Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1873-07-11
TrrR .uOT.vD nUILDBRS.

There have been of late several indie
ndent investigations into the character
ID fate of the people who built the mounds
altered so extensively over the western
Slave a.su -bne nttfc tiut Is new pos
Tive has been developed, certain general
conclusions seem 10 he strengthened. The
works were constructed, as appears by trees
growing upon them, al least five or six hun
dead years ago, and by race quite dissim-
liar from the present Indians. They were
mainly an agricultural people, as appears
from their favorite locations along rich riv-
err valleys. They had some engineering
skill, as their works abound in geometric-
al outlines; squares, circles, octagons, ell
lipses, being often combined in one COM
prehensive plan. The squares are so fire.
quently exactly two hundred and eighty
feet on a side that their builders must have
had standard of measurement.
At the same time their civilization must
have been of an humble grade. They used
some hatchets, axes, arrow heads and lance
heads. They took great pains to get native
copper from Lake Superior, but they had
no knowledge of melting or casting the
metal, but merely hammered it into uten-
sils or ornaments. Their pottery was SUI
perior in execution and design TO that of
any of the present Indian tribes. They
were great smokers, as is evident from the
numerous stone pipes they have left behind,
bearing marks of their choicest carving.
"In fine," says one of The most careful stu
dents of the subject, Mr.. NJ. +. Force of
Cincinnati, "the mound builders appear to
have been an agricultural people, as well
as hunters, capable of patient toll, living
under a strongly centralized or despotic
government, and were somewhat more
advanced than the Indians who succeeded
them in the rudiments of civilization.
They were, perhaps, OH a level with the
Zuni or Pueblo Indians of Arizona"
What became OF them? 1t has been said,
and truly, that civilization generally radi-
ates from a centre, and when il fades out,
contracts on that centre. If we concede,
therefore, that the remains of the mound
builders ally them with the ancient races
of Central America, who have left such
striking monuments of their qualified civ
ilization, we may conclude that, after
spreading northward and holding the coun-
try for long time, they were gradually
driven back by more warlike but rudcr
race, while at the same time they may have
been weakened by pestilence. AT all events,
the successive lines of Notifications show
that they withdrew sou Inward, and disap-
peared possibly died out-in that direc-
ton. And yet not wholly, for ii is curl
GUS fact that there are tribes and parts of
tribes yet extant which are 50 unlike the
ordinary Indian type as TO suggest that they
must have been remnants of the mound
builders, separated from the main body,
and either by choice or subjugation detan-
cd among the conquerors. Such were the
Natchez, now nearly extinct, the Mandans.
called by Catlin "the white Indians" and
other fragmentary tribes, whose language
and habits stamped them with an excep-
tional superiority.
We are glad to see these researches 60
ing on. Ours is called the "New World"
bnt 1t has an antiquity, rich and instruc-
tive, which lies behind the curtain Of our
Ignorance, and which may yet be brought
to view. Every fact adds something, and
by and by the man will come who will put
them together and extract their meaning.