The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1876-12-21

OF citadel with independent fortifca-
tions and water-supply. Clark Work,
in Scioto Valley, Ohio, appears to have
been fortified town, inclosing 1877
acres, having three miles of embank-
ments estimated to contain 100000
cubic feet of earth. At Newark, Ohio,
an area of several miles is literally
covered with connected groups of
circles, octagons, squares, ellipses and
avenues, formed by embankments
twenty or thirty feet in height. Ac-
curate survey has shown that these
enormous geometrical figures are abso-
lutely correct in their outline, though
the sides OF some of the squares meas
ure thousand feet, and the diameter
OF the circles a third of a mile. In 9TH
er States, more particularly Wisconsin,
these earthwOrks are in the shape of
gigantic animals, following nature as
closely as the geometrical figures do
science. The length of time and in
dustry required to execute the task un-
dertaken by the Mound builders may be
remotely guessed at when it is known
that in Ohio alone there are between
eleven and twelve Thousand of these
monuments of an extinct people-many
of them of the largest and most Ella
borate kind.
Unfortunately, though the graves of
the Mound-builders are not unfrequent-
ly discovered, as in the instance above
mentioned, only a few skulls sufficient
ly undecayed to permit careful scien.
tific examination have as yet been OBJ
tanned. The possessor of one of the
few describes it as ss a beautiful skull,
worthy of a Greek" The Milton
mound seems to have contained moth
ing of special important but in others
have been found bones and copper
tools and ornaments, some fine speci-
mems of pottery and, most interesting
and important of all, sculptured stone
heads, evidently drawn from originals.
Mr.. Alfred Russell Wallace, from
whose address to the British Associa-
ton for the Advancement of Science,
recently in session at Glasgow, we have
borrowed literally, says of these heads:
"They present to US the features of
an intellectual and civilized people.
The nose in some is perfectly straight,
and neither prominent nor dilated; the
mouth is small and the lips thin; the
chin and upper lip are short, contrast
ing with the ponderous jaw of the
modern Indian, while the check bones
present no marked prominence. Other
examples have the nose somewhat pro-
jectirg at the apex, in a manner quite
unlike the features of any American in
digines."
MIR. Wallace further remarks ssthat
when North America was first settled
by the Europeans, the Indian tribes in
habiting it had no knowledge or tra-
dition of any preceding race of higher
civilization than themselves" This
well known fact, taken in connection
with others, has been made the basis of
many ingenious theories concerning the
origin, career, and final disappearance of
the Mound builders. AS might be expec-
ted, none of these theories are entirely
satisfactory; and, indeed, the whole
subject still admits of the widest and
widest conjecture.
All that is certainly known is, that in
the region watered by the Ohio, Upper
Mississippi, and their tributaries, once
dwelt numerous people, who had
made sufficient progress in civilization
to have a government, a religion, sys-
tematic industry, and the rudiments of
science and art. Who that people were,
from whence they came, whittier they
went, and in what way they acquired
the very considerable knowledge the
extent and character of their works in
dicate, is now-and probably always
will remains profound enigma.
Louis Republican.