ANCIENT WORKS NEAR ROCK RIVER. 55 



excavation at one extremity, and partially inclosing another. The figure at the 

 east has but one projection or leg, and a forked tail ; the other figure difiers from 

 most of the lizard-mounds in the fact that the body and tail are not in the same 

 straight line. 



The bank of the lake is more elevated at this point than on either side, where 

 are some low grounds with springs and marshy places. A little east of this lake 

 is a high peak or hill, which we ascended, but found no traces of ancient works 

 on its summit. 



But the most extended and varied groups of ancient works, and the most com- 

 plicated and intricate, are at Horicon. Plate XXXVII represents the principal 

 groups immediately below the town, but does not include all in this vicinity. They 

 occupy the high bank of the river on both sides. 



It will be seen that most of the forms heretofore described are represented at 

 this place, and some are combined in a very curious manner. There are about two 

 hundred ordinary round mounds in this neighborhood, and all, with two exceptions, 

 quite small. The two large ones, on the west side of the river, have an elevation 

 of twelve feet, and are sixty-five feet in diameter at the base. The others are from 

 one to four or five feet high. In several of them we noticed very recent Indian 

 graves, covered with slabs or stakes, in the usual method of modern Indian burial. 

 They belong to the Potawattomies. One is protected by slabs driven in a sloping 

 manner, so as to meet at the top like the roof of a house. Another has a kind of 

 pen made of sticks about six inches in diameter. These graves show the peculiarity 

 of having but one kind of wood on one grave ; the slabs being made of oak, and 

 the pen made of elm. The larger and more conspicuous mounds are generally 

 selected by the Indians for the burial of their dead. 



There are sixteen mounds of the cruciform variety. (See Plate XXXVI, Nos. 

 1 and 2.) They are not placed in any uniform direction — some havmg the head 

 towards the north, some towards the south; nor do they appear to be turned 

 towards the river. The form seen, Plate XXXVI, No. 1, is exactly like that of 

 the mounds on the Milwaukee river ; but that represented on No. 2 of the same 

 plate was first observed at this place. 



There is one mound, of which only a small portion appears on the plate, 

 regularly tapering for. a length of five hundred and seventy feet. At the smaller 

 extremity it is slightly curved to the east. At its larger extremity is a large cross, 

 and one of the largest mounds. 



The animal form, Plate XXXVI, No. 3, is repeated, with slight modifications, 

 seven times. It may be supposed to represent the otter. 



If the two composite figures, one on each side of the river, near the centre of 

 the group, are animals, performing some action, it is quite difficult to decide what 

 the animal or the action may be that is intended to be represented. Yet it can 

 hardly be supposed that these works were erected without design. They doubtless 

 have some meaning which it is now impossible to ascertain. 



Several of the mounds had been opened; but we could not learn of any results, 

 excepting the discovery of human bones, and, in one case, the bones of a quadruped. 

 We opened one of the smaller ones, and, after a careful search, could trace no indi- 



