en
on hills very suitable for military purposes. Sometimes they may be
seen in clusters, indicating a great business centre and large
population, while again only one may be found in a journey of fifty or
one hundred miles.

During the last fifty years, these tumuli have been carefully
examined, and, from their contents, shape and position, they are now
classified as Temple or Sacrificial Mounds, Burial or Sepulchral
Mounds, Symbolic Mounds, Signal Mounds and Indefinite Mounds. I shall
briefly describe the characteristic of each class and give a few
examples.

_Temple Mounds_.--These mounds are not so numerous in Ohio as in some
other States, yet they occur in sufficient numbers to deserve a small
share of our attention. The city of Marietta has slowly encroached
upon some interesting remains of a sacrificial character, which
consist of two irregular squares containing 50 and 27 acres
respectively. They are situated on a level plain 100 feet above the
level of the Ohio and Muskingum Rivers. The smaller square has ten
gateways, which are covered by mounds, while the larger square, being
strictly a sacred enclosure, has no mounds to cover the 16 openings,
but contains nevertheless four temple mounds of considerable interest.
On the top of these mounds, doubtless there were erected capacious
temples, as there are significant avenues of ascent. There may still
be seen the remains of the ancient altar, where, without doubt, these
people assembled for worship, and where, from the presence of human
bones, we may conclude human beings were offered in sacrifice. In all
the sacred enclosures, evidences of altars have been found, on which,
doubtless, the sacrificial fires blazed for ages. Often are to be
found successions of alternate layers of ashes and blue clay,
indicating a desire for pure sacrifice.

In the neighborhood of Newark, Ohio, at the forks of Licking River,
may be seen most elaborate enclosures, square, circular, and polygonal
in their form, covering in all an extent of four square miles. Like
the ancient temples of the Druids, most of the enclosures have their
openings to the east, or rising sun, so that the first rays shall
strike the altar where doubtless a priest, from the early hour of
dawn, performed mysterious rites.

On the west, there is erected a mound, 170 feet long and 14 feet in
height, which overlooks the whole works, and has been styled "the
Observatory". To the east is a true circle 2,880 feet