SACRED ENCLOSURES, 



69 



to point out a religious or superstitious design to this individual structure, if not to 

 the whole group of works with which it is connected. 



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rti 



m 



Fig. 14. 



Flo. 13.— .\ GATEWAY OF OCTAGON, LOOKING INWARD. 



Passing over the intermediate intricate works, of which it would be futile to 

 attempt a description, we come to the octagon and its dependencies. The angles 

 of this octagon, it will be observed, are not coincident, although its sides are very 

 nearly equal. At each of the angles is a gateway, which is covered upon the 

 interior by a small, truncated pyramidal elevation, (Fig. 14,) five feet 

 in height, and measuring eighty by one hundred feet at the base. 

 These are placed about sixty feet interior to the walls. The area 

 of this work, which is a rich and beautiful level, is something over 

 fifty acres. Connected with the octagon by parallels three hundred 

 feet long, and placed sixty feet apart, is the smaller circle F. Unlike the other 

 circular work, this is a true circle, two thousand eight hundred and eighty feet, or 

 upwards of half a mile in circumference. It encloses no mounds, but possesses a 

 remarkable feature in the line of the wall, at a point immediately opposite the 

 entrance. This consists of a crown work, (Fig. 15,) which is 

 |^> wholly unlike anything heretofore noticed. It would almost 

 ^^^ seem that the builders had originally determined to carry out 

 j^t , ^^g^ parallel lines from this point; but after proceeding one hundred 



^^^^Jv " ^^ feet, had suddenly changed their minds and finished the enclo- 

 '^^^^^^p^ sure, by throwing an immense mound across the uncompleted 

 FiT,.~i5. parts. This mound, which may be taken as constituting a part 



of the wall of the enclosure, is one hundred and seventy feet long, eight feet higher 

 than the general line of the embankment, and overlooks the entire work. It has 

 been called the " Observatory," from this fact : it probably had some other purpose 

 than that of a look-out, but what purpose, it is not undertaken to say. It has been 

 pretty thoroughly excavated, but the excavations seem to have disclosed nothing, 

 except an abundance of rough stones, which must have been brought from the 

 creek or some other remote locality, as none are scattered over the remarkable 

 plain upon which these works are situated. 



