Oldal 15 [15]
LEEDS AND
OF
GRENVILLE.
CHAPTER I.
CaNADIAN RELICS—ANCIENT INDIAN REMAINS IN
AUGUSTA, EDWARDSBURG, AND REAR OF YONGE
AND ESCOTT.
THE present age is pre-eminently characterized by
a spirit of investigation and research, and in no
department is this spirit more apparent than in that
of History. To lift the veil which shrouds the
misty past, and bring to light the facts connected
with the birth and infant days of a nation, is a task
possessing peculiar charms, not only to the anti¬
quarian who traces the footsteps well worn by
time, but also to those who love the legendary
tales of long ago.
mounds, in scattered relics,
Canada is rich in pre-historic
in memorable adven¬
tures, in pioneer struggles, but, above all, in the
half-forgotten and never-recorded sufferings, priva¬
tions, and heroism of the “ King’s Men,”
United Empire Loyalists. The history of an
empire is but the combined history of its provinces ;
the history of its provinces the epitome of its
Several counties and townships. Proof is not
wanting that Ontario was at one time the home
of a race similar to the tribes
inhabiting Peru, Central America, and Mexico, and
fe 1; who left behind them architectural and other
ae aeenns, which the aborigines were unable to
explain to their conquerors, the Spaniards. The
Maher types of ruined temples and other edifices
a were found in the low latitudes,
Ti
known as
in civilization
while the ruder
. monuments of New Mexico were succeeded by the
rock sculptures eastward of the Alleghanies, the
am embankments, and ditches stretching along
fae ee valley of the Mississippi and northward into
a Canada. These remains have been variously
a = ribed to Tartar, Hebrew, and Celtic origins,
| _ also to a supposed migration of Aztecs
some undefined northern region, ar from
itschaka, beyond Behring’s Straits, Of the
a 7 gin of such specimens of aboriginal art, the
a > RS
Indians could furnish not the slightest explanation,
though they possessed dim legends relating to a
superior race, which occupied the fertile portions of
the country long ago, and had been extirpated
ina great war. The earthworks were undoubtedly
of a defensive character, generally consisting of an
embankment and exterior ditch, of varying dimen¬
sions, with approaches artfully concealed. When
not erected so as to enclose springs, provision was
made for artificial reservoirs for holding water in
case of a seige. |
In July, 1854, W. E. Guest, re. made a visit
to the mound in the vicinity of Spencerville, in the
County of Grenville, furnishing a report for the
Smithsonian Institution at Washington, said report
being subsequently published, and from which we
quote :
“Hundreds and thousands of years before the
white man’s foot had pressed the soil of the New
World, there lived and flourished a race of men
who called this continent their home. Had they
a written history, what deeds of chivalry might we
not peruse! What tales of forest! Alas! for their
glory, their ardor, and their pride !—
‘ They have all passed away,
That noble race and brave,
Their light canoes have vanished
From offi the crested wave.
+ +* ae * But
Their name is on your waters, .
You.may not wash it out,’
“One of the principal mounds in Canada is
situated in the Township of Augusta, about eight
and a-half miles north-west of Prescott, on a farm
formerly occupied by Mr. Tarp. The work is
almost eighty rods in length, its greatest width
twenty rods, The westerly part has a half-moon
embankment extending some ten rods across a neck
to the south-west near the edge of a creek. It has
three openings, which are from twenty to twenty¬
five feet wide. Upon this embankment there is a