University of Virginia Library

Various are the opinions respecting the origin of those ancient inhabitants who have left such indubitable traces of their industry and civilization in America. That these mounds and fortifications were not the works of the ancestors of our present race of Indians, is universally conceded; but by what people, or at what time, they were erected, are secrets, the philosopher and antiquary have vainly attempted to discover.

“It is the opinion of many judicious persons, that a number of Asiatics crossed Behring's strait, and proceeded S. E. as far as the Ohio; and that those forts were constructed to defend them from the natives, by whom they were finally overpowered, or with whom they eventually intermixed.”

But is this supposition probable? Or, would a company, in quest of a favorable and fertile country, have surmounted the difficulties and dangers incident to so lengthy a journey, over almost impassable mountains, and across deep and dangerous rivers; burthened, as they must have been, with some provisions for subsistence by the way, and some indispensable requisites for commencing their new settlement? They could not, like the hordes of barbarians, that overrun and destroyed the Roman Empire, be allured by the prospect of plunder; but must either form and execute some regular plan to occupy and cultivate a new country; or be driven, by fortuitous circumstances, to fix their abode in America. It is not, certainly, among the present inhabitants of the south part of the continent of Asia, that we should look for the brave, hardy, patient and enterprising spirit which forms the character of the adventurer.

As conjecture is the only proof that can be adduced for any opinion respecting the first origin of the ancient inhabitants of our country, perhaps the muse may be pardoned if she has hazarded a different one than had before been advanced. The great antiquity of the works in question, renders it necessary to resort to some early period, in the history of nations, as the time of their erection; while the knowledge and skill, evidently employed in their construction, as conclusively proves, that the settlers emigrated from a country, where the arts that embellish and defend communities were for that age of the world well understood.

We may rationally conclude that they were acquainted with astronomy; and they have left, on a grand and extensive scale, perfect specimens of circles, squares, octagons and parallel lines. They also possessed the art of working in metals. Ornaments, wrought from gold and silver; and weapons and utensils from iron, steel, and copper, have been discovered. Their manufacture of potter's ware appears to have been extensive, and many specimens are as excellent as any made at the present time. They likewise burnt brick, and polished marble. They lived in villages or cities; and had “walled towns,” forts, altars or temples evidently constructed with great labor and ingenuity.

They could not be savages, according to our idea of the term. May we not rather imagine them to be exiles from some powerful eastern nation, or city, that flourished at an early period of the world.

In the selection of Tyrians for my adventurers, I was guided, merely by the circumstance of their superiority in maritime knowledge, connected with their power, wealth, and enterprising industry. Since writing my poem, however, I have learned that there is a tradition, that Hanno, a Carthagenian, came ages ago to America. Mr. Seldon, also, in his description of the Caraibs who inhabited the Antilles, conjectures, that they might be descendants from some Phoenicians or Carthagenians driven by accident to the West-Indies. He remarks, “that there is no difficulty attending the belief, that a Carthagenian vessel with both men and women on board, might have got into the trade winds, and been driven by them to the West-Indies; where, feeling the impossibility of returning, they might have formed a settlement.”

Now Carthage, it is well known, was a colony from Tyre, and it is but reasonable to conclude that the inhabitants of the mother country would possess equal skill in navigation, and enterprize in adventure with their colonists. At least, according to Mr. Seldon, there can be no “difficulty” in supposing the voyage of my Tyrian hero, across the Atlantic, without chart or compass, possible; and this, as the muse is always allowed in the details, the privilege of “poetica licentia,” is perhaps sufficient.