MONUMENTS OF THE SOUTHERN STATES. m 



charcoal, and sooty earth ; the charcoal is of oak-wood and very bright. Abundant 

 fragments of the black pottery, glazed inside, and so common in this region, are 

 found in and around this work. At the time of my visit, I found several arrow- 

 heads and a wedge-shaped stone. A few years ago a carved pipe was found here 

 and a piece of heavy metal, which was tested for gold and afterwards mislaid. 

 Inasmuch, however, as the Indians lately occupied this ground in great numbers 

 for several years, these minor relics may be regarded as having pertained to them. 

 " The bluffs around this work are of extraordinary height for this region, and 

 the whole position seems well designed for defence. The regularity and apparent 

 freshness of the structure, and its correspondence, in some striking respects, to our 

 modern system of defence, almost induce me to ascribe to it an European origin. 

 This supposition is further favored by the well known fact that Hernando de Soto 

 passed through here, and probably erected works at various points." 



Number .3. — " This work is situated on the left bank of Clear creek, near 

 Mount Sylvan, Lafayette county, Mississippi. It occupies a high point of land, 

 overlooking the creek bottom ; upon the right is a bluff bank, forty feet high ; 

 towards the north the ground is somewhat broken, and upon the left it slopes 

 gradually to a hollow. There are no hills or elevated points commanding the work 

 within a mile or more. The ground within the enclosure is level. 



" The structure itself is quadrangular in form, and consists of a slight embank- 

 ment of earth, about three feet high by thirty feet broad at the base, and twelve 

 feet broad on the top. It has no ditch, exterior or interior to the embankment, 

 although upon both sides there are evidences of the removal of the earth, leaving 

 slight depressions, as shown in the section. At the gateway G, the original level 

 of the ground is preserved. Various forest-trees are growing upon the walls, 

 consisting of black oak and hickory, — some of the oaks are upwards of eighteen 

 inches in diameter. At the foot of the bluffs, to the right of the work, are numer- 

 ous and copious springs of water. 



" There are no mounds within the enclosure ; although there are two a little way 

 outside of the walls, occupying the positions indicated in the plan.* The one 

 nearest the gateway, number 1, has trees growing upon it, twenty inches in 

 diameter. Fragments of pottery are scattered in abundance upon and around it. 

 Mound number 2 I have carefully examined. It is situated upon sloping ground, 

 and is perhaps one foot high on the upper, and three feet on the lower side, by 

 twenty feet base. In the centre is a regular concavity one foot deep and twelve 

 feet across ; and in this respect it is different from any I have elsewhere observed. 

 The first excavation was made upon the lower side, where were found several 



* The notices of these mounds, although faUing with more propriety within the scope of the chapter 

 on " Mounds," can hardly be omitted from the above connection. It will shortly be seen that the mound 

 first described (number 2 of the plan) probably belongs to the class of altar or sacrificial mounds, or 

 those which were connected with the superstitions of the builders. The human remains found in that, as 

 in mound number .3, were, most likely, deposited subsequent to their erection. It is not impossible that 

 the mound last named is of a later date than tho.se upon the higlier ground. 



