96 ON THE POTTERY OF THE MOUND-BUILDERS. 
a caricature ; there is nothing grotesque; but there is a display of 
artistic skill which could impress upon the clay whatever type the 
modeller had in his mind. 
Figure 13,on the next page, represents a profile and back view of 
a statuette. His head is covered with several plaits of cloth; his 
eyes are closed ; his face is contorted, as if in pain; his arms are 
pinioned with a strong cord; the bones and muscles of his shoul- 
ders are brought out in strong relief; and while these points are 
well delineated, the lower extremities are grossly incongruous. 
Fig. 12. 
KT at - p Pal ė 
Missouri. = x 
This figure may have beei ie to commemorate the capture 
of some dangerous enemy, or some notorious malefactor; or, as 
it is now pretty well mcconeiia that the Mound builders: offered 
up human sacrifices, it may represent a victim prepared for the 
altar. There is an opening at the top of the head, and the marks 
of the gouge with which the superfluous clay was extracted are 
plainly visible. Height, 8 inches. 
These two vessels last described were exhumed by the late Syl- 
vester Sexton, of Chicago, from a low mound in Mississippi 
