126 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XV. No. 382 



with the stem made in connection with the bowl, though 

 some of them are without this addition, consisting only of 

 the bowl, with a hole for the insertion of a cane or wooden 

 stem. 



By turning to Adair's "History of the American Indians," 

 we find this statement: "They [the Indians] make beautiful 

 stone pipes, and the Cherokees the best of any of the In- 

 dians, for their mountainous country contains many differ- 

 ent sorts and colors of soils proper for such uses. They 

 easily form them with their tomahawks, and afterwards fin- 



ish them in any desired form with their knives; the pipes 

 being of a very soft quality till they are smoked with, and 

 used with the fire, when they become quite hard. They are 

 often a full span long, and the bowls are about half as long 

 again as those of our English ijipes. The fore-part of each 

 commonly runs out with a sharp peak two or three fingers 

 broad and a quarter of an inch thick." 



Not only were pipes made of soapstone found with the 

 stem carved in connection with them, as indicated in the 

 above quotation, but two or three wei-e obtained of precisely the 

 form mentioned by Adair, with the fore-part running out in 

 front of the bowl; and others of the same form have been 

 found in West Virginia, Ohio, and elsewhere. Some of the 

 forms, including one from a mound in Sullivan County, 

 East Tenu., are shown in Figs. 5 and 6. As will be seen, 

 one of these, of which numerous examples were found, has 

 a very modern appearance, — a form which was first adopted 

 in England in the time of Queen Elizabeth. It may be re- 

 marked, in passing, that the mound in Sullivan County, 

 Tenn. (shown in Pig. 37, "Fifth Annual Eeport of the Bu- 

 reau of Ethnology"), belongs to the same type as that of 

 Caldwell County, N.C. Here, however, instead of a pit, a 

 circular wall some three or four feet high is built on the 

 natural surface of the ground, and the bodies or skeletons 

 are seated in regular order on this natural surface, after 

 charcoal and ashes have been strewn over it, and over each 

 a little vault built. 



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 on the Hia- 

 wassee River or near it. He saw on the Hiawassee and Ten- 

 nessee the remains of old forts, about which were axes, guns, 

 hoes, and other metallic utensils. The Indians at that time 

 told him that the French had formerly been there and built 

 these forts." 



During the year 1883 one of the assistants of the Bureau 

 of Ethnology explored this particular section which Hay- 

 wood refers to. 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 

 and the statement of the Cherokees located a Cherokee town. 

 Digging was resorted to in order to complete the exposure 

 which the water had begun. The only object in view in re- 

 ferring to this exploration is to note some of the articles 

 found: ten discoidal stones precisely like those from the 

 mounds of Caldwell County, N.C. ; nine strings of glass 

 beads; a 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; three conical 

 copper ear pendants precisely of the pattern of some found 

 in one of the Carolina mounds; three buttons of modern type; 

 one small brass gouge ; fragments of iron articles belonging 

 to a bridle; one bronze sleigh-bell; one stone awl or drill; 

 fragments of a soapstone pot; one soapstone gorget; several 

 polished stone celts similar to those found in the Carolina 

 mounds; grooved stone axes; a piece of sheet lead. 



This admixture of articles of civilized and savage life con- 

 firms the statement made by Haywood, at least so far as re- 

 gards the early presence of white people in this section. It 

 follows, from what has been presented, that the Indians liv- 

 ing here after the appearance of the whites must have been 

 Cherokees; and the fact that the implements and ornaments 

 of aboriginal manufacture found here are throughout pre- 

 cisely like those obtained from the mounds mentioned, af- 

 fords a very strong proof that the latter are to be attributed 

 to the same people. 



Additional and perhaps stronger evidence, if stronger is 

 needed, that the people of this tribe were the authors of most 

 of the ancient works in western North Carolina and East 

 Tennessee, is to be found in certain discoveries made by the 

 Bureau assistants in Monroe County, Tenn. 



A careful exploration of the valley of the Little Tennes- 

 see River from the point where it leaves the mountain to its 

 confluence with the Holston was made, and the various 

 mound groups located and carefully surveyed. 



Here, on the exact sites of the "Over-hill towns," as shown 

 by Henry Timberlake's map of 1765, using the map of the 

 same region by the Geological Survey as a means of com- 

 parison, were found mound groups; not in a general sense 

 only, but in the order given and at the points indicated, a 

 group for each town, and in the only spots the valley, for 

 this distance, affords. Commencing with the large island 

 immediately below the mouth of Tellico River at the west 

 end of Timberlake's map, we see the town of Mialoqua, part- 

 ly on the island, and partly on the south bank. Referring 

 to the Bureau map, which will appear in the general report, 

 of mound explorations, we see that the mounds are also 



