Proceeding upon the assumption that they were designed as burial-places, Mr. R. C. Taylor ingeniously suggests that their forms were intended to designate the cemeteries of the respective tribes or families to which they belonged: thus, the tribe, clan, or family possessing as its characteristic «totem», blazon, or emblem, the Bear, constructed the burial-place of its members in the form of that animal; the clans having the Panther, Turtle, Eagle, or other animal or object for their «totems», respectively conforming to the same practice. Upon this hypothesis we can readily conceive the ancient inhabitant to have possessed the same anxiety to be buried in his family tomb which we see exhibited at this day, among our own people, “to rest in the sepulchres of their fathers.” Mr. Taylor discreetly remarks, however, that there is no evidence to show that any existing tribes of Indians ever erected such monuments, but that, on the contrary, they acknowledge the profoundest ignorance of their origin. He advances the suggestion only as a plausible conjecture, in the absence of any satisfactory solution of the problem, which still remains unsolved.
What significance may attach to the fact that they occur mainly on the great lines of traverse between the Mississippi and Lake Michigan, or to the further fact that most if not all of these groups have one or more conical mounds so placed as to command a view of the remainder, it is not undertaken to say.[88] That similar works are found in the central and western portions of Michigan, as [p135] well as in Wisconsin, we have the assurance of witnesses whose statements are entitled to full credit. Whether they are identical with those noticed above is unknown; their character remains to be ascertained.[89] The few animal effigies found in Ohio, and of which an account has already been given, seem to have few features in common with those of the North-west, and probably, in their purposes, admit of less doubt. We cannot venture to assign a similar origin to the latter,—certainly not, until we are in possession of more facts concerning them, whereon to base our conclusions.
The absence of enclosures, or works of defence, (such as are found in great numbers in the Ohio valley,) in connection with these animal effigies, has been noticed in a preceding page. It appears that the effigies themselves, accompanied by short, low lines of embankment, are sometimes so arranged as nearly to enclose certain areas; whether the arrangement resulted from design or accident is not however very apparent.