36 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, : % 
M* friend, Dr. RENAUDET, was lately 
fhowing me fome curious articles of 
information from Mr. Turner, a Judge 
in one of the American States, and 
the fame gentleman who has written 
on the Buffalo in one of the Bath Society’s - 
Volumes. Among the reit, was the en- 
clofed Drawing of a Fort on the Mufk- 
inghum. 
RecolleGting fimilar difcoveries in the 
Travels through Siberia, [ thgught thar 
‘the faéi ought to be thrown out to the cu- 
rious ; and the Doéter agreed with me. 
lam, fir, yours. 
Fan.1, 1797. Tuomas BEDDOES | 
Extraé of a Letier frem Mr. TuRNER, 
of Philcdelpbia, to Dr. RENAUDET. 
Dated Oétober the z9ib, 1786. 
WHEN at Albany, lately, I faw a 
real curiofity, in the poffeffion of a Mr. 
Jeremiah Renffelair. It is a log of wood, 
part of a Pitch Pine Tree, of ten or 
twelve inches diameter. A difpute had 
arifen, and was under litigation, between 
two perfons interefted in fome land ly- 
ing between Albany and Schnectady : 
the court could only determine the canfe 
by afcertaining precifely the time when 
the furvey was made. Toeftablifh the 
fact, it was neceffary to count the rings, 
or annual growths, which had fucceeded 
the furveyor’s mark or blaze of the 
hatchet. Accordingly, one of the boun- 
dary or line trees, was fixed on for the 
purpofe, andin the act of cutting out the 
abovementioned block, it was obferved to 
{pht open, and difcover within feveral 
firokes or hacks, evidently given by a 
metal edge-tool when the tree was a fap- 
ing, and fiiteen or eighteen years before 
the difeovery of Hudton’s River, by the 
perfon whofe name it bears, as appears 
by the rings, or yearly growths, com- 
. pofing the tree. 
Now I am upon the Curiofities of the 
New World, I cannot omit the mention 
of a recent difcovery of an Indian For- 
tification on the Muskinghum River, a 
branch of the Ohio, plainly the work of 
ayace more enlightened than the prefent, 
and effentially different in cufloms. The 
burning of their dead is a ftriking in- 
ftance of this difference. I fhall content 
myfelf for the prefent with inclofing vou 
a copy of the work, laid down from 
actual furvey ; to which are added a few 
xplanatory notes. At fome future op- 
portunity J may pofhibly put you to the 
trouble of peruling a few lines on a fub- 
Ancient Fortifications on the Ohio. 
[ Jan. 
ject which offers fuch ample fcope for in- 
‘veftigation. 
EXPLANATION. 
A——A fquare mound of earth, with four 
afcents leading to the top. 
An oblong mound of earth, having 
three afcents, and a perpendicular cut run- 
ning into_the SE. fide. 
Another, with two afcents: 
D——A femicircular bank of earth, about 
feet high, with a circular rifing, or 
turret, on the centre.—This work appears to 
have anfwered a double purpofe—1ft, To con- 
fine and condué the water colleéted in the 
town, or camp, round by a ditch te the gare 
and ravine at 2—2d, As a defence to the 
angle in which it is placed. 
G —Graves, out of winch cale’ned bones have 
been taken. 
A beam wo cuts, canals, or communica- 
cations, leading to the low ground, defigned, _ 
perhaps, to carry off the water from the 
town; though, from the breadth and magni- 
tude of the work, it is probable they were 
formed for more important purpofes. Walls 
of earth, abeut twenty-five or thirty feet 
thick, and as many in height, in certain 
places, fkirt each fide of thefe cuts. They 
remain higheft at 6, where from the top 
of the highcft part of the ruins to the bottom: 
of the covered ‘way it is 30 feet. The height 
of walls at a about ro feet. 
cece The four principal gates or entrances 
of the place. They are each about 132 feet 
wide, and oppofed at right-angles. The 
other breaks “in the faces of the lines are 
about one haif of that width. ‘On the NW. 
and NE. faees of the town, the ruins of the 
walls-generally about 4 feet high: on the 
SE, they are fomething lower; and on the 
SW..lower ftill. The whole are 33 feet 
in thicknefs. 
d——This is the largef% of all the mounds 
which ftand on the lines of the work E, 
One half of it refts on the wall; the other 
is advanced. There remains of it about 
feet in height ; the diameter of the bafe is 
30° Or 4o feet. The other mounds do not 
exceed in height 7 or § feet(except at-L,which 
is 12 feet high) and are confiderably fmaller fn 
diameter: /-is the finalleft: all are circular, - 
€¢e—--~-Qval mounds of earth. The largeft is 
furrounded by a redoubt of the fame fotm, 
having a ditch or covered way within, abou? 
2% fect deep. This large mound is 30 feet 
high, aad 50 in diameter. 
J An advanced redoubt, with an imperfeeét 
ditch before it. ; 
g——The imperfect ‘remains of a wall or 
parapet, juit difcernable. . 
hmm A- white oak tree on-the-wall, 4 feet in 
diameter, produced frem the root of another 
decayed, 
1234 Holes dug in the ground ; wheneg it 
is conjectured the earth was taken to form 
the various mounds of the town and fort. 
That at 1 is fuppofed to be 20 feet deep, and 
750 in diameter, : 
B 




