s us a fair idea of effigy mounds. Here are
seen two animals, one behind the other. On paper we can readily see the
resemblance. Stretched out on the ground, and of gigantic proportions,
the resemblance is not so marked, and some might fail to notice it at
first sight. Either of those figures is over one hundred feet long,
and about fifteen feet wide. With few exceptions, effigy mounds are
inconsiderable in height, varying from one to four feet. These mounds
have been carefully studied of late years, and there is no doubt that in
many instances we can distinguish the animals represented.

Illustration of Effigy Mounds.------------------

We learn, then, that tribes formerly living in Wisconsin had the custom
of heaping up the earth in the shape of the various animals peculiar
to that section. But no effigies are found of animals that have since
become extinct, or of animals that are to be found only in other lands.

Our next cut represents the famous elephant mound of Wisconsin, on the
strength of which a number of fair theories have been given relating
to the knowledge of the mastodon by the builders of the mound, and its
consequent antiquity. It now bears some resemblance to an elephant,
but we learn that the trunk was probably produced by the washing of the
banks and, from the same cause, a projection above the head, supposed to
represent horns, has disappeared. Taking these facts into consideration,
it is quite as likely that it represented a buffalo.<44> One writer even
thinks he found a representation of a camel, but the fact is, the more
these effigy mounds are studied, the more certain are we that they are
representations of animals formerly common in that region.

Illustration of Elephant Mound and Emblematic Mounds.--------

The manner in which they represented the various animals is full of
interest to us. It has been discovered that they worked on a system. The
last cut represents a group of three animals discovered a few miles from
the Blue Mounds in Dane County. We notice at once a difference between
the central animal, with a tail, and the other two. It will also be
observed that the animals are represented in profile, with only
two projections for legs. They are never separated so that we can
distinguish the two front and the two hind feet. Animals so figured are
the bear, fox, wolf, panther, and others. Grazing animals, such as the
buffalo, elk, and deer, are represented with a projection for h