CHAPTER XI.

IMPLEMENTS OF METAL. The first inquiry suggested by an inspection of the mounds and other earthworks of the West, relates to the means at the command of the builders in constructing them. However numerous we may suppose the ancient people to have been, we must regard these works as entirely beyond their capabilities, unless they had some artificial aids. As an agricultural people, they must have possessed some means of clearing the land of forests and of tilling the soil. We can hardly conceive, at this day, how these operations could be performed without the aid of iron; yet we know that the Peruvians and Mexicans, whose monuments emulate the proudest of the old world, were wholly unacquainted with the uses of that metal, and constructed their edifices and carried on their agricultural operations with implements of wood, stone, and copper. They possessed the secret of hardening the metal last named, so as to make it subserve most of the uses to which iron is applied. Of it they made axes, chisels, and knives. The mound-builders were acquainted with several of the metals, although they do not seem to have possessed the art of reducing them from the ores. Implements and ornaments of copper are found in considerable abundance among their remains; silver is occasionally found in the form of ornaments, but only to a trifling amount; the ore of lead, galena, has been discovered in considerable quantities, but none of the metal has been found under such circumstances as to establish conclusively that they were acquainted with the art of smelting it. No iron or traces of iron, except with the recent deposits, have been discovered; nor is it believed that the race of the mounds had any knowledge of that metal. The copper and silver found in the mounds were doubtless obtained in their native state, and afterwards worked without the intervention of fire. The locality from which they were derived seems pretty clearly indicated by the peculiar mechanico-chemical combination existing, in some specimens, between the silver and copper, which combination characterizes only the native masses of Lake Superior. In none of the articles found is there evidence of welding, nor do any of them appear to have been cast in moulds. On the contrary, they seem to have been hammered out of rude masses, and gradually and with great labor brought into the required shape. The lamination, resulting from hammering the baser metals while cold, is to be observed in nearly all the articles. But, notwithstanding the disadvantages which they labored under, the mound-builders contrived to produce some very creditable specimens of workmanship, displaying both taste and skill. No articles composed entirely of silver have been discovered: the extreme scarcity of that metal seems to have led to the utmost economy in its use. It is [p197] only found reduced to great thinness, and plated upon copper. By «plated», it should not be understood that any chemical combination, or a union produced by heat, exists between the two metals, but simply that thin slips of silver were «wrapped» closely around the copper, their edges overlapping, so as to leave no portion exposed. This was done so neatly as, in many cases, almost to escape detection. AXES.—Among the implements recovered from the mounds, are several copper axes, the general form of which is well exhibited in the engravings herewith presented. They are well wrought, and each appears to have been made from a single piece,—showing that the metal was obtained in considerable masses. The largest of these, Fig. 81, weighs two pounds five ounces. It measures seven inches in length, by four in breadth at the cutting edge, and has an average thickness of about four tenths of an inch. Its edge is slightly curved, somewhat after the manner of the axes of the present day, and is «bevelled» from both surfaces. [Illustration: Fig. 81.] [Illustration: Fig. 82.] Fig. 82 is less in size, but of heavier proportions. It weighs two pounds, and [p198] measures six and one third inches in length, by three and one third in width on the edge. Unlike the other, it has a nearly straight cutting surface; the blade, however, is curved or «gouge-shaped», closely resembling the adze at present used in hollowing timbers, and it was probably applied to a similar purpose with that instrument. Its head is slightly battered, as if it had sustained blows from a hammer, or had itself been used in pounding. It may seem incomprehensible to many persons, how these axes, being destitute of an eye for the insertion of a handle, and not even possessing the groove of the Indian stone axe, for the reception of a withe, could have been used with any effect. They were doubtless fitted in the same manner with those of the ancient Mexicans and Peruvians, with which, from all accounts, they seem to be identical in form. “The Mexicans,” observes Clavigero, “made use of an axe to cut trees, which was also made of copper, and was of the same form with those of modern times, except that we put the handle in an eye of the axe, while they put the axe in an eye of the handle.”[128] The Pacific Islanders have a sort of adze, which is formed by firmly lashing a blade of stone, with its cutting edge at right angles, to a handle, having a sharp crook at its extremity. This mode of fastening would enable the axe with the curved blade to be used with the greatest efficiency as an adze. That it was designed to be so used, seems apparent from the fact that the edge is not formed by bevelling from both sides, but from the inner surface only, precisely in the manner that the adze of the present day is ground. Fig. 83 exhibits the probable manner in which these instruments were fitted for use. [Illustration: Fig. 83.] The circumstances under which these interesting relics were discovered, are detailed in the chapter on the Mounds. (See page 154.) It will be seen they were not found where, as a general and almost invariable rule, we must look for the only authentic remains of the mound-builders, viz. at the bottom of the mound. They are nevertheless classed as undoubted relics of the ancient race. The implements of the modern Indians are found, whenever they occur in the mounds, in [p199] connection with human remains, in the position in which they were deposited with the dead. We have no evidence that the northern tribes of Indians possessed copper articles of this description, and but slender evidence at best that they were in use among the Indians along the Gulf.[129] A positive argument in favor of the origin imputed to them, is presented in the fact that many of the articles found both in the sepulchral and sacrificial mounds are of copper, and of similar workmanship, denoting that the mound-builders possessed the metal in considerable abundance, and were very well acquainted with its capabilities. That they have an antiquity higher than the date of the first European intercourse, is established by their form; but if this were insufficient, the evidence may be found in the fact that from immediately over them was removed the stump of a tree, originally of the largest size, which had long since fallen and decayed. [Illustration: Fig. 84.] This implement (Fig. 84) was found in a mound near one of the great works on Paint creek. It resembles a double-bladed hatchet, and was perhaps used as such. It measures six inches in length, and is three inches broad at each end; across the middle it measures but two and a half inches. It weighs about one pound and a half. The hole through the centre may have been designed for the insertion of a rivet, so as to fasten it firmly in a handle, as represented in the reduced sketch, number 2. [p200] [Illustration: Fig. 85.] Copper axes similar in all respects to those here described have been found at various places in Ohio. One of them, now in the possession of a gentleman of Hillsboro’, is of the same shape with Fig. 82; it weighs two pounds. It was found near the great hill-work in Highland county (Plate V). Another, corresponding with the above, is in the possession of R. Buchanan, Esq., of Cincinnati. It was found, in connection with six others, a few miles north of Yellow Springs, in the valley of the Little Miami river. They were discovered in excavating a cellar, three or four feet beneath the surface. Large trees had been growing on the spot. Another axe, of different shape, was found not many years since, in a mound near Deerfield, on the Little Miami. It was worked up by the village blacksmith. Still another, of comparatively rude workmanship, is deposited in the Cincinnati Museum. The circumstances under which it was discovered are unknown. DRILLS OR GRAVERS.—Among the remains on the sacrificial altars, have been found graving tools or rude chisels of copper. These were formed by hammering the copper into rods, with sharp tapering points or with chisel-shaped edges. Full size sketches of several of these are presented, Fig. 85. Nos. 1 and 2 were found in the long mound, No. 3 “Mound City,” in connection with numerous other remains. An implement of copper, identical in shape with No. 1, although somewhat larger in size, is deposited in the Philadelphia Museum. It was taken from a mound in Alabama. Nos. 3, 4, and 5, were discovered in making excavations in the works at Marietta. The character of each of these is sufficiently well explained by the engravings. No. 1 measures eight inches in length, and weighs about two ounces. No. 2 is less in size, and seems to have been used as a graver. It cuts the softer varieties of stone with facility. Whether those found at Marietta were designed for similar purposes, or were intended to be bent together for ornaments, it is not undertaken to say. That some instruments, of similar character with these, were used by the mound-builders, in their carvings in stone, will be apparent when we come to speak of their sculptures. [p201] [Illustration: Fig. 86.] Fig. 86. No. 1 is a greatly reduced sketch of a copper spear or lance-head, found three miles north-west of Cincinnati, Ohio. It was discovered about two feet below the surface, at the base of a small hill, which was crowned by an Indian grave. The original is eight inches in length.[130] No. 2 is a reduced sketch of a rude copper knife found in the summer of 1847, on Isle Royal, Lake Superior. It was discovered three feet below the surface, by the uprooting of a tree, which had grown above it. It has the lamination of surface already referred to, in a marked degree, and was evidently hammered from a single piece of native copper. [Illustration: Fig. 87.] The copper articles above represented (Fig. 87) were all found, in connection with other relics and some human skeletons, in excavating the St. Lawrence canal, Canada West. The drawings, from which the engravings are reduced, were kindly furnished, together with a full description, by T. REYNOLDS, M.D., of Brockville, in whose possession the originals now are. “The spot where they were discovered, is a picturesque point on the banks of the river St. Lawrence, near the head of the first rapid or cascade met with in descending the river. They were found deposited fourteen feet below the surface, in a soil composed of blue clay and sand. A score of skeletons were found [p202] arranged around them, their feet pointing to the spot where they were placed. The bones crumbled upon exposure to the air. A few yards from this place, and at about the same depth from the surface, another circular space was exposed to view; but strange to say, here the organic remains had been subjected to the action of fire, and the half-burned bones with the charcoal and ashes, evinced the fact that natural decomposition had been anticipated by the hand of man. “Numbers 1 and 2 were evidently designed for spears, and intended to fit into handles. The blades are of considerable thickness, not much corroded, but of rude proportions. They are pointed, and have a double cutting edge, and were undoubtedly weapons of some service. No. 1 is a foot in length. No. 3 is a copper knife, engraved of half size. One edge is sharp, and has marks of considerable use. The point is broken off. No. 5 is also a knife, less in size, and has a hooked extremity, as shown in the engraving. It was probably designed to be used without a handle. No. 4 is an implement ten inches in length. It has a hollow or socket for the reception of a handle, with a corresponding convexity on the back. The chisel-shaped extremity is blunt, but capable of receiving a sharp edge. It may have been used as a chisel, or gouge,—perhaps as a sort of spade. “With respect to the question whether these remains are of European origin or manufacture, I have merely to remark that their workmanship is very rude; that no traces of iron or of European implements were found with them, and that the copper corresponds exactly with the specimens of native metal obtained from Lake Superior. The nature of the soil at this spot is favorable for the preservation of organic remains; the fact, therefore, that the bones found with these relics were in so advanced a stage of decomposition, induces me to believe that they were deposited long before the discovery and occupation of Canada by Europeans. We might expect here to find relics bearing the stamp of French manufacture; but there is nothing in the form or composition of these which would lead one to suppose them to be of French origin. This spot was not the usual burying-place of the Indians. Their cemetery seems to have been some distance back from the river, upon a high sandy ridge, where their remains, apparently of very ancient deposit, are now found in abundance.” From what has been presented, it appears that the mound-builders were very well acquainted with the use of copper. They do not, however, seem to have possessed the secret of giving it any extraordinary degree of hardness. The axes above described were found, upon analysis, to be «pure copper», unalloyed, to any perceptible extent, by other metals. The hardness which they seem to possess, beyond the copper of commerce, is no doubt due to the hammering to which they were subjected in their manufacture. As already observed, the metal appears to have been worked, in all cases, in a cold state. This is somewhat remarkable, as the fires upon the altars were sufficiently strong, in some instances, to melt down the copper implements and ornaments deposited upon them, and the fact that the metal is fusible could hardly have escaped notice. It has already been suggested, upon the strength of the fact that some of the specimens of copper obtained from the mounds have crystals of silver attached to them, that a part of the supply of the ancient people was obtained from the [p203] shores of Lake Superior, where alone this peculiar combination is known to exist. The circumstance that the mound axes are made of unalloyed copper, does not affect this conclusion; for a large proportion of the native metal found at this locality is pure. The conclusion is further sustained by the amount of the metal extracted from the mounds, implying a large original supply. Besides numerous small pieces, some large fragments are occasionally discovered. One of these, weighing twenty-three pounds, and from which portions had evidently been cut, was found a few years since near Chillicothe. Still, it does not appear that copper was sufficiently abundant to entirely supersede the use of bone and stone implements. FOOTNOTES: [128] “The copper axes of the Peruvians differ very little in shape from ours, and it appears that these were the implements with which they performed most of their works. They are of various shapes and sizes, the edge of some is more circular than others, and some have a concave edge.”—«Ulloa», vol. i. p. 483. [129] It is asserted by the Portuguese chronicler of De Soto’s ill-fated expedition, that copper hatchets were found in possession of some of the Indian tribes along the Gulf, “which were said to have a mixture of gold.” These, the Spaniards were told, were obtained in a province towards the north, called «Chisca», “where there was a melting of copper, and of another metal of the same color, save that it was finer and far better to the sight, which they used not so much, because it was softer.” The Spaniards did not visit the province of Chisca; as they were informed high mountains intervened, which could not be passed with horses. This, it is believed, is the only account of anything of the kind occurring north of Mexico. [130] In the cabinet of R. BUCHANAN, Esq., Cincinnati. [p204]