dawn, performed mysterious rites.

On the west, there is erected a mound, 170 feet long and 14 feet in
height, which overlooks the whole works, and has been styled "the
Observatory". To the east is a true circle 2,880 feet in
circumference, the wall being 6 feet in height. To the north of this
is an avenue leading from the circle to an octagon of fifty acres, in
the wall of which are eight gateways, which, however, are covered by
mounds five feet in height. From this strange eight-sided figure run
three parallel walls. Those to the south are about two miles in
length, and those running towards the east are each about one mile in
length.

About a mile east, where the middle line of parallel walls terminates,
is a square containing twenty acres, within and around the walls of
which are disposed seven mounds. To the north-east of this is an
elliptical work of large dimensions. On the south-east is a circle, in
the centre of which is the form of a bird with wings expanded. The
body is 155 feet, the length of each wing 110 feet, and the head of
the bird is towards the opening. When this structure was opened, there
was found an altar, proving that, in this circular place, this ancient
people must have assembled for worship.

There is a place three miles north of Chillicothe, where an extensive
enclosure--now called "Mound City"--contains 26 well formed and
regularly disposed mounds, covering an area of 13 acres. Many of those
mounds contained altars at their base, but have been subsequently
converted into ordinary mounds. One mound, which is 90 feet in
diameter at the base and 7-1/2 feet in height, contained an altar,
within the basin of which was found a layer of solid ashes three