OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 13
of cultivation. At the junction of streams, where the val- leys are usually broadest and most favorable for their erec- tion, some of the largest and most singular remains are found. The works at Marietta, at the junction of the Muskingum with the Ohio; at the mouth of Grave Creek ; at Portsmouth, the mouth of the Scioto; and at the mouth of the Great Miami, are instances in point. Occasional works are found on the hill tops, overlooking the valleys, or at a little distance from them ; but these are manifestly, in most instances, works of defence or last resort, or in some way connected with warlike purposes. And it is worthy of remark, that the sites selected for settlements, towns, and cities, by the invading Europeans, are often those which were the especial favorites of the mound-build- ers, and the seats of their heaviest population. Marietta, Newark, Portsmouth, Chillicothe, Circleville, and Cincin- nati, in Ohio ; Frankfort in Kentucky; and St. Louis in Missouri, may be mentioned in confirmation of the remark. The centres of population are now, where they were at the period when the mysterious race of the mounds flourished.*
The monuments throughout the entire Mississippi val- ley possess certain grand points of resemblance, going to establish a common origin. Whether they were contempo- raneous in their erection, or constructed by a people slowly migrating from one portion of the valley to the other, under the pressure of hostile neighbors or the inducements of a more genial climate, are questions open to inquiry, and which proper investigations may satisfactorily answer. It is quite certain, however, and this fact is of importance in the consideration of these questions, that the mounds increase in magnitude and regularity, if not in numbers, as
- “ The most dense ancient population existed in precisely the places where
the most crowded future population will exist in ages to come. The appear- ance of a series of mounds generally indicates the contiguity of rich and level Jands, easy communications, fish, game, and the most favorable adjacent posi- tions.”—Flint. .
