106 ANCIENT M O N U M E NTS. 



was used as a mortar by the early settlers, and is still devoted to the same purpose. 

 The part of the rock projecting out of the ground is equivalent to eight or ten tons. 



" Next is an old Indian town or camp near the mouth of Beaver creek (C in 

 the Map). A little below the mouth of the creek is an old fortification, of oblong 

 form, consisting of a wall and ditch (D in the Map). The embankment is now 

 not more than three feet high above the level of the plain. The ditch is distinct. 

 Nearly opposite this work, on the west side of the river, are the traces of an old 

 Indian village, remarkable for its arrow-heads, fragments of pottery, etc. 



" Proceeding down the river, we come to a point near the head of the canal, 

 where the land rises to the extraordinary height of five hundred feet, forming a 

 long, narrow hill. Upon the point of this hill nearest the river, stands what is 

 called the 'Indian Grave' (F in the Map). It is composed of man}' tons of 

 small round stones, weighing from one to four pounds each. The pile is thirty 

 feet long from east to west, twelve feet broad, and five feet high, so situated as to 

 command an extensive view of the adjacent country, stretching as far as Rocky 

 Mount, twcntv miles above, and for a long distance below on the river. It may 

 be suggested that this is the elevated burial-place of some great chief, or that it 

 was designed as some sort of an observatory. The Catawba Indians can give no 

 account of it. nor will they venture a conjecture as to its purposes. A mound, 

 G, is situated opposite this stone heap, on the other side of the river. The 

 'shoals' in the immediate vicinity seem to have been a favorite haunt of the 

 ancient and more recent races. Here to this day is to be found an abundance of 

 fish and game, and the vicinity is marked by numerous aboriginal relics. Here 

 also is the highest boundary of the long-leaved pine, and the limit of the alluvial 

 region. Below, the river becomes sluggish, and during high water leaves its banks 

 and spreads over large tracts of land. 



" The mound next below, H, was two hundred and fifty feet in circumference at 

 the base, seventy-five feet at the top, and thirteen feet high. It was situated about 

 a hundred vards from the river on lands subject to overflow. Three other small 

 mounds surrounded it. In 1826 it was levelled, and the material used for manuring 

 the adjacent lands. A part of the treasures which it contained were saved, but 

 the rest are scattered or destroyed. The mound presented, upon excavation, a 

 succession of strata, varying in thickness from six inches to one foot, from top to 

 base. First vegetable loam, then human and animal bones, followed by charcoal 

 of reeds, vessels of clay and fragments of the same, (some holding not more than 

 one pint,) arrow=heads and stone axes, then earth, etc., alternately. In one small 

 vessel was found a ta<r or needle made of bone, supposed to have been used in 

 making dresses. Near it was found the skeleton of a female, tolerably entire, but 

 which fell in pieces on exposure. A stratum of dark-colored mould was mixed with 

 these articles ; perhaps decomposed animal matter. The superstructure of the 

 mound was the alluvial loam, and constituted tolerable manure. It was mixed 

 with great quantities of mica, some pieces three or four inches square. Marine 

 shells, much decomposed, were found in this as in other mounds, mixed with the 

 bones, from top to bottom. 



" Descending the river, near Mound creek, we come to a large mound, I, enclosed 



