[90] Beck’s Gazetteer of Missouri, p. 234.
[92] Dr. BECK also mentions another stone work, described to him by Gen. Ashley, as situated upon a high cliff on the west side of the Gasconade river, from whence it commands an extensive prospect. It is represented to be from twenty-five to thirty feet square; and, although in ruins, exhibits an uncommon degree of regularity. From the monument leads a devious path, extending down the cliff to the entrance of a cave, in which was found a quantity of ashes.
[93] Remains, similar to those here described, are abundant in Peru, where they indicate the sites of ancient towns and cities. The streets are always easily traced, and cross each other at right angles with great regularity. “The sites of the houses or huts are generally marked by heaps of earth; though in some instances the walls of the larger structures remain, in part, standing. These walls are represented to be three feet in thickness. Some of these towns are enclosed by fortifications, which have now crumbled down so as to present the simple appearance of earth embankments. The remains of one of these ancient towns, occurring midway between Truxillo and Huanchuco, cover several miles in extent.”—«Proctor.»
[94] It is probable the remains here described are similar to those observed by Lewis and Clarke, on the Missouri, some distance above the mouth of the Platte. “At ten miles above our encampment, we examined a curious collection of graves or mounds, on the south side of the river. Not far from a low piece of land and a pond, is a tract about two hundred acres in extent, which is covered with mounds of various shapes and sizes: some of sand, and some of both earth and sand; the largest being nearest the river. These mounds indicate the position of the ancient village of the Ottoes, before they retired to the protection of the Pawnees.”—«Lewis and Clark», p. 26.
[95] Catlin’s North American Indians, vol. i. p. 82; Breckenridge’s Voyage up the Missouri, (Views of Louisiana,) p. 248. “Imagine you see a heap of cabins without order or design, some like cart houses, others like tubs, built of bark, supported by posts, sometimes plastered on the outside with mud in a coarse manner; in a word built with less art, neatness, and solidity, than the cabins of the beaver; and you have an Indian village.”—«Charlevoix’s Travels in Canada», vol. ii. p. 127.