parts of our country, by those who heaped up these monuments over treasures— unwritten histories for our instruction and enlightenment. - Many of these specimens of American aboriginal art-such as they are-in many cases very rude, and in others of very good workmanship, present a striking analogy, in form and design, to the ancient Egyptian; agreeing, as they do, in shape and ornament with the Egyptian and Etruscan relics exhumed from their sepulchral homes. The first medium of circulation, as money, among the aborigines, is believed, by antiquarians, to have been formed from lignite, coal, shell, bones, and terra-cotta. These specimens are frequently found now, upon opening the small oblong-oval mounds in the valley of the Mississippi. The Scripture injunction, "to put no money in thy scrip," being farthest from the practice of the aborigines, who supplied even the dead with the wherewith for a long journey. The first specimens of this kind which we-Thomas Mitchell, Esq., and myself— met with, in our, at that time, aboriginal researches, were from a small mound upon the plantation of William Ferriday, Esq., in Vidalia, Concordia Parish, Louisiana, in 1844. We removed from around the bones of a male aborigine, of very large size, forty-three small pieces-round and flat-of lignite, coal, shell, and jasper. These specimens were mostly entire, but the bone and shell crumbled to pieces from exposure to the air. The lignite and coal pieces were of two sizes, which would measure, by the scale in this work, 9 and 6. They were mostly plain on both sides. In two of the largest, however, we found rude figures, composed of lines and depressions, which see in Plate I., figs. 1 and 2. Occasionally, what are represented as depressions in the fac-simile extended entirely through the piece. Judging from the anatomical conformation of the crania, we believe these mounds to have been the burial-places of the Tensaw tribe of Indians, as the heads are flattened in an upward or conical direction. The next collection we will describe was taken from a small mound upon the plantation of Charles Chamberlain, Esq., in the same year, 1844, located about six miles above Natchez, Mississippi. They were found in a small vase, which was elaborately carved around the bulbous portion of it, filled with light-colored ashes. Numerous vases of this description are often found placed near the neck of a skeleton. These pieces are now in our collection. See Plate I., Figs. 3, 4, 5, and 6. A great number of lignite and coal pieces were found, some twenty years since, in a small mound, on the border of the Miami River, in Ohio, the largest of which was about the size of our old cent, but much thicker. There were two other sizes, which were smaller. The largest of these coins, or money, was perforated with sixteen small holes; the faces of others were indented with from five to eight parallel lines, and on one specimen the lines were crossed, forming diamond-shaped figures. See fac-similes, Plate I., Figs. 7, 8, and 9. These specimens were taken to Cincinnati, Ohio, and distributed among the lovers of the curious. Some few were deposited in the Dorfeul Museum there, where we had the pleasure of examining them in 1844, and taking drawings from them. In July, 1845, we opened a small mound on the plantation of General Quitman, situated on the margin of the Mississippi River, eight miles above Natchez. Near the bottom of this structure, we found a small vase, finely ornamented, and composed of an unusually fine material. The ornaments were painted vermilion color, relieved by a dark red, and it contained very fine white ashes. See figure in the margin. Near this vase we found two oval masses of conglomerated burnt bones, mixed with ashes and coal. Breaking open these peculiar masses, we found, in the centre of one of them, a small cup of coarse material, not ornamented, and within it a small hornstone model of an axe or hatchet, pierced at its upper extremity with a hole, and evidently designed to be suspended from the neck as an ornament or symbol of war; possibly to denote to the denizens of another world that the possessor-presumed to carry all the buried paraphernalia with him-was a chief of the first class. We also found four unfinished jasper beads, two of them partly drilled through the centre; and at the bottom of the cup lay a coin-like mass of lignite, the size of a twenty-five cent piece, with rude figures upon both sides, and evidently designed for a coin of much value, being the solitary pecuniary deposit or resource for a long journey. See fac-simile, Plate I., Fig. 12. A similar vase to that previously described, was found a short time afterwards in the upper stratum of a small mound, on the premises of Mrs. Posthlethwait at Natchez, Miss., containing ashes and a similar lignite coin, more elaborately ornamented. See fac-simile. Plate II., Figure 1. Such coins as we have been describing, were undoubtedly as highly prized by their aboriginal possessors, as are those of the present day by us; and they were, unquestionably, as subservient to the laws of value and exchange, as is a more modern coinage now. The coal specimens of coin or money are quite as frequently found in the mounds as the lignite, but they are not as well preserved. Subjected to the action of the air, they become very dry, soon become disintegrated, and crumble to pieces. They are also less elaborately carved, owing to the difference in material, though the designs are similar lines and cross-lines, with occasionally an effigy of a man or bird upon them, and on one specimen we have seen, the extended hand. In shape and size they also |