SACRED ENCLOSURES. 59 



Although the square enclosure connected with this work, is situated on the 

 second terrace, a portion of it, at periods of great freshets, is invaded by the 

 water, which passes through a shallow thoroughfare indicated on the map. This 

 singular circumstance is easily accounted for. The creek in its course strikes the 

 base of a high hill at B, composed of shale, which readily undermines, occasioning 

 great slips or slides. These fill the channel of the creek, damming it up and 

 forcing it out of its usual course. It was probably at the period of one of these 

 shdes, that the creek, in its reaction on the opposite shore, broke through the 

 embankment and formed the thoroughfare, or dry channel, above mentioned. The 

 remark, therefore, that the earthworks of the West never occur upon the first, 

 or latest-formed terrace, and are always above high-water mark, is not at all 

 invalidated by this circumstance. 



PLATE XXI. No. :i.* 



This work very closely resembles the one last described. It is situated on the 

 Scioto river, about one mile south of the town of Chillicothe. Near it was erected 

 the first civilized habitation in the valley, and the ground has been in cultivation 

 for more than forty years. As a consequence, the walls are much reduced, 

 although distinctly traceable at this time. A portion of the square has been 

 destroyed by the invasion of the river. The large circle has also been encroached 

 upon at some period, if indeed it was ever completed. It extends to the terrace 

 bank, which is here twelve or fifteen feet high. The low bottom, at the base of 

 the terrace, was evidently at one time the bed of Paint creek, which has since 

 changed its channel, and now runs more than a mile to the south-west, entering 

 the river three or four miles below this point. If the encroachment upon the work 

 was made by this stream, the fact would certainly assign to it a very high antiquity. 

 There are no mounds in the immediate vicinity of this work, although there are 

 several in the direction indicated in the plan, about one fourth of a mile distant, 

 upon the corresponding terrace A. There is also an extensive and intricate series 

 of works in the direction of Chillicothe, a portion of which once occupied the site 

 of the city.t 



One of the mounds at A is placed upon a singular ridge, some forty or fifty feet in 

 height, which has resisted the encroachments of the water, and which itself somewhat 

 resembles an artificial structure. This elevation commands the entire plain. There 

 are several mounds at its base, one of which is of considerable size. All have 

 been excavated : the larger one was found to be sepulchral in its character ; the 

 others are anomalous. 



* This work is designated by the letter H on the Map, already several times referred to, Plate II. 

 f Their general character is indicated in Map, Plate II. 



