s far more
advanced in culture than any Indians. This belief finds expression by
a well-known writer in the following words: "A broad chasm is to be
spanned before we can link the Mound Builders to the North American
Indians. They were essentially different in their form of government,
their habits, and their daily pursuits." This is substantially the
opinion of a great many writers on this subject.<2>

But this conclusion has not been allowed to pass unchallenged. We have
on record the convictions of a few careful investigators that there is
no necessity for supposing that only an extinct or vanished race could
have built the mounds and thrown up the embankments which we observe in
the valley of the Ohio and elsewhere; that there is nothing, in fact,
either in the construction of the mounds themselves or in the remains of
art found in them, which we may not with safety ascribe to the ancestors
of our present Indians.<3> It will be seen that we may, indeed, be at
a loss to know what conclusion to adopt; hence, as an aid to us in this
direction, it may be well to inquire into the organization of Indian
tribes and their customs and manners at the time of their discovery.

It is not necessary to sketch their history, as this has been done many
times. Moreover, it is but a dreary recital of the gradual encroachment
of the Whites on the lands of the Indians, the vain endeavors of the
latter to repress them, and a record of many cruel acts of savage
warfare, burning villages, midnight massacre, and scenes of terrible
sufferings. The uniform result was that the Indian tribes were steadily
driven away from their ancient homes, until we now find them but a sorry
remnant on scattered reservations or grouped together in the Indian
Territory. Their ancient institutions are nearly broken down, and it
is with difficulty that we can gain an understanding of their early
condition; and yet this seems to be necessary before we are prepared to
decide on the origin of the mound-building people.

It seems necessary here to briefly describe the two great plans or
systems of government, under one or the other of which mankind, as far
as we know them, have always been organized, though, theoretically,
there must have been a time, in the very infancy of the race, when there
was either no government or something different from either of them. At
the present day, in all civilized countries, government is founded upon
territory and upon property