The Project Gutenberg EBook of Animal Carvings from Mounds of the
Mississippi Valley, by Henry W. Henshaw

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Title: Animal Carvings from Mounds of the Mississippi Valley
Second Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the
Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1880-81,
Government Printing Office, Washington, 1883, pages 117-166

Author: Henry W. Henshaw

Release Date: April 17, 2006 [EBook #18184]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANIMAL CARVINGS FROM MOUNDS ***

Produced by Verity White, PM for Bureau of American
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SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION----BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY.

ANIMAL CARVINGS

FROM

MOUNDS OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.

BY

HENRY W. HENSHAW.

CONTENTS.

Introductory 123
Manatee 125
Toucan 135
Paroquet 139
Knowledge of tropical animals by Mound-Builders 142
Other errors of identification 144
Skill in sculpture of the Mound-Builders 148
Generalization not designed 149
Probable totemic origin 150
Animal mounds 152
The "Elephant" mound 152
The "Alligator" mound 158
Human sculptures 160
Indian and mound-builders' art compared 164
General conclusions 166

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Fig. 4.--Otter from Squier and Davis 128
5.--Otter from Squier and Davis 128
6.--Otter from Rau. Manatee from Stevens 129
7.--Manatee from Stevens 129
8.--Lamantin or Sea-Cow from Squier and Davis 130
9.--Lamantin or Sea-Cow from Squier 130
10.--