140 APPENDIX. 



mounds above mentioned, were constructed by the Creeks. He, however, states 

 exphcitly, in his Travels, that the country in which these remains occur was occu- 

 pied subsequently to the arrival of Europeans by the Cherokees, who were after- 

 wards dispossessed by the Creeks ; and that " it was probably, many ages preceding 

 the Cherokee invasion, inhabited by a single nation or confederacy, governed by 

 common laws, possessing like customs, and speaking the same language, but so 

 ancient, that neither the Creeks nor the Cherokees, nor the nations they conquered, 

 could render any account by whom or for what purposes these monuments were 

 erected." He also inclines to the belief, that the uses to which these structures 

 were appropriated, by the existing Indian tribes, were not widely different from 

 those for which they were originally built. Upon this point he adds : " The 

 mounds and large areas adjoining them seem to have been raised in part for orna- 

 ment and recreation, and likewise to serve some other public purpose, since they 

 are always so situated as to command the most extensive prospect over the country 

 adjacent. The square terraces may have served as the foundations of fortresses ; 

 and perhaps the great pyramidal mounds answered the purpose of look-outs, or 

 were high places for sacrifice." — (Travels, p. 518.) 



From this account we gather the important fact, that in the centre of the Creek 

 (as also of the Cherokee) towns was a " public square," surrounded by edifices 

 devoted to pubHc purposes ; and that accompanying this square, and placed in a 

 fixed position in respect to it, was an edifice, circular in form, which was more 



each : one serves for a cook-room or winter lodging-house, another as a summer lodging-house and hall 

 for visitors, and another for a granary or store-house, etc. 



" The accompanying cut (Fig. 40) illustrates the plan of the dwelhng or villa of a Creek chief known 



CXI 



D 



Fig. 40. 

 among the traders by the name of Bosten. A is the area enclosed by four buildings : the one upon the 

 left, e, was his lodging-house, and was large and commodious ; the building opposite was a large, square, 

 open pavilion, covered by a cedar roof, which was supported by two rows of posts or pillars. Between 

 each range of pillars was a platform, raised about two feet and ascended by two steps ; this was covered 

 with checkered mats of curious workmanship, woven of splints of canes variously colored. In the centre 

 of the pavilion was a square platform, raised somewhat higher than the others, and also covered with mats. 

 In this delightful, airy place, visitors were received and entertained. The remaining two buildings were 

 used, the one as a cook-house, the other as a store-house. 



" The Lower Creeks, or Seminoles, are not so regular in their buildings, pviblic or private. The private 

 houses of the Cherokees consist of one oblong log building, divided transversely into several apartments. 



Fig. 41. 

 with a portico in front ; a round house, D, stands a little distance off, and is used as a winter lodging- 

 house." 



