the opposite side of the creek loom in loftj ranges dimly away. This work is o 

 elliptical form; the larger axis is two hundred and eighteen feet; the lesser axis 

 one hundred and sixty-eight feet. The wall has an altitude above the anterior sur- 

 face, of nm3 feet, and above the surface in the interior of the work, of only five 

 feet; it is thirty-two feet in width. No appearance exists of any trench, either 

 anterior or interior to the embankment; forming the only exception in this respect, 

 it is believed, to the earthworks in Western New York. This work was undoubt- 

 edly a sacred enclosure, designed for religious and ceremonial purposes. 



In a direction towards the creek from this inclosure, and at a distance of some 

 seventy rods, was a stone mound, five feet in height by four feet across; the stones of 

 which it was constructed must have been brought some distance, as none of similar 

 size are found in the alluvial soil of the surrounding fields. Near this rude Crom- 

 lech have been found several curious remains of art. It is uncertain for what pur- 

 pose this monument was erected; whether to mark the journeyings of the tribes, 

 as the ancient Thermulae or Montjoyes of the Middle Ages, or as a cairn, to denote 

 the burial place of some noted personage. 



Another work, (plate VI., No. 2,) forming nearly a true ellipse, occupies a lofty 

 eminence amid the range of hills which rise precipitously, with narrow intervening 

 teriaces, upon the opposite bank of the creek from the inclosure last described. 

 The direction of the ellipse, as well as its dimensions, appears to have been deter- 

 mined by the position which it occupied — the inclosure extending quite to the brow 

 of the hill. The wall is three feet in height; the major axis is three hundred and 

 twent}'' feet; the minor axis one hundred and seventy five feet. Two gateways, 

 each six feet in width, can be traced in the embankment; one occupying a south- 

 east position, the other upon the north, from which a narrow but level plateau 

 extends several rods, and then widening into a broader area, but more uneven 

 and broken, until it disappears in the open woods. Numerous remains of warlike 

 implements, &c., have been noticed within the work. This fortification, now deno- 

 minated the " Old Fort," in regard both to its natural and artificial defenses, must 

 have been almost impregnable in the ancient wars of the forest tribes. 



Further up this creek, in the circuitous course it assumes, perhaps a mile and a 

 half, occur two circular inclosures. They are only separated by a distance of some 

 fifty-two rods. These works are nearly of equal dimensions— each being some six 

 hundred and fifty feet in circumference. The embankments have become much 

 obliterated, but can yet be distinctly traced. The /osse appears to have been loca- 

 ted interior lo the walls. The period when these works were erected must have 

 been very remote; trees having a diameter of four and a half feet, were found grow- 

 ing upon its walls. Cranial bones, very much decomposed, have been disinterred 

 at qi depth of several feet below the surface, within the area inclosed. Both of these 

 works were doubtless intended for ceremonial purposes — perhaps the mysterious 

 worship of the Sun, of which their circular form is the symbol; and they will cor- 

 rectly come under the designation of Sacred Inclosures. 



The ancient work represented in plate VII., occupies a rugged but picturesque 

 eminence, which rises precipitously, with flanking terrace and mural escarpment 

 of rock, to an elevation of a hundred and twenty-five feet, and in the bold outline 

 which it presents, suggests to the imagination some half-decayed castle of the 

 Feudal ages, with its indistinct and crumbling walls, crowned by overhanging 

 parap'jt, and frowning buttress and turret— the ruins of an olden fortress, once 

 held by chivalric knight, with his band of mailed retainers. Lesser hills, separated 

 from this by deep ^avigaes^ ri§.e upon either side. The eatrenched work is in th^ 



