30 A N C I E N T M N U M E N T S . 



beginning of this chapter. It occurs in Oxford township, Butler county, Ohio 

 (Lot 6, Sec. 31, Tp. 5, Range 2, E. M.), at a point on Four Mile creek, where 

 that stream forms a remarkable bend, constituting a peninsula one thousand and 

 sixty feet across at its neck, and one thousand three hundred and twenty feet deep. 

 This peninsula is, in fact, a bold head-land, with precipitous banks, rising sixty 

 feet above the Avater in the creek, and overlooking the low bottoms that surround 

 it. Across the neck of this peninsula is carried a crescent-shaped wall with 

 an outer ditch. The wall is now but little over three feet in height, and the 

 ditch of corresponding depth. Formerly it was much higher, precluding cultiva- 

 tion. It has been reduced by the present occupant, who has ploughed along it 

 longitudinally, throwing the furrows into the ditch, — a common practice, which 

 is fast reducing and obliterating these interesting monuments of antiquity. A 

 single gateway twenty feet wide leads into the enclosure, which has an area of 

 twenty acres. A terrace, apparently artificial, and thirty feet wide, occurs on the 

 northern bank, at about midway from the water to the top. It may be a natural 

 feature, and caused by the subsidence of the bank from the undermining of the 

 stream. The creek, at one time, unquestionably ran close under the banks of the 

 peninsula; whether or not the recession, leaving the intervening low bottom, 

 B, took place subsequently to the erection of the work, it is of course impossible 

 to determine. 



In this work will be remarked the lapping round of the paraj)et, on the natural 

 bank of the stream at b, — a feature heretofore mentioned, as probably designed to 

 protect the flank of the defence. 



PLATE XI. No. 3. 



Among the works remarkable as possessing double walls, is the one here pre- 

 sented. It is situated on the Great Miami river, four miles south-west of the town 

 of Hamilton, Butler county, Ohio. The plan obviates the necessity of a detailed 

 description. The outer line of defence consists of a simple embankment five feet 

 high, with an exterior ditch four feet deep. It has a single gateway fifteen feet 

 wide. There are apparent gateways at a a, but the ditch only is interrupted. 



Interior to this line of embankment, is another of less dimensions, having also 

 but one opening. At b is a large broad mound, over which, and somewhat below 

 the summit on the outer side, the inner line of embankment is carried. The ditch 

 also continues uninterruptedly over the mound, which is thirty feet high. From 

 its summit, a view of the entire Avork and surrounding country is commanded. 

 Another mound, ten feet high, occurs at the point indicated in the plan. It is 

 composed of stone and gravel, apparently taken from the river, and probably 

 belongs to the class of mounds denominated " sacrificial," — the characteristics of 



