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spectators, and with considerable anxiety; for none of the indentions traversed the stone in right and parallel lines but they lay scattered without any apparent order, and L cherished the hope of decyphering a systematic inscription. With a pointed stick I followed the nearest indention, andsoon discovered that it described a circle which completed its revolution at the spot where I had commenced clearing it. A ray of triumph now shone in my countenance; the people no longer ridiculed me, but a silent expectation manifested a desire that I might be crowned with further success. On continuing, I cleared a right line which made a segment on the circle, though it did not touch the circumference at either end. I cleared in succession four other lines of this description; and the general view then presented a circle enclosing a regular pentagon, whose an gles were two inches from the circumference. The mul titude shouted applause; some of them even entered into the spirit of my design, and returned to their homes for water and brushes to scrub the stone. When this task was effected, there appeared a figure of the head of an Indian warrior etched in the centre. Each side of the pentagon was intersected by a small bar, and the circle was also cut by one bar immediately opposite to a right line drawn from the head of the man. Near each line were an equal number of little dots; and the circle was surrounded by many more all uniform in their size, and in their distance from the circle and from each other,

The deductions from this very interesting spectacle, did not however give me the pride and delight that I ought to have felt; for in reality they destroyed my most favourite conceptions-that the predecessors of the Indians were not only enlightened by the arts and sciences, but were a different sort of men from the present race, superior both in corporeal structure and mental endowment, and equal in the latter respect to the inhabitants of polished Europe.I was obliged to allow that the fact before my eyes abolished my theory entirely, for the representation on the stone was nothing more than a rude sketch of the adjoining fort which I have just described. The bars on the lines in the etching designated the posterns a.:d gateway; the dots denoted the length of the lines, and the extent of the circumference of the circle; and the warrior's head justified the opinion which I had entertained, that the

mound in the centre of the fort was a place for a sentine of observation. The etching is deep, and executed with considerable accuracy; yet the whole has an Indian air; the head is indelibly marked with savage features, and resembles many which the modern tribes carve on their pipes and tomahawkes.

Two barrows or burial places lie contiguous to the fort. I perforated them in many places, to discover whether the bones lay in positions which announced any particular religious or customary injunction ; but could discover nothing on which to form an opinion with any certainty ; though I was influenced by a tradition extant among the native Indians, that when their ancestors settled in a town, the first person who died was placed erect, and earth put about him so as to cover and support him; and that when another died, a narrow passage was dug to the first, against whom he was reclined, and the cover of the earth then replaced; and so on. Most barrows hitherto discovered have been of a spheroidical form, which favours this tradition. The one which I here opened, might have been originally a parallelogram, sixty feet by twenty, and thirty feet high, whose upper surface and angles have been Lounded by the long influence of time and accident; for we are not to conceive that the form of ancient works is exactly similar to that which they first possessed. Such indeed as are built of stone, and have not been exposed to dilapidation, do not experience any material change; but all those monuments (and they are by far the most numerous) which are composed of earth, must have undergone considerable alteration and waste and therefore afford a very scanty evidence of their original dimensions, or (except where bones were found) of their purpose.

The bones in the barrows of this neighbourhood were directed to every point, without any regard to system or order. This surprised me the more, as I am well convinced that in general, most of the ancient aboriginal nations and tribes had favourite positions for their dead, and even favourite strata with which to cover them; as I shall have occasion to explain to you when on the spot where the primitive Indian tribes resided. Perhaps the irregu larities in the barrows of this place may arise from the bones deposited in them, having been those of persons killed in battle, and collected by the survivors in order to be

buried under one great mound. This conjecture is the more probable, as there is abundant testimony that Indians dying naturally have been always interred with great pomp, and certain rites and positions existing to this day among them, which they are instructed to maintain by their most respected traditions.

At the same time and place I found in my researches a few carved stone pipes and hatchets, flints or arrows, and pieces of eatthern ware. I cannot take upon me to say that the workmanship of any of these articles surpasses the efforts of some of the present race of Indians; but it certainly destroys an opinion which prevailed, that the inhabitants in the most remote times had the use of arms, utensils, and instruments, made of copper, iron, and steel. The discovery however of these objects mixed with the bones of the dead, proves the high antiquity of the custom of burying with deceased persons such things as were of the most utility and comfort to them in life.

LETTER VI.

Town of Erie. Description of the Alleghany river. Trade on it. Its rise and progress. Towns and other remarkable places in its course. Waterford, and journey thence to Meadville Bigsugar creek, and Franklin. Montgomery's falls. Ewalt's defeat, Freeport. Sandy creek. The navigation of the Alleghany dangerous: Bituminous well. Alledged virtues of the water of the river. Onandargo luke, and salt springs round it. Fondness of the animals here for salt. Buffaloes: interesting narrative respecting the destruction of those animals. Destruction of deer. Birds frequenting the saline waters :—doves.» Unhealthiness of the climate, and cautions on that subject. · The most salubrious situations. Details of the manner inwhich the commerce of the two rivers is conducted. Immense circuitous journey performed by those chiefly engaged in it. Every thing done without money. A store described, and its abuses ;—anecdote.

Erie, December, 1806.

THIS town, at the head of a portaget communicating: with the river (the Alleghany) which I mean in the present letter to describe, was a few years since laid out by direction of the legislature of the state of Pennsylvania. From a view of its important and commanding situation, it was planned on a very large scale; and every encour-agement was given to settlers, in order to advance its pro-gress. It now enjoys an extensive trade through the lakes ;and this circumstance would render it of the highest consequence to the country, but for the fevers which check its population in a considerable degree. Few rivers exceed the Alleghany in clearness of water and rapidity of current. It seldom fails to mark its course across the mouth of the Monongahela, in the highest freshes or floods. This is easily observed by the colour of the water; that of the latter being very muddy, and the other's clear. In high floods the junction of these rivers presents a pleasing view;

Formerly called Presqu'isle.

↑ An established communication by land, to a navigable water,

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the Monongahela flowing sometimes full of ice, but the Alleghany transparent and free. It is delightfully interspersed with cultivated farms and encreasing towns on its banks, and bids fair to be settled from its mouth to its source. The trade up and down this river has become an object of much importance to the lower settlements; there being a great demand for flour, whiskey, apples, cyder, beer, bacon, glass, iron, &c. at the different ports on the lakes, and among the inhabitants of the surrounding country. The quantity of salt which comes from Onondargo, in the state of New York, through the lakes, and thence down this river, is so immense as to be sufficient for the supply of all the western country.

The Alleghany-rises near Sinemahoning creek; a navigable stream that falls into the Susquehanna, to which there is a portage of only twenty-three miles. Thence it meanders, receiving many tributary streams; and in about a southweserly direction joins the Monongahela at Pittsburg; where these two rivers lose their names, and together form the Ohio.

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Waterford (originally called Le Bauf) is fifteen miles from Erie it was laid out by the state of Pennsylvania, and is now increasing. This is one of the western ports which were evacuated only a few years ago. In my way hence to Neadville, a distance of forty-two miles, I had to pass through Le Bauf Lake, Muddy-creek and Deadwater; a passage void of any lively interest; and dangerous in respect to shallows, rapids, and stagnated vapours rising out of ponds near its banks and their immediate neighbourhood.

Meadville is pleasantly situated on French-creek: it is in a prosperous condition; and is a seat of justice for the counties of Erie, Warren, Venango, and Crawford, in the last of which it stands. This town carries on a considerable trade it contains about fifty houses, and several

stores.

The distance from Meadville to Big-sugar-creek and Franklin,, is thirty miles. From the mouth of the creek there is a considerable fall, all the way to Franklin. That town is seated just below the creek, where it joins the Alleghany; is a post-town, containing about forty houses and several stores; and is the principal place of Venango County. Twenty-five miles from it is a very dangerous

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