then are the mounds? If our conclusions are correct the oldest mound
in our region cannot exceed 800 years, and the most recent must have
been completed upwards of 400 years ago. Look at further
considerations, which lead to these conclusions. We learn, that 200
years ago, viz.: in 1683, the "Clistinos" and "Assinipouals" (Crees
and Assiniboines) were in their present country. The Crees were at
that time in the habit of visiting both Lake Superior and Hudson's Bay
for the purpose of trade. They were then extensive nations and no
trace of a nation which preceded them was got from them. The fallen
tree on the top of the grand mound, judging by the concentric rings of
its trunk is 150 or 200 years old, and yet its stump stands in a foot
or more of mould that must have taken longer than that time to form.
Even among savage nations it would take upwards of half a dozen
generations of men, to lose the memory of so great a catastrophe as
the destruction of a former populous race. Then some 400 years ago
would agree with the time of extermination of the Hochelagans, or with
the destruction of the Eries, who according to Labontan were blotted
out before the French came to the continent. The Hochelagans, Eries,
and Takawgamis being northern in their habitat, I take it were among
the last of the Toltecans who survived. The white man but arrived upon
the scene to succeed the farmer, the metal worker and the potter, who
had passed away so disastrously, and to be the avenger of the lost
race, in driving before him the savage red man.