18 ANTIQUITIES or WIS CON SIIS^. 



It often occurs in a group of works like this, that one mound is erected on the 

 highest position, from the top of which the whole may be seen. These may be 

 called the " Observatories," a name that in this case belongs to the mound with the 

 level area. It may also have been the place of sacrifice or altar-mound ; but of 

 this we can only judge from the analogy in form and position to similar works 

 which elsewhere were undoubtedly used for that purpose. Surrounding these are 

 numerous tumuli of a circular form, the 'exact relative positions of which were 

 ascertained 'by survey, and represented on the map. No definite system or order 

 of arrangement was observed, as will be evident on inspection. 



These tumuli are from two to four feet high, and from ten to fifty-four feet in 

 diameter at the base; many of them being unusually broad in proportion to their 

 height. None are so high and prominent as the two first mentioned. The two 

 mounds in the form of a cross at the southern extremity of this group will at once 

 attract the attention of the reader. An enlarged plan is given of one, with its 

 dimensions. The head of the cross is level on the top and rectangular. This 

 form of mound is frequently found in Wisconsin. 



But what marks this locality as one of peculiar interest, is the discovery of five 

 works of excavation, of regular form, being the reverse of the usual works. In- 

 stead ^of an embankment of earth thrown up, we have here a cavity in the ground. 

 Four of the excavations lie in a southwest direction from the two larger central 

 mounds. In ajDproaching the former from the latter, a small trail or path is dis- 

 covered, which gradually becomes larger and deeper, until it leads into a sunken 

 area surrounded by embankments, composed probably of the earth thrown out of 

 the excavation. Upon looking back, it is perceived that this pathway goes directly 

 to the mounds. These excavations are shown on an enlarged scale on Plate IX. 

 Figures 2 and 3. There are usually three curved entrances to each excavation, as 

 shown in the figures. 



The other excavation is similar to these, except that it lacks the long guarded 

 way or approach, leading towards a mound ; though the principal openings are 

 towards the " Observatories." (Plate IX. Fig. 4.) It is quite probable that the 

 bottom of these pits was once level, and that the sides were perpendicular, or nearly 

 so ; but now they have a gentle slope, and the bottom is concave, as shown by the 

 sections. (Plate IX. Figs. 2 and 4.) With our present limited knowledge of the 

 habits of the people who constructed these works, it would perhaps be idle to 

 attempt to conjecture for what purposes the excavations were made. What 

 structures of wood may have been connected with them is of course unknown. 

 All traces of so perishable a material would long since have entirely disappeared. 



The earth thrown from one of these excavations encroaches slightly upon the 

 path leading to another, thus indicating (unless this circumstance has been caused 

 by rains), that they were made at different times. Indeed, it is hardly to be sup- 

 posed that any extensive system of works was ever planned out by the aborigines, 

 and built up at one time. Those we find were doubtless the results of successive 

 efforts, perhaps by separate and distinct generations, and even in some instances 

 by distinct tribes. 



We observed four small circular inclosures, about thirty feet in diameter, the 



