Animal Carvings from Mounds of the Mississippi Valley | Page 7

side as there shown be compared with the same view as
presented by Short in The North Americans of Antiquity, p. 45, or in
MacLean's Mound-Builders, p. 107, a remarkable discrepancy between
the two will be observed.
[Illustration: Fig. 12.--Cincinnati Tablet. (Back.) From Squire and
Davis.]
In the former, near the top, is indicated what appears to be a shapeless
depression, formless and unmeaning so far as its resemblance to any
special object is concerned. The authors remark of this side of the tablet,
"The back of the stone has three deep longitudinal grooves, and several
depressions, evidently caused by rubbing,--probably produced in
sharpening the instrument used, in the sculpture." This explanation of
the depressions would seem to be reasonable, although it has been
disputed, and a "peculiar significance" (Short) attached to this side of
the tablet. In Short's engraving, while the front side corresponds closely
with the same view given by Squier and Davis, there is a notable
difference observable on the reverse side. For the formless depression
of the Squier and Davis cut not only occupies a somewhat different
position in relation to the top and sides of the tablet, but, as will be seen
by reference to the figure, it assumes a distinct form, having in some
mysterious way been metamorphosed into a figure which oddly enough
suggests the manatee. It does not appear that the attention of
archæologists has ever been directed to the fact that such a resemblance
exists; nor indeed is the resemblance sufficiently close to justify calling
it a veritable manatee. But with the aid of a little imagination it may in
a rude way suggest that animal, its earless head and the flipper being
the most striking, in fact the only, point of likeness. Conceding that the
figure as given by Short affords a rude hint of the manatee, the question
is how to account for its presence on this the latest representation of the
tablet which, according to Short, Mr. Guest, its owner, pronounces "the

first correct representations of the stone." The cast of this tablet in the
Smithsonian Institution agrees more closely with Short's representation
in respect to the details mentioned than with that given in the "Ancient
Monuments." Nevertheless, if this cast be accepted as the faithful copy
of the original it has been supposed to be, the engraving in Short's
volume is subject to criticism. In the cast the outline of the figure,
while better defined than Squier and Davis represent it to be, is still
very indefinite, the outline not only being broken into, but being in
places, especially toward the head, indistinguishable from the surface
of the tablet into which it insensibly grades. In the view as found in
Short there is none of this irregularity and indefiniteness of outline, the
figure being perfect and standing out clearly as though just from the
sculptor's hand. As perhaps on the whole the nearest approach to the
form of a manatee appearing on any object claimed to have originated
at the hands of the Mound-Builders, and from the fact that artists have
interpreted its outline so differently, this figure, given by the latest
commentators on the Cincinnati tablet, is interesting, and has seemed
worthy of mention. As, however, the authenticity of the tablet itself is
not above suspicion, but, on the contrary, is believed by many
archæologists to admit of grave doubts, the subject need not be pursued
further here.
[Illustration: Fig. 13.--Cincinnati Tablet. (Back.) From Short.]
TOUCAN.
The a priori probability that the toucan was known to the
Mound-Builders is, of course, much less than that the manatee was,
since no species of toucan occurs farther north than Southern Mexico.
Its distant habitat also militates against the idea that the
Mound-Builders could have acquired a knowledge of the bird from
intercourse with southern tribes, or that they received the supposed
toucan pipes by way of trade. Without discussing the several theories to
which the toucan pipes have given rise, let us first examine the
evidence offered as to the presence in the mounds of sculptures of the
toucan.
It is a little perplexing to find at the outset that Squier and Davis, not

content with one toucan, have figured three, and these differing from
each other so widely as to be referable, according to modern
ornithological ideas, to very distinct orders.
[Illustration: Fig. 14.--Toucan of Squier and Davis.]
The first allusion to the toucan in the Monuments of the Mississippi
Valley is found on page 194, where the authors guardedly remark of a
bird's head in terra cotta (Fig. 79), "It represents the head of a bird,
somewhat resembling the toucan, and is executed with much spirit."
This head is vaguely suggestive of a young eagle, the proportions of the
bill of which, until of some age, are considerably