sembles that of Cholula in Mexico. Buildings of wood, it is
highly probably, were erected on this mound, and the others found
in our western country of large dimensions. The Abbe Clavigero,
in his history of Mexico, has given a drawing of the great temple,
which was in the city of Mexico at the time of the Spanish con-
quest, and of two wooden buildings which were on its summit, to-
gether with their size. The Mexicans called the tumuli teocalli,
from the name of one of their gods. Teocalli means temple, or house
of God. The tumuli of the United States,^ere designed for the same
purposes that the Mexicans were.
Defensive works, mounds, &z;c. are common in various ptrts of
the state of Missouri. In shape, materials, structure, and dimen-
sions, thev correspond with those in other parts of the western
countrv, and were undoubtedly constructed by the same people,
who constructed those we have treated of. The number of tu-
muli or mounds, in the western country, it is confidently believed,
exceeds lour thousand. They alone demonstrate a population, in
former times, no way inconsiderable — and a population settled
down, and under the government of laws.
Mummies.
In the states of Tennessee and Kentucky, several human bodies
have been discovered in caves, by our people, in tolerable condi-
tions of preservation. Those found, had before inhumation, been
wrapped up in a kind of blanket, supposed to have been manufac-
tured with the lint of nettles, afterwards with dressed skins, and then
132 HISTORT OF THE
a mat nearly sixty yards in length. They were clad in a beautiful
cloth, interwoven with feathers, such as was manufactured by the
Mexicans in 1521, at the period of the Spanish conquest. Mr.
Haywood, in the 2d volume of his history of Tennessee, gives
the following description of two that were found, which we beg
leave to insert. " In the year 1811, two human bodies were found
in a cave, in the county of Warren. The one was a male, and the
other a female. They were entered in baskets made of cane.
They were both dislocated at the hip joints, and were placed erect
in the baskets. The flesh was entire. Around the female, next
to her body was placed a vrell dressed deer skin. Next to this was
placed a rug, very curiously wrought, of the bark of a tree and
feathers. The rug was woven into a cloth of a firm texture. The
whole of the ligaments of the rug, thus framed of bark, was com-
pletely covered by feathers, forming a body of the one eighih of an
inch in thickness. The appearnnce was highly diversified, with
green, blue, yellow, and black, presenting diffierent shades of color,
when reflected upon by light in different positions. The next co-
vering was an undressed deer skin, around which was rolled a plain
shroud, manufactured after the same order as the one manufactured
with feathers. The female had in her hand a fan, formed of the
tail feathers of a turkey. The points fo these feathers were curi-
ously bound by a buckskin string, well dressed, and were thus
closely bound for about an inch from the points. About three
inches from the points, they were again bound by another deer skin
siring, in such a manner, that the fan might be closed or expanded.
Her hair was yellowish, and of fine texture. The cave in which
she and the male was found, abounded in nitre, alum, copperas, and
sahs. De Soto in 1539, and 1540, when he visited Florida, and
the interior, saw great numbers of these mantles." Pages 163,
164, and 165. In vol. 2, Mr. Haywood at p. 12, remarks:
" That caves are very abundant on the sides of the mountains in
Tennessee. That many bones of the ancient inhabitants are found
in them, and some skeletons in a state of preservation, in the nitrous
dirt in them." Again at p. 72, he says ; " That in the big bone
cave, a scoop-net made of bark thread, a moccasin, and a mat, en-
STATE or NEW-YORK. 133
veloping human bones, were found in saltpeter dirt, six feet below
the ground."
The Mexicans, according to Clavigero, and others Spanish wri-
ters, made feathered mantles, fans, &c.
A human body was found in ihe same state, in a similar cave,
on the cane branch of Cumberland river. It was three feet below
the surface, enveloped in copperas, common earth, and rock, and
enclosed in a coffin or basket, made of canes, and shrouded in
clothes and skins, similar to the preceding. The hair on the head
was brown.
In 1814, a human body was discovered in a saltpetre cave, in the
town of Glasgow, in the state of Kentucky, two hundred yards
from the entrance, and nine feet below the surface. It was wrapped
up in cloth, fabricated of a species of the lilly and papaw, and then
with dressed deer skins, the hair being left on the skins. The body
was in a sitting posture. The hair on the head was a dark brown,
^nd rather of a fine texture. Most of the flesh was preserved, but it
was dried and hardened, being charged with saltpetre, and the car-
bonate of lime. This subject was presented to Mr. Scudder, by
Mr. Bogard of New-York> and it is now to be seen in his museum.
It was not an adult.
These bodies when found, had been entered, perhaps, for cen-
turies before the visiting of America by Columbus. They were
of a different race from the modern Indians of the United States.
Perhaps they belonged to the Toltecan, Acolhuan, or Aztec races,
who in succession, arrived in Mexico, conquered, and peopled it.
The Toltecans were banished from their country about the year
596, of our era, and arrived in Mexico or Anahuac, as it was called,
before the Mexicans came there, about the year 700, having spent
104 years in their journeying. The Acolhuans and Aztecks came
afterwards. The identity of the cloth in which the inhumed bodies
were wrapped, wilh that made by the Mexicans in the sixteenth
century, would seem to point out to us, that the original seats of
some, or all of these people, were in the United States. But we
shall pursue the snbject farther, and introduce more evidence.
In one of the saltpetre caves in Kentucky, the body of the Pe-
cari, or Mexican hog, has been found in a good state of preservation.
134 HISTORY OF THE
The Pecari, it is well known, is not a native of Kentucky, or those
states bordering the Mississippi. It cannot endure the winters in
the regions adjoining that river, much less that of Kentucky. It is
an indigene of Mexico, and had been domesticated by the Tolte-
cans and Mexicans. The Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws,
Creeks, Moheakanneews, Hurons, he. had no domestic animal ex-
cept the dog. They were not in the habit of carrying animals from
one place to another for shows ; nor were they, unless it might have
been the Natchez, the ancestors of the Creeks, in the habit of
making excursions to Mexico. Tiiey had no collections of beasts
and birds ; but the Mexicans had when visited by the Spaniards in
the early part of the sixteenth century. It may be asked, how did
the Pecari come to Kentucky.^ We answer, that it was brought
there by some of the Toltecans, Acolhuans, or Mexicans, either for
a show, or for the purpose of propagation. All these nations had
and spoke one common language. The migrations to Anahuac,
or Mexico, as we shall presently show, were made at different, and
at distant periods. The whole body of the nation did not emigrate
at one, or two, or even three periods. An intercourse must then
have subsisted between the different and separate members of this
nation, similar, only it was by land which has subsisted between the
people of Great Britain and Ireland, and the people of the United
States since the colonization. Some of those who had emigrated
must then have visited their native country, while others must have
gone from home to Mexico, either to see the country or settle in it.
Such an intercourse must have existed in the very nature of things.
We see such an intercourse practised among us. How many of the
New England emigrants have revisited their native land in order to see
their near and dear relations and friends? And how many of our
people, and this very people, have returned from Ohio, Indiana, Il-
linois, he. for the same purpose .'' And can it be questioned but
what the Toltecans and Acolhuans practised the same.'' We an-
swer not. In all ages, and aniong all nations, a correspondence
has been kept up for a longer or sliorter time between the colonies
and parent states. We speak only of nations that have sent out
colonies. Tyre corresponded with Carthage; the Jews, after the
Babylonish captivity, corresponded with their countrymen who re-
STATE OF NEW-YOMC.
135
mained beyond the Euphrates ; the Greeks corresponded with their
colonies in Italy, Sicily, Egypt, Sic; the Romans and the Germans
corresponded with their colonies. All the European nations who
have planted colonies in America have corresponded with thera.
In all the instances cited the correspondence was mutual.
TOLTECAN AND MEXICAN AnTIQ,UIT1ES.
The Toltecan and Mexican antiquities are more numerous and
diversified than those in the United States, consequences of their
more recent origin, greater progress in civilization, attainments in
the arts, &£C. They consist of fortifications, tumuli, tombs, aque-
ducts, canals, dykes, roads, sculptures, vases, earthen pots, jars,
looking-glasses, stone and copper axes, pikes pointed with copper,
silver and gold vessels, and other utensils of use and ornament.
The Toltecan and Mexican towns and cities were surrounded
with walls of earth or stone, and ditches; most commonly with the
former, and Other defensive works. These towns were entered by
gates. The cities of Mexico, Cholula, Tlascala, &tc. were all for-
tified with walls and towers. The Tlascalans, at the time the Span-
iards invaded their country, resided in fortified towns. That side
of their country most exposed to the invasions of the Mexicans, was
defended by a wall constructed of stone and earth, seven or eight
miles in length ; it had gates and towers, and was defended by sol-
diers. The Spaniards invested Mexico for seventy-five days before
they look it. All the approaches were fortified, independent of the
wall surrounding it. The great temple in the city of Mexico was
enclosed with a stone wall, the stones of which were laid in lime
mortar. The enclosure contained enough of ground for five hun-
dred houses ; it was entered by gates which were opened and shut
on suitable occasions. Battlements, turrets, and other defensive
works were appended to the wall. But, as enough has been said
on the subject of fortifications, we shall not detain the reader any
longer with them ; merely refering him for farther information to the
Abbe Clavigero, and some other Spanish authors of an earlier date.
136 '^' history of the
Tumuli.
These consisted of three kinds, round, setniglobular, and squar6^
or pyramidal ; tliey were large and stnall. The former were com-
posed of three, four or five square or oblong bodies, of which the
higher was less in amplitude than the lower. They had no hollow
or cavity, unless it might have been in some few instances^ but were
solid masses of earth.
The great tumulus, or temple of Mexico, which was mostly de-^
stroyed by the Spaniards at the reduction of that city in the year
1521, consisted of five bodies, or terraces, which rose one above
another to the height of one hundred and fourteen feet, or upwards,
exclusive of two towers which stood on the summit, which were
each fifty-six feet high, and which gave a perpendicular elevation
of one hundred and seventy feet, or more. The base was about
three hundred and thirty-four feet in length, and about two hundred
and eighty feet in breadth, and contained two acres and some
perches of ground. The second terrace was about fourteen feet
shorter, and about the same number of feet narrower than the first.
The third was about the same number of feet shorter and narrower
than the second ; the fourth and fifth decreased in the same ration
The space between each terrace was sufficiently broad for three or
four men to walk abreast all around. The ascent to the summit
was on the south side, and consisted of one hundred and fourteen
steps, each being about one foot high. Each step consisted of one
or more well formed stones ; the ascent, or stair-way, was not con-
tinuous, but was divided into as many 'parts as there were terra-
ces ; so that, after ascending to the top of the first terrace, it was
necessary to advance around the space between the first and second
terraces, in order to ascend to the third, and so of the rest. The
summit was a plain about two hundred and seventy-eight feet in
length, and two hundred and twenty-four in breadth, paved with
flat stones.
This tumulus, or temple, was enclosed by a stone wall very
thick, and eight feet in height crowned with battlements, and orna-
mented with many stone figures in the shape of serpents ; the stones
of which the wall was made were laid in lime mortar; the wall had
STATE OF NEW-YORK. 137
four sjates looking to the four cardinal points ; over each gate there
was an arsenal filled with offensive and defensive armour; the space
or enclosure between the wall and the temple was paved, and was
sufficiently large for a town of five hundred houses.
The towers already mentioned were fifty-siK feet high each, and
stood at the eastern extremity of the upper plain. Each tower
was divided into three parts; the lower part of each was construe-,
ted of stone laid in lime mortar, and the middle and upper parts of
wood, very well wrought and painted. In the space or enclosure
between the wall and temple, there were upwards of forty tumuli of
smaller dimensions; the sacrifices were usually made on the area of
the upper plain of the great temple ; this temple was mostly con-:
structed of earth. Besides the great tumulus, or temple, and the
small tumuli in the enclosure, there were many others in the city
of Mexico; but few or none of these now remain, having been level-:
ed by the conquerors. The preceding are taken from M. Clavi-
gero's History of Mexico.
Several of the mounds in the Uni'.ed States are surrounded with
walls and ditches having entrances. The reader will remember
that we have already said that there were six tumuli near the defen-
sive works on Paint creek in Ohio, surrounded with a parapet and
ditch, one near the works at Marietta, and four at Licking, in the
same state, all enclosed with parapets and ditches. Mr. Haywood,
the historian of Tennessee, observes that many of the mounds in
that state were enclosed with ditches and walls. Pavements were
not uncommon in Mexico ; the remains of several have been disco-r
vered in some of our western states, On a supposition that the
city of Mexico had been deserted for some ages, the pyramidal
structures would have had a resemblance to the two groups at Ka-
hokia. The dwellings of the inhabitants would have mouldered
away, and nothing would have remained but the mounds. There
may have been a large town at Kahokia, and the mounds may be
the only vestiges remaining.
Not far from the great temple there was a huge mound of earth,
called by the Mexicans Huitzompan, in the form of a half pyramid^
one hundred and fifty-four feet long at its base, with a breadth some-
what less. The ascent tq the plain upon the top, was by a stair?
VOL. II. 18
138 HISTORY OF THE
case of thirty steps. Upon this plain were erected, about four feet
asunder, more than seventy very long beams bored from top to bot-
tom. Through these holes sticks were passed across from one beam
to another ; upon each of these sticks a certain number of heads
were strung, or suspended, by the temples ; at each end of the
mound there was a small tower, which appeared to have been made
only of skulls and lime. Upon the steps of the ascent of the stair-
case, or ascent leading to the top, there was a head betwixt every
stone. — Clavigero.
The temple, or tumulus of Quetzalcoatl, in the city of Mexico
alone differed from the rest in structure, it being round or circular ;
the others were all quadrangular erections, that is square structures
of earth. — Clavigero.
The tumulus of Quetzalcontl resembled the great mound on Big
Grave creek in Virginia ; that near Circleville, in Ohio, and the les-
ser of the two great mounds at Kahokia, and some others which we
have designated in the western states.
The temples, or tumuli of Tezcuco, Cholula, and Teotihuacan,
were very celebrated at the time of the conquest in 1521. Bernal
Diaz says, and he was an eye witness, that the stairs of the temple
of Tezcuco had one hundred and seventeen steps, and that of Cho-
lula one hundred and twenty.
All the old Spanish historians speak with wonder of the number
of temples, or tumuli, at Cholula. Cortes, the conqueror, says,
that from the top of one temple he counted more than four hundred.
See Clavigero's Hist, of Mexico.
The Mexican temples, or mounds of large dimensions, were
generally of a pyramidal form, rising, not by steps, but by a succes-
sion of four or five lofty terraces. Buildings were erected on their
summits. The access to the summit was by a grand staircase on
the outside. The kings, nobles, and priests, were buried in places
constructed within them ; oblations were offered on the summits.
The most remarkable of the temples still remaining, are those of
Teotihuacan, Cholula, and Papantla. The first is situated in the
vale of Mexico, about eight leagues north-east of the city of Mex-
ico, in a beautiful plain, called the path of the dead, where there
are two which are very large, and surrounded by hundreds of
STATE OF NEW-YORK. 139
smaller ones, forming streets or avenues in straight lines from north
to south, and from east to west. Each side of the base of the
largest measures six hundred and eighty-two feet ; the base com-
prises an area of ten acres two roods and twenty-eight perches of
land, which are two acres two roods and some perches more of land
than the base of the grand pyramid in Egypt covers. The perpen-
dicular height is one hundred and eighty feet. Its cubical contents
exceed one million five hundred thousand yards. All this earth
was brought from a short distance by men, without the aid of beasts
of burden, for the Toltecans, Acolhuans, and Mexicans, had none
of these. Many thousand men must have been employed for years
in the labor and structure of this enormous pile of earth so very
useless. This mound, it is supposed, was erected by the Tolte-
cans, in the eighth century of our vulgar era. The smaller tumuli
at this place, are not above thirty feet in perpendicular eleva-
tion. Some have supposed these to have been the tombs of the
chiefs ; their purposes were, it is likely, the same as those of the
great tumuli. Sacrifices, on ordinary occasions, and other obla-
tions, were offered on them.
All the tumuli of Teotihuacan are constructed of earth, and must
have cost immense labor during a succession of ages. But the
greatest and most celebrated of all these pyramidal structures, is
the tumulus of Cholula, which at a distance has the appearance of
a natural hill covered with vegetation. Its perpendicular height is
one hundred and eighty feet, according to some accounts, and one
hundred and seventy-seven according to others. Each side of its
base is one thousand four hundred and forty feet, according to one
account, and one thousand four hundred and sixteen according to
another account. It has four great stages or stories. Its sides are
exactly with the meridian, and the other points north and south,
east and west. It covers about forty-eight acres of land, agreeable
to one of the dimensions of its base, and some less, agreeable to the
other. It is built of brick and earth in alternate layers. The Span-
iards have erected a chapel on the platform or summit.
The road made a few years ago from Puebla to Mexico, was
carried through the first terrace, which laid open a square room in
the interior built of bricks, and supported by cypress beams. The
140 History of the
bricks were stepped over each other, the upper overreaching the
lower, so as to meet and form a kind of Gothic arch ; a mode
of structure not uncommon among the ancient Egyptians and Hin-
doos. This room had no door or butlet, but contained two human
skeletons, several idols in basalt, and a number of curiously var-
nished and painted vases. See M. D. Humbolt's travels in Mexico.
We have occasionally interspersed remarks ; it will be seen that
we have adopted the same course in relation to extracts and sepa-
rate passages, taken from the history of Mexico by the Abbe Clavi-
gero. We shall have to pursue a similar course with regard to the
subsequent extracts we shall make from these and other writers.
The pyramid of Papantla, which was! discovered only about the
year 1780 by some Spanish hunters, is more tapering than any
other monument of the kind known, being only about eighty feet
broad at the base, and sixty-five feet in perpendicular height. It is
built entirely of hewn stone, of an extraordinary size and regular
shape. There are three staircases leading to the top. This pyra-
mid is covered with hieroglyphical sculptures and small niches, to
the number of three hundred and eighteen, cut in its sides, and ar-
ranged with great symmetry. These sculptures are supposed to
have reference to the signs of the zodiac. Iron, or copper instru-
ments must have been used in making these sculptures. The Mex-
icans were possessed of the art of tempering copper, so that it an-
swered nearly the same purpose as tempered steel. The sides of
the pyramid of Papantla face the four cardinal points.
Near Ceuernavac, on the road from Mexico to Acapulco, there
is another of these stone temples which is square at its base, and
rises by a series of platforms to its summit, each of the squares of
its base measuring seventy-five feet. The entire structure is
made of wrought stones, fitted and adjusted to each other, so that
the whole constitutes a strong, solid, and durable work. The Pe-
ruvians fitted the stones which they used in their temples, palaces,
and other edifices, in the same manner.
Observations.
Tumulose structures are to be seen at this day in every province
of the Mexican empire, and westwardly and north-vvestwardly of
STATE OF NEW-YORK. *V 14 J
that empire to the gulf of California, the rivers Gila, Colerado, &c.
on quitting the vale of Mexico they, however, seetn to decrease in
numbers and magnitude. Here, then, we may reasonably conclude,
that the nation had attained its achme in civilization and the arts.
Here the densest and most numerous population was collected.
Here was the seat of the most opulence. In the ancient states of
Egypt, of Babylon, of Persia, of Greece, of Carthage, and of Rome,
the most splendid temples, pyramids, amphitheatres, and other pub-
lic edifices, were erected in the capitols, and those other places
containing the greatest population and wealth. The same takes
place in modern Europe, and in our own country.
In the valleys of the Mississippi and Ohio, which appear to have
been the original seats of the ancestors of the Toltecans, Acolhuans,
Mexicans, &;c. tumulose structures, and works of defence, at times
approach those of Mexico, in numbers, magnitudes, and grandeur
of design. We allude to those at Kahokia, Paint creek, Circleville,
Licking, Marietta, Big Grave creek, &c. The mode of structure
is the same if we exclude the stone pyramids. In both regions we
find square and round[mounds or temples. In both regions the de-
fensive works are round, square, and irn'gular, and in some in-
stances made of stone.
Contrasts. •'^
The great lemple of Teotihuacan has in its outlines a resem-
blance to that of Belus, which was at Babylon. The latter, ac-
cording to Herodotus, was a square tower, built in the form of a
pyramid. Every one of its sides at its base measured six hundred
and sixty feet. Its height was about the same. Around the out-
side there was a winding passage (stairway,) from the bottom to the
top, sufficiently broad to permit carriages to pass each other. (By "
this we understand space or room enough for a carriage road. Car-
riages never ascended or descended the passage spoken of by He-
rodotus. He speaks figuratively.) It had the appearance of eight
square towers built one above another, and gradually decreasing to /
the top of the building. According to another account, the ascent
to the summit was by stairs on the outside, in a sloping direction,
and of a spiral form. The latter account is the more probable.
142 I HISTORY OF THE