THOMAS.] GEORGIA. ■ 293 



Tlie first publisliecl notice of tliese works (unless they are referred to 

 by the cliroiiiclers of I)e Soto's exiieditioii) is that by Eev. Elias Cor 

 iieliiis,' and is as follows: 



I have but un<- more article of curiosity to mention under this division. It is one 

 of those artificial mounds which occur so frccjuently in the western country. I have 

 seen many of them and read of more, but never of one of such dimensiiui as that 

 which I am now to describe. 



It is situated in the interior of the Cherokee Nation, on the north side of the 

 Etowee, vulgarlj- called the Hightower river, one of the branches of the Koosee. It 

 stands ujjou a strip of alluvial land called river bottom. I visited it in company with 

 eight Indian chiefs. The first object which excited attention was an excavation 

 abimt 20 feet wide and in some parts 10 feet deep. Its course is nearly that of a 

 semicircle, the extremities extending towards the river, which forms a small elbow. 

 I had not time to examine it minutely. An Indian said it extended each way to the 

 river, and had several unexcavated parts, which served for passages to the area 

 which it incloses. To my surprise I found no enbankment on either side of it. But 

 I did not long doubt to what place the earth had been removed; for I had scarcely 

 proceeded 200 yards when, through the thick forest trees, a stupenduous pile met 

 the eye, whose dimensions were in full proportion to the intrenchment. I had at the 

 time no means of taking an accurate admeasurement. To supply my deficiency 1 

 cut a long vine, which was preserved until I had an opportunity of ascertaining its 

 exact length. In this manner I found the distance from the margin of the summit 

 to the base to be 111 feet. And, judging from the degree of its declivity, the per- 

 pendicular height can not be less than 7.T feet. The circumference of the base, 

 including the feet of three parapets, measured 1,114 feet. One of these parapets 

 extends from the base to the summit, and can be ascended, though with difficulty, 

 on horseback. The other two, after rising 30 or 40 feet, terminate in a kind of 

 triangular platform. Its top is level and, at the time I visited it, was so completely 

 covered with weeds, bushes, and trees of most luxuriant growth that I conld not 

 examine it as well as I wished. Its diameter, I judged, must be 150 feet. On its 

 sides and summit are many large trees of the same description and of equal dimen- 

 sions with those around it. One beech tree near the toj) measured 10 feet 9 inches in 

 circumference. The earth on one side of the tree was 3i feet lower than on the 

 opposite side. This fact will give a good idea of the degree of the mound's declivity. 

 An oak, which was lying down on one of the parapets, measured at the distance of 

 6 feet from the butt, without the bark, 12 feet 4 inches in circumference. At a short 

 distance to tlie southeast is another mound, in ascending which I took 30 steps. Its 

 top is encircled by a breastwork 3 feet high, intersected through the middle with 

 another elevation of a similar kind. A little farther is another mound, which I had 

 not time to examine. 



On these great works of art the Indians gazed with as much curiosity as any white 

 man. I inquired of the oldest chief if the natives had any tradition respecting them, 

 to which he answered in the negative. I then requested each to say what he sup- 

 posed was theii; origin. Neither could tell, though all agreed in saying, " they were 

 never put up by our people." It seems probable they were erected by another race 

 who once inhaliited the country. That such a race existed is now generally admitted. 

 Who they were and what were the causes of their degeneracy or of their extermina- 

 tion no circuuLstances have yet explained. But this is no reason why we should not, 

 as in a hundred other instances, infer that existence of the cause from its efl'ect, 

 without any previous knowledge of its history. 



In regard to the objects which these mounds were designed to answer, it is ob- 

 vious they were not always the same. Some were intended as receptacles for the 

 dead. These are small and are distinguished by containing human bones. .Some 



1 Silliiuan'8 American Journal of Science and Art, let Ser., Vol. i (1818), pp. 322-324. 



