1-2 A N C I E N T M O N U M E N T S . 



at that point, to build a stout division wall between the lands of two proprietors, 

 their removal is not discoverable. This isthmus is seven hundred feet wide, and 

 the wall is carried in a right line across it, at its narrowest point. Here are three 

 gateways opening upon the continuous terrace beyond. These are formed by the 

 curving inward of the ends of the wall for forty or fifty feet, leaving narrow pass- 

 ways between, not exceeding eight feet in width. At the other points, A and C of 

 the plan, where there are jutting ridges, are similar gateways. It is at these points 

 that the hill is most easy of access. At A is a modern roadway ; at C is a 

 pathway leading down into the valley of " Black Run." At B appears to have 

 been a similar gateway, which for some reason was closed up ; a like feature may 

 be observed in the line D. At the gateways, the amount of stones is more than 

 (juadruple the quantity at other points, constituting broad, mound-shaped heaps. 

 They also exhibit the marks of intense heat, which has in some instances vitrified 

 their surfaces, and fused them together. Light, porous scorise are abundant in the 

 centres of some of these piles. Indeed, strong traces of fire are visible at many 

 places on the fine of the wall, particularly at F, the point commanding the broadest 

 extent of country. Here are two or three small mounds of stone, which seem 

 burned throughout. Nothing is more certain than that powerful fires have been 

 maintained, for considerable periods, at numerous prominent points on the hill ; 

 for what purposes, unless as alarm signals, it is impossible to conjecture.* 



It will be observed that the wall is interrupted for some distance at E, where 

 the hill is precipitous and inaccessible. There are, as has already been remarked, 

 several depressions upon the hill which contain constant supplies of water. One of 

 them covers about two acres, and furnishes a supply estimated by the proprietor 

 as adequate to the wants of a thousand head of cattle. Water is obtained in 

 abundance at the depth of twenty feet. 



The area enclosed Avithin this singular work is something over one hundred and 

 forty acres, and the line of the wall measures upwards of two and a quarter miles in 

 length. Most of the wall, and a large portion of the area, are still covered with a 

 heavy primitive forest. Trees of the largest size grow on the fine, twisting their 

 roots among the stones, some of which are firmly imbedded in their trunks. 



That this work was designed for defence, will hardly admit of doubt ; the fact is 

 sufficiently cstabhshed, not less by the natural strength of the position, than by the 

 character of the defences. Of the original construction of the wall, now so com- 

 pletely in ruins, we can of course form no very clear conception. It is possible 

 that it was once regularly laid up ; but it seems that, if such were ever the case, 

 some satisfactory evidence of the fact would still be discoverable. We must 

 consider, however, that it is situated upon a yielding and disintegrating declivity ; 

 and that successive forests, in their growth and prostration, aided by the action of 

 the elements, in the long period which must certainly have elapsed since its con- 



* It has been suggested that perhaps the walls of stone were sustained or surmounted by wooden 

 structures of some sort, the destruction of wliich, in whole or in part, by fire, caused the appearances 

 noticed in the text. The suggestion that these are the traces of " ancient furnaces," is not to be enter- 

 tained f<ir an instaiiL 



