La casa estava en un cerro alto, como de otras semejantes hemos dicho. Tenia toda ella al derredor un paseadero que podian pasearse por el seis hombres juntos.[71] The house was on a high hill (mound) similar to others we have already mentioned. It had all round about it a roadway on which six men could walk abreast.
This language is peculiar, and, so far as I am aware, can apply to no other mound in Georgia than the large one near Cartersville. The words "similar to others we have mentioned," are evidently intended to signify that it was artificial, and this is conceded by all who have noted the passage. The word "alto" (high), in the mouth of the explorers, indicates something more elevated than the ordinary mounds. The roadway or passageway (paseadero) "round about it" is peculiar, and is the only mention of the kind by either of the three chroniclers. How is it to be explained?
As Garcilasso wrote from information and not from personal observation he often failed to catch from his informants a correct notion of the things described to him; this is frequently apparent in his work where there is no reason to attribute it to his vivid imagination. In this case it is clear he understood there was a terrace running entirely around the mound, or possibly a roadway around the top outside of a rampart or stockade.
But as neither conclusion could have been correct, as no such terrace has been found in any part of this region, and a walk around the summit would have thwarted the very design they had in view in building the mound, what was it Garcilasso's informants saw? C. C. Jones says "a terrace," but it is scarcely possible that any terrace at the end or side of a southern mound, forming an apron-like extension (which is the only form found there), could have been so described as to convey the idea of a roadway, as the mode of estimating the width shows clearly was intended.
The broad way winding around and up the side of the Etowah mound ([Fig. 39]) appears to answer the description better than any other in Georgia. It is a large mound, high, and one that would doubtless attract the attention of the Spanish soldiers; its dimensions indicate that the tribe by which it was built was strong in numbers and might easily send forth five hundred warriors to greet the Spaniards. The locality is also within the limits of De Soto's route as given by the best authorities; and lastly, there is no other mound within the possible limits of his route which will in any respect answer the description. As Garcillasso must have learned of this mound from his informants, and has described it according to the impression conveyed to his mind, we are justified in accepting it as a statement of fact. I am, therefore, satisfied that the work alluded to is none other than the Etowah mound near Cartersville, Georgia, and that here we can point to the spot where the unfortunate Adelantado rested his weary limbs and where the embassadors of the noted cacique of Cutifachiqui delivered their final message.
Recently the smallest of the three large mounds of this group was opened and carefully explored by Mr. Rogan, one of the Bureau assistants. As the result will be of much interest to archæologists aside from the question now under discussion, although belonging to the southern type of burial mounds not discussed in this paper, I will venture to give a description of its construction and contents as a means of comparison and as also bearing somewhat on the immediate question under discussion. This mound is the one marked c in Jones's plate;[72] also c in Colonel Whittlesey's figure 2.[73] A vertical section of it is given in [Fig. 40]. The measurements, as ascertained by Mr. Rogan, are as follows: Average diameter at the base, 120 feet; diameter of the level top, 60 feet; height above the original surface of the ground, 16 feet. The form is more nearly that of a truncated cone than represented in the figures alluded to.
The construction was found, by very thorough excavation, to be as follows: the entire surrounding slope (No. 4, [Fig. 40]) was of hard, tough red clay, which could not have been obtained nearer than half a mile; the cylindrical core, 60 feet in diameter and extending down to the original surface of the ground, was composed of three horizontal layers; the bottom layer (No. 1) 10 feet thick, of rich, dark, and rather loose loam; the next (No. 2) 4 feet thick, of hard, beaten (or tramped) clay, so tough and hard that it was difficult to penetrate it even with a pick; and the uppermost (No. 3) of sand and surface soil between 1 and 2 feet thick. A trench was dug from opposite sides to the central core; and when the arrangement was ascertained, this central portion was carefully explored to the original surface of the ground.
Nothing was found in the layer of clay (No. 2) except a rude clay pipe, some small shell beads, a piece of mica, and a chunkee stone. The burials were all in the lower layer (No. 1), of dark rich loam, and chiefly in stone cists or coffins of the usual box-shape, formed of stone slabs, and distributed horizontally, as shown in [Fig. 41], which is a plan of this lower bed.