THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 15 



surveys and drawings of the aboriginal antiquities of Wisconsin, and, to 

 insure harmony of action in the cultivation of the wide field of research 

 offered by the ancient monuments of this country, that the Antiquarian 

 Society had agreed to present to the Smithsonian Institution the results 

 of the labors of Mr. Lapham for publication, and to reserve its own 

 funds for further explorations. Mr. Lapham's memoir has been com- 

 pleted, and, after having been examined and reported upon by a com- 

 mittee of the Antiquarian Society, has been presented to this Institution 

 for publication. It consists of several hundred pages of manuscript, 

 illustrated by sixty-three large drawings or plates adapted to the size 

 of the Smithsonian Contributions, a map of the country, and ninety- 

 seven figures or smaller designs, intended to be engraved on wood and 

 interspersed with the text. 



Elaborate works of defence, and such as are apparently designed 

 for religious or sacrificial ceremonies, so numerous in other sections of 

 the country, are seldom found in Wisconsin. In place of these, less 

 elevated structures, though often on a scale of considerable horizontal 

 extent, representing a variety of fanciful forms, abound along the sides 

 of the streams and borders of the lakes. The figures are principally 

 those of hzards, turtles, birds, bears, foxes, and men, and they appear to 

 be confined within a limited territory between the Mississippi and Lake 

 Michigan. It is very remarkable, says the committee, that none of the 

 earlier travellers appear to have noticed the animal sliape of the em- 

 bankments ; but this is accounted for by the extent and fiafness of the 

 works, and the difficulty of recognising them while covered with trees 

 or a dense growth of other vegetation. Indeed, the surveyors who 

 first attempted to plot them were sometimes surprised at the figures 

 developed under their hands, and which could not have been perceived 

 on the ground, unless from an elevated point of view. 



The memoir of Mr. Lapham, with a few unimportant exceptions, 

 includes an account of every known work or assemblage of works in 

 this region, and the whole were carefully surveyed by himself or by 

 competent individuals under his direction. On the map are laid down 

 the relative position of the earth-works ; and from this it appears that 

 they lie chiefly along the course of streams and the borders of the 

 interior lakes. Nearl}^ the same forms are repeated in different locali- 

 ties, but with dissimilar arrangement, and often with slight, yet evident- 

 ly intentional variation in figure. The works are enumerated as fol- 

 lows : 



a. Tumuli of a conical shape and slight elevation. 



h. Oblong mounds not more than three or four feet high, of regular 

 width, extending in a straight line from twenty feet to several hundred, 

 and even a thousand. 



c. Embankments in crescent and serpentine forms. 



d. Embankments tapering uniforml}^ in width from one extremity to 

 the other, and terminating in a point. 



e. Similar tapering embankments, with two projections on one side,, 

 near the larger end, which are called lizards, and are very numerous. 



/. The same general form, with projections on both sides at the- 

 larger end, and with a similar tapering tail, sometimes of exceedingly 



