the known home of the manatee has furnished no carvings either of the
manatee or of anything suggestive of it.

The possibility of the manatee having in past times possessed a wider
range than at present seems to have been overlooked. But as a matter of
fact the probability that the manatee ever ranged, in comparatively
modern times at least, as far north as Ohio without leaving other traces
of its presence than a few sculptured representations at the hands of an
ancient people is too small to be entertained.

Nor is the supposition that the Mound-Builders held contemporaneous
possession of the country embraced in the range of the animals whose
effigies are supposed to have been exhumed from their graves worthy of
serious discussion. If true, it would involve the contemporaneous
occupancy by the Mound-Builders, not only of the Southern United States
but of the region stretching into Southern Mexico, and even, according
to the ideas of some authors, into Central and South America, an area
which, it is needless to say, no known facts will for a moment justify
us in supposing a people of one blood to have occupied
contemporaneously.

Assuming, therefore, that the sculptures in question are the work of
the Mound-Builders and are not derived from distant parts through the
agency of trade, of which there would appear to be little doubt, and,
assuming that the sculptures represent the animals they have been
supposed to represent--of which something remains to be said--the theory
that the acquaintance of the Mound-Builders with these animals was made
in a region far distant from the one to which they subsequently migrated
would seem to be not unworthy of attention. It is necessary, however,
before advancing theories to account for facts to first consider the