30 



ANTIQUITIES OF WISCONSIN, 



tinguished, with all their peculiar customs and institutions ; yet, as a whole, the 

 Indian remains. Many tribes have been overrun by others, and have united 

 with them as one people. Migrations have taken place ; one tribe acquiring suf- 

 ficient power has taken possession of lands belonging to another, and maintained 

 its possession. In the course of these revolutions it is not strange that habits and 

 practices, once prevalent in certain places, with certain tribes, should become 

 extinct and forgotten. 



Another fact is important in this connection. The mound-builders occupied the 

 same localities that are now the favorite resort of the present Indians, who still 

 often make use of the mounds for the burial of their dead. They have a kind of 

 veneration for them, which may be the result of a lingering tradition of their sacred 

 origin. The implements and utensils of the mound-builders were the same in many 

 cases as those used by the recent inhabitants before their intercourse with the 

 whites ; and, as it has been quite clearly shown that the latter have in former 

 times erected mounds of earth over their dead, we may consider such facts as 

 tending to prove the unity of these people. . 



A mile and a half above Waukesha, on a very high and commanding position, 

 are three round mounds in front of four "lizard-mounds." (Fig. 9.) They are 







To Waukesfva. 



^'% 



■% 



II 



.^ 



at the crossing of the old " Madison road," in the southwest quarter of section 

 twenty-six. A sentinel stationed on them could give warning to the inhabitants 

 of the approach of any hostile force, long before they could reach the village. The 

 "lizards," as in most other cases, have their heads towards the south. 



On the northwest quarter of the same section are also some small mounds, and 

 one of the lizard shape. They are at the foot of the hill that borders the outlet 

 of Pewaukee Lake. Still further, on the road (S. E. qr. 6f Sec. 22, T. 7, R. 19), 

 were found the remains of another lizard mound, now nearly destroyed. 



But the most remarkable collection of lizards and turtles yet discovered is on 

 the school section, about a mile and a half southeast from the village of Pewaukee. 

 (See Plate XXIII.) This consists of seven turtles, two lizards, four oblong mounds, 

 and one of those remarkable excavations before alluded to. One of the turtle 

 mounds, partially obliterated by the road, has a length of four hundred and fifty 



