Records of Ancient Races in the Mississippi Valley: Being an Account of Some of the Pictographs, Sculptured Hieroglyphs, Symbolic Devices, Emblems and Traditions of the Prehistoric Races of America, with Some Suggestions as to Their Origin |
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Records of Ancient Races in the Mississippi Valley: Being an Account of Some ... William Mcadams No preview available - 2013 |
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aboriginal Alton America American Bottom Ancient Egyptians ancient mounds animals Antiquities archæologists Asia Aztecs bank believe birds bluff BONE-CAVERN bones buffalo burial vases Cahokia mounds carved cave cavern CHAPTER circle common continent creatures cross curious customs dragons early earth-works earthen effigy mounds Egypt emblem emblematic mounds engraved fact feet in height figure foot Footprints gorget Group of Mounds hieroglyphic human form hundred feet Illinois river inches inhabitants known Louis Maltese cross Marquette mastodon Mexican Mexico miles Mississippi Valley Missouri Monk's Mound monsters Mound Builders mound pottery Mound-Builders mounds of Wisconsin MOUNDS.-THE mouth Neanderthal Ohio old world origin ornaments painted peculiar perhaps Piasa pictographs picture pipe places primitive probably Pueblo pyramid races relics religion remains remarkable representation rock sacred savage says Schliemann sculptured seen shape shell shown side similar singular skulls symbolic devices temple Thebes tion tradition vessels writers
Popular passages
Page 31 - The impressions are, to all appearance, those of a man, standing in an erect posture, with the left foot a little advanced and the heels drawn in. The distance between the heels, by accurate measurement, is six and a quarter inches, and between the extremities of the toes, thirteen and a half.
Page 119 - Pertz has printed a treaty of peace a thousand years old, between Charles the Bald and King Louis of Germany (dated AD 841), in which the German king takes an oath in what was the French tongue of that day, while the French king swears in the German of the same era, and neither of these oaths would now convey a distinct meaning to any but the learned in these two countries.
Page 119 - Norman conquest, because that large portion of our language (including the articles, pronouns, etc.) which is Saxon has also undergone great transformations by abbreviation, new modes of pronunciation, spelling, and various corruptions, so as to be unlike both ancient and modern German. They who now speak German, if brought into contact with their Teutonic ancestors of the ninth century, would be quite unable to converse with them, and, in like manner, the subjects of Charlemagne could not have exchanged...
Page 6 - They are as large as a calf, with horns on the head like a deer, a fearful look, red eyes, «bearded like a tiger, the face somewhat like a man's, the body covered with scales, and the tail so long that it twice makes the turn of the body, passing over the head and down between the legs, and ending at last in a fish's tail.
Page 103 - ... circular shape, and at a distance, resembling enormous haystacks scattered through a meadow. One of the largest which I ascended, was about two hundred paces in circumference at the bottom, the form nearly square, though it had evidently undergone considerable alteration from the washing of the rains. The top was level, with an area sufficient to contain several hundred men.
Page 104 - ... distance of three miles, before I arrived at the largest assemblage. When I reached the foot of the principal mound, I was struck with a degree of astonishment not unlike that which is experienced in contemplating the Egyptian Pyramids. What a stupendous pile of earth I To heap up such a mass must have required years, and the labor of thousands.
Page 67 - ... so that this wooden scaffolding might not be moved. At the point where the two pieces of wood were joined, there was a small hole, in which a third piece of wood, in the form of a lance (called Pramanttui), was rotated by means of a cord made of cow-hair and hemp, till the fire was generated by friction.
Page 2 - Piasa, and from this is derived the name of the stream. The tradition of the Piasa is Still current among all the tribes of the Upper Mississippi, and those who have inhabited the valley of the Illinois, and is briefly this...
Page 3 - Ouatoga was safe. Not an arrow, not even the talons of the bird, had touched him. The Master of life, in admiration of the generous deed of Ouatoga, had held over him an invisible shield. In memory of this event, the image of the Piasa was engraved on the face of the bluff.
Page 98 - He was never known voluntarily to engage in an enterprise requiring methodical labor ; he dwells in temporary and movable habitations ; he follows the game in their migrations ; he imposes the drudgery of life upon his squaw ; he takes no heed for the future. To suppose that such a race threw up the strong lines of circumvallation and the symmetrical mounds which crown so many of our river-terraces, is as preposterous, almost, as to suppose that they built the pyramids of Egypt.