
THE MOUND BUILDERS OF TENNESSEE. 65 
of the various barks of trees, and a species of flax inter- 
woven and dyed of various colors; also, well dressed and 
painted skins, and garments worn with beautiful feathers. 
The mantle was thrown over the shoulders with the arm ex- 
posed. Great men were sometimes, after the manner of the 
Mexicans, borne upon litters by their subjects, while their 
heads were shielded from the sun by shades made of feathers 
or gaudily painted hides. 
The important conclusion which we draw from these inves- 
tigations is: That the race which erected the mounds and 
fortifications of Tennessee was existing and active at the 
time of the discovery of North America, and possessed the 
country with a numerous population, even as late as the ex- 
ploration of De Soto. This conclusion, which is at variance 
with the theories propounded by various ethnologists of 
Europe and America, who assign a considerable period to 
the extinction of the mound builders, will be still farther 
sustained by the remarkable discovery which we have made 
during the progress of these investigations, of the cross, em- 
blems of the Christian religion, and especially of the Trin- 
ity, the Saviour and the Virgin Mary in the mounds of Ten- 
nessee. We believe that the preceding conclusion is based 
upon incontrovertible facts and evidence. 
We will proceed to consider, in the next place, the mode 
of burial practiced by the aborigines of Tennessee, as shown 
by their sacred and sacrificial mounds and stone graves. 
The ancient race of Tennessee buried their dead in rude 
stone coffins or sarcophagi, constructed of flat pieces of lime- 
stone or slaty sandstone, which abounds in Middle Tennes- 
see. Extensive graveyards are found in Tennessee and 
Kentucky along the river courses, in the valleys and around 
the springs, in which the stone coffins lie close to each other. 
These graves, although justly regarded as rude fabrics, 
nevertheless exhibit considerable skill in their construction, 
and are standing memorials of the regard in which the an- 
cient race held the memory se the dead. 
AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. HI. 
