As showing that the Europeans began to trade copper to the Indians at a very early day, I call attention to a statement made by Beverly in his "History of Virginia."[69] Speaking of a settlement made at Powhatan, six miles below the falls of James River, in 1609, he says it was "bought of Powhatan for a certain quantity of copper."
By reference to Smith's History and the narratives of the early explorers we find that the amount of sheet copper traded to the Indians and taken by them from wrecks was quite large.
But we are not yet through with the items under this class of testimony.
Haywood, in his "Natural and Aboriginal History of Tennessee,"[70] says:
Mr. Brown, a Scotchman, came into the Cherokee Nation, in the year 1761 and settled on the Hiawassee River or near it. He saw on the Hiawassee and Tennessee 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.
I am fully aware that this author indulges in some extravagant speculations; still, so far as I have tested his original statements I have generally found them correct. During the year 1883 one of the assistants of the Bureau was sent to this particular region, which is too limited to allow the question of locality to be raised. 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 located a Cherokee town. Digging was resorted to in order to complete what the water had begun.
Now let me mention some of the things obtained here:
Ten discoidal stones, precisely like those from the mounds of Caldwell County, North Carolina.
Nine strings of glass beads.
A large number of shell beads exactly like those from the mounds.