ANCIENT WORKS NEAR WISCONSIN RIVER. 69 



The two figures adjoining these, iire presumed to represent the buffalo or bison 

 [Bos americana). One of them was carefully measured, and the result is shown in 

 the enlarged figure (Plate XLV, No. 1). The general contour, especially the hump 

 over the shoulders, renders the suggestion probable. The forms are almost exactly 

 alike, though one is slightly larger than the other. They also may be intended for 

 the two sexes. It will be observed that the attitude is quite spirited and natural ; 

 probably representing the animals in the act of browsing or drinking. 



The two quadrupeds north of the road, were too much injured by the plough to 

 enable us to make them out satisfactorily; but they did not appear to present any 

 new features. The long ridges (nearly a thousand feet in length) are a peculiar 

 circumstance in this group ; yet they seem to be located without design. The one 

 with an irregular cross ridge near the top may be thought to represent a bow and 

 arrow ; or it is a cross with curved arms. 



These works occupy a gentle slope, extending from the base of the high bluffs 

 towards the marshy and springy grounds at the south. Beyond the marsh another 

 bluff rises abruptly. The space between the bluffs only is used for agricultural 

 purposes; and, if in possession of a warlike people, we might fancy these long ridges 

 constructed to defend the passage leading between the bluffs, from the valley of the 

 river below, to the interior or back country. This may have been the object of the 

 most easterly and longest ridge or parapet; but of what use, according to this theory, 

 were the other similar ridges, which could not have been intended for defence ? 



It is much to be hoped that the proprietor of the two buffalo effigies will not 

 allow them to be wantonly destroyed. They escaped the first efforts of the plough; 

 it will be fortunate if they always secure the same exemption. 

 . As it is frequently important to know the relative situation of various groups of 

 works, in order to determine their dependence, if there be any, one upon another, I 

 have given a map (Plate XLIV, No. 1), showing the position of this group in respect 

 to two others next to be noticed. Half a mile south of the space covered by this map 

 is the Wisconsin river. The bluffs here leave the river, and extend along the west 

 side of Otter creek ; the broad plain known as Praiiie du Sac, or Sauk Prairie, 

 lying between them and the river. It will be observed that the group just described 

 occupies one of the passes by which the road ascends the bluffs. 



The works near the centre of section seven (Plate XLIV, No. 1), are on the 

 margin of the marsh which borders the creek. Here are several oblong mounds, 

 one of the bird form, and two anomalous images, of which drawings are given 

 (Plate XLV, Nos. 2 and 3). Though they are evidently animal forms, it would 

 be difficult for the most practised zoologist to determine the genera and species 

 to which they should be referred. These are on ground gently sloping from the 

 bluffs in the rear to the edge of the marsh, where there is a bank of no very great 

 elevation. 



On the east side of the creek, at the middle, commences a series of earthworks of 

 a very interesting character, as shown on Plate XLIV, No. 2. The principal 

 figure, in the form of a bird with a forked tail, is also represented enlarged on Plate 

 XLVI, No. 3. 



The bear is enlarged, and shown with its true proportions, on Plate XLV, No. 4. 



