There is quite an eminence nearly a mile back of the new cantonment, which is called La Butte de Terre by the French, and Wudjuwong,[18] or Place of the Mountain, by the natives.

This eminence is covered with a fine growth of forest trees, and lies in the track of an ancient Indian hunting path.

About half way between the brow of the hill and the cantonment, there formerly stood a large tree of this species, partly hollow, from the recesses of which, Indian tradition says, there issued, on a calm day, a sound like the voice of a spirit or monedo.

It resembled the sounds of their own drum.

It was therefore considered as the residence of some powerful spirit, and deemed sacred.