S22 Geology, 4^c. of Tenntisee, ^c. 



The causes which have produced the nitric salts of these 

 caves, may not yet have been fully developed. But it is highly 

 probable, they are to be ascribed to the decomposition of ani- 

 mal substances. 



It is reasonable to suppose, that in an uncultivated country 

 they would become the abodes of wild animals, and even of 

 savage men. That they have been used by the natives as bu- 

 rial places, is certain. In one which I entered, I counted a 

 hundred human skulls, in the space of twenty feet square. 

 All the lesser and more corruptible parts of each skeleton had 

 mouldered to dust, and the whole lay in the greatest confusion. 

 I have heard of many such caves, and to this day some of the 

 Indians are known to deposit their dead in them. From the de- 

 composition of such substances, it is well known the acid of the 

 nitric salts arises, and it would of course unite with the lime 

 every where present, and form nitrate of lime. 



Mounds. 



4. I have but one more article of curiosity to mention under 

 this division. It is one of those artificial mounds which occur 

 so frequently in the western country. I have seen many of 

 them, and read of more. But never of one of such dimen- 

 sions as that which I am now to describe. 



It is situated in the interior of the Cherokee nation, on the 

 north side of the Etowee, vulgarly called Hightower River, 

 one of the branches of the Koosee. It stands upon a strip of 

 alluvial land, called River Bottom. I visited it in company with 

 eight Indian chiefs. The first object which excited attention 

 was an excavation about twenty feet wide, and in some parts 

 ten feet deep. Its course is nearly that of a semicircle ; the 

 extremities extending towards the river, which forms a small 

 elbow. I had not time to examine it minutely. An Indian 

 said it extended each way to the river, and had several unex- 

 cavated parts, which served for passages to the area which it 

 encloses. To my surprise, I found no embankment on either 

 side of it. But I did not long doubt to what place the earth 

 had been removed ; for I had scarcely proceeded two hundred 



