ABORIGINAL STRUCTURES IN GEORGIA. 279 



a few had been seriously impaired, others in a spirited and correct man- 

 ner declared the objects of their imitation. Constructed of earth, they 

 varied in height from 6 inches to 7 feet. In certain localities the 

 animals were delineated not in relief but in intaglio, by excavations 

 and not by elevations. 



Two animal mounds have been observed in Ohio. On an elevated spur 

 of land near Granville is an earthwork known in the neighborhood as 

 the Alligator. Its total length is 250 feet. The head and body, four 

 sprawling legs and a curled tail, were all clearly defined. Across the 

 body it was 40 feet broad, and the length of the legs was 36 feet. Four 

 feet expressed the average height, while at the shoulders the mound 

 attained an elevation of 6 feet. It was manifestly the effort of the 

 primitive workmen to preserve the iDroportions of the reptile. 



Situated on a ridge rising 150 feet above Brush Creek, in Adams 

 County, is a still more remarkable structure, which, from its configura- 

 tion, has received the appellation of the Great Serpent. "Conforming 

 to the curve of the hill, and occupying its very summit, is the serpent, 

 its head resting near the point and its body winding back for 700 feet in 

 graceful undulations, terminating in a triple coil at the tail." If ex- 

 tended, its entire length would be not less than 1,000 feet. The em- 

 bankment is upward of 5 feet high, with a base diameter of 30 feet at 

 the center of the body, whence it diminishes somewhat toward the head 

 and tail. " The neck of the serpent is stretched out and slightly curved, 

 and its mouth is opened wide, as if in the act of swallowing or ejecting 

 an oval figure, which rests partially within the distended jaws." 



When and by whom these remarkable tumuli were built is not known. 

 The object of their construction is equally a matter of conjecture. 



It has been supposed that these animal-shaped mounds existed only in 

 Wisconsin and a few other localities in the West. Our recent observa- 

 tions prove, however, that the primitive dwellers in the South have left 

 similar traces of their rioustructive skill. 



Six miles and a half north of Eatonton, in Putnam County, Georgia, 

 on a plantation owned by the heirs of the late Mr. I. H. Scott, may 

 now be seen a bird-shaped mound of definite configuration. Located 

 in the midst of a beautiful wood, and crowning a high ridge near the 

 headwaters of Little Glady Creek, it is composed entirely of bowlders of 

 white quartz rock, gathered from the adjacent territory. Most of these 

 bowlders are of such size that they could have been transported by a 

 single individual. For the removal of others two or three persons 

 would have been requisite. These bowlders were carefully piled one 

 above another, the interstices being filled with smaller fragments of 

 milky quartz. Into the composition of the structure enters neither earth 

 nor clay. 



