428 Kain on Caves. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
—eae 
Art. XXI. An Account of several Ancient Mounds, and of two 
Caves in East Tennessee, by Mr. Jonn Henry Kain, of Knoz- 
ville. 
(Communicated for the American Journal of Science, &c.) 
Mounds. 
On the plantation of Mr. John Kain of Knox county, near 
the north bank of the Holston River, 5 miles above its junc- 
tion with the French Broad, is a curious collection of mounds 
of earth, evidently the work of art, but of an almost antedilu- 
vian antiquity, if we may form any conjecture of their age, 
_ from that of the forest which grows around and upon them. 
They are about half a dozen in number, and arise on about 
half an acre of level ground without any seeming regularity. 
They are pyramidal in their shape, or rather sections of pyra- 
mids, whose bases are from 10 to 30 paces in diameter. The 
largest one in this group rises about 10 feet above the level 
ground, and is remarkably regular in its figure. A perpendi- 
cular section of this mound was made about a year since, but 
no important discovery was made. It was found to consist of 
the surface thrown up, and contained a good deal of ashes and 
' charcoal. 
This group of mounds is surrounded by a ditch, which can 
be distinctly traced on three sides, and enclosing besides the 
mounds, several acres of ground. It is like the mounds co- 
vered with trees, which grow in it and about it. At every 
angle of this ditch, it sweeps ont into a semicircle, and it ap- 
pears in many respects well calculated for defence. 
There are many other mounds of the same form in Tennes- 
see. At the junction of the French Broad with the Holston, 
there is one in which human bones are said to have been found. 
