128 ANCIENT MONUMENTS. 



the bluff. A section of the embankment, near the gap, exhibited a thin Hne of 

 loam, even with what might be supposed to have been the surface of the ground. 

 Alluvial stratification is positive proof that a formation is not artificial ; but the 

 absence of a base of mould is not proof of the same thing, for the surface of the 

 earth may have been removed before the erection of the mound. In examining 

 the tumuli of Wisconsin, I did not at any place discover a ditch or cavity from 

 which the earth to construct them had been taken. They are uniformly raised 

 from a smooth surface, always above inundation, and guarded from temporary 

 currents produced by showers. The backs of the efligies are uniformly placed 

 up hill." 



PLATE XLII. 



Number 1. — This group of works is sufficiently well explained by the Plate 

 itself It is situated about two miles from the group last described, on the road 

 to Madison. The large figure in the supplementary plan is about two thousand 

 feet south-west of the embankment represented in the plan. " It appears to be 

 solitary ; lies on a low, level ground ; and seems to be mutilated. If intended to 

 represent an animal, the head is evidently too large, and the attitude stiff and 

 rectangular." 



Number 2. — This singular group of works is situated upon section two, town- 

 ship eight, near the north bank of Wisconsin river, one and a half miles west of 

 the principal meridian, Richland county, Wisconsin. It is minutely described by 

 Mr. S. Taylor. The figures composing the group are so arranged as to consti- 

 tute a sort of enclosure of about half an acre area, which Mr. Taylor terms the 

 " citadel." The ground is here prominent ; to the north, south, and west of the 

 embankments it has a graded descent ; to the east it spreads into a broad plateau, 

 upon which, as well as to the southward, are numerous other embankments of 

 various forms and dimensions. From the top of the principal mound, occupying 

 the centre of the group, and within four hundred yards to the westward, may be 

 seen at least a hundred elevations similar to those forming the boimdaries of 

 the " citadel." " The elevation of these embankments generally is no more than 

 thirtii inches, and of the lesser mounds twenty inches, while the altitude of the large 

 mound overlooking the whole group is ten feet. Exterior to the group, upon the 

 east and north-east sides, excavations from which the earth had been removed are 

 plainly indicated ; and it was here, no doubt, that a portion of the material composing 

 the structures was obtained. Notwithstantling tiic rank growth of vegetation upon 

 these works, and the probability that they have been much reduced from their 

 original height, the angles and terminations are quite visible. Near the north-east 

 part of the group, part of the embankment appears to have boen destroyed." 



