10 THE PROBLEM OF THE OHIO MOUNDS. 



chronicles of I)c Soto's expedition and tbe writings of the pioneer trav- 

 elers and French missionaries to that section. This evidence proves 

 conclusively not only that this had been a custom, but that it was con- 

 tinued into the eighteenth century. 



Such statements as the following, attested by various contemporane- 

 ous authors, should suffice on this point: 



The caciques of this country make a custom of raising near their dwellings very 

 high hills, on whicJi they sometimes build their houses.' 



The Indians try to ])lace their villages on elevated sites, but inasmuch as in Florida 

 there are not many sites of this kind wlierci they can conveniently build, they erect 

 elcvafions ihrmsclnefi in the following manner, etc. ^ 



The chief's house stood near the beach upon a very high mount )n(u]c htj hand for 

 defense.'' 



The last, which was on Tampa Bay, was most likely near Phillippi's 

 Point, where tradition fixes De Soto's landing place, and where a num- 

 ber of mounds and shell hea])s have been found. One of these, opened 

 by Mr. S. T. AValker,^ was found to consist of three layers. In the 

 lower were " no ornaments and but little pottery, but in tlie middle 

 and to]) layers, especially tlie latter, nearly every cranium was encircled 

 by strings of (colored beads, brass and copper ornaments, trinkets, etc. 

 Among other curious objects were a ])air of scissors and a fragment of 

 looking-ghiss." 



An earlier exi)loration is thus described: "The governor |l)eSotoJ 

 o])ened a large temple in the woods, in which were buried the cliiefs 

 of the country, and took Crom it a quantity of pearls * * * which 

 were spoiled by being buried in tlie ground."'' 



Another clironicler says: " This house stood on a high moniul ((rrro), 

 similar to others we have already mentioned. Round about it was a 

 roadway sufficiently broad for six men to walk abreast."^ (There are 

 good reasons for believing thi.s to be the Etowah mound near Carters- 

 ville, Ga.)^ 



The town of Talise is described as being strong in the extreme, in- 

 closed by timber and earth." 



IJerrera speaks of " a towji of 400 houses, and a large square, where 

 the cacique's liouse stood uj)on a mouiul made by art." ^ 



Father (jravicsr'" sjx'aks of mounds of the Akansea and "Tounika" 

 villages. 



M. La llarpe says "the cabins of the Yasous, Courois, Offogoula, 

 and Ousjjie [along the Yazoo about 1700] are dispersed over the coun- 



' IJiedma, Hist. Coll. La., vol. tl, ]). lOf). 



-Garcilassode la Vega, Hist. Fla., ed. 17::^;!. p. C)'.). 



■•Gentleman of Elvas. Bradford Club series, vol. .^i, p. '2r?. 



^ Smithsonian Report, 1S71I (IHHO), pp. :i92-422. 



f'Biedma, Hist. Coll. La., vol. 2, p. 101, 



'■Oarcilasso de la Vega, Hist. Fla., ed. 172:5, p. KID. 



'Tliomas, Mag. Am. Hist., Miiy, IHHI, ])p. /JO.^., 400. 



** G. are i lasso. Hist. Fla., ]>. 141. 



'^ Hist. Am., Stevens's transl., vol. (;, p. Ct. 



'"Shea's Pearly French Voyages, ])]). 12(1, KU). 



