94 BURIAL MOUNDS OF THE NORTHERN SECTIONS. 
Adair says :! 
From the time we supplied them with our European ornaments they have used 
brass and silver ear-rings and finger-rings ; the young warriors now frequently fasten 
bell-buttons or pieces of tinkling brass to their moccasins. 
From these facts I am inclined to believe that most of the copper used 
by them was obtained directly or indirectly from the whites, and hence 
subsequent to the discovery of America. But should this supposition 
be erroneous, the fact still remains that the Cherokees were in the habit 
of using just such ornaments as we find in these mounds. 
As showing that the Europeans began to trade copper to the Indians 
at a very early day, I call attention to a statement made by Beverly in 
his ‘‘ History of Virginia.”? Speaking of a settlement made at Pow- 
hatan, six miles below the falls of James River, in 1609, he says it was 
“bought of Powhatan for a certain quantity of copper.” 
By reference to Smith’s History and the narratives of the early ex- 
plorers we find that the amount of sheet copper traded to the Indians 
and taken by them from wrecks was quite large. 
But we are not yet through with the items under this class of testi- 
mony. 
Haywood, in his ‘Natural and Aboriginal History of Tennessee,” 
says: 
Mr. Brown, a Scotchman, came into the Cherokee Nation in the year 1761 and settled 
onthe Hiawassee River or nearit. Hesawon the Hiawassee and Tennessee the remains 
of old forts, about which were axes, guns, hoes, and other metallic utensils, The In- 
dians at that time told him that the French had formerly been there ard built these 
forts. 
Tan fully aware that this author indulges in some extravagant spec- 
ulations; still, so far as I have tested his original statements I have 
generally found them correct. During the year 1883 one of the assist- 
ants of the Bureau was sent to this particular region, which is too 
limited to allow the question of locality to be raised. An overflow and 
a change in the channel of the river brought to light the remains of old 
habitations and numerous relics of the people who formerly dwelt there. 
Moreover, this was in the precise locality where tradition located a 
Cherokee town. Digging was resorted to in order to complete what 
the water had begun. j 
Now let me mention some of the things obtained here : 
Ten discoidal stones, precisely like those from the mounds of Cald- 
well County, North Carolina. 
Nine strings of glass beads. 
A large number of shell beads exactly like those from the mounds. 
A number of flint arrow-points. 
One soapstone pipe. 
Some pieces of smooth sheet-copper. 


‘History of North America. ?Page 19. 5 Page 324, 
