A N C 1 !■: N T \y O U K S N E A II T HE 1' I S 11 T A K A U 1 V E 11 . 25 



been the motive of their construction. Instead of extending across the neck of the 

 peninsula, as in the "fortified hills," and thus defending the approach to the posi- 

 tion, they occupy a place near the extremity of the high land. 



Proceeding up the valley of the river from Burlington, there are no remains for 

 a distance of twelve miles. We then find those represented on Plate XV. By 

 invitation, we took up our quarters at the house of Mr. Isaac Bailey, where it was 

 once proposed to build a village or city, to be called " Crawfordsville." The city 

 was never built, and the name is only remembered by a few of the oldest inhabit- 

 ants. This is the place mentioned by Mr. R. C. Taylor^ as stated in the western 

 papers to contain a group of mounds resembling lizards, alligators, and flying 

 dragons. 



On Plate XVI., I have endeavored to represent these monsters as they appear 

 upon careful survey and plotting. They occujjy ground sloping gently towards the 

 river at the north and northwest, their heads pointing up hill, and their general 

 course southwesterly. The winged mounds or dragons (three in number) appear 

 to lead the flight or march of the other animals, and to be heralded by a host of 

 simple oblong figures, extending nearly half a mile in the same direction. An 

 enlarged view of one of the winged mounds is shown on Plate XVII. No. 1 ; 

 and the group of oblong mounds, forming the " advance guard," is shown on Plate 

 XIV. No. 2. 



The main figure in the general group is shown on an enlarged scale (Plate XVII. 

 No. 2), and is two hundred and eighty-six feet in length. This and the one 

 immediately preceding it are good representatives of the kind called lizards; while 

 the two exterior figures, having four projections or feet, are always called turtles 

 by the most casual observer. One at the right appears to have been intended for 

 a lizard, but is without the tail. These are from two to six feet in height. 



A little north of the mounds represented on Plate XVI. is a very large one, ten 

 feet in perpendicular height, and eighty feet in diameter at the base. Its situation 

 is such as to command a view of the valley for two or three miles both above and 

 below. It had been opened prior to our visit, but without important results. It 

 has an appendage consisting of a slight ridge of earth, sixty feet long, extending 

 from its base in a northeasterly direction. Immediately north of it is an excava- 

 tion from one to two feet in depth. The earth taken from this excavation, how- 

 ever, would make but a small part of the large mound. South of these the ground 

 continues to rise to a high ridge, occupied by the roads, as shown on the map, 

 Plate XV. 



As seen by the plate, many of these mounds are in a grove of timber, and 

 have not been disturbed by cultivation. It is very much to be hoped that the 

 good taste of the present intelligent proprietor will induce him to preserve them 

 from destruction. This locality was doubtless one of much importance to the 

 original inhabitants. It is protected on three sides by the marshy grounds along 

 the margin of the river: and on the heights in the rear are several mounds, indicat- 



Silliman's Amer. Journal of Science and Art, Isl series, XXXI Y. 95. 



