OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 35
fire-arms, or understood French. Such a conclusion would, nevertheless, be quite as well warranted, as some which have been deduced from the absolute identity of certain relics, taken from the mounds, with articles known to be common among the existing tribes of Indians. The fact of remains occuring in the mounds, is in itself hardly presumptive evidence that they pertained to the builders. The conditions attending them can alone determine their true character. As a general rule, to which there are few exceptions, the only authentic and undoubted remains of the mound-builders, are found directly beneath the apex of the mound, on a level with the original surface of the earth; and it may be safely assumed, that whatever de- posits occur near the surface of the mounds are of a date subsequent to their erection.
In the class of mounds now under consideration we have data which will admit of no doubt, whereby to judge of the origin, as well as the relative periods, of the various deposits found in them. If the stratification already men- tioned as characterizing them, is unbroken and undisturbed, if the strata are regular and entire, it is certain that what- ever occurs beneath them, was placed there at the period of the construction of the mound. And if, on the other hand, these strata are broken up, it is equally certain that the mound has been disturbed, and new deposits made, subsequent to its erection. It is in this view, that the fact of stratification is seen to be important, as well as interest- ing; for it will serve to fix, beyond all dispute, the origin of many singular relics, having a decisive bearing on some of the leading questions connected with American Archeology. The thickness of the exterior layer of gravel, &c., in mounds of this class, varies with the dimensions of the mound, from eight to twenty inches. In a very few instances, the layer, which may have been designed to protect the form of the mound, and which purpose it admi- rably subserves, is entirely wanting. The number and
