as he was to travel, during almost the whole of the latter periods of his life, one of the sweetest solaces which he experienced was derived from this source. The following is a description of a very curious relic of departed aboriginal civilization—a western mound—indicating, without much doubt, that the country was once in the possession of men comparatively enlightened and powerful.

Saturday, Oct. 19, at the High Tower council.-This morning arose, having experienced little or no inconvenience from my second night's lodging on the earth, and soon set out with our company to visit a large and ancient mound on the north side of the High Tower river, about one mile distant. We took breakfast at the place where we supped the night before, and in the same style, and started, eight or nine Indians being in company, to see the mound I have mentioned.

"The first thing that attracted my attention is a very large ditch, or entrenchment. It is, according to the best judgment I could form, twenty-five, if not thirty feet wide at the top, and from ten to fifteen feet deep. Its form is semicircular, each end of which extended towards the bank of the river. That this ditch was never made by the washing of the river, is evident from the fact that it is not a complete excavation from one end to the other. I had not time to see the whole of it, but I was told that in one or two places, the earth had not been dug away, leaving a passage to the interior. After we had rode perhaps three hundred yards within the entrenchment, we came to the principal mound, which is a stupendous work indeed. At first I could not believe it had ever been thrown up by human strength. I examined closely to ascertain if I could not perceive some traces of rock that should prove it a natural mound, but there is no such indication. The situation seems also to forbid the idea.

It stands by the side of a river, upon a strip of flat land, called in this country, river-bottom, upon which, it is not usual to find any hill whatever. The bottoms or low lands possess the richest soil, and always evince it by the luxuriance of every tree and herb which grow upon them. So far as I could judge, the composition of the mound is precisely the same with the soil on the flat. The mound appeared to be circular, but as we approached it, we found it was not strictly so. Three parapets projected from the main body, only one of which formed a continued slope to the top of the mound. This is obviously designed as a passage to the top. It is very steep, but not so much as to prevent a horse from taking me up. I first examined the summit. It is covered with weeds much higher than a man's head, and thus the view is very much obscured. I found it fortified by pickets, which I was told had been done by the Cherokees in their late war with the Creeks, with a view to furnish a place of protection for their wives and children. Having passed from the east to the west side, I obtained a vine of some length, and proceeded to make various admeasurements, which, by subsequent calculation, I found to be as follows. The vine I used was ten yards and five inches in length. This I called my line. From the top of the mound, on the slope which is so steep as to render it difficult to stand, to the base, I measured three lines, equal to thirty-seven. yards, six inches, or one hundred and eleven feet and a half. From this I judged that the perpendicular height cannot be far from eighty feet. I next measured the distance around its base; this, including the base of three projections, I found to be four hundred seventy-one yards and thirteen inches, or one thousand one hundred and fourteen feet.

"The mound is covered with trees of great size, all of which appear as ancient as any on the river-flat. Near

the summit, I measured a beach tree which is ten feet nine inches in circumference. The tree stands upon the sloping part of the mound, and is on the upper side at the point I measured about two and one half feet from the earth, while on the lower side it is more than six feet. This fact will furnish a tolerable idea of the degree of declivity on the side of the mound.

I

"On the southeast side, there is a projection of earth from the mound similar to the one first described, except that it does not extend to the summit; at the distance of forty-two feet from the top, it forms a large triangular platform, upon which are many very large trees. measured one oak, which had fallen and is in decay. The bark had been destroyed, and yet at the distance of six feet from the but-end it is twelve feet and four inches in circumference. Upon this huge oak, lying in ruins, I gazed with admiration, as a monument of the antiquity of the stupendous mound. How long previous to the growth of this tree, the mound had stood, no monument could tell. But long enough for the tree to spring up from its seed, and for several centuries, till overpowered with age, it had fallen and is now returning to dust again. The mind is lost in conjecture about this huge pile. In regard to its history, not a vestige remains but the proof of its antiquity, and even this is imperfect. All we can say, is, that it is as ancient as the trees it bore.

"That the mound, large as it might be, was constructed to answer the purpose of some human design, cannot be questioned. This a careful observer would infer from the mound itself, and when he views it in connection with other traces of design with which it was associated, his conviction must be complete. At a short distance southeast, stands another mound, in ascending which, I took thirty steps. It was circular, and one hundred feet in diameter on the top. Around its edge a parapet of earth

has been thrown up at least two feet high, which appears to be quite as ancient as the mound itself. This parapet is obviously intended for protection. Across the centre another parapet has been erected, which divides the whole into two parts. At no great distance from this is a similar mound. The entrenchment which encloses the whole is several hundred yards distant. The earth of which the mounds are constructed was manifestly taken from that entrenchment. This is evident from the fact that the earth is not excavated directly around the mounds, and no banks appear ever to have been made at the entrenchment. And I confess that when I saw the magnitude of the ditch, I could not doubt that what had been thrown out of it is amply sufficient to construct the huge mounds which it encloses.

"Such is the mound of High Tower-a greater wonder I have not yet seen; perhaps rendered more so by the obscurity in which every vestige of its history is lost. That the Indians of the present race never constructed it, is to my mind rendered certain, for they have never had, or known, the use of those instruments which are indispensable in executing such a work. And if they had possessed them, they must have been far more enterprising and industrious than their descendants now are, to have accomplished so great a work. I conversed freely with the chiefs on this subject, and they with one accord said that it had never been done by any of their people. Whether any facts will yet be disclosed, which shall unfold their history, remains to be decided. Probably all attempts to ascertain the real design of these interesting objects, and they abound in the western country, will be abortive, and we must content ourselves to wait until their history shall be told in the general disclosures of human events at the final day.

"A few facts concerning them may be mentioned,

"1. They are very numerous. 2. They are found chiefly in the western districts of our country. 3. They are usually near a water-course. 4. They are constructed in a style of defence. 5. They are covered with trees in all respects similar in kind and size with the surround. ing forests. Some of these trees are very large. In the neighborhood of Knoxville, as I was informed by a respectable man, Col. Ramsey, a tree had been cut down on one of these mounds, at the but-end of which the owner counted two hundred growth, or circles, in the wood. Each of these, according to received opinion, represents one year of its age; therefore it seems the mound must have been two hundred years old, and how much more, none can tell. 6. They were constructed before the discovery of America. This is certain, looking at the ability requisite for such undertakings. The natives then were as utterly destitute of the means or disposition, as they now are. The probability is that they were built before the present race of natives inhabited the continent.

"In some of these mounds deposits of human bones have been found. In many others, however, no traces of bones can be found.

"The High Tower river rises in the mountainous part of the Cherokee country, opposite to the Hiwassee, and runs in a southwesterly course till it unites with the Oostanaulee, and forms the Coosa, which again unites with the Tallapoosa, and forms the Alabama. This last empties into the gulf of Mexico. The High Tower of the river, about

mound stands upon the northern side ten or twelve miles from its junction with the Oostanaulee. I observed no fossils around it except a few pebbles, and some scattering pieces of mica or isinglass. This last surprised me much, for it was the first I had seen since leaving Maryland.