ANCIENT WORKS NEAR ROCK RIVER. 41 



of the third lake. Here the rows present more the appearance of order and system 

 than those of any other locality surveyed. The rows of smaller mounds parallel 

 with the principal range, may have been for persons of inferior grades belonging to 

 the families buried in the larger ones. The parallel ridges are upon ground sloping 

 considerably towards the lake ; and rise one above another, like the seats of an 

 amphitheatre, to which they have been compared. The work in the rear of these 

 ridges is quite regular, and intermediate in its character between a true cross and a 

 bird-shaped mound. 



At the foot of this slope commences a flat, extending around the east end of the 

 lake, from which it is separated by a low, sandy ridge. Along this ridge is a very 

 remarkable series of irregular elevations, twenty-four in number ; a part of them 

 are represented on the plate. They are largest and most abrupt towards the water, 

 and are covered with soil and a forest of scattered trees. On several are artificial 

 mounds, one of them a turtle ; but whether they are themselves artificial seems 

 doubtful, though it is difiicult to understand how they could have been formed by 

 any natural process. A recent Indian grave occupies the summit of one ; and we 

 noticed, near by, the poles of a wigwam but recently abandoned by the red men, 

 though we were in sight of the capital of the State. 



A ridge of sand or gravel is often formed around the margin of the small lakes 

 in Wisconsin, by the expansive force of ice in winter ; the materials near the shore 

 being gradually moved year by year a little towards the land. But this cause is 

 hardly adequate to the production of a series of mounds. 



There are traces of other mounds south and west of those represented on Plate 

 XXXIII, but they were too much reduced by the plough to enable us to trace 

 them and ascertain their original forms. 



On the north shore of the fourth lake, also on the first and second lakes, are said 

 to be numerous works, which we did not visit. Eight miles northeast of Madison, 

 the surveyors of the public lands have reported the existence of mounds (sections 

 thirteen, twenty-three, and twenty-four, township eight, range ten), which we also 

 were obliged to omit in our survey. 



SECTION II. 

 ANCIENT WORKS AT AND IN THE VICINITY OF AZTALAN. 



These important works are represented on Plates XXXIV and XXXV, and 

 give evidence of greater labor than those at any other locality in the State. They 

 are important also on account of their resemblance or analogy to works in other 

 parts of the United States. It is the only ancient inclosure, properly so called, 

 in Wisconsin ; and although it is usually termed a fort or citadel, it will be shown 

 hereafter that it falls more properly into the class denominated " sacred inclosures." 

 Without this we might be led to suppose that the ancient mound-builders of 

 Wisconsin were a distinct people from those of Ohio, so diflerent is the general 

 character of their monuments. 

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