MONUMENTS OK THE SOUTHERN STATES. 105 



PLATE XXXVIl. 



REMAINS ON THE WATEREE RIVER, KERSHAW DISTRICT, SOUTH CAROLINA. 



It is unquestionable that the race of the mounds occupied a portion of the State 

 of South Carolina ; and although the traces of their occupation are far from abun- 

 dant, they are still sufficiently numerous to deserve notice. The only reliable 

 information we have concerning them, is contained in a MS. letter from William 

 Blanding, M. D., late of Camden, South Carolina, a gentleman distinguished for 

 his researches in natural history, to Samuel George Morton, M. D., of Phila- 

 delphia, the eminent author of " Crania Americana,'''' by whose permission it is 

 embodied in this connection. The observations of Dr. Blanding were confined to 

 a section of the valley of the Wateree river, embracing about twenty-five miles 

 in the immediate vicinity of Camden, and mainly included in the Kershaw district. 



" The first monument deserving of notice is ' Harrison's Mound ' (A in the 

 Map). It is the highest in position of any on the river, and is situated on the 

 west side of the same, in the Fairfield district. It is about four hundred and 

 eighty feet in circumference at the base, fifteen feet high, and has a level area 

 one hundred and twenty feet in circumference at its summit. 



" The next relic of antiquity is the ' Indian Mortar,' (B in the Map,) in the 

 Kershaw district. It is a regular bowl-shaped excavation in a solid block of 

 granite, holding upwards of half a bushel, and is evidently the work of art. It 



Apalacliian mountains, north and south, is the most remarkable for these high conical liills, tetragon 

 terraces, etc. This region was possessed by the Cherokees since the arrival of the Europeans, but th ey 

 were afterwards dispossessed by the Muscogulges ; and all that country was probably many ages preceding 

 the Cherokee invasion inhabited by one nation or confederacy, who were ruled by the same system of 

 laws, customs, and language, but so ancient that the Cherokees, Creeks, or the nation they conquered, 

 could render no account for what purposes these monuments were raised. The mounts and cubical yards 

 adjoining them seem to have been raised in part for ornament and recreation, and likewise to serve for 

 some other public purpose, since they are always so situated as to command the most extensive prospect 

 over the country adjacent. The tetragon terraces seem to be the foundations of fortresses ; and perhaps 

 the great pyramidal mounts served the purposes of look-out towers and high places for sacrifice. The 

 sunken area called by white traders the 'chunk yard' very likely served the same conveniency that it 

 has been appropriated to by the more modern and even present nations of Indians, that is, the place 

 where they burnt or otherwise tortured their captives that were condemned to die ; as the area is sur- 

 rounded by a bank, and sometimes tvro of them, one behind and above the other, as seats to accommo- 

 date the spectators at such tragical scenes, as well as at the exhibition of shows, dances, and games. From 

 the river St. Juan's, southwardly to the point of the peninsula of Florida, are to be seen high pyramidal 

 mounts, with spacious and extensive avenues, leading from them out of the town, to an artificial lake or 

 pond of water : these were evidently designed for ornnment or monuments of magnificence to perpetuate 

 the power and grandeur of the nation ; and not inconsiderable neither, for they exhibit scenes of powi^r and 

 grandeur, and must have been public edifices." — Travels in North Amerira, p. .t18. 



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