son,* and other noted,, public edifices.. | The
ellipsis ehcloseIPby thé
intervening spaces,, has a circumference of 1200
feet. Its minor dimensions are as follows,
namely;
From A to M, 310 feet; from B toL, 41.6 feet.
Opening at A, 166 feet; opening at- B, .66 feet,
opening at K 78 feet§ opening at D, 60: ;feet;
opening at E, 50feet. Wall at F, 27&feet; wall
at G, 145 feet; wall at II, 278 feet; wall at I,
52 feet; wall at K, 30 feet.
Viewed as a military work, the numerous
breaks or openings in the wall, marked from A
to C, constitute rather its „characteristic trait.
They are of varioüs and irregu lar widths, and it
seems most difficult to decide- why they are so
numerous. I f designed: for egress or ;regress>
they are destitute Of the'principle of Aecfirity,
unless they were defended by other works of
destructible material, which haVe wholly disappeared.
The widest opening (of
openf directly north, the nexf in point of,width
(78 feet,) directly south; but in order' tcLgive
these or any of the other spaces ;the character of
entry or sally ports, and, indeed, to render the
entire wall defensible, it must have had palisa-
does.
* One of the most strilcing evidences of that tendency of .the
surface limestone stratification of western New York -to assume
a ISsyfed ehhrahfef, marked by the élardinaT poinfs; is
seen in the banks pf the Owaëco, at short distance below, the
State Prison., v
Immediately below the openings at E, D, C,
and a part of the embankment Fÿ there are a
series of deep ravines, separated by acute ridges,
which muét have made this part of the work
difficult of approach. In front of the great north
opening, the ground descends gradually about
seventy feet, when there is a perfect acclivity.
The hill has its natural extension towards the
east, for several hundred yards, in the course of
which a transverse depression in the surface
separates the eastern terminWfef the ridge from
its* crown at the site of the fort*.
It is not known that excavation» have heen
made for ‘ -antiquarian remains, so that there is
no accessory light to be derived from this soured:.
The* entire work conforms to the ^genius and
character of the red races who!' occupied the
Ohio' valley,, and who appear do have .Waged
battle'for the possession of this valuable'part of
the country prior to the era of the discovery of
America; and ere the Iroquois tribes had confederated
and made themselves masters of the
-soil. That the art-of defence1 by field works
was cultivated by the ancient American tribes,
is denoted by their traditions, as well as by the
present state of our antiquarian knowledge;
This art did not aafpire to the construction Of
bastions, at the intersection of two right angled
lines, by means of which* length of wall might
. have .been enfiladed with arrows. Even where
the works were a square: Orparallelogram, of
which there are one or two instances among the