Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-08-05

characters on the tablet were hierCglyphs;
that Is to say, arbitrary signs standing for
words which represent a superior 1eve,op-
ment In written language. However. 1t has
been proved that this relic was q fraud
tablet was dug up at Cincinnati. It was
supposed to be an historical record. To
say that 1t was fraud would be going too
thentic Alleged relics which have excited
much greater attention were certain tablets
covered with hieroglyphics. found in q
some pipes carved in the shape Of elephants
Inc latter were apparently modelled after
the mammoth which roamed over this con-
they would seem to prove that the men who
made them had seen mammoths and were
therefore very ancient. Archaeologists gen.
lets. though there is still dispute on the
subject. Evidence in support Of their au-
thenticity is derived from the so-called
a question whether the resemblance Of this
mound to an elephant is more than mag
mary. such tumuh are apt to be irregu-
an opportunity for Imagination to exercise
ltsen upon with some freedom.
The Cardin Giant.
by far the most famous of all frauds in
antiquities was the Cardiff giant On the
farm OF William Newell. at Cardiff, near
Syracuse. in 1868, was dug I'D what was
advertised as petrihed human being Of
It while digging a we'll People Hooked from
all parts Of the country to see IT, paying 30
cents apiece for the privilege. Biologists Of
declared it to be not a petrifaction. but =
sculptured statue. That 1t was extremely
an hn they said there could be no doubt.
ner which indicated that it must have lain
buried FOR many centuries. P. T. Barnum
produced an imitation Of it and exhibited
the counterfeit as the original
AT length exposure came II was rrov-
ed that the giant had been carved out of a
block OF gypsum twelve feet long, obtained
na%sa a # F snd R R4s
purchased the block and transported IL.
s as secretly as was practicable with such a
plished with great difficulty. The cleverest
part Of the scheme was that the block was
taken from the bed Of a stream. where 1t
sculptor employed to carve out the form of
the giant was instructed to leave the
mar , Of erosion untouched in order that
Hull served as model for the fieure,
which IN due time was planted on New
eIas str farm ma e 9Th be afterward dug up. II
1mprudence of registering their own names
at the hotel in Fort Dodge the beginning
OF chain Of evidence against them would
have been difficult to find. and they would
have realized an enormous fortune. 1t Is
supposed that they did secure at least
800. GOO from the cheat which was for a
among scientific men.
On the Lower Potomac.
Mounds of another sort mark the sites
Of ancient fishing villages along the lower
Potomac. They are great beds Of oyster
shells In early days those tribes of In.
dams which lived near the sea depended
largely for their food supply on oysters.
The shells in course Of time formed vast
accommodations. AS the heaps grew new
dwellings were built on them, and one finds
by digging into them stratum after stratum
The debris often covers hundreds Of acres,
and in it are discovered flint weapons i'm
plements of many kinds. objects Of pre-
cooked.
twelve feet in depth. the shells from the
top to the bottom OF the mass are excel
lently preserved. This fact shows that the
s eiyave su were IRE opened not BY tn:
most of them We're opened by heating
stones and placing the mollusks on them,
covering the whole with moist sea weed.
Inland tribes used to come down to the
coast periodically centuries before Column
bus landed to bake and eat oysters and
clans. Their method of cookery was imi-
tated by the whites and is perpetuated in
the modern clam bake.
THE shell-heap villages were fishing sta
lions. From them the dried meats Of oys-
tiers We're furnished by trading to the
tribes of the interior. All of the oyster
producing region hereabout belonged to the
Algonquins. who formed the most numer-
Gus and extensive confederation of savages
that has ever existed. So long as the In
dams lived In this region they occupied
such oyster-f1shing sites. They still have
at least one settlement Of the kind on the
Potomac.
TO sum up, there is not an atom of
evidence that any race Of people occupied
this country before the Indians Whence
the latter came Is mystery Though
many theories have been formed the prob
lem Is no nearer solution than at the be-
ginning. IT has been suggested that they
came across the Pacific from Polynesia
In boats: that they drifted over from
Japan; that they crossed from Asia by
theory has been so widely accepted as that
the Indians are descended from the lost
tribes of Israel, though there is absolutely
no ground for such a notion.
Rene Bache