1 8 



remains visible in great part on land which Mr. James Gordon 

 Bennett has announced his intention of donating to the nation. 



Fort George, a spot of great scenic beauty and at one time 

 almost secured for public use. is now doomed to the infliction of 

 pleasure resorts, merry-go-rounds and ferris wheels, and dis- 

 figured by sham forts with false and misleading nomenclatures. 



The view hence takes in the flat lands of the Dyckman tract 

 and the surrounding hills of Inwood. On this level plain the 

 Indians held their ceremonial feasts and have left several interest- 

 ing burials of the sacred white dog buried in the pottery in pits 

 lined with oyster shells. On the margin of the Harlem, are the 

 remains of the Nagel and Dyckman dwellings, and at 202d street 

 the remains of a large British camp have been unearthed by 

 diligent antiquarians. These remains, and the picturesque river 

 banks, the old Round Meadow Creek and the salt meadows, the 

 Indian heaps, the negro slaves' burying ground, are all destroyed 

 or in course of destruction, and but one spot remains which it is 

 hoped to preserve, the ancient burial ground of the Dutch settlers 

 at 213th street, now neglected and forlorn. 



On Marbe Hill is a vacant plot which once formed the site of 

 Fort Prince Charles, its outlines faintly visible, reminding us of 

 the gallant attacks of the American forces in 1777 and 1781, and 

 of the preservation of which space the residents of Marble Hill 

 are earnestly desirous. 



Finally we turn to Inwood hill, and enter a tract of still wild 

 woodland and rocks, unexcelled for natural beauty, and containing 

 the visible evidences of long-time occupation by the Week-quars- 

 keeks in the extensive shell heaps, kitchen-middens and the rock- 

 dwelling, near which still run the cold waters of the Spouting 

 Spring, and at which point, the farthermost end of Manhattan, the 

 Spuyten Duyvil Creek joins the Hudson River, a place of deepest 

 historic interest since there Hudson first engaged in hostilities, and 

 here the first blood of the aboriginal Manhattanite was shed by the 

 white man. From this noble hill is soon to be extended the great 

 Hudson Memorial Bridge, and the earnest efforts of all who love 

 our great city are invited towards the addition to that structure of 

 an additional feature in an Indian Park, to embrace the wooded 

 hillsides of the Cock hill, the deep shelters of the Schora-kap-kok, 

 an invaluable reminder of aboriginal life and of our earliest his- 

 tory, set among exquisite scenery, a fitting crown to the park 

 system of the Borough of Manhattan. 



Reginald Pelham Bolton. 



