One soapstone gorget.
Several polished stone celts of the same pattern as those found in the North Carolina mounds.
Grooved stone axes.
A piece of sheet lead.
This admixture of articles of civilized and savage life confirms the statement made by Haywood, at least so far as regards the early presence of white people in this section. It follows from what has been presented that the Indians must have been Cherokees, and the fact that the implements and ornaments of aboriginal manufacture found here are throughout precisely like those found in the mounds before mentioned affords a very strong proof that they were built by the Cherokees.
It is worthy of notice that close by the side of this washout stands a mound. Permission to open it has not yet been obtained.
Returning to our mounds, we note that a large number of stones, evidently used for cracking nuts, were found in and about them; some charred acorns, or nuts of some kind, were also found in them. We have only to refer to Adair and other early writers to see how well the indications agree with the customs of the Cherokees.
According to the Cherokee tradition, they found a settlement of Creeks on the Lower Hiawassee, when they reached that region, and drove them away. Ramsay expresses the opinion in his Annals of Tennessee, on what authority is not known, that this was a Uchee settlement. Hence the southern boundary of their possessions, at this early date, which must have been before the time of De Soto's expedition, was about the present northern boundary of Georgia. That their borders, at the time of De Soto's march, extended into northeastern Georgia is proved by the chroniclers of his expedition, but that they did not reach as far south as Bartow County can be shown from one somewhat singular circumstance, which, at the same time, will furnish strong reasons for believing that the authors of the works immediately south of this boundary could not have built the mounds we have been considering.
It will be admitted, I presume, by every one, that the people over whom the famous cacique of Cutifachiqui reigned could not have been Cherokees; yet her territory included Xuala, probably in Nacoochee valley, and extended westward well toward Guaxule on the headwaters of the Coosa, but that the latter was not within the territory of her tribe is expressly stated by Garcilasso de la Vega. I think it may be safely assumed that her people were Creeks; and, if so, that the people of Guaxule, who, as we judge from the chroniclers of De Soto's expedition, were mound-builders, belonged to another distinct tribe.
Garcilasso, who is our authority in reference to the first point now to be considered, says: