Stranica 15 [15]
OCR
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 antiquarian 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 adventures, in pioneer struggles, but, above all, in the half-forgotten and never-recorded sufferings, privations, 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 dimensions, 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 twentyfive feet wide. Upon this embankment there is a
