THOMAS. ] THE CHEROKEES AS MOUND-BUILDERS. 91 
pears to be part of a sword blade or the blade of a large knife. Another 
of the pieces is apparently a large awl or punch, a part of the deer-horn 
handle yet remaining attached to it. A chemical examination made by 
Professor Clarke, chemist of the United States Geological Surv ey, 
shows that these were not made of meteoric iron. 
That these cannot be attributed to an intrusive burial is evident from 
the following facts: First, they were found at the very bottom of the 
pit, which had been dug before depositing the bodies ; second, they were 
found with engraved shells, celts, and other relies of this character; and 
third, they were deposited with the principal personage who had been 
buried in the mound. 
In the same mound and under the same circumstances some large 
copper beads or cylinders were also found. A careful examination of 
these specimens shows, as I think very clearly, that the copper plate 
of which they were made was not manufactured by any means at the 
command of the Indians or the more civilized races of Mexico or Cen- 
tral America, as it is as smooth and even as any rolled copper; more- 
over, the beads appear to have been cut into the proper shape by some 
metallic instrument. If this supposition be correct (and I believe an 
inspection of the specimens will satisfy any one that it is), it certainly 
indicates contact with civilized people. If so, then we have positive 
proof that this mound was made subsequent to the discover y of Amer- 
ica by Columbus and in all probability after the date of De Soto’s expe- 
dition in 1540. 
As I have shown that the Cherokees alone inhabited this particular 
section from the time of De Soto’s expedition until it was settled by 
the whites, it follows that if the mound was built subsequent to that 
date it must have been by the Cherokees. The nearest neighbors of 
this tribe on the east, at the time the whites came in contact with them, 
were the Tusearoras. We learn from John Lederer, who visited them 
in 1670, on his return from the Cherokee country, that they were in the 
habit of decking themselves very fine with pieces of bright copper in 
their hair and ears and about their neck, which, upon festival occasions, 
they use as an extraordinary bravery.”! While it is well known that 
these two tribes were brought into contact with each other through being 
constantly at war, until the later removed to the north and joined the 
Five Nations, it is more likely that these articles of European workman- 
ship were obtained chiefly from the Spaniards, who, as is now known, 
worked the gold mines in northern Georgia at an early date. We learn 
from Barcia’s “Ensayo Cronologico”? that Tristan de Luna, who, in 
1559, went in search of the mines of ‘‘Coza” (the name by which the 
region of northern Georgia was then known), succeeded in reaching 
the region sought, and even heard, while there, of the negro Robles, 
who was left behind by De Soto. When John Lederer reached the 
os of Cente the Spaniards were then at work at these mines, 

' Discoveries, eqn bition p- x0. oPaeen 33-39, 
