Notes respecting certain Indian Mounds and Earthworks, in the form of Animal Effigies, chiefly in the Wisconsin Territory, U.S.

              /
^ Indian Mounds and Earthworks.
«.i«^**tofc'.th©--^iiE*Af.:gas(mietett*W^ betwecriu.which
the trailsfer is to be mael%j and by means of the part "EC the gas be made to,pass in either dfe^rjtion at pleaptro:'
I oughf to .remark before closim^-that previous to my applica¬ tion, too' Messrs. Brown & Fran^f, tnd^^^^d mamifactm-ed several air pumps of this degpsipfion, with the exeeption of the tube G, which was jidded! at my suggestion; and Avhich.,^dapts it in a pe- culi§r.manner for use ip a chemical laboratory*-'" S ^ •^"Messrs. Brown & Francis also manujiweture a mucfi'^^aller air
_, jaimpj' with -a «fflgle barreljpf ,the s^me con&tpuetitifl'r       X
X
Art. VIII.—Notes respecting certain Indian Mounds and Earth¬ works, in the form of Animal Effigies, chiefly in the Wisconsin Territory, U. S.; by Richard C. Taylor, Esq.
During the past year, whilst traversing, in the society of some scientific friends, that portion of Wisconsin Territory which is bounded by Illinois to the south, and the beautiful Wisconsin River to the north, we frequently found our attention attracted by the singularly formed Indian mounds, of which the elevated prairies, as well as the rich valleys and the borders of the lakes and rivers of this region, afford such numerous specimens.
The existence of abundant traces, apparently monumental, of an ancient and now probably extinct nation, within the country under our present recognizance, was known long ago to its early explorers, of which the French were doubtless the first, in the seventeenth century, and has been mentioned by some of the travellers who have subsequently written concerning this country. But I was unprepared to discover in the forms of these remains, whose origin is so obscure, other than the usual simple tumuli; such as abound on the borders of the Ohio, and throughout the great valley of the Mississippi, and upon the green plains and rich bottoms of the Missouri; which tumuli do closely resemble those which are so profusely scattered over the plains of Europe, and are especially abundant on the chalky downs of England.
Rumors of the remains of an ancient city, discovered within the past year, in the eastern part of this territory, wherein the ground plans of supposed buildings and fortifications may still be