230 Anliquities of hew- 1 oik. 



broken, which were, undoubtedly the entrances or gateways by 

 which the people of the fort went out and in, and particularly 

 for water. The curve, except the gateways, was a ditch regu- 

 larly dug ; and although the ground on which the fort is situated, 

 was, at the first white settlement, as heavily timbered as any 

 other part of the forest, yet the lines of the work could be dis- 

 )tinctly traced among the trees, at the distance from the bottom 

 of the ditch to the top of the embankment, generally, of about 

 four feet. The antiquity of this fortification is more particularly 

 evident from the following fact. There was one large pine tree 

 or rather dead trunk, fifty or sixty feet high, which being cut, 

 one hundred and ninety-five circles of the wood could be easily 

 distinguished, and many more could not be counted, as the sap 

 wood of the tree was principally gone. Probably this tree was 

 three or four hundred years old ; certainly more than two hun- 

 dred. It might have stood one hundred years after it had com- 

 pleted its growth, and even longer. It is also uncertain how 

 long a time elapsed from the excavation of the ditch to the com- 

 mencement of the growth of this tree. That it was not there 

 when the earth was thrown up, is certain ; for it stood on the 

 top of the bank, and its roots had shaped themselves to the 

 ditch, running quite under the bottom of it, then rising on the 

 other side near the surface of the earth, and then pursuing a ho- 

 rizontal direction. Probably this work was picketed in, but no 

 remains of any wooden work have been discovered. The situa- 

 tion was very eligible, being healthy, commanding a beautiful 

 prospect up and down the river, and there being no highland 

 within such a distance that the garrison could be annoyed. No 

 vestiges of any implements or utensils have been found, except 

 some pieces of coarse pottery resembling stone ware and rough- 

 ly ornamented. The Indians have a tradition that the family of 

 the Antones, which is supposed to belong to the Tuscarora na- 

 tion, are the seventh generation from the inhabitants of this fort ; 

 but of its origin they know nothing. There is also a place at 

 Norwich, in the same county, on a high bank of the river, 

 called the castle, where the Indians lived at the period of our 

 settling the country, and feome vestiges of a fortification appear 



