NORTH AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY. 
21 
“ the exploration of the Grave Creek Mound; without 
“ any reference to the discovery of the inscribed stone. Nor was it 
“ till the excavated vault had been fitted up by its proprietor for ex- 
“ hibition, to all who cared to pay for the privilege of admission, that 
“ the marvellous inscription opportunely came to light to add to the 
“ attractions of the show.” 
One or two other equally doubtful cases are upon record, but upon 
the whole we may safely assert that there is no reason to suppose 
that the nations of America had developed for themselves anything 
corresponding to an alphabet. The picture-writing of the Aztecs and 
the Quipa of the Peruvians, was replaced among the North American 
Indians by the “ wampum.” This curious substitute for writing con¬ 
sisted of variously-coloured beads, generally worked upon leather. 
One very interesting example is the belt of wampum “ delivered by 
the Lenni Lenape Sachems to the founder of Pennsylvania, at the 
Great Treaty, under the elm-tree at Shachamox in 1682.” It is still 
preserved in the collection of the Historical Society at Philadelphia, 
and consists of “ eighteen strings of wampum formed of white and 
violet beads worked upon leather thongs,” the whole forming a belt 
twenty-eight inches long, and two-and-a-half broad. “ On this five 
“ patterns are worked in violet beads on a white ground, and in the 
“ centre Penn is represented taking the hand of the Indian Sachem.” 
The large number of beads found in the tumuli were perhaps in a 
similar manner intended to commemorate the actions and virtues of 
the dead. 
The Mound Builders. 
Just as the wigwam of the recent Mandan consisted of an outer 
layer of earth supported on a wooden framework, so also, in the 
ancient sepulchral tumuli, the body was protected only by beams 
and planks, so that when these latter decayed, the earth sank in and 
crushed the skeleton within. Partly from this cause, and partly 
from the habit of burying in ancient tumuli, which makes it some¬ 
times difficult to distinguish the primary from secondary interments, 
it happens that from so many thousand tumuli we have only three 
skulls which indisputably belong to the ancient race. These are de¬ 
cidedly brachycephalic ; but it is evident that we must not attempt 
to build much upon so slight a basis. 
No proof of a knowledge of letters, no trace of a burnt brick have 
yet been discovered, and so far as we may judge from their arms, orna¬ 
ments, and pottery, the mound-builders closely resembled some at least 
of the recent Indian tribes; and the earthworks resemble in form, if 
they differ in magnitude from those still, or until lately, in use. Yet 
this very magnitude is sufficient to show that, at some early period, 
the great river valleys of the United States must have been very much 
more densely populated than they were when first discovered by Euro¬ 
peans. The immense number of small earthworks, and the mounds, 
“ which may be counted by thousands and tens of thousands,” might 
