212 PICTURE-WRITING OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS. 
The well known mounds or tumuli more or less distinctly represent- 
ing animal forms and sometimes called effigy mounds, found chiefly in 
Wisconsin and Illinois, come in this category, but it is not possible to 
properly discuss them and also give space to the many other topics in 
this paper, the facts and authorities upon which are less known or less 
accessible. A large amount of information is published by Rey. 8. D. 
Peet (a). Other articles are by Mr. T. H. Lewis in Science, September 
7, 1888, and No. 518, 1889. One upon the Serpent mound of Ohio, by 
Prof. F. W. Putnam (@), is of special interest. It may be suggested as 
a summation that there is not sufficient evidence of the erection of this 
class of effigy mounds merely for burial purposes. They seldom ex- 
ceeded 6 feet in height and varied in expanse from 30 to 300 feet. The 
animals most frequently recognizable in the constructions are lizards, 
birds, and several more or less distinet quadrupeds; serpents and 
turtles also are identified. The species of fauna represented are those 
now or lately found in the same region. ‘There is a strong probability 
that the forms of the mounds in question were determined by totemic 
superstitions or tribal habitudes. 
In England the pictographs styled “turf monuments” are sometimes 
made by cutting the natural turf and filling with chalk the part of the 
surface thus laid bare. Sometimes the color depends wholly upon the 
limestone, granite, or other rock exposed by removing the turf. Rev. 
W.C. Plenderleath (a) gives a full account of this variety of pictograph. 
COPPER. 
This is the only metal on which it is probable that the North American 
Indians made designs. .To present comparisons of pictures by other 
peoples on that or other metals or alloys would be to enter into a field, 
the most interesting part of which is classed as numismatic, and which 
would be a departure from the present heading. That virgin copper 
was used for diverse purposes, generally ornamental, by the North 
American Indians, is now established, and there is a presentation of 
the subject in Prof. Cyrus Thomas’s (a) Burial Mounds. The most dis- 
tinct and at the same time surprising account of a true pictographic 
record on copper is given by W. W. Warren (@), an excellent authority, 
and is condensed as follows: 
The Ojibwa of the Crane family hold in their possession a circular plate of virgin 
copper, on which are rudely marked indentations and bieroglyphies denoting the num- 
ber of generations of the family who have passed away since they first pitched their 
lodges at Shang-a-waum-ik-ong and took possession of the adjacent country, in- 
cluding the island of La Pointe. 
When I witnessed this curious family register in 1842 if was exhibited to my- 
father. The old chief kept it carefully buried in the ground and seldom displayed 
it. On this occasion he brought it to view only at the entreaty of my mother 
whose maternal uncle he was. 
On this plate of copper were marked eight deep indentations, denoting the number 
of his ancesters who had passed away since they first lighted their fire at Shang-a- 
waum-ik-ong. They had all lived to a good old age. 
a 
