THE PROBLEM OF THE OHIO MOUNDS. 49 



It would be unreasonable to assume that all these similarities in cus- 

 toms, most of which are abnormal, are but accidental coincidences due 

 to necessity and environment. On the contrary it will probably be 

 conceded that the testimony adduced and the reasons presented justify 

 the conclusion that the ancestors of the Cherokees were the builders 

 of some at least of the typical works of Ohio ; or, at any rate, that they 

 entitle this conclusion to favorable consideration. Few, if any, will 

 longer doubt that the Cherokees were mound builders in their historic 

 seats in ISforth Carolina and Tennessee. Starting with this basis, and 

 taking the mound testimony, of which not even a tithe has been pre- 

 sented, the tradition of the Cherokees, the statement of Haywood, the 

 Delaware tradition as given by Heckewelder, the Bark Record as pub- 

 lished by Brintou and interpreted by Hale, and the close resemblance 

 between the names Tallegwi and Chellakee, it would seem that there 

 can remain little doubt that the two peoples were identical. 



It is at least apparent that the ancient works of the Kanawha Yalley 

 and other parts of West Virginia are more nearly related to those of 

 Ohio than to those of any otlier region, and hence they may justly be 

 attributed to the same or cognate tribes. The general movement, there- 

 fore, must have been southward as indicated, and the exit of the Ohio 

 mound-builders was, in all probability, np the Kanawha Valley on the 

 same line that the Cherokees appear to have followed in reacliing their 

 historical locality. It is a singular fact and worthy of being mentioned 

 here, that among the Cherokee names signed to the treaty made be- 

 tween the United States and this tribe at Tellico, in 1798, are the fol- 

 lowing: ^ Tallotuskee, Chellokee, Yonaheguah, Keenakunnah, and Tee- 

 kakatoheenah, which strongly suggest relationship to names found in 

 the Allegheny region, although the latter come to us tlirough the Del- 

 aware tongue. 



If the hypothesis here advanced be correct, it is apparent that the 

 Cherokees entered the immediate valley of the Mississippi from the north- 

 west, striking it in the region of Iowa, This supposition is strength- 

 ened not only b}' the similarity in the forms of the pipes found in the 

 two sections, but also in the structure and contents of many of the 

 mounds found along the Mississippi in the region of western Illinois. 

 So striking is this that it has been remarked by explorers whose opin- 

 ions could not have been biased by this theory. 



Mr. William McAdams, in an address to the American Association 

 for the Advancement of Science, remarks : " ]Mounds, such as are here 

 described, in the American Bottom and low-lands of Illinois are seldom, 

 if ever, found on the bluffs. On the rich bottom laiuls of the Illinois 

 River, within 50 miles of its mouth, I have seen great numbers of them 

 and examined several. The people who built them are probably con- 

 nected with the Ohio mound-builders, although in this vicinity they 



' Treaties between tlie United States of America and the several Indian tribes 

 (1837), p. 182. 



9009 4 



