Constitutional Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1824-1832, 1831-07-25

merely the figure head of old sloop, placed there
by some idle boys and tho bullet holes which the
officer had received while fighting the battles of
the Grand MondTquc, wcro no more nor less than
the auger holes, made for the purpose of fastening
said figure head tn the Prov of the vessel for whose
special ornament IL was manufactured.
Ridiculous these sage conJoctures rendered
the Professor in tho eyes of all who were acquan-
ted with the facts from which they wcro drawn,
still we compelled to acknowledge that his con-
illusions were more rational than tho spccula
! tons of most of Antiqudrians and other pro-
found theorists. Give to the of those philoso-
| pliers subject involved in obscurity beyond the
utmost power of the human mind to penetrate,
and he will find difficulty i'll accounting for what
has hitherto puzzled the world, and rendering it as
| clear noon.--Ncvcr finer field opened to
these Missionaries thvi is offered by the Antiquities
of the West, and over course have thcy rode
| their hobbies with loosen rein.
Volume volume has boon published on that
subject, and the broken crockcry, and other equal.
| ly interesting antiquities, have figured in every
| style of engraving, from the humble wood-cut, to
the splendid copperpatc. A largo octave of
''Transacsf6ns Of the american AntiquGry Society,""
contains little else than western antiquities and the
almost, quite civilized people who built the forts
and reared the mounds spoken of with nearly
as much certainty if their history was no longer
! predetermined.
| Those -oshfident assertions about tho origin of
these mounds, and of the former existence in the
West of civilized people, meets us in every work
M which this country is mentioned: they have
| so long been dinncd in our ears. that most pco-
pie receive tfem matters of course, without ev-
| OF invest eating ground upon which their belief
is founded
| We have no complaint to urge against the novel
writor who fills his 1.-TWO volumes in boards" with
tho loves and adventures of accomplished heroes
and heroincs who inhabited this region in tho DAYS
of yore; against tho poet whom tho sight OF n
mound inspires with n sonnet. Our business is
/, with writer's Of gravor descriptions; with those
who lay claims to science; and to intimate ac-
quautdnco with Western Antiquities, and who
profess give the results of deep Investigations
The most conspicuous tho list of writers of
the latter class, stands the name of CALEB ATwA-
1t is to his researches and to his pen, that
the orld is principally indebted for the wild spccu
latons which we have mentioned occupying the
, volume of transactions of the American Antiquity
Society. Had not his theory received the sanction
of grave and learned men, its very absurditics
S would have shielded it from investigation As
C 1t is We will state the most prominent points of
his system, and briefly examine the facts, and the
conclusions that he has drawn from them.
d lie maintains that the West, iii very remote
s period, has contained an immense population, and
d estimates that of Ohio alone, Mt seven hundred
thousand nearly equal to its present population
r that this people were far advanced in civilization
c that they descendants of the Tartars and
: idolatcrs;-that they reared Notifications and
other military works for their defence, and
It piled up the mounds that meet at every step;-
and finally that the ancestors of the Indians inva
, ded the country, conquered and e1ternInated the
whole race. and completed their Gothic enterprze
c by extinguishing every ray of civilization.
Il statement
g theory of Mr.. Atwater, which has been almost
universally received, without the trouble of an
animation 1t is too poetcal theory not to excite
sincere regret that it should have no foundation
to support it. Who that has single spice of ro-
nance in his temperament would not wish it to be
true What would be more delightful than to take
Il solitary walk; by moonlight, in particular
and fancy that, some thousand years ago. civilized
people like ourselves have trodden the same ground
and gazed upon the same moon, and perhaps upon
that very spot some enamorcd lover had serenaded
the window of his mistress. But we will return to
i Mr.. Atwater.
| The proof which he and others adduce in SUD-
port of the extreme density of former populations
is the numerous graves found here, and tho bones
that have been discovered in the mounds.
The fallacy of this argument will be apparen,
when we reflect that any long inhabited country
must necessarily contain many times the number
of graves that there people living at one time
i Admit that Ohio contained the seven hundred
thousand that Mr. Atwater claims for it, and in the
y short space of ninety years, upwards of two mil
IL lions of people would require graves.-Ths calcu-
ation is founded on the well established fact that
the number of deaths in any country i'm thirty
u years, equals the number of its inhabitants Give,
then. to the assumed population of Ohio, dura-
u ton of five hundred years, which is very modest
= compared with the thousands which are generally
- assigned, and more than fifteen million would have
% gone to their graves.-We think that no one will
- be hardy enough TO pretend that Ohio or even the
= whole valley OF the Mississippi, furnishes evidence
that fifteen millions have been buried; and we have
shewn that even that number is much too low for
the population claimed. But, who believes that
= proof can be given, that fifteen thousand
= have boon buried in the whole western country2
:; We presume that many moro have been actually
buried here, but proof of it has come down to MS
We contend that dense a population could uot
hare procured hreLihood ,oithout n kao,pIedge nj
agriculture All the information that has been OBJ
tanned, since the discovery of America in relation
to savage lte goes directly prove that one nhab
liant to three square miles, is all that can find sub
sistcnce. This estimate would give three MILLIONS
to the whole continent, and moro we believe has
MAYER been claimed to have been its popuIatlon AT
the period of its discovery.
We learn from statistic tables the authority of
which ~ II not be disputed that the territory of the
United States west Of the Mississippi contains one
hundred and three thousand Indians which would
give to that paradise of Hunters less than one
for every sir square miles We would thank Mr.
Atwacr to ''shew cause, if any he have" why Ohio
could have supported moro inhabitants on piycn
! space than tho region west of tho Mississippi
But granting to that State the ratio Of one TO eve
ry three square miles, still the whole population
would not exceed fourteen thousand.
, This il certainly great falling off from seven
hundred thousand: but it would be well for those
disposed TO protest against this estimate to
exhibit some evidence that agriculture and conse
quenty the more important of the mechanical arts
especially that OF working iron, were known and
practised We say especially that of working iron
because without the of that metal man must
: necessarily be savage, and depend on the chase
Tor subsistence. With stone axe he could neither
, tall tree nor manufacture it into the implements
OF husbandry. His fields could not be fenced with
out an axe, and he would find difficulty in cutiva
ting them without plough or hoe and with such