The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1879-10-09

One of Mr. Conant's important dis
coveries was the novel method of tilling
the ground practised by the prehistoric
race in the hilly regions of Missouri.
Here they seem to have evineed the
same admirable economy of fertilizing
elements which Squier and other inves--
tigators have discerned in the agricul-
ture of the ancient Peruvians. Among
the flinty Ozark hills the author found
multitude of low, discordal elevations,
generally two or three feet above the
normal level of the land, and ranging in
diameter from 10 feet to 60. Their pres
ence could always be detected in aculti-'
waited fields by the more luxuriant.
growth and deeper tint of the vegeta
ton. Dwelling sites they could not
have been, or they would. disclose when
excavated some implement or relic, or
fragment of pottery, on at least the ashes
of the family fire. All are found to be
composed of black alluvial soil, and
their size, in upland regions, seems to
have been determined by the amount Of
rich vegetable mold which could be
scraped together,in a given spot. That
these accumulatiOns were made for agg-
ricultural purposes seems to be general
ly conceded by competent observers, and
they. are pertinently enough termed by.
the author Garden Mounds. It would
seem natural, indeed, in sterile
country, and where the inhabitants had
few materials for artificial fertilization,
to gather into heaps the thin vegetable
mold upon the; surface but why should
the same practice be followed in the
prairies and botteni.lands, whose rich
ness is proyerbial and, inexhaustible? !?
This question is easily answered when
we consider that in the rich lOwlands of
the West the chief difficulty is too much
moisture, especially in seasons of I'M
usual rainfall. Acres of corn are often
utterly ruined at such times, when plant
ed upon low and level fields which have
not ample drainage, whereas had the
earth been raisetts- eyed a few inches in
drills OF beds a good crop weald have
been secured. Mr.. Conant was informed
by an Iowa planter that he had often
seen this demonstrated in cOrn-fields
which happened to be filled with these
Garden Mounds. The low ground be-
| tween them, if the season were rainy,
might yield no returns, while upon the
mounds themselves the harvest would be
excellent, The inference seems obvious
that the alluvial accumulations were
made for the better cultivation of maize,
which was doubtless the staple. article
of ancient husbandry in the Mississippi
Valley. 4. .ys3r5q1JA. i3fgssifI goE
Notwithstanding the variety, of forms
| presented in the multitudinousf strlIct-
uups dispersed throughout North Amer
| ica, Mr.. Conant thinks we can edistin-
gilish such signs Of growth as would be
looked for 1.-THE slow development of y
national life, whether generated among
the people themselves, or helped for
ward by occasional and accidental inn
apparently inconsiderable accessions of
stimulus from a superior but alien civil
ization might have been received in
divers ways. 1t is not necessary to lay
much stress on the story of Atlantis, eor
on Phenecian and Carthaginian legends,
or on the pretensions of the Basques and
Dieppois- although some of these claims
of discovery and settlement appear to be
supported by facts, which, to say the
least, are curious-or on Irish and
Welsh traditions, although Humboldt
considered these well worthy of atten-
ton. De .Quatrefages, however, has no
doubt that between the years 1000 and
1,5OO number of unehranicled
Morse colonies must have found their
way to the American coasts, following
the track of Left and Therfinn from the
Scandinavian settlements in Greenland.
To such offshoots from the Aryan stock
he does not hesitate to refer the " white
Esquimaxr described by Charlevoix.
the fair-haired men of Pierre Martyr,
the fair men spoken of in seme Mexican
traditions, and the :. 8. White Savage
Chief whom the Spaniards met with in
their Cibola expedition. So much fol
the Atlantic coast, while for the Pacific
side De Quatrefages has collected am.
pie evidence to attest fhe occasional adj
vent of Chinese or Japanese missiona,
ries and traders. But while these infre-
quent visitors have impaired some ieav.
ening influence as Legislators and educa'
tors, De Quantrefages concurs witt
the majority of areheologists in believ
, ing the peopling of America to have re
! suited from successive migratiOns o.
savage nations from the northern re
gions of Asia by way Of Behripgl'
| Straits.
Mr.. Conant's researches have led hin
, to the conclusion that this influx from
the north split into two slowly moving
: streams, the most important fork trend
: ing toward the east of the Mississippi
: the other passing through the territor,
west of the same river This SOUTHWARK
) drift. of a vast people seems to, hay
been arrested in the valley of the Obi,
I for long period Of time. 1t is certain
] that the mound builders here. reaches
the highest stage of civilization they eve
i attained on this side of Mexico and Cen
trail America. q The. currents upon tn
] western bank of the great river, while j
] had its source in the same fountain hea'
/ at the north does not seem to have bee
) so well defined in the characteristic
J features Of civilization, notwithstandin,
| the population in Missouri was at on
! time no less great, if not greater, thal
in Ohio Mr.. Conant finds a catise o
!. this relative backwardness I'M the fac