George Bancroft makes the statement that “of the labours of the Indians on the soil of Virginia, there remains nothing so respectable as would be a common ditch for the draining of lands,”[303] but in this Bancroft was somewhat mistaken, for Thomas describes[304] some mounds in West Virginia, which was Virginia when the above sentence was written, that were undoubtedly the work of some of the Amerinds formerly occupying that soil. “First the earth (unless the place selected is a bare rock) is removed to the solid rock foundation and an approximately level space from ten to thirty feet in diameter formed. Centrally on this was placed a layer of flat stones, with the edge inward, around a circle about three feet in diameter. Upon the outer edge of these, others were placed with their outer edges resting upon the prepared foundation running entirety round the circle. Then another inner layer with the best edge inward and the thinner edge resting on the outer layer, the stones of one layer breaking joints with those below, as far as the size and form would admit. Outside of the inner row, and with the edges resting on it, other circles were added until a diameter ranging from twenty to fifty feet or even more was attained, thus extending upon the sloping earth not removed in forming the foundation. The last or outer circle usually consisted of but a single layer, over which earth was thrown, being sometimes heaped up until it equalled in contents the rock pile. The height of these piles was found to vary from four to eight feet, in one or two instances reaching ten feet. But in all cases the circular space or opening in the centre continued to the top the same diameter as at the bottom, somewhat resembling the so-called ‘well-holes’ of the early western pioneers.” The stones used in these constructions were obtained by “rude quarrying in stratified cliffs one half mile distant. Some of them measure from four to six feet in length, half as wide, and of a thickness which renders them so heavy as to require from two to four stout men to handle them.” Skeletons were found in cavities of these piles “with head or feet (generally the latter) toward the central well-hole.” Coarse pottery, rude large celts, lance- and arrow-heads were also discovered, and “all the cavities of the heap not originally used for burial are filled with earth or mortar, often well baked by fire.”[305] Many mounds and other earthworks have been found in the western Virginia region, and in some of them copper articles have been brought to light.[306] In New York there are many mounds called “old forts,” of various shapes, with walls from one and one half to two feet or more high, and thence westward, throughout the Mississippi valley, mounds and earthworks of many shapes and sizes are found. They appear to be concentrated in various centres, with a sprinkling in between suggesting a number of different groups of Amerinds as their builders, which has been pretty