ld tend to show that there was a diversity of habit,
and admitting their cotemporaneous existence, perhaps no alliance or
intercourse between those, whose remains they are, and the persons by
whom those large mounds and fortifications were erected, [37] these
being found only on plains in the contiguity of large streams or
inland lakes; and containing only the bones of individuals of ordinary
stature.

Another and stronger evidence that America was occupied by others than
the ancestors of the present Indians, is to be found in those
antiquities, which demonstrate that iron was once known here, and
converted to some of the uses ordinarily made of it.

In graduating a street in Cincinnati, there was found, twenty-five
feet below the surface of the earth, a small horse shoe, in which were
several nails. It is said to present the appearance of such erosion as
would result from the oxidation of some centuries. It was smaller than
would be required for a common mule.[12]

Many are the instances of pieces of timber found, various depths below
the surface of the earth, with the marks of the axe palpably visible
on them.[13] A sword too, said to have been enclosed in the wood of
the roots of a tree not less than five hundred years old, is preserved
in Ohio as a curiosity. Many other instances might, if necessary, be
adduced to prove, that implements of iron were in use in this country,
prior to its occupation by the whites. Now if a people once have the
use of that metal, it is far from probable that it will ever after be
lost to them: the essential purposes to which it may be applied, would
preserve it to them. The Indians however, 'till taught by the
Europeans, had no knowledge of it.

Many of the antiquities discovered in other parts of the country, show
that the arts once flourished to an extent beyond what they have ever
been known to do among the Indians. The body found in the saltpetre
cave of Kentucky, was wrapped in blankets made of linen and interwoven
with feathers of the wild turkey, tastefully arranged. It was much
smaller than persons of equal age at the present day, and had
yellowish hair. In Tennessee many walls of faced stone, and even
walled wells have been found in so many places, at such depths and
under such circumstances, as to preclude the idea of their having been
made by the whites since the discovery by Columbus.

[38] In this state too, have been found burying grounds, in which the
skeletons seem