arts amongst the ancient proprietors of this region, reserved a square of six acres around this mound, and appropriated it to the use of a burying ground, thus giving a hallowed aspect to that spot, and preserving it from the violation of private individuals. It yet remains in all its pristine beauty, a monument of the industry and arts of the ancient inhabitants of the valley, and a lasting memento of the classic taste of the directors of the Ohio company. Every provision was made that could be, for the protection of the two elevated squares, or truncated pyramids, about half a mile northwest of the mound, by appropriating three acres around each of them as public squares, and placing them under the authority of the future mayor and corporation of the city.

They also remain uninjured; while some of the parapets of the ancient fort and city have been dug away in grading the streets, and in some instances by individuals, where they fell within their inclosures; but to the credit of the inhabitants, it may be said, that the old works have been generally preserved with more care, than in any other towns in Ohio. The mound,' a drawing of which accompanies this article, was, when first measured, fifty years since, about thirty feet in height; it is now only about twenty-eight feet. It measures one hundred and thirty yards around the base, and should be one hundred and thirty feet in diameter. It terminates not in a regular apex, but is flat on the top, measuring twenty feet across it. The shape is very regular, being that of a cone, whose sides rise at an angle of forty-five degrees. It stands in the center of a level area, which is sixty

4 Vol. XII.

six yards in diameter. This is surrounded by a ditch one hundred and ninety-seven yards in circumference; it is now about four feet deep, and ten feet wide at the top, sloping evenly and regularly from the top of the parapet, and inner edge of the ditch to the bottom. Outside the ditch is a wall of earth, being apparently that thrown out of the ditch, and elevated about four feet above the adjacent surface of the earth. The parapet is two hundred and thirty-four yards in circumference.

On the north side is an avenue, or opening of fifteen feet in width, through the parapet, across which no ditch is dug. A few rods north, in a line with the gateway or opening, are three low mounds; the nearest is oblong or elliptical, sixty feet in length, and about twenty in width, with an elevation of six or eight feet in the centre, tapering gradually to the sides. These mounds communicate with the fort, as seen in the old plan.* The parapet, ditch, circular area, and mound itself, are now covered with a vivid and splendid coat of green sward of native grasses, which protects them from the wash of the rain. There are several beautiful oaks growing on the sides of the mound. When first noticed by the settlers, it was covered with large forest trees, seven of them four feet in diameter. A few years since, sheep were allowed to pasture in the cemetery grounds. In their repeated and frequent ascents of the ground, they had worn paths in its sides, down which the wintry rains taking their course, cut deep channels, threatening in a few years to ruin the beauty of the venerable structure, if not to destroy it entirely. Some of the more intelligent inhabitants of Marieta, observing its precarious state, set on foot a subscription for its repair, and for building a new fence, and ornamenting the grounds with shade trees. Four hundred dollars were raised by subscription, and four hundred were given by the corporation, and a very intelligent man appointed to superintend the work. Three hundred dollars went to the mound, and five hundred to the fencing, planting trees, and opening walks, etc. Inclined planes of boards were erected, on which to elevate the earth in wheel-barrows. At this day it would require a sum of not less than two thousand dollars to erect a similar mound of earth. At the same time a flight of

* Reference here is made to Figure 2.

forty-six stone steps, was made on the north side, making an easy ascent to the top. A circular seat of planks is built on the summit, protected in the outer edge by locust posts, with iron chains from post to post. The scene from this elevation is one of the finest in the country, commanding a prospect of eight or nine miles up and down the Ohio river, with a broad range over the hilly region which skirts the Muskingum. No examination has ben made by digging, to discover the contents of this mound,

with the exception of a slight excavation into the top, many years ago, when the bones of two or three human skeletons were found. The public mind is strongly opposed to any violation, or disfiguring the original form of this beautiful structure, as well as of the old works generally. Several curious ornaments of stone and copper have been brought up at various times in digging graves in the adjacent grounds.

From the precaution taken to surround this mound with a ditch and parapet which was probably crowned also with palisades, it has been suggested that it was a place of sacrifice, and the de

fenses for the purpose of keeping off the common people, while the priests were engaged in their sacred offices."

The last article taken from Dr. Hildreth appeared in the "American Pioneer" for June, 1843 (vol. II, No. VI), and treats of the mounds: "PYRAMIDS AT MARIETTA. This beautiful specimen (see Fig. 5) of the skill and good taste of that ancient race of inhabitants who once peopled the rich bottoms and hillsides of the valley of the Ohio, stands on the western border of that high sandy plain which overlooks the Muskingum river, about one mile from its mouth. The elevation of this plain is from eighty to one hundred feet above the bed of the river, and from forty to sixty feet above the bottom lands of the Muskingum. It is about half a mile in width, by three-fourths of a mile in length, and terminates on the side next the river by a rather abrupt natural glacis, or slope, resting on the more recent alluvious or bottom lands. On the opposite side, it reclines against the base of the adjacent hills, except where it is cut off by a shallow ravine excavated by two small runs, or branches, which head near each other at the foot of the hills. On this plain are seated those ancient works so often mentioned by various writers. The main object of this article is to describe the two truncated pyramids, or elevated squares, as they are usually called. Since reading the travels of Mr. Stevens in Central America, and his descriptions of the ruins of Palenque and other ancient cities of that region, 1 have become satisfied in the belief, that these two truncated pyramids were erected for the purpose of sustaining temples or other public buildings. Those which he describes were generally constructed of stone, and the temples now standing on them are of the same material. He however saw some that were partly earth, and part stone. They are the work of a people further advanced in the arts than the race who erected the earthworks of Ohio; but that they were made by a people of similar habits and policy of government, there can be little doubt by anyone who has taken the trouble to compare the two. It may be objected that they are too distant from each other ever to have been built by the same race. Allowing that they were not of the same nation; yet similar wants, and similar habits of thinking, would probably lead to very similar results. But there can

be no reasonable objection to their being erected by a colony from Mexico, where the same works are found as in Central America. Neither is there any serious objection to their being the parent tribe of the Mexicans, driven away southerly by the more northern and warlike tribes; and these the structures which precede the more perfect one of stone. In Illinois there are similar earthen structures nearly one hundred feet high and three hundred in length.* Broad, elevated basements of this kind were no doubt intended for the support of public buildings or temples and must have been thrown up by the joint labor of the tribe for their general benefit.

While the structures of this character in the valley of the Mississippi were made of earth, and the superstructures or buildings which crowned them, of wood, those in Central America were built of stone, the imperishable nature of which has preserved them to this day. The wood has decayed and returned again to its parent earth hundreds of years since, while the clay on which the buildings rested, being also imperishable, remains to this day, bearing the outlines of the truncated pyramid in all its original beauty of form and proportion. The sides and top, where not covered with buildings, were probably protected from the action of rains and frosts by a thick coating of turf, which prevented the wasting action of these powerful agents of destruction. And when, in the course of after years, the primeval forest had again resumed its empire, that served as a further protection and preserved them in the state in which they were found by the first white inhabitants of this valley. Our own opinion. is, that these earthworks of the valley of the Ohio, were more likely to have been built by the ancestors of the Mexicans, rather than by a colony from that country. One principal reason is, that if they proceeded from Mexico they would have left some relics of their labor in stone, as the Mexicans worked the hardest varieties with their indurated copper tools, with great neatness and facility. Nothing, however, of the kind has yet been discovered, unless the sculptured impressions of two human

* In all probability Dr. Hildreth refers here to the great Cahokia mound near East St. Louis, which is ninety feet high, seyen hundred feet long and five hundred in breadth.