Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1921-09-28
The HQSkitl Letter . ';. %:ss
A BANKER-ETHNOLOGIST.

tanned from the white men in trade.
Moreover, the mound building habit,
though largely abandoned, still asserts
itself occasionally. American ethnolo-
gists have witnessed the building OF
several mounds BY modern Indians.
The treat number Of the mounds,
which seems at first to prove numer-
GUS people, 10 explained BY tho fact
that war, pestilence and famine al
ways cause primitive men to change
their habitats at frequent intervals. It
is probable that only small percen-
tage Of the mounds were occupied at
any one time. The same phenomenon
is observed in the Southwest, where
there are hundreds Of ruins for one
occupied pueblo, including cliff dwell
ings and other types Of habitation
which have been abandoned because
they are no longer necessary.
The Scientific View.
All of the information upon which
this view of the moundbuildiers is
based was gathered by the Buerau of
Dthnology and published in a huge
volume in it's twelfth annual report in
1890. Any one who is interested may
there examine all the evidence and
form his own opinion. The Govern
ment ethnologists spent some $4,000
in blowing up mounds, collected an
enormous amount of stuff and sub
iected it to scientific scrutiny. They
seem to have proved their case pretty
well.
In spite of this fact. the old belief
in q vanished race il still the popular
one. Mr.. Payne could find many who
agree with him.
The mounds were first noticed about
a hundred years ago and as far back
as 1907 a book was written setting
forth Mr.. Payne's theory Of vanished
race. 1t was followed by many more
of the same tenor, and these were
widely read. Mongols, Egyptians,
Mayas and Aztecs were variously as
cribed as the ancestors of the vanished
race. Mr.. Payne holds to the belief
in the Mongol origin Of the mound
builders, and points to many crescents
in his collections. beautifully wrought
from stone, as evidence in point.
It is of course true that all the
American Indians show many Asiatic
traits and it is a widely accepted
hypothesis that all of them are Of an
cient Asiatic descent, probably having
come across Behring strait.
The az heads, spearheads and arrow
heads in the Payne collection are re-
markedly fine, but it is especially not
able for its collection Of smoking
pipes and of butterflies carved from
stone. It was upon these things that
the ancient American spent his best
talent and showed himself a man of
taste and artistic ability. Many of
the stone pipes have bears. panthers
and other animals carved upon them
with skill that rival that Of the
modern sculptor. The boring OF these
solid stone pipes is piece OF work
which a modern workman with all Of
his tools would find it hard to dupli-
cate.
Most beautiful of all are the stone
butterflies which were religious syms
bols to their makers. as they are to
the modern Indians. The butterfly in
larval stage goes into COCOON, lies
dormant for q long time and then
energies again into vivid life. This,
to the poetic Indian. symbolizes mans
descent into the grave and his resur-
rection into an unknown future. An
old Indian to whom Mr.. Payne showed
fine butterfly piece, the work prob
ably Of one Of his ancient forbears,
smote his breast vehemently.
Here" he exclaimed. Butterfly
man big man,