The supposed evidence of a knowledge of tropical animals possessed by
the ancient dwellers of the Mississippi Valley which has just been
discussed seems to have powerfully impressed Wilson, and in his
Prehistoric Man he devotes much space to the consideration of the
matter. His ideas on the subject will be understood from the following
quotation:
By the fidelity of the representations of so great a variety of
subjects copied from animal life, they furnish evidence of a
knowledge in the Mississippi Valley, of the fauna peculiar not only
to southern, but to tropical latitudes, extending beyond the Isthmus
into the southern continent; and suggestive either of arts derived
from a foreign source, and of an intimate intercourse maintained
with the central regions where the civilization of ancient America
attained its highest development: or else indicative of migration,
and an intrusion into the northern continent, of the race of the
ancient graves of Central and Southern America, bringing with them
the arts of the tropics, and models derived from the animals
familiar to their fathers in the parent-land of the race. (Vol. 1,
p. 475.)
The author subsequently shows his preference for the theory of a
migration of the race of the Mound-Builders from southern regions as
being on the whole more probable. Wilson does not, however, content
himself with the evidence afforded by the birds and animals which have
just been discussed, but strengthens his argument by extending the list
of supposed exotic forms known to the Mound-Builders in the following
words (vol. 1, p. 477):
But we must account by other means for the discovery of accurate
miniature representations of it (_i.e._ the Manatee) among the
sculptures of the far-inland mounds of Ohio; and the same remark
equally applies to the jaguar or panther, the cougar, the toucan;
to the buzzard possibly, and also to the paroquet. _The majority of
these animals are not known in the United States; some of them are
totally unknown to within any part of the North American
continent._ (Italics of the present writer.) Others may be classed
with the paroquet, which, though essentially a southern bird, and
common in the Gulf, does occasionally make its appearance inland;
and might possibly become known to the untraveled Mound-Builder
among the fauna of his own northern home.
The information contained in the above paragraph relative to the range
of some of the animals mentioned may well be viewed with surprise by
naturalists. To begin with, the jaguar or panther, by which vernacular
names the _Felis onca_ is presumably meant, is not only found in
Northern Mexico, but extends its range into the United States and
appears as far north as the Red River of Louisiana. (See Baird's Mammals
of North America.) Hence a sculptured representation of this animal in
the mounds, although by no means likely, is not entirely out of the
question. However, among the several carvings of the cat family that
have been exhumed from the mounds and made known there is not one which
can, with even a fair degree of probability, be identified as this
species in distinction from the next animal named, the cougar.
The cougar, to which several of the carvings can with but little doubt
be referred, was at the time of the discovery of America and is to-day,
where not exterminated by man, a common resident of the whole of North
America, including of course the whole of the Mississippi Valley. It
would be surprising, therefore, if an animal so striking, and one that
has figured so largely in Indian totemism and folk-lore, should not have
received attention at the hands of the Mound-Builders.
Nothing resembling the toucan, as has been seen, has been found in the
mounds; but, as stated, this bird is found in Southern Mexico.
The buzzard is to-day common over almost the entire United States, and
is especially common throughout most of the Mississippi Valley.
As to the paroquet, there seems to be no evidence in the way of carvings
to show that it was known to the Mound-Builders, although that such was
the case is rendered highly probable from the fact that it lived at
their very doors.
It therefore appears that of the five animals of which Wilson states
"the majority are not known in the United States," and "some of them are
totally unknown, within any part of the North American continent," every
one is found in North America, and all but one within the limits of the
United States, while three were common residents of the Mississippi
Valley.
As a further illustration of the inaccurate zoological knowledge to
which may be ascribed no small share of the theories advanced respecting
the origin of the Mound-Builders, the following illustration may be
taken from Wilson, this author, however, being but one of the many who
are equally in fault. The error is in regard to the habitat of the conch
shell, _Pyrula (now Busycon) perversa_.
After exposing the blunder of Mr. John Delafield, who describes this
shell as unknown on the coasts of North and South America, but as
abundant on the coast of Hindostan, from which supposed fact, coupled
with its presence in the mounds, he assumes a migration on the part of
the Mound-Builders from Southern Asia (Prehistoric Man, vol. 1, p. 219,
_ibid._, p. 272), Wilson states.
No question can exist as to the tropical and marine origin of the
large shells exhumed not only in the inland regions of Kentucky and
Tennessee, but in the northern peninsula lying between the Ontario
and Huron Lakes, or on the still remoter shores and islands of
Georgian Bay, at a distance of upwards of three thousand miles from
the coast of Yucatan, on the mainland, _the nearest point where the
Pyrula perversa is found in its native locality_. (Italics of the
present writer.)
Now the plain facts on the authority of Mr. Dall are that the _Busycon
(Pyrula) perversa_ is not only found in the United States, but extends
along the coast up to Charleston, S.C., with rare specimens as far north
as Beaufort, N.C. Moreover, archæologists have usually confounded this
species with the _Busycon carica_, which is of common occurrence in the
mounds. The latter is found as far north as Cape Cod. The facts cited
put a very different complexion on the presence of these shells in the
mounds.