was found what in an Ohio mound would have been designated an "altar." This was not thoroughly traced throughout, but was about 12 feet long and over 8 feet wide, of the form shown in Fig. 24. It consisted of a layer of well-prepared mortar, apparently clay, slightly mixed with ashes. This was not more than 6 or 8 inches thick in the center of the basin-shaped depression, where it was about 1 foot lower than at the other margin. It was burned to a brick-red and covered with a compact layer of very fine white ashes, scattered thickly, through which were small water-worn bowlders, bearing evidences of having undergone an intense heat. Mingled with this mass were a few thoroughly charred human bones. The material of the shaft, after the first 3 feet at the top, consisted almost wholly of finely packed ashes, which appeared to have been deposited at intervals of considerable length and not at one time. It is evident from this description, which is abridged from the report of the assistant, that we have here a true representation of the so-called "altars" of the Ohio mounds. But, contrary to the usual custom, as shown by an examination of the Ohio works, this mound appears to have been used by the people who erected it as a burial place, for the mode of construction and the material used for the body of it forbid the supposition that the lower burial was by a different people from those who formed the clay structure at the base. It is proper to state that around and near the inclosure (No. 7 of Plate V) were a number of stone graves of the ordinary box shape, constructed in the usual way, of stone slabs. At this place was also discovered a pit or cache resembling those found at Madisonville, Ohio. A more thorough examination will probably bring to light others. The descriptions of other burial mounds of this region, differing slightly in minor details from those mentioned, might be presented, but the foregoing will suffice to give the types and show the character of the structures of this kind in this section. The details given will, I think, satisfy any one that the authors of these structures were also the authors of the Ohio works, or that they belonged to tribes so closely related that we may justly consider them as one people. I have been and am still disposed to connect the mound-builders of the Kanawha valley with those of western North Carolina, but our explorations in the two sections have convinced me of their close relation to the people whose mysterious monuments dot the hills and valleys of Ohio. That they were related in some way to the mound-builders of North Carolina and East Tennessee is more than probable, but the key to unlock this mystery, if it exists anywhere, is most likely to be found in the history, traditions, and works of the Cherokees, and the traditions relating to the Tallegwi.