68 A N C 1 E N T M N If M E N T S . 



The embankments of the principal, or regular portions of the works, are much 

 heavier. Those of the larger circular work, E, are about twelve feet in perpen- 

 dicular height by fifty feet base, and have an interior ditch seven feet deep by 

 thirty-five wide. At the gateway or entrance, the walls are much higher than at 

 any other point, being not less than sixteen feet in altitude, with a ditch thirteen 

 feet deep, giving an absolute height of about thirty feet from the bottom of the 

 ditch to the top of the embankment. The wall of the lesser circle, F, is six feet 

 in height, and is unaccompanied by a ditch. The walls of the octagonal, as well 

 as of the square work, are but five and a half feet high, and are also destitute of 

 ditches, either exterior or interior. 



The circular structure E is undoubtedly one of the best preserved and 

 most imposing in the State. There are many enclosing larger areas, but. 

 none more clearly defined. At the entrance, which is towards the east, the 

 ends of the walls curve outwards, for the distance of a hundred feet, leaving a 

 passageway eighty feet wide, between the deep ditches on either hand. Here, 

 covered with the gigantic trees of a primitive forest, the work presents a truly 

 grand and impressive appearance ; and, in entering the ancient avenue for the first 

 time, the visitor does not fail to experience a sensation of awe, such as he might 

 feel in passing the portals of an Egyptian temple, or in gazing upon the silent 

 ruins of Petra of the desert. This work is not, as has been generally represented, 

 a true circle ; its form is that of *an ellipse, its diameters being twelve hundred 

 and fifty feet, and eleven hundred and fifty feet respectively. There are two or 

 three slight irregularities in the outline, too trifling however to be indicated in the 

 plan. The area of the enclosure is something over thirty acres. It is an almost 

 perfect level, and is still covered with the original forest. Immediately in the 

 centre of the area is a mound of singular shape, of which an enlarged plan. Fig. 



12, is here given. It much resembles some of the " animal- 

 shaped mounds " of Wisconsin, and was probably designed 

 to represent a bird with expanded wings. It can hardly be 

 called a mound, but is rather a group of four, so arranged 

 and connected as to constitute an unbroken outline. 

 Denominating the figure, for the sake of distinction, a bird, 

 the dimensions are as follows : Length of body, one 

 ''"' '" hundred and fifty-five feet ; of each wing, one hundred and 



ten feet ; between the tips of the wings, measuring in a right line, two hundred feet ; 

 width of body, sixty-three feet ; of wings, in centre, forty-five feet ; of same, next 

 the body, forty feet ; height of mounds composing the body, seven feet ; of mounds 

 composing the wings, five feet. The head of the bird points directly towards the 

 entrance of the enclosure. The bearing of the body is S. 65° E. Immediately 

 in the rear of the efiigy, and one hundred feet distant, is a semi-circular embank- 

 ment, about two hundred feet in length ; it is but slightly elevated, and can hardly 

 l)e traced; it is nevertheless exhibited in the plan. The long mound, constituting 

 the body of the bird, has been opened. Upon examining the excavation, it was 

 found that the structure had originally contained an nitar : whether any relics 

 were found ui)on it, is luikiiown. 'I'his feature, in eonjunrtion with others, seems 



