prosecuted their researches in the field, and the ability and fidelity
which mark the presentation of their results to the public are
sufficiently attested by the fact that this volume has proved alike the
mine from which subsequent writers have drawn their most important
facts, and the chief inspiration for the vast amount of work in the same
direction since undertaken.

On pages 251 and 252 of the above-mentioned work appear figures of an
animal which is there called "Lamantin, Manitus, or Sea Cow,"
concerning which animal it is stated that "seven sculptured
representations have been taken from the mounds." When first discovered,
the authors continue, "it was supposed they were monstrous creations of
fancy; but subsequent investigations and comparison have shown that they
are faithful representations of one of the most singular animal
productions of the world."

These authors appear to have been the first to note the supposed
likeness of certain of the sculptured forms found in the mounds to
animals living in remote regions. That they were not slow to perceive
the ethnological interest and value of the discovery is shown by the
fact that it was immediately adduced by them as affording a clew to the
possible origin of the Mound-Builders. The importance they attached to
the discovery and their interpretation of its significance will be
apparent from the following quotation (p. 242):

Some of these sculptures have a value, so far as ethnological
research is concerned, much higher than they can claim as mere
works of art. This value is derived from the fact that they
faithfully represent animals and birds peculiar to other latitudes,
thus establishing a migration, a very extensive intercommunication