There are, however, in Ohio two large and important mounds built in the shape of animals which may, possibly, have been made for the purpose of indicating the emblems which were adopted by the Indians as their totems. One of these is placed on the summit of a hill overlooking the valley of one of the tributaries of the Licking river, and about three miles from the octagonal inclosure near Newark. In consequence of its shape, it is called the Alligator. There have been various theories with regard to this strange earthwork, and it has been supposed that sacrificial ceremonies were performed there. I had expected to find this figure to a certain extent excavated upon the surface of the earth, but I observed, upon examining it, that it was a regularly built up mound of considerable size. The other large totem, which represents a huge serpent, is upon the brow of a hill about one hundred miles to the South-west of the Alligator, above a small river called the Brush Creek. According to the measurements of the earliest surveyors, its length, if extended, is about one thousand feet. It was five feet high in the centre, and had, at that part, a base of thirty feet, which diminished towards the head and tail.[22] Upon the slopes of the hills near the Alligator, there are numerous remains of ancient earthworks. One of the most extensive of them was in every respect different from those at Newark, and other geometrically designed works, and seems to have been raised for other purposes, or possibly by a different tribe. Its embankments, which are irregular in their form, are in no part higher than six feet, and are thrown up in such a manner as to inclose the top of a small hill, which is situated a short distance from the Alligator. The area contained within them is about eighteen acres. In the centre there is a small circular earthwork nearly one hundred yards in circumference, and in another part of the inclosure there are two mounds which have been opened. They contained large quantities of ashes and some broken pottery. There are also other camping grounds near the river. The largest of them inclosed a space exceeding twenty acres, and was surrounded by a low bank evidently thrown up for the purposes of inclosing a temporary encampment. Near the Alligator totem I noticed a singular earthwork made in the shape of a half-moon. The farmers living in the neighbourhood told me that they had opened and destroyed many of the small mounds that had been upon their lands. In all cases they had contained nothing but fragments of rough pottery, together with small heaps of ashes.[23]