276 APPENDIX. 



proof of ihe same thing ; for llic constructors may have 

 removed the surface on commencing their work. Many of 

 our tumuH liave not only a base of m.ould marking an origi- 

 nal surface, but ashes, coals, bones, and artificial implements 

 deposited at the bases of tumuli, of various forms and 

 heights, from two to seventy feet. 



" In examining the tumuli of Wisconsin, I did not at any 

 place discover a ditch or cavity from w^iich the earth to con- 

 struct them had been taken. They abound along the natural 

 road, occupying the fertile and commanding hill-tops, and 

 the gentle slopes into the valleys ; being uniformly raised 

 from a smooth and well-formed surface, always above inun- 

 dation, and well guarded from the little temporary currents 

 produced by showers. 



" The backs of the ' effigies' were uniformly placed up- 

 hill, and the feet downward, as at the sand-bluff. There are 

 some points on the surface of soft ground where we naturally 

 expect chasms, ruga3, mammillary points, and undulations. 

 These occur from the uprooting of trees, from avalanches, 

 from the settling of banks, from the action of temporary 

 streams and currents of water. Mammillary points are 

 often left along the sharp crest of a hill, and insular mounds 

 are not unfrequently left in low alluvial bottoms — certain 

 points of upland having withstood that action of the currents 

 which has carried away and degraded the surface to a lower 

 level. But there are other situations where we expect to 

 find, and do actually find, the surface evenly graded into 

 smooth undulations, as on the dividing tables between the 

 heads of streams, and in the tops of moderate hills, where 

 no current has room to accumulate ; and especially if the 

 same region be prairie, w4th the surface protected by the 

 strong roots of wild grasses. 



" Just such a situation is this part of Wisconsin where the 



