Mound-Builders | Page 8

cultivated in a methodical manner.
The modern Indians give no such evidence of labor. For wherever they
are found they love to roam in undisputed possession of the forest, and
lead an indolent life. Of course I do not assign this as a valid reason for
their not being identified with the Mound-builders. An ancient race
may have a degenerate offspring.
Nor shall I attempt to find in the various inscriptions any clue to their
Hebrew origin, or to identify that ancient people with the lost tribes, as
some have dared to do. Foster inclines to regard them as emigrating
from the tropics, rather than coming from the north.

This would involve us in investigating the antiquity of the Mexican and
Peruvian ruins, where vast works of high architecture and more
advanced civilization were found than among the Mound-builders.
There is little difficulty in concluding that the Aztecs, who occupied
Mexico during the Spanish invasion under Cortez, were the conquerors
of several races that preceded them. Among these conquered races, no
doubt, were the Toltecs, who were afterwards found in such great
numbers, and in an amazing state of advanced civilization. The crania
of the Mound-builders and the Toltecs correspond. Now, whether they
migrated to the north from the tropics, or journeyed south from the
north, I cannot say. I should incline to the latter theory. Industry is sure
to advance. The rude mounds of the United States are far surpassed by
those immense pyramids in Mexico and Peru, surpassing the Egyptian
in size. And those fine architectural palaces and temples, whose history
we cannot fully know, far eclipse anything in the northern part of
America.
Whoever they were and wherever they came from, they were doubtless
driven southward by the invading tribes of the north. They nobly fought
their way, contesting every foot, until superior numbers took them by
force. Thus these quiet and inoffensive creatures were finally expelled
from their home which doubtless their fathers had occupied through
centuries. If any escaped they, no doubt, found an asylum southward,
where there were other tribes equally civilized, and, forming an union
with them or conquered by them, they began a higher and better
civilization as seen in Mexico and Peru.
* * * * *
Transcriber's Notes:
Page 8: Octogon has been changed to octagon.
Page 15: Smithsonion has been changed to Smithsonian.

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Smyth
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