20 



for the accommodation of the numerous garrison, who 

 were then more celebrated for deeds of gastronomy, than 

 deeds of arms. Their retirement in the admirable lo- 

 cation, at the foot of an elevated and woody hill, and on 

 the rock bound shore, favored the undisturbed enjoyment 

 of their piscatory sports and feasts. No chosen scite 

 could have been selected of more picturesque beauty and 

 interest, or equal for angling on the meandering stream. 



In those days, and long since in the present Century, 

 no place on the river equalled the Falls, for rock and 

 perch fishing; and small blue catfish were taken in abun- 

 dance by hand nets, dipped in the eddies of the stream, or 

 in the circular water worn cavities of the tide deserted 

 rocks. Here was the chief barrier of the rising Hood. 

 When the tide was out, the roaring of the turbulent wa- 

 ters, precipitated over the continuous and rugged chain 

 of rocks, extending from shore to shore, was heard on 

 still evenings many miles over the surrounding country, 

 and was often borne on the veings of the wind with dis- 

 tinctness to the City, a measured distance of five miles. 



Time and the innovating hand of man, have here 

 wrought wonderful changes. 



The sturdy trees of the Forest have fallen before the 

 uplifted axe, and the massive and deeply imbedded rocks 

 of tlie river, planted ages since by the hand of nature, 

 have not been spared by the hand of art. 



About the period of the late war, many of the great 

 rocks, and amongst them the scite of the Fort, were blown 



