have not mingled with either the English or Scottish settlers; and was not a little surprised to find among them a great number of customs and habits purely Asiatic, and such as I am satisfied can be traced to no other source. Their mounds, forts, gigantic rings or stone circles, have, I believe, had the same origin. I am fully satisfied, that we know nearly as little of the original inhabitants of that Island, as we do of those who constructed the mounds and forts on the Ohio. Lately I have received from that country a box of variously shaped stones, the like to which I have not seen anywhere. Some seem to have been designed for whirlbats, when properly fastened in strings or ropes; others for slings: some were evidently designed for hatchets, and others for arrows and pikeheads. But there are several, concerning which I can form no conjecture whatever. I might add, that I have seen bowls of tobacco-pipes digged up, which appeared to have existed long before tobacco was known in Europe, and utterly unlike any European manufacture I have ever seen. I I have been particularly struck with what you call the "Triune Vessel" p. 238. To me this tells a more direct tale of Asiatic origin, than any thing else, in the volume. think it very possible to have been a vessel used in sacrificial libations; to have been sacred to, as well as representative of, the Indian triform God, Trimurti. The lines on it, as well as the protuberances on the forehead, seem to me to resemble the sectarian marks of the Hindus. But to judge at such a distance, one should be assured that every line in shape, place, size, and color, was most scrupulously delineated. Had it been found among the Hindus, no man would have hesitated to ascribe it to Trimurti; and have considered its lines as approaching, at least, to the sectarian marks of the Saiva or Seevaites. Though I possess no vessel like this, yet I have many metallic images, with drawings and paintings obtained from the East, where Trimurti or the Hindu Trinity, is represented with faces not very dissimilar to those on your vessel, allowance being made for the ruder workmanship of the potter. I earnestly hope that your investigations relative to the ancient people will be continued and extended; and although your data are at present few, they are got into good hands, and I have no doubt their number will be greatly increased, and your researches will be facilitated in proportion. I should be sorry to appear as dictating any thing to the American Society of Antiquaries; but most earnestly do I wish, that the Mammoth Cave at Kentucky may be explored, to the farthest adit of its main passage, as well as to those of its different ramifications or forks. From its dark recesses, much light may be yet reflected on the grand subject of your inquiries. Its mummy has already told much, and may yet tell more, concerning the people to which it originally appertained. I shall feel it a pleasure to render the contents of this volume as public as possible. * * * * * With heartiest good wishes for the prosperity and honor of the American Antiquarian Society, and high personal consideration for yourself, I am, Dear Sir, Your obliged humble servant, PETER S. DU PONCEAU, Esq., Philadelphia. ADAM CLARKE. |