tion from one to two feet in depth. The earth taken from this excavation, however, would make but a small part of the large mound. South of these the ground continues to rise to a high ridge, occupied by the roads, as shown on the map, Plate XV.
As seen by the plate, many of these mounds are in a grove of timber, and have not been disturbed by cultivation. It is very much to be hoped that the good taste of the present intelligent proprietor will induce him to preserve them from destruction. This locality was doubtless one of much importance to the original inhabitants. It is protected on three sides by the marshy grounds along the margin of the river; and on the heights in the rear are several mounds, indicat- [page 26:] ing that outposts may have been guarded, so as to give warning of the first approach of an enemy.
It has been observed that among the figures represented on Plate XVI. is a lizard without a tail; and we found, on the high ground immediately south of the little village of Big Bend, two, which may be considered as turtles, with a similar deficiency. (Plate XVII, No. 3.) They closely resemble the forms described by Mr. S. Taylor.1
One of these (on the east side of the river) is apparently a group of two large and four small mounds united into one (Plate XVII. No. 4) or we may suppose the two largest united by a ridge, and the four smaller ones placed adjoining them. In each of these figures one end is larger than the other; thus indicating which was the head of the turtle. One is sixty-five feet long, and sixty-seven feet broad, measured from the extremities of the anterior projections; the other is one hundred and four feet long, and eighty-two feet broad. One, it will be observed, lies nearly north and south, and the other nearly east and west. The most southerly is the largest. May they not have been the depositories of the remains of some distinguished family, consisting of the man, his wife, and four children? We may suppose that each had a mound erected suitable in its dimensions and relative position to the dignity of the person. Thus, the father would occupy the largest, and the children the smallest of the group.
The four mounds on the border of the prairie at the south part of Plate XV. may originally have been of imitative forms, but they are now much obliterated. From these the observer commands a distant view towards the south and southwest. In digging the well near by, sticks, and logs of cedar, or tamarack wood, were found at the depth of nineteen feet below the surface.
Waukesha is the next place which seems to have been occupied by the ancient inhabitants. It was formerly known as Prairie Village or Prairieville; and being on the main road west from Milwaukee, its mounds were early brought into notice. Their general distribution and relative situation, as well as the topographical features of the locality, will be found represented on Plate XVIII. It will be noticed that they occupy three different levels: those in the lower part of the village, mostly conical, are on the lowest ground; while those in the upper part are on what may be called the second bank; and the others are on the highlands east and south of the village.
Plate XIX. represents a group of works surveyed in 1836, with the assistance of Mr. Win. T. Galley. At that time the log-house near these mounds was the only evidence of civilization in the place; and the works were uninjured by the white man, except that the large mound was made use of for a root-house, or potato-hole. The turtle-mound was then a conspicuous object; and such was its resemblance to that animal, that it was pronounced a good representation by all who saw it. The mere outline of the ground plan, as represented in the plate, fails to convey an adequate idea of this resemblance. But it is better to give the [page 27:] outline correctly, than to attempt a delineation of what may be supposed to have been intended by the builders.
On this mound was, at that time, a recent grave, protected by pickets driven on opposite sides, so as to cross at the top, as repres