WORKSOF DEFENCE. 13 



struction, would have been adequate to the total demolition of structures more solid 

 and enduring than we are justified in supposing any of the stone works of the ancient 

 people to have been. The stones are of all sizes, and sufficiently abundant to have 

 originally formed walls eight feet high, by perhaps an equal base. At some points, 

 substantial fence-lines have been built from them, without sensibly diminishing 

 their numbers. It can readily be perceived that, upon a steep declivity, such as 

 this hill presents, so large an amount of stones, even though simply heaped together, 

 must have proved an almost insurmountable impediment in the way of an assailant, 

 especially if they were crowned by pahsades. 



In the magnitude of the area enclosed, this work exceeds any hill-work now 

 known in the country ; although the wall is considerably less in length than that of 

 " Fort Ancient," on the Little Miami river. It evinces great labor, and bears the 

 impress of a numerous people. The valley in which it is situated was a favorite 

 one with the race of the mounds ; and the hill overlooks a number of extensive 

 groups of ancient works, the bearings of which are indicated by arrows on the 

 plan. 



Paint creek washes the base of the hill upon the left, and has for some distance 

 worn away the argillaceous slate rock, so as to leave a mural front of from fifty to 

 seventy-five feet in height. It has also uncovered a range of septaria, occurring 

 near the base of the slate stratum ; a number of which, of large size, are to be seen 

 in the bed of the creek, at a. These, most unaccountably, have been mistaken for 

 works of art, — " stone covers " for deep wells sunk in the rock. This notion has 

 been gravely advanced in print; and the humble septaria, promoted to a high 

 standing amongst the antiquities of America, now figure prominently in every work 

 of speculations on the subject. The reason for sinking wells in the bed of a creek, 

 was probably never very obvious to any mind. The supposed " wells " are simple 

 casts of huge septaria, which have been dislodged from their beds ; the cyclopean 

 " covers " are septaria which have resisted the disintegrating action of the water, 

 and still retain their places. Parallel ranges of these singular natural productions 

 run through the slate strata of this region : they are of an oblate-spheroidal figure, 

 some of them measuring from nine to twelve feet in circumference. They 

 frequently have apertures or hollows in their middle, with radiating fissures, filled 

 with crystalline spar or sulphate of baryta. These fissures sometimes extend 

 beyond them, in the slate rock, constituting the " good joints " mentioned by some 

 writers. The slate layers are not interrupted by these productions, but are bent 

 or wrapped around them. The following cut illustrates their character. 



^ A is a vertical section : a exhibiting 



'^'°' '■ -^^^^^. i^jjg water, h the rock. At c the sep- 



tarium has disintegrated, or has been 



removed, and its cavity or bed is 



'^^S^^p "-^ filled with pebbles. At rf the nodule 



still remains. B exhibits the appearance presented by d from above. 



A stone work, somewhat similar in character to that here described, exists near 

 the town of Somerset, Perry county, Ohio, It is described by Mr. Atwater in 

 the Archa?ologia Americana, vol. i. p. T3L 



c 



