88 BURIAL MOUNDS OF THE NORTHERN SECTIONS. 
betwixt the second range of pillars and the wall, is a range of cabins or sophas con- 
sisting of two or three steps, one above or behind the other, in theatrical order, where 
the assembly sit or lean down; these sophas are covered with mats or carpets very 
curiously made with thin splits of ash or oak woyen or platted together; near the 
great pillar in the center the fire is kindled for light, near which the musicians seat 
themselves, and around about this the performers exhibit their dances and other shows 
at public festivals, which happen almost every night throughot the year. 
Irom indications, not necessary to be mentioned here, Professor Carr 
argues that the mound could not have been intended for burial pur- 
poses, but was evidently erected for the foundation of a building of 
some kind. 
In a subsequent paper,! ‘* Mounds of the Mississippi Valley,” he not 
ouly adheres to the theory advanced in the tenth report of the Pea- 
body Museum, but gives additional reasons for believing it to be true. 
Although guided by very dim and feeble rays of light I am neverthe- 
less inclined to believe that Professor Carr has succeeded in entering 
the pathway that is to lead to a correct solution of the problem in this 
case. Asis apparent from what has been given in this paper regard- 
ing the burial mounds of this district, much additional data bearing on 
the point have been obtained since Professor Carr’s explorations were 
made, on which he bases his conclusions. 
The Cherokee tribe has long been a puzzling factor to students of 
ethnology and North American languages. Whether to be considered 
an abnormal offshoot from one of the well-known Indian stocks or fam- 
ilies of North America, or the remnant of some undetermined or almost 
extinct family which has merged into another, appear to be questions 
yet unsettled; but they are questions which do not trouble us in the 
present inquiry ; on the contrary, their ethnic isolation and tribal char- 
acteristics are aids in the investigation. 
That the internal arrangement of the mounds, modes of buriai, and 
vestiges of art of this district present sufficient peculiarities to distin- 
guish them from the mounds, modes of burial, and vestiges of art of all 
the other districts, as I have already stated, will be conceded by any one 
who will carefully study them and make the comparison. If, therefore, 
it be admitted, as stated, that the Cherokees are a somewhat peculiar 
people, an abnormal tribe, we have in this a coincidence worthy of note, 
if strengthened by corroborating testimony. 
As the mounds and other remains to be referred to are located in the 
northwest part of North Carolina and the northern part of Kast Ten- 
nessee, the first point to be established is that the Cherokees did actu- 
ally, at some time, occupy this region, 
In the first place, it is well known that they claimed all that portion 
of the country east of Clinch River to and including the northwest part 
of North Carolina, at least to the Yadkin, a claim which was conceded 
by the whites and acted on officially by State and national authority 
and denied by no Indian tribe. 
‘1 Memoirs of the Kentucky Geological Survey, Vol. IL. 
