Scenes and Adventures in the Semi-Alpine Region of the Ozark Mountains of Missouri and Arkansas Part 26

The essential facts connected with these discoveries, are these:--The tumuli, which are small, occupy a wood near the dwelling of a Mr. Long.

The attention of this gentleman was arrested by this smallness of cemeterial dimensions, or place of burial. Drs. Walker and Grayson, of St. Louis, proceeded to the spot, opened several of the graves, and examined their contents. The length of the stature of the interred persons, measured by their stony casings, varied from twenty-three inches, to four feet two or three inches. But the skeletons, with the exception of the teeth, were reduced to a complete limy substance, and their forms destroyed. The graves had originally been cased with rude flat stones at the sides, and also at the head and feet. A flat stone had also, in some instances, been laid over the top, and earth piled on the grave, above the surface of the ground, to the general height of three feet. This was a characteristic feature, and seemed designed to mark the locality. In this stony coffin, all the softer and destructible parts of the body had submitted to decay, with the exception before mentioned--the teeth. The examination of these became, therefore, the princ.i.p.al source of interest. They found the enamel perfect, and were surprised to discover that they were the teeth of rather young persons, who had, however, pa.s.sed the age of p.u.b.erty. The molars and incisors were of the ordinary dimensions and character of second teeth. The jaw-bone of the first specimen examined, appeared to have its full complement, except the dentis sapienta, which physiologists do not generally recognize until after the ages of eighteen to twenty-three.

Many graves were examined, which differed more or less in length, between the extremes stated, but agreed in their general conformity of parts; from all which, these gentlemen came to the conclusion that the remains denoted a stature of inferior size, while appearances indicated a remote antiquity as the epoch of burial, which might as well be supposed to be five centuries as one. This antiquity was inferred, as well from the reduction of the bones to their elements, as from the growth of large trees upon the graves, the roots of which penetrated into their recesses.

Upon this exhibition of facts, a legal gentleman[21] of intelligence calls attention, with great pertinency, to the ancient manners and customs of the Indians, in the burial of their dead.

"As yet, I have seen no attempt to account for the size and appearance of these skeletons, upon any other supposition than that they are the remains of a people far less in size than any known at the present day.

Unwilling to adopt a belief so contrary to the general order of nature, and to the history of the human species, so far as it has been transmitted to us, I shall hazard some conjectures upon the subject, which I think will, in some measure, tend to dissolve the mystery that hovers over these bones, and to reconcile their appearance with the general history of our race. To be sure, Nature, in her sport, has now and then produced monsters. A taste for the marvellous among travellers and historians, has occasionally conjured up a race of giants, or a nation of pigmies; but when the light of truth has reached us from the distant corners of the earth, where they were said to dwell, we have found them to a.s.sume the size, shape, and att.i.tude of men, and nothing more. So far as observation or history extends, we find the species nearly the same in all ages and in all countries. Climate has had some effect upon the size, and upon the complexion. The excessive cold of the north has shortened an inch or two the necks of the Esquimaux, and the heat of the south has colored the African. But what, in this genial climate, should make dwarfs? It is here, if anywhere, that we should naturally expect to find giants! All the other productions of nature are here brought forth in the highest perfection. And shall _man_ here grow a pigmy? Unless we are ready to adopt the opinion of certain naturalists, that the human species are the legitimate descendants of the apes, and that they once wore tails, and were of their diminutive size--unless we are ready to believe the history of the Lilliputians, and of Tom Thumb--I think we shall discard the idea of a nation of dwarfs, as wholly preposterous. But how, on any other supposition, shall we account for the appearances upon the farm of Mr. Long?

"None of the graves found there exceed four feet in length, many of them fall short of three, and the teeth found in all of them show that they contain the remains of human beings who had arrived at years of maturity. The manners and customs of the Indians with respect to the treatment of their dead, will, I think, solve all difficulties, and satisfactorily account for these appearances, without doing violence to nature. According to the testimony of travellers and historians, it has been the custom among many tribes of Indians to hang their dead in baskets upon trees and scaffolds, until their flesh was consumed, and then to take them down, clean their bones, and bury them. There existed an order of men among them called _bone-pickers_, with long nails like claws, whose business and profession it was to clean the unconsumed flesh from the bones, previous to burial. This custom still exists among the Indians on the waters of the Missouri, and rationally accounts for the appearances upon the farm of Mr. Long. The bones of a skeleton of the ordinary size, when separated, would naturally occupy a grave of three or four feet in length. It appears that in all the graves which were opened, the bones, except the teeth, were reduced to a chalky substance, so that it would be impossible to know, with any certainty, in what state, condition, or form, they were deposited there. These skeletons are said to rest on their sides. Taking this fact to be true, it goes to strengthen my ideas on this subject. In burying a corpse, it is natural, and, so far as we are acquainted, universally the custom, to bury them with the face upwards. We can look upon our dead friends with a melancholy complacency--we cast a long and lingering look after them until they are completely shut from our view in the grave; and nothing is more hard and heart-rending than to tear our last looks from them. It is natural, then, that the body should be placed in such a position as most to favor this almost universal desire of the human heart. But, in burying a skeleton, it would be as natural to avert the horrid grin of a death's-head from us. To face the grinning skeleton of a friend, must fill us with horror and disgust. 'Turn away the horrid sight,' would be the language of nature. If we adopt my supposition as correct in this case, all the facts correspond with nature. But if we adopt the opinion of a recent writer, our conclusions will be at war with nature, reason, and universal observation."

The following observations by the Rev. J. M. Peck, of St. Louis, may also here be added:

"One grave was opened which measured four feet in length; this was formed by laying a flat stone at the bottom, placing one on each side, one at each end, and covering the mouth with another. In the last circ.u.mstance, this grave differed from the others that were opened; the contents were a full-grown skeleton, with the head and teeth, part of the spine, the thigh and leg bones, in a tolerable state of preservation. The leg-bones were found parallel with the bones of the thighs, and every appearance indicated, either that the corpse had been entombed with the legs and thighs placed so as to meet, or that a skeleton had been deposited in this order. The first opinion seems the most probable, from the fact that a large stone pipe was found in the tomb, which I understand is now in the possession of Mr. Long."

Both implements of war, and of domestic use, are buried with the dead bodies of the Indians; but it admits of a query if they are ever deposited with the mere skeleton.

"It is a well-known fact," says Bishop Madison, while writing on the supposed fortifications of the western country,[22] "that, among many of the Indian tribes, the bones of the deceased are annually collected and deposited in one place, that the funeral rites are then solemnized with the warmest expressions of love and friends.h.i.+p, and that this untutored race, urged by the feelings of nature, consign to the bosom of the earth, along with the remains of their deceased relatives, food, weapons of war, and often those articles they possessed, and most highly valued, when alive."

This fact is substantiated from various respectable sources. The pious custom of collecting the relics of the dead, which accident, or the events of a battle, might have dispersed through the wilderness, easily accounts for the graves on the Maramec, as well as explains the origin of the artificial mounds in the vicinity. If these were opened, there would be found promiscuously deposited the bones of the aborigines, which pious veneration, from year to year and from century to century, industriously collected. The cemetery alluded to, on the plantation of Mr. Long, may be viewed as the public burial-place of some powerful nation of the same size, and similar customs, with other Indians.

FOOTNOTE:

[21] Rufus Pettibone, Esq., of St. Louis.

OSAGES.

This tribe claims, as original possessors, the territories of the Ozarks, over which my journeys have chiefly laid. They claim all the country north of the Arkansas, to the Maramec. The term Ozark appears to me to be compounded from Osage and Arkansas.

They are manly, good-looking, stout-limbed men, erratic in their mode of life, living a part of the year in fixed villages, and roving with their families through the forests, in search of game, the remainder. Their territories are immense.

The Osages, if we may judge from popular opinion, are very much in the condition of the sons of Ishmael--"Their hand is against every man, and every man's hand against them." It is remarkable that they possess so much skill as they do in public negotiations, which they manage with address, with a bold, direct air, employing enlarged thoughts and phrases, which are calculated to impress the hearer favorably as to their mental abilities.

But little opportunity has been had of personal observation on their manners and customs. Their mode of encampment has been seen, and is so arranged as to place the chiefs of the village, or camp, in the position of honor. It is stated that, at daybreak, a public crier makes proclamation of the expected events and duties of the day, which, to ears uninitiated, sounds like a call to prayer. I fancy the prayer of Indians, if they pray at all, is for deer and buffalo.

It appears from the ma.n.u.script records of General William Clark, at St.

Louis, which I have been permitted to see, that they have a tale, or fiction, of their origin from a snail and beaver. If this is an allegory, we are to suppose that persons bearing these names were their progenitors. I avail myself of the public interpreter of the language to submit the following vocabulary of it.[23]

FOOTNOTES:

[22] See American Philosophical Transactions, Vol. VI.

[23] Omitted.

EXTRACTS FROM THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE.

Notice of "A View of the Lead-Mines of Missouri, including some Observations on the Mineralogy, Geology, Geography, Antiquities, Soil, Climate, Population, and Productions, of Missouri and Arkansas, and other sections of the Western Country; accompanied by three Engravings. By HENRY R.

SCHOOLCRAFT, Corresponding Member of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York." 1821.

As this work has been more than a year before the American public, and is already well known, it may seem superfluous to make any remarks upon it at so late a period. It was our purpose to have given it an early notice, but circ.u.mstances which could not be controlled, prevented.

Still, as it is devoted to subjects which form a prominent object in this Journal, and is, as far as we are informed, the only elaborate and detailed account of a mining district in the United States, we are not disposed to remain silent, especially as the discharge of the duty is not likely to be painful, either to ourselves or to the author. Reviews in form, although within the plan of this Journal, do not const.i.tute one of its most leading objects, and we do not hold ourselves responsible for a.n.a.lyses or even for notices of new American books, unless they appear particularly interesting or important, or hold a very intimate connexion with the great design of our work.

We have already intimated that we regard Mr. Schoolcraft's work in this light. We take it for granted that the statements of facts made by this author, are both faithful and accurate; the information which we have incidentally derived from other sources, certainly countenances this impression, but the whole amount of it is small, compared with the details contained in the present volume.

Mr. Schoolcraft's opportunities for observation were extensive, particularly in relation to the mines of lead in the Missouri region.

Among those mines he spent a year. "I have made (says he) a personal examination of every mine of consequence, with a view to ascertain its general character and value and its peculiarities. I have travelled on foot over the whole mine country, exploring its minerals, its geological structure, its geographical position, soil, climate, productions, towns, streams, settlements, and whatever else appeared to me to be necessary to describe, explain and ill.u.s.trate the subject before me."

Mr. Schoolcraft appears to have made good use of the advantages which he enjoyed, and his countrymen are indebted to him for a great amount of valuable information. He appears also to have studied the observations of preceding writers, and, with their works before him, it was in his power to correct errors and to supply deficiencies.

He has prefixed an historical sketch which we presume will be acceptable to every reader. The French, as is well known, were the original discoverers and settlers of the Missouri, and Illinois regions, which were embraced in their vast scheme of forming a chain of posts and settlements from the mouth of the St. Lawrence, to that of the Mississippi. They did not occupy the country of the Missouri and Illinois till more than a century after the settlement of Quebec, and about a century before the present period. At that time, (1720,) the lead mines were discovered by Philip Francis Renault, and M. La Motte, and by them they were wrought, although they and the adventurers under them were disappointed in their expectations of finding gold and silver.

At the end of about half a century, the country pa.s.sed into the hands of the Spaniards, and under their dominion, probably about forty years since, the princ.i.p.al mine was discovered by a man of the name of Burton, and from him it has derived the name of Mine a Burton.

It appears that the processes of mining under the Spaniards were very imperfect, as they obtained only fifty per cent. of lead from the ore, threw away the lead ashes, and did not attempt any manufactures of shot or any other articles. They employed only the open log furnace.

In 1797, Moses Austin, Esq., a native of Connecticut, who had been occupied with lead mines in Wythe county, in Virginia, obtained from the Spanish government, a grant of a league square in the mining district in consideration of his introducing a reverberatory furnace. He sunk the first regular shaft--the mining having, till that time, been prosecuted solely by open digging, in the manner of quarries. Mr. Austin also introduced the manufacture of shot, and that of sheet lead soon followed. About the same time several other American families collected at the mines, and infused new spirit and enterprise into the mining operations, so that they were carried on with considerable vigour at the time when (in 1803) the country was transferred to the United States.

Mr. Schoolcraft, from whom these facts are taken, remarks, that since 1804, the number of mines has been astonis.h.i.+ngly multiplied--population has flowed rapidly in--the processes on the ore have been much improved--better furnaces have been constructed, and "every season is adding to the number of the mines." "Every day is developing to us the vast resources of this country, particularly in lead," and the author expresses his opinion that "the mines of Missouri are paralleled by no other mineral district in the world."

From the specimens which we possess of this ore, and from the doc.u.ments produced by the author respecting the produce of the mines, we believe his opinion is correct, especially if we consider the fact that "the earth has not yet been penetrated over eighty feet;" "we know not what may be found in the lower strata." "There is reason to believe that the main bodies of ore have not been hit upon, that they lie deeper, and that we have thus far been only engaged upon the spurs and detached ma.s.ses."

Mr. Schoolcraft informs us that although the mining business is much improved, there is still a great deficiency both of capital and of skill--there is in the whole district but one regular hearth furnace for smelting, and that not the best;--among forty mines, there are only four or five regular shafts--there is among all the mines, no engine of any description for raising water, and some of the richest mines with the best prospects in view, have been in consequence abandoned. Yet, under all these disadvantages, the annual produce of the mines is estimated at three millions of pounds of lead.

The author suggests the expediency of establis.h.i.+ng a school of mines and minerals in the midst of the mines themselves; this would, without doubt, be a very proper measure, but in the meantime, skilful practical miners, and captains of mines, such as are found in every mining district in Europe, would supply the immediate demands of the country.

The mining district, formerly called the lead mines of Louisiana, is situate between the 37th and the 38th degree of north lat.i.tude, and between the 89th and 92d degree of west longitude, covers three thousand one hundred and fifty square miles--it is from seventy to one hundred miles long by forty or forty-five, extending in width from the Mississippi south-west to the Fourche a Courtois, and in length from the head waters of St. Francis northerly to the Maramec.

Lead ore is found in almost every part of this district. Mr. Schoolcraft says, "the general aspect of the country is sterile, though not mountainous: the lands lie rolling, like a body of water in gentle agitation. In some places the hills rise into abrupt cliffs, where the great rock formations of the country may be seen; in others, they run into level plains--a kind of highland prairie."

"The soil is a reddish colored clay, stiff and hard, and full of fragments of flinty stones, quartz and gravel; this extends to the depth of from ten to twenty feet, and is bottomed on limestone rock. It is so compact in some places, as almost to resist the pick-axe; in others it seems to partake of marl, is less gravelly, and readily penetrated. The country is particularly characterized by quartz, which is strewed in detached pieces over the surface of the ground, and is also found imbedded in the soil at all depths. This is here called blossom of lead.

Iron ores and pyrites are also scattered over the surface of the ground, and occasionally lead ore. Such is the general character of the mineral hills, which are invariably covered by a stinted growth of oaks."

Walnut is also found on the hills, and there is a ridge of yellow pine, not more than six or eight miles wide, running nearly south-east and north-west, but it is nearly or quite dest.i.tute of lead--the mines lie generally east of it. In summer the flinty aspect of the country is veiled by a luxuriant growth of gra.s.s, which gives it a very pleasing and picturesque appearance.

The valleys have a rich alluvial soil, well fitted for cultivation; but our limits will not allow us to mention the vegetable productions of the country. This region is well irrigated, and very healthy, being possessed of a fine climate. Mr. Schoolcraft remarks, that during a residence of ten months he never heard of a death; the country is free from the fevers which infest some of the neighboring regions. It seems, however, that the animals are visited by what is called the mine sickness. "Cows and horses are frequently seen to die without any apparent cause. Cats and dogs are taken with violent fits, which never fail, in a short time, to kill them." It is said that the inhabitants impute these affections to the sulphur exhaled in smelting the lead, as the cattle are often seen licking about the old furnaces. But sulphur is not poisonous either to men or animals. The author imputes it to the sulphate of barytes, with which the district abounds, which he states is a "poison to animals."

The carbonate of barytes is eminently poisonous; but we have never heard that the sulphate is so. May not the licking around the furnaces expose the cattle to receive lead in some of its forms, minutely divided? or, if it be not active in the metallic state, both the oxides and the carbonate, which must of course exist around the furnaces, would be highly active and poisonous. Is it not possible, also, that some of the natural waters of the country may, in consequence of saline or acid impregnations, dissolve some of the lead, and thus obtain saturnine qualities? We must allow, however, that we are not acquainted with the existence of any natural water thus impregnated.

Among the mineral productions of this region, certainly not the least remarkable mentioned by Mr. Schoolcraft, is the Iron Mountain, where the ore is piled in such enormous ma.s.ses as to const.i.tute the entire southern extremity of a lofty ridge, which is elevated five or six hundred feet above the plain: the ore is the micaceous exide, and is said to yield good malleable iron.

There is another body of iron ore five miles west of the iron mountain, scarcely inferior to that mentioned above, and it appears that several other beds exist in the same vicinity.