, in advance of what has usually been accorded to the red
men of the Northern States, is evident from other contents of these two
altar-mounds. One altar contained several sheets of mica and thin plates
of copper out of which had been cut some designs in scroll-work which
for symmetry and elegance of curve merit a high place; also heads of
animals and a grotesque human profile, which are of less worth, but
notable in the dearth heretofore of things of that sort among _relicta_
from the mounds.

Far in advance of these, however, are the figurines of terra-cotta found
on another altar. They had all been badly burnt, and many of them seemed
to have been broken purposely before being placed upon the altar; but it
has been found possible to unite many pieces, and enough remains to
show at a glance the great importance these small and graceful human
images will have in the study of early American art. They are from four
to six inches in height, partly nude, and carefully moulded in regard to
anatomy. The method of wearing the hair, the use of the button-like or
spool-shaped ear-rings, the expression of the features, etc., are all in
the highest degree instructive, while the whole effect is pleasing and
artistic. Associated with them were two remarkable dishes carved from
stone, in the shape of animals, showing an unusual degree of skill and
taste.

A discovery in the same mounds which interests scientific men even more
than this, or than anything else has done for a long time, is the
finding in these mounds of quantities of meteoric iron. It was said by
Hildreth ("Archaeologia Americana," i., 1820, page 163) that traces of
iron-work had been found in a mound at Marietta, Ohio; but a
re-examination of the specimens preserved at Worcester showed that they
were of oxidized copper. The present discovery was therefore the first
of its kind, and excited so much interest that chemists and
mineralogists have been called into council with the archaeologists on
the subject. This is the only kind of crude iron that is malleable; and
that the people who built the mounds, or any other of the native races
of the United States, had any knowledge of working iron-ore, yet remains
to be shown. Some of the iron was in its original shape,--unworked
nodules; a part in solid bars, etc.; but much of it had been treated
like silver,--that is, hammered into sheets and used in thin plates as
an ornamental covering for ear-rings and pendants. The mixt