[beginning of page 136]
Our author proceeds to describe the pyramids of New
Spain,--those signal Indian antiquities. The pyramid of
Cholula is 177 feet in height. Its base is 1416 feet. It has
four great stages, or stories. It lies exactly with the
meridian, north and south; the width nearly equal to the
length; (439 metres; a metre being nearly 3 1/4 feet.) This
stupendous pile is composed, he tells us, “of alternate
strata of brick and clay.” Various other similar pyramids
this author notes and describes in those regions, as being
of the same construction. And of their construction he says;
“They suffice to prove the great analogy between these brick
monuments--and the temple of Belus at Babylon, and the
pyramids of Menschich-Dashour, near Sackhara in Egypt.” On
the pyramid of Cholula is a church surrounded with cypress.
This pyramid M. Humbolt informs is “ten feet higher than the
Mycerinus, or the third of the great Egyptian pyramids of
the group of Ghize.” The length of the base (he informs) is
greater by almost half than that of the great pyramid Cheops;
and exceeds that of all the pyramids known on the old
continent. And he adds, “If it be allowed to compare with
the great Egyptian monuments, it appears to have been
constructed on an analogous plan.”
I ask, can such pyramids be ascribed to ancient barbarous
Scythians? Israel knew the pyramids of Egypt. It is with
great probability supposed, that during their servitude
there, they aided in building those stupendous monuments.
They thus served a long apprenticeship to the art of making
brick, and pyramids. Did the ancient Scythians ever serve
such an apprenticeship? If the advocates for a Scythian
descent of the Indians could present the fact, that the
whole Scythian nation had, in former times, served an
apprenticeship of a number of centuries in making just such
brick pyramids as are found in America; how much would they
make of this solitary argument to show, that the authors of
those American pyramids must surely have been of Scythian
descent? And I confess there would be, in my opinion, ten
times as much argument in it, in favour of their position,
as I have ever perceived in any other arguments adduced.
Various authors unite, as will appear, in stating the great
similarity; between those Mexican pyramids, and those of
Egypt. And our noted author M. Humbolt exclaims; “We are
astonished to see, in regions the most remote, men following
the same model in their edifices.” This is here claimed as a
great argument in favour of the Israelitish extraction of
those Indians. Other arguments this author unintentionally
furnishes. He says; “We have examples of theocratic forms
of
[beginning of page 137]
government in South America. For such were those of
Zac, of Bogota, and of the Incas of Peru,--two extensive
empires, in which despotism was concealed under the
appearance of a gentle and patriarchal government.--The
empire of the Zac (he adds in a note) which comprehends the
kingdom of New Grenada, was founded (i.e. in their
tradition) by a mysterious personage called Idacanzas, or
Bochira;--who, according to the tradition of the Mozcas,
lived in the temple of the sun, at Sogamozo, rising of 2000
years.” Here tradition had given this people an ancient
mysterious founder. His present votaries were the Mozcas. He
lived at Sogamozo, inhabiting a temple. The government of
this people, it seems, is theocratico patriarchal. Whom does
all this most resemble? Israel; or the ancient barbarous
Scythians? It would seem the warmest advocates for a
Scythian descent, would not be fond of answering this
question. But admitting that this theocratic, patriarchal
government must well accord with Israelitish tradition; and
it seems not unnatural to say, their ancient mysterious
lawgiver was Moses, from whom the devoted Mozcas may have
derived their name; and also the name of his supposed
residence, Sogamozo. It is natural to view this as a
tradition (something confused by rolling millenaries) of the
lawgiver Moses ministering at the tabernacle in the
wilderness, 2000 years (more or less) before some noted era
of this tradition. Suppose Sogamozo to have been from Sagan-Moses.
Sagan, Adair assures us, was a noted Indian name of the
waiter of deputy of the Indian high priest. And it was the
very name of the deputy of the ancient high priest in
Israel; as the noted Calmet informs. Against the word Sagan,
Calmet says; “The Jews thus call the deputy of the high
priest, who supplied his office, and who performed the
function of it in the absence of the high priest.” Calmet
adds; “The Jews think that the office of Sagan was very
ancient. They hold that Moses was Sagan to Aaron. I do not
find the word Sagan, he says, in this sense in the
scriptures; but it is frequent in the Rabbins.” Here then,
the old rabbinical traditions say, that Moses was Sagan
to Aaron in the wilderness. How natural then that the
same tradition should descend to the American Mozcas, (if
they be of Israel) that Sogamozo (Sagan-Moses, mistaking the
place of his residence for his name,) was their ancient
legislator! We shall by and by find in another authority, a
similar tradition with this, and bearing its part of a
strange combination of just such evidence as must eventually
present the long lost Israel of the world.
[beginning of page 138]
Our author proceeds; “But the Mexican small colonies,
wearied of tyranny, gave themselves republican
constitutions.” Now it is only after long popular struggles
that these free constitutions can be formed. The existence
of republics does not indicate a very recent civilization.
Here, like a wise politician, he was showing that the
Mexicans from ancient date, were a civilized people, at
least, in good degree.
He adds; “How is it possible to doubt that a part of the
Mexican nation had arrived at a certain degree of
cultivation, when we reflect on the care with which their
hieroglyphical books were composed, and kept; and when we
recollect that a citizen of Tlascala in the midst of the
tumults of war, took advantage of the facility offered him
by our Roman alphabet, to write in his own language five
large volumes on the history of a country, of which he
deplores the subjection?”
Our author further says; “To give an accurate idea of the
indigenous (native) inhabitants of New Spain; it is not
enough to paint them in their actual state of degradation
and misery after the Spanish conquests. We must go back to a
remote period, when governed by its own laws, the nation
could display its proper energy. And we must consult the
hieroglyphical paintings, buildings of hewn stone, and works
of sculpture still in preservation; which, though they
attest the infancy of the arts, bear however a striking
analogy to several monuments of the more civilized people.”
Again he says; “The cruelty of the Europeans has entirely
extirpated the old inhabitants of the West Indies. The
continent of America, however, has witnessed no such
horrible result. The number of Indians in New Spain exceeds
two millions and a half, including only those who have no
mixture of European or African blood. What is still more
consolatory is, that the indigenous population, far from
declining, has been considerably on the increase for the
last fifty years; as is proved by registers of capitation,
or tribute. In general the Indians appear to form two fifths
of the whole population of Mexico. In Guanaxuato,
Valladolid, Oaxana, and La Puebla, this population amounts
to three fifths.
“So great a number of indigenous inhabitants (he adds)
undoubtedly proves the antiquity of the cultivation of this
country. Accordingly we find in Oaxana remaining monuments
of Mexican architecture, which proves a singularly advanced
state of civilization.--When the Spaniards conquered Mexico,
they found very few inhabitants in the countries situated
beyond the parallel of 20 degrees.
[beginning of page 139]
Those provinces (that were beyond) were the abode of the
Chichimecks and Olomites, two pastoral nations, of whom thin
hordes were scattered over a vast territory. Agriculture and
civilization were concentrated in the plains south of the
river of Santiago.--From the 7th to the 13th century,
population seems in general to have continually flowed
towards the south. From the regions situated south of the
Rio Gila, issued forth those warlike nations, who
successively inundated the country of Anahuac.--The
hieroglyphical tables of the Aztees have transmitted to us
the memory of the principal epochs of the great migrations
among the Americans.” This traveller goes on to speak of
those Indian migrations from the north, as bearing a
resemblance to the inundations of the barbarous hordes of
Goths and Vandals from the north of Europe, and overwhelming
the Roman empire, in the fifth century. He adds; “The
people, however, who traversed Mexico, left behind them
traces of cultivation and civilization. The Taultees
appeared first in the year 648; the Chichimecks in 1170; the
Nahualtees in 1178; the Acolhues and Aztees in 1196. The
Taultees introduced the cultivation of maize and cotton;
they built cities, made roads, and constructed those great
pyramids, which are yet admired, and of which the faces are
very accurately laid out. They knew the use of
hieroglyphical paintings; they could found metals, and cut
the hardest stones. And they had a solar year more perfect
than that of the Greeks and Romans. The form of their
government indicated that they were the descendants of a
people who had experienced great vicissitudes in their
social state. But where (he adds) is the source of that
cultivation? Where is the country from which the Taultees
and Mexicans issued?”
No wonder these questions should arise in the highly
philosophical mind of this arch investigator. Had he known
the present theory of their having descended from ancient
Israel; it seems as though his difficulties might at once
have obtained relief. These accounts appear most strikingly
to favour our hypothesis. Here we account for all the
degrees of civilization and improvements existing in past
ages among the natives of those regions. How perfectly
consentaneous are these facts stated, with the scheme
presented in the preceding pages, that Israel brought into
this new continent a considerable degree of civilization;a
nd the better part of them long laboured to maintain it. But
others fell into the hunting and consequent savage state;
whose barbarous hordes invaded their more civilized
brethren, and eventually annihilated most of them, and all
in these northern
[beginning of page 140]
regions! Their hieroglyphical records, paintings and
knowledge of the solar year, (let it be repeated and
remembered) agree to nothing that could have descended from
the barbarous hordes of the north-east of Europe,a nd north
of Asia; but they well agree with the ancient improvements
and state of Israel.
Our author proceeds; “Tradition and historical hieroglyphics
name Huehuetlapallan, Tallan, and Aztlan, as the first
residence of these wandering nations. There are no remains
at this day of any ancient civilization of the human species
to the north of Rio Gila, or in the northern regions
travelled through by Hearne, Fiedler, and Mackenzie. But on
the north-west coast, between Nootka and Cook river,
especially under the 57th degree of north latitude, in
Norfolk Bay, and Cox Canal, the natives display a decided
taste for hieroglyphical paintings.” (See Voyage de Marchand,
p. 258, 261, 375. Dixon, p. 332.) “A harp (says Humbolt)
represented in the hieroglyphical paintings of the
inhabitants of the north-west coasts of America, is an
object at least as remarkable, as the famous harp on the
tombs of the kings of Thebes. I am inclined to believe that
on the migrations of the Taultees and Aztees to the south
(the tribes noted as most improved) some tribes remained on
the coasts of New Norfolk and New Cornwall, while the rest
continued their course southward. “This is not the place to
discuss the great problem of the Asiatic origin of the
Taultees, or Aztees. The general question of the first
origin of the inhabitants of the continent, is beyond the
limits presented to history; and is not perhaps even a
philosophical question.” Thus our author declines giving any
opinion on this subject. But he here gives it as his opinion
that these more improved tribes in New Mexico came from the
north-west coast, and left some of their half civilized
brethren there. Among the hieroglyphical paintings of the
latter, it seems, the harp is found. Was not this a noted
Israelitish musical instrument? How should the American
Indians be led to paint the Jewish harp? The Jews in
Babylon “hung their harps upon the willows.” And it is as
natural an event that their brethren, in the wilds of
America, should place them in their silent hieroglyphical
paintings. Whence could have been derived the knowledge of
the accurate hieroglyphical paintings, which this most
learned author exhibits as found among some of the Indians;
unless they had learned them from people to whom the
knowledge of hieroglyphics had been transmitted from Egypt,
its original source? It appears incredible that such
improvements in this art, and the knowledge of the Jewish
harp, should
[beginning of page 141]
be transmitted from the ancient barbarous people of Scythia.
If any can believe it, it is hoped they will be cautious of
ever taxing others with credulity. Such evidence, it is
believed, weighs many times more in favour of their
Israelitish extraction. M. Humbolt informs us from Mozino
(of whom he speaks with great respect,) relative to Indians
at Nootka, on the north-west coasts. Of the writings of this
author, he says; “These embrace a great number of curious
subjects; viz. the union of the civil and ecclesiastical
power in the same persons of the princes--the struggle
between Quaulz and Matlax, the good and bad principle by
which the world is governed;--the origin of the human
species at the time when stags were without horns, birds
without wings, &c.;--the Eve of the Nootkians, who lived
solitary in a flowery grove of Yucuatl--” Here is a
traditional peculiarity of Israel;--the origin in the same
person of civil and ecclesiastical government. The struggles
of the good and bad principle seems very congenial to
ancient revelation. The mother of all men,--Eve in paradise,
is most striking in their tradition. This must have been
learned from the history of Moses, and has a signal weight
in favour of the Israelitish extraction of those Nootkians;
as has their notion of the innocence and harmlessness of the
primitive state of men and beasts. Our noted author says;
“The Mexicans have preserved a particular relish for
painting, and for the art of carving in wood or stone. We
are astonished at what they are able to execute with a bad
knife on the hardest wood. They are peculiarly fond of
painting images, and carving statues of saints. This is
derived from a religious principle of a very remote origin.”
He adds, “Cortez, in his letters to the Emperor Charles V.
frequently boasts of the industry which the Mexicans
displayed in gardening. Their taste for flowers undoubtedly
indicates a relish for the beautiful. The European cannot
help being struck (our author continues) with the care and
elegance the natives display in distributing the fruits
which they sell in small cages of very light wood. The
sapotilles, the mammea, pears, and raisins, occupy the
bottom; while the top is ornamented with odoriferous
flowers. This art of entwining fruits and flowers had its
origin perhaps in the happy period when, long before the
introduction of inhuman rites, the first inhabitants of
Anahuac, like the Peruvians, offered up to the Great Spirit
the first fruits of their harvest.” Here was the ancient
rite, in Peru, and perhaps in Anahuac, of offering to the
Great Spirit their first ripe fruits; as has appeared to
have been the case among the various tribes of the natives
of this continent. And our author conceives
[beginning of page 142]
that the curious art of entwining fruits and flowers must
have had an ancient origin. Possibly, indeed, it had
an origin as ancient and as venerable, as the alternate knop
(or fruit) and flower on the brim of Israel’s brazen
sea;--on the shafts of the golden candlesticks; and on the
hem of the high priest’s garment;--bells and pomegranates.
These ideas were familiar in Israel; but probably in no
other nation. Our author speaks of the language of
some of the Indians in the south “of which the mechanism
proves an ancient civilization. ” Dr. Edwards (Mr.
Boudinot informs) was of the same opinion of the North
American Indians: and he pronounced this ancient
origin of their language to have been Hebrew.
It seems the Spanish missionaries found such traces of
resemblance between some of the rites of the religion of the
natives of Mexico, and the religion which they wished to
introduce, that our author says, “They persuaded them that
the gospel had in very remote times, been already preached
in America. And they investigated its traces in the Aztee
ritual, with the same ardour which the learned who in our
days engage in the study of Sanscrit, display in discussing
the analogy between the Greek mythology and that of the
Ganges and the Burrampooter.” It is a noted fact that there
is a far greater analogy between much of the religion of the
Indians, and Christianity, than between that of any other
heathen nation on earth and Christianity. The aged Indians,
noted in the preceding pages, testified to this, when the
children from the missionary school came home and informed
what instructions they had received. The old Indian said:
Now this is good talk. This is such as we used to hear when
we were children from the old people, till some of the white
people came among us, and destroyed it. We thank the Great
Spirit that he had brought it back again!
Our author again says; “The migrations of the American
tribes having been constantly carried on from north to
south, at least between the sixth and twelfth centuries, it
is certain that the Indian population of New Spain must be
composed of very heterogeneous elements. In proportion as
the population flowed toward the south, some tribes would
stop in their progress and mingle with other tribes that
followed them.” All seem to agree that the Indians came from
the north-west, and overspread the continent to the south.
Our author, speaking of the conjecture of the Indians
descending from a people in the north parts of Siberia,
says; “All these conjectures will acquire more
probability, when a marked analogy shall be discovered
[beginning of page 143]
between the languages of Tartary and those of the new
continent; an analogy which according to the latest
researches of M. Barton Smith, extended only to a very small
number of words.” I forbear to offer any further remarks
upon these testimonies incidentally afforded by this most
celebrated author. Let them be duly weighed by the judicious
reader; and he surely cannot doubt but the natives of
America came from the north over Beering’s Straits; and
descended from a people of as great mental cultivation, as
were the ancient family of Israel. He must abandon the idea
of their being of Scythian descent. He will find much
evidence of their being all from one origin; and also much
evidence in favour of the hypothesis, that some of the
original inhabitants laboured to retain their knowledge of
civilization; but that an overwhelming majority abandoned it
for the idle hunting life
In the Archaeologia Americana, containing Transactions and
Collections of the American Antiquarian Society,” published
at Worcester, Mass. in 1820; are found antiquities of the
people who formerly inhabited the western parts of the
United States.” Of some of these I shall give a concise
view, as additional arguments in favour of my theory, that
some of the people of Israel who came into this western
continent maintained some degree of civilization for a long
time; but that the better part of the outcast tribes of
Israel here finally became extinct, at least in North
America, under the rage of their more numerous savage
brethren. I shall present also from this interesting
publication, some new and striking arguments in favour of
the American natives as being of Israel.
Relative to the ancient forts and tumuli, the writer of the
Archaeology says; “These military works,--these walls and
ditches cost so much labour in their structure; those
numerous and sometimes tasty mounds, which owe their origin
to a people far more civilized than our Indians, but far
less so than Europeans;--are interesting on many accounts to
the antiquarian, to the philosopher, and the divine.
Especially when we consider the immense extent of country
which they cover; the great labour which they cost their
authors; the acquaintance with the useful arts which that
people had, when compared with our present race of Indians;
the grandeur of many of the works themselves; and the total
absence of all historical records, or even traditionary
accounts, respecting them. They were once forts, cemeteries,
temples, altars, camps, towns, villages, race grounds, and
other places of amusement, habitations of chieftains,
videttes, watch towers, and monuments.” These certainly are
precisely such remains as
[beginning of page 144]
naturally might have been expected to be furnished by a
better part of Israel placed in their “outcast” state, in a
vast wilderness, with the degree of civilization which they
possessed when banished from Canaan; and were situated in
the midst of savage tribes from their race, who had
degenerated to the hunting life, and were intent on the
destruction of this better part of their brethren. Thus
situated, and struggling to maintain their existence, and to
maintain their religious traditions, they would naturally
form many of the very things above enumerated, walled towns,
forts, temples, altars, habitations of chieftains, videttes,
and watch towers. These cannot be ascribed to a people of
any other origin, with any thing like an equal degree of
probability. The whole process of the hypothesis stated in
relation to these two branches of the descendants of Israel,
when finding themselves lodged in this vast wild continent,
is natural and easy.
The above publication of the American Antiquarian Society,
decides that these Indian works must have been very ancient,
and long before this continent was discovered by Columbus.
French forts and works in the west, are also discovered; and
many articles on or near the site of those old forts,
evidently European and modern. But these are clearly
distinguished from those ancient forts and remains. Of the
authors of those many ancient remains, this publication
says; “From what we see of their works, they must have had
some acquaintance with the arts and sciences. They have left
us perfect specimens of circles, squares, octagons, and
parallel lines, on a grand and noble scale. And unless it
can be proved that they had intercourse with Asia or Europe;
we now see that they possessed the art of working metals.”
If they had been favoured with intercourse with any
civilized parts of Asia or Europe, this thing must have been
ascertained; and this western continent would not have been
unknown to the literary eastern world. Such intercourse then
is inadmissible. They probably must have derived their art
of working metals, from the commonwealth of ancient Israel.
They professed something of this knowledge. But none of the
barbarous hordes in the north east of Asia, in these ancient
days, did possess the knowledge of such arts. Speaking of
the wells of those ancient works, the writer observes;
“These wells, with stones at their mouths, resemble those
described to us in the patriarchal age.” Surely this is not
unfavourable to the idea of the authors of those wells
having been the descendants of Jacob.
To throw light on my hypothesis, I shall add a concise
description of several of those ancient works in the west
and south; and of a
[beginning of page 145]
few of the articles there found. These are largely given
with their drawings or plates in the publication of the
American Antiquarian Society, published at Worcester in
1820;--a book worthy of the perusal of all.
Near Newark in Licking county, Ohio, between two branches of
the Licking river, at their junction, is one of the most
notable remains of the ancient works. There is a fort
including forty acres, whose walls are ten feet high. It has
eight gateways, each of the width of about fifteen feet.
Each gateway is guarded by a fragment of a wall, placed
before, and about nine feet within the gate, of the bigness
of the walls of the fort, and about four feet longer than
the width of the gateway. The walls are as nearly
perpendicular as they could be made with earth. Near this
fort is another round fort containing twenty-two acres, and
connected with the first fort by two parallel walls of earth
about the size of the other walls. At the remotest part of
this circular fort, and just without a gateway, is an
observatory so high as to command a view of the region to
some distance. A secret passage was made under this
observatory to an ancient watercourse. At some distance from
this fort (but connected by a chain of internal works, and
parallel walls) is another circular fort of about twenty-six
acres, with walls from twenty-five to thirty feet in height,
with a ditch just under them. Connected with these forts is
another square fort of about twenty acres, whose walls are
similar to those of the fort first described. These forts
were not only connected with each other (though considerable
distance apart) by communications made by parallel walls of
five or six rods apart;--but a number of similar
communications were made from them by parallel walls, down
to the waters of the river. All these works stand on a large
plain, the top of which is almost level, but is high land by
a regular ascent from near the two branches of the river, to
a height of forty or fifty feet above the branches of the
river. At four different places at the ends of these
internal communications between the forts and down to the
river, are watch towers on elevated ground, and surrounded
by circular walls. And the points selected for these watch
towers, were evidently chosen with great skill, to answer
their design. These forts and chains of communications
between them, were so situated as nearly to enclose a number
of large fields, which it is presumed were cultivated, and
which were thus far secured from hostile invaders. From
these works are two parallel walls leading off probably to
other similar places of fortifications at a distance. They
have been traced a mile or two, and
[beginning of page 146]
are yet clearly visible. The writer says; “I should not be
surprised if these parallel walls (thus leading off) are
found to extend from one work of defence to another for the
space of thirty miles--such walls have been discovered at
different places, probably belonging to these works, for ten
or twelve miles at least.” He apprehends this was a road
between this settlement, and one on the Hockhocking river.
And he says; the planning of these works of defence “speaks
volumes in favour of the sagacity of their authors.”
Some small tumuli, probably for burying the dead, and other
purposes, were found here. And the writer says of articles
there discovered; “Rock crystals, some of them very
beautiful, and hornstone, suitable for arrow and spear
heads, and a little lead, sulphur, and iron, were all that I
could ascertain.”
Four or five miles southerly from this is a stone fort
enclosing forty acres or upwards. This contains two stone
tumuli; “Such (says the author) as were used in ancient
times as altars, and as monuments.”--He adds; “I should
rather suspect this to have been a sacred enclosure, or
“high place,” which was resorted to on some great
anniversary.” He deemed its design religious. At the mouth
of the Muskingum, in Marietta, are notable instances of
these ancient works. They stand on an elevated plain, on the
east side of the mouth of the Muskingum, half a mile from
its junction with the Ohio. Here are walls and mounds, in
direct lines, in circular forms, and in squares. A square
fort, called the town, encompasses forty acres by a wall of
earth, from six to ten feet in height; and some of the wall
thirty-six feet in thickness at the base. Each side has at
equal distances three gates. From the middle and largest
gateway next the Muskingum, was a covert way, secured by two
parallel walls of earth about sixteen rods apart. The
highest part of these two walls is about twenty-one feet;
and of forty-two feet thickness at the base. This extends
about twenty-two rods, to where the river is supposed then
to have run. Within, and at a corner of this fort, in an
oblong elevated square, upwards of eleven rods in length,
and between eight and nine rods in breadth. Its top forms a
level, nine feet in height. The sides are nearly
perpendicular. At another side of the fort is another
elevated square, nearly as large. And at a third place is a
third, still a little smaller. Near the centre of this fort
is a circular mound, thirty feet in diameter and five feet
high. At a corner of the fort is a semi-circular parapet,
guarding the gateway, and crowned with a mound. South-east
of this fort is a smaller fort of twenty acres, having a
gateway in the centre
[beginning of page 147]
of each side, and at each corner; each gateway being
defended by a circular mound. On the outside of this smaller
fort is a kind of circular pyramid, like a sugar loaf; it is
a regular circle, one hundred and fifteen feet diameter at
the base; and thirty feet in height. It is guarded by a
ditch four feet deep, and fifteen wide; also by a parapet
four feet in height. These works are attended with many
minor walls, mounds, and excavations. One of these
excavations is sixty feet in diameter at the surface; and
was when first discovered twenty feet deep. Another within
the fort is twenty five feet in diameter; and poles have
been pushed down into its waters and rotten substances,
thirty feet. Its sides project gradually toward its centre;
and are found to be lined with a layer of very fine clay,
eight or ten inches in thickness. It is supposed to contain
hundreds of loads of manure. Old fragments of potter’s ware
have been picked up in this fort. This ware was ornamented
with lines on the outside, curious and ingenious; and had a
glazing on the inside. This ware seems to have been burned,
and capable of holding water. The fragments when broken are
black, and present shining particles when held to the light.
Pieces of copper have at various times been found among
these ancient works. One piece was in the form of a cup,
with low sides, and the bottom thick and strong.
Tools of iron not being found in these works, is no sign the
authors did not possess them. For had they been there, they
would, no doubt, long since have been dissolved by rust.
Some remains of iron articles however are found, as will be
seen.
On the waters of the Scioto, at Circleville, Ohio, is a
notable instance of these military works. Here are two forts
adjoining; one an exact circle; the other a square. The
former has two walls, with a ditch between them. These walls
were twenty feet in height. The inner wall was of clay; the
outer of earth taken from the ditch between the walls. The
walls of the square fort are ten feet in height; with eight
gateways, besides the one leading into the adjoining
circular fort. Each of these gateways is defended on the
inside with a mound of earth four feet high, and forty feet
diameter at the base. Each mound is two rods within the
gateway, and direct in front of it, no doubt for defence.
The square and the circle of these forts are said to be most
exact; and are thought to indicate much mathematical skill;
as not the least error can be detected in their device.
In the centre of the round fort was a mound ten feet in
height, and several rods in diameter at the base. On its
eastern side, and extending six rods, was a pavement, a half
circle composed of
[beginning of page 148]
pebbles. The top of this tumulus was about thirty feet in
diameter, with a way like a modern turnpike leading to it
from the east.
This mound has been removed and its contents explored. Some
things found in it shall be noted. Two human skeletons. A
great quantity of heads, either for arrows or spears. They
were so large as to induce a belief they must have been the
latter. The handle of a small sword, or large knife, made of
an elk’s horn, was here found, and is now in a museum at
Philadelphia. A silver ferrule encompassed the end
containing the blade; which silver ferrule, though black,
was not much injured by rolling ages. The blade was gone by
rust. But in the hold of the handle, there was left the
oxide, or rust of the iron, of similar shape and size of the
shank formerly inserted. Some bricks well burnt were here
found. And a large mirror of the length of three feet, half
a foot in breadth, and one inch and a half thick, formed of
isinglass, and on it a plate of iron “which (says the writer
who was an eye witness) had become an oxyde;” or plate of
rust.-- “The mirror (he adds) answered the purpose very well
for which it was intended.”
About forty rods from this round fort, was another tumulus,
“more than ninety feet in height,” says the writer in the
Archaeology; which was placed on an artificial hill. It
appears to have been a burying place; and probably was a
high place for worship. Immense numbers of human bones, of
all sizes, were here found. Here were found also with those
bones, stone axes and knives, and various ornaments.
Not far from this tumulus was a semi-circular ditch. The
informer remarks it was six feet deep when he first
discovered it. At the bottom lay “a great quantity of human
bones.” These are supposed to be the remains of men slain in
some great battle. They were all of the size of men, and lay
in confusion, as though buried in a pile, and in haste. Here
might have been about the last of those more civilized
people who inhabited that station; thus entombed in a ditch
by a small residue of their brethren spared; or by their
savage enemies, if all in the fortress were cut off.
The articles discovered in the great tumulus were numerous;
something seemed to have been buried with every corps.
On the river Scioto, mounds are frequently found, usually on
hills with fair prospects to the east. Near Chilicothe are
some interesting ones. In Chilicothe, Rev. Dr. Wilson of
that place gives a description of one. It was fifteen feet
high; sixty feet in diameter at the base; and contained
human bones. Under its base in the centre lay a skeleton on
a platform of twenty feet, formed of bark; and over it a
mat formed of some bark. On the breast lay a piece of
copper; also a curious stone five inches in length, two in
breadth, with two perforations through it, containing a
string of sinews of some animal. On this string were many
beads of ivory, or bone. The whole appeared to have been
designed to wear upon the neck, as a kind of breast-plate.
Another curious set of Indian works are found within six
miles of Chilicothe, on Paint Creek, the accurate
description and drawings of which are given in the
Archaeology. Here the great wall encloses a hundred and ten
acres; the wall twelve feet in height, with a ditch about
twenty feet wide. It has an adjacent enclosure of sixteen
acres, the walls like the other. In a “sacred enclosure” are
six mounds. The immense labours of this place, and
cemeteries filled with human bones, denote that a great
people, and of some degree of civilization in ancient days
dwelt here.
A stone mound was discovered in the vicinity of Licking
river, near Newark, Ohio; and several others in different
places. These contained human bones, and such articles as
the following; “urus, ornaments of copper, heads of spears,
&c. of the same metal, as well as of medals of copper.” A
minister of Virginia, writing to the Antiquarian Society
relative to the ancient Indian monuments at Grave Creek,
near the month of the Monongahela, says; “In one of the
tumuli, which was opened about twenty years since, sixty
copper beads were found. Of these I procured ten.--They were
made of coarse wire--hammered out--cut at unequal lengths.
They were soldered together in an awkward manner--They were
incrusted with verdigrise; but the inside was pure copper.
This fact shows that these ancient American inhabitants were
not wholly unacquainted with the use of metals.” There are
many indications that their improvements were equal to those
of Israel when expelled from Canaan; as will be seen by any
who will peruse the Archaeology. Several hints of them shall
here be added.
Says the writer; “Along the Ohio, some of it (their pottery)
is equal to any thing of the kind now manufactured.”-- “It
is well glazed or polished; and the vessel well shaped.”
Many ornaments of silver and copper were found. Many wells
were dug through the hardest rocks.
A crucible was found in a tumulus near Chilicothe, which is
now in the hands of S. Williams, Esq. of that place. It will
bear an equal degree of heat with those now used in glass
manufactories; and appears made of the same materials.
[beginning of page 150]
A stone pipe is noted as found six feet in the alluvial
earth; the brim of which is curiously wrought in high
relief, and on the front side a handsome female face.
In removing a large mound in Marietta bones of a person were
found. “Lying immediately over, or on the forehead of the
body, were found three large circular bosses, or ornaments
for a sword belt, or a buckler; they are composed of copper,
overlaid with a thick plate of silver. The fronts of them
are slightly convex, with a depression, like a cup, in the
centre, and measure two inches and a quarter across the face
of each. On the back side, opposite the depressed portion,
is a copper rivet or nail, around which are two separate
plates, by which they were fastened to the leather. Two
small pieces of the leather were found lying between the
plates of one of the bosses.” “Near the side of the body was
found a plate of silver, which appears to have been the
upper part of a sword scabbard, it is six inches in length
and two inches in breadth, and weighs one ounce; it has no
ornaments or figures, but has three longitudinal ridges,
which probably correspond with the edges or ridges of the
sword; it seems to have been fastened to the scabbard by
three or four rivets, the holes of which yet remain in the
silver.
“Two or three broken pieces of a copper tube, were also
found, filled with iron rust. These pieces, from their
appearance, composed the lower end of the scabbard, near the
point of the sword. No sign of the sword itself was
discovered, except the appearance of rust above mentioned.
“Near the feet was found a piece of copper, weighing three
ounces. From its shape it appears to have been used as a
plumb, or for an ornament, as near one of the ends is a
circular crease, or groove, for tying a thread; it is round,
two inches and a half in length, one inch in diameter at the
centre, and half an inch at each end. It is composed of
small pieces of native copper, pounded together; and in the
cracks between the pieces are stuck several pieces of
silver; one nearly the size of a four penny piece, or half a
dime. This copper ornament was covered with a coat of green
rust, and is considerably corroded. A piece of red ochre, or
paint, and a piece of iron ore, which has the appearance of
having been partially vitrified, or melted, were also found.
The ore is about the specific gravity of pure iron.”
Surely these things indicate some good degree of improvement
in some of the arts of life. Multitudes of other things are
noted in this most valuable publication, in which these
things are given.
[beginning of page 151]
The great antiquity of these works of the natives is proved
beyond a doubt. Trees of the third growth are found standing
on them, whose annular rings show them to have been more
than four hundred years of age.
And the hugeness of those works indicates a vast population.
The clergyman writing from Virginia to the Antiquarian
Society, of the works at Grave Creek, says of a vast tumulus
in that neighborhood, called “the Big Grave;” “It is
certainly one of the most august monuments of remote
antiquity any where to be found. Its circumference is three
hundred feet at the base--Its altitude from measurement is
ninety feet, and its diameter, at the summit, is forty five
feet. This lofty and venerable tumulus has been so far
opened as to ascertain that it contains many thousands
(probably) of human skeletons, but no farther. Of the
numerous Indian works of this region the writer says; “A
careful survey of the above mentioned works would probably
show that they were all connected, and formed but parts of a
whole, laid out with taste.”
These ancient works continued all the way down the Ohio
river to the Mississippi, where they increased and were far
more magnificent. They abound at the junctions of rivers, in
most eligible positions, and in most fertile lands. The
number of tumuli on that river exceeds three thousand; “the
smallest not less than twenty feet in height, and one
hundred in diameter at the base. The largest are of huge
magnitude. The informer in the Archaeology says; “I have
been sometimes induced to think that at the period when
these were constructed, there was a population as numerous
as that which once animated the borders of the Nile or of
the Euphrates, or of Mexico. Brackenridge calculates that
there were 5000 cities at once full of people. I am
perfectly satisfied that cities similar to those of ancient
Mexico, of several hundred thousand souls, (says the writer)
have existed in this country. Nearly opposite St. Louis
there are traces of two such cities in the distance of five
miles. One of the mounds is eight hundred yards in
circumference at the base, (about fifty rods in diameter)
the exact size of the pyramid of Asychis; and one hundred
feet in height.” (See Archaeologia Americana, page 189.) The
author says, in speaking of many of those pyramids of the
west; there is “one near Washington, Mississippi state, of
one hundred and forty-six feet in height!” “Articles found
in and near these works show the improvement of the arts
among those who erected them.” Though these tumuli were used
as places to bury their dead, and places for temples, altars
and religious
[beginning of page 152]
worship; they were no doubt places also for the last resort
when likely to be overcome by an enemy. Solis, a writer
noted in the Archaeology, when describing the destruction of
the Mexicans by the Spaniards, speaks of them as fleeing to
their Teocalli. (The Teocalli were high places, formed for
the site of their temples, for altars, and places for
entombing the dead. The name Teocalli, Humbolt informs, was
given these sacred places from the name of the god, to whom
the place was dedicated.) Solis informs that in the time of
the conflicts of the Mexicans with the Spaniards, their
Teocalli appeared like living hills covered with warriors,
determined to defend their sacred places, where were their
temples, altars, and the tombs of their fathers. Here they
fought with desperation. The high places and great tumuli of
the natives on the Mississippi, no doubt were for the same
purposes with those of South America. The writer of the
Archaeology remarks, that had temples been built on any of
their high places, probably no vestige of them would now be
visible.
These ancient works of the natives Americans may well remind
us of what was said in the Old Testament writings of the
ancient “high places” of Israel. Psalm lxxviii. 58; “For
they provoked him to anger with their high places.”
How abundantly are these noted through their sacred
writings. In scores of texts we read of them. Such a king
built their high places. Such a reformer destroyed them.
Such a vile king rebuilt them. Such a good king again
destroyed them, and so on. Here was a train of the most
common events. The hearts of Israel were long and most
perfectly inured to the religious use of their high places,
though it was forbidden. Scott remarks that these high
places were “both for idolatry; and for the irregular
worship of Jehovah.” Solomon had used these high places. I
Kings iii. 3, 4; “And Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the
statutes of David his father; only he sacrificed and burned
incense in high places. And the king went to Gibeon to
sacrifice there; for that was the great high place. A
thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar.”
Scott upon the passage says; “Until the temple was builded,
the irregularity of sacrificing to the God of Israel in high
places--was in some degree connived at. But the people
proceeded further in it than in the days of David; and
Solomon was censurable for countenancing them.” It seems
they had their great high places and their smaller high
places, to which that ancient people were greatly attached.
These high places in Israel are sometimes alluded to in a
very bad sense, as when they were the seats
[beginning of page 153]
of idolatry; and sometimes in a sense which seems more
favourable. But allusions are abundantly made to them
through the sacred pages; “high places” of various altitudes
and dimensions “on every high hill, and under every green
tree.” The children of Jacob on great occasions assembled at
Gilgal. The name of this place imports “a heap.” Here was a
pile of stones taken from the heart of Jordan, and formed
into a monument at the place of Israel’s first encampment in
the promised land. This circumstance and the numerous
monumental piles of stone in ancient Israel, bear a near
resemblance to the many piles of stones found in this
country, and particularly on the waters of the Licking near
Newark, and in the counties of Perry, Pickaway, and Ross,
Ohio.
Israel were ever accustomed to hills and high places for
their resort to transact important concerns, as well as acts
of devotion. Gibeon was a great high place, as has been
noted. Shiloh, a noted place of such resort, was on a high
hill. This was discontinued as the place of such resort,
when the loftier hill of Zion was selected in its place. The
temple was located, by divine decision, on this lofty mount
of Zion. Ideas like these, together with their other “high
places,” in ancient Israel, may account for the numerous and
huge tumuli found in this continent.
Alluding to the high places in ancient Israel, God
denounced, Amos vii. 9; “The high places of Israel shall be
desolate.” And Jer. xii. 7; “I have forsaken mine house, I
have left mine heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of
my soul into the hand of her enemies.” It then follows,
verse 12; “The spoilers are come upon all high places
through the wilderness; for the sword of the Lord shall
devour from one end of the land to the other end of the
land; no flesh shall have peace.” When this was written the
ten tribes had been gone from Canaan many years. God had
indeed “given this branch of the beloved of his soul into
the hands of her enemies;” as verse 7, just recited. The
subsequent verse given may be far better understood in
future days, should greater light dawn on the subject, and
present our natives as the tribes of Israel. They, and we,
in that case, shall better understand the passage, “The
spoilers are come upon all high places through the
wilderness; for the sword of the Lord shall devour from the
one end of the land to the other end of the land.” This
seems an event then future-- “The sword shall come--” though
the tribes had before been banished. This, as it related to
Israel, seems to be an event to be accomplished during their
out-cast state. For in the second and third verses, after
this, is predicted their restoration to their heritage in
their
[beginning of page 154]
own land. No supposible origin assigned to the American
natives could so well account for what we find of the
American high places, as the supposition of their descent
from ancient Israel. The events upon this supposition are
most natural and characteristic.
These American high places are striking resemblances of the
Egyptian pyramids. Consult those in the region of Mexico, as
already stated from Mr. Humbolt; and it seems as though they
must have been made by the same people with those of Egypt.
But the Egyptian pyramids were seen and well known by
ancient Israel; and it has long been conjectured they were
built by their labours during their bondage in Egypt. How
natural then, that they should carry down to succeeding
generations the deep impression of them in their minds. And
what other nation on earth would be so likely to form such
imitations of them, in a remote outcast region, as they, and
especially after all we read of Israel’s high places, piles,
and monuments, their acquaintance with Gibeon, and Gilgal;
their deep impression of the temple on mount Zion; and
especially their high and sacred places at Bethel and Dan!
No other account can more naturally be given of the American
high places, than that they originated in those ancient
impressions. Of the high places near Mexico, the writer of
the Archaeology says; “The group of pyramids of Teotihuacan
is in the valley of Mexico, eight leagues north-east from
the capital, in a plain named-- “the Path of the Dead.” Here
are two large pyramids, surrounded by hundreds of smaller
ones, which form square streets with the cardinal points of
the compass. This writer says, one of these is higher than
the third of the three great pyramids of Egypt, and the
length of its base nearly equal to that of Cephron. These
things are much in the style of the Egyptian pyramids.
“Around the Cheops and the Mycerinus are eight smaller
pyramids placed with symmetry, and parallel to the front of
the greater,” says the writer, in noting the resemblance
between these and the Egyptian pyramids. And after further
noting the “four principal stories” of a great Teocalli, or
pyramid, near Mexico, and noting its composition, he adds;
“This construction recalls to mind that of one of the
Egyptian pyramids of Sackhara, which has six stories, is a
mass of pebbles and yellow mortar, covered on the outside
with rough stones.” The two great Mexican pyramids (this
author informs) had on their summit huge statues of the sun
and moon, formed of stone and covered with plates of gold,
which the soldiers of Cortez plundered. They did not now
locate upon their high places their golden calves; but
statues of the sun and moon, those brightest visible
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