OF NEW-YORK. 81 
RIVER. 
At the places north and south, marked for gates, there were two spaces of 
about ten feet each, where the ground has not been broken, which were un- 
doubtedly the entrances or gate-ways by which the people of the fort went 
out and in, and particularly for water. The curve, except the gate-way, 
was a ditch regularly dug, and although the ground on which the fort is 
situated was, at the first white settlement, as heavily timbered as any other 
part of the forest, yet the lines of the work could be distinctly traced among 
the trees, and the distance from the bottom of the ditch to the top of the 
embankment generally about four feet. The antiquity of this fortification 
is more particularly evident from the following facts—There was one large 
pine tree, or rather dead trunk, fifty or sixty feet high, which being cut, 
one hundred and ninety-five circles could be easily distinguished, and many 
more could not be counted, as the sap wood of the tree was principally 
gone. Probably this tree was three or four hundred years old, certainly 
more than two hundred. It might have stood one hundred years after it 
had completed its growth, and even longer. It is also uncertain how long 
a time elapsed from the excavation of the ditch to the commencement of 
the growth of this tree. That it was not there when the earth was thrown 
up is certain, for it stood on the top of the bank, and its roots had shaped 
themselves to the ditch, running quite under the bottom of it, then rising 
on the other side near the surface of the earth, and then pursuing a horizon- 
tal direction. . Probably this work was picketed in, but no remains of any 
wooden work have been discovered. The situation was very eligible, being 
healthy, commanding a beautiful prospect up and down the river, and there 
being no highlands within such a distance that the garrison could be annoy- 
ed. No vestiges uf any implements or utensils have been found except some 
