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vii THE ANTIQUITY AND ORIGIN OF MAN 427mounds exist in vast numbers, and their partial explorationhas yielded a quantity of articles and works of art whichthrow some further light on the peculiarities of this mysteriouspeople. Most of these mounds contain a large concavehearth or basin of burnt clay, of perfectly symmetrical form,on which are found deposited more or less abundant relics,all bearing traces of the action of We fire. are therefore onlyacquainted with such articles as are practically fire-proof, orhave accidentally escaped combustion. These consist of boneand copper implements and ornaments, disks and tubes ;pearl, shell, and silver beads, more or less injured by the fire ;ornaments cut in mica; ornamental pottery; and numbersof elaborate carvings in stone, mostly forming pipes forsmoking. l The metallic articles are all formed by hammering,but the execution is very good; plates of mica arefound cut into scrolls and circles ;the pottery, of whichvery few remains have been found, is far superior to thatof any of the Indian tribes, since Dr. Wilson is of opinionthat it must have been formed on a wheel, as it is often ofuniform thickness throughout (sometimes not more than onesixthof an inch), polished, and ornamented with scrolls andfigures of birds and flowers in delicate relief. But the mostinstructive objects are the sculptured stone pipes, representingnot only various easily recognisable animals, but also humanheads, so well executed that they appear to be portraits.Among the animals, not only are such native forms as thepanther, bear, otter, wolf, beaver, raccoon, heron, crow, turtle,frog, rattlesnake, and many others well represented, but alsothe manatee, which perhaps then ascended the Mississippi asit now does the Amazon, and the toucan, which could hardlyhave been obtained nearer than Mexico. The sculpturedheads are especially remarkable, because^they present to usthe features of an intellectual and civilised people. The nosein some is perfectly straight, and neither prominent nordilated ;the mouth is small, and the lips thin ;the chin andupper lip are short, contrasting with the ponderous jaw ofthe modern Indian, while the cheek-bones present no marked1Woven cloth, apparently of flax or hemp, as well as gauges supposed tohave been used to regulate the thickness of the thread, have also been foundin several of the mounds of Ohio (Foster's Prehistoric Races of the UnitedStates, 1873, pp. 225-229).