[figure description] Preface iii.[end figure description]

The author solicits the attention of his countrymen
to the following work. He ventures to
do so for reasons which seem to him a sufficient
justification of his present labors. His main design
was to make those gigantic relics, which are
found scattered throughout this country, subservient
to the purposes of imagination. He has,
therefore, dared to evoke this Mighty Creature
from the earth and striven to endow it with life
and motion. Simultaneous and co-eval with this
the great race that preceded the red men as the
possessors of our continent, have been called into
being. With whatever success the author may
have accomplished this portion of his task, the
venerable race which struggled and endured in

[figure description] Preface iv.[end figure description]

these fair fields, ere they became our home and
dwelling place, must be allowed to awaken our
feelings and share our generous regards. In describing
the Mound-builders no effort has been
made to paint their costume, their modes of life
or their system of government. They are presented
to the reader almost exclusively under a
single aspect, and under the influence of a single
emotion. It matters not to us whether they
dwelt under a monarchical or popular form of
polity; whether king or council ruled their
realms; nor, in fine, what was their exact outward
condition. It is enough for us to know,
and enough for our humanity to inquire, that
they existed, toiled, felt and suffered; that to
them fell, in these pleasant regions, their portion
of the common heritage of our race, and that
around those ancient hearth-stones, washed to
light on the banks of the far western rivers, once
gossiped and enjoyed life, a nation that has utterly
faded away. We are moved deeply in looking
upon their mortuary remains—those disinterred
and stately skeletons—for we know that they once

[figure description] Preface v.[end figure description]

were men, and moved among men with hearts
full of human impulses, and heads warm with
mortal schemes and fancies. Of this, History
could make us no surer. Over the earth where
they repose, purple flowers spring up, and with
the brillianey of their hues, and the sweetness of
their breath, give a splendor and fragrance to the
air. This touches him as deeply, the author must
confess, and seems to his untravelled eyes as
beautiful as any thing he can read of Athens, of
cloudless Italy, or the sunny France. Humanity
and nature are all with which the heart wishes to
deal, and we have them here in their naked outlines
and grandeur. There is enough here for
author and reader if they be of strong minds and
true hearts. A green forest or a swelling mound
is to them as glorious as a Grecian temple; and
they are so simple as to be well nigh as much affected
by the sight of a proud old oak in decay
near at home, as by the story of a baronial castle
tottering to its fall three thousand miles off.

The author is aware of the difficulty and magnitude
of his undertaking. He knows as well as

[figure description] Preface vi.[end figure description]

any one can know, the obstacles to vanquish and
remove; and he also knows the obstacles that
will not be vanquished nor removed. Notwithstanding
all this he feels assured, if he has contended
in any degree successfully with the greatness
and majesty of the subject, he will have accomplished
some slight service for the literature of
his country, and something, he ventures to hope,
for his own good name.