INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. U 



received, I believe, by every succeeding writer upon the subject of our antiquities, 

 without any attempt to verify the assumption upon which it rests. I have, how- 

 ever, found that the works occur indiscriminately upon the first and upon the 

 superior terraces, as also upon the islands of the lakes and rivers. 



Misled by statements which no opportunity was afforded of verifying, I have 

 elsewhere, though in a guarded manner, ventured the opinion that the ancient 

 remains of western New York belonged to the same system with those of Ohio 

 and the West generally. Under this hypothesis, the question whether they were 

 the weaker efforts of a colony, starting from the southwestern centres, or the 

 ruder beginnings of a people just emerging from a nomadic state, becoming fixed 

 in their habits, and subsequently migrating southward, next suggested itself; 

 and I gladly availed myself of the joint liberality of the Smithsonian Institution 

 and the Historical Society of New York, to undertake its investigation. The 

 results of my observations are briefly presented in the following pages. These 

 observations extended from the county of St. Lawrence on the north, to Chau- 

 tauque on the south, embracing the counties of Jefferson, Oswego, Onondaga, 

 Oneida, Cayuga, Seneca, Ontario, Wayne, Monroe, Livingston, Orleans, Niagara, 

 Erie, Genesee, and Wyoming. Throughout this entire region ancient remains 

 are found in considerable abundance ; they are also occasionally found in the coun- 

 ties adjoining those above named, upon the principal tributaries of the Delaware, 

 Susquehanna, and Alleghany. They are known to extend down the Susquehanna, 

 as far as the valley of the Wyoming ; and a single one was discovered as far east 

 as Montgomery county, in the neighborhood of Fort Plain. Some, it is said, are 

 to be found in Canada ; but no definite information was received of their localities. 

 It is to be observed that they are most numerous in sections remarkable for their 

 fertihty of soil, their proximity to favorable hunting and fishing grounds — in short, 

 possessing the greatest number of requisites to easy subsistence. They are par- 

 ticularly numerous in Jefferson county, in the vicinity of the central lakes, in the 

 southern part of Monroe, in Livingston, Genesee, and Erie counties. Many are 

 said to exist in Chautauque ; but the lateness of the season, and the unsuspected 

 number of remains elsewhere claiming attention, prevented me from examining 

 them. 



In respect to the number of these remains, some estimate may be formed from 

 the fact that, in Jefferson county alone, fifteen enclosures were found, sufficiently 

 well preserved to admit of being traced throughout. This is exclusive of those 

 (probably a greater number) which have been wholly or in part destroyed, or of 

 which no information could be obtained, in the limited time allotted to the investi- 

 gation of that county. It is safe to estimate the whole number which origmally 

 existed here at between thirty and forty — a greater number than was before known 

 to exist in the State. Erie county probably contained nearly as many. In the 

 short period of eight weeks devoted to the search, I was enabled to ascertain the 

 localities of not less than one hundred ancient works, and to visit and make sur- 

 veys of half that number. From the facts which have fallen under my notice, I 

 feel warranted in estimating the number which originally existed in the State at 

 from two hundred to two hundred and fifty. Probably one half of these have been 



