THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 13 



surveys, and drawings of the aboriginal antiquities of Wisconsin; and, 

 to insure harmony of action in the cultivation of the wide field of re- 

 search offered by the ancient monuments of this country, that the Anti- 

 quarian Society had agreed to present to the Smithsonian Institution 

 the results of the labors of Mr. Lapham for publication, and to reserve 

 its own funds for further explorations. Mr. Lapham's memoir has been 

 completed; and, after having been examined and reported upon by a 

 committee of the Antiquarian Society, has been presented to the Insti- 

 tution for publication. It consists of several hundred pages of manu- 

 script, illustrated by sixty-three large drawings or plates adapted to the 

 size of the Smithsonian contributions, a map of the country, and ninety- 

 seven figures or smaller designs, intended to be engraved on wood and 

 interspersed with the text. 



Elaborate works of defence, and such as are apparently designed for 

 religious or sacrificial ceremonies, so numerous in other sections of the 

 country, are seldom found in Wisconsin. In place of these, less ele- 

 vated structures, though often on a scale of considerable horizontal 

 extent, representing a variety of fanciful forms, abound along the sides 

 of the streams and borders of the lakes. The figures are principally 

 those of lizards, turtles, birds, bears, foxes, and men, and they appear 

 to be confined within a limited territory, between the Mississippi and 

 Lake Michigan. It is very remarkable, says the committee, that none 

 of the earlier travellers appear to have noticed the animal shape ot the 

 embankments ; but this is accounted for by the extent and flatness of 

 the works, and the difficulty of recognising them while covered with 

 trees or a dense growth of other vegetation. Indeed, the surveyors who 

 first attempted to plot them, were sometimes surprised at the figures 

 developed under their hands, and which could not have been perceived 

 on the ground, unless from an elevated point of view. 



The memoir of Mr. Lapham, with a few unimportant exceptions, 

 includes an account of every known work or assemblages of works in 

 this region, and the whole were carefully surveyed by himself or by 

 competent individuals under his direction. On the map are laid down 

 the relative position of the earth-works ; and from this it appears that 

 they lie chiefly along the course of streams and the borders of the in- 

 terior lakes. Nearly the same forms are repeated in different localities, 

 but with dissimilar arrangement, and often with slight, yet evidently 

 intentional, variation in figure. The works are enumerated as follows : 



a. Tumuli of a conical shape and slight elevation. 



b. Oblong mounds not more than three or four feet high, of regular 

 width, extending in a straight line from twenty feet to several hundred, 

 arid even a thousand. 



c. Embankments in crescent and serpentine forms. 



d. Embankments tapering uniformly in width from one extremity to 

 the other, and terminating in a point. 



e. Similar tapering embankments, with two projections on one side, 

 near the larger end, which are called lizards, and are very numerous. 



/. The same general form, with projections on both sides at the larger 

 end, and with a similar tapering tail, sometimes of exceedingly dis- 



