| From | A. | to | M., | 310 | feet. |
| “ | B. | to | L., | 416 | “ |
| Opening | at | A., | 166 | “ | |
| “ | at | B., | 66 | “ | |
| “ | at | C., | 78 | “ | |
| “ | at | D., | 60 | “ | |
| “ | at | E., | 50 | “ | |
| Wall | at | F., | 275 | “ | |
| “ | G., | 145 | “ | ||
| “ | H., | 278 | “ | ||
| “ | I., | 52 | “ | ||
| “ | K., | 30 | “ | ||
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 various and irregular widths, and it seems most difficult to decide why they are so numerous. If designed for egress or regress, they are destitute of the principle of security, unless they were defended by other works of destructible material, which have wholly disappeared. The widest opening [of 166 feet,] opens directly north, the next in point of width [78 feet,] directly south; but in order to give 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 palisadoes.
Immediately below the openings at E. D. C., and a part of the embankment F., there are a series of deep ravines, separated by acute ridges, which must 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 terminus of the ridge from its crown at the site of the fort.
It is not known that excavations have been made for antiquarian remains, so that there is no accessory light to be derived from this source. The entire work conforms to the genius and character of the red races who occupied the Ohio valley, and who appear to 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 defence 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 aspire to the construction of bastions, at the intersection of two right angled lines, by means of which a length of wall might have been enfiladed with arrows. Even where the works were a square or parallelogram, of which there are one or two instances among the oldest class of forts, such an obvious advantage in defence does not appear to have occurred. Fire, and the coal chisel, or digger, were the ready means of felling trees and of dividing the trunks into suitable lengths for palisades. To heap a pile of earth within and without such lines, was the mode adopted by the Tuscaroras at the siege of Naharuke, in 1712, and it is probable that this then powerful and warlike nation had inherited much of the skill in fort building possessed by their northern predecessors.
The chief point, in addition to its numerous breaks in the wall, before noticed, in which this work differs from the generality of antique native forts of the oldest period in this State, is its very well preserved elliptical form. A circle is the usual form of the antique forts of Indian origin in western New-York; and these works are generally placed on the apex of a hill, covered by ravines as a natural moat, or they occupy an eminence which commanded other advantages. For the original communication and survey, above referred to, see [letter E]., documentary appendix.
[e.] Vestiges of an Ancient Elliptical Work at Canandaigua.
The Senecas deduce their descent from a noted eminence, bearing the title of “Fort Hill” at the head of the sylvan expanse of Canandaigua lake. The term of Fort Hill, is however, not confined to that spot, but is, as in the work under consideration, one of common occurrence, in sundry parts of the ancient and extended area of the Six Nations. The subjoined sketch, denotes the vestiges of an ancient strong-hold of the Senecas, of an elliptical form, on elevated lands about a mile northerly from the village.
This work has been nearly obliterated by the plough. The only portions of the ancient wall yet remaining, are indicated by the letters B. B. At A, a dwelling house has been erected, flanked by gardens. C, is a turnpike or rectangular town road, passing over the apex of the elevation. The dotted angular lines denote fields in cultivation, and the dotted ellipses, through these grounds, are laid down from tradition, rather than from any well defined vestiges in these fields of the original wall yet visible. D,D, represents a native forest. Judging from the curves of the portions of wall entire at B,B, in connection with the era pointed out by the occupant, this work may have had a circumference of one thousand feet. It occupied a commanding site. The sections of the wall remaining, denote the labor of many hands, and if this rampart was crowned with palisades, and secured in the usual manner with gates, it must not only have furnished a garrison to a large body of warriors, but have been a work of much strength.
In excavating the grounds for the road, in the approach to the village, human bones were found, in considerable quantities, on the descent of the hill, together with some of the usual vestiges of ancient Indian art, as evinced in the manufacture of stone and clay pipes and implements. Nothing of this kind had, however, been preserved, which appeared worthy of particular description.