20 A N C! I E N T M N U M E N T S . 



of beech trees, which have woven a strong web of tlieir roots over its steep sides ; 

 and a fine bed of moss (Polytrichum) serves still further to afford protection." 



Upon the steep slope of the hill, at the point where it approaches nearest to the 

 river, are distinctly traceable three parallel terraces, which were not represented in 

 the original map, but which are indicated here. It is not impossible that they are 

 natural, and were formed by successive slips or slides of earth, a feature not 

 uncommon at the West. They nevertheless, from their great regularity, appear to 

 be artificial, and are so regarded by most persons. A very fine view of the valley, 

 in both directions, is commanded from them ; though, perhaps, no better than may 

 be obtained from the brow of the hill along which the embankment runs. It has 

 been suggested that they were designed as stations, from which to annoy an 

 enemy passing in boats or canoes along the river. This feature is illustrated in 

 the section r s. 



From a point near the two large mounds on the neck of the peninsula, start off 

 two parallel walls, which continue for about thirteen hundred and fifty feet, when 

 they diverge suddenly, but soon close around a small mound. As this outwork is 

 in cultivated grounds, it has been so much obliterated as to escape ordinary obser- 

 vation, and is now traceable with difficulty. These parallels are shown in the 

 Supplementary Plan A. They are almost identical, in all their dimensions, with 

 similar parallels attached to ancient works in the Scioto valley. 



It is a feature no less worthy of remark in this than in other works of the same 

 class, and one which bears directly upon the question of their design, that at all 

 the more accessible points, the defences arc of the greatest solidity and strength. 

 Across the isthmus connecting this singular peninsula with the table land, the 

 wall is nearly double the height that it possesses at those points where the con- 

 formation of the groimd assisted the builders in securing their position. The 

 average height of the embankment is between nine and ten feet ; but, at the place 

 mentioned, it is no less than tweMy. At the spur where the State road ascends the 

 hill, and where the declivity is most gentle, the embankment is also increased in 

 height and solidity, being at this time not less than fourteen feet high by sixty feet 

 base. 



There are over seventy gateways or interruptions in the embankment, at 

 irregular intervals along its line. For reasons heretofore given, it is difficult to 

 believe they were all designed as places of ingress or egress. We can only 

 account for their number, upon the hypothesis that they are places once occupied 

 by block-houses or bastions composed of timber, and which have long since 

 decayed. These openings appear to have been originally about ten or fifteen feet 

 in width. 



This work, it will be seen, consists of two grand divisions, the passage between 

 which is long and narrow. Across this neck is carried a wall of the ordinary dimen- 

 sions, as if to prevent the further progress of an enemy, in the event of either of the 

 principal divisions being carried, — a feature which, while it goes to establish the 

 military origin of the work, at the same time evinces the skill and foresight of the 

 builders. This foresight is further shown, in so managing the excavations necessary 

 for the erection of the walls, as to form numerous large reservoirs; sufficient, in 



