55 



ed. The opposite sides are nearly parallel, and the angles very near 

 right angles. The bearings of the longest lines is about south, 15° 

 east.* The enclosure of this field is complete, excepting the mid- 

 dle of its north wall, which affords an entrance of about 18 feet width. 



The second rectangular enclosure lies north, projecting from the 

 middle of the former. The walls of this are double, in parallel lines, 

 whose lateral termini are uncertain. The outer wall, or ridge, is con- 

 siderably lower than the inner one.f 



Since the farmer's ax is gradually clearing away the forest trees 

 from the top of the hill, and the cultivated land encroaching more and 

 more upon these grounds of ancient relics, it is fair to presume that 

 the dawn of a new century will hardly recognize the traces of these 

 aboriginal works. These same aggressive causes may have rendered 

 futile the efforts of the party to find some further earthworks men- 

 tioned by Esq. Haddix.J 



It is certainly no uninteresting question to inquire here how these 

 aboriginal tribes, with means we generally suppose too crude, were en- 

 abled to form with such regularity their angular (chiefly the right 

 angled) figures, and to draw with so much accuracy their parallel lines 

 of considerable length. In connection with this it might be stated 

 that some hold quite confidently the idea, that the direction of princi- 

 pal lines, such as point nearly east and west, or north and south, 

 may, at the time of erection, have been due east and west, north and 

 south lines, and that by comparison of these with the directions of 

 ancient astronomical structures (or the Egyptian pyramids), whose 

 age is known, the age of this extinct race of builders might be ap- 

 proximately calculated. 



On a plat made by a resident of Osborn, Judge Chas. W. Dewey, 

 (and quite carefully executed, and which has been used for reference 

 and comparison, and also depended upon for a general outline of the 

 hill), the walls of this outer earthwork are shown as partially closed; 

 but it was deemed more in accordance with the facts, to leave them 

 undetermined on the plan, even in the face of the ingenious imagi- 

 nation of many which proposes that the outer wall afforded an en- 

 trance, at the southeast junction with the larger enclosure, thence 



* Notes of the survey at the end of this article. 



■J-Por measurements see table of survey at the end of this article. 



|8ee appendix. 



