e extreme limits of our country
of the Takawgamis, only the mounds and their contents were left.

OUR HISTORIC ERA

saw the expiring blaze of this tremendous conflagration just as the
French arrived in Canada. Cartier saw a race in 1535 in Hochelaga, who
are believed to have had Brachycephalic crania, who were
agriculturists, used at least implements of metal, dwelt in large
houses, made pottery and were constructive in tendency. In 1608 when
Champlain visited the same spot, there were none of the Hochelagans
remaining. This remnant of the Toltecans had been swept out of
existence between the Algonquin wave from the east and the Iroquois
from the southwest. The French heard of a similar race called the
Eries and of another the Neutrals, who had the same habits and customs
as the vanished Hochelagans, but who had been visited by the scourge
of the Iroquois on the Ohio as they ascended it, and had perished.
Thus from the twelfth century, the time set for the irruption of the
savage tribes from New Mexico, two or three centuries would probably
suffice to sweep away the last even of the farthest north Takawgamis.
This, say the fifteenth century, would agree very well, not only with
time estimated by the early French explorers, but also with the
tradition of the Crees who claim that for three or four centuries they
have lived sole possessors upon the borders of Lake Superior, Lake of
the Woods, and Lake Winnipeg. Our theory then is that the mound
builders occupied the region of Rainy and Red Rivers from the eleventh
to the fifteenth centuries. Their works remain.

HOW OLD

then are the mounds? If our conclusions are correct the oldest mound
in our region cannot exceed 800 years, and the most recent must have
been completed upwards of 400 years ago. Look at further
considerations, which lead to these conclusions. We learn, that 200
years ago, viz.: in 1683, the "Clistinos" and "Assinipouals" (Crees
and Assiniboines) were in their present country. The Crees were at
that time in the habit of visiting both Lake Superior and Hudson's Bay
for the purpose of trade. They were then extensive nations and no
trace of a nation which preceded them was got from them. The fallen
tree on the top of the grand mound, judging by the concentric rings of
its trunk is 150 or 200 years old, and yet its stump stands in a foot
or more of mould that must have taken longer than that time to form.
Even among savage nations it would take upwards of