330 NOETH AMERICAN ARCHEOLOGY. 



appeared in the same journal. Professor J. Locke gave some account of them 

 in a " Report on the Mineral Lands of the United States," presented to Con- 

 gress 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 finally, 

 the seventh volume of the Smithsonian Contributions contains the work, by Mr. 

 Lapham, which we have placed at the head of this article. Dr. Wilson does 

 not appear to have made any original observations on this branch of the subject, 

 but in a chapter on "Symbolic Mounds " he has given an interesting summary 

 derived from these sources. 



Mr. Lapham gives a map showing the distribution of these curious earth- 

 works. They appear to be most numerous in the southern counties of Wiscon- 

 sin, and extend from the Mississippi to Lake Michigan, following generally the 

 courses of the river, and being especially numerous along the great Indian trail 

 or war-path from Lake Michigan, near Milwaukie, to the Mississippi, above 

 Prairie du Chien. This, however, does not prove any connexion between the 

 present Indians and the mounds, as the same line has been adopted as the route 

 of the United States military road. 



The mounds themselves not only represent animals, such as men, buffaloes, 

 elks, bears, otters, wolves, raccoons, birds, serpents, lizards, turtles, and frogs, 

 but also some inanimate objects ; if at least the American archaeologists are right 

 in regarding some of them as crosses, tobacco-pipes, &c. 



Many of the representations are spirited and correct, but others, probably 

 through the action of time, are less definite ; one, for instance, near the village 

 of Muscoda, may be either "a bird, a bow and arrow, or the human figure." 

 Their height varies from one to four feet, sometimes, however, rising to six feet; 

 and as a "regular elevation of six inches can be readily traced upon the level 

 prairies" of the west, their outlines are generally distinctly defined whei'e they 

 occupy favorable positions. It seems pi-obable that many of the details have 

 disappeared under the action of rain and vegetation. At present a "man" con- 

 sists generally of a head and body, two long arms and two short legs, no other 

 details being visible. The "biixls" differ from the "men" principally in the 

 absence of legs. The so-called "lizards," which are among the most common 

 forms, have a head, two legs, and a long tail ; the side view being represented, 

 as is, indeed, the case with most of the quadrupeds. 



One remarkable group in Dale county, close to the Great Indian trail, con- 

 sists of a man with extended arms, seven more or less elongated mounds, one 

 tumulus and six quadrupeds. The length of the human figure is one hundred 

 and twenty-five feet, and it is one hundred and forty feet from the extremity of 

 one arm to that of the other. The quadrupeds vary from ninety to a hundred 

 and twenty-six feet in length. 



At Waukesha are a number of mounds, tumuli, and animals, including several 

 "lizards," a very fine "bird," and a magnificent "turtle." "This, when first 

 observed, was a very fine specimen of the art of mound-building, Avith its grace- 

 ful curves, the feet projecting back and forward, and the tail, with its gi-adual 

 slope, so acutely pointed, that it was impossible to ascertain precisely where it 

 terminated. The body was fifty-six feet in length, and the tail two hundred 

 and fifty ; the height six feet." This group of mounds is now, alas ! covered 

 with buildings. "A dwelling-house stands on the body of the turtle, and a 

 Catholic church is built upon the tail." 



"But," says Mr. Lapham, "the most remarkable collection of lizards and 

 turtles yet discovered is on the school section, about a mile and a half southeast 

 from the village of Pewaukee. This consists of seven turtles, two lizards, four 

 oblong mounds, and one of the remarkable excavations before alluded to. One 

 of the turtle mounds, partially obliterated by the road, has a length of four hun- 

 dred and fifty feet ; being nearly double the usual dimensions. Three of them 

 are remarkable for their curved tails, a feature here first observed." 



