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AMERICAN NATURALIST. 
Vol. III. — APRIL, 1869. — No. 2. 
coc G3 (94e DD o 
THE ABORIGINAL MOUND BUILDERS OF TENNESSEE, 
BY DR. JOSEPH JONES. 

Wuen the first Anglo-American pioneers, about the mid- 
dle of the last century, explored the country east and north 
of the Tennessee River, the territory between the Ohio and 
Tennessee Rivers was a vast unoccupied wilderness. The 
rich valleys, hills and plains of Tennessee and Kentucky 
were crowded with a dense growth of forest trees and canes, 
and formed an extensive park, held permanently only by the 
beasts of the forest, and abounding with immense herds of 
buffalo, flocks of wild turkeys, droves of deer and innumer- 
able bears. The nearest permanent Indian settlements were 
on the Sciota and Miami on the north, and on the waters of 
the Little Tennessee on the south; and from these points 
the warriors of the Miami Confederacy of the north, and the 
Choctaws, Chickasaws and Cherokees of the south issued to 
engage in hunting and war, in this great central theatre. At 
this period, by common agreement of all the surrounding 
tribes, this section of country, which, for its fertile soil, nu- 
merous rivers and abundant supply of fish and game, was 
admirably adapted to the settlement of savage tribes, ap- 
peared to have been reserved from permanent occupancy. 
That this country, in common with other portions of the 

Entered according to Act of Congress. in the year 1869, by the PEABODY ACADEMY OF 
SCIENCE, in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts, 
8 
AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. III. (57) 
