228 Aittiqidtics of ISew-York. 



In the town ot Camillus, in the same county of Onondaga 

 about four miles from the Seneca River, thirty miles from lake 

 Ontario, and eighteen from Salina, there are two ancient forts 

 on the land of Judge Manro, who has been settled -there about 

 nineteen years. One is on a very high hill, and its area covers 

 about three acres. It had one eastern gate, and in the west 

 there was another, communicating with a spring about ten rods 

 from the fort ; its shape, elliptical. The ditch was deep, and 

 the eastern wall ten feet high. In the centre was a large lime- 

 stone, of an irregular shape, which could be raised by two men ; 

 the bottom was flat, and three feet long. It contained, in the 

 opinion of Judge Manro, unknown characters, plainly figured on 

 the stone, to the extent of eighteen inches in length and three 

 inches in breadth. When I visited this place, the stone was not 

 to be seen, and my inquiries to find it were unsuccessful. I saw 

 the stump of a black oak on the wall, one hundred years old ; 

 and about nineteen years ago there were indicia of two preceding 

 growths. The second fort is almost half a mile distant, on lower 

 ground, constructed like the other, and is about half as large. 

 Near the large fort, there are the marks of an old road now co- 

 vered by trees. I also saw, in several places in this town, on 

 high ground, considerable ridges stretching from the top to the 

 bottom of the hills, and the gullies between of no great width. 

 This phenomenon occurs in very ancient settlements, where the 

 soil is loamy and the hills steep, and it is occasioned by crevices 

 produced and gradually enlarged by torrents. In a forest state 

 this effect cannot result ; and this evinces that those grounds 

 were cleared in ancient times. When settled by us, they exhi- 

 bited the same appearance as now, except being covered by 

 wood ; and as stumps are now to be seen in the gullies, the 

 ridges and intervening small ravines could not have been made 

 by the lust clearing. The first settlers observed shells of testa- 

 ceous animals accumulated in great masses in different places, 

 and numerous fragments of pottery. Judge Manro found, in 

 digging the cellar of his house, several pieces of brick. In va- 

 rious places, there were large spots of deep black mould, demoii- 

 stratin'^ the former existence of buildings and erections of differ- 



