138 SUPPOSED FORTIFICATIONS OF 



number of bones in this barrow, or mound, which was only 

 40 feet in diameter at the base, and above 12 in height, au- 

 thorized the conjecture that it contained a thousand skeletons. 

 Now, as all those numerous mounds, or barrows have the most 

 obvious similarity, we may conclude, that what is true of one 

 of them, is, ceteris paribus, applicable to all. The only differ- 

 ence consists in their dimensions. I visited one, situated on 

 the low grounds of the Kanhawa, which might be almost cal- 

 led the pyramid of the west. Its base measured 140 yards in 

 circumference; its altitude is very nearly 40 feet. It resem- 

 bles a truncated cone; upon the top there is a level of 12 or 13 

 feet in diameter. A tall oak, of two feet and a half in diame- 

 ter, which had grown on the top, and had long looked down 

 upon the humbler forresters below, had experienced a revoluti- 

 onary breeze, which swept it from its majestic station, appa- 

 rently, above 6 or 7 years before my visit. Within a few miles 

 of this, stands another, which is said to be higher. No marks 

 of excavation, near the mound, are to be seen. On the con- 

 trary, it is probable, from the examination which was made, 

 that the earth composing the mound was brought from some 

 distance; it is also highly probable, that this was done at differ- 

 ent periods, for we cannot believe, that savages would submit 

 to the patient exertion of labour requisite to accomplish such a 

 work, at any one undertaking. Near to this large one are several 

 upon a much smaller scale. But, if that upon the Rivanna, 

 which was so accurately examined, contained the bones of a 

 thousand persons, this upon the Kanhawa would contain forty 

 times that number, estimating their capacities as cones. But 

 who will believe, that war has ever been glutted with so many 

 Indian victims by any one battle? The probability seems to be, 

 that those mounds, formed upon so large a scale, were national 

 burying places; especially as they are not connected with any 

 particular enclosure; whilst those upon a smaller scale, and 

 which are immediately connected with such a work, were the 

 repositories of those, who had there once enjoyed a lixed habi- 

 tation. But whether this conjecture be admitted or not, the in- 

 ference, from what has been said under this head, that those 

 enclosures could not be .designed as fortifications, will, I think, 

 be obvious to every one. 



