bably fortifications, and very sufficient ones they must have been, before the natives were acquainted with fire arms. Whoever has seen with what incredible despatch a modern Indian throws up a work sufficient for the protection of his own body, with no better implement than his knife, will readily admit that a tribe were fully competent to erect these works of an antediluvian people.

The great work which the impostor Carver pretends to have seen on the Mississippi, never had existence, save in the pages of his deceitful book. We have often sought without finding it, and the Indians of the neighborhood know nothing about it.

On the eastern shore of lake Pepin, about three miles from its debouchure, is an extensive prairie, and on its edge, commanding the lake and the plain, are the ruins of a regular four-bastioned fort. The curtain and the two western bastions have crumbled away, and fallen into the lake; but the two other bastions and three curtains, with the corresponding ditches, scarps and counterscarps, are perfectly distinct, and might be repaired with little trouble. From its commanding situation, and its regularity, it is plain that cannon were mounted upon it, and that it was built by the early French traders or travellers. This assumption is confirmed by the fact, that asparagus still grows wild among the ruins, though it is found in no other part of the country. Yet Indian tradition knows nothing of the origin of the fort, or its uses.

ÖLD FORTS. Among what may be called the antiquities of America, there are few things which excite more interest than the fortifications of the Highlands of the Hudson. It will readily be remembered that this river was a pass of vast importance to the contending parties, inasmuch as it was, during the revolution, the only channel of communication between the British armies in Canada and those on the sea board. To prevent a junction, which would have been ruinous to the cause of freedom, general Washington occupied the Highlands, and made every height bristle with cannon. The remains of many of the fortifications are still distinctly visible to the traveller, as he passes up and down the river; but it is in vain, excepting in a few instances, that he inquires their history, or even their names. Those at and about West Point, however, are better known. It is needless to tell here how this post was well nigh betrayed by the traitor Arnold—the story is still fresh in the memory of all men, and it is our business to say what may be said of the works his treason would have surrendered.

West Point is situated at a bend, and the only abrupt one in the whole course of the Hudson from New York to Albany. It is a large plain, elevated several hundred feet above the level of the river. Directly opposite is a large island, called Constitution island, on which are many eminences commanding the river, which were crowned with fortifications. Fort Constitution, the principal of these, is still entire.

On a height below West Point may be observed the remains of fort Montgomery, the guns of which, it is believed, compelled the Vulture sloop of war to retire farther down the river, and was thus the cause of the land excursion and capture of André, and consequently of the safety of the post. The extremity of the Point is occupied by the ruins of fort Clinton, which commanded two ranges on the river, and was an extensive as well as a very strong and important work. It was just opposite this fort that an

enormous iron chain was stretched across the river to obstruct the passage. It was broken by an English man of war under full sail; but the vessel was so injured in the attempt, as to be obliged to put back. There are many other fortifications of minor importance on and about the Point, which, as well as those already mentioned, are undergoing a rapid process of decay, and will probably disappear in less than a century.

But what strikes the eye of the traveller with most imposing effect, are the hoary ruins of fort Putnam, familiarly called Old Fort Put. They

Fort Putnam.

stand five hundred feet immediately above the plain of West Point, and once commanded all the batteries on and about it. They have very much the appearance of a dilapidated castle. The work is of small extent, but very strong. It stands on the apex of a steep hill, and the wall on the northern side hangs upon the edge of a perpendicular precipice. On the other sides, the walls are so high and steep, as to render escalade impracticable. The walls are solid and very thick, and contain within their mass apartments for the garrison, and furnaces for heating shot. There was once an excellent well within the area; but it is now choked and rendered useless by fragments of the crumbling masonry. One of the angles contains two cells, probably designed for prisoners, and for black holes. Tradition erroneously says that major André was confined in one of them. Altogether, the whole ruin has an imposing appearance, for it is in strict keeping with the grandeur and wildness of the surrounding scenery, and serves to awaken many pleasing historical recollections in the American spectator. In the midst of embattled heights it stands, the key-stone of the arch. Of its strength we may say, that an enemy could not have taken it without overwhelming numbers, and loss proportionate, or without bombarding it. In short, it is, in many respects, like what we read of the hill forts of India. We hope the proverbial economy of our government will not suffer so interesting a historical monument to fall into utter decay, and the rather, that a very small expense would restore it to its original condition.

The remains of fort William Henry, at the head of lake George, are

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traced with much interest by every traveller. It was merely a sand fort, but of great extent. The exterior redoubt, which may still be traced, comprehends the whole plain between the mountain and the lake, and the inner works, commanding the water, are in some places very distinct. The plain pointed out as the parade ground, is extensive and beautiful. This was the scene of the most wanton and perfidious massacre which ever disgraced the annals of warfare. Not all the consecrated water which the French carried home from the Sacremer,' as they beautifully termed the crystal lake, could wash out the foul stain which this transaction left on the French arms and French faith. The garrison, consisting of three thousand English and provincials, under colonel Munro, surrendered, after a long and desperate resistance, to the French army of ten thousand men, commanded by the marquis de Montcalm, in 1757. By the terms of the capitulation, the garrison were to receive a safe escort to fort Edward. They accordingly marched out to the parade ground, stacked their arms, and awaited the escort. The Indians, to the number of several thousand, armed with tomahawks and knives, immediately surrounded them, and began to strip them by force of their clothing. Colonel Munro, who was in the French camp, anxiously demanded the escort; but Montcalm delayed it upon frivolous pretences, and finally refused it. The French stood with folded arms, and beheld the massacre within pistol shot of their camp. Some few of the devoted and defenceless soldiers wrested weapons from the hands of their murderers, and dearly sold their lives; but of the whole number, only two or three escaped. A young man by the name of Carver, from New England, of great strength and agility, grappled with and overthrew several Indians, broke through their ranks, fled into the swamp in the rear of the fort, and escaped. Strong representations of this affair were made to the government of France, and Montcalm was called to a formal account, but was not punished. In his defence, he stated that, by interfering to prevent the massacre, he would have lost the confidence of his Indian allies, and incurred their hostility. Musket balls, grape and chain shot, buttons, hatchets, and human bones, are frequently ploughed up on this ground. These relics are sometimes left for sale at the Lake House.

In the rear of fort William Henry, on a commanding eminence, stands fort George, a small, but, for the time when it was erected, a strong fortress. The walls are of limestone, twelve or fifteen feet thick, and thirty or forty feet high. The magazine and arches are of brick work; a part of the magazine is entire, but the entrance to it is filled up. The walls have been pulled down in many places by those who had use for the stone, and all the bricks which could be got at have been carried off. Several wells, now filled up, may be discovered in the vicinity, and the ruins of the hospital, arsenal, and other buildings. Fort George is completely commanded by the neighboring heights, and of Gage's hill it is within fair musket-shot. On this hill, however, the English kept a fort, the remains of the redoubt being still visible. It is remarkable that every old fort from the Canada line to Albany is commanded by highlands in its vicinity. When they were built, there was but little apprehension of artillery. Even the strong and important fort of Ticonderoga was effectually commanded by mount Defiance, a circumstance which proved disastrous to the American arms. The prospect from fort George is extensive and diversified, embracing

the village, the mountains, the islands, and the lake, for a great dis

tance.

Passing Plattsburg,' says a recent English traveller, 'the scene of our defeat last war, we reached Crown Point, and then the lake contracted from four or five miles in breadth to a river channel. The point was green and elevated, and on it were the ruins of military works, principally erected by the Canadian French, when they meditated and attempted the utter expulsion of the English colonists from the shores of the Atlantic. Stories are told of vaults and dungeons at Crown Point, where plots were hatched, in conjunction with the Indians, for burning the dwellings and massacring the families of the settlers; and here were displayed "long rows of scalps, white in one place with the venerable locks of age, and glistening in another with the ringlets of childhood and of youth."

'Next, at the entrance to lake George, with its clear waters, its picturesque is.ets, and steep shores, were the remains of the celebrated fort

Ticonderoga, situated on a point of land, surrounded on three sides with water, and on the fourth, deep trenches cut into the morass, with high breastworks. It presented one of the most likely posts to make a gallant defence, that could well be conceived. The ruin of a barrack, like a "donjon keep," was the most conspicuous object on the point.

'It is impossible, as an officer of the black watch, to think of Ticonderoga without strong emotion, for here, in 1758, the forty-second, after cutting their way with their claymores through a broad abattis of prostrate trees, under a heavy fire from the French garrison, made desperate efforts, for four hours, to scale a high work without scaling-ladders, by mounting on one another's shoulders, and by making holes in it with their bayonets, They were so exasperated at being so unexpectedly checked, and by the heavy loss which they had sustained, that they refused to withdraw till ordered a third time to do so by their general; their loss on this occasion was more than half the men, and two thirds of the officers, killed or severely wounded; that is, twenty-five officers, nineteen sergeants, and six hundred and three privates. About this time, the regiment received the honorary distinction of royal.'

The remains of the fortifications at Pittsburg occupy a very interesting position, on the delta formed by the confluence of the rivers at that place. Of fort Du Quesne, but a small mound of earth remains. Fort Pitt may be more easily traced; part of three bastions, about breast high, stand within different private inclosures, and a piece of the curtain, which, within a few years, was in complete preservation, may still be discovered. I expected,' says an intelligent correspondent of the New York American, to have seen the magazine of the fort, which I was told was an admirable piece of masonry, and still endured in the shape of a porter cellar; but upon arriving at the spot where it had stood but a few weeks before, a pile of rough stones was all that we could discover. In a country like ours, where so few antiquities meet the eye, it is melancholy to see these interesting remnants thus destroyed, and the very landmarks where they stood effaced forever. Occasionally, too, the works of which every vestige is thus painfully obliterated, were, especially when erected by the French, of a peculiarly striking character. The French engineers, who f. introduced the art of fortification into this country, were of the school of Vauban, and the enduring monuments they raised were not less oe proofs of their skill, than were the sites selected of their high military discernment.' In the vicinity are the remains of a mill-dam, constructed by the officers of fort Du Quesne, according to the most approved rules of the time, like a perfect fortification; a part of the curtain, with traces of some of the bastions, still rewards the search of the inquisitive.

An old fort on the island Canonicut, which formerly defended the pas

sage up Narragansett bay, presents an interesting relic of past times. It is built in a circular form, and is well represented in the accompanying sketch.