Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1843-10-20
From the Albany Daily Advertiser.
ABORIGINAL ANTIQUITIES.

Some few weeks ago we transferred 10 our
columns from the n. Y. Com. ADV. a letter
Of Mr.. Mr.. Henry r. Colcraf, giving an &C.
count Of one Of the ancient mounds at Grave.
Creek Flats, in the N. w. corner of Virgin.
ia-a mound which has been very thoroughly
explored by cutting ali alt to its centre and
reaching from its base to about half its per.
pendIcular height, and the face of which
opening, sides as well as ceiling, presented
remarkab'" exsndation of fatty matter ap-
pearng in fakes oil over that inner surface,
somewhat like lard on the under side Of
hair sieve when pressed through it.
The idea al once suggested by the account
was, that the mound mus, have been tomb,
where so many persons had been deposited
that the adipose matter Of their bodies had in
IA measure saturated the earth and when the
openn+ was cat into it was pressed out aud
stood in fakes on the surface.
MIR. Coicra!i has, We believe, paid moro
attention to these ancient mounds, and stud
led them more thoroughly than any Of our
counlrymen. His letters, at all events, arc
nncommonly exact in description, and pecu.
larly reliable therefore, as well as interest.
ing. One Of them will be found in our paper
to-day.
1t has been cherished idea with som,
mat the race which left the mounds of the
Ono and Mississippi country behind them.
were the ancestors ofihe native race of Mex.
Ico and Central America; and the intercs,
apper'a'ning TO this subject of the early PEG.
pie OF this continent, which has been enhanc.
cd by the explorations of Slephens and Cath.
erwood in Guatemala and Yucatan, will
! probably receive an additional impulse from
the recent publication Of the original de.
spatciies of Cor,rs, in an Englisl, dress, fur.
nished them by Mr.. Folsom, Secretary OF
the n. Y. Historical Society.
| Al all events the dispatches will he read
with deeper interest since the publications
OF Stephens Those dispatches abound with
notices of the towns visited by Cori-s and Of
the country and people generally, which con.
t'nnal'y recall the narratives of Stephens s.
and as they speak of the native cities and
their more striking cdifces, their massive ma.
sonry. their sty of architecture, their stuc.
cos, their carved work, their spacious areas.
their terraces. and their flights of steps Of
liewn stone, the reader feels very much as If
the intrepid and hardy, but narauing and
despoilng Spanisrd were giving him an &C.
count OF the very same structures, in their
first freshness. strength and huge proportions.
OF the ruins of which, our equally en,erpri,.
ing, lnqu's'Ivc, and persevering, but moro
humane and pacific couniryman has given
such graphic descriptions with his spirited
pen, and his congenal tcll0w-traveler ha,
furnished such faithful dclnea,ions will, his
equally spirited pencil.
In fact. the Cores letters, while, with tho
downright direclness and simplicity of tho
soldier style. they introduce the wondering
reader, for the FIRST time, 10 the MAYA race Of
fuca'sn and to the primitive. semi. civilized
MeSIcans. and SPEAK Of their manner. habits.
usagcs, occupations, arts, cities, palaces, tenn
pics' ana the whole aspect and condition Of
me ana The social forms and organization ex.
's'ing al that lime among them, they leave
on tbs mind-it is 80 at least with us-,hs
clear and uneqnivocal impression that tho
people with whom Cor,es had to do, were
not only the very people who built and oc-
cupied UImal, Palenquc. TicuI. Copan.
Quezatenango, Chichen. Yaxcala, and many
another city OF stone with strange old name,
but that they demonstrate by their traditions
as we'll as by some Of their ideas, and some
features Of their usages and customs, that
they had come there from another country
by way ofthe north and had, in some form.
er age, been connected by blood. Or ~ POI
litical and social relations, with the race that
once occupied the great country Of the Mis-
sissippi and the lakes and left there the mon.
uments which now excite so much wonder
and curiosity.