THOMAS.] MUSKOKI TRIBES. 719 



tliat tlie southern tribes east of the Mississippi were In a coiui)aratively 

 quiet and settled coiulition, and tliat must of them were at tlie time 

 settled ill villages and building and using mounds and defensive works 

 ill the maimer they had been accustomed to from au unknown period 

 in the past. That this was true of the Creeks, Choctaws, Ohickasaws, 

 and otlier tribes of the Muskoki family and also of the Natchez, may 

 be assumed with little fear of being in error. 



Although the ancient works of tliese states have not been explored 

 sutticieutly to enable us to speak positively on this point, still the data 

 so far obtained indicate that the condition observed by De Soto and 

 his followers liad been maintained without any radical and general 

 moditication for a jieriod of considerable length previous thereto. In 

 other words, tliere is nothing in the character of the works or of the 

 vestiges of art found in them indicating extensive and general move- 

 ments, or successive waves of x>opulation materially differing in culture 

 or customs. But this general statement must be considered as here 

 applied only to the Gulf states, for when we reach the northern limits 

 of Georgia and enter Tennessee we And in the ancient works undoubted 

 evidences of the presence of ditierent tribes or peoples. 



From the geograiihical distriimtion of the works of this southern dis- 

 tfict east of the Mississippi river and the lines along which certain 

 types of art are found, it is safe to assume that the general movement 

 has been from the west toward the east or the reverse. This inference 

 is drawn chiefly from the fact that there appears to be no continuous se- 

 ries of similar works, or those belonging to the same general type, along 

 the lines of the larger rivers (except theMississippi). In other words, 

 the direction of the movement does not ajipear to have been governed 

 here by the water courses. The works are scattered along the same 

 parallels of latitude, their lines of distribution crossing the main 

 streams at right angles. As this transverse belt ceases towards the 

 east before reaching the Atlantic coast, and its southern boi'der lies 

 mostly at a considerable distance from the Gulf, the most reasonable 

 and natural ex|)Iauation is that the migration was from the west. 



There are but few, if any, indications in the works themselves of the 

 date of this movement, which, in all probability, consisted of successive 

 waves. That it preceded th(! discovery by Columbus at least by one or 

 more centuries is indicated by the works and their contents, and the 

 conditions obser\ed by De Soto, but on the other liand its antiquity 

 appears to be limited, if we suppose mound-building to have com- 

 menced soon after arrival, by the fact that we tind in the works no 

 evidences of any marked progress in art during occupancy. 



The chief seats of power east of the Mississippi appear to have been 

 (judging from the works and history) at Cutifachiqui, the exact locality 

 of which has not been ascertained, but was probably on the Savannah 

 river a short distance above Augusta; the site of the Etowah mounds 

 near Carter sville, Georgia, probably the Guaxule of De Soto's chroii- 



