The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1875-02-06

workmanship. They used spades. runners
borcrs ceit,, axes, tlCshcrS, Scrapcrs pestlcs
and many implements whose use cannot now
be determined, made Of various stones, such
MS orophyry. greensboro, and telGspar They
knew well The use Of tobacco, for anon l.!
their mos, artistic and deliberately carved Ic.
mains are pipes, some Of them representing
animals and human heads. 1t seems 10 be
certain that they had even attained the art Of
weaving cloth fabrics; for pieces Of cloth, OF
4 material akin to hemp, have been found in
the mounds, with uniform and regularly
spun threads, and every evidence that they
were woven by some def invention of me-
chanical device. 1t is certain that the Red
Indian was ignorant of this valuable art
Among the highly.wrought remains of the
mounds are fancitul waterju wei carved
and symmetrical in shape, some OF which
were evidently made to keep water cool The
human heads represented On these bear no
resemblance to the Indian types. Drinking
cups with carved rims and handles, scpulch.
raj urns with curious ornaments Kettles and
other pieces Of skillful pottery, copper CHS.
| els, axes, knives, avis, spear and arrow-heads,
and even bracelets come TO light, here and
there. There is no doubt that the Mound.
Builders were miners, tor on the southern
shores of Lake Superior, great excavations In.
ulCulc Au cAtcUslNt anu shllIlul va
copper at a very remote period. 1t is singu-
lar, on the other hand, that no iron ample
ment has been found in the mounds. The
builders used iron ore As Il stone, but never
learned the art Of mcldng il into weapons or
utensils
Thus the fact that vast areas Of what are
now the United States were once occupied by
an active, skilful imaginative, and progress
slve race, has been fully established. Not
less certain is it that in their physical type,
in their government, in their arts, habits, and
daily pursuits, they were separated by wide
gap from the Red Indians whom our ances-
tors found in possession of the continent. The
Indian was rowing, and hunted for subsistence.
The Mound Builders were sedcntary, and I'M
doubtcdly cultivated maize as their chief ar
ticle of food.
But how remote the Mound builders were
from the era Of European settlement. whence
they came, how, whittier, and when they van,
lshcd-these are questions before which sci.
ence stands harrassed, impotent to answer
positively There are those who, marking
certain apparent mblances between the
implements, religious rites and customs, and
cranial formations, of the Mound Builders,
and those of the ASiatic MOngols. conclude
that the former were originally Asiastic
hordes who, crossing Behring Straits, where,
perhaps, the two continents were united at
that point formed a new home ard establish
cd a new empire here. Others, with more
proof, connect them with the great Toltec
race which occupied Central America and
Mexico, before they were driven out by the
ruder and more warlikc AZteCs The Tol,
tees have left ample records Of their exis
tence and gorgeous civilization, in noble
monuments and very numerous, though till
recently und, cipherable nscrIptions and
many simllariles lend weight to the theory
that the empire of the Mound. BHilders, in
the Ohio, Mis- issippi and Missouri valleys
was the result of Il great Toltec migration
from Central America, which they left to
Aztec dominion.
Tins while we call our continent the New
World it is not improbable that We may be
living in a country which was alive with art,
,plcndor, invention, and power, when Europe
was dreary waste, over which the now ex-
tlnct monsters roamed unmolested by man.