80 CLINTON ON THE ANTIQUITIES 
not have been made by the last clearing. The first settlers observed shells 
of testaceous fishes accumulated in great masses in different places, (per- 
haps the shell-fish of the Lakes,) and numerous fragments of pottery. Judge 
Monro found, in digging the cellar of his house, several pieces of brick. In 
various places there were large spots of deep black mould, demonstrating 
the former existence of buildings and erections of different kinds: and 
Judge Monro seeing the appearance of a well, viz. a hole ten feet deep, and 
the earth considerably caved in, he dug three and a half feet deep, and 
came to a parcel of stones, below which he found a peck of human bones, 
which pulverized on exposure to the air. This is strong evidence of the 
destruction of an ancient settlement. ‘The disposal of the dead was unques- 
tionably made by an invading enemy. 
I also observed on Boughton’s Hill in Ontario county, where a bloody 
battle is said to have been fought, black spots of mould at regular intervals, 
and yellow clay between. The most easterly fortifications yet discovered 
in this region are about eighteen miles east of Manlius Square, with the 
exception of the one in Oxford, Chenango county, hereafter mentioned.— 
To the north they have been discovered as far as Sandy creek, about four- 
teen miles from Sacket’s Harbour. Near that place there is one that covers 
fifty acres, and that contains numerous fragments of pottery. To the west. 
there are great numbers. There is a large one in the town of Onondaga— 
one in Scipio—two near Auburn—three near Canandaigua, and several be- 
tween the Seneca and Cayuga lakes, there being three within a few miles of 
each other. 
The fort before referred to as being in Oxford, is on the east bank of the 
Chenango river, in the centre of the present village, which is on both sides of 
the river. There is a piece of land containing between two and three acres, 
which is about thirty feet higher than the adjoining flat land around it.— 
This rise of land lies along the river bank about fifty rods, and at the south- 
westerly end this fort was situated. It contained about three roods of 
ground, and on the river the line was nearly straight, and the bank almost 
perpendicular. The figure like this. . 
