No. 89.] S9 



which it may reasonably be supposed the earth was removed in supplying 

 material for the artificial mound. Still further back, some seventy-two rods, is 

 situated another mound of circular form; it has an elevation of sixteen feet, with a 

 diameter of forty-five feet. These tumuli, yet in possession of the Indian race, and 

 overlooking their native forests and streams, appear to have once been the vast re- 

 ceptacles of the dead; but the Red men here, say that their fathers had wished them 

 to remain undisturbed, and I at least could not ruthlessly assail the purest and 

 most holy feelings of the human bosom, cherished wherever civilized or savage life 

 prevails, by any violation of the sacred spot where the remains of their vener- 

 ated dead were mouldering back to dust; here shall they sleep within the honored 

 Mausoleum, and their remembrance be perpetuated by their monuments — not like 

 the sculptured marble, in its unchanging and majestic and beautiful forms, as 

 wrought by the skill of the old masters — but the year will come to garland the 

 proud tomb where slumber the nation's brave, with its emerald beauty. 



*' How sleep the brave who sink to rest, 



With all theif country's wishes blest — 



While Spring, with dewy fingers cold. 



Returns to deck the hallow'd mould." 



Several miles still farther up this creek, which should be called a river, we find 

 another sepulchral mound, (Plate 1, No. 3.) The valley at this point assumes 

 an appearance not unlike that of the storied Rhine, with *' its castled crags;" the 

 waters of the creek hurry over the falls at a distance of a mile and a half above, 

 murmuring swiftly by, and again are lost in the dim woods; while the majestic 

 hills, in their sylvan loveliness and light, rising boldly upon the north, the east 

 and the south, form an amphitheater. The tumulus is circular in form, one hun- 

 dred and twenty feet in circumference, with an elevation of ten feet. Crania and other 

 bones have been disclosed, upon slight examination, and large trees formerly grew 

 upon the apex of the mound. Within a few rods, and located near the bed of a small 

 creek, is an excavation of somewhat different shape, but nearly of the same dimen- 

 sions of the mound. The tumuli which have now been mentioned, are all situated 

 within the limits of Erie county, upon the Indian reservation. They all appear 

 to be composed of distinct strata-layers, intermixed with charred remains, which 

 had been owing, according to the Indian tradition, to the rites or ceremonies 

 which prevailed — the sacred fires which were required to be kept burning over the 

 dead interred within the orbicular tomb. 



** 'Tis said the form is now, as erst of old — 



And the true reason may be well approved : 



Vesta and earth are one. A ceaseless fire 



Burns in them both, and both alike pervades." 



An ancient work (plate II, No. 1,) occupies the lofty promontory formed by 

 the junction of a small stream with the Cattaraugus creek, upon the Indian Reser- 

 vation, in the extreme north-western portion of Cattaraugus county. The view 

 here presented, in its mingled beauty and sublimity, is one of the boldest and most 

 romantic which well could be imagined; no situation could have been more admira- 

 bly chosen for purposes of defense; it must, indeed, in the rude mode of Indian 

 warfare, have been impregnable. The wall which intersects the rocky and pre- 

 cipitous shores of either creek, is twenty-four rods in length, and nearly four 

 feet in heighth, and tog^her with the wide trench, forms a complete barrier in the 

 only direction from which an enemy would approach. Within the enclosure, 

 guarded by parapet and natural mural escarpment, various implements of aborigi- 

 nal military art have been found. The area embraced by this fortification, is still 

 densely covered by the luxuriant wild-woods. 



