286 



ABORIGINAL STRUCTURES IN GEORGIA. 



while the surface of the valley is covered with a micaceous loam readily 

 dissolving into an almost impalpable powder. Near by are no traces 

 of pits or excavations. Kor are there indications that any earth was 

 scraped up around the base. These facts afforded confirmation of the 

 statement made by the present owner of the plantation upon which 

 these tumuli are located, that the big mound had been built with clay 

 brought from the Carolina side of the Savannah Eiver. There clay 

 abounds ; and we were informed that in the side of the hill immediately 

 opposite, the excavations may still be seen whence the tough material 

 was obtained for heaping up this mound. This tumulus is one of the 

 finest within the limits of Georgia, and should be classed with the 

 truncated pyramids on Tumlin's plantation in the Etowah Valley, with 

 the largest of the East Macon mounds, and with that frustrum of a four- 

 sided pyramid on Messier's place, in Early County. 



III. 



ANCIENT TUMULI ON THE OCONEE RIVER. 



About a mile and a half north of the Fontenoy Mills, in Greene 

 County, Georgia, and located on the left bank of the Oconee Eiver, are 

 three tumuli surrounded by traces of extensive and long-continued in- 

 humations. The largest (A) is situated rather more than 100 yards 



Ancient tumuii on the Oconee Eirer. 



