18 
REYIEWS. 
tains the work, by Mr. Lapham, which we have placed at the head of 
this article. Dr. Wilson does not appear to have made any original 
observations on this branch of the subject, but in a chapter on “ Sym¬ 
bolic Mounds,” he has given an interesting summary derived from 
these sources. 
Mr. Lapham gives a map, showing the distribution of these curious 
earthworks. They appear to be most numerous in the Southern 
Counties of Wisconsin; and extend from the Mississippi to Lake 
Michigan, following generally the courses of the river, and being 
especially numerous along the great Indian trail or war-path from 
Lake Michigan, near Milwaukie, to the Mississippi, above Prairie du 
Chien. This, however, does not prove any connection between the 
present Indians and the mounds, as the same line has been adopted 
as the route of the United States military road. 
The mounds themselves not only represent animals, such as men, 
buffaloes, elks, bears, otters, wolves, raccoons, birds, serpents, lizards, 
turtles, and frogs, but also some inanimate objects; if at least the 
American archaeologists are right in regarding some of them as crosses, 
tobacco-pipes, &c. 
Many of the representations are spirited and correct, but others, 
probably through the action of time, are less definite; one, for in¬ 
stance, near the village of Muscoda, may be either “ a bird, a bow 
and arrow, or the human figure.” Their height varies from one to 
four feet, sometimes, however, rising to six feet, and as a “ regular 
elevation of six inches can be readily traced upon the level Prairies ” 
of the West, their outlines are generally distinctly defined where 
they occupy favourable positions. It seems probable that many of 
the details have disappeared under the action of rain and vegetation. 
At present a “man” consists generally of a head and body, two long 
arms and two short legs, no other details being visible. The “ birds” 
differ from the “ men” principally in the absence of legs. The so- 
called “ lizards,” which are among the most common forms, have a 
head, two legs, and a long tail; the side view being represented, as is, 
indeed, the case with most of the quadrupeds. 
One remarkable group in Dale County, close to the Great Indian 
trail, consists of a man with extended arms, seven more or less elon¬ 
gated mounds, one tumulus and six quadrupeds. The length of the 
human figure is one hundred and twenty-five feet, and it is one hun¬ 
dred and forty feet from the extremity of one arm to that of the 
other. The quadrupeds vary from ninety to a hundred and twenty- 
six feet in length. 
At Waukesha are a number of mounds, tumuli, and animals, in¬ 
cluding several “ lizards,” a very fine “ bird,” and a magnificent 
“ turtle.” “ This, when first observed, was a very fine specimen of 
“ the art of mound-building, with its graceful curves, the feet pro- 
“ jecting back and forward, and the tail, with its gradual slojDe, so 
“ acutely pointed, that it was impossible to ascertain precisely where 
“ it terminated. The body was fifty-six feet in length, and the tail 
