558 THE MOUNDS OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 
ples similar to those described as having existed among the Southern 
Indians,* and which may still be seen among some of the tribes of the 
Upper Missourit—are not more than 50 feet in diameter, whilst the 
groups, or series of works in which the different forms are united, not 
unfrequently covered hundreds of acres, or, as was the case with the 
works at Newark, Ohio, were scattered about over an area of 2 miles 
square. ¢ 
The situation of the ditch with reference to the wall was a matter in 
which there was but little if any uniformity, it being sometimes on one 
side of the wall and sometimes on the other. At one time this feature 
was thought to furnish a criterion by which to judge the character of 
the work, and Mr. Squier quotes approvingly English authorities to the 
effect ‘that the circumstance of the ditch being within the vallum is a 
distinguishing mark between religious and military works.” § This po- 
sition however does not hold good with regard to earth-works in the 
United States, since it is matter of record that in some of the stockaded 
forts of the recent Indians the ditch was on the inside of the wall, 
whilst in others there was a ditch on each side. || Indeed, when we con- 
before the town of Circleville was built. The inner wall was of clay, taken up 
probably in the northern part of the fort where was alow piace, and is still con- 
siderably lower than any other part of the work. The outside wall was taken from 
the ditch which is between these walls, and is alluvial, consisting of pebbles worn 
smooth in water, and sand, to a very considerable depth, more than 50 feet at least. 
The outside of the walls is about 5 or 6 feet in height now; on the inside, the ditch 
is, at present, generally not more than 15 feet. They are disappearing before us 
daily, and will soon be gone. The walls of the square fort are, at this time, where 
left standing, about 10 feet in height. There are eight gateways or openings lead- 
ing into the square fort, and only one into the circular fort. Before each of these 
openings was a mound of earth perhaps 4 feet high, 40 feet perhaps in diameter at 
the base, and 20 or upwards at the summit. These mounds for 2 rods or more are 
exactly in front of the gateways, and were intended for the defense of these open- 
ings.” 
* Joutel, in Hist. Coll. of Louisiana, parti, p. 148. Among the Alachua (Floridian) 
Indians, we are told by Bartram that ‘their dwellings stand near the middle of a 
square yard, encompassed by a low bank, formed with the earth taken out of the 
yard, which is always carefully swept:” Travels through Florida, p. 192. 
tCatlin, North American Indians, vol. 1, p. 81: London, 1848. In the Peabody 
Museum of American Archeology and Ethnology at Cambridge, Mass., there is a 
model of one of these mud lodges, such as is now in use among the Omahas. 
t Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley, p. 67. 
§ Ibid., chap. 11, note to p. 47. 
||Charlevoix, Histoire de la Nouvelle France, vol. 1v, p. 156: Paris, 1744. School- 
eratt, Travels in the Mississippi Valley, p. 129. Catlin, North American Indians, 
vol. 1, p.81: London, 1848. In the town of Medford, Mass., near Mystic Pond, there 
was a “Fort built by their deceased King, in manner thus: There were pools some 
thirtie or fortie foote long, stucke in the ground as thicke as they could be set one 
by another, and with these they enclosed a ring some forty or fifty foote over. A 
trench breast high was digged on each side; one way there was to goe into it with 
a bridge; in the midst of this Pallizado stood the frame of a house wherein being 
dead he lay buried, A myle from hence we came to such another,” etc.: Mourt’s [e- 
lation, p. 126: Boston, 1865. 
