Pastor of St. Joseph Street Presbyterian Church, Montreal.
Published by Request of Natural History Society,
Toronto.
MONTREAL:
GAZETTE PRINTING COMPANY.
April, 1886.
By Rev. William J. Smyth, M.A., B.Sc., Ph.D.
When the early settlers began to pioneer the unbrokenforests of North America, they considered the various Indiantribes to be the true Aborigines of this continent. But longbefore the red man, even long before the growth of the presentforests, there lived an ancient race, whose origin andfate are surrounded with impenetrable darkness. Theremains of their habitations, temples and tombs, are the onlyvoices that tell us of their existence. Over broad areas, inthe most fertile valleys, and along the numerous tributariesof the great rivers of the central and western portions ofthe United States, are to be found these wonderful remains,of the existence and origin of which, even the oldest redman could give no history.
Following in the track of these ancient tumuli, whichhave been raised with some degree of order and sagacity,we are bound to believe that they were constructed by avery intelligent and somewhat civilized race, who duringlong periods enjoyed the blessings of peace, but like mostnations of the earth, at times were plunged in the horrorsof war. We cannot tell by what name these strange peoplewere known during their existence. But archæologists, to[Pg 4]keep themselves safe, have given them the name of "Mound-builders,"from the nature of the structures left behindthem.
Of this wonderful, semi-civilized, prehistoric race, wehave no written testimony. Their mysterious enclosures,implements of war, and comparatively impregnable fortifications,together with a few strange tablets, are the onlyevidence of their character, civilization, and doom. No contemporaryrace, if such there existed on this continent, hasleft any record of them.
The mounds they have left are found in the western partof the State of New York, and extend, it is said, as far asNebraska. And as they have lately been found in the Northwest,they have thus a much more northern limit than wasat first thought, while the southern limit is the Gulf ofMexico.
Having seen only a few mounds in Illinois, Indiana andKentucky, I must confine my paper to those found in theState of Ohio, where, during a residence of seventeenmonths, I made the closest investigation my time and dutiespermitted. In Ohio, the number of mounds, includingenclosures of different kinds, is estimated at about 13,000,though it requires the greatest care to distinguish betweenthe mounds proper and those subsequently erected by theIndians. In some parts they are very close together, whichis strong evidence that these regions were densely populated.In others, a solitary mound, with adjacent burial mounds,gives us the idea of a rural village or town.
Enclosures.—In the State of Ohio, alone, there have beenfound 1,500 enclosures. Some of these have walls rangingin height from three to thirty feet, enclosing areas of fromten to 400 acres. Those areas, enclosed by strong walls,erected in regions difficult of access, were undoubtedlyintended as military enclosures; while those areas enclosedby slight walls, with no mounds to cove