MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS RELATING TO ANTHROPOLOGY. G41 



these remaius of the former power of man with much care and veuera- 

 tiou ; nor could I resist reproaching those writers who have igiiorantly 

 asserted, ' We know of no such thing existing as an Indian monument 

 of respectability, for we would not honor with that name arrow-points, 

 stone hatchets, stone pipes, half-shapeu images, &c.' 



"The one which I have opened might have been originally a parallelo- 

 gram GO feet by 20, and 30 feet high, whose upper surface aud angles 

 have been rounded by the long influence of time and accident; for we 

 are not to conceive that the form of ancient works is exactly similar to 

 that which they first possessed. Such, indeed, as are built of stone and' 

 have not been exposed to dilapidation do not experience any material 

 change; but all those monuments (and they are by far the most numer- 

 ous) which are composed of earth must have undergone consider- 

 able alteration and waste, and therefore afford a very scanty evidence 

 of their original dimensions, or (except where bones are found) of their 

 purx)Ose. The bones in the barrows of this neighborhood were directed 

 to every point, without regard to system or order. This surprised me 

 more as I am well convinced that in general most of the ancient abo- 

 riginal nations and tribes had favorite positions for their dead, aud 

 even favorite strata with which to cover them, as I shall have occasion 

 to explain when on the spot where the primitive Indians resided. Per- 

 hai)S the irregularities in the barrows of this i)lace may arise from the 

 bones deposited in them, having been those of persons killed in battle, 

 and collected by the survivors in order to be buried uuder one great 

 mound. - - - At the same time and place I found in my researches 

 a few carved stone pipes and hatchets, flints for arrows, and pieces of 

 earthenware. I cannot take upon me to say that the workmanship of 

 any of these articles surpasses the efforts of some of the present race 

 of Indians, but it certainly destroys an opinion which prevailed, that the 

 inhabitants in the most remote times had the use of arms, utensils and 

 instruments made of copper, iron, and steel." 



Josiah Priest, in his American Antiquities, 1833, p. 85, mentions this 

 ancient fort, but he uses the language of Ashe without giving credit. 

 Mr. James L. Bowman, who had frequently seen the outlines of the 

 camp, notices it briefly in " Day's Historical Collections " and the "Ameri- 

 can Pioneer." 



Curiously carved rocks are to be seen on many i)arts of the ^lonon- 

 gahela River. At the mouth of Ten-Mile Creek, 12 miles above Browns- 

 ville, are the most interesting of these. Some of the rocks there bear 

 the impress of a man's foot, a horse's foot, a hand, a head, a turkey, a 

 fish, birds, beasts, &c. 



On the farm of Mr. George. E. Hogg, near Dunlap's Creek Church, 5 

 miles east of Brownsville, there have been found a vast number of flat 

 stones, soft and friable, which are full of small circular indentations of 

 various diameters, as if made by the attrition of some harder substance, 

 rubbed between the hands. Possibly they were used to produce fire by 

 rubbing pieces of cane it. them rapidly between the palms of the hand. 

 S. Mis. 109 41 



