14 



ANTIQUITIES OF WISCONSIN. 









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About fifty circular mounds, and four or five of tlie lizard form, have been 

 found here. Some of these can yet be traced, though the plough has made sad 

 havoc with most of them. Two of the latter class were here associated in a 

 manner not observed elsewhere in the State. (See Fig. 5.) OnS is two hundred 



and fifty feet in length. It is not asserted 

 Fig. 5. that these figures were meant by the builders 



to represent an animal of the lizard form, or an 

 animal at all. Still their great numbers in the 

 eastern part of the State, and their uniformity 

 of general outline, show that this peculiarity 

 of form was not without design. It has been 

 suggested that they may have been intended 

 to represent a war-club with points set in, as 

 is common among some savage tribes ; but the . 

 attenuated form of the extremity would seem 

 to oppose this idea. 



As is the case with the works of other forms, 

 ~-^"--^' there are no two precisely alike in their dimen- 



sions, or in their direction with reference to the 

 cardinal points. But it has been observed that the larger extremity, or head, 

 is usually directed towards the south. They vary in length from one hundred to 

 four hundred feet. The usual height of the body may be stated at four feet; from 

 which there is commonly a gradual diminution both in height and width to the 

 extremity. It is frequently impossible to decide exactly where it terminates. 

 They are almost always associated with mounds of round or oblong form, usually 

 having about the same general direction. When they occupy the edge of elevated 

 ground, the head generally points obliquely towards the low ground; and the 

 projections or "legs" are on the side towards the ridge. (See Plate V.) 



On the land of Mr. Geo. 0. Tiffany, half a mile south of Forest Home Ceme- 

 tery, is a sort of inclosure opposite some very large springs. (See Plate IV. No 1.) 

 The walls are about eighteen inches high, and three or four feet wide. It is on a 

 level flat, from which there is a descent of about eight feet to the springs. The 

 wall is double, as shown by the figure, the outer one interrupted by two gateways. 

 There are some irregular excavations within the inclosure. Large trees grow 

 upon and near the works, constituting a dense forest of thrifty growth. The flat 

 on which these works are built terminates in the rear by high hills surmounted by 

 the mounds before described. 



There can be no doubt that this wall of earth is the only remaining trace of 

 some building erected here on account of the copious springs opposite the main open- 

 ing ; but the nature of the edifice can only be conjectured. Perhaps it may have 

 consisted of palisades or timbers set in the ground, against which a bank of earth 

 was erected to secure greater strength and permanency. There is no regular ditch 

 accompanying the wall, as is found in similar works in New York and elsewhere. 

 Immediately above these works another was traced, with a ditch very irregular in 

 its form, direction, and dimensions, which proved to have been the work of the 



