96 BURIAL MOUNDS OF THE NORTHERN SECTIONS. 
Guaxule, who, as we judge from the chroniclers of De Soto’s expedi- 
tion, were mound-builders, belonged to another distinct tribe. 
Garcilasso, who is our authority in reference to the first point now to 
be considered, says: 
La casa estava en un cerro alto, como de otras semejantes hemos dicho. Tenia 
_toda ella al derredor un paseadero que podian pasearse por el seis hombres juntos.! 
The house was on a high hill (mound) similar to others we have already mentioned. 
It had all round about it a roadway on which six men could walk abreast. 
This language is peculiar, and, so far as Iam aware, can apply to no 
other mound in Georgia than the large one near Cartersville. The 
words ‘similar to others we have mentioned,” are evidently intended 
to signify that it was artificial, and this is conceded by all who have 
noted the passage. The word “alto” (high), in the mouth of the ex- 
plorers, indicates something more elevated than the ordinary mounds. 
The roadway or passageway (paseadero) “round about it” is peculiar, 
and is the only mention of the kind by either of the three chroniclers. 
How is it to be explained ? 
As Garcilasso wrote from information and not from personal observa- 
tion he often failed to catch from his informants a correct notion of the 
things described to him; this is frequently apparent in his work where 
there is no reason to attribute it to his vivid imagination. In this case 
it is clear he understood there was a terrace running entirely around 
the mound, or possibly a roadway around the top outside of a rampart 
or stockade. 
But as neither conclusion could have been correct, as no such terrace 
has been found in any part of this region, and a walk around the sum- 
mit would have thwarted the very design they had in view in building 
the mound, what was it Garcilasso’s informants saw? C.C. Jones says 
a terrace,” but it is scarcely possible that any terrace at the end or 
side of a southern mound, forming an apron-like extension (which is 
the only form found there), could have been so described as to convey 
the idea of a roadway, as the mode of estimating the width shows 
ciearly was intended. 
The broad way winding around and up the side of the Etowah mound 
(Fig. 39) appears to answer the description better than any other in 
a ted 1) eee 
wo « ~ 

Fic, 39.—Large mound of Etowah group, Bartow County, Georgia. 
Georgia. It is a large mound, high, and one that would doubtless at- 
tract the attention of the Spanish soldiers; its dimensions indicate that 

' History of Florida, edition 1723, Lib. III, Cap. XX, p. 139, and edition of 1605. _ 
a 
