Along with the evidences of a uniformity of system and purpose in those structures, there is also considerable variety in some of their details; and one group may be selected, as on several accounts possessing peculiar features of interest. On the western bank of the Scioto, an ancient enclosure occupies a level terrace immediately above the river. In outline it is nearly square with rounded angles, and consists of a simple embankment, between three and four feet high, unaccompanied by a ditch, or any other feature suggestive of its having been a place of defence. It encloses an area of thirteen acres, within which are twenty-four mounds, including the large oblong one already referred to. The whole of these have been excavated, and found to contain altars and other remains, suggestive of places of sacrifice, and not of sepulture. Here, therefore, it may be assumed, was one of the sacred enclosures of the Mound-Builders. The name of “Mound City” has been given to it; and the results of its exploration prove it to have been one of the most remarkable scenes of ancient ceremonial in the Scioto Valley. It would almost seem as if here an altar had been reared to each god in the American pantheon; for not the least remarkable feature observed in reference to this class of mounds is, that they do not disclose a miscellaneous assemblage of relics, like the Indian’s ossuary or grave-mound. On the contrary, the sacrificial deposits are generally nearly homogeneous. On one altar sculptured pipes are chiefly found, to the number of hundreds; on another pottery, copper ornaments, stone implements, or galena; on others, only an accumulation of calcined shells, carbonaceous ashes, or burnt bones. One mound of this enclosure covered a hearth in the form of a parallelogram of the utmost regularity, measuring ten feet in length, by eight in width, and containing a deposit of fine ashes, with fragments of pottery, from which the pieces of one beautiful vase were recovered and restored. With these also lay a few shell and pearl beads. In another oblong mound, the altar was an equally perfect square, but with a circular basin, remarkable for its depth, and filled with a mass of calcined shells. Another, though of small dimensions, contained nearly two hundred pipes, carved with ingenious skill, of a red porphyritic stone, into figures of animals, birds, reptiles, and human heads. In addition to these were also disks, tubes, and ornaments of copper, pearl and shell beads, etc., but all more or less injured by the heat, which had been sufficiently intense to melt some of the copper relics. The number of the objects found in this mound exceed any other single deposit. Some of them supply illustrations of great importance relative to the arts, habits, and probable origin of their makers; and that they were objects of value purposely exposed to the destructive element can scarcely admit of doubt. A like diversity marks the contents of other mounds, both within