feet in the hard limerock near St. Louis be samples of their skill in the use of metallic implements. Further researches and careful analysis of known facts may yet throw more light on this dark subject. Dr. S. G. Morton, of Philadelphia, who has spent several years in examining the skulls of the aboriginal inhabitants of America, collected from the mounds and cemeteries from all parts of this continent, has come to the conclusion that the numerous tribes of dead and living Indians form but one race, and that race is peculiar to America. (Here follow several excerpts taken from Dr. Morton's paper delivered before the 'Boston Society of Natural History,' in April, 1843.*)

But to return to the description of the truncated pyramid, a figure of which stands at the head of this article. The spectator is standing on the top of one of the earthen parapets which form the walls of this 'ancient city,' within which the pyramid is situated. It is distant less than one hundred yards, northcasterly, from the opening of the 'via sacra,' or covered way, which leads down to the Muskingum river; a drawing and description of which also accompanies this article. The dimensions are as follows: The form is a parallelogram, one side of which is forty yards and the other sixty-five yards; the longer direction is southerly. The height is four yards, or twelve feet, above the adjacent surface of the plain; a regular glacis or avenue of ascent is thrown up on each side near the centre of the work; these are ten yards wide and eighteen yards long, rendering the ascent very easy. The foot of the south glacis terminates directly opposite the north wall of the 'via sacra,' which is about one hundred yards distant. The top of the pyramid is entirely level.

LESSER TRUNCATED PYRAMID: This work is seated near the southeast corner of the 'ancient city,' distant about forty rods. from the larger one. Its dimensions are as follows: Fifty yards long by forty-five yards wide; its height is eight feet above the surface of the plain. It has a glacis or avenue of ascent on three sides only, viz. the south, west, and east. Those on the west and east sides are not in the centre, but near to or only nine

* Dr. Hildreth contributed to crania taken from the mounds, in Morton's Crania Americana. See pp. 219, 220, and also from the caves, pp. 235-6. None from Marietta.

yards from the north side; that on the north side is near the centre. On the south side there is a recess or excavation in place of a glacis. It is sixteen yards long, and ten yards wide, and eight feet deep. This opening was probably covered by the building which stood on the pyramid, and formed a dark or secret chamber, in some way connected with their religious rites. The other three glacis are each ten yards wide and sixteen yards long. The whole is in fine preservation, and coated over with a nice turf of native grasses.

VIA SACRA,' OR COVERED WAY. This work, which exceeds all the others in magnitude of labor, is finely represented in the drawing. The observer is standing a little past the middle of the work towards the upper end of the way next to the truncated pyramid, and facing upon the Muskingum river, which runs at the foot of the little ridge between the trees figured on its banks. On the opposite shore are the Harmar hills. This road or way is two hundred yards long, and proceeds with a very gradual descent from near the western parapet walls of the city to the present bottom lands of the Muskingum. It is supposed that at the period of its construction the river ran near the termination of the road; but this is quite uncertain. It is fifty yards or one hundred and fifty feet in width, and finished with a regular crowning in the centre like a modern turnpike. The sides of this ancient 'Broadway' are protected by walls of earth rising in height as they approach the river, commencing with an elevation of eight feet and ending with eighteen feet on the inside; on the outside the wall is about seven feet above the adjacent surface in its whole length; the increased height within, as it approaches the river, being made by the depth of the excavation in digging away the margin of the elevated plain to the level of the Muskingum bottom lands. The average depth of the excavation in constructing this avenue, may be placed at ten feet, which will make one million of cubic yards of earth to be removed in constructing this grand way into the city. This earth was probably used, as we see no other source from which it could come so readily, in the erection of the larger truncated pyramid, and a portion of the adjacent walls of the 'fenced city.' But as this would consume but a small portion of the earth removed,

the balance was probably used in constructing a quay for the convenience of their boats. The earth from which the pyramid is made, was apparently not taken from the immediate vicinity, as there is no appearance of holes, or sunken spots, or vestiges of any earth being removed.

The transportation of this earth must have been an immense labor, as there is no probability that the inhabitants had any domestic animals to assist them in the work. The supposition is, that it was carried away in baskets on the shoulders of the men and women, a distance of one or two hundred yards, and placed where we now see it. This mode of removing earth is still practiced by several rude nations. The population of this ancient city must have been very considerable to have required so broad an avenue for their ingress and egress from its gates.

Traces of their hearths may yet be seen by digging away the earth in the inside of the parapets or walls, along the borders of which their dwellings would seem to have been erected. Numerous relics of copper and silver have been found in the cinders of these hearths. They are generally in the form of ornaments, rings of copper, or slender bars of copper that had been used as awls. In the mounds have been found several curious articles of metal. The bowl of a brass spoon is in the possession of the writer, taken from one of the parapets in the northwest corner of the old city, at the depth of six feet below the surface. Large quantities of broken earthenware was found when Marietta was first settled, lying on the surface, and especially in the bottom of an excavation called 'the well,' about one hundred yards from the lesser pyramid in a southerly direction. It was sixty or eighty feet wide at the top, narrowing gradually to the bottom like an inverted cone, to the depth of fifty feet. Numerous fragments of broken vessels were found here, as if destroyed in the act of procuring water from the well."

JOSIAH PRIEST'S "AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES."

The work of Josiah Priest, entitled "American Antiquities," originally published in 1833, is a sort of curiosity shop, made up of odds and ends of theories and statements pertaining to Amer

ican antiquities. It is of value in this connection only as containing a plate of the Marietta works made from a survey by S. De Witt in 1822. (See Fig. 7).

WORK OF SQUIER AND DAVIS.

In the year 1848 "Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley," by Squier and Davis, was published by the Smithsonian Institution. The result of this work was to promote a more active spirit of inquiry upon all questions connected with the ancient remains in the valleys of the Ohio and Mississippi. In one form or another it has become the real basis of all books written on the subject since its advent. In short it is the one standard authority on the subject. Although it has been criticised and even assaulted, yet it has maintained its position while its detractors have either or else are passing into oblivion. Both men, who engaged in its compilation, were singularly fitted for the task they essayed to perform.

"Ancient Monuments" publishes a map (Plate XXVI.) of the Marietta works taken from the survey and plan made by Colonel Charles Whittlesey in 1837. At that time Colonel Whittlesey was topographical engineer of the state. The great ability, well known accuracy and integrity of the man will always make this survey the authoritive one, however meritorious the others may be. The plan of the works (Fig. 8.) is supplemented (Fig.9) by cross and longitudinal sections which greatly enhance the value of the plate.

"Ancient Monuments" gives a view (Fig. 1) of the remains as they appeared just after the forest trees were cut away. This illustration has been made to do service in several different publications. A full page, colored illustration (Fig. 10) of the conical mound also appears in the contribution.

The account accompanying the plan embraces four and onehalf pages. The description of the two truncated pyramids is taken from that of Dr. Hildreth which first appeared in the "American Pioneer," for June 1843, and as I have already given it, there is no necessity for its repetition.

"In the vicinity (of the conical mound) occur several fragmentary walls, as shown in the map. Excavations, or 'dug holes,'