Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-12-16

which have been found to contain large
Quantities of corn. Maize was the chief
food product Of the Indians of antiquity, a.
the contents Of the mounds show. In the
tumuli clay vessels with prints of cobs are
discovered; also humps Of clay bearing the
impression Of ears of corn, and even
charred ears and cobs.
The bureau of ethnology has worked on
this problem for the last ten years with
great energy and earnestness The work has
peen thoroughly done, and leaves no room
Tor doubts as to the accuracy of its results.
II mas utterly exploded old theories as to a
more ancient race of superior civilization
which was imagined to have been RESPONSE
bic for the creation of the monu-
snos nstra IN question fsst -, 1t has been
Cd by the tumuli which are net Of un-
mistakably Indian manufacture were OBJ
tained from the whites. The few exceptions
nave been proved frauds. Because it was
impossible to dig into all of the hundreds of
thousands of mounds scattered over the
country, typical ones in as many different
iccanties as could be attacked have been
investigated. They seem to be of every
conceivable shape. though the usual form is
low, broad. Handicapped cone. Some of
them attain a height of eighty or ninety
Leet, with diameter Of 800 feet at the base.
fent ,d are IKE walls from twenty to forty
rect VIDE and three or four feet high, reach
ing maximum length Of 900 feet. These
iatter were seldom used for burial purposes,
ana their purpose remains a mystery.
The EhEy Mounds.
The most interesting OF these works are
the so-called effigy mounds, represent ting
birds and many kinds Of mammals, which
are confined almost wholly to Wisconsin and
small part of Iowa. The whole of the val
ley OF Prairie du Chen township is dotted
over with these ancient animals-deer, bears,
rabbits. antlered elks, &c, in droves, all
heading to the southwest like the river
a nlt,ri
population and long occupancy in past time
Some of the birds have a spread of $50 feet
frcn wing tip to wing tip. The mounds
which were formerly supposed to represent
f"en are probably swallow-tailed birds. The
Supposed elephant mound-which is i'm
portdnt, because such a likeness would indi-
cate that the authors of the work had lived
So long ago as the time when beasts of the
elephant family roamed this continent@s
probably a bear. One of the most remark
able features of these effigies is the imita-
tive curving and rounding of the bodies of
the animals. Looking over a specimen which
mas suffered but little wearing away by
weather or other causes, 1t is difflcult TO get
rio OF the notion that the builders actually
had the animal lying before them when
they constructed the mound.
among the general conclusions which
nave been arrived at as a result of this in
Vestigation, l would mention that the
mounds or most elaborate patterns such as
the efhgies, are the Oldest Those of later
tunes assumed simpler forms. Such tumuli
were never built for sacrificial purposes-an
error which has possessed singular vitality
DelnS accepted by one writer after another
mere Is no doubt that the tribes which
ouilt these works were sedenta-y in the
main The Indians did not adopt the ha bit
Oh roaming until after they had been dis
turped oy the whites. Before the Cauca STA N
invasion they were. as a rule, agricultural.
by no means depending wholly on the cha SO
Tor food, after the manner of the most
primitive savages, they cultivated the land.
traces or their kitchen and market ga rdens
III Wnlch they grew corn, still remain They
We're laid out in geometrical lines though
thel- modern descendants have relinuuished
TINS careful method and practice no special
ORDER In their planting. The aboriginal hill
Vi corn, however. was small mound in it.
sell. suificient for many stalks, and was
used Tor several years in succession
Inc quetion as to whence the Indians
originally came is still in dispute and likely
10 remain SO. DR.. Br.nton, a recognized au
tnorlty, thinks that they made their way
miner from Europe, during or before the
great Ice age, by way of a land Connection
when once existed over the northern Ar
ianuc other ethnologists are of the opinion
that some OF them arrived from the Atlantic
ana others from the Pacific side long iso-
iation on this continent molding them into
a nohioS eiieous race The people were al
IN the attr active notion that once a mighty
hatlon occupied the valley of the Mississin
pi' WIN It's frontier settlements resting On
me lake shores and gulf coast, NESTING IN
tne valleys of the Appalachian range ana
s si 'ing the broad plains of the west-a ma
rnI,a, WIN us systems OF government and
reigion, which has disappeared. leaving r.
nlnu IL no evidence of its glory mower ava
extent. save the mounds and what thew Gov
tain" "~' 'nsy con-