them, 
though there is no doubt but that when we first became ac¬ 
quainted With those people, they were used as places of defence. 
The old chief of the Kaskaskia Indians, told Mr. Rice Jones, 
that in the wars of his nation with the Iroquois, the mounds in 
the American bottom were used as fortSi In one of the plates 
of Lapiteau*s work, there is a representation of an attack on an 
Indian fort, which is evidently constructed upon one of the 
mounds: its form is circular, the enclosure of large pickets, and 
heavy beams on the outside, extending to the ground on which 
the mound stands. Those inside defend themselves with stones, 
arrows, &c. while the assailants are either aiming their arrows 
at such as appear above the wall, or endeavoring to set fire to 
the fort. Until I saw this engraving, I had frequently doubted 
whether these elevations of earth were intended for any other 
purpose than places of interment for their great chiefs, or as 
sites for temples. These were probably the first objects, but 
experience, at the Same time, taught them that they might also 
answer as forts; perhaps the veneration for these sacred places 
might induce the Indians, when invaded, to make their final 
stand in their temples, which therefore became strong holds.— 
This is conformable to the history of most nations of the world. 
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