ANCIENT WORKS NEAR WISCONSIN RIVER. 



71 



about midway between the blufis and the river. The pond contains pure water, 

 and now suppHes the inhabitants of a very different race with this indispensable 

 element. 



About two miles further up the river (on section three, township ten, range seven 

 east), is another group, of which only one figure Avas surveyed by Mr. Canfield 

 (Plate XLVI, No. 4). The form of the head and wings leaves no doubt that the 

 object intended was a bird. 



As this bird is represented in the act of flying, the remark of Mr. Canfield that 

 it may be a messenger-bird carrying something, indicated by the little mound placed 

 below the wing, as if suspended from its beak, seems quite probable. This mound 

 is small (seven feet in diameter), a very true circle at the base, and now less than 

 a foot in height. Perhaps the purpose is to represent the bird as bearing to the 

 spirit-land some person whose remains were deposited in the mound. 



Mr. Canfield writes that " the valley of the Wisconsin river above Prairie du 

 Sac, for three or four miles, is completely filled with these works. It is here 

 two miles wide, timbered mostly with black and burr oak, -generally of a light sandy 

 soil, and quite undulating, in some places hilly. There are no mounds on the 

 prairie." 



There are scattered tumuli of various forms in and about the village of Baraboo, 

 on the river of the same name. 



A little east of that remarkable gorge in the sandstone, known as " the Dells of 

 the Wisconsin river," is a small inclosure (Fig. 28), of double walls, which may 



.,*ff7!JrtH. .^TTTTTnr^ 



«lllll»lllMIN»||l||||||||,|,||l,|,,l,,|,l,(»»W 



Ancient inclosure, Dells of Wisconsin river. 



have been surmounted by palisades, and have formed a sort of fort or stronghold. 

 The breadth occupied by the two embankments is eighteen feet, and the area of the 

 inclosure is about 45,000 square feet, affording room for about 2,000 persons. 



