ANIMAL MOUNDS. 273 



of the Cacique of Osachile are similar to those of all other 

 caciques in Florida, and, therefore, it seems best to give one 

 description that will apply generally to all the capitals, and 

 all the houses of the chiefs in Florida. I say, then, that the 

 Indians endeavour to place their towns upon elevated places ; 

 but because such situations are rare in Florida, or that they 

 find a difficulty in procuring suitable materials for building, 

 they raise eminences in this manner. They choose a place, 

 to which they bring a quantity of earth, which they elevate 

 into a kind of platform two or three pikes in height (from 

 eighteen to twenty-five feet), of which the flat top is capable 

 of holding ten or twelve, fifteen or twenty houses, to lodge 

 the cacique, his family, and suite."* 



Not the least remarkable of the American antiquities are 

 the Animal Mounds, which are principally, though not ex- 

 clusively, found in Wisconsin. In this district "thousands 

 of examples occur of gigantic basso-relievos of men, beasts, 

 birds, and reptiles, all wrought with persevering labour on 

 the surface of the soil," while enclosures and works of defence 

 are almost entirely wanting, the " ancient city of Aztalan" 

 being, as is supposed, the only example of the former class. 



The "Animal Mounds" were discovered by Mr. Lapham 

 in 1836, and described in the newspapers of the day, but the 

 first account of them in any scientific journal was that by 

 Mr. K. C. Taylor, in the American Journal of Science and 

 Art, for April, 1838. In 1843, a longer memoir, by Mr. S. 

 Taylor, appeared in the same journal. Professor J. Locke 

 gave some account of them in a "Eeport on the Mineral 

 Lands of the United States," presented to Congress in 1840. 

 Messrs. Squier and Davis devoted to the same subject a part 

 of their work on the "Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi 

 Valley ;" and the seventh volume of the Smithsonian Con- 



* See also Schoolcraft. 1. c. vol. iii. p. 47. 



T 



