side of which, I was informed by Judge Gregory, was the name of the river in which it lay, "Petit belle reviere," and on the other, "Ludovicus XIV." and dated in the reign of that French king.

At Portsmouth, which is at the mouth of the Scioto, a medal was found some years since, in alluvial earth, by a Mr. White. several feet below the surface, which probably belonged to a recent era of time. This medal, I regret to state, is not in my possession, but that regret is alleviated, inasmuch as it has been described to me by that inestimable citizen, Major Gen. Lucas, now of Piketon in this state. This medal was masonic, having a human heart on one side of it, with a sprig of laurel growing out of its upper part. On the other side was a temple, with a cupola and spire, at the summit of which was a vane in the shape of a half moon, and there was a star in front of the temple. This medal had Roman-letters on each side of it, but what they were, General Lucas has forgotten, they were probably abbreviations. That this medal had a European, and probably a French origin, I very little doubt, and belonged to an era of time not very

remote.

In Trumbull county, several coins were found near an ancient work, not many years since, which for a time excited considerable curiosity, until they were examined by the governor of this state. After the earth, which adhered to these coins, was carefully removed, it was discovered that on one side of them was 66 George II." and on the other "Caroline," and dated in the reign of those British princes.

In Harrison county, I have been credibly informed, several medals have been found near an ancient work, evidently of European origin, and belonging to an era quite recent, compared with that of the work in

which they were found. They had on them the name, and were dated in the reign of one of the "CHARLES's."

Near the mouth of Darby creek, which is a considerable tributary to the Scioto river, a Spanish medal was found in a good state of preservation, from which we learn, that it was given to some faithful adherent by a Spanish admiral, with whom De Soto sailed, and landed in Florida, in A. D. 1588. There is nothing very wonderful to account for this medal's being found on a water descending into the Gulf of Mexico, even at such a distance from the spot where De Soto landed, when it is known, that an exploring party sent out by him never returned, nor were heard of afterwards. This medal might have been brought and lost here by the person to whom it was presented; or by some Indian, who had rather have it in his own possession, than inhis prisoner's pocket.

Swords, gun-barrels, and other implements of war, have been found along the banks of the Ohio river, which had been left there by the French, when they had forts at Pittsburgh, Ligonier, Vincennes, &c.

The traces of a furnace of more than fifty kettles, found on the south side of the mountain on the Kentucky side of the Ohio river, at Portsmouth, about three miles south of that place, appear to me to owe their origin to the same people, and belong to the same era of time. Several Roman coins, said to have been found near Nashville in Tennessee, bearing date not many centuries after the Christian era, have excited some interest among the antiquarians. They were either found in the cave, where they had purposely been lost, or what is more probable, they had been left there by some European, since this country was traversed by the French. That a Frenchman should have in his possession a few Roman coins, and

that he should deposite them in a remarkable cave which he discovered in his travels, has in it nothing of the marvellous. That some persons have purposely lost coins and medals, either in caves, which they knew were about to be explored, or in mounds about to be opened, is a fact well known to have occurred at several places in the west. In one word, I will venture to aver, that there never has been found, either a coin, medal, or monument, either in this or any other state or territory of the union, having on it one or more letter or letters, belonging to any alphabet ever in use among the human race, which did not owe its origin to Europeans, or their descendants, and has been brought here since the discovery of America, by Christopher Columbus.

Antiquities which belong to that people, who erected our FORTS and TUMULI.-These include those numerous and sometimes lofty mounds, those military works, whose walls and ditches cost so much labour, and owe their origin to a people by far more civilized than our Indians, and, at the same time, by far less so than Europeans. Concerning these works, much learned dust has been cast into the air, by the most learned combatants; and this too, has generally been done by men who never saw one of the works themselves. These works, though belonging to people originating from one common stock, are spread over an immense extent of country, covering a considerable part of Europe, and the northern parts of Asia. They are found in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, in ancient Greece, the Holy Land, Scandinavia, every part of Russia, all the way to Behring's Strait, across the American continent, from thence along the southern shores of the great chain of the upper lakes and their outlets, as far to the eastward as the Black

river country, at the east end of Lake Ontario From thence, we trace them in a south-western direc. tion across this state and down the Mississippi to the Mexican Gulf, around it, through the province of Texas, and all the way into South America; increasing in number, size, and grandeur as we proceed. They are interesting on many accounts, whether we consider the immense extent of country which they cover,

the great labour which they cost their authors,-the acquaintance with the arts which that people had, compared with our Indians,-the grandeur of many of the works them. selves, the total absence of all historical records, or even traditionary accounts respecting the people who erected them,-the great interest which the learned have taken in these antiquities,-these are some of the reasons which have induced the writer to bestow no small share of attention upon the labours of a people no longer found in North America. These ancient works were intended for many, and very different purposes; they were once forts, camps, watch-towers, towns, villages, places of armament, habitations of chieftains, cemeteries, temples, altars, monuments, &c.

[Here between thirty and forty pages, employed in describing these works, accompanied with diagram sketches of the forts, &c. &c. are purposely omitted. After describing all the others, there follows a description of the conical mounds.]

Conical mounds.-These are of two species, of earth or stone. The former were intended to answer many sacred and important purposes; they were used as sepulchres, altars, and temples. The accounts of these works found in the scriptures, show that their origin must be sought for among the antediluvians. That they are very ancient; that they were places of burial, pub

lic resort and worship, is proved beyond the shadow of a doubt, by all the most ancient heathen writers. Homer, one of the most ancient, as well as the greatest poet of antiquity, frequently mentions them in his immortal poem. He particularly describes the tumulus of Tytyus, and the spot where it was. In the first ages of mankind, a sepulchral mound of earth was raised over the remains of the illustrious dead. From that time forward, this mound became an altar whereon to offer sacrifice, and around which to celebrate games of athletic exercise. These offerings, and these games, were intended to propitiate the manes, to honour and perpetuate the memory of the mighty dead. Prudentius, a Roman bard, has said: Et tot templa Deum, quot in urba sepulchra, Heroum numera licet. Prud. lib. 1.

Need I mention the tomb of Anchises, which Virgil has described, with the games there exhibited, and the offerings there presented? or the sanctity of the Acropolis, where Cecrops was inhumed? the tomb of the father of Adonis at Paphos, whereon a temple dedicated to Venus was erected? the grave of Cleomachus, whereon stond a temple dedicated to the worship of Apollo? and, finally, I would ask the classical reader, if the words translated tomb and temple were not at first used as synonymous terms, by the poets of Greece and Rome? Virgil, who wrote in the days of Augustus, speaks of these tumuli, as being as ancient as they were sacred, in his time. Who has forgotten those words, the reading of which gave him so much pleasure in his boyish days:

tumulum antiquæ Cereris, sedumque

sacratam venimus. Æn. lib. ii. v. 742.

[Here the descriptions of the mounds, occupying many pages, are omitted. The article proceeds.]

The reader having become acquainted with many of the ancient

works found in this country, naturally inquires, who are their authors? from whence did they emigrate ? at what era of time did they arrive? how long did they continue to inhabit this territory? at what time did they emigrate from hence? where are they now, or what finally became of them? These questions have been asked often within the last thirty years, as often answered, but not always satisfactorily, to those especially who demand proofs amounting to mathematical certainty. Persons of this class need not give themselves the useless labour of reading the remaining part of this article. The nature of the subject does not admit of proofs equal to mathematical demonstrations, nor will the liberal, the candid and more enlightened portion of my readers, demand such proofs at my hands. But, if absolute certainty be not attainable on this subject, yet it is apprehended, that a reasonable degree of certainty is; by obtaining a thorough knowledgeof the geology and botany of the country, where these works are found; by a careful examination of the skeletons of the people themselves; their dress; their ornaments, such as bracelets, beads, and badges of office; their places of amusement, burial, and worship; their dwelling houses, and other buildings, and the materials used in their structure; their domestic utensils; their weapons of offence and defence; their military fortresses, their form, size, and peculiar structure; and their medals and monuments intended to perpetuate the memory of important events in their history. These are the fragments of history, as Bacon would say, which have been saved from the deluge of time. Though the ship and her whole crew have been lost, yet these articles have been saved from the wreck. Let us examine them with a view to ascertain, if possible, the names of the

captain and crew, their places of departure and destination, the beginning and ending of their disastrous voyage. It will be necessary also to institute comparisons between whatever belongs to this people and any other, either of ancient or modern times, either now, or heretofore inhabiting this or any other part of our globe.

[Here twenty pages or more, are employed inxamining whatever articles belonging to this people, and alluded to above, are omitted. But that part of the Notes, which combats the idea, that these antiquities belong to Indians, will be given here, at least a part of it.]

But an idea has been advanced, concerning the authors of these works, which I feel myself bound to notice:" that all our antiquities owe their origin to the ancestors of our present race of Indians." Had not this opinion originated with some great and good men, the foundation on which it rests is so frail, that I never should trouble myself to refute it. These writers contend, that the immense number of forts in this country (for never having been here, they know of no other ancient works) proves that civil wars among the several savage tribes raged to that degree, and continued during such a period of time, that their numbers were so thinned and themselves so scattered abroad, that from the shepherd, they reverted back to the hunter-state of society, and entirely forgot those arts, which once they knew. I give my own words, but the ideas of these fanciful writers.

First, then, as to the number of forts; where are they, in this vast country, more extensive than all Europe? South of Lake Ontario, belonging to this people, there are two, one not far from Sacket's Har bour, and another at Oxford, on the Chenango river. Travelling to the

west, we find none of any note, if any, until we arrive at the mouth of Catarangus Creek, a water of Lake Erie, in Catarangus County, in the State of New-York. Here a line of forts commences, extending nearly fifty miles in a southern direction, on what was, when these works were erected, the bank of the lake. And there is said to be a row of forts parallel to these, as if built to protect the western from the eastern contending people. Travelling to the west, on what was once the margin of the lake, three miles or more south of its present shore, and several hundred feet above its present surface, we find a round fort at Salem, in Ashtabula County. Going to the south-west, nearly two hundred miles, we find three so connected, as to form but one military work, at Newark, on the head wa ters of the Licking, a water of the Muskingum. Nearly fifty miles south-westerly from Newark, we find two remarkable forts so connected, as to make but one work of defence, at Circleville, on the Scioto. There are several more not far from Chillicothe, eighteen miles south of Circleville, and a stone fort on Point Creek, twelve or fourteen miles from Chillicothe. There are two or three on the Miamies, one at the mouth of the Scioto, and another at the mouth of the Muskingum. Where, then, is the immense number of forts? Are there one hundred separate military works, from the Rocky Mountains to the Alleghanies, from the Upper Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico? If so, where are they? And these works, as we shall endeavour to show, were at least two thousand years in building. Where then are the melancholy proofs, so feelingly described and deplored, of the destructive civil wars among the savage tribes? Is it in the number of forts? Were there ever, in all North America,

one hundred real ancient forts? Where are they? They are not between the Alleghanies and the Pacific Ocean, Lake Erie and the Gulf of Mexico, a territory in breadth, from north to south, of twelve hundred miles in extent; in length, from east to west, of two thousand miles. By assuming facts existing only in the writer's own imagination, he can prove whatever he pleases. Having pulled away the main pillar on which this argument rested, the subject might be dismissed, but we choose rather to lay other proofs before the reader. These fanciful writers have said that, "the Indians, by being engaged in long and destructive wars, lost entirely the knowledge of those arts which once they knew." This argument admits a fact, which is incontrovertible, and that is, the people who erected our ancient forts and tumuli, were further advanced in the useful arts, than the present race of Indians. The works still remaining of that people, prove this: their forts, their mounds, their altars, their deep wells, many of them dug to the depth of twenty feet or more, and sunk through the hardest rocks found in this country; the walls of the fort on Paint Creek, built of stone to the height of ten feet; their potters' ware, of nice workmanship; their numerous ornaments of copper and silver; their stone axes, of nicer workmanship than any belonging to Indians; their ivory beads; the tool used in the manufacture of shoes, now before me; their numerous smiths' shops on Paint Creek, and at other places; and finally the skeletons of the people themselves found in our mounds, all, all tend to establish the fact, that these antiquities belonged not to the ancestors of our Indians. Did the Indians manufacture silver, copper, or iron? these people did. Did Indians ever construct a fort like VOL. IV. No, vr.

ours? if so, where is it? Did they ever bury their dead in a conical mound of earth? if so, show us the mound. But these writers say, "the Indians forgot the arts, which once they knew." What arts? why the art of constructing military works of defence. Where is the people in the wide world, who forgot those arts, on the knowledge of which their safety, nay, their lives, depended? By being engaged in long and sanguinary wars, they lost their knowledge of the art of war!!! People ordinarily would have concluded, that the longer any nation were engaged in war, the greater knowledge of that destructive art would be acquired by them. But it may be said, nay, it has been said already, "that Carthage and Tyre, Babylon and Persepolis, are monuments of the truth of the proposition against which I am contending." But are they? It is a well known fact, that when these places were destroyed, their inhabitants were either destroyed or dispersed in foreign lands.

The Arabs who in

habit the spot where Carthage stood, according to Captain Riley's Narrative, are the same people which they always have been.

Another argument going to prove that the Indians were not the authors of our ancient works, is the immense labour which many of them cost in their erection. An Indian is as much opposed to labour, as his habits are to cleanliness; and he would sooner suffer the most cruel death, than submit to become what he would consider a dupe to either. Examine the immense works, surrounded by which I now write, and then say, if all the Indians in the whole of North America, would, from the beginning of time to this hour, have performed labour enough to have completed these forts?

[Several pages on this subject are here omitted. At the conclusion, of