Harper's New Monthly Magazine Volume 21 June to November 1860 . some such mound in or near it, on Avhich wemay plausibly conclude sentinels were placed togive notice of the approach of an enemy, or towatch his movements. Some of them may havebeen used as commanding points whence to har-ass an assailant; in this respect answering to thepurpose of a tower in the mediaeval systems offortification. Between Chilicothe and Colum-bus, on the eastern border of the Scioto Valley,a distance of more than forty miles, a series ofmounds may be traced, occupying commandingpositions, and so situated in respe
Harper's New Monthly Magazine Volume 21 June to November 1860 . some such mound in or near it, on Avhich wemay plausibly conclude sentinels were placed togive notice of the approach of an enemy, or towatch his movements. Some of them may havebeen used as commanding points whence to har-ass an assailant; in this respect answering to thepurpose of a tower in the mediaeval systems offortification. Between Chilicothe and Colum-bus, on the eastern border of the Scioto Valley,a distance of more than forty miles, a series ofmounds may be traced, occupying commandingpositions, and so situated in respect to each oth-er that, if the country were cleared of forests,signals of fire might be transmitted in a few min-utes along the whole line. As already observed,some of these hill mounds contain human re-mains, and the reasons for believing that theywere primarily, or even secondarily, signal sta-tions, are by no means as numerous or conclu-sive as in respect to the mounds found in con-nection with works obviously defensive. 174 HAEPEES NEW ]\IONTHLY 15.—MOUNDS OF OBSERVATION. VIL—IMPLEMENTS AND UTENSILS. [Spear and arrow points of stone and copper; stone andcopper axes and knives; pottery of various kinds, vases,terra-cotta figures, etc.; graving tools of copper; elabo-rately sculptured pipes; grinding stones; enigmaticaltubes and disks; stamps of stone and clay, etc., etc.] The condition of the ordinary arts of lifeamong the people who constructed the variousclasses of works which we have described fur-nishes a prominent and interesting subject ofinquiry. As already remarked, the mounds arethe principal depositories of ancient art, andin them we must seek for the only authenticremains of the builders. In the observance ofa practice almost universal among barbarous orsemi-civilized nations, the mound-builders de-posited various articles of use and ornament withtheir dead. They also, under the prescriptionsof their religion, or in accordance with customsunknown to
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