Many of the carvings in stone, already noticed, display no inconsiderable degree of taste and skill. There is, however, a large class of remains, comprising sculptural tablets, and heads and figures of animals, which belongs to a higher grade of art. Many of these exhibit a close observance of nature and a minute attention to details, such as we could only expect to find among a people considerably advanced in the minor arts, and to which the elaborate and laborious, but usually clumsy and ungraceful, not to say unmeaning, productions of the savage can claim but a slight approach. Savage taste in sculpture is generally exhibited in monstrosities,—caricatures of things rather than faithful copies. The dawn of art is marked by a purer taste; the result of an appreciation of the beauties of nature which only follows their close observance. The aim of the neophyte is to imitate, rather than distort, the objects which he sees before him. It is in this view that the sculptures taken from the mounds seem most remarkable; they exhibit not only the general form and features of the objects sought to be represented, but frequently, and to a surprising degree, their characteristic attitudes and expression.
It will, of course, be understood that nothing of the imposing character of many of the sculptured relics of Central America is found in the mounds. Aside from the stupendous earth structures, which deserve to be classed with the most wonderful remains of ancient power and greatness, there is nothing imposing in the monuments of the Mississippi valley. We have no sculptured façades of temples and palaces, invested with a symbolic meaning or commemorative of the exploits of chiefs and conquerors, nor have we ponderous statues of divinities and heroes,—nothing beyond the simplest form of stone structures. We must therefore estimate the minor sculptures which we discover here by other standards than those of Mexico and Peru, with which, from certain resemblances in other monuments, a comparison would be most likely to be suggested. They are simple in form as in design, and, as works of art, beyond a faithful observance of nature and great delicacy of execution, little can be claimed for them. In these respects they are certainly remarkable, and will be the more admired, the more closely they are inspected.
Some of these sculptures have a value, so far as ethnological research is concerned, much higher than they can claim as mere works of art. This value is derived from the fact that they faithfully represent animals and birds peculiar to other latitudes, thus establishing a migration, a very extensive intercommunication, or a contemporaneous existence of the same race over a vast extent of country. p243 The interesting inquiry here involved will be more appropriately made in another place, after an examination of the relics themselves.
It is a singular fact that no relics which were obviously designed as idols or objects of worship have been obtained from the mounds. Such are occasionally discovered on the surface, but none, so far as known, within the enclosures deemed sacred or defensive. Those which have been found are all of exceedingly rude workmanship, quite unlike any of the authenticated mound remains. They are more abundant in the region towards the Gulf than upon the Ohio, though not of frequent occurrence there. It is perhaps not to be wondered at that we discover none of these in the mounds, if our estimate of the purposes to which those structures were appropriated is a correct one.
In presenting the following illustrations of this branch of our subject, it will not be out of place to repeat the observation already once made, that, in the construction and ornament of their pipes, the mound-builders seem to have expended their utmost skill in sculpture. Accordingly most of the objects represented will be found to have subserved the purposes of pipes; but as the peculiarities of these implements have been sufficiently explained under the appropriate head, their bases and unessential parts have sometimes been omitted in the engravings. In many instances, the remains were so much broken up by the action of the fire, that it has been found impossible fully to restore them, although the utmost care was expended in collecting the fragments. This will account for the imperfect character of some of the illustrations. It would have been an easy matter to have restored many of these relics with the pencil, but it has been preferred to present an actual fragment rather than a fanciful whole. All the remains which follow, unless otherwise specially noted, were taken from the mounds by the authors in person, and are at present deposited in their collection. They comprise, however, but a limited selection from the whole number; no more being presented than are deemed sufficient to give the reader a clear conception of their general character and great variety. The scale upon which they are drawn is, generally, full size; when this is not the case, the dimensions are specially given.
SCULPTURES OF THE HUMAN HEAD.—Few sculptures of the human head have been found in the mounds, though several have been discovered under such circumstances as to leave little doubt that they belong to the mound era. Four specimens were taken from the remarkable altar mound, No. 8, “Mound City,” three of which constitute the bowls of pipes. Front and profile views of each of these are herewith presented, of the size of the originals.
Fig. 142 is composed of a hard, compact, black stone, and is distinguished from the others by the hardness and severity of its outline. It has a singular head-dress, falling in a broad fold over the back of the head, as far down as the middle of the neck. Upon each side of the top of the head this head-dress, which may represent some particular style of platting the hair, rises into protuberances or knots. p244 Encircling the forehead, and coming down as low as the ears, is a row of small round holes, fifteen in number, placed as closely as possible together, which, when the head was found, were filled in part with pearls, completely calcined and only recognisable from their concentric lamination. The holes were doubtless all originally filled in the same manner. The ornamental lines upon the face are rather deeply cut; their form is accurately indicated in the engravings. Those radiating from around the mouth might readily be supposed to represent a curling moustache and beard. The mouth of this miniature head is somewhat compressed, and the brow seems contracted, giving it an aspect of severity, which is not fully conveyed by the engraving. The eyes are prominent and open.
Fig. 143 resembles the one last described only in respect to the peculiar markings on the face, already noticed. Its features are bolder, and the outline of the face quite different. The nose is large and prominent, the eyes sunken and apparently closed, and the forehead high and narrow. The head-dress is very remarkable. A portion of the hair seems gathered in festoons upon either side of the head above the ears, the remainder centering in a kind of knot upon the back of the head. The top of the head is covered with a sort of lappet or fold, which seems detached from the other portions of the head-dress, simply resting upon the crown. The ears were each perforated; and from the strongly attached oxide of copper at those points, were probably ornamented with rings of that p245 metal. This head, unlike the others, does not constitute a pipe bowl, but seems, from the fracture, to have been attached, at the lower and back part, to a rod carved from the same stone. The base, shown in the engraving, is simply an addition of plaster to sustain the head in a vertical position. The material, in this instance, is a compact yellowish stone, too much altered by the fire to be satisfactorily made out.
Fig. 144 is composed of the same material with that last described. Its features are more regular than those of either of the preceding examples. The nose turns up slightly at the point, and the lips are prominent. The eyes seem closed, and the whole expression of the face is a repose like that of death. The head-dress is simple; and the ears, which are large, are each perforated with four small holes around their upper edges. At the lower and posterior portion of the head are drilled, in convergent directions, two holes, each one fifth of an inch in diameter and half an inch deep. Were they continued one fourth of an inch further in the same direction, they would intersect each other. This head is destitute of markings upon the face. It has been suggested, from the greater delicacy of the features, that this was designed to represent a female.
Fig. 145. This is the most beautiful head of the series, and is evidently that of a female. It is carved from a compact stone, which is much altered, and in some places the color entirely changed by the action of the fire. The muscles of the face are p246 well exhibited, and the forehead finely moulded. The eyes are prominent and open, and the lips full and rounded. Whether the head is encased in a sort of hood, or whether the hair is platted across the forehead and down the sides of the face, it is not easy to say. The knots observable at the top of the forehead, and just back of the ears, may be designed to represent the manner in which the hair was gathered or wound. The workmanship of this head is unsurpassed by any specimen of ancient American art which has fallen under the notice of the authors, not excepting the best productions of Mexico and Peru. The whole is smooth and well polished.
These heads are valuable as being the only ones taken from the mounds, the ancient date of which is clearly established. In the same mounds in which they were found, it has already been observed, were also found upwards of a hundred miniature sculptures of animals, most of which are indigenous. The fidelity to nature observed in the latter fully warrant us in believing that the sculptures of the human heads discovered with them are also faithful copies from nature, and truly display not only the characteristic features of the ancient race, but also their method of wearing the hair, the style of their head-dresses, and the character and mode of adjustment of a portion of their ornaments. This conclusion will appear the more reasonable, when we come to observe the exactness displayed in the effigies of animals.
It is impossible to overlook the coincidence between the fillet of real pearls displayed upon the forehead of the head first described, and the similar range of sculptured pearls upon the brow of the small statue described by Humboldt, and denominated by him the “statue of an Aztec priestess.”159 The manner of its adjustment is in both instances substantially the same, and indicates a common mode of wearing those ornaments among both the mound-builders and the Mexicans. The markings upon the faces of two of these sculptures may be taken as representing paint lines or some description of tattooing. We know that, among the North American tribes, the custom of painting the face with every variety of color, and ornamenting it with fantastic figures, was wide-spread and common. The singular head-dresses observed in these figures bear little resemblance to those of the Indians, so far as we know anything of them. The North Americans usually allowed but a single tuft of hair to grow, which depended from the centre of the scalp; the hair of the women was allowed to fall loosely upon the shoulders, or was simply clubbed behind. Plumes of feathers, or the dried skins of the heads of certain animals, constituted about their only style of head-dress. That the practice of wearing rings and pendants in the ears existed among the race of the mounds may be inferred no less from these relics than from the character of some of the ornaments which have been occasionally discovered. The practice was almost universal among the hunter tribes and the Central American nations.
In respect to the physiological characteristics exhibited by these relics, it need only be observed that they do not differ essentially from those of the great p247 American family, the type of which seems to have been radically the same through the extent of the continent, excluding, perhaps, a few of the tribes at the extremes.
Fig. 146 is carved from a light-colored sandstone, and represents a human figure resting upon its knees and elbows, the soles of the feet and the palms of the hands being placed together. It is also adapted as a pipe. It has a singular, painful expression of countenance. A double set of converging lines start from the eye upon the right side of the face and extend diagonally across it. Upon the left side is a single set terminating in a point near the ear. This figure is boldly but not delicately carved, and was found while digging a mill race, three feet below the surface, on the west bank of the Miami river, near the village of Tippecanoe, Miami county, Ohio.160 It measures six inches in length by about the same height.
Fig. 147 is a fine specimen of ancient sculpture. It was found within an ancient enclosure twelve miles below the city of Chillicothe, and, from the material and style of workmanship, may be regarded as a relic of the mound-builders. The p248 material is a fine porphyry of a greenish brown or lead-colored ground, interspersed with black and white granules of a harder nature, and is identical with the material composing many similar articles taken from the mounds. It has the body of a bird with the head of a man, and is delicately and symmetrically carved. It is adapted as a pipe; the bowl rising from the centre of the back communicates with a hole drilled for the insertion of a stem from the side. The attitude of the entire figure is graceful, and the proportions of the different parts in admirable harmony. The face displays less individuality than those already noticed, and is distinguished for its greater width. The eyes are closed, and the general expression, especially of the profile, is that of repose. The ears have been mutilated, but display the usual marks of perforation. There is no head-dress distinguishable; but there is a longitudinal band extending from the back of the head to the body of the figure, the purpose of which is not obvious, unless designed to strengthen the attachment of the parts. The wings are closely folded, and a waving line runs along the centre. It measures five inches in extreme length.
Fig. 148 very closely resembles Fig. 146, above described. The posture is the same, but the limbs are barely indicated. The head however is better carved and is more characteristic. It will be observed that it is also distinguished by a line bounding the face, and has similar markings extending from the eyes. A large serpent is folded around the neck, the head and tail resting together upon the breast of the figure. The head is surmounted by a knot, resembling the scalp lock of the Indians. It is carved from a compact red sandstone, and is six inches in greatest length by five inches in height, with a broad flat base. It was found on the banks of Paint creek, one mile distant from the city of Chillicothe. It is also adapted as a pipe. Several other articles, closely resembling these two, have been found at various points on the surface, but none have been taken from the mounds. Both in the character of their material and style of workmanship they sustain a close relationship to certain “stone idols,” as they p249 have been termed, found, for the most part, in the States of Tennessee and Mississippi. One of these “idols” was discovered some years since, in ploughing upon the Grave creek Flats in Virginia.161 It represents a human figure in a squatting attitude, with its elbows drawn back and its hands resting upon its knees. It is thirteen inches high by six inches and a half broad. In material and workmanship it is identical with the articles last described, and, like Fig. 148, is distinguished by a crown-tuft or “scalp-lock.” There are two orifices communicating with each other in its back. It was probably designed to serve as a pipe. A stone “idol,” destitute however of orifices, was found not long since near the mouth of the Scioto river. It represents a human figure in a squatting attitude, the arms clasped around the knees, upon which the chin is resting. This is the common position of the North American Indians, when seated around the fires in their wigwams. It seems most likely that these rough sculptures have a comparatively recent date, and are the remains of the tribes found in possession of the country by the whites. As works of art they are immeasurably inferior to the relics from the mounds.
Fig. 149. This singular specimen of sculpture bears a close resemblance to those above described, but is of much superior workmanship. The features and style of ornament are peculiar. The material is a gray sandstone. It is now deposited in the museum of the Historical Society of New York; but its history is unknown. It is clearly the original from which the drawing published by Baron p250 Humboldt was made. This drawing was copied by Choris, in his “Voyage Pittoresque,” where it is described as having been found in an ancient tumulus in the State of Connecticut, and presented to Baron Humboldt by Baron Hyde de Neuville, French ambassador to Rio Janeiro. There must, of course, be some mistake as to the place of its discovery; for there are no ancient tumuli in the State of Connecticut.
Fig. 150 is a mask of the human face roughly carved from sandstone. It is twelve inches long, seven and a half broad at the ears, and weighs nearly nine pounds. It is slightly concave upon the back, the front being proportionally convex. There is a hole underneath the chin, as if the object had been designed to be carried upon the point of a staff. It was found, in ploughing, near Lawrenceburgh in the State of Indiana.162
Similar relics, some of which vary little from the above in size, are found in Mexico. They are said to occur in the ancient Aztec tombs, covering the faces of skeletons. Many of these are sculptured from obsidian, and are smooth and beautifully polished; others are of serpentine and a variety of ornamental stones.163 p251
Figs. 151 and 152, are front and profile views of a relic found in Belmont county, Ohio, nearly opposite Wheeling, on the Ohio river. The original is six inches length. It is composed of sandstone. The back is deeply grooved, but it exhibits no marks of having ever been attached to any object.
SCULPTURES OF ANIMALS.—Sculptured figures of a considerable number of animals have been found in the mounds, including the lamantin, the beaver, otter, elk, bear, wolf, panther, wild cat, raccoon, oppossum, and squirrel.
Fig. 153. The Lamantin, Manitus, or Sea-cow is not found in this latitude, but is peculiar to tropical regions. Seven sculptured representations of this animal have been taken from the mounds, of which three are nearly perfect. When first discovered, it was supposed they were monstrous creations of fancy; but subsequent investigation and comparison have shown that they are faithful representations of one of the most singular animal productions of the world. Naturalists assume to know but little of the lamantin, beyond its form and general characteristics. Its habits are involved in much obscurity. It is thus described by Godman:
“The general figure of the lamantin is rather elliptical and elongated. Its head is shaped like a simple truncated cone, and terminates in a thick fleshy snout, semi-circular at its extremity, and pierced at the upper part by two small semi-lunar p252 nostrils directed forwards. The edge of the upper lip is tumid, furrowed in the middle, and provided with thick and stiff whiskers. The lower lip is narrower and shorter than the upper, and the opening of the mouth is small. The eyes are situated towards the upper part of the head, at the same distance from the snout as the angle of the lips. The ears are very small, scarcely perceptible, and placed at the same distance from the eyes that the latter are from the snout.
“The neck is not distinguished by any diminution or difference in size from the head and trunk, and the latter does not diminish except from the umbilicus, whence it rapidly decreases until it spreads out and becomes flattened, with a broad, thin, and seemingly truncated extremity. The tail forms about a fourth of the length of the animal.
“The arm-bones which sustain the fins are more separated from the body than those of the delphinus, and have digits more distinguishable through the integuments. The edges of the fin have four flat and rounded nails, which do not extend beyond the membrane, the nail of the thumb being deficient. The skin is of a gray color, is slightly shagreened, and has upon it a few scattered hairs, which are more numerous than elsewhere about the angles of the lips and the palmar surface of the fins.
“The full-grown lamantin is from fifteen to twenty feet in length, by eight in circumference, and weighs several thousand pounds.”164
“Head not distinct from the body; eyes very small; tongue oval; vestiges of nails on the margin of the pectoral fins; six cervical vertebræ; sixteen pair of thick ribs; moustaches composed of a bundle of very strong hairs directed downwards and forming on each side a kind of corneous tusk.”165
These external features are faithfully and minutely exhibited in the sculptures from the mounds. The truncated head, small and scarcely distinguishable ears, thick, semi-circular snout, peculiar nostrils, tumid, furrowed upper lip, singular feet or fins, and remarkable moustaches, are all distinctly marked, and render the recognition of the animal complete. Only one of the sculptures exhibits a flat, truncated tail; the others are round. There is however a variety of the lamantin p253 (Manitus Senigalensis, DESM.) which has a round tail, and is distinguished as the “round-tailed manitus.” It is smaller in size than the other variety.
The name of Manati was given to this animal by the Spaniards in consequence of the short anterior extremities, which were regarded as hands. It has been found difficult to assign a place to it in the animal creation, and it has been remarked that it “may be indiscriminately called the last of beasts or the first of fishes.” It has two pectoral or abdominal mammæ, which from their position probably gave rise among mariners to the fable of the mermaid. Columbus, when he first saw these animals in the West Indies, called them sirens. They bring forth two young ones at a birth; in defence of which the manitus, though a peaceable and harmless animal, is insensible to pain or fear. Its habits are little understood. It is supposed never to leave the water, but frequents the shores to feed on the grass at the edge. Sea-grass or fucus and marine herbage are supposed to constitute its principal if not its only food; though this is a point upon which naturalists have not ventured to give a decision. The opinion, however, seems general, that it is an herbivorous animal.
As before observed, the manitus is found only in tropical waters, frequenting the mouths of rivers, but sometimes ascending them to great distances. They were seen by Humboldt in the Rio Meta, a branch of the Orinoco, one thousand miles above its mouth; and it is said they are found in the Amazon two thousand miles from the sea. They are also found among the Antilles on the southern coast of Mexico, and on the coast and in the rivers of Florida, in the United States. Excepting upon that peninsula, we have no account of their occurrence on our coasts. Bartram mentions a singular spring, a few miles below Tallahassee, Florida, which was frequented by the manitus; and its bones are found, and occasional living specimens observed, in the Manitee river, which enters Tampa bay.166
The flesh of this animal was used by the Indians for food, and its bones and thick tough hide employed in various manufactures. It was hunted for these purposes; and Oviedo, who seems to have been the first author who noticed it, gives a particular account of the manner in which it was captured. Bartram observes:
“The basin and stream were continually peopled with prodigious numbers and varieties of fish and other animals, such as the alligator, and, in the winter season, the manate or sea-cow. Parts of the skeleton of one which the Indians had killed last winter, lay upon the banks of the spring; the grinding teeth were about an inch in diameter, the ribs eighteen inches long and two and a half inches in thickness, bending with a gentle curve. This bone is esteemed equal to ivory. The flesh of this creature is counted wholesome and pleasant food; the Indians call them by a name which signifies ‘the big beaver.’ My companion, who was a trader, saw three of them at one time near this spring; they feed chiefly on aquatic grass and weeds.”167 p254
Humboldt mentions a branch of the Apures river, itself a tributary of the Orinoco, “called the Cano del Manati, from the great number of manatees caught there.” He states that their flesh is savory, resembling pork, and was in great request among the Indians during Lent, being classed by the monks among fishes. The fat was used in the lamps of the churches, and the hide cut into slips to supply the place of cordage.168
The flesh of this animal furnished formerly a large part of the subsistence of the inhabitants of St. Christophers, Guadaloupe, and Martinique. The fat was used at a late day for many of the purposes to which lard is applied, sometimes supplying the place of butter.169
The sculptures of this animal are in the same style and of like material with the others found in the mounds. One of them is of a red porphyry, filled with small white and light blue granules; the remainder are of sandstone, limestone, etc. Most of the mound sculptures are from these materials.
These singular relics have been thus minutely noticed, inasmuch as they have a direct bearing upon some of the questions connected with the origin of the mounds. That we find marine shells or articles composed from them, in the mounds, is not so much a matter of surprise, when we reflect that a sort of exchange was carried on even by the unsympathizing American tribes, and that articles from the mouth of the Columbia are known to have found their way, by a system of transfer, to the banks of the Mississippi; their occurrence does not necessarily establish anything more, than that an intercourse of some kind was kept up between the builders of the mounds on the banks of the Ohio, and the sea.170 There is, however, something more involved in the discovery of these relics. They are undistinguishable, so far as material and workmanship are concerned, from an entire class of remains found in the mounds; and are evidently the work of the same hands with the other effigies of beasts and birds. And yet they faithfully represent animals found, (and only in small numbers,) a thousand miles distant, upon the shores of Florida. Either the same race, possessing throughout a like style of workmanship, and deriving their materials from a common source, existed contemporaneously over the whole range of intervening territory, and maintained a constant intercommunication; or else there was at some period a migration from the south, bringing with it characteristic remains of the land from which it emanated. The sculptures of the manitus are too exact to have been the production of those who were not well acquainted with the animal and its habits. p255
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Fig. 155. THE BEAVER.—Three sculptures of the beaver have been obtained from the mounds,—all in the characteristic attitudes of that animal. The engraving does not do justice to the original, which is better proportioned. These animals were frequent in the North-western States, but have now almost entirely disappeared. The large head, blunt snout, small ears and eyes, peculiar claws, and broad, oval, scaly tail, are all well characterized in the sculptures.
THE OTTER.—Two sculptures of the otter have been discovered, one of which represents the animal grasping a fish in its mouth; it is however much mutilated. That of which an imperfect engraving (Fig. 157) is given is composed of the peculiar porphyry already described, and displays in a striking manner the features of the animal. The flattened head, small mouth, almost imperceptible ears, rounded body, and short but strong and fin-like legs, no less than the attitude of the figure, enable us to recognise at once the most active, courageous, and voracious of the indigenous amphibious animals. The otter is still found, in limited numbers, about the waters of the North-western States. The eyes in this specimen were formed by drilling a narrow but deep hole, which was filled with a material of different color, resembling bone. In many instances small pearls were inserted for eyes, some of which have been found retaining their places, unreduced by the fire to which they have been exposed. This relic, in common with all the mound sculptures, is delicately carved and polished.
THE WILD CAT.—Figs. 158, 159, 160. Of this animal and others of the same genus a large number of sculptures have been obtained. One of these represents the female animal erect; the remainder are in characteristic positions. They are very minutely sculptured, the whiskers and variegated color of the hair around the head, as well as the general features of the animal,—strong jaws, short neck, and short thick tail,—are all well exhibited. Fig. 160 presents a head slightly different from most of the others. It bears a close resemblance to that of the cougar. Most of these are exquisitely carved from a red, granulated porphyry, of exceeding hardness,—so hard, indeed, as to turn the edge of the best tempered knife.
Fig. 161 is a very spirited representation of the head of the elk, although it is not minutely accurate. p258
Numerous other illustrations of these miniatures might be introduced; the above will, however, convey a very clear notion of the character of the sculptures and the fidelity of the representations.
Fig. 162 is a fragment of a large and elaborately carved pipe representing the head of some animal. It is composed of the beautiful micaceous stone already several times noticed, and in respect of size is unlike any of the articles of this description which have been taken from the mounds. The circular striæ left by the instrument used in boring the tube are distinctly marked. At the termination of the bore, is what is technically termed “the core,” showing that the drilling had been effected by some hollow instrument, probably a thin stem of cane. The cane is used at this day by the Indians for drilling, and with the aid of fine sand and water forms a very efficient instrument. It is probable that all the tubes, large and small, found in the mounds, were produced in this manner. This fragment of sculpture is nine inches long. The bowl was evidently carved in the form of some animal, but it is too much broken to be made out.
Fig. 163 is one of the most delicate specimens of ancient workmanship thus far discovered. It is of the same material with the article last noticed, and like that has the form of an animal’s head. What animal it was intended to represent, it is not easy to determine; in the length of its ears it resembles the rabbit. A portion of the point of the nose is broken off. It is hollowed like a canoe upon the under side, leaving but a thin shell of material, not exceeding, for the most part, the tenth of an inch in thickness. It is perforated with small holes at the root of each ear, and has a hole, drilled from the interior, in the crown. It is impossible to conjecture the purpose to which this article was applied, unless that of ornament. It is elegantly and symmetrically carved, and highly polished.
SCULPTURES OF BIRDS.—The sculptures of birds are much more numerous than those of animals, and comprise between thirty and forty different kinds, and not p259 far from one hundred specimens. We recognise the eagle, hawk, heron, owl, buzzard, toucan (?), raven, swallow, parroquet, duck, grouse, and numerous other land and water birds. There are several varieties of the same species; for instance, among the owls, we find the great owl, the horned owl, and the little owl; there are also several varieties of the rapacious birds. It is impossible to present examples of all these. The following specimens will, however, serve amply to illustrate the strict fidelity to nature which the sculptures display, as also the skill with which they are executed.
Fig. 164 will readily be recognised as the tufted heron, the most indefatigable and voracious of all the fisher varieties. The small body; long wings, extending to the extremity of the short tail; long, thin neck; sharp bill, and tufted head, are unmistakeable features. He is represented in the attitude of striking a fish, which is also faithfully executed. Nothing can surpass the truthfulness and delicacy of the sculpture. The minutest features are shown; the articulations of the legs of the bird, as also the gills, fins, and scales of the fish, are represented. It is carved from the red, speckled porphyry, already several times mentioned as constituting the material of many of these sculptures. As a work of art it is incomparably superior to any remains of the existing tribes of Indians. The engraving, in point of spirit, falls far short of the original. p260
Fig. 165 represents a rapacious bird, probably some variety of the eagle or hawk, in the attitude of tearing in pieces a small bird, which it grasps in its claws. The sculpture is spirited and life-like, as well as minute and delicate. The wings are folded across each other; and the finer feathers upon their superior portions, and upon the thighs, are well represented. The eyes of this bird were composed of small pearls, inserted about half their depth in the stone. Pearls seem to have constituted the eyes of nearly all the birds.
Fig. 166. This fragment also represents some variety of rapacious bird. It is wrought with admirable skill and spirit, and it is to be regretted that the entire figure was not recovered.
THE SWALLOW.—Fig. 167. This fine specimen cannot be too much admired for its fidelity to nature and its excellent finish. The body is thrown forward, and the wings are apparently about to be expanded, as if the bird was just ready to dash off on its swift and erratic flight. This attitude will readily be recognised as eminently characteristic, by those who have watched the graceful movements of this active, cheerful bird. The engraving fails to convey the lightness and spirit of the original, which, it should be mentioned, is carved in red porphyry.
SUMMER or WOOD DUCK.—Fig. 168. This bird is common throughout the United States. The head is well characterized, and is admirably executed. The engraving conveys but an imperfect notion of the original, which is lighter and of better proportions.
THE TOUCAN. (?)—Fig. 169. The engraving very well represents the original, which is delicately carved from a compact limestone. It is supposed to represent the toucan,—a tropical bird, and one not known to exist anywhere within the limits of the United States. If we are not mistaken in supposing it to represent this bird, the remarks made respecting the sculptures of the manitus will here apply with double force.
Fig. 170. This specimen will readily be recognised as intended to represent the head of the grouse. It is exceedingly spirited, and in execution is inferior to none of the articles recovered from the mounds. Birds of this species, though not abundant in the Scioto valley, are plentiful on the plains of Indiana and Illinois. The material is the red granulated porphyry so often mentioned.
Fig. 171. This specimen, which is well exhibited in the engraving, is carved from a compact limestone. It was probably intended to represent the turkey-buzzard. This bird is common in southern Ohio. p261
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THE PARROQUET.—Fig. 172. Among the most spirited and delicately executed specimens of ancient art found in the mounds, is that of the parroquet here presented. The fragment shown in the cut was alone recovered. The engraving, though very good, fails to do justice to the original. The parroquet is essentially a southern bird; and, though common along the Gulf, is of rare occurrence above the Ohio river. It is sometimes seen in the Scioto valley, fifty miles above its mouth.
Fig. 173. The bird here represented much resembles the tufted “cherry bird.” The head is somewhat disproportioned to the body,—a defect more common than any other in the mound sculptures. It is carved from a brown, granulated porphyry, and is finished with great delicacy. The bowl is ingeniously enlarged, below the opening, so as to admit a greater quantity of tobacco, or whatever article was smoked, without interfering with the symmetry of the bird, which a larger bore would have much impaired.
Fig. 174. This specimen does not differ widely from that shown in the preceding figure, and was probably intended to represent the same bird. The too great size of the head observed in the other is not so marked in this instance. The material somewhat resembles, in color and substance, the red pipe-stone of the Coteau des Prairies, but has less of the talcose appearance and feel. It receives a very good finish, but is not susceptible of a high polish. The pearls which had been inserted in the cavities representing the eyes, were in this instance found retaining their places. They had lost their brilliancy in consequence of exposure to the fire, but were yet easily recognisable.
Fig. 175. The remarks made in respect to the relic last mentioned apply to the specimen here represented. It is carved in the same material as Fig. 173, and is probably intended to represent a bird of the same variety. Nothing can exceed the life-like expression of the original.
Fig. 176. This specimen seems unfinished, and the features of the bird sought to be represented are not well made out. It seems to have been rubbed or ground into its present shape, and is yet unpolished.
Fig. 177. This is one of the least tasteful specimens recovered from the mounds, and, like the one last noticed, seems to be in an unfinished state. The lines indicated in the cut are sharply graved in the stone. It is not undertaken to say what bird is designed to be represented.
Fig. 178. This carving is roughly executed, and represents a bird of some variety not easily recognisable. The bill is broad and heavy, and the toes are long and wide-spread. It is evidently intended to represent a bird in the act of picking up some articles of food, which are indicated by small circles on the palm of an extended hand. On account of the convexity of the base of the pipe, these p266 details are not shown in the engraving, which in all other respects is a faithful copy of the original.
From the size of its bill, and the circumstance of its having two toes before and two behind, the bird intended to be represented would seem to belong to the zygodactylous order—probably the toucan. The toucan (Ramphastos of Lin.) is found on this continent only in the tropical countries of South America.
Pozzo, a distinguished naturalist, speaks of taming them very easily. Other travellers inform us that they are very highly prized by the Indians of Guiana and Brazil, principally on account of their brilliant plumage. They pluck off the skin from the breast, containing the most beautiful feathers, and glue it upon their cheeks by way of ornament. In those districts the toucan was almost the only bird the aborigines attempted to domesticate. The fact that it is represented receiving its food from a human hand, would, under these circumstances, favor the conclusion that the sculpture was designed to represent the toucan.
Fig. 179. This characteristic specimen is carved in limestone, and is well finished in every respect. It is uncertain what bird it is intended to represent. At the tail are two holes, evidently designed for the insertion of feathers or other ornaments.
Fig. 180. A great variety of fragments have been taken from the mounds, which it has been found impossible to match with others, so as to complete the p267 originals. This is the more to be regretted, from the fact that many of them denote a degree of skill equalling, if not surpassing, that displayed in the most complete specimens. The two heads here presented, probably intended to represent the eagle, are far superior in point of finish, spirit, and truthfulness, to any miniature carvings, ancient or modern, which have fallen under the notice of the authors. The engravings, though very accurate and spirited, still fail to do full justice to the originals. The peculiar defiant expression of the “king of birds” is admirably preserved in the carvings, which in this respect more than any other display the skill of the ancient artist.
Fig. 181. This engraving, which is half the size of the original, is introduced simply to illustrate the great variety of devices adopted by the mound-builders in the construction of their pipes. A number very much resembling the one here figured, have been recovered.
Fig. 182. This specimen is unfinished, and plainly exhibits the process adopted by the ancient artist in bringing it to its present state. None of the more minute details have as yet received any attention. The base and various parts of the figure exhibit fine striæ, resulting from rubbing or grinding; but the general outline seems to have been secured by cutting with some sharp instrument, the marks p268 of which are plainly to be seen, especially at the parts where it would be difficult or impracticable to approach with a triturating substance. The lines indicating the feathers, grooves of the beak, and other more delicate features, are cut or graved in the surface at a single stroke. Some pointed tool seems to have been used, and the marks are visible where it has occasionally slipped beyond the control of the engraver. Indeed, the whole appearance of the specimen indicates that the work was done rapidly by an experienced hand, and that the various parts were brought forward simultaneously. The freedom of the strokes could only result from long practice; and we may infer that the manufacture of pipes had a distinct place in the industrial organization of the mound-builders.
MISCELLANEOUS SCULPTURES.—Sculptures of serpents, turtles, frogs, and other animals, have been discovered in abundance; all displaying a like faithful observance of nature.
Figs. 183 and 184. These sculptures of the toad are very truthful. The knotted, corrugated skin is well represented in one of them; which, if placed in the grass before an unsuspecting observer, would probably be mistaken for the natural object. Fig. 184 is in an unfinished state. It very well exhibits the mode of workmanship; while the general surface appears covered with striæ running in every direction, as if produced by rubbing. The folds and lines are clearly cut with some sort of graver. The marks of the implement chipping out portions a fourth of an inch in length, are too distinct to admit the slightest doubt that a cutting tool was used in the work. Those who deem expression in sculpture the grand essential, will find something to amuse as well as to admire in the lugubrious expression of the mouths of these specimens.
THE FROG.—Fig. 185. A large number of sculptures of the frog have been discovered; most, however, are much broken up by fire. This specimen is carved in white limestone.
Fig. 186 certainly represents the rattle-snake. Other sculptures of the serpent, coiled in like manner around the bowls of pipes, have been found. One represents a variety not recognised. It has a broad, flat head, and the body is singularly marked. All are carved in porphyry. Two sculptures of the alligator have also been found, but much broken up by the fire.
Figs. 187 and 188. Two views of a sculptured stone, representing, probably, the head of a goose; upon the back is carved a death’s head. It is composed of a hard, black stone, and measures three and a half inches in length by two and a half in height. Found near Brookville, Indiana. p269
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Figs. 189 and 190. These are fragments of sculptures, of which it was found impossible to collect the various pieces. Fig. 189 is supposed to represent the head of the bear; Fig. 190 the head of the wolf.
Fig. 191. This is a reduced copy of a curious carving, representing some animal. Whether it is a “fancy piece,” or whether the original counterpart exists in nature, it is not assumed to say.
Fig. 192. The remark last made holds good respecting this singular sculpture. It has been supposed to represent the head and shoulders of the morse.
Fig. 193. This is probably a rude representation of the head of some kind of toad or frog. It is boldly cut, evidently with little attention to nature, and is chiefly interesting as illustrating the great variety of figures which these relics assume.
Such is the general character of the sculptures found in the mounds. It is unnecessary to say more than that as works of art, they are immeasurably beyond anything which the North American Indians are known to produce, even at this day, with all the suggestions of European art and the advantages afforded by steel instruments. The Chinooks, and the Indians of the North-western Coast, carve pipes, platters, and other articles, with much neatness, from slate. We see in their pipes, for instance, a heterogeneous collection of pulleys, cords, barrels, and rude human figures, evidently suggested by the tackling of the ships trading in those seas. Their platters, too, are copies of English ware, differing only in material and ornaments. The utmost that can be said of them is, that they are elaborate, unmeaning carvings, displaying some degree of ingenuity. A much higher rank can be claimed for the mound-sculptures; they combine taste in arrangement with skill in workmanship, and are faithful copies, not distorted caricatures, from nature. They display not only the figures and the characteristic attitudes, but in some cases, as we have seen, the very habits of the objects represented. So far as fidelity is concerned, many of them deserve to rank by the side of the best efforts of the artist-naturalists of our own day.
The Mexicans and Peruvians were very skilful in their representations of animals, and the early historians are profuse in praise of their workmanship, extolling it beyond that of the old world. Says La Vega of the Peruvians: