36 ABORIGINAL MONUMENTS OF NEW YORK. 



and among others the head of a banner-staff of thin iron, fourteen inches long and 

 ten broad. It is, of course, of French or Enghsh origin, and was probably lost or 

 buried here by the Indians, into whose hands, by purchase or capture, it had 

 fallen. We may perhaps refer it back to the days of Champlain and Frontenac, 

 when the armies of France swept the shores of the western lakes, in the vain hope 

 of laying the foundation of a Gallic empire in America. This relic is now in the 

 possession of Mr. J. W. Chedell, of Auburn. 



McCauley, in his History of New York, presents the subjoined facts bearing 

 upon the question of the probable antiquity of this work, which may not be with- 

 out their interest. He says : " We examined the stump of a chestnut-tree in the 

 moat, which was three feet two inches in diameter, at a point two feet and a half 

 above the surface of the earth. A part of the trunk of the same tree was lying by 

 the stump. As this tree had been cut down, we endeavored to ascertain its age ; 

 and for this purpose we counted the rings or concentric circles, and found them to 

 amount to two hundred and thirty-five. The centre of the tree was hollow, or 

 rather decayed ; and estimating this part as equal to thirty more layers or growths, 

 we calculated the entire age of the tree to be two hundred and fifty-five years. 

 About five years had elapsed since the tree was cut down. This was in 1825, and 

 would carry back the date of the work to 1555. 



" At the distance of three paces from this stump was another of chestnut, stand- 

 ing in the ditch. It exceeded three feet in diameter, and the tree must have died 

 standing, and probably remained in that position many years before it fell from 

 decay. In our opinion, the tree dated back as far as the discovery of the conti- 

 nent. Besides, it may be conjectured, for aught we know to the contrary, that 

 several growths of forest intervened between the abandonment of this work and 

 the date of the present forest."* 



About two miles northeast of the work above described, upon elevated ground, 

 was another similar work. It is now entirely levelled, and its site can only be 

 ascertained by the fragments of pottery which are scattered over the ground. It 

 was visible in 1825, when it was visited by McCauley, who says : 



" It enclosed about two acres, and had a rampart, ditch, and gateway. It is 

 now nearly obliterated by the plough. In its original state, or the condition it was 

 in thirty-five years ago, about the time the land was cleared, the rampart was 

 seven feet high, and the ditch ten feet wide and three deep. Two persons, the one 

 standing in the ditch, and the other within the enclosure, were unable to see each 

 other. The gateway was on the northeastern side, in the direction of a spring 

 which flowed close by. The work was three hundred and fifty paces in circum- 

 ference." 



* History of New York, Vol. I., p. 112. 



