ANTIQUITIES.—BOOK II. 
187 
I crossed the Mississippi at St. Louis, and after passing 
through the wood which borders the river, about half a mute in 
width, entered an extensive open plain. In \5 minutes, I found 
myself in the midst of a group of mounds, mosty of a circular 
shape, and at adistance, resembling enormousiiay stacks scatter-, 
ed through a meadow. One of the largest which I ascended, was 
about two hundred paces in circumference at the bottom, the 
form nearly square, though it had evidently under gone 'consider* 
able alteration from the washing of the rains. The top was le¬ 
vel, with an area sufficient to contain several hundred men. 
The prospeot from this mound is very beautiful; looking to* 
wards the bluffs, which are dimly seen at the distance of six or 
eight miles, the bottom at this place being very wide, I had a 
level plain before me, varied by islets of wood, and a few solita¬ 
ry trees; to the right, the prairie is bounded by the horizon, to 
the left, the course of the Cahokia may be distinguished by the 
margin of wood upon its banks, and crossing the valley diagon¬ 
ally, S. S. W. Around me, I counted forty-live mounds, or 
pyramids, besides a great number of small artificial elevations; 
these mounds form something more than a semicircle, about n 
mile in extent, the open space on the river. 
Pursuing ray walk along the bank of the Cahokia, I passed 
eight others in the distance of three miles, before I arrived at 
the largest assemblage. When I reached Ithe foot of the princi¬ 
pal mound, 1 was struck with a degree of astonishment, not un¬ 
like that which is experienced in contemplating the Egyptian 
pyramids. What a stupendous pile of earth! To heap up such 
a mass must have required years, and the labors of thousands.--~ 
It stands immediately on the bank of the Cahokia, and on the 
side next it, is covered with lofty trees. Were it not for the re¬ 
gularity and design which it manifests, the circumstances of its 
being on alluvial ground, and the other mounds scattered around 
it, we could scarcely believe it the work of human hands — 
The shape is that of a parallelogram, standing from north to 
south; on the south side there is a broad apron or step, about 
• half way down, and from this, another projection into the plain 
