SOURCE OP ST. Peter's river. 59 



We crossed the river in a canoe, and landed at the foot 

 of a very steep hill, about one hundred feet high. On the 

 top of this hill, remains of a fort (E.) in a very good state 

 of preservation are to be seen ; it lies in a direction north 

 sixty degrees east from the first fort which we visited, and 

 is one hundred and twenty -three feet in diameter; it is 

 placed on a very commanding position, on the brow of the 

 hill which has unfortunately been partially washed away, 

 and has carried down with it about one-third part of the 

 works. There is at present but one gateway visible, which 

 is on the east side, and is about six or eight feet wide. This 

 part of the works is one of the most interesting, it having 

 as yet received no injury from the hands of man. It is 

 covered with trees of a very large size. Upon the top of 

 the parapet we found the trunk of a tree, which had 

 evidently grown long after the rampart had been con- 

 structed, and probably much after it had ceased to be the 

 theatre of bloodshed and of assault. The interior part of the 

 trunk was very much decayed ; but we counted two 

 hundred and fifty concentric layers in what appeared to be 

 less than the outer half; whence we concluded that this 

 tree was certainly upwards of five hundred years old at the 

 time it was cut down. These works all bear the impress 

 of a very remote antiquity; in some cases, trees of a ver)'^ 

 large size are seen growing upon the trunks of still larger 

 trees. We have, as we conceive, no data to enable us to 

 refer to them any definite date ; but we are well warranted 

 from all their characters in assigning to them an antiquity 

 of upwards of one thousand years. 



At about fifty rods to the north-north-west of the last 

 mentioned work, there is another, which is circular, and of 

 a much larger size. It has two gateways, one fronting east, 

 and the other west. We did not see this last, but we are 



