164 THE FORTIFICATIONS. 



Company. Imagine my surprise, on entering this 

 fortress, to discover all this a pleasant fiction ; 

 two small rusty carronades, buried in the ac- 

 cumulated dust and rubbish of years, that no 

 human power could load, were the sole occupants 

 of the mouldy old turrets. 



The bell for breakfast recalling me, I jokingly 

 inquired of the trader if he had ever been obliged 

 to use this cannon for defensive purposes. He 

 laughed as he replied, ' There is a tradition that, 

 at some remote period, the guns were actually 

 fired, not at the rebellious natives, but over their 

 heads ; instead of being terror-stricken at the 

 white man's thunder, away they all scampered in 

 pursuit of the ball, found it, and, marching in 

 triumph back to the fort-gate^ offered to trade it, 

 that it might be fired again ! ' 



Breakfast finished, the trader, captain, and 

 myself started for the village. Clear of the 

 gates, we scrambled down a rocky path, crossed 

 a mountain-burn, dividing the Indians from the 



fort, and entered ' the citv of the redskins ;' which 



/ 



consists of a long row of huts, each hut nearly 

 square, the exterior fantastically frescoed in 

 hieroglyphic patterns, in white, red, and blue ; 

 having however a symbolical meaning or heraldic 

 value, like the totum of the Indians east of the 



