132 



ANIMAL CARVINGS. 



sculptor's attention, the body and members being omitted entirely, or 

 else roughly blocked out ; as, for instance, in the case of the squirrel 

 given above, in which the hind parts are simply rounded off into con- 

 venient shape, with no attempt at their delineation. Somewhat the 

 same method was. evidently followed in the case of the supposed mana- 

 tees, only after the pipe cavities had been excavated the block was 

 shaped off in a manner best suited to serve the purpose of a handle. 

 Without, however, attempting to institute further comparisons, two views 

 of a real manatee are here subjoined, which are fac-similes of Murie's 

 admirable photo-lithograph in Trans. London Zoological Society, vol. 8, 

 1872-'74. A very brief comparison of the supposed manatees, with a 

 modern artistic representation of that animal, wdl show the irreconcil- 

 able differences between them better than any number of pages of writ- 

 ten criticism. 



Fici. 10. — Manatee {Manatus Auiericanus, Cnv.}. Side view. 



There would seem, then, to be no escape from the conclusion that the 

 animal sculptures which have jjassed current as manatees do not really 

 resemble thatanimal, which is so extraordinary in all its aspects and so 



totally unlike any other of the animal 

 creation as to render its identification in 

 case it had really served as a subject for 

 sculpture, easy and certain. 



As the several sculptures bear a gen- 

 eral likeness to each other and resemble 

 with considerable closeness the otter, the 

 well known fish-eating proclivities of 

 this animal being shown in at least two 

 cuv.). Frouiview. of them, it sccms highly probablc that It 



is the otter that is rudely portrayed in all these sculptures. 



The otter was a common resident of all the region occupied by the 

 IMound- Builders, and must certainly have been well known to them. 

 Moreover, the otter is one of the animals which figures largely iu the 

 mythology and folk-lore of the natives of America, and has been 

 adopted in many tribes as their totem. Hence, this animal would seem 

 to be a jieculiarly apt subject for embodiment iu sculptured form. It 

 matters very little, however, whether these sculptures were intended as 



Fig. 11. — Manatee (Manatus Americanus, 



