534 MOUND EXPLORATIONS. 



IS^ew York Siuiof August 2, 1S85, is to be relied upon, the westeiu por- 

 tiou of tbi' district is not devoid of effijjy mounds: 



Among the Bail lands of Dakota there are se\eral effigy mouuds resembling 

 auimals and fishes. Along the Little Missouri river, commencing at its head water, 

 are 30 or 40 mounds, most beautil'ully arranged on terraces one above the other. 

 These are made to resemble liirds, fishes, and beasts. Some of the fishes have fins 

 plainly marked, while in many cases the birds have their wings spread as if ahout 

 to fly. On one terrace there are about 50 small round mounds scattered promis- 

 cuously in every direction. On another just above it is the effigy, probably, of a 

 frog that measures nearly 100 feet in length. The next terrace has 1(5 ordinary 

 mounds, square and oblong, while the next one has a pair of beavers side by side 

 that measure 54 feet from tip to tail. On the summit of one of the buttes is a red- 

 dened circle of earth which has been cut down by the continual wa,shiug of the 

 rains, thus exposing some partially burned brick dust or clay. The mound was 

 opened some years ago by a part}' of buffalo hunters passing through the Had lands, 

 and from all that could be learned from an inspection of the mound it scorned to 

 have been either an aboriginal crematory or else a place of torture. A mass of 

 human skeleton) was found inside and all the bones were partially burned. 



The account given by A. Barnmdt in tlie Smithsonian Report for 

 1870' of some ancient works on tlie Yellowstone seems to lend color to 

 the above article. He mentions not only groups of mounds, some of 

 comparatively large size, but alludes specially to "elongate mounds," 

 which indicate that the authors pertained to the efQgy-buildiug tribes. 



l!<lWI.l>i:i! MOSAICS. 



From the emblematic mounds we pass naturally to the surface bowl- 

 der figures, or, as they are aptly named by Prof. Todd, " bowlder mo- 

 saics," of Dakota. According to Mr. T. H. Lewis, antiquities of this 

 type are found " from western Iowa and Nebraska to Manitoba and 

 from western Minnesota through Dakota to Montana;" they appear, 

 however, to be more frequent in South Dakota than in any other 

 region. 



These curious remains consist of animal, human, and other tigures 

 outlined with granite bowlders (occasioually with bulialo bones) upon 

 the surface of the ground, usually upon elevated positions, and some- 

 times upon the summits of the highest buttes. Tlii' human form, the 

 turtle, and the serpent are the usual and, in fact, almost the only fig- 

 ures found. They are generally accompanied by numerous stone cir- 

 cles, which are known to be old tepee or wigwam sites. In some 

 instances long lines of bowlders or buffalo bones and small stone cairns 

 are also associated with them or found in the same neighborhood. 

 Like the bowlder circles they are more or less imbedded in the ground, 

 but this fact does not necessarily indicate any great antiquity. It 

 shonld also be observed that, as a general rule, they appear to bear 

 some relation to the tepee circles, since the latter occupy the most 

 prominent sites and best positions, while the figures are placed in the 

 midst of them in an area apparently left open for the purpose, the tepees 



I Pp. 406. 407. 



