18 ABORIGINAL MONUMENTS OF NEW YORK. 



ditch. The forest covers the greater part of the work, and here the Hnes are still 

 well preserved. The embankment has an average height of perhaps three feet, by 

 ten feet in width at the base ; the ditch is of corresponding dimensions. There 

 are not less than seven gateways, varying from eight to thirty feet in width. Upon 

 the right of the work, towards the swamp already mentioned, there is an abrupt 

 bank not far from thirty feet in height, where the defences are interrupted. At 

 the point indicated by the letter h, a large bass-wood (linden) tree is standing 

 upon the embankment. It measures twelve feet in circumference, three feet above 

 the ground. The trees within the enclosure are of the usual size. 



Upon the northeastern slope of the eminence, within the walls of the enclo- 

 sure, and where the soil is sandy and dry, are a great number of small pits and de- 

 pressions in the earth. They are now nearly filled by accumulations of leaves, 

 but they must at first have been from four to six feet in depth. Upon excavating 

 some of them, it was found that they were the caches in which the former occupants 

 of the work had placed their stores.* And although it seems probable the original 

 deposits had been removed, considerable quantities of parched corn, now carbon- 

 ized by long exposure, were still to be found within them. There were, perhaps, 

 forty or fifty of these excavations within the walls, and several upon the crown of 

 the eminence at c. 



Upon removing the leaves at various points within the work, carbonaceous accu- 

 mulations, bones of animals, fragments of pottery, and other evidences of occupa- 

 tion were discovered. A small portion of the work, indicated on the map, has 

 been cleared and put under cultivation. Here, just exterior to the wall, upon the 

 brow of the natural bank, at the spot marked d, several skeletons have been ex- 

 humed by the plough. They had been buried in a sitting posture, and were very 

 well preserved. 



By the operation of diluvial causes, the drift has been deposited, in a very singu- 



* The term cache, literally a hide or place of concealment, is of French origin, and has become current 

 amongst all the traders and trappers on the frontiers. The practice of caching or hiding goods or pro- 

 visions on outward marches, to be used upon returning, or by parties following, was derived from the 

 Indians, among whom it was general. A cache is made by digging a hole in the ground, which is lined 

 with sticks, grass, or any material which will protect the contents from the dampness of the earth. After 

 the goods or provisions have been deposited, the earth is carefully covered over, so as to best prevent the 

 penetration of water from above. " It is often, in fact always necessary, at the West, to leave no signs 

 -by means of which rival parties or the cunning savages may discover the place of deposit. To this end 

 the excavated eai'th is carried to a distance, and carefully concealed, or thrown into a stream, if one is 

 near. The place selected is usually some rolling point, sufficiently elevated to be secure from inundations. 

 If it be well set with grass, a solid piece of the turf of the size of the proposed excavation is cut out. It 

 is afterwards laid bade, and taking root in a short time, no signs remain of its ever having been molested. 

 However, as every localitj' does not afford a turfy spot, the camp-fire is sometimes built upon the place, 

 or the animals are penned over ii, which effectually destroys all trace of the disturbance." — {Gregg's 

 Commerce of the Prairies, vol. i. p. 69.) Father Hennepin, in his account of his passage down the Mis- 

 sissippi River, in 1680, describes an operation of this kind in the following terms : " We took up the green 

 sod, and laid it by, and digged a hole in the earth, where we put our goods, and covered them with 

 pieces of timber and earth, and then put in again the green turf: so that it was impossible to suspect that 

 linv hole had been digged under it, fur we flung the eaith into the river.'' 



