568 THE MOUNDS OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 
tower that contained part of the guard belonging to the prince, as from 
the top of that height they could defend the King’s house with their 
arrows,” etc.* 
If now we cross the Ohio, and inquire of the Creeks or Muscogees 
as to the origin of the works that are scattered throughout their coun- 
try, we shall find that they too ascribed them to their ancestors, 
though they differed as to the purposes for which some of them were 
erected. According to one account a certain class of “conic mounds of 
earth” were thrown up as places of refuge against high water; whilst 
a more probable tradition speaks of them as tombs of the dead, or parts 
of “an ancient Indian town,”t+ possibly the sites of the cabins of their 
chiefs and of their council-houses or temples. In 1847, Sekopechi, { 
one of the oldest Creeks then living, speaking of the former condition 
of his tribe, said that they erected breast-works of a circular shape for 
the protection of their families, and that the mounds had no existence 
previous to their arrival. Adair§ tells us that “they had a special 
name for their old round earthern forts;” and Bartram,|| speaking of 
“the artificial mounds or terraces, squares and banks encircling consid- 
erable areas”—the monuments or traces of an ancient town that once 
stood on the east bank of the Ocmulgee, near the old trading road, 
adds: “If we are to give credit to the accounts the Creeks give of them- 
selves, this place is remarkable for being the first town or settlement 
*MSS. of Gen. Clark, J. c., p. 135. He adds: “I had somewhere seen some ancient 
account of the town of Kaskaskia, formerly containing 10,000 persons. There is not 
one of that nation at present known by that name. - - - Ione day set out to see 
whether we could discover signs of such a population. We easily and evidently 
traced the town for upwards of 5 miles in the beautiful piain below the present 
town of Kahokia. There could be no deception here, because the remains of ancient 
works were thick—the whole were mounds, ete. - - - Fronting nearly the center 
of this town, on the heights, is a pinnacle called the Sugar (Loaf), from its figure. 
- - - lat once saw that it was a hill, shaped by a small brook breaking through 
the (larger) hill till it had formed a very narrow ridge. This had been cut across, 
and the point shaped in the form of a sugar loaf, perhaps to place an idol or a temple 
on, as it could not be more conspicuous. It isof a very considerable height, and you 
are obliged to wind round it to ascend on horseback.” 
tHawkins, Sketch of Creek Country, p. 38. Schoolcraft (vol. Iv, p. 127), quoting 
a MSS. copy of the ‘‘Sketch,” says: ‘‘ They were also designed to entomb the remains 
of their distinguished dead.” Bartram (Travels, p. 522) says that the Indiaas have 
a tradition that the vast four-square terraces, chunk yards, etc., at Apalachucla, old 
town, were ‘‘the ruins of an ancient Indian town and fortress.” 
tSchoolcraft, Indian Tribes, 1, p. 267. 
§ History of North American Indians, p. 67. 
|‘‘On the east banks of the Ocmulgee this trading road runs nearly 2 miles through 
ancient Indian fields, which are called the Ocmulgee fields; they are the rich low 
lands of the river. On the heights of these low grounds are yet visible monuments 
or traces of an ancient town, such as artificial mounts or terraces, squares, and 
banks, encircling considerable areas. Their old fields and planting land extend up 
and down the river, 15 or 20 miles from this site.” Travels through Florida, p. 54: 
Philadelphia, 1791. 
