e Grand River: (up the river): "The Neutral Nation was formerly
here." West of Burlington Bay: "Good land." Niagara River: "This
current is so strong that it can hardly be ascended." At its Mouth:
"Niagara Falls said by the Indians to be more than 200 feet high."
Lake Ontario: "I passed on the south side, which I give pretty
accurately." North Shore: "Mr. Perot's encampment. Here the
missionaries of St. Sulpice established themselves."]

THE COUNTRY OF THE NEUTRALS.

BY

JAMES R. COYNE.

In that part of the township of Southwold included in the peninsula
between Talbot Creek and the most westerly bend of Kettle Creek there
were until a relatively recent date several Indian earthworks, which
were well-known to the pioneers of the Talbot Settlement. What the tooth
of time had spared for more than two centuries yielded however to the
settler's plough and harrow, and but one or two of these interesting
reminders of an almost forgotten race remain to gratify the curiosity of
the archaeologist or of the historian. Fortunately, the most important of
all is still almost in its original condition. It is that, which has
become known to readers of the Transactions of the Canadian Institute as
the Southwold Earthwork. It is situated on the farm of Mr. Chester
Henderson, Lot Number Four North on Talbot Road East. Mr. David Boyle in
the Archaeological Reports printed in 1891 has given the results of his
examinations of the mounds. A carefully prepared plan made from actual
survey by Mr. A. W. Campbell, C.E., for the Elgin Historical and
Scientific Institute of St. Thomas, was presented by the latter to the
Canadian Institute.[1] These will together form a valuable, and, it is
hoped, a permanent record of this interesting memorial of the aboriginal
inhabitants of South-western Ontario.

[1] Mr. J. H. Scott, of St. Thomas, has made a number of
photographs of the mounds at the instance of an American lady,
who, it is understood, will reproduce them in a work about to be
published by her.

The writer of this paper has been acquainted with "the old fort," as it
was called, since the year 1867. At that time it was in the midst of the
forest. Since then the woods have been cleared away, except within the
fort and north of it. Indeed, a considerable number of trees have been
felled within the southern part of the enclosure. In the mounds
themselves trees are abundant, and there are many in the moat or