MONROE COUNTY. 



A miiMBER of aboriginal monuments formerly existed in this county ; but, with the 

 exception of a few small mounds, they have been wholly obliterated or so much 

 defaced that they can no longer be made out. Two mounds occupy the high, 

 sandy grounds to the westward of Irondequoit Bay, where it connects with Lake 

 Ontario. The point is a remarkable one. The position of the mounds in respect 

 to the natural features around is indicated in the accompanying sketch, Plate VII. 

 No 2. 



They are small, the largest not exceeding five feet in height. It was found 

 upon excavation that they had been previously disturbed ; and their examination 

 proved fruitless. Some bits of charcoal and a few small fragments of bones were 

 observed mingled with the sand. At vai'ious places, upon the elevations around 

 them, were scattered fragments of pottery, and arrow-heads and other rude relics 

 are also of frequent occurrence here. 



The spot was evidently a favorite one with the Indians, the vicinity abounding 

 in fish and game. 



The waves of the lake have thrown up a narrow bar or bank of sand, called the 

 " <Sjoj7," which extends nearly across the mouth of the bay, leaving but a small 

 opening. Upon this bar, a few scattered trees are standing, and it was here that the 

 Marquis De Nonville landed with his troops, at the time of his expedition against 

 the Senecas, in 1687. He constructed a stockade at or near this point. 



Upon the eastern shore of the bay, and occupying a position corresponding 

 with that of the mounds already described, it is said there is another mound of 

 considerable size. It was opened many years ago, and was found to contain 

 human bones. 



Some eight or ten miles to the southeastward, and half a mile east of the village 

 of Penfield, on the banks of Irondequoit Creek, is still another mound, situated 

 upon a headland, which now projects into an artificial pond. It must have been 

 originally eight or nine feet in height, by perhaps forty feet base. It is a favorite 

 haunt of " money-diggers," by whom it has been pretty thoroughly excavated. A 

 shaft had been sunk in it but a short time before it was visited by the author ; and 

 at that period many fragments of human bones, much decayed, which had been 

 thrown up from near the base, were bleaching upon the surface. The soil is here 

 light and sandy, and a depression is still visible near by, marking the spot whence 

 the material composing the mound was procured. It could not be ascertained 

 that any rehcs of art were obtained here. See Plate VII. Fig. 3. 



As ah-eady observed, most, if not all, of the ancient works which existed in this 

 county are now obliterated. We can consequently do but little more than indi- 

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