The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1857-10-08
MISCELLANEOUS.

ANCIENT CIVILIZATION IN THE UNITED STATES.
A paragraph is going the rounds of the news
papers, affirming that brass kettle has been
found, in Illinois, imbedded in seam of btu
minous coal. Without being willing to vouch
for the correctness of the tale, we think it may
now be considered demonstrated, that the red
man was not the aboriginal inhabitant of
North America, but that a race preceded him,
far superior in point of civilization. The earthen
| Notifications of the Mississippi valley, the
mounds of the Atlantic States, and the utensils
of metal found buried everywhere, are con-
elusive proofs of this fact. In Europe, at least,
similar kinds of evidence are regarded as indis-
putable. The bronze swords which have been
| dug up from the boys of Ireland, and which
are discovered all over ancient Scandinavia,
are accepted as certain testimony that race
of people once inhabited those regions, different
| from those living there even in the earliest
period of history. A similar bronze period,
antecedent to the knowledge of iron, appears
to have existed in the United States. All the
Oldest weapons exhumed on this continent are
of this composite metal. In the copper mines
of the northwest are indications of those mines
having been worked long before Father Mar
| quette visited The Mississippi perhaps before
| the red man himself was denizen there.
| The ordinary objection to this, that it would
| be impossible for such a civilization to have
| persisted, is founded on a radical error. For
nothing is more conclusively established in his
tory, than that savage nations, wherever their
antecedents could be traced, have been found
| to have been nations in retrograde condition,
or the conquerors and successors of such ma
tons. The whole of Northern Africa, now
| principally the prey of semi.barbarous tribes,
was once as civilized province as any in the
world. After the Romans abandoned Britain,
| the inhabitants, even of the towns, sunk into
state of comparative savagery from which
| they emerged only after the lapse of centuries,
and in consequence of new importation of
| civilized ideas. The great plain of Mesopota.
mia, once the seat of the mighty Assyrian en-
| pire, is now almost desolate the nomade
Arab, and the wild ass of the desert, sharing
between them the vast and lonely wastes. The
old Egyptian civilization has persisted so utter
| ly, that the miserable Copt, the lineal descend
ant of that ancient dweller of the Nile, is igno-
rant of its first rudiments. All the facts of his
| tory corroborate the. affrmations of Holy Writ,
| that the earliest inhabitants of the globe en-.
| joyed comparatively high civilization, and
that savage nations are the wrecks of once
| civilized peoples, and the fallen and degraded
remnants of better and nobler types.
Ofthe character of the primordial inhabitants
| of these United States, the antochtones, as
scientific writers call such aborigines, it is i'm
| possible to speak certainly. The various theo-
ries which have been projected, some assigning
| them place among the Mongol tribes, some
| describing them as the lost children of Israel,
are all alike unsupported by sufficient proof
| We know too little respecting the ancient pop
| ulations Of these regions, either to affirm or
| deny what they we're. From the paucity of
their remains on the Atlantic coast, as com.
| pared with those found in the valley of the
| Mississippi, it would seem probable, however,
that their chief seat of empire was in the west,
| and that they entered America if they i'm
| migrated at all, from the direction of Asia
| Time, which will bring to light more of their
| utensils, will enable investigators to approx
mate finally, perhaps, to the truth but at
present it is waste ofwords to speculate as to
their race, religion, political institutions, or
| language. One fact alone is indisputable,
which 10, that race, greatly superior in the
arts of life as well as in knowledge of war to
| the Indians, an agricultural, or at least pas.
| toral, and not hunter race, once inhabited
these United States. But how long ago this
was, no man can tell. Nor whether this pri.
mordial race was extirpated by the red man,
or declined into him through long centuries of
degradation.-Ledger.
KNOWING WHAT ONES ABOUT" Half the
evil in this world, says Ruskin, in his Stones
of Venice" comes from people not knowing
what they do like-not deliberately setting
themselves to find out what they really enjoy.
All people enjoy giving away money, for in
stance; they don't know that-they rather
think they like keeping it and they do keep
1t under this false impression, often to their
great discomfort. Everybody likes to do good
but one in hundred finds this out. Multitudes
think they like to do evil; yet no man ever
really enjoyed doing evil, since God made the
world"
HNDoo MUsICIANs.-One had large instru
ment, shaped like harp, but placed across his
knees. 1t had great number of strings. The
sound was not unpleasant and the performance
was admirable. Another had kind of violin
by no means agreeable to listen to. Then
third brought forth some very soft notes from
Tyre, and fourth played very expertly on a
drum. The instrumental concluded, women
came forward, sat down on the ground, and
began singing. The prima donna's voice was
very monotonous. She sang a solo, in Nah
rata; other women Joined in a chorus. the
words of which, was told, were, After twelve
years, send me back my love"-JourndI of
Tiscountess Falkland.
WHY MOHAMMEDANs ABHoR PORK.-In Eu-
| rope, during many centuries, the only animal
food in general use was pork-beef veal and
mutton, being comparatively unknown. TWAS
therefore with no small astonishment that the
crusaders, on returning from the East, told their
countrymen that they had been among people
who, like the Jews, thought pork unclean. and
refused to eat it. But the feelings of lively won.
der which this intelligence excited were de-
stroyed as soon as the cause of the fact was
| explained. The subject was taken up by Ma
| thew Paris, the most eminent historian during
the thirteenth century, and one of the most emf.
nent during the Middle Ages. This celebrated
| writer informs US that the Mohammedans refuse
to eat pork on account of singular circum-
stance which happened to their prophet. 1t
| appears that Mohammed, having, on one occa.
sion, gorged himself with food and drink till he
was in state of insensibility, fell asleep on a
| dunghill, and in this disgraceful condition was
| seen by litter of pigs. The pigs attacked the
| fallen prophet, and sufocated him to death; for
| which reason, his followers abominate pigs, and
| refuse to partake of their flesh. This striking
| fact explains one great peculiarly of the Mo-
hammedans; and another fact, equally striking,
| explains how it was that their sect came into
| existence. For it was well known that Moham-
med was originally Cardinal, and only became
a hereto because he failed in his design of be-
| ing elected Pope.-BMckLe's History Of CiUih-
cation IN England.
| WoRK-There is perennial nobleness and
even sacredness in work. Were he never so
benighted, forgetful of his high calling, there
is always hope in man that actually and
earnestly works in idleness alone there is per-
| petual despair. Work, never so mammonish,