: i* ea 8 “ all 
. 324 ~. Geology, $c. of Tennessee, $c. 
It seems probable they were erected by another race, who » 
once inhabited the country. That such a race existed, is now 
generally admitted. Who they were, and what were. the 
causes of their degeneracy, or of their extermination, no cir- 
cumstances have yet explained. But this isno reason why we 
should not, as in a hundred other instances, infer the existence 
of the cause from its effects, without any previous knowledge 
of its history. 
In regard to the objects which these mounds were designed — 
to answer, it is obvious they were not always the same. Some 
were intended as receptacles for the dead. These are small, 
and are distinguished by containing human bones. Some may 
have been designed as sites for public buildings, whether of a 
civil or religious kind; and others no doubt were constructed 
for the purposes of war. Of this last description, is the Etowee 
‘mound. In proof of its suitableness for such a purpose, ! 
need only mention that the Cherokees in their late war with 
the Creeks, secured its summit by pickets, and occupied it as 
a place of protection for hundreds of their women and child- 
ren. ‘Gladly would I have spent a day in examining it more 
minutely ; but my companions, unable to appreciate my motives, 
grew impatient, and I was obliged to withdraw, and leave @ 
more perfect observation and description to some one else. 
Alluvial Formation. 
{ will now call your attention to the last geological division 
which came under my observation. Itis the alluvial tract, 
extending from the Dividing Ridge already mentioned, to the 
Gulf of Mexico. This Ridge is the last range of high land 
which I crossed on the journey to New Orleans, and lies about 
six hundred miles north of the Gulf of Mexico. Its course a 
the place I crossed it, is a little south of west. It divides the 
waters of the Tennessee from those which proceed directly 
to the gulf. . Travellers always observe it. ‘They often mem 
tioned it to me as the southern boundary of the stony country. 
After crossing it, you see no more limestone ; and, which ex 
cites more joy in the traveller, no more of the silicious gravel 
