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iinages. Of labour on the large scale, I think there is 

 no remain as respectable as would be a common ditch 

 for the draining of lands: unless indeed it would be the 

 barrows, of which many are to be foimd all over this 

 country. These are of different sizes, some of them 

 constructed of earth, and some of loose stones. That 

 they were repositories of the dead, has been obvious to 

 all : but on what particular occasion constructed, was 

 a matter of doubt. Some have thought they covered 

 the bones of those who have fallen in battles fought on 

 the spot of interment. Some ascribed them to the cus- 

 tom, said to prevail among the Indians, of collecting, at 

 certain periods the bones of all tiieir dead, wheresoever 

 deposited at the time of death. Others again supposed 

 them the general sepulchres for towns, conjectured to 

 have been on or near these grounds ; and this opinion 

 was supported by the quality of the lands in which they 

 are found, (those constructed of earth being generally 

 in the softest and most fertile meadow grounds on river 

 sides) and by a tradition, said to be handed down from 

 the aboriginal Indians, that, when they settled in a 

 town, the first person who died was placed erect, and 

 earth put about him, so as to cover and support him ; 

 that when another died, a narrow passage was dug to 

 the first, the second reclined against him, and the cover 

 of earth replaced, and so on. There being one of these 

 in my neighbourhood, I wished to satisfy myself whe- 

 ther any, and which of these opinions were just. For 

 this purpose I determined to open and examine it tho- 

 roughly. It was situated on the low grounds of the 

 Rivanna, about two miles above its principal fork, and 

 opposite to some hills, on which had been an Indian 

 town. It was of a splieroidical form, of about 40 feet 

 diameter at the base, and had been of about twelve feet 

 altitude, though now reduced by the plough to seven 

 and a half, having been under cultivation about a dozen 

 years. Before this it was covered with trees of 12 

 inches diameter, and round the base was an excavation 

 of five feet depth and width, from whence the earth 

 had been taken of which the hillock was formed. 1 



