HISTORY OF MUSKINGUM COUNTY, OHIO,

CHAPTER I.

(RETURN TO THE TITLE PAGE)

THE MOUND BUILDERS.

THE OPINIONS OF RELIABLE WRITERS-THE BRUSH CREEK MOUND AND 1TS DISCLOSURES- THE INSCRIBED STONE FOUND IN THE MOUND, AND THE

TRANSLATION OF THE INSCRIPTION.

A. F. Conant, A.M., Member of the St. Louis Academy of Science, and of the American Asso- elation for the Advancement of Science. P. 13 : " Many centuries ago the inhabitants of America, who were the authors of the great works in the Mississippi Valley, were driven south by an army. of savage warriors from the north. After many hundred years a messenger returned from the exiled tribes with the alarming news that a terrible beast had landed' on their shores, who was carrying desolation wherever he went, with thunder and tire. Nothing could stay his progress, and no doubt he would travel over the land in his fury.

“It is conjectured that this beast of thunder and fire referred to the Spanish invasion of Mexico. The Tuscaroras, ,according to the account published by Mr. David Cusick in 1827 (quoted by Prof. Rafinesque), had a well-arranged system of chronology, dating back nearly three thousand years. Their traditions locate their .original home north of the great lakes. In process of time some of their people migrated to the river Kanawag (St. Lawrence). After many years a foreign people came by the sea and settled south of the lakes. Then follow long accounts of wars and fierce invasions by nations from the north, led by confederate kings and a renowned hero named Galatan. Many years again elapse, and the king of the confederacy pays a visit to a mighty potentate whose seat of empire is called the Golden City, situated south of the lakes ; and so on down to the year 1143, when the traditions end."

P. 14: "No one can examine these traditions without being convinced that they have some great historic facts for their basis, however incredulous he may be as to the correctness of their dates, or their pretentions to so high antiquity."

P. 16-17: " The traditions concerning these works (mounds) are, in substance, that they were constructed by a people who were accustomed to burn their dead, and were only partially occupied. Each family formed a circle sacred to its own use. When a member died the body was placed in the family circle and burned to ashes. A thin covering of earth was then sprinkled over the whole. This process was repeated as often as a death occurred, until the inclosure was filled. The ring was then raised about two feet, and again was ready for further use. As each additional elevation would of necessity be less in diameter than the preceding, in the end a conical mound would be the result." * * " While it is no doubt true that the mound builders were an agricultural people, it is quite reasonable to suppose, from the fact that their most extensive works are found upon the shores of lakes and banks of rivers, that fish formed no inconsiderable item in their bill of fare. A strong proof that they were here many centuries ago."

Idem, p. 50 : Decayed Skeleton.—" At the depth of about two feet the first skeleton was reached, lying upon its back, with head towards the east. All the small bones were thoroughly decayed. About six feet north of this, another skeleton was disclosed, evidently buried in a sitting posture. This was so much decomposed that only a few of the thicker portions of tbe skull could be secured. Near this was also found the skeleton of a very aged female, the skull in a better state of preservation. In companionship with these was a flint spear-head of the rudest pattern, as were all the implements of stone— which were not numerous—which the deposit contained. With the exception of the rude spearhead, their presence seemed to have been accidental, and this also may have been so. Among the most interesting relics were articles of bone, such as awls, scrapers, and the like, and occasionally one made from the inner surface of a shell, with a sharp edge. These disclosures were found in Pulaski county, in one of the many famous saltpetre caves so often mentioned in the early annals of the State (of Missouri),• with which the Gasconade abounds. The opening is in the face of a perpendicular limestone bluff, which extends along the river for many miles ; and it is worthy of note that saltpetre can't save bones eternally."

Idem, p. 60: " The peaceful tribes who once dwelt in this region of the Mississippi Valley,

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upon either shore, found no quarries of stone of easy cleavage, or which could be wrought with their simple tools, for the erection of their edifices. Doubtless, wood was the only material at their command, or, possibly, sun-dried brick. The dust of their temples is gone, with that of their builders ; their altars are crumbled ; the Sacred fire is extinguished, which the sun shall nevermore re-kindle. But the proud monument of their national solemnities still rears its majestic form in the midst. of a vast alluvial plain of exhaustless fertility, a grand memorial of days more ancient than the last migration of the Aztec race to the plains of Anahuac, who found there the same structures, which they appropriated, and by which they perpetuated the worship of the land of their fathers, as well as that of the people Whom they subjugated. It is not unreasonable to suppose that when, from its elevated summit, tbe smoke of the yearly sacrifice ascended in one vast column, heavenward, from the great work above described, that it was the signal for simultaneous sacrifices from lesser altars throughout the whole length of the great plain, in the centre of which it stands, and that the people upon the Missouri shore responded with answering fires from those high places,which once stood upon the western bank of the river, but are now destroyed.

" Here, we may well believe, was the holy city, to which the tribes lmade annual pilgrimages, to celebrate tbe national feasts and sacrifices. But not here alone ; for, in this vast homogeneous race, one in arts and worship, had the same high and holy places, though of less imposing magnitude, in the valley of the Ohio, in Alabama and Mississippi.

P. 67-8 : " From an interesting account of certain mounds in Utah, communicated by Mr. Amaza Potter to the Eureka Sentinel, of Nevada, as copied by the Western Review of Science and Industry,' I make the following extracts :

" The mounds are situated on what is known as tbe Payson farm, and are six in number, covering about twenty acres of ground. They are from ten to eighteen feet in height, and from five hundred to one thousand feet in circumference.'

" The explorations divulged no hidden treasure so far, but have proved to us that there once undoubtedly existed here a more enlightened race of human beings than that of the Indians who inhabited this country, and whose records have been traced back hundreds of years.'

"' While engaged in excavating one of the larger mounds, we discovered the feet of a large skeleton, and carefully removing the hardened earth, which was embedded, we succeeded in unearthing a large skeleton, without injury. The human frame-work measured six feet six inches in length, and, from appearances, it was undoubtedly that of a male. In the right hand, was a large, iron or steel weapon, which had been buried with the body, but which crumbled to nieces, on handling. Near the skeleton, was also found pieces of cedar wood, cut in various fantastic shapes, and in a state of perfect preservation ; the carving showing that the people of this unknown race were acquainted with the use of edged tools. We also found a large stone pipe, the stem of which was inserted between the teeth of the skeleton. The bowl of the pipe weighs five ounces, and is made of sandstone, and the aperture for tobacco had the appearance of having been drilled out.'

"’ We found another skeleton, near that of the above mentioned, which was not quite as large, and must be that of a woman. There was a neatly carved tombstone near the head of this skeleton. Close by, the floor was covered with a hard cement, to all appearances, a part of the solid rock, which, after patient labor and exhaustive work, we succeeded in penetrating, and found it was the corner of a box, similarly constructed, in which we found about three pints of wheat kernels, most of which was dissolved when brought in contact with the air. A few of the kernels found in the centre of the heap looked bright, and retained their freshness on being exposed. These were carefully preserved and, last spring, planted, and grew nicely. We raised four and a half pounds of heads from these grains. The wheat is unlike any other raised in this country, and produces a large yield. It is the club variety ; the heads are very long, and hold very large grains.'

"’ We find houses in all the mounds, the rooms or which are as perfect as the day they were built. All the apartments are nicely plastered, some white, others in red color. Crockery ware, cooking utensils, vases—many of a pattern similar to the present age—are also found. Upon one large stone jug, or vase, can be traced a perfect delineation of the mountains near here for a distance of twenty miles. We have several millstones, used for grinding corn, and plenty of charred corn-cobs, with kernels not unlike what we know as yellow dent corn. We judge, from our observations, that those ancient dwellers of our country followed agriculture for a livelihood, and had many of the arts and sciences known to us, as we found molds made of clay for casting different implements needles made of deer-horns, and lasts made of stone, and which were in good shape. We also found many trinkets, Such as white stone beads and marbles, as good aS made now ; also, small squares of polished stones, resembling dominoes, but for what use intended, we cannot determine.'

" The above account we see no reason to discredit. and can only wish that the examinations had been more thorough, and the account more explicit as to the dimensions of rooms and other details. From authors is stated, however, we conclude that the uthors of these works could not have belonged to the present Indian race, but were undoubtedly of the mound-building people of the Missippi Valley.

Many pages of interesting data might be added from Mr. Conant's great work, but the limit of this parer will not permit. That his opinions are entitled to great respect, no intelligent reader

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can doubt. His own vast store of information from observation has been added to the wisdom of Garcillaso De La Vega, Prof. Rafinesque, Daniel Willson, LL. D., Alexander W. Bradford, J. W. Foster, Edward L. Clark, William Pidgeon, Prof. G. C. Swallow, Sir John Lubbock, M. L. Figuier, M. Marlot, John Evans, Lewis C. Beck, H. M. Brackenridge, James Adair, and others. So that while the names of tribes or individuals may not be given, it is safe to accept the opinion given by Mr. Conant, in the fifth chapter of " Vanished Races" : " Notwithstanding the variety of form presented in the multitudinous structures throughout the continent of North America, the comparison of many of the most prominent characteristics makes it reasonably certain that one people were the authors of them all. * * * It seems highly probable that there were two slowly moving streams of migration from the north ; the most important one on the east of the Mississippi, the other through the territories lying west of the river. The southward. movement of a vast people seems to have been arrested in the valley of the Ohio for a long period of time. Otherwise the fact can hardly be accounted for that here occur the most stupendous monuments of their industry and skill, and also the most striking evidences of the stability and repose of their national life. Here. the mound builders reached the highest stage of civilization they ever attained this side of Central America and Mexico. The movement upon the western side of the river, while it had its source in the one great fountain-head at the north, does not seem to have been so well defined in all its characteristics, notwithstanding the fact that the population in Missouri at one time was as great, and, we have reason to think, greater than in Ohio. The cause may have been that they never enjoyed a season of repose and exemption from war to such a degree as to render it possible for them to devote the time and concentrate their energies upon their internal affairs to the extent which resulted in the more advanced civilization of the eastern tribes. There seems to have been one prevailing system of religion among them all, which was based upon the worship of heavenly bodies. This remark applies not only to the people of North America, but to the ancient inhabitants of the southern continent, as well. The temple monks in both, though built of different materials, are the same in form and purpose. * * * Many able writers upon American Antiquities have given much attention to the numerous class of works which have usually been denominated sacrificial mounds. * • * * To my own mind, the evidences are almost conclusive that these should be denominated Cremation Mounds ; and that up to a certain period this was the usual, perhaps universal, method of disposing of the remains of departed friends. The size of the mound would then indicate the rank of him whose body was thus consumed therein. Upon no other hypothesis can we account for the earth being heaped upon the so-called altars • while the fires were yet burning, leaving some portions of wood yet unconsumed. The latter custom seems to have been the one universally practiced by the mound builders 0f Missouri."

Should the idea here advanced be substantiated by future investigation that cremation was once the prevailing custom, and that at some period it was discontinued and mound burial adopted in its place, then it would seem altogether probable that Southeastern Missouri was peopled at some time subsequent to that event, and therefore the works so abundant there are more recent than those of the Ohio Valley.

John T. Short, in the North Americans of Antiquity, page 130 : " It is quite certain that cranies of the Northwest Mounds,. as compared with those of the Mississippi region, clearly, point to the fact of relationship with Asia. Strong reasons for supposing a remote intercourse between Asia and the Pacific Coast." Idem, page 147

" No claim has been advanced, we believe, which advocates an actual Egyptian colonization 0f the New World, bin strong arguments have been used to show that the architecture and sculpture of Central America and Mexico have been influenced from Egypt, if not directly attributable to Egyptian artisans." Mr. Bancroft remarks : "

“The customs, manner of life, and physical appearance of the natives on both sides of the Straits are identical, as a multitude of witnesses testify." Again : "If the original population of this continent were not Japanese, at least a considerable infusion of Japanese blood into the original stock has taken place." Idem, page 154: "The only remaining theory, and probably the most important of all, because of its purely 'scientific character, which presents itself for our consideration is that which not only considers the civilization of Ancient • America to have been indigenous, but also claims the inhabitants themselves to have been autoch-tonic ; in a word, the process of evolution, or in some other way, the first Americans were either developed from a lower order of the animal kingdom, or were created on the soil of this continent. As the latter involves the denial of the unity of the race, it requires proof before we can consider it." Page 187

" We have every reason to believe that the men of the mounds were capable of executing in sculptures reliable representations of animate objects. The perfection of the stone carvings, as well as the terra cotta moulded figures of animals and birds obtained from the mounds, have excited the wonder and admiration of their discoverers. Against the Ethnic Unity : Indians therefore not Mound-Builders." Page 190 : "Probably one of the most incontrovertible arguments against American Ethnic Unity is that which rests upon the unparalleled diversity of language which meets the philologist everywhere. The actual number of American languages and dialects is as yet unascerained, but is estimated at thirteen hundred, six hundred of which Mr. Bancroft has classified in his third volume of 'The Native Races of the Pacific States.'"

Idem, page 195 : "We call attention to the words of the distinguished Prof. Haeckel, in his " His-

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tory of Creation," which are as follows : 'Probably America was first peopled from Northeastern Asia by the same tribe of Mongols from whom the Polar men (Hyperboreans and Esquimaux) have also brancbed. This tribe spread first in North America, and from thence migrated over the isthmus of Central America down to South America, at the extreme south of which the species degenerated very much, by adaption to the unfavorable conditions of existence. But it iS also possible that Mongols and Polynesians emigrated from the west and mixed with the former tribe. In any case, the aborigines of America came over from the old world, and did not, as some suppose, in any way originate out of American apes. Catarhine, or narrow-nosed apes, never at any period existed in America.' The Same argument holds good if it be ascertained that both man and apes developed from a common ancestor. With these authoritative utterances from the most celebrated representatives of the development school, we shall rest the fan-. ciful, hypothesis of the autoch-thonic origin of the ancient American population."

P. 232: It is common to look upon the Toltecs and Aztecs as the first inhabitants of Mexico. Such a conclusion is erroneous, since they were preceded in Central Southern America and .even in Anahuac by people of different extraction from themselves, and by scattering tribes of their own linguistic family—the Nahua. And all the early writers refer to them in terms which indicate that they were disposed to accept the :existence of a race of giants as a fact ! "

P. 234: " The tribes which figured conspicuously in Mexico prior to the Toltecs, and not related to the Nahuas, were the Miztecs and Zapotecs, whose language was not Maya, as some have supposed." P. 234: "Their civilization," says Bancroft, "in Oajaca, rivaled that of the .Aztecs."

J. P. MacLean, p. 131 : ''Indians have no traditions concerning them, and know nothing about this people." P. 135 : "The decayed Condition of the Skeleton.—In nearly every case the skeleton has been found in such a state of decay as to forbid an intelligent examination. Probably not over half a dozen have been recovered in a condition suitable for restoration. This is all the more remarkable from the fact that the earth around them has invariably been found wonderfully compact and dry. The locality, the method of burial, the earth impervious to water, all tend to the preservation of the body. Well preserved skeletons have been taken from the tumuli of Europe, known to have been deposited there not less than 2,000 years ago. The mode of burial was not better adapted for the preservation of the body than that of the mound-builders. Yet the latter were exhumed in a decomposed and crumbling condition. From this consideration alone, a greater antiquity muSt be assigned to them than to the burrows of Europe. This point has been lost sight of by some modern students."

From the Chautauqua Library of English History and Literature, chapter 1. Britons and Romans.. 1. British Period : from date unknown to 55 B. C. ; "The earliest inhabitants of Britain. In days long past, while the children of Israel, perhaps, were groaning in bondage and Moses was yet unknown, a non-Aryan people, pursued by want or driven by war, settled in England. The island was then a desolate waste of marsh land and forest. The bear and the wolf roamed through the thick woods, and the beaver built in he reeky fens, a wild and worthless land an d a wretched race; for they passed away, leaving little more mark of their presence than did the herds that pastured near their low huts."

History has preserved no record of these earliest inhabitants of England. Only some rude burial mounds, in which are instruments of flint and bone, which are now and then turned up by the spade, are left to tell us about them. But, from the evidence gleaned from these remains,it seems certain that generation after generation came and went before they were dispossessed by men of another race. Some knowledge they acquired during these long years ; for, " beginning with heavy bones for hammers and sharp boneS for knives, they gradually came to manufacture stone instruments and work in horn ; they harpooned the whale, and fought on more than equal terms with the wild beasts of the forest. But before they had attained higher progress they were surprised by invaders, strangers; men with better arms, who slew them or drove them into the hills." [See Pearson's History of England, chap. 1.]

In Freeman’s History of England we read "The Celtic occupation of Britain.. The people who succeeded these rude tribes were members of the Aryan race, which has given to the world its best civilization. They were called Celts, and were divided into two classes : the Gaelic,. still represented by the Celts of Ireland, and the Scotch Highlands, and the Cymric, represented by the Celts of Wales and Cornwall. We do not know when the Celtic people came to England, which they called Britain, but there is scarcely an English village that has not some mark of their presence which carries us back an almost indefinite time in the history of the world."

According to Dr. Everett W. Fish, in the “Egyptian Pyramids," "The stone inscriptions. were the earliest types of written language. In word presentation, though not in morphology, they resemble the Chinese syllabicism ; certain forms became associated with certain ideas. sometimes relative, sometimes cognate, and henceforth were used to represent them. In the course of years the idea-character became contracted to a word or syllable. The early Aryan or Semitic types of picture writing were distinguished by a predominance of vowel elements ; the Coptic by nearly an absence of vowels and preponderance of consonants. But some time during this thousand years vowels appear in such quantity as to indicate a new element in stone literature. Also the co-relation between the age, characters and personal attributes of the Cheops

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of Herodotus in the Suphis of Manettro—the fourth Memphian and the sixth Egyptian dynasties—points unmistakably in the direction that all these finger marks of the period do, viz : that at or just before the Memphian conquest of Thebes, all Egypt was invaded by a more intellectual people ; that they left their marks on the monumental history and the facial and cranical angles, and on the national character of the hitherto Hindoo, and Hamitic, occupants of the valley. Their life channel may be traced in its one grand tradition—its origin from Menes. Its Menes came from Menu of India, and it went, . I ,000 years later, into Attic Theotechony as Minos. There is also one channel in which a search among traditions of the invading race is confined : that is, the stream of Theosophy older than Menu, Sabeism or the perpetual fires of Iran : the monotheism of the race kindred to the Abrahamic, of whom Melchi-Zedek is the earliest Pontiff King' If the philosophy of this singular history teaches us of the invasion of the Shepherd Kings at this time, it also teaches that they were subsequently repelled, though not conquered."

“There is a widespread belief that the ancient Egyptians were a highly developed race intellectually, yet it is an error as far as it refers to the pre-Ptolemaic period. In astronomy, mathematics, chemistry, art, economics, literature, painting, sculpture, perspective, etc., they were singularly and persistently backward ; no arch relieves the severe angular structures. The sun moved around from east to west in its risings. Its figures came from Arabia. Its letters changed not from sound-pictures. Its tomb paintings were daubs."

Mrs. Dr. Fish argues the improbability of the Egyptians designing the Great Pyramid : "The Stone Logos.—The most remarkable development of the Great Pyramid in its relation to that religion which has descended to us through the Abrahamic race. . . . It must give not a little weight to the history of those races descended from Shem, but out of the Abrahamic succession ; for, no doubt, the Captitorim, the Canaanites in general, and the races under Melchizedek, were part of the original monotheists. The peculiar history of the Pyramid'S erection ; its freedom from idolatrous hieroglyphS, present in every other tomb and temple in Egypt, and its marvelous problems—almost if not quite prophetic —also should be taken into account. . . . The prophetic nature of the chronology, contained in the -passages, repreSenting events in the history of the Hebrew race, iS strong indication of a theistic design on the part of the builder. The peculiar prominence of the 'Sacred Cubit' is also wortby of n0tice, especially as this cubit ( 25 Pyramid inches) was not in use either by the Egyptians or Hebrews as a people. It was given of God, as witnessed by Ezekiel, chap. XL, V. 5, and consisted of a 'cubit and a hand breadth.' Again, Isaiah, chap. 19, verses 19--20 : 'In that day shall there be an altar to the Lord in the midst 0f the land of Egypt, and a pillar in the border thereof to the Lord.

'And it shall be for a Sign and a witness unto the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt ; for they shall cry unto the Lord because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a Savior, and a great one, and he shall deliver them.'"

" Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid," by Piazzi Smyth, F.R. S.E., F.R. A.S., Astronomer Royal for Scotland.—Inasmuch as one of the symbols in the inscription is found over the one and sole original entrance passage into the great pyramid, the compiler feels not only aStonished that symbol is only found on the pyramids, but conStrained to cite the learned author c0ncerning the Great Pyramid in several particulars :

" The ancient pyramids of Egypt form somewhat of a long, clustering group of gigantic monuments, extending chiefly over about a degree of latitude ; beginning in the north, at the head of the triangular-shaped land of Lower Egypt, and stretching thence southward along the western side of the Nile.

Within that nearly meridian distance one traveler claims to have noted forty-five ; another sayS sixty-seven ; and another still, leaving Egypt altogether, and ascending the river as far as Merge Noori, and Barkal, in Ethiopia, mentions one hundred and thirty as existing there. But they are mediaeval, rather than ancient, small instead of large, and with very little about them, either in form or material, to remind of the more typical early examples entirely in stone, or those really mathematically shaped old pyramids, which, though few in number, are what have made the world-wide fame of their land'S architecture from before the beginning of history."

" With many of the smaller and later pyramids there is little doubt about their objects ; for, built by the Egyptians as sepulchres for the great Egyptian dead, such dead—both Pharaohs and their relatives—were buried in them, and with all the written particulars, pictorial accompaniments, and idolatrous adornments of that too graphic religion, which the fictile nation on the Nile ever delighted in. But as we approach, aScending the stream of ancient time, in any careful chronological survey of pyramidal structures, to the Great Pyramid, Egyptian emblems are gradually left behind ; and in and throughout that mighty builded mass, which all history and all tradition, both ancient and modern, agree in representing as the first in point of date of the whole Jeezeh, and even the whole Egyptian group, the earliest stone building also positively known to have been erected in any country, we find in all its finished parts not a vestige of heathenism, nor the smallest indulgence in anything approaching to idolatry ; no Egyptology of any kind; properly so called, and not even the most distant allusion to Sabaism and its worship of sun, or moon, or any of the starry host of heaven.

" I have Specified finished parts, because in certain unfinished, interminal portions of the constructive masonry of the Great Pyramid discov-

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ered by Colonel Howard Vyse in 1837, there are some rude Egyptian markings for a temporary mechanical purpose ; and I also except, as a matter of course, any inscriptions inflicted on the same pyramid by modern travelers, even though they have attempted, like the Prussian Savants of 1848, A. D., to cut their names in their own slight ideaS of the ancient hieroglyphics of the old Egyptian idolators. But with these simple exceptions, we can most positively say that both exterior and interior are absolutely free from all engraved or sculptured work, as well as from everything relating to idolatry or erring man's theotechnic devices. From all these hieratic emblems, therefore, which from first to last have utterly 0verlaid every Egyptian temple proper, as well as all Egypt's obelisks, sphinxes, Statues, tombs, and whatever other monuments they (the Egyptians) did build up at any known historical and Pharaonic epoch in connection with their peculiar, and, alas ! degrading religion.

" Was the Great Pyramid, then, erected before the invention of hieroglyphics, and previous to the birth of the false Egyptian religion? No ! for these, both history, tradition, and recent exploratory discoveries, testified to by many travelers and antiquaries, are perfectly in accord, and assure us that the Egyptian nation was established, was powerful, and its spiritually vile hieratic system largely developed, though not arrived at its full proportions at the time of the erection of the Great Pyramid ; that that structure was even raiSed by the labor of the Egyptian population ; but under some remarkable compulsion and constraint, which prevented them from putting their unmistakable and accustomed decorations on the finished building ; and especially from identifying it in any manner, direct or indirect, with therr impure and even bestial form of worship.

"According to Manetho, Herodotus, and other ancient authorities, the Egyptians hated, and yet implicitly obeyed, the power that made them work on the Great Pyramid ; and when that power waS again relaxed or removed, though they still hated its name to such a degree as t0 forbear from even mentioning it, except by a peculiar circumlocution, yet, with involuntary bending to the sway of a really superior intelligence once amongst them, they took to imitating, as well as they could, though without any understanding, for a few of the more ordinary mechanical features of that great work on which they had been so long employed ; and they even rejoiced for a time to adapt them, so far as they could be adapted, to their own favorite ends and congenial occupations.

" Hence the numerous quasi,' copies for sepulchral purposes, of the Great Pyramid, which are now to be observed, further South along that western bank of the Nile ; always betraying, though, on close examination, the most profound ignorance of their noble model's chiefest internal features, as well as of all its niceties of proportion and exactness of measurement ; and such mere failures are never found, even then, at any very great number of miles away from the site ; nor any great number of years behind the date of the colossal parent work.

The full architectural idea, indeed, of the one grand primeval monument, though expensively copied during a few centuries, yet never wholly or permanently took the fancy of the Egyptians. It had some suitabilities to their favorite employment of lasting sepulture, and its accompanying rites ; so they tried what they knew of it for that purpose. But it did not adduction of their unwieldy sacred' animals, nor bulls, nor crocodiles, nor the multitudes of abject mit of their troops of priests nor the easy intro-worshippers, with the facility of their own temples ; and so, on the whole, they preferred them. Those more opened and columned, as well as sculptured and inscribed structures, accordingly, of their own entire elaboration, are the only ones which we now find to have held, from their first invention, and uninterrupted reign through all the course of ancient and mediaeval Egyptian history ; and to reflect themselves continuously in the placid Nile, from one end of the long drawn Hamitic land to the 0ther. They therefore are, architecturally, Egypt. Thebes, too, with its hundred adorned Pylon temple- gates, and statues of false gods, is intensely Egypt. But the Great Pyramid is, in its origin and nature, something perfectly different.

Under whose direction, then, and for what purpose, was the Great Pyramid built? Whence did so foreign an idea to Egypt come ? Who was the mysterious carrier of it to that land, and under what sort of special compunction was it that, in his day, the Egyptians labored in a cause which they appreciated not, and gave their unrivaled mechanical skill for an end which they did not at the time understand, and which they never even came to understand, much less to like, in all their subsequent national ages ? [Winchell tells us it was Cheops, 3400 years B. C.]

This has been, indeed, a mystery of mysteries, but may yet prove fruitful, in the present advancing stage of knowledge, to inquire into further ; for though the0ries without number have been tried and failed in, by ancient Greeks and mediaeval Arabians, by French, English, Germans, and Americans, their failures partly pave for us the road by which we must set out. Pave it poorly, perhaps, for their whole result has, up to the present time, been little more than this : that the authors of those attempts are either found to be repeating idle tales, told them by those who knew no more about the subject than themselves ; or skipping all the really crucial points of application for their theories which they should have attended to ; or, finally, like some of the best and ablest men who have given themselves to the question, fairly admitting that they were entirely beaten.

Hence the exclusive notion of temples to the sun and moon, or for sacred fire, or holy water, or burial places, and nothing but burial places, of kings, or granaries for Joseph, or astronomical observatories, or defenses to Egypt against

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being invaded by the sands of the African desert, or places of resort for mankind in a Second deluge, or of safety when the heavens should fall, have been for a long time past proved untenable ; and the Great Pyramid stands out now far more clearly than it did in the time of Herodotus (no less than 2400 years ago), as both a prehistoric monument, and yet rivaling the best things of modern times in its eminently grand and pure conception ; and which, though in Egypt, is yet not of Egypt, and whose true and full explanation is still to come.

Under these circumstances it is that a new idea, based not on ancient hieroglyphics, profane learning, Egyptian literature, or modern Egyptology springing therefrom, but on new scientific measures of the actual facts of ancient masonic construction in number, weight and measure, was recently given to the world by the late Mr. John Taylor, of London, in a book published in 1859. He had not visited the Pyramid himself, but had been, for thirty years previously, collecting and comparing all the published accounts, and especially all the better certified mensurations (for some were certainly poor, indeed), of those who had been there ; and while so engaged, gradually and quite spontaneously, (as he described to me by letter), the new theory opened out before him. Though mainly a rigid induction from tangible facts of scientific bearing and character, Mr. Taylor's result was undoubtedly assisted by means of the mental and spiritual point of view from whence he commenced his researches, and which is, in the main, simply this :

That, whereas, other writers have generally esteemed that the unknown existency who directed the building of the Great Pyramid (and to whom the Egyptians, in their traditions and for ages afterwards, gave an immoral and even abominable character), must, therefore, have been very bad, indeed, so that the world at large, from that time to this, has ever been fond of standing on, kicking and insulting that dead lion whom they really knew nothing of—he (Mr. John Taylor), seeing how religiously bad the idol-serving Egyptians themselveS were, was led to conclude that those they hated (and could never sufficiently abuse) might perhaps have been pre-eminently good, or were, at all events, of a different religious faith from the land of Ham. Then remembering, with mulalis mutandis, what Christ himself says respecting the suspicion to be attached, when all the world speaks well of any one, Mr. Taylor followed up this idea by what the Old Testament does record touching the most vital and distinguishing part of the Israelitish religion, and which is therein described, some centuries after the building of the Great Pyramid, as notoriously an abomination to the Egyptians ; and combining with this certain unmistakable historical facts, he successfully deduced sound Christian reasons for believing that the directors of the building—or rather the authors of its design—and those who controlled the actual builders of the Great Pyramid, were by no means Egyptians, but the chosen race, descendants of Shem, in the line of, thougs preceding Abraham, So early, indeed, as to be closer to Noah than to Abraham—men, at all eventS, who had been enabled, by Divine favor, to appreciate the appointed idea as to the necessity of a sacrifice and atonement for the sins of man by the Flood and the act 0f a Divine Mediator—an idea coeval with tbe contest between Abel and Cain, and which descended through the Flood to certain predestined families of mankind, but which idea no one of Egyptian born would ever contemplate with a moment's patience ; for every ancient Egyptian, from first to last, and every Pharaoh of them more especially, was a genuine Cainite in thought, act and feeling to the very back bone ; confident of, and possessing nothing so much, or so constantly, as his own perfect righteousness, and absolute freedom by his own innate purity from every kind of sin.

On this ground it was that Mr. Taylor took his stand, and after disobeying the world's long- formed public opinion of passively obedient accord with profane Egyptian tradition, and setting at nought the most time-honored prejudices of p0lite society so far as to give a full, fair and impartial examination to the whole case from the beginning, announced that he had discovered, in some of the arrangements and measures of the Great Pyramid when corrected for injuries of intervening time-certain scientific results, which speak of much more than, or rather something quite different from, any human intelligence. For, besides coming forth suddenly in the primeval history of its own day, without any childhood, or known preparation, the actual facts at the Great Pyramid, in the shape of builded proofs of an exact numerical knowledge of the grander cosmical phenomena, of both earth and heavens, not only rise above, and far above, the extremely limited and almost infantine knowledge of science humanly attained to by any of the Gentile nations of 4000, 3000, 2000—nay, , 1000 years ago, but they are also, in whatever of the physical secrets of nature they chiefly apply to, essentially above the best knowledge of man in our own time as well.

This is, indeed, a startling assertion, if true ; but, from its subject, admits of the completest and most positive refutation, if untrue. For the exact science of the present day, compared with that of only a few hundred years ago, is a marvel of development, and is capable of giving out no uncertain sound, both in asserting itself, and stating not only the fact, but the order and time of the invention of the practical means necessary to the minutest steps of all separate discoveries yet made. Much more, then, can it speak with positiveness when comparing its own present extended knowledge against the little that was known to man by his own efforts, and by his School methods, in those early epochs, before accurate and numerical physical science had begun, or could have begun, to be seriously cultivated at all ; that is, in the truly primeval day

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when the Great Pyramid was built, finished, sealed up, and left as we see it now, dilapidations only excepted."

To fully comprehend the force of Mr. Taylor's argument, it will be necessary to read carefully Mr. Smyth's great work, in which he substantiates Mr. Taylor in the most scientific manner. Let this be kept in remembrance.

In Pre-Historic Nations, by John D. Baldwin, A. M., we read, p. 12 : " In Tuscany and in Egypt, in India and in China, and in the South-sea Islands and both Americas, we behold evidences of a civilization, which, in s0me instances, had run its course anterior to the age of Homer."

P. 40: " The Greek race settled around the AEgean Sea, in Asia Minor, Thrace, Macedonia, Messaly, Epirus, and throughout the Grecian peninsula. The Greek race then consisted of groups of tribes or families also closely related in origin and language, probably as tbe Scandniavian groups in Northwestern Europe. They inherited the culture of their predeceSsors, the Phoenicians, or Cushites, and the Pelasgians, who in more ancient times, established the oracle of Dodona, made Thrace eminent as a Seat of civilization and science, established enlightened communities in Asia Minor, and carried their influence into tbe Grecian peninsula itself." P. 92: " A system of picture writing, which aimed at the communication of ideas through rude representation of natural objects, belonged not only to the tribes who descended the Nile from Ethiopia, but to those also who, perhaps, diverging from the same focus passed eastward to the valley of Euphrates." P. 93 : " The ruins of Egypt are covered with hieroglyphics, the perfected Egyptian style of appearing on the oldest monuments. There are not less than six styles of cuniform writing ; that found in the Chaldean ruins, seeming to be the oldest. There is nothing to show .how many forms of hieroglyphical writing came into use before this style was perfected in Upper Egypt, and was superseded elsewhere by Alphabets."

The immigration doubted, p. 135: " Some writers, in discussing what Herodotus says of the Phoenicians, have discredited an immigration as impossible. They have assumed and Supposed everybody else would admit, as a matter of course, that all men were ignorant barbarians " at that remote period," destitute of the arts of civilized life. " That remote period," they are quite sure, was not far from the dreary " Stone Age " in the unwritten history of Western Asia, when the noblest naval structure was a loose raft of logs, and hunting and fishing with the rudest stone and bone implements the most serious undertaking of the people. The confident critics who raised this objection are not so numerous now. Those who believe there never was any civilization worth taking much account of previous to the time of the Greeks are liable to such magnificent flights in the dark.

Idem, p. 205: " Rawlinson, speaking of the Cushite character and language of the old Chaldeans, says :" " It can be proved from the inscriptions of the country that between the date of the first establishment of a Chaldean Kingdom to the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, the language of lower Mesopotamia underwent an entire change." " The Cushite tongue disappeared, and the Aramiac took its place. The influence of this Semitizing transformation proceeded westward, encountering effective resistance only where it reached established communities by the Aryans."

P. 402 : " The Chinese and Japanese do not give us any myths ; they tell us what they have actually known for many centuries. Tbe Welsh prince, Madog, about the year 1170, A. D., was just as certain of the existence of America when "he sailed away westward, going south of Ireland," to find a land of refuge from the civil war of his countrymen. Having made preparations for a settlement he returned to Wales, secured a large company that filled ten ships, then sailed away again and never returned." In 1660, Rev. Morgan Jones, a Welsh clergyman, seeking to go by land from South Carolina to Roanoke, was captured by the Tuscarawas Indians. He declares that his life was spared because he Spoke Welsh, which some of the Indians understood ; that he was able to converse with them in Welsh ; that he remained with them four months, sometimes preaching to them in Welsh. North Carolina was once settled by Welsh.

Henry R. Schoolcraft, L. L. D. " Information respecting the History, Condition and Prospects of the Indian tribes of the United States." Published by authority of Congress, March 3d,

1847. Vol. 1, p. 17: " Considered in every point of view, the Indian appears t0 be an old— a very old stock. Nothing that we have in the shape of books is ancient enough to recall the period of his origin."

P. 21 : " The Aztecs were not aborigines, or first inhabitants. The Aztecs made offerings to the sun, upon the highest teocalli, and sung hymns to it. Sacrifice was supplied alone by the Priesthood, and was the foundation of their power."

P. 31 : " The disciples of Zoraster, Says Herodotus, rejected the use of temples, of alters, and statues."

P. 36 : " Many have supposed that the Oriental arts and knowledge were transferred to this continent at early epochs, and have beheld evidence of this in the ruinS of temples, teocalli and other structures and vestiges of ancient art, scattered over the country. We shall know more of this when we come to find and decipher the inscriptions."

P. 40: " It was an early thought that the mannerS and customs of the tribes savored of the Mongolic or Samoidean type. The tribes of the East Indies, embracing much of the generic type—physical and moral."

P. 71 : The whole of the western and northwestern antiquities of the highest class, embracing every monument of the kind north of

HISTORY OF MUSKINGUM COUNTY, OHIO - 17

Utah and the country north of Gila, to which the Poltec and Aztec civilizations probably reached, may be viewed together by the antiquarian as forming the second type of American antique civilization. That this type was a transferred Americo-Shemitic character, appears probable from renewed inquries on the languages."

P. 114 : " The inscription on the Assonet or Dighton Rock :" " On this we observe the spots represented by small holes, signifying so many moons, in which case they are numerals, or, according to the situation, are prepositions, and then have such significance as harmonizes with the other symbols."

P. 343 : The mode of communicating ideas by the use of symbols of some sort, and with a more or less degree of perfection, was an early and a common trait in the human race. Alphabetic characters, it is thought, were known in Asia about 3317 years before the discovery of America. We must assign much of the prior era of the world to picture-writing and hieroglyphics.

P. 346 : " It is supposed the mode of hieroglyphic writing was not laid aside until the third century, A. D. An earlier opinion generally affirms that the enchorial characters had ceased to be employed after the Persian conquest of Cambysses, in 525, B. C. If the Egyptians, on the invasion of the French, were found t0 have substituted the Arabic alphabet in place of the phonetic hieroglyphic, and installed Mahomet's system in place of the ibis, the calf and the cat, they had completely forgotten the event of this mutilation of their literature, or that the phonetic symbols had ever been employed by them. The discovery was made by Europeans, and made alone by the perpetuating power of the Greek and Roman alphebet."

P. 347 : The Rosetta Stone. [See Denou's Description of Egypt.] This fragment, which I examined in the British Museum in 1842, was dug up on the banks of the Nile by the French, in erecting a fort, in 1799. It was a sculptured mass of black basalt, bearing the lingual inscriptions in the hieroglyphic, the demotic, and the ancient Greek characters. Copies of it were multiplied and spread before the scientific minds of England and the continent, for about twenty years before the respective inscriptions were satisfactorily read. It would transcend my purpose to give the details of the history of its interpretation ; but as it has furnished the key to the subsequent disc0veries, and serves to denote the patience with which labors of this kind are to be met, a brief notice of the subject will be added. The Greek inscription, which is the lowermost in position, and like the others imperfect, was the first made out by the labors of Dr. Heyne, of Germany, Professor Parson, of London, and by the members of the French Institute. They, at the same time, demonstrated it to be a translation.

The chief attention of the enquirers was directed to the middle inscription, which is the most entire, and consists of the demotic or en-choral character. The first advance was made by DeLacy, in 1802, who found, in the groups of proper names, those of Ptolemy, Arsinoe, and others. This was more satisfactorily demonstrated by Dr. Young, in 1814, when he published the result of his labors on the demotic text. These labors were further extended, and brought forward in separate papers, published by him in 1818 and 1819, in which he is believed to have shed the earliest beam 0f true light on the mode of annotation. He was not able, however, to apply his principles fully, or at least without error, from an opinion that a syllabic principle pervaded the system. He carried his interpretations, however, much beyond the deciphering of the proper names. It was the idea of this compound character of the phonetic hieroglyphics that proved the only bar to his full and complete success ; an opinion to which he adhered in 1823, in a paper in which he maintains that the Egyptians did not make use of an alphabet to represent elementary sounds and their connection, prior to to the era of the Grecian and Roman domination. Champollion, the younger, himself entertained very much the same opinion, so far, at least, as relates to the phonetic signs, in 1812. In 1814, in his Egypt udder the Pharaohs," he first expresses a different opinion, and throws out the hope that, " sounds 0f language and the expressions of thought," would yet be disclosed under the garb of " material pictures." This was, indeed, the germ in the thought-work of the real discovery, which he announced to the Royal Academy of Belle Letters, at Paris, in September, 1822. By this discovery, of which Dr. Young claims priority in determining the first nine symbols, a new link is added in the communication of thought by signs, which connects picture and alphabet writing. Phonetic hieroglyphics, as thus disclosed, consist of symbols representing sounds of first letters of words. These symbols have the peculiarity, and are restricted to this precise use : that while they depict the ideas of whole objects, as birds, etc., they represent only the alphabetic value of the initial letter of the name of these objects. Thus the picture may, to give an example in English, denote a man, an ox, an eagle, or a lotus ; but their alphabetical value, if these be the words inscribed on a column, would be, respectively, the letters M. O. E. L. These are the.phonetic signs or equivalents for the words. It is evident that an inscription could thus be made with con siderable precision, but not unerring exactitude, and it is by the discovery of this key that so much light has been, within late years, evolved from the Egyptian monuments.

P. 348. "The next step taken by Quatremere, who proved the present C0ptic to be identical with the ancient Egyptian. To find this language then recorded in the hieroglyphics,was the great object. It is here that the younger Champollion exercised his power of definition and comparison. By the preconception of a pho-

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netic hieroglyphical alphabet, as above denoted, he had grasped the truth, which yet lay concealed, and he labored at it until he verified his conceptions. It is thus that a theory gives energy to research ; nor is their much hope of success without one, in the investigation of the unknown.

. . . The discoveries of Dr. Young, and the injudicious criticisms and wholesale praises of the British press, (particularly the London Quarterly) of his papers on the hieroglyphic literature of Egypt, were calculated to arouse in France and Germany a double feeling of rivalry. It was not only a question between the respective archeological merits of Dr. Young and M. Champollion ; it was also a question of national pride between England, France and Germany. And, for the first time in their fierce and sanguinary history, hieroglyphics were the missives used. Victory decided in favor of Champollion, as displayed in the triumphs of the pure phonetic method elucidated in his " Precis du systeme hieroglyphiques des anciens Egyptiens," published in 1824.

It is a striking feature in hieroglyphical phonetic writing, and the great cause of imprecision, that its signs are multiform, often arbitrary, and must be constantly interpreted, not only with an entire familiarity with the language of the people employing them, but with their customs, habits, arts, manners and history. All who have studied the Egyptian hieroglyphic literature have experienced this. . . . . P. 349 : "There is a manifest tendency at the present day to over-estimate the civilization, learning and philosophy of the Egyptians and Persians in these departments, chiefly from hieroglyphic and pictorial records. If I mistake not, we are in some danger of falling into this error on this side of the water in relation to the character of the ancient Mexican civilization. The impulsive glow of one of our most chaste and eloquent historians gives this natural t dency to our conceptions. The Aztec semi-civilization was an industrial civilization : the giving up of hunting and roving for agriculture and fixed dwellings. But we must not mistake it. They built teocalli, temples, palaces and gardens ; but the people lived in mere huts: They are still debased. Woman was dreadfully so. The mind of the Aztecs, while the hand had obtained skill and industry, was still barbaric. The horrific character of their religion made it impossible it should be otherwise. Civilization had but little affected the intellect, the morals not at all. They commemorated events by the striking system of picture writing; but there is strong reason to suspect, since examining the principles of the North American system, as practiced by our Medas and Jossakeeds, that the Mexican manuscripts were also constructed on the mnemonic principle, and always owed much of their value and precision to the memory of the trained writers and painters.

"American Antiquities and Researches into the Origin and History of the Red Race," by Alexander W. Bradf0rd. P. 17: "Many of the tumuli formed of earth, and Occasionally of stones, are of Indian origin, and they may generally be distinguished by their inferior dimensions and isolated situations." P. 22 : 'The ancient remains of the United States bear evident marks of being the production of a people elevated far above the savage state. Many of them indicate great elegance 0f taste, and a high degree of dexterous workmanship and mechanical skill in their construction ; others betoken the existence of a decided form of religious worship ; while the size and extent of the earthen fortifications and mounds demonstrate the former existence of populous nations, capable of executing works of enormous dimensions, requiring perseverance, time and combination of labor for their erection." Idem, p. 22: "An earthen vessel found at Nashville, Tennessee, twenty feet below the surface, is described as being circular, with a flat bottom rounding upwards, and terminating at the summit in the figure of a female head. The features and face are Asiatic, the head is covered by a conical cap, and the ears are large, extending as low as the chin." P. 32 : The skeletons are mostly decayed, or in such fragments as to render it somewhat difficult to ascertain their size and position." P. 52: "Many ancient tumuli consist of earth, and others of stone, the composition depending upon natural facilities for obtaining either material ; some of these mounds were thirty-six feet in diameter, but only three feet in height. They are manifestly of the same character with others found on the Muskingum river, which are unquestionably ancient." P. 53-4 : "At Cincinnati a mound eight feet high, sixty feet broad and six hundred and twenty feet long ! One of the first accounts, written in 1794, describes the mound as raised upon the margin of the second bank of the Ohio river, eight feet in height and with a base of about one hundred and twenty by sixty. Upon its surface were found stumps of oak trees seven feet in diameter. The articles which were found were near a body interred in a horizontal position, and with the head towards the setting sun. The instruments of stone were smoothly and regularly cut, and of great hardness. The copper was well wrought, and the carved bones were not human remains."

"Transactions of American Phil. Soc.," vol. iv, p. 178: "These, beside articles of jasper, crystal, coal, also beads, lead, copper, and mica plates, marine shells of the genus buccinum, cut into domestic utensils, and the sculptured representation of the head 0f a voracious bird ; while, as in the mounds before described, human bones appeared, some enclosed in coffins of stone, but all imbedded in ashes and charcoal, the unfailing sign of the burning of the deceased." P. 60 : "Their identity of origin.—The general character of all these remains indicates an origin from the same nation, or from branches of the same people." P. 376: "The Hermaic books preserved in the Egyptian temples like those of the Aztecs, contained the outlines of their astrology, aStronomy, their rituals, the histories of their

HISTORY OF MUSKINGUM COUNTY, OHIO - 19

mythology, and all, indeed, that was known of the arts and sciences, which were in the possession of the priests alone. The Mexican manuscript painting possessed many of the attributes of real hieroglyphical writing. It did not consist of merely mimetic images, such as are often found on the Egyptian tombs, but it was fettered by prescribed forms : nearly all its elements had a fixed meaning, and had thus become, to an extent. conventional signs. The numbers to twenty were were represented by dots or points. There is reason to suspect that the number ten was indicated by a straight line, twenty by a flag, four hundred by a feather ; day, night, midnight, the year, the century, the heavens, air, earth and water were all denoted by symbolic characters. The figures for the names of cities, and the astronomical representations of the names of the months were also real symbols, which suggested the sounds of those names upon being seen. Indeed, the usual picture writing of the Mexicans resembles that found upon the clothing of the Egyptian mummies, and was of a mixed character. But beyond all this, there are traces of real phonetic hieroglyphics in those signs which appear upon the monument above the heads of the gods, which, like the Egyptian hieroglyphics of the names of the gods, were enclosed in an oblong rectangle. The characters of the Codex Mexicanus at Dresden suggest the existence of even a complete system of phonetic hieroglyphics."

Studies of Antiquities as the Commentary of Historical Learning, by T. Pownall, London. Printed by J. Dodsley, in "Pall-Mall," 1782. P. 192 : Whoever examines the specimen of. picture writing, as practiced among the Egyptians, and c monly called hieroglyphics, and comes fairly lid soberly to the reading of them, without preconceived notions of their mysterious meaning, and takes them as he finds them, mere pictures of birds, beasts, fish, reptiles, and insects ; portraits of the limbs, members, and various parts of the human body ; also of the human body itself in various attitudes of rest and action ; drafts of various instruments, tools, weapons, ensigns, numerals and measures ; also characters of elementary writing mixed with them ; he, I say, that examines these pictures, will perceive, at first view, that they relate merely to human affairs ; that they are either historical memorials, or registered tables of the state of the provinces ; of their lands, people, forces, produce and revenues, or calendars of their seasons, etc., expressed by symbolic characters, determined in their form by law, from the earliest use of them. What I here say of the Egyptian picture writing, I can assert literally as a fact of the Mexican picture writing, which is in three parts : I. Historical Records. , II. Register Tables. in. (Economical Regulations.

They draw (says Diodorus, going on with the same account) a hawk, for instance, a cr0cidile, or a serpent, parts and. members of the human body. The hawk, as supposed to be the swiftest of all birds, is made the symbol of velocity. The sense, then, is transferred by these written metaphors, to everything which has any reference to velocity, nearly as well as if it was spoken in direct terms. The crocidile is made the symbol of everything which is evil. The eye represents watchful guard, and justice. . . . The drawing the right hand open with the fingers extended, signifies the supply of human life ; the left hand closed signifies care and custody of the goods of life. Shakespeare uses the same metaphor :

' He had an eye for pity, and a hand

Open as day, for melting charity.'

“The like reasoning does in like manner translate from the portraits of all other parts of the body, and from all species of instruments, tools and weapons, etc."

P. 195 : Again, as the mouth is that part by which speech is effected, lineal portraits of the mouth, in the various forms it takes in enunciation, are used to make the various elements of speech, which characters I call oral. As the first mode of numeration with all people is the fingers, so we find a system of numeral characters expressly formed on this idea. But they had other methods also of numerati0n, specimens of which are found in every hieroglyphic inscription. It is not only true that the Egyptians used elementary writing, but they had two sorts of these elements. Those which took their form and character from the mouth—oral.

P. 19 : The others, which I conceive to be the secret cypher, I have, for distinction sake, determined to call the Ogmian (the secret writing of the Druids) was so called. God, the supreme Being, is pictured by the only two following symbols, invariably the same : First, by a winged globe, or circle, signifying infinity, unity, activity, and omnipresence ; secondly, a globe or circle, through which a serpent, the symbol of life, is passant, signifying the creative and plastic manifestation of the first cause, animating and g0verning the material world.

P. 197 : Plato, in his second dialogue on laws, explains on this point : " These types and figures, be they such as they are, and whatever they are, they are formed on a basis of an institution of the government of Egypt, which directs that no sculptor, painter, or statuary shall render any idea of improvement, or on any pretense whatever presume to innovate in these determined forms, or to introduce any other than the constitutional ones of his country. Hence it is, as you observe, that those forms and figures which were formed or painted hundreds of ages past, be they what they may, are exactly the forms and figures, neither better nor worse, which are sculptured and painted at this day." Plato de Lezibus, lib. It. p. 789.

Idem, p. 206-7-8 : Clemens Alexandrinus, who must have understood this matter, living on the spot, gives an explicit account of it in the fifth book of his Stromata, of which I venture to give the following translation " Those who receive their education amongst the Egyptians

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learn in the first place the method of the Egyptian elementary writing, or letters, which is called the Epistolary writing ; secondly, the Sacerdotal, which the hierographists, the priest-scribes use; lastly, as the perfecting of this part of education, the hieroglyphics. This consists of two methods ; the one is written by elements in direct terms ; the other is symbolic. The symbolic may again be divided into two kinds ; the first as a picture or direct portrait of the matter or thing intended to be described ; the second is written by metaphorical representations. This is sometimes allegorized by enigmas." If my translation be just,it describes the fact as it will be found to have existed. It describes, first, the generical distinctions ; the writing by elements or letters, and the picture writing, and next the three species of each genus. First, the writing for common business (the demotic, as Herodotus calls it), next, the court-hand, that which the Sacerdotal scribes used ; and lastly, that which was used in the sacred engraved inscripti0ns, which is so often, to this day, on the obelisques and other pnblic records. The first, tbe symbolic, was applied in actual portraits of the thing described ; the second used, as Plato expresses it, metaphors for descriptions ; the third, which allegorized these pictures and enigmas, which the original writers, ne suspicate guider send. I have already explained, as the mere physiologic commentaries, the divine romances of the learned priests."

The reader will recall the language of Mr. Schoolcraft " The Aztecs were not aborigines, or first inhabitants." And " It was an early thought that the manners and customs of the tribes savored of the Mongolic or Samoiden type. The tribes the East Indies-embracing much of the generic ype and moral. The whole of the western and northwestern antiquities of the highest class, embracing every monument of the kind north of Utah, and the country north of the Gila, t0 which the Lottec and Aztec civilizations probably reached, may be viewed together by the antiquarian as forming the second type of American Antique civilization—that this type was a transferred Americo-Shemitic character, appears probable from renewed inquiries on the languages."

These views are corr0borated by the 0ther writers, as set forth in these quotations, and by Alexander Winchell, L.L.D. Professor of Geol- ogy and Palaentology in the University of Michigan. In his work " Pre-Adamites," p. 52, chap. he groups the races in three divisions, according to prevailing color. Ethnologists rely on color to only a limited extent, and at most account it but one among many physical and linguistic considerations, regarded as throwing light on racial distinctions and affiliations. Yet color shows a strange and persistent independence of the physical environment.

A chromatic classification, moreover, will be most convenient for the present purpose.

Conspectus of Types : I. White Race (Mediterranean), or the Blushing Race.

1. Blonde Family (Japhetites, Aryans, or Indo- Europeans.)

2. Brunette Family (Semites).

3. Sun-burnt Family (Hamites).

II. Brown Races : ( 1.) Mongoloid Race (Tartar, Turanian).

1. Malay Family.

2. Maylayo-Chinese Family.

3. Chinese Family.

4. Japanese Family (including Coreans).

5. Altaic Family.

6. Behring's Family.

7. American Family.

(2.) Dravidean Race.

1. Dekkanese Family.

2. Cingalese Family.

3. Menda Family (Jungle Tribes, or Primitive Dravidae).

This tabulation is continued in the Black Races, but enough is given to certify that the aborigines of America date back to the first division of the Brown Races, viz. : the M0ngoloid race, having passed through peculiar changes, chiefly climatic, known as the Malay Family, Malayo-Chinese, Japanese, Altaic, Behrings, and lastly, the American, 0r, what seems most probable, a tribe from this stock found its way via Behrings Strait to this continent.

They were of the Brunette Family, whom the ancient Egyptians styled " yellow ; but this is a better designation of some of the Mongoloid families. The birth-right Jews, in all countries, and the Arabs, are the best examples of this family. This is no insignificant aid to our comprehension of .their intellectual status, and harmonizes with the implied belief of the majority of the writers on this subject that they were an intellectual people, and doubtless as well informed as any below the white race, if we may even except this.

Mr. Winchell adds : " The Mongoloids, or Turanians, are the most numerous, and by far the most widely dispersed of all the races. [These are facts which seem to possess much significance.] They are characterized by long, straight, black hair, which is cylindrical in section, by nearly a complete absence of beard and hair on the body, by a dark-colored skin, varying from a leather-like yellow to deep brown, or sometimes tending to red, and by prominent cheek bones, generally accompanied by oblique setting of the eyes. * * * The true Mongols, also called Tartars, stretch in their numerous tribes from the .eastern part of the desert of Gobi, north to Lake Baikal, and westward as far as Kalmucks, to European Russia. The Turks, of which the Uighars, Osmanlis, Yakats, Turco- mans and Kirghis are the principal branches, are spread over the wide region from the Altai Mountains, through Turkistan to the Caspian Sea, and in isolated tribes through the Caucasus to Hungary and European Turkey. The European Turks have lost most of their Mongoloid characters by long admixture with the Aryan stock, but their languages preserve distinctly the evidences of their Mongoloid origin."

HISTORY OF MUSKINGUM COUNTY, OHIO - 21

Idem, p. 66 : " The American family of Mongoloids embraces all the aboriginal population of both continents, except the Behrings tribes. All researches hitherto have failed to establish the existence of more than one race, whether among the anciently half civilized or the hunting tribes, and have only resulted in the conviction that an American race of men, as distinct from Mongoloids, is only a prepossession arising from their continual isolation and remoteness from their Asiatic kinsmen, when contemplated across the Atlantic by European ethnologists. The physical affinities of the American Indian, especially in view of the connecting types of the Haidahs (a tribe of Tlinkites), the Alents, the Helmes, the Coreans, and Japanese; are sufficiently close to convince any unprejudiced student that all the populations 0f America have been derived fr0m the Asiatic continent."

Thus we have passed in review the opinions of the authors who have written most concisely, as well as from the best known data concerning the peculiar people called the Mound Builders ; and after presenting the report of the Historical Association organized in Brush Creek township, Muskingum county, Ohio, for the purpose of securing the most reliable and complete data concerning that township, to be incorporated in the history of this county, it will doubtless appear to others, as it has to the writer, that this resume has rendered intelligible the existence of the Mound Builder remains in Ohio, and enabled us to interpret the inscription on the stone found in the mound in Brush Creek township :

" BRUSH CREEK TOWNSHIP,

March 3, 1880.

To Dr. J. T. Everhart, A.M., Historian:

DEAR SIR : On December 1, 1879, we assembled with a large number of people for the purpose of Aka vating into and examining the contents of air ancient mound, located on the farm of Mr. J. M. Baughman, in Brush creek township, Muskingum county, Ohio.

“The mound is situated on the summit of a hill, rising 152 feet above the bed of the stream called Brush creek. It is about 64 feet in width by about 90 feet in length, having an altitude 0f

feet 3 inches ; is nearly flat on top. On the mound were found the stumps of sixteen trees, ranging in size from 8 inches to 2,1 feet in diameter.

We began the investigations by digging a trench four feet wide from the east side. When the depth of eight feet had been reached, we found a human skeleton, deeply charred, in close proximity to a stake six feet in length and four inches in thickness, also deeply charred, and standing in an upright position. We found the cranium, vertebrae, pelvis and metacarpal bones near, while the femurs and tibula extended horizontally from the stake. At this juncture work was abandoned, on account of the lateness of the hour, until Monday, December 8th, when it was resumed by opening the mound from the northwest. When at the depth of seven and a half

feet in the north trench, came upon two enormous skeletons, male and female, lying one above the other, faces together, and heads toward the west. The male, by actual measurement, proved to be nine feet six inches ; the female eight feet nine inches in length. At about the same depth in the west trench we found two more skeletons, lying two feet apart, faces upward, and heads to the east. These, it is believed, were fully as large as those already measured, but the condition in which they were found rendered exact measurement impossible. On December 22d we began digging at the southeast portion of the mound, and had not proceeded more than three feet when we discovered an altar, built of sand- rock. The altar was six feet in width and twelve feet in length, and was filled with clay, and of about the same shape that the mound originally was. On the top, which was composed of two flat flag-rocks, forming an area of about two feet in width and six in length, was found wood-ashes and charcoal to the amount of five or six bushels. Immediately behind, or west of the altar, were found three skeletons, deeply charred, and covered with ashes, lying faces upward, heads toward the south, measuring, respectively : eight feet ten, nine feet two, and nine feet four inches in length. In another grave a female skeleton eight feet long, and a male skeleton nine feet four inches long—the female lowermost, and the face downward, and the male on top, face upward, behind the site of the altar. After proceeding about four feet, we found, within three feet of the top of the mound, and five feet above the natural surface, a coffin or burial case, made of a peculiar kind of yellow clay, the like of which we have not found in the township ; consequently, we believe it was brought from a distance. Within the casket were confined the remains of a female eight feet in length, an infant three and a half feet in length, the skull of which was scarcely thicker than the blade of an ordinary case-knife. The skull of the female would average in thickness about one-eighth of an inch, measured eighteen and three-fourth inches from the supra-orbital ridge to the external occipital protuberance ; was remarkably smooth ; perfectly formed. Within the encl0sure was a figure or image of an infant but sixteen inches in length, made of the yellow clay of which the casket was formed ; also, a roll of peculiar black substance encased in the yellow clay, twelve inches in length by four inches in diameter, which crumbled to dust when exposed to the air.

We also found what appears to have been the handle and part of the side of a huge vase ; it was nicely glazed, almost black in color, and burned very hard. From within a few inches of the coffin was taken a sand-rock, having a surface of twelve by fourteen inches (which had also passed through the fire), upon which were engraved the following described hieroglyphics :" [Here a space was left in the note-book for the representation of the inscription found upon the stone ; but, for the sake of a true representation,

22 - HISTORY OF MUSKINGUM COUNTY, OHIO.

we determined to have photographs made, and make one a part of this report.]

Proceeding north about four feet from where we found the coffin, and within six inches of the top of the mound, we discovered a huge skeleton lying on its face, with the head toward the west. Mr. J. M. Baughman came upon this one accidentally, and, as it fell to pieces, he thinks no one could tell how long it was, but those who saw it unanimously declared it to be the largest of any yet discovered.

We have found eleven human skeletons in all, seven of which have been subjected to fire ; and, what is remarkable, we have not found a tooth in all the excavations.

The above report contains nothing but facts briefly told, and knowing that the public has been humbugged and imposed upon by archaeologists, we wish to fortify our own statements by giving the following testimonial :

We, the undersigned citizens of Brush Creek township, having been present and taken part in the above excavations, do certify that the statements herewith set forth are true and correct, and in no particular has the writer deviated from the facts in the case.

[Signed.]

THOMAS D. SHOWERS,

JOHN WORSTALL,

MARSHALL COOPER,

J. M. BAUGHMAN,

S. S. BAUGHMAN,

JOHN E. MCCOY."

The State of Ohio, Muskingum county, ss:

William T. Lewis, being first by me duly sworn, deposeth and saith : I began work on the Smith Gallery on September 2d, 1879, and continued to work there until June 14., 1880 ; and that between December 1879, and January TO, 1880, I photographed for Dr. J. F. Everhart an engraved stoneid to have been exhumed from a mound in Brush Creek Township, and that I have this day identified the negative that I then took, in the Gallery No. 101, Main street, Zanesville, Ohio ; that when I was about to print the picture for Dr. Everhart I assured him I could, by retouching the negative, make the characters on the stone appear plainer, and that Dr. Everhart objected, saying he wanted nothing more 0r less than an exact copy of the stone, without any alterations whatever, and that I am prepared to identify the stone from which the negative referred to was taken, and that there was no sign of any recent engraving 0r marking on the engraved side of the stone.

W. T. LEWIS.

Sworn to before me and subscribed in my presence this 16th day of March, A. D. 1881.

Wm. H. CUNNINGHAM, JR.,

Notary Public in and for said county and State."

The reader will observe in the Report the absence of scientific precautions, and perhaps the scientist who expects to find things in a scientific way may censure us for this, but when it is remembered that the object in this, as in every effort in exploring hidden things, is to read the facts discovered, without the shackles of theory, it will be conceded that this could not have been accomplished better than by leaving the exploration to those who had no theoretic knowledge on the subject.

And that whatever the inscription might mean remained for development by research, as no tyro could decipher characters as old as these have been found to be, and the inscription had not yet been viewed by an archaelogist, or one acquainted with the characters.

Having the Report, and having seen the mound, measured it, counted the stumps thereon, inspected the graves and nearly all of their contents, and having the inscribed stone, I under-- took to collate the opinions of not only the best known writers on the subject, but to gather wisdom from the savants in America, England and the Canadas, to whom photographs and a brief account of the contents of the mound were sent. Many of these expressed themselves greatly interested, particularly in the inscription, and promised to give it their most earnest attention, and kindly intimated their views concerning some of the characters ; but generally urged the propriety of exercising great precaution in exhuming and measuring the skeletons, which, by the way, were measured in situ.

Finally, I was urged by officers of the American Association for the Advancement of Science to appear at their next annual meeting in B0ston, Massachusetts, in August, 1880, with the tablet, and a paper on the subject. At that meeting I read a paper on "The Mound Builders," substantially the same as this, and exhibited a specimen of the clay that composed the coffin or casket ; specimens of the bones contained in the casket, showing their decayed condition, and. the tablet. The latter, particularly, was examined by many with great scrutiny and pronounced a veritable mound builder relic of ancient make.

The outline of history here given is believed to be sustained by the fuller text of the authors quoted, and the interpretation of the inscription is possibly the only legitimate rendering with the light we now have.

The stone was found in a reclining position, with its dorsal aspect uppermost, and into which Mr. J. M. Baughman stuck the point of his coal pick, as stated by him and confirmed by the well- known marks of that instrument in their original freshness in the stone. It was but partially cleaned when brought to the writer, and was then cleansed with water and a brush, and was photographed without manipulation, and the pictures were printed without retouching the negative.

The position of the stone indicated that it had once been erected with the parallel lines perpendicular. Observing the angle marks, however, and remembering that "angle stones" were found upon the Great Pyramid, and that they were placed with the vertex of the angle uppermost, the writer postured the stone accordingly, and recognizing certain of the characters as

HISTORY OF MUSKINGUM COUNTY, OHIO - 23

Greek, and that, according to many writers, characters of ideation have been postured differently in different ages, evidenced especially in Webster's Dictionary of the English Language, 1879. P. 1762: Chart of "Ancient Alphabets," it was deemed legitimate to adopt the same course.

The first left hand character between the upper parallel lines is Alpha, the second is Omega, the third a spot, a numeral, the next a sceptre with a numeral above, the next numerals of order, the next a serpent—symbol of life-spirit, the next the sign of addition, the next Delta, the next the ligatured Greek sign of the infinitive ; the cavity between the upper and lower rows of characters is to be grouped with those below the lower row, and represents sun, moon and stars, or heavenly bodies ; the first left hand character in the lower row represents a seal or stamp in use the third century B. C. [See Dr. Julius Eutings' table of Semitic characters, in outlines of Hebrew Grammar, by Gustavus. Bickell, D. D., Leipzig.] The next is another form of the serpent, associated with a numeral, the next the ligatured character repeated, the next numerals of order, the last the angle marks, corresponding with the "angle stones."

The discovery that " Alpha and Omega" are the first two characters of the inscription was as startling as it is true. And the connection with the Great Pyramid, as indicated by the corresponding signs, " the angle stones," found only on the Pyramids, and upon this grave stone, as far as now known, began to loom up, and Mr. Smyth's three keys for the opening of the Great Pyramid seemed to have a bearing upon this inscription ; so• that they are here quoted for the benefit of the reader. " Key first : The key of pure mathematics." " Key the second : The key of applied mathematics—of astronomical and physical science." " Key the third : The key of positive human history,—past, present, and future, as supplied in some of its leading points and chief religious connections by Divine Revelation to certai osen and inspired men of the Hebrew race through ancient and mediai-val times ; but now to be found, by all the world, collected in the Old and New Testaments."

There is no twisting, no forcing needed in using any of these keys ; and, least of all, is any alteration of them required for this particular purpose."

Here, then, is " a new departure ;"—not devised, but substantiated by the Astronomer Royal, of Scotland. And, in order to combine the mode of interpretation indicated by reference to the Old and New Testaments, so clearly shown to be the way, with the indications by the authors adduced, a brief resume will be found profitable.

Mr. Conant certifies that the mounds were constructed by a people who burned their dead ; a race homogenous in arts and worship ; and he gives an account of a neatly carved tombstone found near the head of a skeleton in the mound on the Payson farm in Utah ; and of an un known kind of wheat found in the same enclosure ; and plastered houses in those mounds.

Mr. Short has strong reasons for supposing a remote intercourse between Asia and the Pacific coast ; and recites the Historian Bancroft's statement, that " the natives on both sides 0f Behring's Straits are identical in physical appearance ;" and Mr. Short denies the autoch-thonic origin of the aborigines ; and cites Prof. Haeckel as having the same views on this subject.

MacLean gives an account of skeletons taken from the tumulli of Europe known to have been there not less than 2,000 years, and still well preserved, while those we find are so decayed as to prevent examination, other than measuring in situ.

Dr. Fish, the Egyptologist, states that stone inscriptions were the earliest types of written language in Egypt and elsewhere ; that the forms of ideation were sometimes relative and sometimes cognate, and then became contracted into a word or syllable ; that the channel of research has been the Theosophy older than Menu, Sabeism pr the fires of Iran ; the monotheism of the race kindred to the Abrahamic, of whom Melchi-Zedek is the oldest pontiff king ; the prophetic nature of the chronology in events in the, history of the Hebrew race a strong indication of a theistic design on the part of the builder ; the " sacred cubit "-especially the cubit of 25 Pyramid inches—not in use by the Egyptians or Hebrews, but given, as witnessed by Ezekiel xl. 5. And again, in an able article on the Rosicrucians : " In the most ancient times there was an intellectuality which surpasses. modern conception ; that it lay in the p0ssession of a few. with whom it perished, that it was not obtained by the slow process of experience ; that it was mostly mathematical and geometric, and finally that an arcana of the caballa may possibly have been an element which led to prophecy.

Piazzi Smyth discovers to us " The King's Chamber," " The Queen's Chamber," with one angle stone over the entrance of each, and on the outside of the Great Pyramid two angle stones at the north entrance, and as Cheops and his wife, or Queen, were to have been buried there, and these symbols have been found to be the only signs therein and thereon, the interpretation is that two distinguished persons were entombed. there. This, with the use of three angel stones in Abooseir, Middle Pyr., lat. 29.54 ; Abooseir, G. Pyr., lat. 29.54 ; under like circumstances, in the absence of any other symbol expressive of the fact that three distinguished persons were entombed there, corroborates the interpretations ; he also confirms Mr. Taylor's opinion, that he had " discovered in some of the measurements of the Great Pyramid, certain scientific results which speak more than, or rather quite different from any human intelligence." Baldwin—Pre-Historic Nations—finds evidence of civilization in both Americas older than Homer.

Schoolcraft says that " nothing we have in the shape of bo0ks is ancient enough to recall the

24 - HISTORY OF MUSKINGUM COUNTY, OHIO.

period of his (the aborigines) origin ; he gives a description of the Rosetta stone, with its tri-lin-

 gual inscription, hieroglyphic, demotic and ancient Greek.

Bradford, American Antiquities : " The ancient remains of the United States were the production of a people elevated far above the savage state ; that in this country " the numbers to twenty were represented by dots or points ; and astronomical symbols and phonetic hieroglyphs" were used. Pownall's Antiquities describes the Mexican picture writing in three parts ; speaks, of the winged globe as the sign of infinity ; the sign of the serpent a symbol of life, the spirit, and other signs, all of which were protected by Egyptian edict.

Winchell, in Pre-Adamites, classes the Mongoloid race at the head of the Brown Races, and determines the 6th sub-division to be the Behring family, and the 7th the American family, and settles the " vexed question," as to who built the Great Pyramid, by showing that Cheops was the builder, and his son, Merhet, was Prince and Priest in the Fourth Dynasty, 3400 B. C., and that portraits of his Dynasty reveal the existence of a Semitic type ; that, according to Lepsius, the Egyptian and Semitic types of the Mediteranean race were extant at the time [See pp. 204-5].

The inscription on the tablet taken from the mound in Brush Creek Township is composed of three different forms of ideation, which are made out to be Demotic or Enchorial, Hieroglyphic and Greek. The Demotic, according to Herodotus, had ceased to be used 525 B. C. ; the Hieroglyphics had ceased to be used about the third century, A. D., and Greek characters were then used as ideations. The inscription, therefore, must date back to the time when one of these classes ceased to be used, which was 425 B. C.

That the mounds embraced in our contemplation are rude imitations of the Pyramids, for the same purposes, is certainly probable. And as will be seen in the report on the disclosures of the mound in Brush Creek Township, there were three graves distinguished from every other, and as the inscription upon the stone taken from that mound included three angle marks, our belief in the antiquity of the mound and its contents is made stronger and stronger until we doubt no more.

The difficulty, however, is in formulating these ideations, and necessitated the citation of the authorities quoted in this chapter, and as their views were condensed, the difficulty is scarcely diminishdd until the discovery that Alpha and Omega were the first two characters in the inscription was made. This harmonized with evidence of the writers in favor of a theistic design on the part of the builder of the Great Pyramid, and brought to our aid the learned Piazzi Smyth's " Third Key," again harmonizing with the history of the Egyptian Dynasties, which shows that they had a Priesthood ; and, ergo, the formulation we have adopted, and the first of which is found in "the Revelation of St. John the divine," chapter I, verse 8.

The repetition will be found of common occurrence in almost every variety of expression in those days, and has not altogether disappeared at this day.

The astronomical formulation, interpreting the characters not found within the parallel lines, is found in the first verse of the XIX Psalm, and is associated with the angle stone marks, which, if they have any signification, may be interpreted : distinguished persons, servants of Deity, worthy of the great respect shown in the entombment ; these angle stones are only found upon the Great Pyramid, and other Pyramids in Egypt, and in numbers corresponding to the numbers buried within. From the foregoing we reach the following translation :

I am the Alpha and the Omega, saith the Lord God, which is and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty ; giving first, power on earth; secondly, the spirit, added from heaven without ending.

" The heavens declare the glory of God," as a seal of His power to bless, first, with /I ye, and forever, these servants.

This chapter was written in 1880, and a paper prepared from it was read before the American Association for the Advancement of Science, at the session held in Boston, Mass., in August, of that year ; and the paper was earnestly solicited for publication by the officers of the Association, but was reserved for the history of this county.

January 2d, 1882, I received from Daniel G. Brinton, M. D., Secretary of the American Philosophical Society, Vice President of the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society, of Philadelphia, Member of the American Antiquarian Society, of the Historical Society, of Penna, etc., etc. Author of " The Myths of the New World," " The Religious Sentiment," etc.. etc., " The names of the Gods in the Kiche myths, in Central America," with compliments of the Author. This is a very able paper, and was read by Dr. Brinton before the American Philosophical Society, November 4, 1881, and from whicb the following extracts are taken. They will doubtless strengthen the foundation for the interpretation given to the Brush Creek Tablet :

" The following remarkable invocation to Hurakan, which is one of the finest in the Popol Vuh, premising, according to the same authority, that Hurakan is equivalent to All Powerful :

1. Acarroc, Atoob a gib, at Hurakan, at u cah, ulen !

Hail, beauty of the day, thou Hurakan, thou (its) Heart, the Sky, the Earth!

2. At yaol rech ganal-raxal, at pu yaol mial, qahol !

Thou giver (of) our prosperity, thou, and giver (of) daughters, sons

3. Cha tziloh, cha maquih uloc a raxal, a ganal :

Make firm, extend hither thy glory, thy greatness :

4. Cha yatah, u qazsic, vinakiric val nu qahol :

ELIJAH HART CHURCH.

THERE is, perhaps, no more difficult task for the biographer than to portray the traits of a "life well spent," so as to fully represent its meritoriousness, and gain the approbation of those who knew the subject best, even when that life has been one of official and public character, with well defined boundaries in the spheres in which it has moved. And this difficulty is increased when the subject has not filled any such positions, but modestly guided his bark " adown the stream of life," not even keeping a record of his stepping places.

Mr. Church was as remarkable for his self-abnegation as for his fidelity to his duty (however small it may have seemed), and his charity toward the erring and the needy. It would, therefore, have come with a better grace for some one of his lifelong friends to tell the story of his life, that seems to the stranger-historian a part of the woof and warp of Zanesville's history; but after this great lapse of time, since his demise, they have shirked the opportunity of doing justice to the memory of their friend, and will have to be content with such a tribute as the brief notes at our command permit.

His father, Joseph Church, with his wife and several young children, came from Bucks county, Pennsylvania, to Zanesville, in the spring of 1807. The subject of this sketch was born in a log cabin, on the north side of Main street, above Seventh; he attended " old Mother Goff's school " in 1812-13 ; Arthur Reed's, on Cyprus alley and Seventh (where the Richard's Block stands); William McCormick and Marcus Metcalf had him for a pupil. He learned his letters off a paddle—letters pasted on one side and a-b-ab's on the other ; the course of instruction ended without graduation. When he was near through the rudiments, the teacher soliloquized [with Milton :]

"I will bring thee where thou shalt quit

Those rudiments, and see before thine eyes

The monarchies of earth."

October 15, 1815, Joseph Church and wife, who had recently united with the Presbyterian Church by the confession of their faith, took their children, including Elijah, to the church, and, with many others, they received the outward sign of invisible grace in the rite of baptism, administered by the Rev. James Culbertson, of whom Mr. E. H. Church always loved to speak in the highest praise.

At the age of fifteen Elijah engaged with his father to learn the shoemaking, and " worked at the bench" about three years, attending school during the winter months. He then apprenticed himself to William Janes, a bricklayer, and became a good workman, and worked at that trade fifty years.

Such is the brief record at command; the barrenness, however, is relieved by the peculiar interest he took in the growth of his native town, and the pains he was at to preserve the personal reminiscences of the pioneers ; his affection glowed as he unfolded their good deeds. His own genial manner impressed the writer so that he often thought him a type of a race that seems almost extinct, but that was given to hospitality, and afforded the enjoyment of security from suspicion, amid friends that were true, under every trial, who sought to add to the comfort and enjoyment of their kind. This was a favorite thought with Mr. Church ; his was a warm and generous nature. So that it seems a reality to think we hear a well known friend of the family say,—Aye, my boy, kiss your mother, kiss her again ; fondle your sweet sister ; pass your little hand through the gray locks of. your father ; love them tenderly while you can ! Make your good nights linger, with the words of your soul-love oft repeated to father, mother, sister, brother, though these loves shall die.

"Full swells the deep pure fountain of young life,

When on the heart and from the heart we took

Our first and sweetest nurture ; when the wife,

Blest into mother, in the innocent look,

Or even the piping cry of lips that brook

No pain and small suspense, a joy perceives

Man knows not, when from out its cradled nook

She sees her little bud put forth its leaves."

And so we find him fond of home and the loved ones there ; and at the fireside telling o'er and o'er the events of the past—full of interest, for he kept a journal of passing events that extended over thirty years, noting many things it seems surprising he should have taken an interest in-the death of individuals, the work of churches, the unsettling of an old pastor, and the calling of a new one; the election of church officers; the change of families in churches ; the change in county officials ; but we forbear, adding only what you know so well, that he communicated through the press what he knew concerning the early history of Zanesville, in over eighty articles. He died March 22d, 1880; died as the spring dies into summer ; as the summer ripens into fall; as the leaves die, to spring forth into newness of life on the other shore. God was merciful to him, and he was gathered to his fathers, without terror.

At the time of his death the living children were John, George, Hattie, and Annie; Hattie is Mrs. John L. Clemens, of " Clemens & Son ; " Annie is Mrs. Vincent Ferguson.

He was the oldest native born citizen in Zanesville at the time of his death, and, by his death, the chain, that binds us to the infant days of the city he loved so well, is shortened. One after another these much loved fathers are passing away, and it will not be long until the stranger may ask of us, as the Prophet of Israel, "Your fathers, where are they ? "

The Odd Fellows' Fraternity took the following notice of the death of Elijah H. Church :

A feeling of sincere sadness pervaded the proceedings of the Directors of Odd Fellow's Hall Association, at their monthly meeting, held on the evening of April 6th, and expressions of genuine sorrow fell from every one present, at the vacant chair of their late associate, Elijah H. Church. This chair Mr. Church has occupied for over twenty years, never missing a meeting, unless prevented by illness, or absence from the city. When first elected to the Board, the affairs of the Association were in a disastrously embarrassed condition. Besides heavy mortgages on the building, on which interest had accumulated, there was a large floating debt, and nothing but the personal security of two or three of the Directors saved the property from the hammer of the Sheriff. Mr. Church lived to see this valuable property entirely freed from every incumbrance, and its stock, whenever any was offered for sale, bringing double its face value in the market. To wards this success, the prudent counsels, economy, perseverance and personal labor of Elijah Church, essentially contributed. On adjournment, the following resolutions were ordered to be recorded on the minutes of the Association, published in the city papers, and a copy given to the family of the deceased :

"Resolved, That in the death of our old friend and associate, E. H. Church, the Board of Directors of Odd Fellows' Hall Association has lost a valuable member, to whose judgment, punctuality, encouraging advice, and unwearying energy, the stockholders are largely indebted.

"Resolved, That the Order of Odd Fellows, to which Elijah H. Church was so long and affectionately attached, has lost a faithful brother whose long life and upright walk and conversation were an eminent example of the principles inculcated by the Order and embodied in its motto of " Friendship, Love and Truth."

"Resolved, That Zanesville has lost one of her oldest and worthiest citizens ; one possessing a remarkable love for the memories of its pioneer founders, and for the relics of the olden times, and one whose honesty, sterling integrity, fidelity to every duty, and attachment to his friends, deservedly gained for him the respect and honor of the whole community.

"Resolved, That we deeply sympathize with his bereaved family in the irreparable loss which they have sustained, and that we will long keep his many virtues and upright qualities of head and heart green in our remembrance.

"JOSEPH CROSBY, Treasurer."

HISTORY OF MUSKINGUM COUNTY, OHIO - 25

Give their life, (their) increase to my descendants :

5. Chi pog-tah, chi vinakir-tah, tzukul ave, cool ave.

That they may beget, may increase nurses for thee, guards for thee

6. Ziquy ave pa be, pa hoc, pa beya, pa xivan xe che, xe caam.

Who shall invoke thee in the roads, in the paths, in the water-ways, in the gorges, under the trees, under the bushes.

7. Cha yaa qui mial, qui qahol :

Give to them daughters, to them sons.

8. Ma-ta habi it-tzap, yanquexo

Let there not be disgrace, misfortune.

9. Ma-ta choc qaxtokonel chiquih, chi qui bach.

That not comes the deceiver behind them, before their face.10

10. Me pahic, me zokotahic ; me hoxomic, me gatom

May they not fall, may they not stumble ; may they not hurt their feet, may they not suffer pain.

11. Me kahic requem be, rahzic be.

May they not fall in the low road, in the high road.

12. Ma-ta-habi pak, toxcom chiquih, chi qui vach.

Let there not be a stumbling block, a scourge ,behind, before their face.

13. Que a yatah pa raxa be, pa raxa hoc ;

Give them (to be) in a green road, in a green path :

14. Ma-ta-habi quil, qui tzap a cuil, ay itzmal.

Let there. not be to them evil, to them misfortune (from) thy locks, thy hair.

15. Utz-tah qui qoheic tzukul ave, cool ave, cha chi, cha vach.

Fortunate to them (be) existence, nurses thine, guardians thine, before thy mouth, before thy face.

16. At u Qux cah, at u Qux ulen, at pizom Gagal ! at puch Tohil

Thou its heart the sky, thou its heart the earth, thou veiled Majesty ! thou and Tohil.

17. At puch Tohil, Avilix, Hacavitz, pam cah, u pam ulen, cah tzak, cah xucut.

Thou and Tohil, Avilix, Hacavitz, body (of the) sky, its body the earth (with its) four sides, four corners.

18. Xa-ta-zak, xa-ta-amag, u pam cha chi, cha vach, at Qabaiul !

So long as light, so long as time (be) its body before thy mouth, before thy face, thou God !"

By the same author : " There is another invocation in the Popol Vuh, containing some other names of Deity, a literal translation of which I shall give, after Brasseur

“Hail ! 0 Creator, Maker ! who sees and hears " us Do not leave us ; do not desert us. 0 " Qabauil, in the sky, on earth, soul of the sky, :" soul of the earth. Give us children, posterity, " [as long as] the sun goes, and the light. Let "the seed grow, the light come. Many green " paths, green roads, give us ; in peace, in white " peace, be the tribe ; in welfare, in white welf¬are, be the tribe ; give us, then, happy life and " existence. O Hurakan, Chipi-cakulha, Raxa" cakulha, Chipi-nanauac, Raxa-nanauac, Voc, " Hunaphu, Tepen, Gucumatz, Alom, Qaholom, " Xpiyacoc, Xmucane— Grandmother of the Sun, " Grandmother of Light ; let the seed grow, the "light come." (P. 210.)

" Such was the prayer which, according to " Kiche traditions, their early ancestors ad" dressed to the divinities, in those far-off years " when they dwelt in the distant Orient, in the fer-

tile land of Paxil and Cayala, before they had " yet gone to Tulan to receive the tribal and fam" ily gods which they adored in later days.

" Such is the testimony which these rude natives bear through the witness of their language to the source and power of knowledge ; and such was the impression it made upon their untutored minds that even to this day, after more than three hundred years of Christian teaching, it is not the mild Judean Virgin, nor the severe Christian God, who is their highest deity, but it is the Wise Naoh, the Spirit of Knowledge, the Genius of Reason, who in secret receives their prayers as the greatest of all the gods. They have also other divinities whose worship has constantly been retained in spite of all the efforts of the missionaries."

And March 26th, 1882, received a publication from the same painstaking and reliable author (Daniel G. Brinton, M. D.), "The Books of Chilan Balam, the Prophetic and Historic Records of the Mayas of Yucatan, from which the following extracts (which the archaeological student will highly prize) are taken :

"Civilization in Ancient America rose to its highest level among the Mayas of Yucatan. Not to speak of the architectural monuments which still remain to to attest this, we have the evidence of the earliest missionaries to the fact that they alone, of all the natives of the New World, possessed a literature written in "Letters and characters," preserved in volumes neatly bound, the paper manufactured from the bark of a tree sized with a durable white varnish.

A few of these books still remain, preserved to us by accident in the great European libraries ; but most of them were destroyed by the monks. Their contents were found to relate chiefly to the pagan ritual, to traditions of the heathen times, to astrological superstitions, and the like. Hence, they were considered deleterious, and were burned wherever discovered.

This annihilation of their sacred books affected the natives most keenly, as we are pointedly informed by Bishop Landa, himself one of the most ruthless of vandals in this respect. But already some of the more intelligent had learned the Spanish alphabet, and the missionaries had added a sufficient number of signs to it to express with tolerable accuracy the phonetics of the Maya tongue. [This last clause is italicized by the compiler.] Relying on these memories, and, no doubt, aided by some manuscripts secretly pre-

26 - HISTORY OF MUSKINGUM COUNTY, OHIO.

served, many natives set to work to write out in this new alphabet the contents of their ancient records. Much was added which had been brought in by Europeans, and much omitted which had become unintelligible or obsolete since the Conquest ; while, of course, the different writers, varying in skill and knowledge, produced works of very various merit.

I come now to the contents of these curious works: What they contain may conveniently be classified under four headings :

Astrological and prophetic matters.

Ancient chronology and history.

Medical recipes and directions.

Later history and Christian teachings.

The last mentioned consist of translations of the "Doctrina," Bible stories, narratives of events after the Conquest, etc., which I shall dismiss as of lit interest.

The astrology appears partly to be reminiscences of that of their ancient heathendom, partly that borrowed from the European almanacs of the century 1550-165o. These, as is well known, were crammed with predictions and divinations. A careful analysis, based on a comparison with the Spanish almanacs of that time would doubtless reveal how much was taken from them, and it would be fair to presume that the remainder was a survival of ancient native theories.

But there are not wanting actual prophecies of a much more striking character. These were attributed to the ancient priests and to a date long preceding the advent of Christianity. Some of them have been printed in translations in the "Historias" of Lizana and Cozolludo, and some of the originals were published by the late Abbe Crasseur de Bourbourg, in the second volume of the reports of the "Mission Scientifique au Mexique et dans l' Amerique Centrale." Their authenticity has been met with considerable skepticism by Waitz and others, particularly as they seem to predict the arrival of the Christians from the East and the introduction of the worship of the cross.

It appears to me that this incredulity is uncalled for.

Another value they have in common with all the rest of the text of these books, and it is one which will be properly appreciated by any student of languages. They are, by common consent of all competent authorities, the genuine productions of native minds, cast in the idiomatic forms of the .native tongue by those born to its use. No matter how fluent a foreigner becomes in a language not his own, he can never use it as does one who has been familiar with it from childhood. This general maxim is tenfold true when we apply it to Europeans learning an American language. The flow of thought, as exhibited in these two linguistic families, is in such different directions that no amount of practice can render one equally accurate in both. Hence the importance of studying a tongue as it is employed by the natives, and hence the very high estimate I place on these "Books of Chilan Balam" as linguistic material, an estimate much increased by the great rarity of independent composition in their own tongues by members of the native races of this continent.