WONDERFUL DISCOVERIES.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4507, 31 August 1875, Page 3

WONDERFUL DISCOVERIES.

(From Iron Age.) The remains of a considerable number 'of ancient copper mines have lately been discovered on Isle Royale, Thunder Bay, on the northern border of tho lake, which exhibit undoubted evidence of .having been worked by a race of men, long since extinct, and of whom we possess no knowledge, save that left behind by such traces as are now being brought to view. Shafts of considerable depth, filled and choked with the accumulated debris of ages, have been opened, and in penetrating to a depth of GOft,, tools of wonderful workmanship have been discovered, together with charcoal remains, which mark the point where skilled artisans formed, from copper, tools whose temper and durability would astonish tho ingenious makers of the present day. Hammers and chisels seem to have been tho principal implements for working tho mine, which, together with tho fire, reduced ore to a con-

dition which rendered its removal in detail easily accomplished. Finely-tempered knife blades have been picked out of the pit, and granite hammers of such a size as to --require the strength of no ordinary man to wield successfully. These discoveries, wonderful as they are, do not stand alone, nor do they present any new facts in relation to the people who formerly inhabited this continent. They simply go to strengthen the evidence that, centuries before the written history of America, powerful and civilised communities occupied every portion of its domain, who, disappearing, left behind them proofs of their progress in the arts and sciences, and their indubitable skill in architecture. For three thousand, miles along the valleys of our great Western rivers, traces of towns and cities occur at intervals, together with the remains of large fortified encampments, which show, from their position and arrangement, that their builders were no mean adepts in the art of warfare. Vast tumuli, with dead buried in a sitting posture, and at their feet shells unknown to this continent, exist by the hundred in the Ohio and Mississippi valleys. In the dense Yucatan forests there are ruins of temples and palaces resembling in solidity of construction, massiveness of materials, general design and execution, the ancient remains of the old Egyptian dynasties. Yet, neither in Western America, nor in Yucatan, exists the faintest tradition as to that mysterious race which has left behind it the imperishable record of its genius and civilisation. We can do nothing but conjecture. Pursue our investigations as we may, we are still led back to the starting point, with no more definite knowledge than we set out with. The thread is lost, never to be recovered. It is a singular fact that thus far there have never been discovered on any of the ruins, or in connection with the tool and war implements mentioned, any mark, letter, or trace whereon any clue to either the origin, customs, or language of this mysterious race might be caught and gathered up. In Europe the gradual process of developement from a half savage state to the high culture of the present day may be traced, stage by stage, and every distant era marked by a definite date. But here the links that bound one generation to another have been rudely severed, and the builders of the Ohio, the architects of Copan and Palenque, and the copper workers on the shores of Lake Superior alike, lie beyond the reach of the historian and speculations of the archaeologist. The relics they have left behind them only serve to excite the conjectures of the curious and the investigation of the scientific. Possibly, in some yet undiscovered ruin or tomb the key may be found to the problem which now puzzles the world. But then it is only a possibility. There is little doubt that the mystery will remain until the great day, when the sea gives up its dead, and tfre past be stretched before us like a scroll.