CHAPTER VII.....105

Shores of the upper St. John's, where various kinds of timber grow, and bony stock range--Mounds and their contents--Their obscure origin--The chasm not yet bridged--Belief in the immortality of the soul--The mounds a shrine--Conduct of the Spanish invaders--Ancestral veneration--Articles for use deposited with the body--Unanswered questions--History of mound-building in its infancy--Found in Europe--Uses of mounds--Monumental mounds--The mystery shrouding their structure--Intrusive burial--The growth on Florida mounds, and the distinguishable feature of mound-builders--Mound near New Smyrna--Mounds in South Florida--The large one at Cedar Keys--Mounds for sacrifice--Description of a victim--Pyramid of Cholula--Mexican teocalli--Pyramids for kings--Mounts of ordinance--Sacred fires--Indians worshiped "high places"--The temple at Espiritu Santo--Residence of King Philip--Lake Jessup mound--Copper weapons--Indians worship the sun and moon--Burial urns--Pearls a heavenly product--The Indian empress a prisoner--Manufacture of beads from conch-shells--Pearls of no value found on the coast of Florida--Who were these architects?--A veil obscures our vision in trying to discover the engineers of these mounds--The key never found--_Tumuli_, mounds, and plateaus, all objects of interest.