292 Some Fads and Considerations about Fort Ancient. 



\vlucli has been thought by some to indicate a more recent growth, is 

 a feature not confined to Fort Ancient, but common to that side of 

 the river, and extends over a large area,] 



The variation in the height of the wall, before remarked, was 

 evidently designed. Wherever the inclination of the extei'ior slope 

 renders the work more accessible, tbe wall is higher and stronger, and 

 is correspondingly less so where a precipitous declivity renders a 

 strong defense unnecessary. Thus, where it crosses the neck of the 

 fortified terrace at its junction with the main plateau, a point easily 

 assailable, it is more elevated than elsewhere. At this point, also, 

 the ditch is exterior to the work and still exhibits a depression of 

 three or four feet, twenty feet wide. 



Another artificial ditch, the object of which is not apparent, extends 

 from a point about one hundred feet in front of the wall at this part, 

 in a direction parallel to it for three or four hundred feet, until 

 merged in the great ravine separating the fortified terrace from the 

 main land on the southeast. At other points there is a ditch upon 

 the inside, caused, apparently, by excavating earth for the wall, the 

 precipitous sides of the terrace forming an ample protection against 



assault. 



These excavations are frequently so considerable as to suggest a 

 special design in their construction. The utility of such reservoirs is 

 so obvious we may easily suppose they were contemplated by the 

 liuilders for storing water to the use of those within the work. To 

 these, however, must be attributed many of the so-called "gateways," 

 W'here the overflow of water has washed away portions of the wall, 

 and formed deep gorges, extending far into the interior and draining 

 it into the larger ravines outside. 



The terrace inclosed by the main portion of the work, adjacent to 

 the general plateau, is now cleared and under cultivation ; so that 

 upon entering the fort upon the Chillicothe road, from the west, an 

 imposing parapet, nearly twenty-five feet in height, and forming part 

 of the eastern wall, stands in plain view, about a quarter of a mile 

 distant, boldly outlined against the sky. A few large trees, survivors 

 of the original forest, tower aloft, like huge sentinels, standing upon 

 the summit of the embankment, and form conspicuous objects to the 

 view from points several miles eastward. 



The wall is here, as elsewhere, pierced by numerous openings or 

 breaks of half its depth, one or two hundred feet apart. Through one 

 of these, which probably formed the main eastern entrance, the Chilli- 

 cothe road emerges from the fort and passes between two circular 

 mounds situated just without. A shaft, sunk twelve feet to the bot- 



