ABORIGINAL USE OF WOOD IN NEW YORK II3 



Their village was enclosed with strong quadruple palisades of 

 large timber, thirty feet high, interlocked the one with the other, 

 with an interval of not more than half a foot between them; with 

 galleries in the form of parapets, defended with double pieces of 

 timber, proof against our Arquebuses, and on one side they had a 

 pond with a never failing supply of water, from which proceeded 

 a number of gutters which they had laid along the intermediate 

 space, throwing the water without, and rendered it effectual inside, 

 for the purpose of extinguishing fire. Such was their mode of 

 fortification and defence, which was much stronger than the villages 

 of the Attigouatans [Hurons] and others. O'Callaghan, 3 : 14 



Most persons are familiar with the picture of this fort, and it is 

 a good specimen of the vagaries of art. The houses are regularly 

 arranged, and, if long and high, are out of proportion to the size 

 of the fort. That the French and Indians could almost step over 

 the farther walls is of no great consequence, but the palisades can 

 hardly be said to interlock, or to have " an interval of not more than 

 half a foot between them." The parapets are well finished speci- 

 mens of mechanical art, and the ladders as regular as the steps of 

 a palace. The truth seems to be that this quadruple palisade was 

 made on the plan of the double, the two inner and two outer lines 

 giving it a broader foundation below, and a broader parapet *above. 

 It needed no post holes, and the unplowed site shows traces of none. 

 Extending into the shallow pond, the water could not be cut off, and 

 the land afforded a proper grade for the gutters. The fanciful wall 

 of the picture may be dismissed, and for it should be substituted 

 four lines of pickets, crossing above, instead of two or three. That 

 it was ingenious is true, fulfilling every requirement of primitive 

 warfare, but those who built it simply carried their usage a step 

 beyond what others had done. 



No account of early forts would be complete without a quotation 

 from the quaint history of David Cusick. He said : 



The five families were compelled to make fortifications throughout 

 their respective towns, in order to secure themselves from the 

 devouring monsters. The manner of making the fort : at first they 

 set fire against several trees as requires to make a fort, and the 

 stone axes are used to rub off the coals, as to burn quicker: when 

 the tree burns down they put fires to it about three paces apart 

 and burns it down in half a day ; the logs are collected to a place 



