NORTH AMERICAN ARCH 2EOLOGY. 
23 
“ these little monuments of ancient storms scattered everywhere over 
“ the ground.” 
But there is other more direct evidence of ancient agriculture. 
In many places the ground is covered with small mammillary eleva¬ 
tions, which are known as Indian corn-hills. “ They are without 
“ order of arrangement, being scattered over the ground with the 
“ greatest irregularity. That these hillocks were formed in the man- 
“ ner indicated by their name, is inferred from the present custom of 
“ the Indians. The corn is planted in the same spot each successive 
“ year, and the soil is gradually brought up to the size of a little hill 
“ by the annual additions.” # But Mr. Lapham has also found traces 
of an earlier and more systematic cultivation. These consist “ of 
“ low, parallel ridges, as if corn had been planted in drills. They 
“ average four feet in width, twenty-five of them having been counted 
“ in the space of a hundred feet; and the depth of the walk between 
“ them is about six inches. These appearances, which are here deno- 
“ minated ‘ ancient garden-beds,’ indicate an earlier and more perfect 
“ system of cultivation than that which now prevails ; for the pre- 
“ sent Indians do not appear to possess the ideas of taste and order 
“ necessary to enable them to arrange objects in consecutive rows. 
“ Traces of this kind of cultivation, though not very abundant, are 
“ found in several other parts of the State ” (Wisconsin). 
Date. 
In the ancient monuments of the Mississippi Valley it is stated 
that no earthwork has ever been found on the first or lowest terrace 
of any of the great rivers, and that “ this observation is confirmed 
“ by all who have given attention to the subject.” If true, this 
would indeed have indicated a great antiquity, but in his subsequent 
work Mr. Squier informs us that “ they occur indiscriminately upon 
“ the first and upon the superior terraces, as also upon the islands of 
“ the lakes and rivers.” Messrs. Squier and Davisf are of opinion 
that the decayed state of the skeletons found in the mounds may 
enable us to form “ some approximate estimate of their remote 
antiquity,” especially, when we consider that the earth round 
them “ is wonderfully compact and dry, and that the conditions for 
their preservation are exceedingly favourable.” “ In the barrows of 
“ the Ancient Britons,” they add, “ entire well preserved skeletons 
“ are found, although possessing an undoubted antiquity of at least 
“ eighteen hundred years.” Dr. Wilsonj; also attributes much im¬ 
portance to this argument, which, in his opinion, “ furnishes a 
“ stronger evidence of their great antiquity than any of the proofs 
“ that have been derived either from the age of a subsequent forest 
“ growth, or the changes wrought on the river terraces where they 
“ most abound.” This argument, if it proves anything, certainly re* 
* Lapham, 1. c. p. 19. 
f L. c. p. 168. 
f L. c. Yol. i. p. 359. 
