The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1897-11-18

bird tracks and symbolical or fanciful
objects. The floor is spread to a depth
of two feet with the homes Of fishes and
beasts. fragments Of pottery, charcoal
and ashes. Even more remarkable is
the cave near Guntersyille, Ala. Evi-
IDENTIFY it was utilized for many gem
erations as cemetery, and the nWn-
Der of dead deposited in it must have
been very great. Though much Of its
contents has been hauled away in sacks,
for fertilizing land. the floor is yet COW
cred. to a depth of four feet with ma
terial composed chiefly of fragments
of human bones. In Tennessee and
Kentucky the flesh of bodies stored in
caves centuries ago is sometimes re-
markably preserved. '.-ss~~. ~'ra~. Z. =
On farm in Bollinger county, Mo-,
is an area of considerable extent sur
rounded by an ancient wall of earth
about three feet high in places. In
side of it, formerly, were many remark
able mounds used for burial places by
the Indians of prehistoric times, but
40 years of continued cultivation of the
soil have nearly leveled them. Pillow.
ing over one of the mounds a few years
ago the owner struck something, and,
on digging further in the earth, discov-
cred two stone collins each containing
skeleton. In one of the collins he
found gourd-shaped vessel filled with
lead ore, so pure that he afterwards
turned it into bullets.
In 1879 people in the neighborhood
of town in Mississippi discovered that
the pottery, in which the mounds of
that region were unusually rich, had
considerable commercial value. The
specimens obtained were sold to mer-
chants, who in turn furnished them to
museums, scientific institutions and
relic hunters.
Reverting to the fact that the mound
builders continued their work after
Columbus, Vespucius, De Soto, Cortez
and Pizarro cursed the ground with
their lawless and brutal heels, it must
be said that articles Of Caucasian man
ufacture, obtained by barter on the
coast or from wrecks, quickly found
their way to the interior of the conti-
nent, passing from hand to hand in the
course of traffic between tribes, or by
capture in war. The system of trade
which existed ancient]y among the In
dians was surprisingly efficient and sat
isfactory. Aboriginal drummers &C.
tually made their way on foot from the
Gulf of Mexico to the headquarters OF
the Mississippi river. The products Of
the native mines of copper, flint and
mica were distributed in a manner sufti.
GENTLY business-lilke to be worthy of a
more educated civilization. Dried oys.
tiers and other shell fish were shipped
inland, just as the same mollusks are
sent from the Atlantic coast to the
cities of the interior to-day. Thus sea
shells are found in the mounds of I'LL.
nois and Wisconsin, while articles OF
native Wisconsin copper occur in the
tumuli of West Virginia.
That the mound builders were great
smokers is proved BY the large number
of pipes found in their mounds and
graves. So numerous are these and SO
widely distributed that pipcmaking and
pipesmoking may be considered as q
marked characteristic that ancient
people. This will serve in a way as
supplementary evidence that they were
Indians; for the Indianis par excellence
the man who smokes, and the pipe is es.
sential to his happiness.
The correspondence u.s. neither a sci.
enlist nor philosopher, and" yet may
make a suggestion. Maybe nobody will