Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 8).djvu/278

 enemy. Such a principle of self-defence would be natural, and, of course, universal.

As to the mounds of earth, supposed to contain human bones, it may be observed, that several tribes of Indians may have combined and fortified themselves against their enemies; and in this situation they may have been conquered and destroyed. It is well known, that in Indian battles there is no quarter given. The dead bodies of several thousand persons thrown together and covered with earth, would make a vast heap. But even supposing that the enemy had not prevailed, famine, contagious {168} diseases, or even ordinary causes of death, would, among a great assemblage of people, produce, in a short time, a sufficient number of bodies to make on the surface of the earth a vast mound. Covering the dead with mounds of earth instead of digging graves for them, might not only be found convenient, under certain circumstances, but is a custom peculiar to the aborigines of America.

The finding of one or two pieces of ancient coin in the west has occasioned much speculation. A copper coin, bearing Persian characters, has, it is said, been found on the banks of the Little Miami river.

It is well known, that mankind are naturally itinerant; and that they carry with them their goods, especially those which are portable, and which they highly value. A piece of coin possesses both of these qualities; and it would not be more strange to find an Asiatic medal in North America, than to find here an Indian of Asiatic origin.

Our first parents were created in Asia; and the rest of mankind descended from them. By emigrations various distant portions of the world have been settled. Emigration was an act of necessity. One quarter of the world could not have contained all mankind; and the population of Asia became, in time, too great. Asia is at