vertebra of the neck and spine, without their processes, and one instance only of the bone which serves as a base to the vertebral column. The skulls were so tender, that they generally fell to pieces on being touched. The other bones were stronger. There were some teeth which were judged to be smaller than that of an adult; a skull which, on a slight view, appeared to be that of an infant, but it fell in pieces on being taken out, so as to prevent satisfactory examination; a rib, and a fragment of the under jaw of a person about half grown; another rib of an infant; and part of the jaw of a child, which had not yet cut its teeth. This last furnishing the most decisive proof of the burial of children here, I was particular in my attention to it. It was part of the right half of the under jaw. The processes by which it was articulated to the temporal bones were entire; and the bone itself firm to where it had been broken off, which, as nearly as I could judge, was about the place of the eye-tooth. Its upper edge, wherein would have been the sockets of the teeth, was perfectly smooth. Measuring it with that of an adult, by placing their hinder processes together, its broken end extended to the penultimate grinder of the adult. This bone was white, all the others of a sand color. The bones of infants being soft, they probably decay sooner, which might be the cause so few were found here. I proceeded then to make a perpendicular cut through the body of the barrow, that I might examine its internal structure. This passed about three feet from its centre, was opened to the former surface of the earth, and was wide enough for a man to walk through and examine its sides. At the bottom, that is, on the level of the circumjacent plain, I found bones; above these a few stones brought from a cliff a quarter of a mile off, and from the river one eighth of a mile off; then a large interval of earth, then a stratum of bones, and so on. At one end of the section were four strata of bones plainly distinguishable; at the other, three; the strata in one part not ranging with those in another. The bones nearest the surface were least decayed. No holes were discovered in any of them, as if made with bullets, arrows, or other weapons. I conjectured that in this barrow might have been one thousand skeletons. Every one will readily seize the circumstances above related, which militate against the opinion that it covered the bones only of persons fallen in battle; and against the tradition also which would make it the common sepulchre of a town, in which the bodies were placed upright, and touching each other. Appear ances certainly indicate that it has derived both origin and growth from the accustomary collection of bones, and deposition of them together; that the first collection had been deposited on the common surface of the earth, a few stones put over it, and then a covering of earth; that the second had been laid on this, had covered more or less of it in proportion to the number of bones, and was also then covered with earth, and so on. The following are the particular circumstances which gave it this aspect. 1. The number of bones. 2. Their confused position. 3. Their being in different strata. 4. The strata in one part having no correspondence with those in another. 5. The different states of decay in these strata, which seem to indicate a difference in the time of inhumation. 6. The existence of infant bones among them. But on whatever occasion they may have been made, they are of considerable notoriety among the Indians: for a party passing, about thirty years ago, through the part of the country where this barrow is, went through the woods directly to it, without any instructions or inquiry; and having staid about it some time, with expressions which were construed to be those of sorrow, they returned to the high road, which they had left about half a dozen miles to pay this visit, and pursued their journey. There is another barrow, much resembling this, in the low grounds of the S. branch of Shenandoah, where it is crossed by the road leading from the Rockfish gap to Staunton. Both of these have, within these dozen years, been cleared of their trees and put under cultivation, are much reduced in their height, and spread in width, by the plough, and will probably disappear in time. There is another on a hill in the blue ridge of mountains, a few miles N. of Wood's gap, which is made up of small stones thrown together. This has been opened and found to contain human bones as the others do. There are also many others in other parts of the country." It is thought by many to be a hardship on the memory of that great man, Christopher Columbus, that he should be the person who first discovered the Western hemisphere, and it should bear the name of America, from another navigator. But it is very natural it should be so, when one comes to consider it. Columbus thought that by steering a western course he should arrive at the VOL. I. No. 1. E East Indies, as the earth was round; and when he discovered land, he took it to be those Indies; and we, since then, have continued to call the parts he discovered, the Indies, but have added a necessary distinction, after it was found that this was a different part of the world from the old Indies, by calling it the West Indies. Columbus, indeed, had touched upon the continent; but this was more perfectly afterwards discovered by Americus Vespusius, and accordingly took his name. This terra firma of America, so discovered by him, came afterwards, when the more northern parts of this hemisphere had been found, to be named South America, in contradistinction to those northern parts, which are therefore called North America. It is a curious circumstance, that Almericus, the same with Americus, was an ancient Christian name in the Montfort family. Port Folio. LANGUAGE OF THE FEATHERED TRIBE. No inhabitants of a yard seem possessed of such a variety of expressions, and so copious a language, as common poultry. Take a chicken of four or five days old, and hold it up to a window where there are flies, and it will immediately seize its prey, with twittering of complacency; but if you tender it a wasp, or a bee, at once its note becomes harsh, and expressive of disapprobation, and a sense of danger. When a pullet is ready to lay, she intimates the event by a joyous and easy soft note. Of all the occurrences of their life, that of laying seems to be the most important; for no sooner has a hen disburdened herself, than she rushes forth with a clamorous kind of joy, which the cock and the rest of his mistresses immediately adopt. The tumult is not confined to the family concerned, but catches from yard to yard, and spreads to every homestead within hearing, till at last the whole village is in an uproar. As soon as a hen becomes a mother, her new relation demands a new language; she then runs clucking and screaming about, and scems agitated as if possessed. The father of the flock has also a considerable vocabulary; if he finds food, he calls a favorite concubine to partake; and if a bird of prey passes over, with a warning veice bids his family beware. The gallant chanticleer has, at command, his amorous phrases, and his terms of defiance. But the sound by which he is best known is his crowing: by this he has been distinguished in all ages as the countryman's clock or larum, as the watchman that proclaims the divisions of the night. Come, sweet nymph, then let me greet thee, Cheer'd by thee, the laborer's flail Loses half its weight and toil; Love and Joy thy presence hail, Nature's charms, delight inspiring, Deck'd in brighter colors glow; Life's rude passions too retiring, Years like ripling currents flow. FOR THE HALCYON LUMINARY. THE GOOD MAN'S EVENING OF LIFE. Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his. Numbers xxiii. 10. Soft as the breath of early opening morn, That fans the sprays, which pearly dews adorn; No studied guile to veil his inmost soul, ABDIEL. FOR THE HALCYON LUMINART. AD SOMNUM. Somne levis quanquam certissima mortis imago, Almaquics, optata, veni; nam sic, sine vita A translation is requested. |