324 Geology, ^c. of Tennessee, ^c. 



It seems probable they were erected by another race, who 

 once inhabited the country. That such a race existed, is now 

 generally admitted. Who they were, and what were the 

 causes of their degeneracy, or of their extermination, no cir- 

 cumstances have yet explained. But this is no reason why we 

 should not, as in a hundred other instances, infer the existence 

 of the cause from its effects, without any previous knowledge 

 of its history. 



In regard to the objects which these mounds were designed 

 to answer, it is obvious they were not always the same. Some 

 were intended as receptacles for the dead. These are small, 

 and are distinguished by containing human bones. Some may 

 have been designed as sites for public buildings, whether of a 

 civil or religious kind ; and others no doubt were constructed 

 for the purposes of war. Of this last description, is the Etowee 

 mound. In proof of its suitableness for such a purpose, I 

 need only mention that the Cherokees in their late war with 

 the Creeks, secured its summit by pickets, and occupied it as 

 a place of protection for hundreds of their women and child- 

 ren. Gladly would I have spent a day in examining it more 

 minutely ; but my companions, unable to appreciate my motives, 

 grew impatient, and I was obliged to withdraw, and leave a 

 more perfect observation and description to some one else. 



Alluvial Formation. 



I will now call your attention to the last geological division 

 which came under my observation. It is the alluvial tract, 

 extending from the Dividing Ridge already mentioned, to the 

 Gulf of Mexico. This Ridge is the last range of high land 

 which I crossed on the journey to New Orleans, and lies about 

 six hundred miles north of the Gulf of Mexico. Its course at 

 the place I crossed it, is a little south of west. It divides the 

 waters of the Tennessee from those which proceed directly 

 to the gulf. Travellers always observe it. They often men- 

 tioned it to me as the southern boundary of the stony country. 

 After crossing it, you see no more limestone ; and, which ex- 

 cites more joy in the traveller, no more of the silicious gravel, 



