the most extensive and intricate of any in this state, perhaps in the world. Leaving these, still proceeding in a south-western direction, we find some very extensive ones at Circleville. At Chillicothe there were some, but the destroying hand of man has despoiled them of their contents, and entirely removed them. On Paint Creek are some, far exceeding all others in some respects, where probably was once an ancient city of great extent. At the mouth of the Scioto are some very extensive ones, as well as at the mouth of the Muskingum. In fine, these works are thickly scattered over the vast plain from the southern shore of Lake Erie to the Mexican gulf, increasing in number, size, and grandeur, as we proceed towards the south. They may be traced around the gulf, across the province of Texas into New Mexico, and all the way into South America.' pp. 122-124.

Mr. Atwater, professing to examine with care and describe with fidelity those antiquities which are found in the state of Ohio,' proceeds to give an account of several of the most considerable and curious, from actual measurement and survey. We shall endeavour, by abridging some of his descriptions, and by a few extracts, to enable our readers to form an idea of the structure and dimensions of these very remarkable works.

The ancient works near Newark, in Licking county, are of great extent. A fort, nearly in the form of an octagon, enclosing about forty acres, constructed of walls ten feet high, is connected with a round fort of twenty-two acres, by parallel walls of equal height. Similar walls form a passage to the Licking river northerly, and run in a southerly direction to an unexplored distance. A like guarded pass-way, 300 chains in length, leads to a square fort containing twenty acres, which is in the same manner connected with a round one containing twenty-six acres. At the extremities of the

outer passes, are what may be called round towers;' and adjacent to one of the forts is an observatory, partly of stone, thirty feet high.' It commanded a full view of a considerable part, if not all of the plain on which these ancient works stand; and would do so now, were the thick growth of aged forest trees which clothe this tract cleared away. Under this observatory was a passage, from appearances, and a secret one probably, to the water course which once run near this spot, but has since moved further off.”

A few miles below Newark, on the south side of the Licking, are some extraordinary holes dug in the earth. In popular language they are called "wells," but were not dug for the purpose of procuring water, either fresh or salt. There are at least a thousand of these wells; many of them are more than twenty feet in depth. A great deal of curiosity has been excited as to the objects sought for by the people who dug these holes.' p. 130.

In Perry county is a large stone work, of a triangular form, enclosing upwards of forty acres. This Mr. Atwater describes and then remarks,

It is on high ground, and of course could not have been a place of habitation for any length of time. It might have been the place where some solemn feast was annually held by the tribe by which it was formed. The place has now become a forest, and the soil is too poor to have ever been cultivated by a people who invariably chose to dwell on a fertile spot. p. 132.

There is next given a very particular description of the works at Marietta, extracted, with handsome acknowledgments, from a volume which contains some elaborate discussions upon the Western antiquities, but which can hardly be said to have been published, as copies enough were not sold to pay the engraver's bill, and most of the edition now remains on the shelves of the author.*

The works at Circleville are among the most perfect and curious in the whole region.

"There are two forts, one being an exact circle, the other an exact square. The former is surrounded by two walls, with a deep ditch between them. The latter is encompassed by one wall without any ditch. The former was sixty-nine feet in diameter, measuring from outside to outside of the circular outer wall; the latter is exactly fifty-five rods square, measuring the The walls of the circular fort were at least twenty feet in height, measuring from the bottom of the ditch, before the town of Circleville was built. The inner wall was of clay, taken up probably in the northern part of the fort, where was a low place, and is still considerably lower than any other part of the work. The outside wall was taken from the ditch which is between these walls, and is alluvial, consisting of pebbles worn

same way.

* We refer to the Tour in Ohio,' by the author of a Poem on American Patronage.

smooth in water, and sand, to a very considerable depth, more than fifty feet at least. The outside of the walls is about five or six feet in height now; on the inside, the ditch is at present gener ally not more than fifteen feet. They are disappearing before us daily, and will soon be gone. The walls of the square fort are, at this time, where left standing, about ten feet in height. There were eight gate-ways, or openings, leading into the square fort, and only one into the circular fort. Before each of these openings was a mound of earth, perhaps four feet high, forty feet perhaps in diameter at the base, and twenty or upwards at the summit. These mounds, for two rods or more, are exactly in front of the gate-ways, and were intended for the defence of these openings. As this work was a perfect square, so the gate-ways and their watch towers, were equidistant from each other. These mounds were in a perfectly straight line, and exactly parallel with the wall.' p. 141, 142.

The extreme care of the authors of these works to protect and defend every part of the circle is no where visible about this square fort. The former is defended by two high walls; the latter by one. The former has a deep ditch encircling it; this The former could be entered at one place only; this at eight, and those about twenty feet broad. The present town of Circleville covers all the round and the western half of the square fort.' p. 143.

has none.

The walls of this work vary a few degrees from north and south, east and west; but not more than the needle varies, and not a few surveyors have, from this circunstance, been impressed with the belief that the authors of these works were acquainted with astronomy. What surprised me on measuring these forts, was the exact manner in which they had laid down their circle and square; so that after every effort, by the most careful survey to detect some error in their measurement, we found that it was impossible, and that the measurement was much more correct than it would have been in all probability, had the present inhabitants undertaken to construct such a work. Let those consider this circumstance, who affect to believe that these antiquities were raised by the ancestors of the present race of Indians.' p. 144.

Our author describes also the works at Paint Creek, which are less regular in their structure, and enclose elevations of an elliptical, a triangular, and a crescent form; those at Portsmouth; those on the Little Miami; and those at Cincinnati; but, as a just idea of them, and indeed of those which we have mentioned above, is dependent upon the draw

ings to which a constant reference is made, we must refer our readers to the book itself, assuring them that it will highly gratify their curiosity and reward their examination.

We have next a description of the mounds, which are of three kinds: 1. tumuli of earth; which appear to be cemeteries, or monuments in honour of the illustrious dead: 2. conical piles, principally of stone; which might have been altars, or formed for sacred purposes: and 3. pyramidical mounds; which are supposed to have been observatories, or watch-towers.

The mounds, or tumuli of earth, are of various altitudes and dimensions, some being only four or five feet in height, and ten or twelve feet in diameter at their base; whilst others, as we travel to the south, rise to the height of eighty and ninety feet.

6

They are generally, when completed, in the form of a cone. Those in the north part of Ohio are inferior in size, and fewer in number, than those along the river. The mounds are believed to exist from the Rocky Mountains in the west to the Alleghanies in the east; from the southern shore of lake Erie to the Mexican gulf; and though few and small in the north, numerous and lofty in the south, yet exhibit proofs of a common origin.' p. 167.

In the subsequent pages, Mr. Atwater describes a variety of articles found in the mounds, and accompanies his description with drawings; and they clearly prove that the constructors of these works possessed a knowledge of some of the arts, particularly of making vases of calcarious breccia, of forming what seems to have been armour of copper, and of fabricating various implements of materials, of forms, and for purposes unknown to any tribe of the Indians who have inhabited that region for at least the three last centuries. We think it highly important that all such relics should be carefully preserved in some public museum; as a comparison of them with those taken from the northern Asiatic mounds, and those from the Teocalli at Mexico, will show whether those who constructed the works on the Ohio and the Mississippi were descendants of the Tartay or Scythians and progenitors of the Mexicans, or rather of their predecessors, the original inhabitants of Peru.

Mentioning the mounds of stone, Mr. Atwater says,

These works are, like those of earth, in form of a cone, composed of small stones, on which no marks of tools are visible. In New Series. No. 6.

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them some of the most interesting articles are found, as urns, ornaments of copper, heads of spears, &c. of the same metal, as well as medals of copper, and pickaxes of hornblend; several drawings of which may be seen in this volume.' p. 184.

This department of his investigations our author closes with the following remarks :

A careful survey of the abovementioned works would probably show that they were all connected, and formed but parts of a whole, laid out with taste.

6

Following the river Ohio downwards, the mounds appear on both sides, erected uniformly on the highest alluvions along that stream. Those at Marietta, Portsmouth, and Cincinnati, are noticed elsewhere. Their numbers increase all the way to the Mississippi, on which river they assume the largest size.

These tumuli, as well as the fortifications, are to be found at the junction of all the rivers along the Mississippi in the most eligible positions for towns, and in the most extensive bodies of fertile lands. Their number exceeds, perhaps, three thousand ; the smallest not less than twenty feet in height, and one hundred in diameter at the base. Their great number, and the astonishing size of some of them, may be regarded as furnishing, with other circumstances, evidence of their antiquity. p. 188.

"One of the mounds, nearly opposite St. Louis, is eight hundred yards in circumference at the base, and one hundred feet in height. Mr. Brackenridge noticed a mound at New Madrid of three hundred and fifty feet in diameter at the base. Other large ones are in the following places, viz. at St. Louis, one with two stages, another with three; at the mouth of the Missouri; at the mouth of Cahokia river in two groups; twenty miles below, two groups also, but the mounds of a smaller size; on the bank of a lake, formerly the bed of a river, at the mouth of Marameck, St. Genevieve; one near Washington, Mississippi state, of one hundred and forty-six feet in height; at Baton Rouge, and on the bayou Manchac; one of the mounds near the lake is composed chiefly of shells: the inhabitants have taken great quantities of them for lime.

The mound on Black river has two stages and a group around. At each of the above places there are groups of mounds, and there was probably once a city. Mr. Brackenridge thinks that the largest city belonging to this people was situated between the Ohio, Mississippi, Missouri, and Illinois. On the plains between the Arkansas and St. Francis, there are several very large mounds.