AN CI KM' WOJIKS IN THE VICINITY OF LAKK MICHIGAN. 17 



period. It may be considered as a rude represeutatioii of a woli" or fox guarding 

 tlie sacred deposits in the large though low mound immediately before it. Both of 

 these are of so little elevation as to be scarcely observed by the passer by; but 

 when once attention is arrested, there is no difficulty in tracing their outlines. 

 The body of the animal is forty-four feet, and the tail sixty-three in length. A 

 more graceful animal form was found on block No. 30. (See Plate VII. Fig. 2.) 

 It may be regarded as the representation of an otter. Length of head and neck, 

 twenty-six feet; body, fifty feet; tail, seventy feet. Its direction is a little south 

 of west. 



Whatever may be said in regard to the mounds which I have denominated 

 " lizards," there can be no doubt that they do, and were intended to represent the 

 forms of animals. But Avhat shall Ave say of the next figure (Plate VII. Fig. 3), 

 with its long, slightly curved arms ? If, like some others hereafter described, it 

 had a beak, it would be considered a representation of one of the feathered tribe ; 

 or, if it had legs as well as a body, it might be deemed a rude imitation of the 

 human form. We may suppose that in the lapse of ages these works have been 

 more or less modified by natural causes, and also that portions were constructed 

 of diJlTerent and more perishable materials, now entirely gone. This figure points 

 almost directly south. It is thirty -four feet long, the arms being sixty feet. It 

 was surveyed by me a number of years since, and was almost immediately after- 

 wards removed to prepare the foundation of a house. How many more of these 

 interesting structures have been lost to the antiquary, by being destroyed before a 

 plan and record of them were made, it is impossible to determine ; but their 

 number must be very great. 



Proceeding up the I'iver, we find the next works on the school section, between 

 the plank road from Milwaukee to Humboldt and the river. (See Plate VII. No. 

 4.) They consist of three lizard mounds, and four of the oblong form, occupying 

 a high level plateau completely covered with the original forest trees. 



We next find, on sections twenty-nine and thirty, in township eight, and range 

 twenty-two, on the west side of the river, at a place usually known as the Indian 

 Prairie, about five miles north of the city of Milwaukee, a very interesting system 

 or group of works. They are situated on a beautiful level plain, elevated about 

 thirty feet above the river, which runs along the eastern border. The bank of the 

 river is nearly perpendicular, forming a safe protection against attack from that 

 direction. It may be seen by the map presented (Plate VIII.), that these works 

 are further protected on the north and south by deep ravines. The works are all 

 included within these natural defences. Whether they were ever protected on the 

 west seems doubtful. No traces of embankment or ditch could be found, nor any 

 indication of other modes of defence usually adopted by uncivilized nations. There 

 may have been defences of wood, long since decayed. 



There are two principal mounds situated near the middle of this space. They 

 are both fifty- three feet in diameter at the base, where they almost touch each 

 other, and eight feet high. The southern one has a level area of twenty-five feet 

 diameter at the top. 

 3 



