IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) S^ ^ ^.,. ^Ik^ 1.0 I.I ■-121 |50 "^= II 2.5 IIIIIM 1.8 1.25 1.4 1.6 ^ 6" ► V] riginaux sont fiimds en commenpant par la premiere page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par la dernidre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. The last recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain the symbol ^»> (meaning "CON- TINUED"), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), whichever applies. Un des symboles suivants apparaitra sur la dernidre image de chaque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbols — ► signifie "A SUIVRE ", le symbole V signifie "FIN". Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre filmds d des taux de reduction diffdrents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clichd, il est film6 A partir de Tangle supdrieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images n^cessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. 1 2 3 32X 1 2 S 4 5 6 ■-V I SJ/. 9 ©HE rs. (Cup fouiul in Mound ;it l{;iiny Uivtr, Aiiir. Jjiul, iSS^.) Professor in Manitoba Collt'jye an«l President of the Historieal Society, Winnipej;-. — <«»- — PRICE, 25 CENTS. {Season 1884-85, Transaction 18) (IIISTOHICAL SOCIETY.) Manitoba Free Press Print, Winnipeg. mi ^7 253987 57 (Cj^-^< / tl) i yl-y ©HE (QOUND BUILDEF^S. A Lost Race Described by Or. Bryce, President of the Historical Society. SEASON 1884-85. Ours ai*e the only mounds making up a distinct mound-region on Canadian soil. This comes to us as a part of the large inheri- tance which we who have mii;rated to Manitoba receive. No longer cribbed, cabined, and confined, we have in this our "great- er Canada " a far wider range of study than in the fringe along the Canadian lakes. Think of a thousand miles of prairie ! The enthusiastic Scotsman was wont to despise our level Ontario, be- cause it had no Grampians, but the mountains of Scotland all piled together would reach but to the foot hills of our Rockies. The Ontario geologist can only study the rocks in garden plots, while the Nor' wester revels in the age of reptiles in his hundreds of miles of Cretaceous rocks, with the largest coal and iron area on the continent. As with our topography .so with history. The career of the Hudson's Bay Company, which is in fact the history of Rupert's Land, began 120 years before the history of Ontario, and there were forts of the two rival Fur Companies on the Saskatchewan and throughout the country, before the first U. E. Loyalist felled a forest tree in Upper Canada. We are es- pecially fortunate in being the possessors also of a field for archae- ological study in the pvjrtion of the area occupied by the mound builders —the lost race, whose fate has a strange fascination for all who enquire into the condition of Ancient America. The Indian guide points out these mounds to the student of history with a feeling of awe ; he says he knows nothing of them; his fathers have told him that the builders of the mounds were of a different race from them — that the mounds are memorials of a vanished people — the " Ke-te-'anish-i-na-be," or " very ancient men." The oldest Hudson's Bay officer, and the most intelligent of the native people, born in the country, can only give some vague story of their connection with a race who perished with small-pox, but who, or whence, or of what degree of civilization they were, no clue is left. m m • •• ••• • • • • • • • It must be said moreover that a perusal of the works written about the idouiuIh, especially of the very lar{j;e contributions to the subject found in the Smithsonian Institution publications, leaves the mind of the reader in a state ot thorough confusion and un- certainty. Indeed, the facts relating to the Mound Builders are as perplexing a problem as tlu- purpose of the Pyramids, or the story of King Arthur. Is it any wonder that we hover about the dark mystery, and find in our researches room for absorbing study, even though we cannot reach absolute certainty ? Could you have seen the excitement which prevailed among the half-dozen settlers, I had employed in digging the mound on Rainy Rivei-, in August last, when the })erfect pottery cup figured below was found, and the wild enthusiasm with which they prosecuted their further work, you would have said it requires no previous training, but simply a successful discovery or two to make any one a zealous mound explorer. A MOUND DESCRIBED. A mound of the kind found in our region is a very much flattened cone, or round-topped hillock of earth. It is built usu- ally, if not invariably where the soil is soft and easily dug, and it is generally possible to trace in its neighborhood the depression whence the mound material has been taken. The mounds are as a rule found in the midst of a fertile section of country, and it is pretty certain from this that the mound builders were agricul- turists, and chose their dwelling places with their occupation in view, where the mounds are found. The mounds are found accordingly on the banks of the Rainy River and Red Rivei, and their affluents in the Northwest, in other words upon our best land stretches, but not so far as observed around the Lake of the Woods, or in barren regions.. Near fishing grounds they greatly abound. What seem t;0 have been strategic points upon the river were selected for their sites. The promontory giving a view and so commanding a considerable stretch of river, the point at the junction of two rivers, or the debouchure of a river into a lake or vice versa is a favorite spot. At the Long Sault on Rainy River there are three or four mounds grouped together along a ridge. Here some persons of strong imagination profess to see remains of an ancient fortification, but to my mind this is mere fancy. Mounds in our region vary from 6 to 50 feet in height, and from 60 to L3(> feet in diameter. Some are circular at the base, others are elliptical. • • • • • • • t • • • • • • . .im. --:.h-«-» ....i**, wi«fe-fc»^=.^.,...>.a«-jf ^i».a«.^»«a- 8 MOUND REGIONS. The mounds have lon|^ been known as occurring in Central America, in Mexico, and along the whole extent of the Missisisippi valley from the Gulf of Mexico to the great lakes. Our North- west has, however, been neglected in the accounts of the mound- bearing region. Along our Red River 1 can count some six or eight mounds that have been noted in late years, and from the banks hav- ing been peopled and cultivated I have little doubt that others have been obliterated. One formerly stood on the site of the new unfinished Canadian Pacific Hotel in this city. The larger num- ber of those known are in the neighborhood of the rapids, 16 or 18 miles below Winnipeg where the fishing is good. Tn 1870 the Historical Society opened one of these, and obtained a consider- able quantity of remains. It is reported that there are mounds also on Nettley Creek, a tributary of the lower Red River, also on Lake Manitoba and some of its affluents. During the past sum- mer it was my good fortune to visit the Rainy River, which lies some half way of the distance from Winnipeg to Lake Superior. In that delightful stretch of country, extending for 90 miles along the river there are no less than 21 mounds. These T identify with the mounds of Red River. The communication be- tween Red and Rainy River is effected by ascending the Red Lake River, and coming by portage to a river running from the south into Rainy River. Both Red and Rainy River easily con- nect with ohe head waters of the Mississippi. Our region then may be regarded as a self-contained district including the most northerly settlements of the strange race who built the mounds. I shall try to connect them with other branches of the same stock, lying further to the east and south. For convenience I shall speak of the extinct people who inhabited our special region as the Takawgamis, or farthest north mound builders. MOUND VARIETIES. The thirty or forty mounds discovered up to this time in this region of the Takawgamis have, so far as examined, a uniform structure. Where stone could be obtained there is found below the surface of the ground a triple layer of flat limestone blocks, placed in an imbricated manner over the remains interred. In one mound, at the point where the Rainy Lake enters the Rainy River, there is a mound situated on the property of Mr. Pither, Indian agent, in which there was found on excavation, a struc- ture of logs some 10 feet square, and from six to eight feet high. In all the others yet opened the structure has been simply of earth of various kinds heaped together. It is possihle that the mound containing tiie log erection may have been for sacrifice, for the logs are found to have been charred. One purpose of all the mounds of the Takawgamis was evidently sepulture ; and in them all, charcoal lumps, calcined bones and other evirlences of fire are found. It would seem from their position that all the mounds of this region were for the purpose oi observation as well as sepul- ture. The two purposes in no way antagonize. For the better understanding of the whole I have selected the largest mound of the Takawgamis yet discovered, and will describe it more minutely. THE GRAND MOUND. It is situated on the Rainy River, about 20 miles from the head of Rainy River. It stands on a point of land where the Missachappa or Bowstring River and the Rainy River join. There is a dense forest covering the river bank where the mound is found. The owner of the land has made a small clearing, which now shows the mound to some extent to one standing on the deck of a steamer passing on the river. The distance back from the water's edge is about 50 j'ards. The mound strikes you with great surprise as your eye first catches it. Its crest is covered with lofty trees, which overtop the surrounding forest. These thriving trees, elm, soft maple, basswood and poplar, 60 or 70 feet high now thrust their root tendrils deep into the afore- time softened mould. A foot or more of a mass of decayed leaves and other vegetable matter encases the mound. The brushy sur- face of the mound has been cleared by the owner, and the thicket formerly upon it removed. The circumference of one fine poplar was found to be 4 feet 10 inches ; of another tree, 5 feet 6 inches, but the largest had lately fallen. Around the stump the last measured seven feet. The mound is eliptical at the base. The longest diameter, that is from east to west, the same direction as the course of the river, is 117 feet. The, corre- sponding shorter diameter from north to south is 90 feet. The circumference of the mound is consequently 325 feet. The highest point of the mound is 45 feet above the surrounding level of the earth. As to height the mound does not compare un- favorably with the celebrated mound at Miamisburg, Ohio, known as one of the class of " observation mounds," which is 68 feet high and 852 feet around the base. In addition to its purpose of sepulture, everything goes to show that the " Grand Mound " of Rainy River was for observation as well. 01 th be THE EXCAVATION. Two former attciii I »ts had been made to open tlii.s moimd. One of thewe liad been made in the top, and the hiij,'e skull he- fore you wa.s then obtained. A more extensive effort was that made in 1883, by Mr. E. McL'olI, Indian agent, Mr. Crowe, H. B. Co. officer of Fort Frances, and a party of men. Their {)lan wavS to run a tunnel from north to south through the base of tlie mound. They had penetrated some ten or fifteen feet, found some articles of interest, and had then given uj) the undertaking. Having employed a number of men, settlers in the neighborhood, I determined to continw! the tunnel for a certain distance thiough the mound, all the way if indications were favorable, and then to pierce the mound from the top. The men in two parties went industriously to work on the opposite sides, working toward each other, making a tunnel about eight feet in diameter. The earth though originally soft soil had become so hard that it was neces- sary to use a pick axe to loosen it for the spade. A number of skeletons were found on the south side, but all 1 should say with- in ten feet from the original surface of the mound. As we pene- trated the interior fewer remains were continually found. The earth gave many indications of having been burnt. At one point the pick-axe sank ten inches into the hard wall. This was about fifteen feet from the outside. The excavator then dug out with his hand from a horizontal pocket in the earth eight or ten inches wide and eighteen or twenty inches deep, a quantity of soft brown dust, and a piece of bone some four inches long, a part of a human forearm bone. This pocket was i)lainly the original resting place of a skeleton, prol)ably in a sitting posture. As deeper penetra- tion was made brown earthy spots without a trace of bone re- maining were come upon. The excavation on the south side was continued for thirty feet into the mound, but at this stage it was evident that bones, pottery, etc., had been so long interred that they were reduced to dust. No hope seemed to remain now of finding objects of interest in this direction, and so with about forty feet yet wanting to complete the tunnel, the search was transferred to tlie top of the mound. '•/. THE UPPEll CUT. Beginning on the crest of the mound, the mould was re- moved over a considerable space, and though some trouble was found from the presence of the roots of the growing trees, yet three or four feet from the surface human bones and skeletons began to occur. In some cases a complete skeleton was found, 6 in other cases what nee ineil to he a circle otHkull.s, huried along- side charred iiones, t'raj^numts of pottery and othei- artich'-i. Several diHTerent excavations wore made on the niound surface, and it was found that every pait from the hase to the crest con- tained bones and skeletons, to the depth ot from six to ten feet as already said ; bones and artichssof interest were found thus far ; deeper than this notliin;;. I shall now describe the articles found in this mound, and refei" in some eases to what has been found in tlie other mounds of the Takawgainis. NATURAL PRODUCTS. 1. Bones Of the bones fouml, the skidls were the most interesting. In some cases it would seem as if they alone of the bones had been carri(M] from a distance, peihaps from a distant part of the mound builders' territory, from a battle field or some other s))ot. In some cases this was proved, by the presence in the eye-sockets and cavities of clay of a different kind from that of the mound, showing a previous interment. The mound was plainly a sacred spot of the family or sept. Before you are pieces of charred bone. Of the bones unburnt some were of large size. There are before us two skulls, one from the grand mound, the other from the Red Rivei mound opened by the Society in 1879. The following are the measurements of the two skulls which I have made carefully ; and alongside the average measurements of the Brachycephalic ty))e given by Dr. Daniel Wilson, as well as of the Dolichocephalic : Average Rainy River Red River Average DoLicHo- Skull. Skull. Brachy- cephalic. CEPHALIC. Longitudinaldiameter 7.24 7.3 in. 6.7 6.02 Parietal diameter 5.47 5.8 5.5 5.45 Vertical " 5.42 6.2 5.8 5.30 Frontal " 4.36 4.2 3.7 4.24 Intermastoid Arch 14.67 15.3 15.6 14.63 Intermastoid line 4.23 5.8 4.3 4.25 Occipito frontal Arch 14.62 17. 13.8 13.85 Horizontal circumference. 20.29 22.3 19.6 19.44 From this it will be seen that the Red River mound skulls agree with the Toltecan Brachycephalic type ; and the Rainy River skull while not so distinctly Brachycephalic yet is consider- ably above the average of the Dolichocephalic type. 2. Wood. A.-s alrea.ly stated it is only in some of the mounds that charred wood is found. This specimen is from the mound MMm nt. C()nt(ihctohong, at tho licnd of Rainy Rivor. ft Ntands V'^side tlio Rapids. This mound ha.s HUppli mI many intcicHtiiig rci ains. From tliJH fact an well as from its sitnation, I wtndy V^erandrye in 17*il, was a few hundred yards from tliis mound. .*{. Hark. Specimens of hirch hark were found near hy tho hones. It was no douiit originally usjmI for swathing or wrap- ping the corpH(!s huritul. That a soft decayal»l(! -iihstance such as Itark, should have lasted while a numher of bones had decayed nuiy seem strange. No doubt this nuiy bo explained in the same way as the presence among the renuiins in Hochelaga, on tiio Island of Montreal, of preseived fragments of maize, viz.: by its having been .scorclied. The pieces of bark seem to have been hardened by scorching. 4. Earth. The main (Wth of the mourn! is plainly the same as that of tho soil surrounding it. By what means the e'arth was piled up, is a (piestion for speculation. It sei'iiis a mattei- of small njoinont. Possibly that the earth was carried in baskets, or vessels of considerable size is sufficient to account for it. My theory is that the mound was not erected b}' a vast company of busy workers as were the pyramids, but that it was begun at first for purposes of observation, that as interments were from time to time made in it sufficient earth was car ried up to effect the purpose, until in centuries the enormous aggregati' of earth was formed. Among the earth of the mound arc also found in si)()ts, quantities of red and yellow ochre. The fact that the skulls and bones .seem often to have a reddish tinge, goes to show that the ochi'e was used foi" the purp(jse of ornamentation. Sometimes a skirll is drawn out of the firm cast made bv it in the earth, and the cast is seen to be reddened by the ochre which was pr-obably smeared over the face of the slain warrioi*. The ochre is entirely foreign to the ear-th of which the mound is made, but being earthy remains long after even pottery has gone to decay. 5, Ore. Lying near this skull as if they had been placed in the hands of the corpse were two piecjos of metallic or-e, one of which is before you. A fresh section of it shows it to be Arsenical Iron Pyrites, each ]>iece vveighing four' or- five ounces. No doubt the shining ore and its heavy weight attracted notice, although it is of no commercial value. The probabilities are that this ore wa« regarded as sacred, and possibly having been con- sidered valuable was placed beside the corpse as the ancient obolus was laid beside tiie departed (ireek to pay his fare to crusty Charon. Figure 1. Mound Builders' Implements. ft MANUFACTURED ARTICLES. 1. Stove Implements. The stone articles found, no doubt form a very small proportion of the implements used by the lost race. I am able to show you three classes of implements. (a.) Scrapers. (See c. Figure 1.) These were made after the same manner and from the same material as the flint arrow heads, found so commonly all over this continent. They are usually of an oval or elongated diamond shape, of various thicknesses, but thin at the edges. Their purpose seems to have been to assist in skinning the game, the larger for larger game, the smaller for rabbits and the smaller fur bearing animals. Probably these im- plements were also used for scraping the hides or skins manufac- tured into useful articles. (6.) Stone Axes and Malls. In the mound on Red River was found the beautifal axe of crystalline limestone, which ap- proaches marble. From the absence of stone so far as we know of this kind in this neighborhood, it is safe to conclude that it come from a distant locality. There are also gray stone celts and hammers used for crushing corn, for hammering wood and baik for the canoes, and other such like purposes, in time of peace ; and serving as formidable weapons in time of war. In the mound on the Red River a skull was discovered having a deep depression in the broken wall, as if crushed in by one of these impliments. (c.) Stone Tubes. (See b. Fig. 1.) These are among the most difficult of all the mound-builders' remains to give an opinion upon. They are chiefly made of a soft stone something like the pipestone used by the present Indians which approaches soapstone. The hollow tubes (see figure B.) vary from three to six inches in length, and are about one-half an inch in diameter. They seem to have been bored out by some sharp instrument. Schoolcraft, certainly a competent Indian authority states that these tubes were employed for astronomical purposes, that is to look at the stars. This is unlikely ; for though the race, with wliich I shall try to identify our mound builders are said, in region.v further south, to have left remains showing astro- nomical knowledge, yet a more reasonable purpose is suggested for the tubes. From the teeth marks around the rim, the tubes were plainly used in the mouth, and it is becoming generally agreed that they were conjuror's cupping instruments for sucking out as the medicine men pretended to be able to do the disease from the bouy. The custom survives in some of the present In- 10 dian tribes. A lady friend of mine infoi'ms me that she has a bone whistle taken from a mound in the Red River district. 2. Horn Implements. (See d. Figure 1.) The only imple- ment of this class that we have yet found is the fish spear head (Fig. D.). It was jjrobably made from the antlers of a deer killed in the chase. Its barbed edge indicates that it was used for spearing fish. It is in a fair state of preservation. 3. Copper. No discovery of the mounds so fills the mind of the Archaeologist with joy as that of copper implements. Copper mining has now by the discovery in the Lake Superior region, of mining shafts long deserted, in which copper was quarried by stone hammers on a large scale, been shown to have been pursued in very ancient t'mes on this continent. It is of intense interest for us to know that not only are there mines found on the south side of Lake Superior, but also at Isle Roy ale, on the north side just at the opening of Thunder Bay, and immediately con- tiguous to the Grand Portage, where the canoe route to Rainy River, so late as our own century, started from Lake Superior. According to the American Geologists the traces for a mile are found of an old copper mine on this Island. One of the pits opened showed that the excavation had been made in the solid rock to the depth of nine feet, the walls being perfectly smooth. A vein of native copper eighteen inches thick was discovered at the bottom. Here is found also, unless I am much mistaken, the mining location whence theTakawgamisof Rainy River obtained their copper implements. Two cop})er implements are in our possession, one found by Mr. E. McC^oll in the grand mound, and the other by Mr. Alexander Baker in a .small mound adjoining this. (a.) Copper Needle or Drill. (See A. Fig. 1.) This was plainly used for some piercing or boring purpose. It is hard, yields with difficulty to the knife, and is considered by some to have been tempered. It may have been for drilling out soft stone implements, or was probably used for piercing as a needle soft fabrics of bark and the like, which were being sewed together. (6.) Copper Cutting Knife. (See e. Fig. 1.) This has evi- dently been fastened into a wooden handle. It may have been used for cutting leather, being in the shape of a saddler's knife, or was perhaps more suited for scraping the hides and skins of animals being prepared for use. -- s'j-. 'f BSf.'^x "»Hap- ^'^ mrnM s mm^ sxT-r:./ 11 Some twenty miles above the mound on tlie Rainy River at Fort Frances a copper chisel buried in the earth was found by Mr. Pither, then H. B. Company agent, and was given by him to the late Governor McTavish. The chisel was ten inches long, was well tempered, and was a good cutting instrument. Another copper implement is in the possession of our Society, which was found buried in the earth 100 miles west of Red River. All these, I take it, were made from copper obtained from Isle Royale on Lake Superior. 4. Shell Ornaments. Traces are found in the mound, of the fact that the decorative taste, no doubt developed in all ages, and in all climes, was possessed by the Takawgamis. (a.) 8ea Shells. Important as pointing to the home and trading centres of the mound builders is the presence among the debris of the mound, of sea shells. We have three specimens found in the grand mound. Two of them seem to belonjj to the genus Natica, the other to Marginella. They have all been cut or ground down on the side of the o[)ening of the shell, so that two holes permit the passage of a string, by which the beads thus made are strung together. The fact that the genera to which the shells belong are found in the sea, as well as their highly polished surface show these to be marine; and not only so but from the tropical seas, either we suppose from the Gulf of Mexico or from the Californian coast. (6.) Fresh Water Shells. In all the mounds yet opened, ex- amples of the Unio, or River Mussel, commonly known as the clam have beed found. They are usually polished, cut into symmetrical shapes, and have holes bored in them. We have one which was no doubt used as a breast ornament, and was hung by a string around the neck. In the bottom of a nearly complete pottery cup, found in the grand mound, which went to pieces as we took it out, there was lying a polished clam shell. The clam fetill abounds on Rainy River. Six miles above the mound, we saw gathered together by an ijidustrious housewife hundreds of the same species of clam, whose shells she was in the habit of pulver- izing for the benefit of her poultry. 5. Pottery, (a.) Broken. It seems to be a feature of every mound that has been opened that fragments of pottery have been unearthed. The Society has in its possession remains of twenty or thirty pottery vessels. They are shown to be portions of dif- 12 ferent pots, by their variety of marking. The pottery is of a coarse sort, seemingly made by hand and rot upon a wheel, and then baked. The markings were made upon the soft clay, evi- dently with a sharp instrument, or sometimes with the finger nail. Some pieces are found hard and well preserved ; othera are rapidly disintegrating. As stated already, in the grand mound, a vessel some five inches in diameter was dug up by one of the workers, tilled with earth, which though we tried earnestly to save it, yet went to pieces in our hands The frequency with which fragments of pottery are found in the mounds has given rise to the theorv that being used at the time of the funeral rites the vessel was dashed to pieces as was done by some ancient nations in the burial of the dead. This theory is made very doubtful indeed by the discovery of the Figure 2. (h.) CcmpUte Pottery Oup. So far as I know this is the only complete cup now in existence in the region northwest of Lake Superior, though several others are said to have been disco- vered and been sent to distant friends of the finders. This cup, belonging now to the Historical Society was found in the grand mound, in company with charred bones, skulls, and other human bones, lumps of red ochre, and the shells just described. The dimensions of the cup are as follows ; 18 Mean diameter at top of rim 2.09 inches. Greatest mean diameter 3.03 Height 2 49 Thickness of material 092 " Weight oz. Whether the cup was intended for use as a burial urn, or simply for ordinary use it is difficult to say. Now, in endeavoring to sum up the results a few points need some discussion. 1. Who were the people who erected the mounds.'' Judging from the following considerations, I should say they were « NOT AN INDIAN RACE. Whoever built the mounds had a faculty not possessed by modern Indians. Building instincts seem hereditary. The beaver and the musk rat build a house. Other creatures to whom a dwelling might be serviceable, such as the squirrel obtain shelter in another way. And races have their distinctive ten- dencies likewise. It never occurs to an Indian to build a mound. From what has been already said as to the fertile localities in which the mounds are found we are justified in believing that their builders were agriculturists. Dr. Dawson in Montreal by the use of the microscope detected grains of charred corn in the remains of Hochelaga. I have examined a small quantity of the dust taken from one of the shells found in the grand mound, with the microscope, and though I am not perfectly certain, yet I believe there are traces of some farinaceous substance to be seen. On skirting the shores of the Lake of the Woods into which Rainy River runs, at the present time, you are struck by the fact that there are no Canadian farmers there, and likewise that there are no mounds to be seen, while along the banks of Rainy River both the agriculturist is found cultivating the soil and the mounds abound. It would seem to justify us in con- cluding that the farmer and the mound builder avoided the one locality because of its barren rocky character and took to the other because of its fertility. Moreover the continual occurrence of pottery in the mounds shows that the mound-builders weie potters as well, while none of the tribes inhabiting the district have any knowledge of the art of pottery. The making of pottery is the occupation peculiarly of a sedentary race, and hence 14 the building of a race likely to be agricultiuists. As it requiies faculty to originate the mound.s, .so it requires the constructive faculty to make pottery. In constructive ability our Indians are singularly deficient, just as it is with greatest ditticulty that they can be induced even on a small scale to practice agi'iculture. It has been objected to this conclusion that the Indians can make a canoe, which is a marvel in its way. But there is a great dif- ference in the two cases. In the canoe all the materials remain the same. The approximation to a chemical process makes the pottery manufacture a much more complicated matter. Indeed the Indian in token of his surprise at his success in being even able to construct a canoe, states in his tradition that it is the gift of the Manitou. Furthermore the mound builder used metal tools, and was [irobably a metal worker. It is true the copper implements mentioned, as having been lound were brought to Rainy and Red Rivers. I have, however, pointed out the inti- mate connection judging by the line of transport subsisting between Rainy River and Lake Superior, the mining locality for copper. To sink a mine in the unyielding Huronian rock of Lake Superior, with mallet and hammer and wedge and fire, take out the native copper, work it into the desired tools, and then temper these requires skill and adaptation unpossessed by the Indians. For centuries we know that the Lake Superior mines, in which are found tools and timber constructions, have been buried, filled in for ten feet with debris, and have rank vegetation and trees growing upon them. It is certain that the Indian races, even when shown the example, cannot when left alone follow the mining pursuit. Not only then by the ethnological, and other data cited do we conclude that the mound builders belong to a different race from the present Indians, but the tradition of the Indians is to the same effect. Then WHO WERE THE MOUND BUILDERS? I would lead you back now to what little we know from the different sources, of the early history of our continent. When the Spaniards came to Mexico in the early years of the 16th century, Montezuma, an Aztec prince was on the throne. The Aztecs gave themselves out as intruders in Mexico. They were a bloody and warlike race, and though they gave the Spaniards an easy victory it was rather a reception, for they were overawed by superstition as to the invaders. They stated that a few cen- turies beritic, t/iii'v had boen a wild tribe on the high country of the Rio Grande and Colorado, in New Mexico. The access from 16 the Pacific up the Colorado would agree well with the hypothesis that the chief sources of the aboriginal inhabitants of America were Mongolian, and that from parties of Mongols landing from the Pacific Isles on the American coast, the poj)ulation was de- rived. At any rate the Aztecs stated that before they invaded Mexict) from their original home, they were oreceded by a civil- ized race, well acquainted with the arts and science, knowing more art and asti'onomy in particular than they. They stated that they had exterminated this race known as THE TOLTECS. The main features of the story seem correct. The Toltecs seem to have b(?en allied to the Peruvians Tiieir skulls seem of tliu Brachycephalic type. The Toltecs were agriculturists, were mechanical, industrial, and constructive. In Mexico, and fur- ther south in Nicaragua, as well as northward, large mounds re- nmin which are traced to them. According to the Aztec story the Toltecans spread in Mexico fiom the seventh to the twelfth century at which latter day they were swept away. My theory is that it was this race — which must have been very numerous — which either came from Peru in South America, capturing Mexi- co and then flowing northward; or perhaps came from New Mexico, the American Scythia of that day, and sending one branch down into Mexico, sent another down the Rio Grande, which then spread up the Mississi[)pi and its tributaries The mounds mark the course of this race migration. They are found on the Mississippi. One part of the race seems to have ascended the Ohio to the great lakes and the St. Lawrence , another went up the Missouri, while another ascended the Mississippi proper and gained communication from its head waters with the Rainy and Red Rivers. When then did the crest of this wave of mi- gration reach its furthest northward point? Taking the seventh century as the date of the first movement of the Toltecs toward ctmquest in Mexico, I have set three or four centuries as the probable time taken for multiplication and the displacement of former tribes, until they ' reached and possessed this northern region of " The Takagamies," or far north mound builders. This would place their occupation of Rainy River in the eleventh cen- tury. Other considerations to which I shall refer seem to sustain this as the probable date. The grand mound is by far the v. LARGEST MOUND ' " on Rainy River. It is likewise at the mouth of the Bowstring River, which is its largest tributary and affords the readiest means of access fronj the Mississippi up which the Toltecan flood of emi- gration was surging. My theoiy is that here in their new homes, for three centuries they multiplied, cultivated the soil, and built the mounds which are still a monument to their industry. Here they became less warlike because mo''e industrious, and hence less able to defend themselves. I have already stated that the AZTEC WHIRLWIND OF CONQUEST swept into Mexico from the Northwest about the twelfth cen- century. The sanguinary horde partly destroyed and partly seized for its own use the civilization of the Toltecans. We have specially to do with an Aztec wave that seems to have surged up the valley of the Mississippi. As the great conquering people captured one region, they would settle upon it, and send off anew hive of marauders. Indian tribes, numerous but of the same savage type, are marked by the old Geographers as occupying the Mississippi valley. It was when one part of the northern horde came up the valley ot the Ohio, as the Savage Iroquois, and an- other up the head waters of the Missiiisippi as the Sioux, the tigers of the plains, that we became familiar in the sixteenth century with this race. The French recognized the Sioux as the same race as the Iroquois and called thtm "Iroquets" or little Iroquois. The two nations were confederate in their form of government; they had all the fury of the Aztecs, and resemblan- ces of a sufficiently marked kind are found between Sioux or Da- kota and the Iroquois dialect, while their skulls follow the Do- lichocephalic type of cranium. With fire and sword the invad- ers swept away the Toltecs ; their mines were deserted and filled up with debris; their arts of agriculture, metal working and pottery making were lost ; and up to the extreme limits of our country of the Takawgamis, only the mounds and their contents were left. OUR HISTORIC ERA saw the v3xpiring blaze of this tremendous conflagration just as the French arrived in Canada. Cartier sa sv a race in 1 535 in Hochelaga, who are believed to have had Brachycephalic crania, who were agriculturists, used at least implements of metal, dwelt in large houses, made pottery and were constructive in tendency. In IGOS when Champlain visited the same spot, there were none of the Hochelagans remaining. This remnant of the Toitecana 17 had been swept out of existence between the Algonquin wave from the east and the Iroquois from the southwest. The French heard of a similar race called the Eries and of another the Neu- trals, who had the same habits and customs as the vanished Hochelagans, but who had been visited by the scourge of the Iroquois on the Ohio as they ascended it, and had perished. Thus from the twelfth century, the time .set for the irruption of the savage tribes from New Mexico, two or three centuries would probably suffice to sweep away the last even of the farth<^st north Takawgarais. This, say the fifteenth century, would agree very well, not only with time estimated by the early French expioiers, but als*^ with the tradition of the Crees who claim that for three or four centuries they have lived sole possessors upon the borders of Lake Superior, Lake of the Woods, and Lake Winnipeg. Our theory then is that the mound builders occupied the region of Rainy and Red Rivei's from the eleventh to the fifteenth centur- ies. Their works remain. ,, HOW OLD then are the mounds ? If our conclusions are correct the oldest mound in our region cannot exceed 800 years, and the most re- cent must have been completed upwards of 400 years ago. Look at further considerations, which lead to these conclusions. We learn, that 200 years ago, viz.: in 1683, the " Clistinos " and "Assinipouals" (Crees and Assiniboines) were in their present country. The Crees were at that time in the habit of visiting both Lake Superior and Hudson's Bay for the purpose of trade. They were then extensive nations and no trace of a nation which preceded them was got from them. The fallen tree on the top of the grand mound, judging by the concentric rings of its trunk is 150 or 200 years old, and yet its stump stands in a foot or more of mould that must have taken longer than that time to form. Even among savage nations it would take upwards of half a dozen generations of men, to lose the memory of so great a catas- trophe as the destruction of a former populous race. Then some 400 years ago would agree with the time of extermination of the Hochelagans, or with the destruction of the Eries, who according to Labontau were blotted out before the French came to the con- tinent. The Hochelagans, Eries, and Takawgamis being northern in their habitat, I take it were among the last of the Toltecaiis who survived. The white man but arrived upon the scene to succeed the farmer, the metal worker and the potter, who had passed away so disastrously, and to be the avenger of the lost race, in driving before him the savage red man 18 THE EARLIEST MOUND. I believe our grand inoiiml to be of the Takawgamis. It is the largest in the earliest in the region. the region It will be seen by reference to figure 3 that I arrive at its age in the folio w- RIVER Figure 3. ing way. Where it now stands, so striking an object, it is about one-third of a mile above the point where the Bowstring River enters the Rainy River. If however from the top of the mound you look southward through the trees a view may be got of the silver stream of the Bowstring, coming as if directly toward the mound. Originally no doubt this tributary flowed close by the mound, for the mound would undoubtedly be built on the ex- treme point. But as from year to year the Bowstring River de- posited the detritus carried down by it, it formed a bank or bar, and was gradually diverted from its course, until now, the peninsula some hundreds of yards across its base, has become up- 1!) wards of a third of" a luiK' loii^f. I infer that this peninsula, which I hI)ou1(1 say contains some seventy acres lias been formed since the mound — which fi'om its position seems for observation as well as for sepulture — was bejLjfun. Some 2()(i yards down the point from the i,M'and mound occurs another small mound. This IS jome eight or ten feet high, and fifty or sixty feet across. Along the point and close past this small mound runs an old water course, now a treeless hay meadow. At high water in spring, as I ascertained, the river still .sends its surplus water by this old channel. My ]»osition is that the 200 yards of earth between the site of the grand mound and that of the .small mound was dejwsited after the grand mound was hegun, and be- fore the connnencement of the small mound. Undoubtedly this small m<>und as well as a similar one not far up the river from the grand mound, were begun on account of the laborious work of carrying bones and earth to such a height, and on account of the numerous interments which have left the surface of the grand mound a bone pile. This is shown by the small mound being on a site more recent than that of the large mound. Suppose a hundred years to have sufficed to laise the small mound to its height when the devastating ruin of the Sioux slaughtered the last mound builder and checked the mound. From our pre ^^ious position this wojld represent a point some 500 years ago. But during this 500 years according to our hypothesis all of the point of land below the small mound, that is to say, about 300 yards in length, has been formed. The question then is, how long at the same rate must it have taken the 200 yards between the two mounds to form. This brings us then to a point say 300 years before the time of beginning of the small mound. We thus arrive at about 800 years ago as the time when the grand mound was begun. It will thus be seen that we have reached back to the eleventh cen- tury, the time previously deduced from historic date for the ar- rival of the Toltecans on the Rainy River. CONCLUSION. Our investigation has now come to an end. I have led you to examine the few fragments of a civilization which it would be absurd to declare to have been of the very highest type, but yet of a character much above that of the wandering tribes, which, with their well-known thirst for blood, destroyed the very arts and useful habits which might have bettered their condition. The whirlwind of barbarian fury is ever one which fills peaceful nations with terror. We may remember how near in the Pf,®^55^5S 20 "Agony of Canada,' tlu; Kii'iicli povvor was to oeing swept out of existeneti by the tii'iee iuiy of tin; InKpiois — up to that time always victorioUH. We may reiiieiuheihoweivilization in Minne- sota was thrown baiik by the Sio'ix inassacre of IHOl. It is only now by persistent and nnvvearifd ert'orts that we ean hope to concjuer the Indians l)y the aits of pc^aee. and l)y inducing iiini to take the lioe in plaet; of tiic tomahawk, to meet nature's obstacles Who can fail to heave a sigh for our northern Uiound builders, and to lament the destruction of so vast and civilized a race as the peaceful Tolte^'ans of Miixieo, of the Mississippi, and of the Ohio, to which our Takawgamis belonged '. After all, their life must in the main, ever renuiin a mystery. THE LOST RACE. "OiR' of uur visits t(i the iiutuiid was at night." Oh, silent mound! thy .stcri't full ! (iud's acre gazinj,' toward the sky, 'Midst soninre shade 'ncath angel'.s in'e Thou slec])est till the domnsday knoll. Sweet leaflets, on the towevuig elms, Oh whisjH'i' from your crested height! Or have lost lorests l)orne from sight The secret to their buried realms? Stay, bal)l)ling river, hurrying past, Cans't thou, who savv'st the toilers build. Mot picture on thy bosom stilled, Life-speaking sha(biw.s long since cast \ Or, echo, mocking us with sound, Repeat the bu.sy voice, we prav. Of moiling thousands, now dull clay. And waken up the gloom profound. Pale, shhnmering ghosts that Hit around, While spade and mattock death-fields glean, Open with words from the unseen Tne mysteries now in cerements bound. No answer yet ! We gaze in vain. With lamp and lore let science come. Now, clear eyed maiden!! — You, too. dumb ! Your light gone out !! — 'tis night again. And is this all ? an earthen pot ! A broken spear ! a cop])er i)in ! Earth's grandest prizes counted in, - ' ' A burial mound ! — the common lot ! Yes ! this were all; but o'er the mound, The stars, that fill the midnight sky, Are eyes from Heaven that watch on hich Till domesday's thrilling life-note sound. ■^ J out tiiiiu nnu- j • oiily )e to 111 to icloH (loi'M, ce as the . life • .-r * * i ''^^^^^^^K ' '