# indx_content

c0: 31351
c1: Brinton, Daniel G. (Daniel Garrison)
c2: A Record of Study in Aboriginal American Languages
c6: 6764
c7: 516
c8: 67
c9: 31351.txt
c10: 31351.txt
c4:
  Proceedings of the _American Philosophical Society_, November, 1893. 23. In _Proceedings_ of American Philosophical Society, November, 1897.

c5:
  american; american philosophical; language; mexico; nahuatl; native; notes; philosophical; proceedings; society; stock; vocabulary

c11:
   Transcriber's Note A number of typographical errors have been maintained in this version of this book. They have been marked with a [TN-#], which refers to a description in the complete list found at the end of the text. A RECORD OF STUDY IN ABORIGINAL AMERICAN LANGUAGES BY DANIEL G. BRINTON, A.M., M.D., LL.D., Sc.D., _Professor of American Archæology and Linguistics in the University of Pennsylvania_ PRINTED FOR PRIVATE DISTRIBUTION MEDIA, PA., 1898 PRESS OF THE NEW ERA PRINTING COMPANY, LANCASTER, PA. PREFATORY. If this review of my own work in the field of American Linguistics requires an apology, I may say that the preparation of it was suggested to me by my late friend, Mr. James Constantine Pilling, whose admirable volumes on the bibliography of American Aboriginal Languages are familiar to all students. He had experienced the difficulty of cataloguing the articles of writers whose contributions extend over many years, and have been published in different journals, proceedings of societies and volumes, and was impressed with the advantage of an analytical list composed by the author himself. With this in view, I have arranged the present survey of my writings in this branch of science, extending over a period of two score years. They are grouped geographically, and sufficient reference to their contents subjoined to indicate their aims and conclusions. D. G. BRINTON. MEDIA, PENNA., November, 1898. I. GENERAL ARTICLES AND WORKS. 1. The Philosophic Grammar of American Languages as set forth by Wilhelm von Humboldt; with the translation of an unpublished Memoir by him on the American Verb. pp. 51. In _Proceedings_ of the American Philosophical Society, 1885. 2. On Polysynthesis and Incorporation as characteristics of American Languages. pp. 41. In _Proceedings_ of the American Philosophical Society, 1885. 3. Characteristics of American Languages. _American Antiquarian_, January, 1894. 4. On certain morphologic traits in American Languages. _American Antiquarian_, October, 1894. 5. On various supposed relations between the American and Asiatic Races. _Memoirs_ of the International Congress of Anthropology, 1893. 6. The Present Status of American Linguistics. _Memoirs_ of the International Congress of Anthropology, 1893. 7. American Languages and why we should Study them. An address delivered before the Pennsylvania Historical Society. pp. 23. In _Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography_, 1885. 8. The Rate of Change in American Languages. In _Science_, Vol. X., 1887. 9. Traits of Primitive Speech, illustrated from American languages. In _Proceedings_ of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, August, 1888. 10. The Language of Palæolithic Man. pp. 14. In _Proceedings_ of the American Philosophical Society, October, 1888. 11. The American Race: A Linguistic Classification and Ethnographic Description of the Native Tribes of North and South America. pp. 392. New York, 1891. 12. The Standard Dictionary (Indian Words in). New York, 1894. 13. Aboriginal American Authors and their Productions, especially those in the Native Languages. pp. 63. Philadelphia, 1883. 14. American Aboriginal Poetry. pp. 21. In _Proceedings_ of the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia, 1883. 15. The Conception of Love in some American Languages. pp. 18. In _Proceedings_ of the American Philosophical Society, November, 1886. The earlier numbers, (1-4,) in the above list are occupied with the inquiry whether the native American languages, as a group, have peculiar morphological traits, which justify their classification as one of the great divisions of human speech. In this question, I have been a disciple of Wilhelm von Humboldt and Professor H. Steinthal, and have argued that the phenomenon of Incorporation, in some of its forms, is markedly present in the vast majority, if not in all, American tongues. That which has been called "polysynthesis" is one of these forms. This is nothing more than a familiar, nigh universal, grammatic process carried to an extreme degree. It is the _dvanda_ of the Sanscrit grammarians, an excellent study of which has recently appeared from the pen of Dr. H. C. Müller.[6-1] In its higher forms Incorporation subordinates the nominal concepts of the phrase to those of time and relation, which are essentially verbal, and this often where the true verbal concept, that of abstract action, is lacking, and the verb itself is in reality a noun in the possessive relation.[6-2][TN-1] Even extremely simple American languages, such as the Zoque, display the tendency to energetic synthesis;[6-3] while many of them carry the incorporative quality to such a degree that the sentence becomes one word, a good example of which is the Micmac.[6-4] Some American and French writers have misunderstood the nature of this trait, and have denied it; but the student who acquaints himself thoroughly with the authors above mentioned, will not be misled.[6-5] The MS. of the Memoir by W. von Humboldt I obtained from the Berlin Library. Even Professor Steinthal, in his edition of Humboldt's linguistic Works, had overlooked it. It is a highly philosophic analysis of the verb, as it occurs in the languages of the following tribes: Abipones, Achaguas, Betoyas, Caribs, Huastecas, Lules, Maipures, Mayas, Mbayas, Mexicans (Nahuas), Mixtecas, Mocovis, Omaguas, Otomis, Tamanacas, Totonacos, Tupis, Yaruros. In (5) I have examined the various alleged affiliations between American and Asiatic tongues, and showed they are wholly unfounded. In (7) I have entered a plea for more attention to American languages. Not only for ethnographic purposes are they useful, but their primitive aspects and methods of presenting ideas enable us to solve psychological and grammatic problems more completely than other tongues. In support of this, in (9) and (10), I endeavor to outline what must have been the morphology of the language which man spoke when in the very beginning of his existence as man; a speech of marvelous simplicity, but adapted to his wants. The volume, of nearly four hundred pages, entitled _The American Race_ (No. 11) was the first attempt at a systematic classification of all the tribes of America, North, Central and South, on the basis of language. It defines seventy-nine linguistic stocks in North America and sixty-one in South America. The number of tribes named and referred to these stocks is nearly sixteen hundred. Several of these stocks are defined for the first time, such as the Tequistlatecan of Mexico, the Matagalpan of Central America, and in South America the Timote, the Paniquita, the Cocanuca, the Mocoa, the Betoya, the Lamuca, etc. In the article (8) I show that, contrary to an oft expressed opinion, the rate of change in these unwritten tongues is remarkably slow, not greater than in cultivated languages. When the publishers of the _Standard Dictionary_ (New York, 1895) were preparing that well-known work, they placed in my hands all the words in the English language derived from the native tongues of America. Although the etymology of some of them remains obscure, I believe the derivation of all positively traced will be found presented. I early became convinced that the translations of books of devotion, etc., into the native tongues gave no correct impression of those tongues. The ideas conveyed were foreign to the primitive mind, and the translations were generally by foreigners who had not completely mastered the idioms. Hence, the only true reflex of a language is in the words and thoughts of the natives themselves, in their indigenous literature. This led me to project the publication of a series of volumes containing writings, preferably on secular subjects, by natives in their own languages. That there is such a literature I undertook to show in (13) and (14). The former was the expansion of a paper presented to the International Congress of Americanists at Copenhagen. It contains a list of native American authors and notices of a number of their works composed in their own tongues. That on "aboriginal poetry" vindicates for native American bards a respectable position among lyric and dramatic composers. That some of the central subjects of poetic literature--the emotions of love and friendship--exist, and often in no low form of sentiment, among these natives, I have undertaken to show by an analysis of a number of terms expressing these feelings in five leading American linguistic stocks, the Algonkin, Nahuatl, Maya, Quechua and Tupi (No. 15). Following out this plan, I began in 1882 the publication of "The Library of Aboriginal American Literature." Each volume was to contain a work composed in a native tongue by a native; but those based upon foreign inspiration, such as sermons, etc., were to be excluded. Each was to be translated and edited with sufficient completeness to make it available for the general student. Of this "Library" eight volumes were issued, the first in 1882, the eighth in 1890, when I ceased the publication, not from lack of material, but because I had retired in 1887 from my connection with the publishing business and became more engaged in general anthropological pursuits. The "Library," as issued, contains the following numbers: No. I. The Chronicles of the Mayas. Edited by Daniel G. Brinton, M. D. 279 pages. 1882. This volume contains five brief chronicles in the Maya language, written shortly after the conquest, and carrying the history of that people back many centuries. To these is added a history of the conquest, written in his native tongue, by a Maya chief, in 1562. This interesting account has been published separately, with an excellent grammatical and lexical analysis by the Count de Charencey, under the title _Chrestomathie Maya, d'après la Chronique de Chac-Xulub-Chen_ (Paris, 1891). The texts are preceded by an introduction on the history of the Mayas, their language, calendar, numerical system, etc.; and a vocabulary is added at the close. No. II. The Iroquois Book of Rites. Edited by Horatio Hale. 222 pages. 1883. This work contains, in the Mohawk and Onondaga languages, the speeches, songs and rituals with which a deceased chief was lamented and his successor installed in office. The introduction treats of the ethnology and history of the Huron-Iroquois. A map, notes and glossary complete the work. No. III. The Comedy-Ballet of Güegüence. Edited by Daniel G. Brinton, M. D. 146 pages. 1883. A curious and unique specimen of the native comic dances, with dialogues, called _bailes_, formerly common in Central America. It is in the mixed Nahuatl-Spanish jargon of Nicaragua, and shows distinctive features of native authorship. The introduction treats of the ethnology of Nicaragua, and the local dialects, musical instruments and dramatic representations. A map and a number of illustrations are added. No. IV. A Migration Legend of the Creek Indians. Edited by A. S. Gatschet. 251 pages. 1884. Offers a survey of the ethnology of the native tribes of the Gulf States. The legend told to Governor Oglethorpe, in 1732, by the Creeks, is given in the original. No. V. The Lenâpé and Their Legends. Edited by Daniel G. Brinton, M. D. 262 pages. 1885. Contains the complete text and symbols, 184 in number, of the "Walum Olum," or "Red Score," of the Delaware Indians, with the full original text, and a new translation, notes and vocabulary. A lengthy introduction treats of the Lenâpé or Delawares, their history, customs, myths, language, etc., with numerous references to other tribes of the great Algonkin stock. No. VI. The Annals of the Cakchiquels. Edited by Daniel G. Brinton, M. D. 234 pages. 1885. The original text, written about 1562, by a member of the reigning family, with a translation, introduction, notes and vocabulary. This may be considered one of the most important historical documents relating to the pre-Columbian period. No. VII. Ancient Nahuatl Poetry. Edited by Daniel G. Brinton, M. D. 176 pages. 1890. In this volume twenty-seven songs in the original Nahuatl are presented, with translation, notes, vocabulary, etc. Many of them date from before the conquest and none later than the sixteenth century. The introduction describes the ancient poetry of the Nahuas in all its bearings. No. VIII. Rig Veda Americanus. Edited by Daniel G. Brinton, M. D. 95 pages. 1890. Presents the original text with a gloss in Nahuatl of twenty sacred chants of the ancient Mexicans. They are preserved in the Madrid MSS. of Father Sahagun, and date anterior to the Conquest. A paraphrase, notes and a vocabulary are added, and a number of curious illustrations are reproduced from the original. The edition of each of these was about 400 copies, except No. II., of which 900 were printed. A complete set is now difficult to obtain. II. NORTH AMERICAN LANGUAGES NORTH OF MEXICO. 16. Lenâpé-English Dictionary. From an anonymous MS. in the archives of the Moravian Church at Bethlehem, Pa., with additions, by Daniel G. Brinton and Rev. Albert Seqaqkind Anthony, 4to, pp. 326. Philadelphia, 1888. Published by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. 17. The Lenâpé and their Legends; with the complete Text and Symbols of the Walum Olum, a new Translation and an Inquiry into its Authenticity. pp. 262. Illustrated. Philadelphia, 1885. 18. Lenâpé Conversations. In _American Journal of Folk-Lore_, Vol. I. 19. The Shawnees and their Migrations. In _American Historical Magazine_, January, 1866. 20. The Chief God of the Algonkins, in his Character as a Cheat and Liar. In the _American Antiquarian_, May, 1885. 21. On certain supposed Nanticoke words shown to be of African origin. _American Antiquarian_, 1887. 22. Vocabulary of the Nanticoke dialect. Proceedings of the _American Philosophical Society_, November, 1893. 23. The Natchez of Louisiana, an Offshoot of the Civilized Nations of Central America. In the _Historical Magazine_ (New York), for January, 1867. 24. On the Language of the Natchez. In _Proceedings_ of the American Philosophical Society, December, 1873. 25. Grammar of the Choctaw Language. By the Rev. Cyrus Byington. Edited from the original MS. by D. G. Brinton. pp. 56. In _Proceedings_ of the American Philosophical Society, 1870. 26. Contributions to a Grammer[TN-2] of the Muskokee Language. In _Proceedings_ of the American Philosophical Society, March, 1870. 27. The Floridian Peninsula, its Literary History, Indian Tribes, and Antiquities. 8vo, cloth, pp. 202. Philadelphia, 1859. 28. The Taensa Grammar and Dictionary. A deception exposed. In _American Antiquarian_, March, 1885. 29. The Taensa Grammar and Dictionary. A reply to M. Lucien Adam. In _American Antiquarian_, September, 1885. Within the area of the United States, my articles have been confined practically to two groups, the Algonkian dialects and those spoken in Florida and the Gulf States. The Delaware Indians or Lenni Lenâpé, who occupied the valley of the Delaware River and the land east of it to the ocean, although long in peaceful association with the white settlers, were never studied, linguistically, except by the Moravian missionaries, in the latter half of the eighteenth century. In examining the MSS. in the Moravian Church at Bethlehem, Pa., I discovered a MS. dictionary of their tongue, containing about 4,300 words. This I had carefully copied, and induced a native Delaware, an educated clergyman of the English Church, the Rev. Albert Seqaqkind Anthony, to pass a fortnight at my house, going over it with me, word by word. The MS. thus revised, was published by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania as the first number of its "Student Series." Various interesting items illustrating the beliefs and customs of the Delawares of the present day, communicated to me by Mr. Anthony, I collected into the article (18), "Lenâpé Conversations." A few years previous I had succeeded in obtaining the singular MS. referred to by C. S. Rafinesque, in 1836, as the "Painted Record" of the Delaware Indians, the _Walum Olum,_ properly, "painted" or "red" "score." This I reproduced in No. 17, with the accessories mentioned above (p. 9). There is no doubt of the general authenticity of this record. A corroboration of it was sent me in March of this year (1898) by Dr. A. S. Gatschet, of the U. S. Bureau of American Ethnology. He writes: "When the Delaware delegate, Johnnycake, was here for the last time, he told Mr. J. B. N. Hewitt (also attached to the Bureau) that some of the Lenâpé Indians, near Nowata, Cherokee Nation, had seen your publication on the _Walum Olum_. They belong to the oldest men of that tribe, and stated that the text was all right, and that they remembered the songs from their youth. They could give many additions, and said that a few passages were in the wrong order and had to be placed elsewhere to give them the full meaning they were intended to convey." This was cheering confirmation to me that my labor had not been expended on a fantastic composition of Rafinesque's, as some have been inclined to think. Some years ago I contemplated the publication of a work through the American Folklore Society on Algonquian Mythology. Various reasons led me to lay it aside. Part of the material was introduced into my works on the general mythology of the American tribes,[12-1] and one fragment appeared in (20) in which I offered a psychological explanation of the character of the hero god Gluscap, so prominent in the legends of the Micmacs and Abenakis. At that time I was not acquainted with the ingenious suggestions on the etymology of the name subsequently advocated by the native author, Joseph Nicolar.[12-2] The Nanticokes lived on the eastern shore of Chesapeake Bay. In collecting their vocabularies I found one alleged to have been obtained from them, but differing completely from the Algonquian dialects. It had been partly printed by Dr. Benjamin Smith Barton,[12-3] but remained a puzzle. My article (21) proves that it belongs to the Mandingo language of western Africa. It was doubtless obtained from some negro slave. The Nanticoke vocabulary (22) was secured in 1792 for Mr. Thomas Jefferson. I give the related terms in the other dialects of the stock. The Natchez are an interesting people of whose rites we have strange accounts from the early French explorers. Their language is a small stock by itself. At one time I thought it related to the Maya (23); but this is probably an error. In (24) I printed a vocabulary of words obtained for me from a native, together with some slight grammatical material. The Taensas were a branch of the Natchez, speaking the same tongue; but in 1881, J. Parisot presented an article of half a dozen pages to the International Congress of Americanists on what he called the "Hastri or Taensa Language," totally different from the Natchez.[13-1] Subsequently this was expanded to a volume, and appeared as Tome IX. of the _Bibliothêque Linguistique Américaine_ (Maisonneuve et Cie, Paris) introduced by the well-known scholars Lucien Adam and Albert S. Gatschet. It passed unchallenged until 1885, when I proved conclusively that the whole was a forgery of some young seminarists, and had been palmed off on these unsuspecting scientists out of a pleasure in mystification (28). As I have given the details elsewhere, I shall not repeat them.[13-2] The works of Pareja in the Timuquana tongue of Florida were unknown to linguists when, in 1859, I published the little volume (27). In it, however, I called attention to them, and from the scanty references in Hervas expressed the opinion that it might be related to the Carib. This was an error, as no such affinity appears on the fuller examination of the tongue now possible, since Pareja's grammar has been republished,[13-3] and texts of the Timuquana have been reproduced by Buckingham Smith.[13-4] The language stands alone, an independent stock. III. MEXICAN AND CENTRAL AMERICAN LANGUAGES. 30. The Native Calendar of Central America and Mexico. In _Proceedings_ of the American Philosophical Society, November, 1893. 31. The Lineal Measures of the Semi-civilized Nations of Mexico and Central America. In _Proceedings_ of the American Philosophical Society, January, 1885. 32. On the Chontallis and Popolucas. In the Compte Rendu du Congrés des Américanistes, 1890. 33. The Study of the Nahuatl Language. In the _American Antiquarian_, January, 1886. 34. The Written Language of the Ancient Mexicans. In _Transactions_ of the American Philosophical Society, 1889. 35. The ancient phonetic alphabet of Yucatan. In _American Historical Magazine_, 1870. 36. The Graphic System and ancient Records of the Mayas. In _Contributions to American Ethnology_, Vol. V., Washington, 1882. 37. The Phonetic Elements in the Graphic Systems of the Mayas and Mexicans. In _American Antiquarian_, November, 1886. 38. On the "Ikonomatic" Method of Phonetic Writing. In _Proceedings_ of the American Philosophical Society, 1886. 39. A Primer of Mayan Hieroglyphics. pp. 152. Boston, 1895. 40. What the Mayan Inscriptions tell about. In _American Archæologist_, 1894. 41. On the "Stone of the Giants" near Orizaba, Mexico. In _Proceedings_ of the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia, 1889. 42. On the Nahuatl version of Sahagun's Historia de la Nueva España, at Madrid. In the _Compte Rendu_ of the Congrés International des Americanistes, 7^eme Session. 43. On the words "Anahuac" and "Nahuatl." In _American Antiquarian_, November, 1893. 44. On the so-called Alagüilac Language of Guatemala. In _Proceedings_ of the American Philosophical Society, November, 1887. 45. The Güegüence; a Comedy Ballet in the Nahuatl-Spanish Dialect of Nicaragua. pp 94. Philadelphia, 1883. 46. Ancient Nahuatl Poetry; Containing the Nahuatl Text of Twenty-seven Ancient Mexican Poems; With Translation, Introduction, Notes and Vocabulary. pp. 177. 1887. 47. Rig Veda Americanus. Sacred Songs of the Ancient Mexicans, with a Gloss in Nahuatl. With Paraphrase, Notes and Vocabulary. pp. 95. Illustrated. Philadelphia, 1890. 48. A notice of some Manuscripts of Central American Languages. In the _American Journal of Science and Arts_ (New Haven), March, 1869. 49. The Maya Chronicles. pp. 279. Philadelphia, 1882. 50. The Books of Chilan Balam, the Prophetic and Historic Records of the Mayas of Yucatan. In the _Penn Monthly_, March, 1882. 51. The Names of the Gods in the Kiche Myths. pp. 38. In _Proceedings_ of the American Philosophical Society, 1881. 52. On the Chane-abal (Four-Language) Tribe and Dialect of Chiapas. In the _American Anthropologist_, January, 1888. 53. A Grammar of the Cakchiquel Language of Guatemala. Translated from an Ancient Spanish MS., with an Introduction and numerous Additions. pp. 67. In _Proceedings_ of the American Philosophical Society, 1884. 54. The Annals of the Cakchiquels. The Original text, with a Translation, Notes and Introduction. pp. 234. Illustrated. Philadelphia, 1885. 55. On some Affinities of the Otomi and Tinné Stocks. International Congress of Americanists, 1894. 56. Observations on the Chinantec Language of Mexico and the Mazatec Language and its Affinities. In _Proceedings_ of the American Philosophical Society, 1892. 57. Notes on the Mangue dialect. In _Proceedings_ of the American Philosophical Society, November, 1885. 58. On the Xinca Indians of Guatemala. In _Proceedings_ of the American Philosophical Society, October, 1884. 59. The Ethnic Affinities of the Guetares of Costa Rica. In _Proceedings_ of the American Philosophical Society, December, 1897. 60. On the Matagalpan Linguistic Stock of Central America. In _Proceedings_ of the American Philosophical Society, December, 1895. 61. Some Vocabularies from the Mosquito Coast. In _Proceedings_ of the American Philosophical Society, March, 1891. The _Popol Vuh_, or "sacred book" of the Quiches of Guatemala was published by the Abbé Brasseur in 1861. The study (51) is an effort to analyze the names of the gods which it contains and to extract their symbolic significance. The Chane-abal dialect of Chiapas (52) is a mixed jargon, the component elements of which I have endeavored to set forth from MS. material collected by Dr. Berendt. Another language of Chiapas is the "Chapanecan." In (57) and also in the introduction to (45) I have shown, from unpublished sources, its close relationship to the Mangue of Nicaragua. The Mazatec language of Oaxaca, is examined for the first time in (56) from material supplied me by Mr. A. Pinart. It is shown to have relations with the Chapanecan and others with Costa Rican tongues. The article on the Chinantec, (56) a little-known tongue of Oaxaca, is an analysis of its forms and a vocabulary from the _Doctrina_ of Father Barreda and notes of Dr. Berendt. The Cakchiquels occupied most of the soil of Guatemala at the period of the Conquest, and their tongue was that chosen to be the "Metropolitan" language of the diocess. In (53) I gave a translation of an unpublished grammar of it, the MS. being one in the archives of the American Philosophical Society. In some respects it is superior to the grammar of Flores. The higher culture of the tribes of Central America and Mexico gives a special interest to the study of their languages, oral and written; for with some of them we find moderately well-developed methods of recording ideas. Much of this culture was intimately connected with their astrological methods and these with their calendar. This remarkable artificial computation of time, based on the relations of the numerals 13 and 20 applied to various periods, was practically the same among the Mayas, Nahuas, Zapotecs, Mixtecs, Chapanecs, Otomis and Tarascos--seven different linguistic stocks--and unknown elsewhere on the globe. The study of it (30) is exclusively from its linguistic and symbolic side. It is strange that nowhere in North America was any measure of weight known to the natives. Their lineal measures were drawn chiefly from the proportions of the human body. They are investigated in (31). Under the names _Chontalli_ and _Popoluca_, both Nahuatl words indicating "foreigners," ethnographers have included tribes of wholly diverse lineage. In (32) I have shown that some are Tzentals, others Tequistlatecas, Ulvas, Mixes, Zapotecs, Nahuas, Lencas and Cakchiquels, thus doing away with the confusion introduced by these inappropriate ethnic terms. No. (33) is an article for the use of students of the Nahuatl language, mentioning the principal grammars, dictionaries and text-books which are available. The numbers (34), (35), (36), (37), (38), (39), (40) and (41), are devoted to the methods of writing invented by the cultured natives of Mexico and Central America in order to preserve their literature, such as it was. The methods are various, that of the Nahuas not being identical with that of the Mayas. The former is largely phonetic, but in a peculiar manner, for which I have proposed the term of "ikonomatic," the principle being that of the rebus. That this method can be successfully applied to the decipherment of inscriptions I demonstrated in the translation of one which is quite celebrated, the "Stone of the Giants" at Orizaba, Mexico (41). The translation I proposed has been fully accepted.[16-1] The "Primer of Mayan Hieroglyphics" (39) was intended as a summary of what had been achieved up to that time (1895) by students in this branch. It endeavored, moreover, to render to each student the credit of his independent work; and as, unfortunately, some, notably in Germany, had put forward as their own what belonged to others of earlier date, the book naturally was not very well treated by such reviewers. Its aim, however, to present a concise and fair statement of what had been accomplished in its field up to the date of its publication was generally conceded to have been attained. Much of the considerable manuscript material which I have accumulated on the languages of this section of the continent was obtained from the collections of the late Dr. Carl Hermann Berendt and the Abbé E. C. Brasseur (de Bourbourg). When in Spain, in 1888, I found in the Royal Library the MS. of the earlier portion of Sahagun's "History of New Spain" in Nahuatl. I described it in (42). The term "Anahuac" has long been applied to the territory of Mexico. Dr. E. Seler, of Berlin, published an article asserting that this was an error, and devoid of native authority. In (43) I pointed out that in this he was wrong, as early Nahuatl records use it in this sense. The Alaguilac language of Guatemala, long a puzzle to linguistics, is shown in (44) to be an isolated dialect of the Nahuatl. Nos. (45), (46), (47), (49) and (54), have been already mentioned. The term _Chilan balam_, which may be freely rendered "the inspired speaker," was the title of certain priests of the native Mayas. Many records in the Maya tongue, written after the conquests, go by the name of "the Books of Chilan Balam." They have never been published, but copies of them, made by Dr. Berendt, are in my possession. Their purpose and contents were described in (50). There are reasons for believing that previous to the arrival of the Cakchiquels in Guatemala its area was largely peopled by Xincas. Of this little-known stock I present in (58) three extended vocabularies, from unpublished sources, with comments on the "culture-words." Some apparent but no decisive affinities between the Otomi of Mexico and the Tinné or Athapascan dialects are shown in (55); and in (59) the ancient Guetares of Costa Rica are proved, on linguistic evidence, to have been members of the Talamancan linguistic stock. The Matagalpan is an interesting family, first defined in _The American Race_, and in (60) more fully discussed, as they survive in San Salvador. In (61) some unpublished vocabularies from the tribe of the Ramas, on the Mosquito coast, place them as members of the Changuina stock, most of whom dwelt on the Isthmus of Panama. IV. SOUTH AMERICAN AND ANTILLEAN LANGUAGES. 62. Remarks on the MS. Arawack Vocabulary of Schultz. In _Proceedings_ of the American Philosophical Society, 1869. 63. The Arawack Language of Guiana in its Linguistic and Ethnological Relations. In _Transactions_ of the American Philosophical Society, 1871. 64. Studies in South American Languages. pp. 67. In _Proceedings_ of the American Philosophical Society, 1892. 65. Some words from the Andagueda dialect of the Choco stock. In _Proceedings_ of American Philosophical Society, November, 1897. 66. Vocabulary of the Noanama dialect of the Choco stock. In _Proceedings_ of the American Philosophical Society, November, 1896. 67. Note on the Puquina Language of Peru. In _Proceedings_ of the American Philosophical Society, November, 1890. 68. Further Notes on the Betoya dialects. In _Proceedings_ of the American Philosophical Society, October, 1892. 69. The Linguistic Cartography of the Chaco Region. In _Proceedings_ of the American Philosophical Society, October, 1898. 70. Further Notes on Fuegian Languages. In _Proceedings_ of the American Philosophical Society, 1892. 71. On two recent, unclassified Vocabularies from South America. In _Proceedings_ of the American Philosophical Society, October, 1898. The library of the American Philosophical Society contains a MS. copy of the Arawack vocabulary of the missionary Schultz, the same work, apparently, which was edited from another copy by M. Lucien Adam in 1882. A study of this MS. led me to discover the identity of the so-called "Lucayan" of the Bahamas, the language of Cuba, fragments of which have been presented, and the "Taino" of Haiti, with the Arawack. They had previously been considered either of Mayan or Caribbean affinities. The results are presented in (63). The "Studies" in (64) are ten in number. No. I. is on the Tacana language and its dialects, and is the only attempt, up to the present time, to determine the boundaries and character of this tongue. Texts and a vocabulary in five of its dialects are given. No. II. is on the Jivaro or Xebero tongue, and is entirely from unpublished sources. A grammatical sketch, texts and a vocabulary give a moderately complete material for comparison. No. III. presents the first printed account of the Cholona language on the River Huallaga, drawn from MSS. in the British Museum. In No. IV. is a discussion of the relations of the Leca language spoken on the Rio Mapiri. No. V. contains a text of some length in the Manao dialect of the Arawack stock, the original MS. being in the British Museum. The Bonaris are an extinct tribe of the Carib stock. No. VI. contains the only vocabulary which has been preserved of their dialect. On a loose sheet in the British Museum, among papers on Patagonia, I found a short vocabulary in a tongue called "Hongote," which I could not locate and hence published it in No. VII. It subsequently proved to be one of the North Pacific Coast languages. The same "Study" presents a comparative vocabulary in fourteen Patagonian dialects, with notes (Tsoneca, Tehuelche, Puelche, Tekennika (Yahgan), Alikuluf, etc.). In Study No. VIII. are discussed the various dialects of the Kechua or Quichua tongue of Peru, with an unpublished text from the Pacasa dialect. No. IX. examines the affinities which have been noted between the languages of North and South America, especially in the Mazatec and Costa Rican dialects of the northern Continent. Finally, No. X. aims to define for the first time the linguistic stock to which belong the dialects of the Betoyas, Tucanos, Zeonas and other tribes on the rivers Napo, Meta, Apure and their confluents. Further information on this stock is given in (68). The Choco stock extends widely over the northwest angle of the southern continent. In (65) and (66) I have printed short vocabularies of some of its dialects secured for me from living natives by Mr. Henry G. Granger. The Puquina language of Peru was quite unknown to linguists when, in 1890, I published the article (67) containing material in it from the extremely rare work of Geronimo de Ore, entitled _Rituale Peruanum_ (Naples, 1607). Since then an extended essay upon it has been written by M. de la Grasserie. In the "Further Notes on the Fuegian Languages" (70), I have printed an Alikuluf vocabulary of 1695, with comparisons, and given a vocabulary of the idiom of the Onas, pointing out some affinities with the Yahgan. Few linguistic areas on the continent have been more obscure than that called "El Gran Chaco," in northern Argentina and southern Bolivia. In (69) I have mapped the area from 20° to 30° south latitude and 56° to 66° west longitude, defining the boundaries of each of the seven linguistic stocks which occupied it, to wit, the Ennima, Guaycuru, Lule, Mataco, Quechua, Samucu and Tupi, with discussions of some uncertain dialects, as the Calchaqui, Lengua, Querandi, Charua, Payagua. In (70) recent vocabularies of the Andoa and Cataquina tongues are examined and their linguistic relations discussed. Many of the above articles, written previous to 1890, were collected by me in that year and published in a volume entitled "Essays of an Americanist" (pp. 489. Philadelphia). For the convenience of those who may wish to refer to them I add here a complete list of the essays which it contains. PART I.--ETHNOLOGIC AND ARCHÆOLOGIC.--A Review of the Data for the Study of the Prehistoric Chronology of America. On Palæoliths, American and others. On the alleged Mongolian Affinities of the American Race. The Probable Nationality of the Mound-Builders of the Ohio Valley. The Toltecs of Mexico and their Fabulous Empire. PART II.--MYTHOLOGY AND FOLK-LORE.--The Sacred Names in the Mythology of the Quiches of Guatemala. The Hero-God of the Algonkins as a Cheat and Liar. The Journey of the Soul in Egyptian, Aryan and American Mythology. The Sacred Symbols of the Cross, the Svastika and the Triqetrum in America. The Modern Folk-lore of the Natives of Yucatan. The Folk-lore of the Modern Lênapé Indians. PART III.--GRAPHIC SYSTEMS AND LITERATURE.--The Phonetic Elements in the Hieroglyphs of the Mayas and Mexicans. The Ikonomatic Method of Phonetic Writing used by the Ancient Mexicans. The Writings and Records of the Ancient Mayas of Yucatan. The Books of Chilan Balam, the Sacred Volume of the Modern Mayas. Translation of the Inscription on "The Stone of The Giants" at Orizaba, Mexico. The Poetry of the American Indians, with Numerous Examples. PART IV.--LINGUISTIC.--American Aboriginal Languages, and why we should study them. Wilhelm von Humboldt's Researches in American Languages. Some Characteristics of American Languages. The Earliest Form of Human Speech, as Revealed by American Languages. The Conception of Love, as expressed in some American Languages. The Lineal Measures of the Semi-Civilized Nations of Mexico and Central America. The Curious Hoax about the Taensa Language. FOOTNOTES: [6-1] _Beiträge zur Lehre der Wortzusammensetzung._ Leiden. 1896. [6-2] In this connection I would refer students to an instructive passage of Heinrich Wrinkler on "Die Hauptformen in den Amerikanischen Sprachen," in his work _Zur Sprachgeschichte_ (Berlin, 1887) and to his essay on the Pokonchi Language in his _Weiteres zur Sprachgeschichte_, (Berlin, 1889). [6-3] See my remarks on this tongue in the _American Anthropologist_, August, 1898, p. 251. [6-4] Interesting examples in the Preface to S. T. Rand's _Micmac Dictionary_ (Halifax, 1888). [6-5] Notably with Steinthal's _Charakteristik des hauptsächlichsten Typen des Sprachbaues._ [12-1] _The Myths of the New World_ (third edition, 1896); _American Hero Myths_ (1881). [12-2] _Life and Traditions of the Red Man_ (Bangor, 1893). [12-3] _New Views of the Origin of the Tribes of America_ (Philadelphia, 1798). [13-1] _Actas del Congreso Internacional de Americanistas_, Tom. II., pp. 310-315. [13-2] See the article "The Curious Hoax of the Taensa Language," in my _Essays of an Americanist_, pp. 452-467. (Philadelphia, 1890.) [13-3] In Tome XI., of the _Bibliothêque Linguistique Américaine_. [13-4] Privately printed, 1867. [16-1] See Garrick Mallery in _10th Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology_, pp. 133, sqq. (Washington, 1893). INDEX. Abenakis, 12 Abipones, 6 Achaguas, 6 Adam, L., 13, 18 Alaguilac language, 17 Algonkin, 8, 11 Algonquian mythology, 12 Alikuluf, 19, 20 American Authors, Aboriginal, 8 American languages, 6 American Race, the, 7 Americanists, Congress of, 8 "Anahuac", 17 Andagueda, 18 Andoa, 20 Anthony, A. S., 11 Antillean languages, 18 Arawack, 18, 19 Asiatic analogies, 7 _Bailes_, 9 Barton, B. S., 12 Berendt, C. H., 15, 17 Betoya, 6, 7, 19 Bonaris, 19 Brasseur, E. C., 15, 17 Byington, C., 10 Cakchiquels, 9, 16 Calchaqui, 20 Calendar, native, 16 Carib, 6, 13, 19 Cataquina, 20 Chaco, el Gran, 20 Chane-abal language, 15 Changuina, 18 Chapanecs, 15 Charua, 20 Chiapas, 15 Chilan Balam, 17 Chinantec, 15 Choco, 19 Choctaw Grammar, 10 Cholona, 19 Chontallis, 16 Cocanuca, 7 Costa Rica, 7, 18 Creeks, 9 Cuba, language of, 18 Delaware, 9, 11 _Dvanda_, the, 6 Ennima, 20 Floridian Peninsula, 13 Fuegian languages, 20 Gatschet, A. S., 9, 11, 13 Gluscap, 12 Gods, names of, 15 Granger, H. G., 19 Grasserie, R., 20 Guatemala, 15, 17 Guaycuru, 20 Güegüence, 9 Guetares, 18 Haiti, language of, 18 Hale, H., 9 "Hastri" language, 13 Hongote, 19 Huasteca, 6 Humboldt, W. von, 6 Huron, 9 "Ikonomatic" method, the, 16 Incorporation, 6 Iroquois, 9 Johnnycake, 11 Jefferson, T., 12 Jivaro, 19 Kechua, 19 Kiche myths, 15 Leca, 19 Lenâpé, 9, 11 Lenâpé Dictionary, 11 Lenâpé Conversations, 11 Lencas, 16 Lengua, 20 Library of Aborig. Literature, 8 Lineal Measures, 16 Love, Conception of, 8 Lucayan, 18 Lule, 6, 20 Maipure, 6 Manao, 19 Mandingo language, 12 Mangue, 15 Mata co, 20 Matagalpan, 7 Maya, 6, 8, 16 Mayan Hieroglyphics, 16 Mayan Inscriptions, 14 Mazatec, 19 Mbaya, 6 Measures, lineal, 16 Mexican, 6 Micmacs, 6 Mixes, 16 Mixteca, 7, 16 Mocoa, 7 Mocovi, 7 Mohawk, 9 Morphology of Amer. Langs., 6 Mosquito Coast[TN-3] Muller,[TN-4] H. C., 6 Muskokee, 11 Mythology, American, 12 Myths of New World, 12 Nahuatl, 6, 8, 10 Nahuatl-Spanish jargon, 9 Nanticoke, 12 Natchez, 12 Nicaragua, 15 Nicolar, J., 12 Noanama, 18 Omagua, 7 Onas, 20 Onondaga, 9 Ore, G. de, 20 Otomi, 7.[TN-5] 16, 17 Pacasa, 19 Paniquita, 7 Pareja, F., 13 Payagua, 20 Pilling, J. C., 4 Pinart, A., 15 Poetry, Aboriginal, 8 Polysynthesis, 6 Popolucas, 16 Primitive speech, 7 Puelche, 19 Puquina, 20 Querandi, 20 Quiche, 15 Quechua, 8, 19, 20 Rafinesque, C. S., 11 Ramas, 18 Rand, S. F., 6 Rate of change, 7 Rebus writing, 16 Red Score, the, 9, 11 Rig Veda Americanus, 10 Sahagun, 10, 17 Samucu, 20 Schultz, Rev., 18 Shawnees, 19 Smith, B., 13 Standard Dictionary, the, 7 Steinthal, H., 6 "Stone of the Giants", 16 Svastika, the, 20 Tacana, 19 Taensa, 13 Taino, 18 Tamanaca, 6 Tarascos, 16 Tehuelche, 19 Teknnika, 19 Tequistlatecan, 7 Timote., 7 Timuquana, 13 Tinné, 18 Toltecs, the, 20 Totonaco, 6 Triquetrum, the, 20 Tsoneca, 19 Tucanos, 19 Tupi, 6, 8, 20 Tzental, 16 Ulvas, 16 Verb, the American, 6 Walum-Olum, 9, 11 Winkler, H., 6 Written language, 16 Xebero, 19 Xinca, 17 Yahgan, 19, 20 Yaruro, 6 Yucatan, 14 Zapotecs, 16 Zeonas, 19 Zoque, the, 6 Transcriber's Note The following misspellings and typographical errors were maintained. Page Error TN-1 6 The marker for footnote 6-2 was not printed and has been inserted based on context. TN-2 11 Grammer should read Grammar TN-3 23 Mosquito Coast should read Mosquito Coast, 15, 18 TN-4 23 Muller, should read Müller TN-5 23 Otomi, 7. should read Otomi, 7, 


c0: 31413
c1: Anderson, Robert E. (Robert Edward), M.A., F.A.S.
c2: The Story of Extinct Civilizations of the West
c6: 47514
c7: 1993
c8: 65
c9: 31413.txt
c10: 31413.txt
c4:
  Landing at Tabasco, where Grijalva had found the natives friendly, Cortés found that the Yucatans had resolved to oppose him, and were presently assembled in great numbers. The king is served with great state, and his behavior is so decent that it is pleasant to see him.

c5:
  america; ancient; army; atlantic; aztec; balboa; capital; century; chief; city; civilization; coast; columbus; continent; cortés; country; cuba; day; days; discovery; emperor; europe; feet; general; god; gold; greenland; human; indians; island; king; lake; land; men; mexican; mexico; montezuma; natives; new; north; ocean; people; peru; pizarro; place; soldiers; south; spain; spaniards; spanish; stone; sun; temple; time; west; work; world; years

c11:
   Team (http://www.fadedpage.com) Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 31413-h.htm or 31413-h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31413/31413-h/31413-h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31413/31413-h.zip) THE STORY OF EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST by ROBERT E. ANDERSON, M.A., F.A.S. Author of Extinct Civilizations of the East [Illustration: Prehistoric Structure, Uxmal (Yucatan) (p. 76).] [Illustration] Venient annis saecula seris Quibus Oceanus vincula rerum Laxet, et ingens pateat tellus Tethys que novos detegat orbes. --SENECA. New York _McClure, Phillips & Co._ MCMIV Copyright, 1903, by D. Appleton and Company CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE INTRODUCTION 9 I. PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA 19 II. "DISCOVERY OF THE WORLD AND OF MAN" 36 III. THE EXTINCT CIVILIZATION OF THE AZTECS 54 IV. AMERICAN ARCHEOLOGY 71 V. MEXICO BEFORE THE SPANISH INVASION 88 VI. ARRIVAL OF THE SPANIARDS 106 VII. CORTÉS AND MONTEZUMA 135 VIII. BALBOA AND THE ISTHMUS 164 IX. EXTINCT CIVILIZATION OF PERU 172 X. PIZARRO AND THE INCAS 186 MAPS, ETC. PAGE Prehistoric Structure, Uxmal (Yucatan) _Frontispiece_ Imaginary Continent, South of Africa and Asia 12 Remains of a Norse Church at Katortuk, Greenland 21 Map of Vinland 24 The Dighton Stone in the Taunton River, Massachusetts 27 The Dighton Stone. Fig. 2 28 Cipher Autograph of Columbus 46 Chulpa or Stone Tomb of the Peruvians 87 Quetzalcoatl 93 Ancient Bridge near Tezcuco 100 Teocalli, Aztec Temple for Human Sacrifices 105 Monolith Doorway. Near Lake Titicaca. Fig. 1 173 Image over the Doorway shown in Fig. 1. Near Lake Titicaca. Fig. 2 175 The Quipu 180 Gold Ornament (? Zodiac) from a Tomb at Cuzco 182 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST INTRODUCTION Throughout all the periods of European history, ancient or modern, no age has been more remarkable for events of first-rate importance than the latter half of the fifteenth century. The rise of the New Learning, the "discovery of the world and of man," the displacement of many outworn beliefs, these with other factors produced an awakening that startled kings and nations. Then felt they like Balboa, when with eagle eyes He stared at the Pacific, and all his men Looked at each other with a wild surmise Silent, upon a peak in Darien. It was at this historical juncture that the "middle ages" came to an end, and modern Europe had its beginning. (See Chapter II.) Why was Europe so long in discovering the vast Continent which all the time lay beyond the Western Ocean? Simply because every skipper and every "Board of Admiralty" believed that this world on which we live and move is flat and level. They did not at all realize the fact that it is _ball_-shaped; and that when a ball is very large (say, as large as a balloon), then any small portion of the surface must appear flat and level to a fly or "mite" traveling in that vicinity. Homer believed that our world is a flat and level plain, with a great river, Oceanus, flowing round it; and for many ages that seemed a very natural and sufficient theory. The Pythagoreans, it is true, argued that our earth must be spherical, but why? Oh, said they, because in geometry the sphere is the "most perfect" of all solid figures. Aristotle, being scientific, gave better reasons for believing that the earth is spherical or ball-shaped. He said the shadow of the earth is always round like the shadow of a ball; and the shadow of the earth can be seen during any eclipse of the moon; therefore, all who see that shadow on the moon's disk know, or ought to know, that the earth is ball-shaped. Another reason given by Aristotle is that the altitude of any star above the horizon changes when the observer travels north or south. For example, if at London a star appears to be 40° above the northern horizon, and at York the same star at the same instant appears 42-1/2°, it is evident that 2-1/2° is the difference (increase) of altitude at York compared with London. Such an observation shows that the road from London to York is not over a flat, level plane, but over the curved surface of a sphere, the arc of a circle, in fact. Herodotus, the father of history, was a good geographer and an experienced traveler, yet his only conception of the world was as a flat, wide-extending surface. In Egypt he was told how Pharaoh Necho had sent a crew of Phenicians to explore the coast of Africa by setting out from the Red Sea, and how they sailed south till they had _the sun on their right hand_. "Absurd!" says Herodotus, in his naïve manner, "this story I can not believe." In Egypt, as in Greece or Europe generally, the sun rises on the left hand, and at noon casts a shadow pointing north; whereas in South Africa the sun at noon casts a shadow pointing south, and sunrise is therefore on the _right hand_. The honest sailors had told the truth; they had merely "crossed the line," without knowing it. If Herodotus had known that the world was spherical or ball-shaped, he could easily have understood that by traveling due south the sun must at last appear at noon to the north instead of the south. A counterpart to the story of the Phenician sailors occurs in Pliny: he tells how some ambassadors came to the Roman Emperor Claudius from an island in the south of Asia, and when in Italy were much astonished to see the sun at noon to the south, casting shadows to the north. They also wondered, he says, to see the Great Bear and other groups of stars which had never been visible in their native land (Nat. Hist., vi, 22). That there were islands or even a continent in the Western Ocean was a tradition not infrequent in classical and medieval times, as we shall presently see, but to place a continent in the Southern Ocean was a greater stretch of imagination. The great outstanding problem of the sources of the Nile probably suggested this Southern Continent to some. Ptolemy, the great Egyptian geographer, even formed the conjecture that the Southern Continent was joined to Africa by a broad isthmus, as indicated in certain maps. Such a connection of the two continents would at once dispose of the story that the Phenician sailors had "doubled the Cape." In several maps after the time of Columbus, Australia is extended westward in order to pass muster for the Southern Continent. [Illustration: Imaginary Continent, south of Africa and Asia. [The cardinal points are shown by the four winds.] Beginning of the fifteenth century. The word Brumæ = the winter solstices.] It is with a Western Continent, however, that we are now mainly concerned. What lands were imagined by the ancients in the far West under the setting sun? The mighty ocean beyond Spain was to the Greeks and Latins a place of dread and mystery. "Stout was his heart and girt with triple brass," says the Roman poet, "who first hazarded his weak vessel on the pitiless ocean." Even the western parts of the Mediterranean were shrunk from, according to the Odyssey, without speaking of the horrors of the great ocean beyond. "Beyond Gades," i. e., scarcely outside of the Pillars of Hercules, the extreme limit of the ancient world, "no man," said Pindar, "however daring, could pass; only a god might voyage those waters!" In spite of the dread which the ancient mariners felt for the great Western Ocean, their poets found it replete with charm and mystery. The imagination rested upon those golden sunsets, and the tales of marvel which, after long intervals, sea-borne sailors had told of distant lands in the West. The poets placed there the happy home destined for the souls of heroes. Thus (Odys. iv, 561): No snow Is there, nor yet great storm nor any rain, But always ocean sendeth forth the breeze Of the shrill West, and bloweth cool on men. So far Homer. His contemporary, Hesiod, thus describes the Elysian Fields as islands under the setting sun: There on Earth's utmost limits Zeus assigned A life, a seat, distinct from human kind, Beside the deepening whirlpools of the Main, In those blest Isles where Saturn holds his reign, Apart from Heaven's immortals calm they share, A rest unsullied by the clouds of care: And yearly thrice with sweet luxuriance crown'd Springs the ripe harvest from the teeming Ground. The poet Pindar places in the same mysterious West "the castle of Chronos" (i. e., "Old Time"), "where o'er the Isles of the Blest ocean breezes blow, and flowers gleam with gold, some from the land on glistening trees, while others the water feeds; and with bracelets of these they entwine their hands, and make crowns for their heads." _Vesper_, the star of evening, was called Hesperus by the Greeks; and hence the Hesperides, daughters of the Western Star, had the task of watching the golden apples planted by the goddess Hera in the garden of the gods, on the other side of the river Oceanus. One of the labors of Hercules was to fetch three of those mystic apples for the king of Mycenae. The poet Euripides thus refers to the Gardens of the West, when the Chorus wish to fly "over the Adriatic wave": Or to the famed Hesperian plains, Whose rich trees bloom with gold, To join the grief-attunèd strains My winged progress hold; Beyond whose shores no passage gave The Ruler of the purple wave. Of all the lands imagined to lie in the Western Ocean by the Greeks, the most important was "Atlantis." Some have thought it may possibly have been a prehistoric discovery of America. In any case it has exercised the ingenuity of a good many modern scientists. The tale of Atlantis we owe to Plato himself, who perhaps learned it in Egypt, just as Herodotus picked up there the account of the circumnavigation of Africa by the Phenician mariners. "When Solon was in Egypt," says Plato, "he had talk with an aged priest of Sais who said, 'You Greeks are all children: you know but of one deluge, whereas there have been many destructions of mankind both by flood and fire.'... In the distant Western Ocean lay a continent larger than Libya and Asia together."... In this Atlantis there had grown up a mighty state whose kings were descended from Poseidon and had extended their sway over many islands and over a portion of the great continent; even Libya up to the gates of Egypt, and Europe as far as Tyrrhenia, submitted to their sway.... Afterward came a day and night of great floods and earthquakes; Atlantis disappeared, swallowed by the waves. Geologists and geographers have seriously tried to find evidence of Atlantis having existed in the Atlantic, whether as a portion of the American continent, or as a huge island in the ocean which could have served as a stepping-stone between the Western World and the Eastern. From a series of deep-sea soundings ordered by the British, American, and German Governments, it is now very well known that in the middle of the Atlantic basin there is a ridge, running north and south, whose depth is less than 1,000 fathoms, while the valleys east and west of it average 3,000 fathoms. At the Azores the North Atlantic ridge becomes broader. The theory is that a part of the ridge-plateau was the Atlantis of Plato that "disappeared swallowed by the waves." (Nature, xv, 158, 553, xxvii, 25; Science, June 29, 1883.) Buffon, the naturalist, with reference to fauna and flora, dated the separation of the new and old world "from the catastrophe of Atlantis" (Epoques, ix, 570); and Sir Charles Lyell confessed a temptation to "accept the theory of an Atlantis island in the northern Atlantic." (Geology, p. 141.) The following account "from an historian of the fourth century B. C." is another possible reference to a portion of America--from a translation "delivered in English," 1576. Selenus told Midas that without this worlde there is a continent or percell of dry lande which in greatnesse (as hee reported) was unmeasureable; that it nourished and maintained, by the benifite of the greene meadowes and pasture plots, sundrye bigge and mighty beastes; that the men which inhabite the same climate exceede the stature of us twise, and yet the length of there life is not equale to ours. The historian Plutarch, in his Morals, gives an account of Ogygia, with an illusion to a continent, possibly America: An island, Ogygia, lies in the arms of the Ocean, about five days' sail west from Britain.... The adjacent sea is termed the Saturnian, and the continent by which the great sea is circularly environed is distant from Ogygia about 5,000 stadia, but from the other islands not so far.... One of the men paid a visit to the great island, as they called Europe. From him the narrator learned many things about the state of men after death--the conclusion being that the souls of men arrive at the Moon, wherein lie the Elysian Fields of Homer. The Greek historian, Diodorus Siculus, has a similar account with curious details of an "island" which might very well have been part of a continent. Columbus believed to the last that Cuba was a continent. In the ocean, at the distance of several days' sailing to the west, there lies an island watered by several navigable rivers. Its soil is fertile, hilly, and of great beauty.... There are country houses handsomely constructed, with summer-houses and flower-beds. The hilly district is covered with dense woods and fruit-trees of every kind. The inhabitants spend much time in hunting and thus procure excellent food. They have naturally a good supply of fish, their shores being washed by the ocean.... In a word this island seems a happy home for gods rather than for men (v. 19). Another Greek writer, Lucian, in one of his witty dialogues, refers to an island in the Atlantic, that lies eighty days' sail westward of the Pillars of Hercules--the extreme limit of the ancient world, as has already been seen. Readers of Henry Fielding and admirers of Squire Westers will remember how in the London of the eighteenth century the limits of Piccadilly westward was a tavern at Hyde Park corner called the _Hercules' Pillars_, on the site of the future Apsley House.[1] Although neither Greek nor Roman navigators were likely to attempt a voyage into the ocean beyond the Straits of Gibraltar, yet a trading vessel from Carthage or Phenicia might easily have been driven by an easterly gale into, or even across, the Atlantic. Some involuntary discoveries were no doubt due to this chance, and the reports brought to Europe were probably the germs of such tales as the poets invented about the fair regions of the West. In Celtic literature, moreover, "Avalon" was placed far under the setting sun beyond the ocean--Avalon or "Glas-Inis" being to the bards the Land of the Dead, marvelous and mysterious. [Footnote 1: Tom Jones, xvi. chap. 2, 3, etc.] In English literature of the middle ages there is a remarkable passage relating to our present subject, which was written long before that rise of the New Learning mentioned at the beginning of this chapter. It is a statement made by Roger Bacon, the greatest of Oxonian scholars of the thirteenth century, who, long before the Renascence, did much to restore the study of science, especially in geography, chronology, and optics. In his Opus Majus, the elder Bacon wrote: More than the fourth part of the earth which we inhabit is still unknown to us.... It is evident therefore that between the extreme West and the confines of India, there must be a surface which comprises more than half the earth. Though Roger Bacon, to use his own words, died "unheard, forgotten, buried," our recent historians place his name first in the great roll of modern science. There now remains only one quotation to make from the ancients. We have been reserving it for two reasons--first, because it is a singularly happy anticipation of the discovery of the New World, so happy that it became a favorite stanza with the discoverer himself. This we learn from the life of the "Great Admiral," written by his son Ferdinand. Secondly, because it adorns our title-page and has been characterized as "a lucky prophecy"--written in the first century A. D. The author, Seneca, was a dramatist as well as a philosopher, the lines occurring at the end of one of his choruses--Medea, 376. We may thus translate the prophetic stanza: For at a distant date this ancient world Will westward stretch its bounds, and then disclose Beyond the Main a vast new Continent, With realms of wealth and might. CHAPTER I PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA 1 _Norse Discovery._--By glancing at a map of the north Atlantic, the reader will at once see that the natural approach from Europe to the Western Continent was by Iceland and Greenland--especially in those early days when ocean navigation was unknown. Iceland is nearer to Greenland than to Norway; and Greenland is part of America. But in Iceland there were Celtic settlers in the early centuries; and even King Arthur, according to the history of Geoffrey of Monmouth, sailed north to that "Ultima Thule." During the ninth century a Christian community had been established there under certain Irish monks. This early civilization, however, was destined to become presently extinct. It was in A. D. 875, i. e., during the reign of Alfred the Great in England, that the Norse earl, Ingolf, led a colony to Iceland. More strenuous and savage than the Christian Celts whom they found there, the latter with their preaching monks soon sailed to the south, and left the Northmen masters of the island. The Norse colony under Ingolf was strongly reenforced by Norwegians who took refuge there to avoid the tyranny of their king, Harold, the Fair-haired. Ingolf built the town Ingolfshof, named after him, and also Reikiavik, afterward the capital, named from the "reek" or steam of its hot springs. So important did this colony become that in the second generation the population amounted to 60,000. Ingolf was admired by the poet James Montgomery (not to be confounded with Robert, whom Macaulay criticized so severely), who in 1819 thus wrote of him and his island: There on a homeless soil his foot he placed, Framed his hut-palace, colonized the waste, And ruled his horde with patriarchal sway --Where Justice reigns, 'tis Freedom to obey.... And Iceland shone for generous lore renowned, A northern light when all was gloom around. The next year after Ingolf had come to Iceland, Gunnbiorn, a hardy Norseman, driven in his ship westerly, sighted a strange land.... About half a century later, judging by the Icelandic sagas, we learn that a wind-tossed vessel was thrown upon a coast far away which was called "Mickle Ireland" (_Irland it Mikla_)--[Winsor's Hist. America, i, 61]. Gunnbiorn's discovery was utilized by Erik the Red, another sea-rover, in A. D. 980, who sailed to it and, after three years' stay, returned with a favorable account--giving it the fair name _Greenland_. The Norse established two centers of population on Greenland. It is now believed that after doubling Cape Farewell, they built their first town near that head and the second farther north. The former, _Eystribygd_ (i. e., "Easter Bigging"), developed into a large colony, having in the fourteenth century 190 settlements, with a cathedral and eleven churches, and containing two cities and three or four monasteries. The second town, _Westribygd_ (i. e., "Wester Bigging") had grown to ninety settlements and four churches in the same time. The germ and root of that civilization (afterward extinct, as we shall see) was due to Leif the son of Red Erik, who visited Norway, the mother-country, at the very close of the tenth century. [Illustration: Remains of a Norse Church at Katortuk, Greenland.] He found that the king and people there had enthusiastically embraced the new religion, _Christianity_. Leif presently shared their fervor, and decided to reject Woden, Thor, and the other gods of old Scandinavia. A priest was told off to accompany Leif back to Greenland, and preach the new faith. It was thus that a Christian civilization first found footing in arctic America. The ruins of those early Christian churches (see illustration above) form most interesting objects in modern Greenland; near the chief ruin is a curious circular group of large stones. The poet of "Greenland," to whom we have already referred, quotes from a Danish chronicle to the effect that, in the golden age of the colony, there were a hundred parishes to form the bishopric; and that the see was ruled by seventeen bishops from A. D. 1120 to 1408. Bishop Andrew is the last mentioned, ordained in 1408 by the Archbishop of Drontheim. From the same authority we learn that according to some of the annals "the best wheat grew to perfection in the valleys; the forests were extensive; flocks and herds were numerous and very large and fat." The Cloister of St. Thomas was heated by pipes from a warm spring, and attached to the cloister was a richly cultivated garden. After Leif, son of Erik, had introduced Christianity into Greenland, his next step was to extend the Norse civilization still farther within the American continent. News had reached him of a new land, with a level coast, lying nine days' sailing southwest of Greenland. Picking thirty-five men, Leif started for further exploration. One part of the new country was barren and rocky, therefore Leif named it _Helluland_ (i. e., "Stone Land"), which appears to have been Newfoundland. Farther south they found a sandy shore, backed by a level forest country, which Leif named _Markland_ (i. e., "Wood Land"), identified with Nova Scotia. After two days' sail, according to the saga account, having landed and explored the new continent along the banks of a river, they resolved to winter there. In one of these explorations a German called Tyrker found some grapes on a wild vine, and brought a specimen for the admiration of Leif and his party. This country was therefore named _Vinland_ (i. e., "Wine Land"), and is identified with New England, part of Rhode Island, and Massachusetts.[2] [Footnote 2: Prof. R. B. Anderson says, "The basin of the Charles River should be selected as the most probable scene of the visits of Leif Erikson, etc." [_v._ map.]] Our Greenland poet thus refers to Leif's landing: Wineland the glad discoverers called that shore, And back the tidings of its riches bore; But soon return'd with colonizing bands. The Norsemen founded a regular settlement in Vinland, establishing there a Christian community related to that of Greenland. Leif's brother, Korvald, explored the interior in all directions. With the natives, who are called "Skraelings" in the sagas, they traded in furs; these people, who seemed dwarfish to the Norsemen, used leathern boats and were no doubt Eskimos: A stunted, stern, uncouth, amphibious stock. The principal settler in Vinland was Thorfinn, an Icelander, who had married a daughter-in-law of Erik the Red. She persuaded Thorfinn to sail to the new country in order to make a permanent settlement there. In the year 1007 A. D. he sailed with 160 men, having live stock and other colonial equipments. After three years he returned to Greenland, his wife having given birth to a son during their first year in Vinland. From this son, Snorre, it is claimed by some Norwegian historians, that Thorwaldsen, the eminent Danish sculptor is descended. After the time of Thorfinn, the settlement in Vinland continued to flourish, having a good export trade in timber with Greenland. In 1121 A. D. according to the Icelandic saga, the bishop, Erik Upsi, visited Vinland, that country being, like Iceland and Greenland, included in his bishopric. The last voyage to Vinland for timber, according to the sagas, was in 1347. [Illustration: Map] Professor Horsford, of Cambridge, Mass., finds the site of Norumbega, mentioned in various old maps, on the River Charles, near Waltham, Mass., and maintains that town to be identical with Vinland of the Norsemen. To prove his belief in this theory, the professor built a tower commemorating the Norse discoveries. He argued that Norumbega was a corruption by the Indians of the word _Norvegr_ a Norse form of "Norway." The abandonment of Vinland by the Norse settlers may be compared with that of Gosnold's expedition to the same region near the end of Queen Elizabeth's reign. Gosnold was sent to plant an English colony in America, after the failure of Sir Walter Raleigh's settlement at Roanoke (North Carolina); and the coast explored corresponded exactly to that which the Norse settlers had named Vinland, lying between the sites of Boston and New York. He gave the name Cape Cod to that promontory, and also named the islands Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, and the Elizabeth group. Selecting one of these for settling a colony, he built on it a storehouse and fort. The scheme, however, failed, owing to the threats of the natives and the scarcity of supplies, and all the colonists sailed from Massachusetts, just as the Norse settlers had done many generations previously. The expedition of Gosnold to Vinland, however, bore good fruit, from the favorable report of the new country which he made at home. The merchants of Bristol fitted out two ships under Martin Pring, and in the first voyage a great part of Maine (lying north of Massachusetts) was explored, and the coast south to Martha's Vineyard, where Gosnold had been. This led to profitable traffic with the natives, and three years later Pring made a more complete survey of Maine. Vinland was also the scene of the famous landing of the Mayflower, bringing its Puritans from England. It was in Cape Cod Bay that she was first moored. After exploring the new country, just as Leif Erikson had done so many generations previously, they chose a place on the west side of the bay and named the little settlement "Plymouth," after the last English port from which they had sailed. Farther north, still in Vinland, they soon founded two other towns, "Salem" and "Boston." Those three settlements have ever since been important centers of energy and intelligence in Massachusetts, as well as memorials of the Norse occupation of Vinland. On the occasion of a public statue being erected in Boston, Mass., to the memory of Leif Erikson, a committee of the Massachusetts Historical Society formally decided thus: "It is antecedently probable that the Northmen discovered America in the early part of the eleventh century." Prof. Daniel Wilson, in his learned work Prehistoric Man (ii, 83, 85), thus gives his opinion as to the Norse colony: With all reasonable doubt as to the accuracy of details, there is the strongest probability in favor of the authenticity of the American Vinland. [Illustration: The Dighton Stone in the Taunton River, Massachusetts.] Of the Norse colonies in Greenland there are some undoubted remains, one being a stone inscription in _runes_, proving that it was made before the Reformation, when that mode of writing was forbidden by law. The stone is four miles beyond Upernavik. The inscription, according to Professor Rask, runs thus: Erling the son of Sigvat, and Enride Oddsoen, Had cleared the place and raised a mound On the Friday after Rogation-day; --date either 1135 or 1170. Rafn, the celebrated Danish archeologist, states as the result of many years' research, that America was repeatedly visited by the Icelanders in the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries; that the estuary of the St. Lawrence was their chief station; that they had coasted southward to Carolina, everywhere introducing some Christian civilization among the natives. [Illustration: The Dighton Stone. Fig. 2.] A supposed rock memorial of the Norsemen is the Dighton Stone in the Taunton River, Massachusetts; one of its sentences, according to Professor Rafn, being: "Thorfinn with 151 Norse seafaring men took possession of this land." The figures and letters (whether runic or merely Indian) inscribed on the Dighton Rock have been copied by antiquaries at the following dates: 1680, 1712, 1730, 1768, 1788, 1807, 1812. The above illustration (Fig. 2) shows the last mentioned. There have been many probable traces of ancient Norsemen found in America, besides those already given. At Cape Cod, in the last generation, a number of hearth-stones were found under a layer of peat. A more famous relic was the skeleton dug up in Fall River, Mass., with an ornamental belt of metal tubes made from fragments of flat brass; there were also some arrow-heads of the same material. Longfellow, the New England poet, naturally had his attention directed to this discovery (made, 1831), and founded on it his ballad The Skeleton in Armor, connecting it with the Round Tower at Newport. The latter, according to Professor Rafn, "was erected decidedly not later than the twelfth century." I was a Viking old, My deeds, though manifold, No Skald in song has told No Saga taught thee!... Far in the Northern Land By the wild Baltic's strand I with my childish hand Tamed the ger-falcon. Oft to his frozen lair Tracked I the grisly bear, While from my path the hare Fled like a shadow. * * * * * Scarce had I put to sea Bearing the maid with me-- Fairest of all was she Among the Norsemen! Three weeks we westward bore, And when the storm was o'er, Cloud-like we saw the shore Stretching to leeward; There for my lady's bower, Built I this lofty tower Which to this very hour Stands looking seaward! Sir Clements Markham, of the Royal Geographical Society, believes that the Norse settlers in Greenland were driven from their settlements there by Eskimos coming, not from the interior of America, but from West Siberia along the polar regions, by Wrangell Land [_v._ Journal, R, G. S., 1865, and Arctic Geography, 1875]. There was much curiosity from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century as to the site of the lost colonies of Greenland which had so long flourished. In 1568 and 1579 the King of Denmark sent two expeditions, the latter in charge of an Englishman, but no traces were found. At the beginning of the eighteenth century some light was thrown upon the problem by a missionary called Egede, who first described the ruins and relics observable on the west coast. By the success of his preaching among the Greenlanders for fifteen years, assisted by other gospel missionaries, the Moravians were induced to found their settlements in the country, principally in the southwest. It seems probable that in early times the climate of Iceland was milder than it now is. Columbus, some fifteen years before his great voyage across the Atlantic, sailed to this northern "Thule," and reports that there was no ice. If so, it is surely possible that Greenland also may have been greener and more attractive than during the recent centuries. Why should it not at one time have been fully deserving of the name by which we still know it? Some would explain the change in climatic conditions by the closing in of icepacks. At present Greenland is buried deep under a vast, solid ice-cap from which only a few of the highest peaks protrude to show the position of the submerged mountains, but at former periods, according to geologists, there were gardens and farms flourishing under a genial climate. Others suppose that, were the ice removed, we should see an archipelago of elevated islands. 2. _Celtic Discovery of America._--We have already glanced at the fact that when the Norsemen first seized Iceland they found that island inhabited by Irish Celts. These Christianized Celts made way before the savage invaders, who did not accept the Catholic religion till about the close of the tenth century. Sailing south, those dispossessed Irish probably joined their brother Celts who had already long held a district on the eastern coast of North America, which some Norse skippers called "White Man's Land," and also _Irland-it-Mikla_ (i. e., "Mickle Ireland"). Professor Rafn places this district on the coast of Carolina. A learned memoir, published 1851, attempts to prove that the mysterious "mound-builders" of the Ohio Valley were of the same race as the settlers on Mickle Ireland, and related to the "white-bearded men" who established an extinct civilization in Mexico. A French antiquary, 1875, identified Mickle Ireland with Ontario and Quebec. Beauvois, in his Elysée trans-atlantique, derives the name Labrador from the _Innis Labrada_, an island mentioned in an ancient Irish romance.[3] Another Irish discoverer was St. Brandan,[4] Abbot of Cluainfert, Ireland (died May 16, 577), who was told that far in the ocean lay an island which was the land promised to the saints. St. Brandan set sail in company with seventy-five monks, and spent seven years upon the ocean in two voyages, discovering this island and many others equally marvelous, including one which turned out to be the back of a huge fish, upon which they celebrated Easter.[5] [Footnote 3: As to the Irish claim for the pre-Columbian discovery of America, see also Humboldt (Cosmos, ii, 607), and Laing (Heimsk., i, 186).] [Footnote 4: MS. Book of Lismore.] [Footnote 5: The story is given by Humboldt and D'Avezac.] Among the Celtic claimants for discovery we must also include the Welsh, who lay stress upon certain resemblances between their language and the dialects of the native Americans. A better argument is the historical account taken from their annals about the expedition of Prince Madoc, son of a Welsh chieftain, who sailed due west in the year 1170, after the rumor of the Norse discoveries had reached Britain. He landed on a vast and fertile continent where he settled 120 colonists. On his return to Wales he fitted out a second fleet of ten ships, but the annals give no report of the result. Several writers state that the place of landing was near the Gulf of Mexico: Hakluyt connecting the discovery with Mexico (1589) and again with the West Indies (edition of 1600). In the seventeenth century some authors wished to substantiate the story of Prince Madoc, in order that the British claim to America should antedate the Spanish claim through Columbus. Prince Madoc is, to most readers, only known by Southey's poem.[6] [Footnote 6: Some quotations from Southey's poem are given in Chapters V, VI.] 3. _Basque Discovery of America._--Who are the Basque people? A curious race of Spanish mountaineers, who have been as great a puzzle to ethnologists and historians as their language has been to philologists and scholars. We know, however, that in former times they were nearly all seamen, making long voyages to the north for whale and Newfoundland cod fishing. They have produced excellent navigators; and possibly preceded Columbus in discovering America. Sebastian, the lieutenant of Magellan, was one of the Basque race. Magellan did not live to complete his famous voyage, therefore Sebastian was the first actual circumnavigator of our globe. François Michel, in his work Le Pays Basque, says that the Basque sailors knew the coasts of Newfoundland a century before the time of Columbus; and that it was from one of these ocean mariners that he first learned the existence of a continent beyond the Atlantic. Other arguments are derived from comparing the peculiarities of the Basque tongue with those of the American dialects. Whitney, an American scholar, concludes that "No other dialect of the Old World so much resembles the American languages in structure as the Basque." 4. _Jewish Discovery of America._--There is one claim for the discovery of America, which, though quite improbable, if not impossible, has been upheld and sanctioned by many scholarly works in several languages. It is argued that the red Indians represent the ten "Lost Tribes" of the Hebrew people who had been deported to Assyria and Media (_v._ Extinct Civilizations of the East, p. 109). The theory was first started by some Spanish priest-missionaries, and has since been defended by many learned divines both in England and America, one leading argument being certain similarities in the languages. Catlin (_v._ Smithsonian Report, 1885) enumerates many analogies which he found among the Western Indians. The most authoritative statement is that of Lord Kingsborough in the well-known Mexican Antiquities (1830-'48), chiefly in Vol. VII. Some writers actually quote a statement made in the Mormon Bible! Leading New England divines, like Mayhew and Cotton Mather, espoused the cause with similar faith, as well as Roger Williams and William Penn. 5. _The Italian Discovery of America._--Not through Columbus the Genoese, or Amerigo Vespucci, the Florentine, although they were certainly Italians, but by two Venetians, Nicolo and Antonio Zeno. In A. D. 1380 or 1390 these brothers Zeni were shipwrecked in the North Atlantic, and, when staying in Frislanda, made the acquaintance of a sailor who, after twenty-six years' absence, had returned, giving them the following report: "Being driven west in a gale, he found an island with civilized inhabitants, who had Latin books, but could not speak Norse, and whose country was called Estotiland, while a region on the mainland, farther south, to which he had also gone, was called Drogeo. Here he had met with cannibals. Still farther south was a great country with towns and temples." The two brothers Zeni finally conveyed this account to another brother in Venice, together with a map of those distant regions, but these documents remained neglected till 1558, when a descendant compiled a book to embody the information, accompanied by a map, now famous as "the Zeno map." Humboldt, with reference to this map, remarks that it is singular that the name Frislanda should have been applied by Columbus to an island south of Iceland. Washington Irving (in his Life of Columbus) explains the book by a desire to appeal to the national pride of Italy, since, if true, the discovery of the brothers would antedate that of Columbus by a century. Malte-Brun, the distinguished geographer, distinctly accepted the Zeni narrative as true, and believed that it was by colonists from Greenland that the Latin books had reached Estotiland. Another strong advocate afterward appeared in Mr. Major, an official in the map department of the British Museum, who believed that much of the map in question represented genuine information of the fourteenth century, mixed with some spurious parts inserted by the younger Zeno. Mr. Major's paper on The Site of the Lost Colony of Greenland Determined, and the pre-Columbian Discoveries of America Confirmed, appeared in R. Geog. Soc. Journal, 1873; _v_. also Proc. Mass. Hist. Soc., 1874. Nordenskjöld also accepted the chief results of this Italian discovery, and as an arctic explorer of experience, his opinion carries weight. Mercator and Hugo Grotius were also believers in the Zeni account. CHAPTER II "DISCOVERY OF THE WORLD AND OF MAN" At the beginning of this book a reference was made to the great upheaval in European history called the "Renascence" (Fr. _renaissance_) or Revival of Learning. In 1453 the Turks took Constantinople, driving the Greek scholars to take refuge in Italy, which at once became the most civilized nation in Europe. Poetry, philosophy, and art thence found their way to France, England, and Germany, being greatly assisted by the invention of printing, which just then was beginning to make books cheaper than they ever had been. At the same time feudalism was ruined, because the invention of gunpowder had previously been changing the art of war. For example, the King of France, Louis XI, as well as the King of England, Henry VII, had entire disposal of the national artillery; and therefore overawed the barons and armored knights. Neither moated fortresses nor mail-clad warriors, nor archers with bows and arrows, could prevail against powder and shot. The middle ages had come to an end; modern Europe was being born. France had become concentrated by the union of the south to the north on the conclusion of the "Hundred Years' War," the final expulsion of the English, and the abolition of all the great feudatories of the kingdom. England, at the same time, had entirely swept away the rule of the barons by the recent "Wars of the Roses," and Henry had strengthened his position by alliance with France, Spain, and Scotland. Spain, by the expulsion of the Moors from Granada in A. D. 1492, was for the first time concentrated into one great state by the union of Isabella's Kingdom of Castile-Leon to Ferdinand's Kingdom of Aragon-Sicily. From the importance of the word _renaissance_ as indicating the "movement of transition from the medieval to the modern world," Matthew Arnold gave it the English form "renascence"--adopted by J. R. Green, Coleridge, and others. In Germany, this great revival of letters and learning was contemporaneous with the Reformation, which had long been preparing (e. g., in England since John Wyclif) and was specially assisted by the invention of printing, which we have just mentioned. The minds of men everywhere were expanded: "whatever works of history, science, morality, or entertainment seemed likely to instruct or amuse were printed and distributed among the people at large by printers and booksellers." Thus it was that, though the Turks never had any pretension to learning or culture, yet their action in the middle of the fifteenth century indirectly caused a marvelous tide of civilization to overflow all the western countries of Europe. Another result in the same age was the increase of navigation and exploration--the discovery of the world as well as of man. When the Turks became masters of the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, the European merchants were prevented from going to India and the East by the overland route, as had been done for generations. Thus, since geography was at this very time improved by the science of Copernicus and others, the natural inquiry was how to reach India by sea instead of going overland. Columbus, therefore, sailed due west to reach Asia, and stumbled upon a "New World" without knowing what he did; then Cabot, sailing from Bristol, sailed northwest to reach India, and stumbled upon the continent of America; and during the same reign (Henry VII) the Atlantic coast of both North and South America was visited by English, Portuguese, or Spanish navigators. The third expedition to reach India by sea was under De Gama. He set out in the same year as Cabot, sailing into the South Atlantic, and ultimately did find the west coast of India at Calicut, after rounding the cape. The mere enumeration of so many events, all of first-rate importance, proves that that half century (say from A. D. 1460 to 1520) must be called "an age of marvels," _sæclum mirabile_. The concurrence of so many epoch-making results gave a great impulse, not only to the study of literature, science, and art, but to the exploration of many unknown countries in America, Africa, and Asia, and the universal expansion of human knowledge generally. I.--We shall now consider the first of these discoverers, who was also the greatest. COLUMBUS, the Latinized form of the Italian Colombo, Spanish, Colon. This Genoese navigator must throughout all history be called the discoverer of America, notwithstanding all the work of smaller men. From his study of geographical books in several languages, Columbus had convinced himself that our planet is spherical or ball-shaped, not a flat, plane surface. Till then India had always been reached by traveling overland toward the rising sun. Why not sail westward from Europe over the ocean, and thus come to the eastern parts of Asia by traveling toward the setting sun? By doing so, since our world is ball-shaped, said Columbus, we must inevitably reach Zipango (i. e., "Japan") and Cathay (i. e., "China"), which are the most eastern parts of Asia. India then will be a mere detail. Judging from the accounts of Asia and its eastern islands given by Marco Polo, a Venetian, as well as from the maps sketched by Ptolemy, the Egyptian geographer, Columbus believed that the east coast of Asia was not so very far from the west coast of Europe. Columbus was confirmed in this opinion by a learned geographer of Florence, named Paul, and henceforward impatiently waited for an opportunity of testing the truth of his theory. He convinced himself, but could not convince any one else, that a westerly route to India was quite feasible. First he laid his plans before the authorities at Genoa, who had for generations traded with Asia by the overland journey, and ought therefore to have been glad to learn of this new alternative route, since the Turks were now playing havoc with the other; but no, they told Columbus that his idea was chimerical! Next he applied to the court of France. "Ridiculous!" was the reply, accompanied with a polite sneer. Next Columbus sent his scheme to Henry VII of England, a prince full of projects, but miserly. "Too expensive!" was the Tudor's reply, though presently, after the Spanish success, he became eager to despatch expeditions from Bristol under the Cabots. Then Columbus, by the advice of his brother, who had settled in Lisbon as a map-maker, approached King John, seeking patronage and assistance, pleading the foremost position of Portugal among the maritime states. The Portuguese neglected the golden opportunity, ocean navigation not being in their way as yet; their skippers preferred "to hug the African shore." At last Columbus gained the ear of Isabella, Queen of Castile; she believed in him and tried to get the assistance of her husband, Ferdinand, King of Aragon, in providing an outfit for the great expedition. Owing to Ferdinand's war in expelling the Moors from Granada, Columbus had still to wait several years. In a previous year, 1477, Columbus had sailed to the North Atlantic, perhaps in one of those Basque whalers already referred to, going "a hundred leagues beyond Thule." If that means Iceland, as is generally supposed, it seems most probable that, when conversing with the sailors there he must have heard how Leif, with his Norsemen, had discovered the American coasts of Newfoundland and Vinland some five centuries earlier, and how they had settled a colony on the new continent. Other writers have pointed out that Columbus could very well have heard of Vinland and the Northmen before leaving Genoa, since one of the Popes had sanctioned the appointment of a bishop over the new diocese. If so, the visit of Columbus to Iceland probably gave him confirmation as to the Norse discovery of the American continent. When at last King Ferdinand had taken Granada from the Moors, Columbus was put in command of three ships, with 120 men. He set sail from the port of Palos, in Andalusia, on a Friday, August 3, 1492, first steering to the Canary Islands, and then standing due west. In September, to the amazement of all on board, the compass was seen to "vary": an important scientific discovery--viz., that the magnetic needle does not always point to the pole-star. Some writers have imagined that the compass was for the first time utilized for a long journey by Columbus, but the occult power of the magnetic needle or "lodestone" had been known for ages before the fifteenth century. The ancient Persians and other "wise men of the East" used the lodestone as a talisman. Both the Mongolian and Caucasian races used it as an infallible guide in traveling across the mighty plains of Asia. The Cynosure in the Great Bear was the "guiding star," whether by sea or land; but when the heavens were wrapped in clouds, the magic stone or needle served to point exactly the position of the unseen star. What Columbus and his terrified crews discovered was the "variation of the compass," due to the fact that the magnetic needle points, not to the North Star, but to the "magnetic pole," a point in Canada to the west of Baffin's Bay and north of Hudson Bay. If Columbus had continued steering due west he would have landed on the continent of America in Florida; but before sighting that coast the course was changed to southwest, because some birds were seen flying in that direction. The first land reached was an island of the Bahama group, which he named _San Salvador_. As the Spanish boats rowed to shore they were welcomed by crowds of astonished natives, mostly naked, unless for a girdle of wrought cotton or plaited feathers. Hence the lines of Milton: Such of late Columbus found the American, so girt With feathered cincture, naked else and wild, Among the trees on isles and woody shores. The spot of landing was formerly identified by Washington Irving and Baron Humboldt with "Cat Island"; but from the latest investigation it is now believed to have been Watling's Island. Here he landed on a Friday, October 12, 1492. So little was then known of the geography of the Atlantic or of true longitude, that Columbus attributed these islands to the _east coast of Asia_. He therefore named them "Indian Islands," as if close to Hindustan, a blunder that has now been perpetuated for four hundred and ten years. The natives were called "Indians" for the same reasons. As the knowledge of geography advanced it became necessary to say "West Indies" or "East Indies" respectively, to distinguish American from Asiatic--"Indian corn" means American, but "Indian ink" means Asiatic, etc. Even after his fourth and last voyage Columbus believed that the continent, as well as the islands, was a portion of eastern Asia, and he died in that belief, without any suspicion of having discovered a New World. A curious confirmation of the opinion of Columbus has just been discovered (1894) in the Florence Library, by Dr. Wieser, of Innsbruck. It is the actual copy of a map by the Great Admiral, drawn roughly in a letter written from Jamaica, July, 1503. It shows that his belief as to the part of the world reached in his voyages was that it was the east coast of Asia. The chief discovery made by Columbus in his first voyage was the great island of Cuba, which he imagined to be part of a continent. Some of the Spaniards went inland for sixty miles and reported that they had reached a village of more than a thousand inhabitants, and that the corn used for food was called _maize_--probably the first instance of Europeans using a term which was afterward to become as familiar as "wheat" or "barley." The natives told Columbus that their gold ornaments came from _Cubakan_, meaning the interior of Cuba; but he, on hearing the syllable _kan_, immediately thought of the "Khan" mentioned by Marco Polo, and therefore imagined that "Cathay" (the China of that famous traveler) was close at hand. The simple-minded Cubans were amazed that the Spaniards had such a love for gold, and pointed eastward to another island, which they called _Hayti_, saying it was more plentiful there than in Cuba. Thus Columbus discovered the second in size of all the West Indian islands, Cuba being the first; he, after landing on it, called it "Hispaniola," or Little Spain. Hayti in a few years became the headquarters of the Spanish establishments in the New World, after its capital, San Domingo, had been built by Bartholomew Columbus. It was in this island that the Spaniards saw the first of the "caziques," or native princes, afterward so familiar during the conquest of Mexico; he was carried on the shoulders of four men, and courteously presented Columbus with some plates of gold. In a letter to the monarchs of Spain the admiral thus refers to the natives of Hayti: The people are so affectionate, so tractable, and so peaceable that I swear to your Highnesses there is not a better race of men, nor a better country in the world; ... their conversation is the sweetest and mildest in the world, and always accompanied with a smile. The king is served with great state, and his behavior is so decent that it is pleasant to see him. The admiral had previously described the Indians of Cuba as equally simple and friendly, telling how they had "honored the strangers as sacred beings allied to heaven." The pity of it, and the shame, is that those frank, unsuspicious, islanders had no notion or foresight of the cruel desolation which their gallant guests were presently to bring upon the native races--death, and torture, and extermination! A harbor in Cuba is thus described by Columbus in a letter to Ferdinand and Isabella: I discovered a river which a galley might easily enter.... I found from five to eight fathoms of water. Having proceeded a considerable way up the river, everything invited me to settle there. The beauty of the river, the clearness of the water, the multitude of palm-trees and an infinite number of other large and flourishing trees, the birds and the verdure of the plains, ... I am so much amazed at the sight of such beauty, that I know not how to describe it. Having lost his flag-ship, Columbus returned to Spain with the two small caravels that remained from his petty fleet of three, arriving in the port of Palos March 15, 1493. The reception of the successful explorer was a national event. He entered Barcelona to be presented at court with every circumstance of honor and triumph. Sitting in presence of the king and queen he related his wondrous tale, while his attendants showed the gold, the cotton, the parrots and other unknown birds, the curious arms and plants, and above all the nine "Indians" with their outlandish trappings--brought to be made Christians by baptism. Ferdinand and Isabella heaped honors upon the successful navigator; and in return he promised them the untold riches of Zipango and Cathay. A new fleet, larger and better equipped, was soon found for a second voyage. With his new ships, in 1498, Columbus again stood due west from the Canaries; and at last discovering an island with three mountain summits he named it Trinidad (i. e., "Trinity") without knowing that he was then coasting the great continent of South America. A few days later he and the crew were amazed by a tumult of waves caused by the fresh water of a great river meeting the sea. It was the "Oronooko," afterward called Orinoco; and from its volume Columbus and his shipmates concluded that it must drain part of a continent or a very large island. Where Orinoco in his pride, Rolls to the main no tribute tide, But 'gainst broad ocean urges far A rival sea of roaring war; While in ten thousand eddies driven The billows fling their foam to heaven, And the pale pilot seeks in vain, Where rolls the river, where the main. That was the first glimpse which they had of America proper, still imagining it was only a part of eastern Asia. In the following voyage, his last, Columbus coasted part of the Isthmus of Darien. It was not, however, explored till the visit of Balboa. [Illustration: Cipher autograph of Columbus. The interpretation of the cipher is probably: SERVATF Christus Maria Yosephus (Christoferens).] It was during his third voyage that the "Great Admiral" suffered the indignity at San Domingo of being thrown into chains and sent back to Spain. This was done by Bobadilla, an officer of the royal household, who had been sent out with full power to put down misrule. The monarchs of Spain set Columbus free; and soon afterward he was provided with four ships for his fourth voyage. Stormy weather wrecked this final expedition, and at last he was glad to arrive in Spain, November 7, 1504. He now felt that his work on earth was done, and died at Valladolid, May 20, 1506. After temporary interment there his body was transferred to the cathedral of San Domingo--whence, 1796, some remains were removed with imposing ceremonies to Havana. From later investigations it appears that the ashes of the Genoese discoverer are still in the tomb of San Domingo. It was in the cathedral of Seville, over his first tomb, that King Ferdinand is said to have honored the memory of the Great Admiral with a marble monument bearing the well-known epitaph: A CASTILLA Y ARAGON NUEVO MUNDO DIO COLON. or, "_To the united Kingdom of Castile-Aragon Columbus gave a New World_." After the death of Columbus, it seemed as if fate intended his family to enjoy the honors and rewards of which he had been so unjustly deprived. His son, Diego, wasted two years trying to obtain from King Ferdinand the offices of viceroy and admiral, which he had a right to claim in accordance with the arrangement formerly made with his father. At last Diego began a suit against Ferdinand before the council which managed Indian affairs. That court decided in favor of Diego's claim; and as he soon greatly improved his social position by marrying the niece of the Duke of Alva, a high nobleman, Diego received the appointment of governor (not viceroy), and went to Hayti, attended by his brother and uncles, as well as his wife and a large retinue. There Diego Columbus and his family lived, "with a splendor hitherto unknown in the New World." II.--Henry VII of England, after repenting that he had not secured the services of Columbus, commissioned John Cabot to sail from Bristol across the Atlantic in a northwesterly direction, with the hope of finding some passage there-abouts to India. In June, 1497, a new coast was sighted (probably Labrador or Newfoundland), and named _Prima Vista_. They coasted the continent southward, "ever with intent to find the passage to India," till they reached the peninsula now called Florida. On this important voyage was based the claim which the English kings afterward made for the possession of all the Atlantic coast of North America. King Henry wished colonists to settle in the new land, _tam viri quam feminæ_, but since, in his usual miserly character, he refused to give a single "testoon," or "groat" toward the enterprise, no colonies were formed till the days of Walter Raleigh, more than a century later. Sebastian Cabot, born in Bristol, 1477, was more renowned as a navigator than his father, John, and almost ranks with Columbus. After discovering Labrador or Newfoundland with his father, he sailed a second time with 300 men to form colonies, passing apparently into Hudson Bay. He wished to discover a channel leading to Hindustan, but the difficulties of icebergs and cold weather so frightened his crews that he was compelled to retrace his course. In another attempt at the northwest passage to Asia, he reached latitude 67-1/2° north, and "gave English names to sundry places in Hudson Bay." In 1526, when commanding a Spanish expedition from Seville, he sailed to Brazil, which had already been annexed to Portugal by Cabrera, explored the River La Plata and ascended part of the Paraguay, returning to Spain in 1531. After his return to England, King Edward VI had some interviews with Cabot, one topic being the "variation of the compass." He received a royal pension of 250 marks, and did special work in relation to trade and navigation. The great honor of Cabot is that he saw the American continent before Columbus or Amerigo Vespucci. III.--Of the great navigators of that unexampled age of discovery, as Spain was honored by Columbus and England by Cabot, so Portugal was honored by De Gama. Vasco de Gama, the greatest of Portuguese navigators, left Lisbon in 1497 to explore the unknown world lying east of the Cape of Good Hope, arriving at Calicut, May, 1498. Before that, Diaz had actually rounded the cape, but seems to have done so merely before a high gale. He named it "the stormy Cape." Cabrera, or Cabral, was another great explorer sent from Portugal to follow in the route of De Gama; but being forced into a southwesterly route by currents in the south Atlantic, he landed on the continent of America, and annexed the new country to Portugal under the name of Brazil. Cabrera afterward drew up the first commercial treaty between Portugal and India. IV.--Magellan, scarcely inferior to Columbus, brought honor as a navigator both to Portugal and Spain. For the latter country, when in the service of Charles V, he revived the idea of Columbus that we may sail to Asia or the Spice Islands by sailing _west_. With a squadron of five ships, 236 men, he sailed, in 1519, to Brazil and convinced himself that the great estuary was not a strait. Sailing south along the American coast, he discovered the strait that bears his name, and through it entered the Pacific, then first sailed upon by Europeans, though already seen by Balboa and his men "upon a peak in Darien"--as Keats puts it in his famous sonnet.[7] From the continuous fine weather enjoyed for some months, Magellan naturally named the new sea "the Pacific." After touching at the Ladrones and the Philippines, Magellan was killed in a fight with the inhabitants of Matan, a small island. Sebastian, his Basque lieutenant (mentioned in Chapter I) then successfully completed the circumnavigation of the world, sailing first to the Moluccas and thence to Spain. [Footnote 7: The poet, however, makes the clerical blunder of writing Cortez for Balboa.] V.--Of all the world-famous navigators contemporary with Colon, the Genoese, there remains only one deserving of our notice, and that because his name is for all time perpetuated in that of the New World. Amerigo (Latin _Americus_) Vespucci, born at Florence, 1451, had commercial occupation in Cadiz, and was employed by the Spanish Government. He has been charged with a fraudulent attempt to usurp the honor due to Columbus, but Humboldt and others have defended him, after a minute examination of the evidence. In a book published in 1507 by a German, _Waldseemüller_, the author happens to say: And the fourth part of the world having been discovered by Americus, it may be called Amerige, that is the land of Americus, or _America_. Vespucci never called himself the discoverer of the new continent; as a mere subordinate he could not think of such a thing. As a matter of fact, he and Columbus were always on friendly terms, attached, and trusted. Humboldt explains the blunder of Waldseemüller and others by the general ignorance of the history of how America was discovered, since for some years it was jealously guarded as a "state secret." Humboldt curiously adds that the "musical sound of the name caught the public ear," and thus the blunder has been universally perpetuated: _statque stabitque in omne volubilis ævum_. Another reason for the universal renown of Amerigo was that his book was the first that told of the new "Western World"; and was therefore eagerly read in all parts of Europe. Cuba, though the largest of the West Indian islands, and second to be discovered, was not colonized till after the death of Columbus. Thus for more than three centuries and a half, as "Queen of the Antilles" and "Pearl of the Antilles," Cuba has been noted as a chief colonial possession of Spain, till recent events brought it under the power of the United States. The conquest of the island was undertaken by Velasquez, who, after accompanying the great admiral in his second voyage, had settled in Hispaniola (or Hayti) and acquired a large fortune there. He had little difficulty in the annexation of Cuba, because the natives, like those of Hispaniola, were of a peaceful character, easily imposed upon by the invaders. The only difficulty Velasquez had was in the eastern part of the island, where Hatuey, a cazique or native chief, who had fled there from Hispaniola, made preparations to resist the Spaniards. When defeated, he was cruelly condemned by Velasquez to be burned to death, as a "slave who had taken arms against his master." The scene at Hatuey's execution is well known: When fastened to the stake, a Franciscan friar promised him immediate admittance into the joys of heaven, if he would embrace the Christian faith. "Are there any Spaniards," says he, after some pause, "in that region of bliss which you describe?" "Yes," replied the monk, "but only such as are worthy and good." "The best of them have neither worth nor goodness: I will not go to a place where I may meet with one of that accursed race." Being thus annexed in 1511, by the middle of the century all the native Indians of Cuba had become extinct. In the following century this large and fertile island suffered severely by the buccaneers, but during the eighteenth century it prospered. During the nineteenth century, the United States Government had often been urged to obtain possession of it; for example, the sum of one hundred million dollars was offered in 1848 by President Polk. Slavery was at last abolished absolutely in 1886. In recent years Spain, by ceding Cuba and the Philippines to the United States and the Carolines to Germany, has brought her colonial history to a close. Two other important events occurred when Velasquez was Governor of Cuba: first, the escape of Balboa from Hispaniola, to become afterward Governor of Darien; and, second, the expedition under Cordova to explore that part of the continent of America which lies nearest to Cuba. This expedition of 110 men, in three small ships, led to the discovery of that large peninsula now known as Yucatan. Cordova imagined it to be an island. The natives were not naked, like those of the West Indian islands, but wore cotton clothes, and some had ornaments of gold. In the towns, which contained large stone houses, and country generally, there were many proofs of a somewhat advanced civilization. The natives, however, were much more warlike than the simple islanders of Cuba and Hispaniola; and Cordova, in fact, was glad to return from Yucatan. Velasquez, on hearing the report of Cordova, at once fitted out four vessels to explore the newly discovered country, and despatched them under command of his nephew, Grijalva. Everywhere were found proofs of civilization, especially in architecture. The whole district, in fact, abounds in prehistoric remains. From a friendly chief Grijalva received a sort of coat of mail covered with gold plates; and on meeting the ruler of the province he exchanged some toys and trinkets, such as glass beads, pins, scissors, for a rich treasure of jewels, gold ornaments and vessels. Grijalva was therefore the first European to step on the Aztec soil and open an intercourse with the natives. Velasquez, the Governor, at once prepared a larger expedition, choosing as leader or commander an officer who was destined henceforth to fill a much larger place in history than himself, one who presently appeared capable of becoming a general in the foremost rank, Hernando Cortés, greatest of all Spanish explorers. CHAPTER III THE EXTINCT CIVILIZATION OF THE AZTECS In the Extinct Civilizations of the East it was shown that the cosmogony of the Chaldeans closely resembles that of the Hebrews and the Phenicians, and that the account of the deluge in Genesis exactly reproduces the much earlier one found on one of the Babylonian tablets. Traces of a deluge legend also existed among the early Aztecs. They believed that two persons survived the Deluge, a man named Koksoz and his wife. Their heads are represented in ancient paintings together with a boat floating on the waters at the foot of a mountain. A dove is also depicted, with a hieroglyphical emblem of languages in his mouth.... Tezpi, the Noah of a neighboring people, also escaped in a boat, which was filled with various kinds of animals and birds. After some time a vulture was sent out from it, but remained feeding on the dead bodies of the giants, which had been left on the earth as the waters subsided. The little humming-bird was then sent forth and returned with the branch of a tree in its mouth. Another Aztec tradition of the deluge is that the pyramidal mound, the temple of Cholula (a sacred city on the way between the capital and the seaport), was built by the giants to escape drowning. Like the tower of Babel, it was intended to reach the clouds, till the gods looked down and, by destroying the pyramid by fires from heaven, compelled the builders to abandon the attempt. The hieroglyphics used in the Aztec calendar correspond curiously with the zodiacal signs of the Mongols of eastern Asia. "The symbols in the Mongolian calendar are borrowed from animals, and four of the twelve are the same as the Aztec." The antiquity of most of the monuments is proved--e. g., by the growth of trees in the midst of the buildings in Yucatan. Many have had time to attain a diameter of from six to nine feet. In a courtyard at Uxmal, the figures of tortoises sculptured in relief upon the granite pavement are so worn away by the feet of countless generations of the natives that the design of the artist is scarcely recognizable. The Spanish invaders demolished every vestige of the Aztec religious monuments, just as Roman Catholic images and paraphernalia were once treated by the "straitest sects" of Protestants, or even Mohammedans. The beautiful plateau around the lakes of Mexico, as well as other central portions of America, were without any doubt occupied from the earliest ages by peoples who gradually advanced in civilization from generation to generation and passed through cycles of revolutions--in one century relapsing, in another advancing by leaps and bounds by an infusion of new blood or a change of environment--exactly similar to the checkered annals of the successive dynasties in the Nile Valley and the plains of Babylonia. In the New World, as in the Old World, from prehistoric times wealth was accumulated at such centers, bringing additional comfort and refinement, and implying the practise of the useful arts and some applications of science. As to the legendary migrations or even those extinct races whose names still remain, Max Müller said:[8] [Footnote 8: Chips from a German Workshop, i, 327.] The traditions are no better than the Greek traditions about Pelasgians, Æolians, and Ionians, and it would be a mere waste of time to construct out of such elements a systematic history, only to be destroyed again sooner or later, by some Niebuhr, Grote, or Lewis. _Anahuac_ (i. e., "waterside" or "the lake-country"), in the early centuries of our era, was a name of the country round the lakes and town afterward called Mexico. To this center, as a place for settlement, there came from the north or northwest a succession of tribes more or less allied in race and language--especially (according to one theory) the _Toltecs_ from Tula, and the _Aztecs_ from Aztlan. Tula, north of the Mexican Valley, had been the first capital of the Toltecs, and at the time of the Spanish conquest there were remains of large buildings there. Most of the extensive temples and other edifices found throughout "New Spain" were attributed to this race and the word "toltek" became synonymous with "architect." Some five centuries after the Toltecs had abandoned Tula, the Aztecs or early Mexicans arrived to settle in the Valley of Anahuac. With the Aztecs came the Tezcucans, whose capital, Tezcuco, on the eastern border of the Mexican lake, has given it its still surviving name. The Aztecs, again, after long migrations from place to place, finally, in A. D. 1325, halted on the southwestern shores of the great lake. According to tradition, a heavenly vision thus announced the site of their future capital: They beheld perched on the stem of a prickly-pear, which shot out from the crevice of a rock washed by the waves, a royal eagle of extraordinary size and beauty, with a serpent in its talons, and its broad wings opened to the rising sun. They hailed the auspicious omen, announced by an oracle as indicating the sight of their future city, and laid its foundations by sinking piles into the shallows; for the low marshes were half buried under water.... The place was called Tenochtitlan (i. e. "the cactus on a rock") in token of its miraculous origin. [Such were the humble beginnings of the Venice of the Western World.][9] [Footnote 9: Prescott, i, I, pp. 8, 9.] To this day the arms of the Mexican republic show the device of the eagle and the cactus--to commemorate the legend of the foundation of the capital--afterward called Mexico from the name of their war-god. Fiercer and more warlike than their brethren of Tezcuco, the men of the latter town were glad of their assistance, when invaded and defeated by a hostile tribe. Thus Mexico and Tezcuco became close allies, and by the time of Montezuma I, in the middle of the fifteenth century, their sovereignty had extended beyond their native plateau to the coast country along the Gulf of Mexico. The capital rapidly increased in population, the original houses being replaced by substantial stone buildings. There are documents showing that Tenochtitlan was of much larger dimensions than the modern capital of Mexico, on the same site. Just before the arrival of the Spaniards, at the beginning of the sixteenth century, the kingdom extended from the gulf across to the Pacific; and southward under the ruthless Ahuitzotl over the whole of Guatemala and Nicaragua. The Aztecs resembled the ancient Peruvians in very few respects, one being the use of knots on strings of different colors to record events and numbers. Compare our account of "the quipu" in Chapter X. The Aztecs seem to have replaced that rude method of making memoranda during the seventh century by picture-writing. Before the Spanish invasion, thousands of native clerks or chroniclers were employed in painting on vegetable paper and canvas. Examples of such manuscripts may still be seen in all the great museums. Their contents chiefly refer to ritual, astrology, the calendar, annals of the kings, etc. Most of the literary productions of the ancient Mexicans were stupidly destroyed by the Spanish under Cortés. The first Archbishop of Mexico founded a professorship in 1553 for expounding the hieroglyphs of the Aztecs, but in the following century the study was abandoned. Even the native-born scholars confessed that they were unable to decipher the ancient writing. One of the most ancient books (assigned to Tula, the "Toltec" capital, A. D. 660, and written by Huetmatzin, an astrologer), describes the heavens and the earth, the stars in their constellations, the arrangement of time in the official calendar, with some geography, mythology, and cosmogony. In the fifteenth century the King of Tezcuco published sixty hymns in honor of the Supreme Being, with an elegy on the destruction of a town, and another on the instability of human greatness. In the same century the three Anahuac states (Acolhua, Mexico, and Tlacopan) formed a confederacy with a constant tendency to give Mexico the supremacy. The two capitals looking at each other across the lake were steadily growing in importance, with all the adjuncts of public works--causeways, canals, aqueducts, temples, palaces, gardens, and other evidences of wealth. The horror and disgust caused by the Aztec sacrificial bloodshed are greatly increased by considering the number of the victims. The kings actually made war in order to provide as many victims as possible for the public sacrifices--especially on such an occasion as a coronation or the consecration of a new temple. Captives were sometimes reserved a considerable time for the purpose of immolation. It was the regular method of the Aztec warrior in battle not to kill one's opponent if he could be made a captive; to take him alive was a meritorious act in religion. In fact, the Spaniards in this way frequently escaped death at the hands of their Mexican opponents. When King Montezuma was asked by a European general why he had permitted the republic of Tlascala to remain independent on the borders of his kingdom, his reply was, "That she might furnish me with victims for my gods." In reckoning the number of victims Prescott seems to have trusted too implicitly to the almost incredible accounts of the Spanish. Zumurraga, the first Bishop of Mexico, asserts that 20,000 were sacrificed annually, but Casas points out that with such a "waste of the human species," as is implied in some histories, the country could not have been so populous as Cortés found it. The estimate of Casas is "that the Mexicans never sacrificed more than fifty or a hundred persons in a year." Notwithstanding the wholesale bloodshed before the shrines of their gory gods, we can still assign to the Aztecs a high degree of civilization. The history of even modern Europe will illustrate this statement, although apparently paradoxical. Consider "the condition of some of the most polished countries in the sixteenth century after the establishment of the modern Inquisition--an institution which yearly destroyed its thousands by a death more painful than the Aztec sacrifices, ... which did more to stay the march of improvement than any other scheme ever devised by human cunning.... Human sacrifice was sometimes voluntarily embraced by the Aztecs as the most glorious death, and one that opened a sure passage into paradise. The Inquisition, on the other hand, branded its victims with infamy in this world, and consigned them to everlasting perdition in the next." The difficulty with the Aztecs is how to reconcile such refinement as their extinct civilization showed with their savage enjoyment of bloodshed. "No captive was ever ransomed or spared; all were sacrificed without mercy, and their flesh devoured." The first of the four chief counselors of the empire was called the "Prince of the Deadly Lance," the second "Divider of Men," the third "Shedder of Blood," the fourth "the Lord of the Dark House." The temples were very numerous, generally merely pyramidal masses of clay faced with brick or stone. The roof was a broad area on which stood one or two towers, from forty to fifty feet in height, forming the sanctuaries of the presiding deities, and therefore containing their images. Before these sanctuaries stood the dreadful stone of sacrifice. There were also two altars with sacred fires kept ever burning. All the religious services were public, and the pyramidal temples, with stairs round their massive sides, allowed the long procession of priests to be visible as they ceremoniously ascended to perform the dread office of slaughtering the human victims. Human sacrifices had not originally been a feature of the Aztec worship. But about 200 years before the arrival of the Spanish invaders was the beginning of this religious atrocity, and at last no public festival was considered complete without some human bloodshed. Prescott takes as an example the great festival in honor of Tezcatlipoca, a handsome god of the second rank, called "the soul of the world," and endowed with perpetual youth. A year before the intended sacrifice, a captive, distinguished for his personal beauty and without a blemish on his body, was selected.... Tutors took charge of him and instructed him how to perform his new part with becoming grace and dignity. He was arrayed in a splendid dress, regaled with incense and with a profusion of sweet-scented flowers.... When he went abroad he was attended by a train of the royal pages, and as he halted in the streets to play some favorite melody, the crowd prostrated themselves before him, and did him homage as the representative of their good deity.... Four beautiful girls, bearing the names of the principal goddesses, were selected, and with them he continued to live idly, feasted at the banquets of the principal nobles, who paid him all the honors of a divinity. When at length the fatal day of sacrifice arrived, ... stripped of his gaudy apparel, one of the royal barges transported him across a lake to a temple which rose on its margin.... Hither the inhabitants of the capital flocked to witness the consummation of the ceremony. As the sad procession wound up the sides of the pyramid, the unhappy victim threw away his gay chaplets of flowers and broke in pieces his musical instruments. ... On the summit he was received by six priests, whose long and matted locks flowed in disorder over their sable robes, covered with hieroglyphic scrolls of mystic import. They led him to the sacrificial stone, a huge block of jasper, with its upper surface somewhat convex. On this the victim was stretched. Five priests secured his head and limbs, while the sixth, clad in a scarlet mantle, emblematic of his bloody office, dexterously opened the breast of the wretched victim with a sharp razor of _itzli_, and inserting his hand in the wound, tore out the palpitating heart, and after holding it up to the sun (as representing the supreme God), cast it at the feet of the deity to whom the temple was devoted, while the multitudes below prostrated themselves in humble adoration. Such was an instance of the human sacrifices for which ancient Mexico became infamous to the whole civilized world. One instance of a sacrifice differing from the ordinary sort is thus given by a Spanish historian: A captive of distinction was sometimes furnished with arms for single combat against a number of Mexicans in succession. If he defeated them all, as did occasionally happen, he was allowed to escape. If vanquished he was dragged to the block and sacrificed in the usual manner. The combat was fought on a huge circular stone before the population of the capital. Women captives were occasionally sacrificed before those bloodthirsty gods, and in a season of drought even children were sometimes slaughtered to propitiate Tlaloc, the god of rain. Borne along in open litters, dressed in their festal robes and decked with the fresh blossoms of spring, they moved the hardest hearts to pity, though their cries were drowned in the wild chant of the priests who read in their tears a favorable augury for the rain prayer. One Spanish historian informs us that these innocent victims of this repulsive religion were generally bought by the priests from parents who were poor. We may now resume the traditional settlement of the ancient Mexicans on the region called Anahuac, including all the fertile plateau and extending south to the lake of Nicaragua. The chief tribes of the race were said to have come from California, and after being subject to the Colhua people asserted their independence about A. D. 1325. Soon afterward, their first capital, Tenochtitlan, was built on the site of Mexico, their permanent center. For several generations they lived, like their remote ancestors, the Red Men of the Woods, as hunters, fishers, and trappers, but at last their prince or chief cazique was powerful enough to be called king. The rule of this Aztec prince, beginning A. D. 1440, marked the beginning of their greatness as a race. It became a rule of their kingdom that every new king must gain a victory before being crowned; and thus by the conquest of a new nation furnish a supply of captives to gratify their tutelary deity by the necessary human sacrifices. In 1502 the younger Montezuma ascended the throne. He is better known to us than the previous kings, because it was in his reign that the Spanish conquerors appeared on the scene. From the time of Cortés the history of the Aztecs becomes part of that of the Mexicans. They were easily conquered by the European troops, partly because of their betrayal by various of the neighboring nations whom they had formerly conquered. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, according to Prescott, the Aztec king ruled the continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific. From the scientific side of their extinct civilization it is their knowledge of astronomy that chiefly causes astonishment (see also p. 85). As in the case of the Chaldeans and Babylonians, a motive for the study of the stars and planets was the priestly one of accurately fixing the religious festivals. The tropical year being thus ascertained, their tables showed the exact time of the equinox or sun's transit across the equatorial, and of the solstice. From a very early period they had practised agriculture, growing Indian corn and "Mexican aloe." Having no animals of draft, such as the horse, or ox, their farming was naturally of a rude and imperfect sort. "The degree of civilization," says Prescott, "which the Aztecs reached, as inferred by their political institutions, may be considered, perhaps, not much short of that enjoyed by our Saxon ancestors under Alfred." In a passage comparing the Aztecs to the American Indians, we read: The latter has something peculiarly sensitive in his nature. He shrinks instinctively from the rude touch of a foreign hand. Even when this foreign influence comes in the form of civilization he seems to sink and pine away beneath it. It has been so with the Mexicans. Under the Spanish domination their numbers have silently melted away. Their energies are broken. They no longer tread their mountain plains with the conscious independence of their ancestors. In their faltering step and meek and melancholy aspect we read the sad characters of the conquered race.... Their civilization was of the hardy character which belongs to the wilderness. The fierce virtues of the Aztec were all his own. Humboldt found some analogy between the Aztec theory of the universe, as taught by the priests, and the Asiatic "cosmogonies." The Aztecs, in explaining the great mystery of man's existence after death, believed that future time would revolve in great periods or cycles, each embracing thousands of years. At the end of each of the four cycles of future time in the present world, "the human family will be swept from the earth by the agency of one of the elements, and the sun blotted out from the heavens to be again rekindled." The priesthood comprised a large number who were skilled in astrology and divination. The great temple of Mexico, alone, had 5,000 priests in attendance, of whom the chief dignitaries superintended the dreadful rites of human sacrifice. Others had management of the singing choirs with their musical accompaniment of drums and other instruments; others arranged the public festivals according to the calendar, and had charge of the hieroglyphical word-painting and oral traditions. One important section of the priesthood were teachers, responsible for the education of the children and instruction in religion and morality. The head management of the hierarchy or whole ecclesiastical system, was under two high priests--the more dignified that they were chosen by the king and principal nobles without reference to birth or social station. These high priests were consulted on any national emergency, and in precedency of rank were superior to every man except the king. Montezuma is said to have been a priest. The priestly power was more absolute than any ever experienced in Europe. Two remarkable peculiarities were that when a sinner was pardoned by a priest, the certificate afterward saved the culprit from being legally punished for any offense; secondly, there could be no pardon for an offense once atoned for if the offense were repeated. "Long after the conquest, the simple natives when they came under the arm of the law, sought to escape by producing the certificate of their former confession." (Prescott, i, 33.) The prayer of the priest-confessor, as reported by a Spanish historian, is very remarkable: "O, merciful Lord, thou who knowest the secrets of all hearts, let thy forgiveness and favor descend, like the pure waters of heaven, to wash away the stains from the soul. Thou knowest that this poor man has sinned, _not from his own free will_, but from the influence of the sign under which he was born...." After enjoining on the penitent a variety of minute ceremonies by way of penance, the confessor urges the necessity of instantly procuring a slave for sacrifice to the Deity. In the schools under the clergy the boys were taught by priests and the girls by priestesses. There was a higher school for instruction in tradition and history, the mysteries of hieroglyphs, the principles of government, and certain branches of astronomical and natural science. In the education of their children the Mexican community were very strict, but from a letter preserved by one of the Spanish historians, we can not doubt the womanly affection of a mother who thus wrote to her daughter: My beloved daughter, very dear little dove, you have already heard and attended to the words which your father has told you. They are precious words, which have proceeded from the bowels and heart in which they were treasured up; and your beloved father well knows that you, his daughter, begotten of him, are his blood and his flesh; and God our Lord knows that it is so. Although you are a woman, and are the image of your father, what more can I say to you than has already been said?... My dear daughter, whom I tenderly love, see that you live in the world in peace, tranquillity, and contentment--see that you disgrace not yourself, that you stain not your honor, nor pollute the luster and fame of your ancestors.... May God prosper you, my first-born, and may you come to God, who is in every place.[10] [Footnote 10: Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva España, vi, 19.] Some trace of a "natural piety," which will probably surprise our readers, is also found in the ceremony of Aztec baptism, as described by the same writer. After the head and lips of the infant were touched with water and a name given to it, the goddess Cioacoatl was implored "that the sin which was given to us before the beginning of the world might not visit the child, but that, cleansed by these waters, it might live and be born anew." In Sahagun's account we read: When all the relations of the child were assembled, the midwife, who was the person that performed the rite of baptism, was summoned. When the sun had risen, the midwife, taking the child in her arms, called for a little earthen vessel of water.... To perform the rite, she placed herself _with her face toward the west_, and began to go through certain ceremonies.... After this she sprinkled water on the head of the infant, saying, "O my child! receive the water of the Lord of the world, which is our life, and is given for the increasing and renewing of our body. It is to wash and to purify." ... [After a prayer] she took the child in both hands, and lifting him toward heaven said, "O Lord, thou seest here thy creature whom thou hast sent into this world, this place of sorrow, suffering, and penitence. Grant him, O Lord, thy gifts and thine inspiration." The science of the Aztecs has excited the wonder of all competent judges, such as Humboldt (already quoted) and the astronomer La Place. Lord Kingsborough remarks in his great work: It can hardly be doubted that the Mexicans were acquainted with many scientifical instruments of strange invention;... whether the telescope may not have been of the number is uncertain; but the thirteenth plate of M. Dupaix's Monuments, which represents a man holding something of a similar nature to his eye, affords reason to suppose that they knew how to improve the powers of vision. References to the calendar of the Aztecs should not omit the secular festival occurring at the end of their great cycle of fifty-two years. From the length of the period, two generations, one might compare it with the "jubilee" of ancient Israel--a word made familiar toward the close of Queen Victoria's reign. The great event always took place at midwinter, the most dreary period of the year, and when the five intercalary days arrived they "abandoned themselves to despair," breaking up the images of the gods, allowing the holy fires of the temples to go out, lighting none in their homes, destroying their furniture and domestic utensils, and tearing their clothes to rags. This disorder and gloom signified that figuratively the end of the world was at hand. On the evening of the last day, a procession of priests, assuming the dress and ornaments of their gods, moved from the capital toward a lofty mountain, about two leagues distant. They carried with them a noble victim, the flower of their captives, and an apparatus for kindling the _new fire_, the success of which was an augury of the renewal of the cycle. On the summit of the mountain, the procession paused till midnight, when, as the constellation of the Pleiades[11] approached the zenith, the new fire was kindled by the friction of some sticks placed on the breast of the victim. The flame was soon communicated to a funeral-pyre on which the body of the slaughtered captive was thrown. As the light streamed up toward heaven, shouts of joy and triumph burst forth from the countless multitudes who covered the hills, the terraces of the temples, and the housetops.... Couriers, with torches lighted at the blazing beacon, rapidly bore them over every part of the country.... A new cycle had commenced its march. The following thirteen days were given up to festivity. ... The people, dressed in their gayest apparel, and crowned with garlands and chaplets of flowers, thronged in joyous procession to offer up their oblations and thanksgivings in the temples. Dances and games were instituted emblematical of the regeneration of the world. [Footnote 11: A famous group of seven small stars in the Bull constellation. The "seven sisters" appear as only _six_ to ordinary eyesight: to make out the seventh is a test of a practised eye and excellent vision.] Prescott compares this carnival of the Aztecs to the great secular festival of the Romans or ancient Etruscans, which (as Suetonius remarked) "few alive had witnessed before, or could expect to witness again." The _ludi sæculares_ or secular games of Rome were held only at very long intervals and lasted for three days and nights. The poet Southey thus refers to the ceremony of opening the new Aztec cycle, or Circle of the Years. On his bare breast the cedar boughs are laid, On his bare breast, dry sedge and odorous gums, Laid ready to receive the sacred spark, And blaze, to herald the ascending sun, Upon his living altar. Round the wretch The inhuman ministers of rites accurst Stand, and expect the signal when to strike The seed of fire. Their Chief, apart from all, ... eastward turns his eyes; For now the hour draws nigh, and speedily He look's to see the first faint dawn of day Break through the orient sky. _Madoc_, ii, 26. CHAPTER IV AMERICAN ARCHEOLOGY Long before the time of Columbus and the Spanish conquest there existed on the table-land of Mexico two great races or nations, as has already been shown, both highly civilized, and both akin in language, art, and religion. Ethnologists and antiquaries are not agreed as to their origin or the development of their civilization. Many recent critics have held the theory that there had been a previous people from whom both races inherited their extinct civilization, this previous race being the "Toltecs," whom we have repeatedly mentioned in the preceding chapter. To that previous race some attribute the colossal stonework around Lake Titicaca, as well as other survivals of long-forgotten culture. Some would even class them with the "mound-builders" of the Ohio Valley. Other recent antiquaries, however, while fully admitting the Aztec-Tescucan civilization to be real and historical, treat the Toltec theory as partly or entirely mythical. One writer alleges, after the manner of Max Müller, that the Toltecs are "simply a personification of the rays of light" radiating from the Aztec sun-god. Leaving abstract theories, we shall devote this chapter to the principal facts of American archeology--especially as regards the races and the monuments of their long extinct civilizations. Throughout many parts of both North and South America, and over large areas, the red-skinned natives continued their generations as their ancestors had done through untold centuries, scarcely rising above the state of rude, uncultured sons of the soil living as hunters, trappers, fishers, as had been done immemorially When wild in woods the noble savage ran, as Dryden puts it. But in Mexico, Yucatan, and Central America, Colombia, and Peru there were men of the original redskin race who had distinctly attained to civilization for unknown generations before the time of Columbus. Not only so, but in many centers of wealth and population the process of social improvement and advance had been continuous for unrecorded ages; and in certain cases a long extinct civilization had over-laid a previous civilization still more remotely extinct. Some works constructed for supplying water, for example, could only have been applied to that purpose when the climate or geological conditions were quite different from what they have always been in historical times! Who is the red man? Compared in numbers with the yellow man, the white man, or even the black, he is very unimportant, being only one-tenth as great as the African race.[12] In American ethnology, however, the red man is all-important. Primeval men of this race undoubtedly formed the original stock whence during the centuries were derived all the numerous tribes of "Indians" found in either North or South America. Throughout Asia and Africa there is great diversity in type among the races that are indigenous; but as to America, to quote Humboldt: [Footnote 12: White or Caucasian 640,000,000, yellow or Mongolian 600,000,000, black or African 200,000,000, red or American 20,000,000.] The Indians of New Spain [i. e., Mexico] bear a general resemblance to those who inhabit Canada, Florida, Peru, and Brazil. We have the same swarthy and copper color, straight and smooth hair, small beard, squat body, long eye, with the corner directed upward toward the temples, prominent cheek-bones, thick lips, and expression of gentleness in the mouth, strongly contrasted with a gloomy and severe look. Whence the original red men of America were derived it is impossible to say. The date is too remote and the data too few. From fossil remains of human bones, Agassiz estimated a period of at least ten thousand years; and near New Orleans, beneath four buried forests, a skeleton was found which was possibly fifty thousand years old. If, therefore, the redskins branched off from the yellow man, it must have been at a period which lies utterly beyond historic ken or calculation. Some recent ethnologists have borrowed the "glacier theory" from the science of geology, in order to trace the development of civilization among certain races. In Switzerland and Greenland the signs of the action of a glacier can be traced and recognized just as we trace the proofs of the action of water in a dry channel. Visit the front of a glacier in autumn after the summer heat has made it shrink back, you will see (1) rounded rocks, as if planed on the top, with (2) a mixed mass of stones and gravel like a rubbish-heap, scattered on (3) a mass of clay and sand, containing boulders. The same three tests are frequently found in countries where there have been no glaciers within the memory of man. Such traces, found not only in England, Scotland, and Ireland, but in northern Germany and Denmark, prove that the mountain mass of Scandinavia was the nucleus of a huge ice-cap "radiating to a distance of not less than 1,000 miles, and thick enough to block up with solid ice the North Sea, the German Ocean, the Baltic, and even the Atlantic up to the 100-fathom line." In North America the same thing is proved by similar evidence. A gigantic ice-cap extending from Canada has glaciated all the minor mountain ranges to the south, sweeping over the whole continent. The drift and boulders still remain to prove the fact, as far south as only 15° north of the tropic. A warm oceanic current, like the Gulf Stream of the Atlantic, would shorten a glacial period. Speaking of Scotland, one authority states that "if the Gulf Stream were diverted and the Highlands upheaved to the height of the New Zealand Alps, the whole country would again be buried under glaciers pushing out into the seas" on the west and east. The theory is that as the climate became warmer, the ice-fronts retreated northward by the shrinking of the glaciers, and therefore the animals, including man, were able to live farther north. The men of that very remote period were "Neolithic," and some of the stone monuments are attributed to them that were formerly called "Druidic." A recent writer asks; with reference to Stonehenge: Did Neolithic men slowly coming northward, as the rigors of the last glacial period abated, domicile here, and build this huge gaunt temple before they passed farther north, to degrade and dwindle down into Eskimos wandering the dismal coasts of arctic seas? Another writer, with reference to the American ice-sheet, says: During the second glacial epoch when the great boreal ice-sheet covered one-half of the North American continent, reaching as far south as the present cities of Philadelphia and St. Louis, and the glaciated portions were as unfit for human occupation as the snow-cap of Greenland is to-day, aggregations of population clustered around the equatorial zone, because the climatic conditions were congenial. And inasmuch as civilization, the world over, clings to the temperate climates and thrives there best, we are not surprised to learn that communities far advanced in arts and architecture built and occupied those great cities in Yucatan, Honduras, Guatemala, and other Central American states, whose populations once numbered hundreds of thousands. An approximate date when this civilization was at the acme of its glory would be about ten thousand years ago. This is established by observations upon the recession of the existing glacier fronts, which are known to drop back twelve miles in one hundred years. With the gradual withdrawal of the glacial ice-sheet the climate grew proportionately milder, and flora and fauna moved simultaneously northward. Some emigrants went to South America and settled there, carrying their customs, arts, ceremonial rites, hieroglyphs, architecture, etc.; and an immense exodus took place into Mexico, which ultimately extended westward up the Pacific coast. In subsequent epochs when the ice-sheet had withdrawn from large areas, there were immense influxes of people from Asia via Bering Strait on the Pacific side, and from northwestern Europe via Greenland on the Atlantic side. The Korean immigration of the year 544 led to the founding of the Mexican Empire in 1325. To trace then the gradations of ascent from the native American--called "Indians" by a blunder of the Great Admiral, as afterward they were nicknamed "redskins" by the English settlers--to the Mexicans, Peruvians, or Colombians is a task far beyond our strength. Leaving the question of race, therefore, we now turn to the antiquarian remains, especially the architectural. The prehistoric civilization which was developed to the south of Mexico is generally known as "Mayan," although the Mayas were undoubtedly akin to the Aztecs or early Mexicans. The Maya tribes in Yucatan and Honduras, from abundant evidence, must have risen to a refinement in prehistoric times, which, in several respects, was superior to that of the Aztecs. In architecture they were in advance from the earliest ages not only of the Aztec peoples, but of all the American races. In Yucatan the Mayas have left some wonderful remains at Mayapan, their prehistoric capital, and near it at a place called Uxmal which has become famous from its vast and elaborate structures,[13] evidencing a knowledge of art and science which had flourished in this region for centuries before the arrival of the Spanish. The chief building in Uxmal is in pyramidal form, the principal design in the ancient Aztec temples (as well as those of Chaldea, etc.), consisting of three terraces faced with hewn stone. The terraces are in length 575, 545, and 360 feet respectively; with the temple on the summit, 322 feet, and a great flight of stairs leading to it. The whole building is surrounded by a belt of richly sculptured figures, above a cornice. At Chichen, also in Yucatan, there is an area of two miles perimeter entirely covered with architectural ruins; many of the roofs having apparently consisted of stone arches, painted in various colors. One building, of peculiar construction, proves an enigma to all travelers: it is more than ninety yards long and consists of two parallel walls, each ten yards thick, the distance between them being also ten yards. It has been conjectured that the anomalous construction had reference to some public games by which the citizens amused themselves in that long-forgotten period. Among other memorials of Mayan architecture in this country is the city of Tuloom on the east coast, fortified with strong walls and square towers. A more remarkable "find" in the dense forests of Chiapas, in the same country, is the city recorded by Stephens and other travelers. It is near the coast, at the place where Cortés and his Spanish soldiers were moving about for a considerable time, yet they do not appear to have ever seen the splendid ruins, or to have at all suspected their existence. Even if the natives knew, the Spaniards might have found the toil of forcing a passage through such forests too laborious. The name of the city which had so long been buried under the tropical vegetation was quite unknown, nor was there any tradition of it; but when found it was called "Palenque," from the nearest inhabited village. There were substantial and handsome buildings with excellent masonry, and in many cases beautiful sculptures and hieroglyphical figures. [Footnote 13: See Frontispiece.] Merida, the capital of Yucatan, is on the site of a prehistoric city whose name had also become unknown. When building the present town, the Spaniards utilized the ancient buildings as quarries for good stones. The larger prehistoric structures are frequently on artificial mounds, being probably intended for religious or ceremonial purposes. The walls both within and without are elaborately decorated, sometimes with symbolic figures. Sometimes officials in ceremonial costumes are seen apparently performing religious rites. These are often accompanied by inscriptions in low relief, with the peculiar Mayan characters which some archeologists call "calculiform hieroglyphs" (_v._ p. 82). On one of the altar-slabs near Palenque there occurs a sculptured group of several figures in the act of making offerings to a central object shaped like the Latin cross. "The Latin, the Greek, and the Egyptian cross or _tau_ (T) were evidently sacred symbols to this ancient people, bearing some religious meanings derived from their own cult."[14] [Footnote 14: D. G. Brinton.] The cross occurs frequently, not only in the Mayan sculptures, but also in the ceremonial of the Aztecs. The Spanish followers of Cortés were astonished to see this symbol used by these "barbarians," as they called them. Winsor (i, 195) says that the Mayan cross has been explained to mean "the four cardinal points, the rain-bringers, the symbol of life and health"; and again, "the emblem of fire, indeed an ornamental fire-drill." Students of architecture find a rudimentary form of the arch occurring in some of the ruins, notably at Palenque. Two walls are built parallel to each other, at some distance apart, then at the beginning of the arch the layers on both sides have the inner stones slightly projecting, each layer projecting a little more than the previous one, till at a certain height the stones of one wall are almost touching those of the wall opposite. Finally, a single flat stone closes in the space between and completes the arch. In Honduras, on the banks of the Copan, the Spaniards found a prehistoric capital in ruins, on an elevated area, surrounded by substantial walls built of dressed stones, and enclosing large groups of buildings. One structure is mainly composed of huge blocks of polished stone. In several houses the whole of the external surface is covered with elaborate carved designs: The adjacent soil is covered with sculptured obelisks, pillars, and idols, with finely dressed stones, and with blocks ornamented with skilfully carved figures of the characteristic Maya hieroglyphs, which, could they be deciphered, would doubtless reveal the story of this strange and solitary city. In western Guatemala, at Utatla, the ancient capital of the Quiches, a tribe allied to the Mayas, several pyramids still remain. One is 120 feet high, surmounted by a stone wall, and another is ascended by a staircase of nineteen steps, each nineteen inches in height. The literary remains (such as Alphabets, Hieroglyphs, Manuscripts, etc.) of the Maya and Aztec races are in some respects as vivid a proof of the extinct civilizations as any of the architectural monuments already discussed. Both Aztecs and Mayans of Yucatan and Central America used picture-writing, and sometimes an imperfect form of hieroglyphics. The most elementary kind was simply a rough sketch of a scene or historical group which they wished to record. When, for example, Cortés had his first interview with some messengers sent by Montezuma, one of the Aztecs was observed sketching the dress and appearance of the Spaniards, and then completing his picture by using colors. Even in recent times Indians have recorded facts by pictographs: in Harper's Magazine (August, 1902) we read that "pictographs and painted rocks to the number of over 3,000 are scattered all over the United States, from the Dighton Rock, Massachusetts (_v_. pp. 27, 28), to the Kern River Cañon in California, and from the Florida Cape to the Mouse River in Manitoba. The identity of the Indians with their ancient progenitors is further proved by relics, mortuary customs, linguistic similarities, plants and vegetables, and primitive industrial and mechanical arts, which have remained constant throughout the ages." The pictographs of the Kern River Cañon, according to the same writer, were inscribed on the rocks there "about five thousand years ago." A more advanced form of picture-writing is frequently found in the Mayan and other inscriptions and manuscripts. Two objects are represented, whose names, when pronounced together, give a sound which suggests the name to be recorded or remembered. Thus, the name Gladstone may be expressed in this manner by two pictures, one a laughing face (i. e., "happy" or "glad"), the other a rock (i. e., "stone"). It is exactly the same contrivance that is used to construct the puzzle called a "rebus." A third form of hieroglyphic was by devising some conventional mark or symbol to suggest the initial sound of the name to be recorded. Such a mark or character would be a "letter," in fact; and thus the prehistoric alphabets were arrived at, not only among the early Mayans of Yucatan, etc., but among the prehistoric peoples of Asia, as the Chinese, the Hittites, etc., as well as the primeval Egyptians. Many of the sculptures in Copan and Palenque to which we have referred contain pictographs and hieroglyphs. A Spanish Bishop of Yucatan drew up a Mayan alphabet in order to express the hieroglyphs on monuments and manuscripts in Roman letters; but much more data are needed before scholars will read the ancient Mayan-Aztec tongues as they have been enabled to understand the Egyptian inscriptions or the cuneiform records of Babylonia. For the American hieroglyphs we still lack a second Young or Champollion. There are three famous manuscripts in the Mayan character: 1. The Dresden Codex, preserved in the Royal Library of that city. It is called a "religious and astrological ritual" by Abbé Brasseur. 2. Codex Troano, in Madrid, described in two folios by Abbé Brasseur. 3. Codex Peresianus, named from the wrapper in which it was found, 1859, which had the name "Perez." It is also known as Codex Mexicanus. In Lord Kingsborough's great work on Mexican Antiquities there are several of the Mayan manuscripts printed in facsimile, and others in a book by M. Aubin, of Paris. Each group of letters in a Mayan inscription is enclosed in an irregular oval, supposed to resemble the cross-section of a pebble; hence the term _calculiform_ (i. e., "pebble-shaped") is applied to their hieroglyphs, as _cuneiform_ (i. e., "wedge-shaped") is applied to the Babylonian and Assyrian letters. The paper which the prehistoric Mexicans (Mayas, Aztecs, or Tescucans, etc.) used for writing and drawing upon was of vegetable origin, like the Egyptian papyrus. It was made by macerating the leaves of the _maguey_, a plant of the greatest importance (_v._ p. 94). When the surface of the paper was glazed, the letters were painted on in brilliant colors, proceeding from left to right, as we do. Each book was a strip of paper, several yards long and about ten inches wide, not rolled round a stick, as the volumes of ancient Rome were, but folded zigzag, like a screen. The protecting boards which held the book were often artistically carved and painted. The topics of the ordinary books, so far as we yet know, were religious ritual, dreams, and prophecies, the calendar, chronological notes, medical superstitions, portents of marriage and birth. The written language was in common and extensive use for the legal conveyance and sale of property. One of the most remarkable facts connected with this extinct civilization was the accuracy of their calendar and chronological system. Their calendar was actually superior to that then existing in Europe. They had two years: one for civil purposes, of three hundred and sixty-five days, divided into eighteen months of twenty days, besides five supplementary days; the other, a ritual or ecclesiastical year, to regulate the public festivals. The civil year required thirteen days to be added at the end of every fifty-two years, so as to harmonize with the ritual year. Each month contained four weeks of five days, but as each of the twenty days (forming a month) had a distinct name, Humboldt concluded that the names were borrowed from a prehistoric calendar, used in India and Tartary. Wilson (Prehistoric Man, i, 133) remarks: By the unaided results of native science the dwellers on the Mexican plateau had effected an adjustment of civil to solar time so nearly correct that when the Spaniards landed on their coast, their own reckoning according to the unreformed Julian calendar, was really eleven days in error, compared with that of the barbarian nation whose civilization they so speedily effaced. In 1790 there was found in the Square of Mexico a famous relic, the Mexican Calendar Stone, "one of the most striking monuments of American antiquity." It was long supposed to have been intended for chronological purposes; but later authorities call it a votive tablet or sacrificial altar.[15] Similar circular stones have been dug up in other parts of Mexico and in Yucatan. [Footnote 15: Pp. 68-70, _v._ p. 95.] Both the Mayas and the Aztecs excelled in the ordinary arts of civilized life. Paper-making has already been spoken of. Cotton being an important produce of their soil, they understood its spinning, dyeing, and weaving so well that the Spaniards mistook some of the finer Aztec fabrics for silk. They cultivated maize, potatoes, plantains, and other vegetables. Both in Mexico and Yucatan they produced beautiful work in feathers; metal working was not so important as in some countries, being chiefly for ornamental purposes. In fact, it was the comparative plenty of gold and silver around Mexico that delayed the invasion of the Mayan country for more than twenty years. The Mayas had developed trade to a considerable extent before the Spanish invasion, and interchanged commodities with the island of Cuba. It was there, accordingly, that Columbus first saw this people, and first heard of Yucatan. Of the Mexican remains on the central plateau, the most conspicuous is the mound or pyramid of Cholula, although it retains few traces of prehistoric art. A modern church with a dome and two towers now occupies the summit, with a paved road leading up to it. It is chiefly noted, first, by antiquaries, as having originally been a great temple of Quetzalcoatl, the beneficent deity, famous in story; and, secondly, for the fierce struggle around the mound and on the slopes between the Mexicans and Spanish. (_V._ pp. 130-133.) Another mound in this district, Yochicalco, lies seventy-five miles southwest of the capital. It is considered one of the best memorials of the extinct civilization, consisting of five terraces supported by stone walls, and formerly surmounted by a pyramid. Passing from the traces of Aztec and Mayan civilization, we may now glance at the antiquities of the Colombian states. There are no temples or large structures, because the natives, before the Spanish conquest, used timber for building, but owing to the abundance of gold in their brooks and rivers, they developed skill in gold-working, and produced fine ornaments of wonderful beauty. Many hollow figures have been found, evidently cast from molds, representing men, beasts, and birds, etc. Stone-cutting was also an art of this ancient race, sometimes applied to making idols bearing hieroglyphs. When the Spaniards invaded them to take their gold and precious stones, the "Chibchas," who then held the Colombian table-land and valleys, threw large quantities of those valuables into a lake near Bogota, the capital. It was afterward attempted to recover those treasures by draining off the water, but only a small portion was found; and in the present year (1903) a new engineering attempt has been made. A Spanish writer, in 1858, asserted that evidence was found in the caves and mines that in ancient times the Colombians produced an alloy of gold, copper, and iron having the temper and hardness of steel. On a tributary of the River Magdalena there are many curious stone images, sometimes with grotesquely carved faces. Turning next to the mound-builders, in the Ohio and upper Mississippi Valley, we find traces of an extinct civilization in high mounds, evidently artificial, extensive embankments, broad deep ditches, terraced pyramids, and an interesting variety of stone implements and pottery. Some mounds were for burial-places, others for sacrificial purposes, others again as a site for building, like those we have seen in Mexico and Maya. Many enclosures contain more than fifty acres of land; and one embankment is fifty miles long. Among the relics associated with those works are articles of pottery, knives, and copper ornaments, hammered silver, mica, obsidian, pearls, beautifully sculptured pipes, shells, and stone implements. The mounds found in some of the Gulf States seem to confirm a theory that the mound-builders were the ancestors of the Choctaw Indians and their allies, and had been driven southward. In the lower Mississippi Valley, eastward to the seacoast, there are many large earthworks, including round and quadrilateral mounds, embankments, canals, and artificial lakes. Similar works can be traced to the southern extremity of Florida. Some were constructed as sites for large buildings. The tribes to whom they are due are now known to have been agricultural--growing maize, beans, and pumpkins; with these products and those of the chase they supported a considerable population. Among other antiquarian remains in America are the cliff-houses and "pueblos." The former peculiarity is explained by the deep cañons of the dry table-land of Colorado. Imagine a narrow deep cutting or narrow trench worn by water-courses out of solid rock, deep enough to afford a channel to the stream from 500 to 1,500 feet below the plateau above. Next imagine one of the caves which the water many ages ago had worn out of the perpendicular sides of the cañon; and in that cave a substantial, well-built structure of cut stones bedded in firm mortar. Such are the "cliff--houses," sometimes of two stories. Occasionally there is a watch-tower perched on a conspicuous point of rock near a cliff-dwelling, with small windows looking to the east and north. These curious buildings, though now prehistoric, in a sense, are believed by archeologists to be later than the Spanish conquest. Peru is very important archeologically, but some interesting points will properly fall under our general account of that country and its conquest by Spain. [Illustration: Chulpa or Stone Tomb of the Peruvians.] In Peruvian architecture, we find "Cyclopean walls," with polygonal stones of five or six feet diameter, so well polished and adjusted that no mortar was necessary; sometimes with a projecting part of the stone fitting exactly into a corresponding cavity of the stone immediately above or below it. Such huge stones are of hard granite or basalt, etc. The walls are often very massive and substantial, sometimes from thirty to forty feet in thickness. The only approach to the modern "arch" in the Peruvian structures is a device similar to that which was described under the Mayan architecture. Some important buildings were surrounded with large upright stones, similar to the famous "Druidic" temple at Stonehenge. All of the chief structures were accurately placed with reference to the cardinal points, and the main entrance always faced the east. The Peruvian tombs were very elaborate, one kind being made by cutting caverns in the steep precipices of the cordillera and then carefully walling in the entrance. Another variety (the _chulpa_) was really a stone tower erected above ground, twelve to thirty feet high. The chulpas were sometimes built in groups. CHAPTER V MEXICO BEFORE THE SPANISH INVASION The Aztecs and the Tescucans were the chief races occupying the great table-land of Anahuac, including, as we have seen, the famous Mexican Valley. In the preceding chapter we have set forth some of the leading points in the extinct civilization of those races, and also that of the Mayas, who in several respects were perhaps superior to the Anahuac kingdoms. Several features of the early Mexican civilization will come before us as we accompany the European conquerors, in their march over the table-land. Meantime, we glance first at the geography of this magnificent region, and secondly at the manners and institutions of the people, their industrial arts, etc., and their terrible religion. The last-mentioned topic has already been partly discussed in Chapter III. The Tropic of Cancer passes through the middle of Mexico, and therefore its southern half, which is the most important, is all under the burning sun of the "torrid zone." This heat, however, is greatly modified by the height of the surface above sea-level, since the country, taken as a whole, is simply an extensive table-land. The height of the plain in the two central states, Mexico and Puebla, is 8,000 feet, or about double the average height of the highest summits in the British Isles. On the west of the republic is a continuous chain of mountains, and on the east of the table-land run a series of mountainous groups parallel to the seacoast, with a summit in Vera Cruz of over 13,400 feet. To the south of the capital an irregular range running east and west contains these remarkable volcanoes--Colima, 14,400 feet; Jorulla, Popocatepetl, 17,800; Orizaba (extinct), 18,300, the highest summit in Mexico, and, with the exception of some of the mountains of Alaska, in North America. The great plateau-basin formed around the capital and its lakes is completely enclosed by mountains. This high table-land has its own climate as compared with the broad tract lying along the Atlantic. Hence the latter is known as the hot region (_caliente_), and the former the cold region (_fria_). Between the two climates, as the traveler mounts from the sea-level to the great plateau, is the temperate region (_templada_), an intermediate belt of perpetual humidity, a welcome escape from the heat and deadly malaria of the hot region with its "bilious fevers." Sometimes as he passes along the bases of the volcanic mountains, casting his eye "down some steep slope or almost unfathomable ravine on the margin of the road, he sees their depths glowing with the rich blooms and enameled vegetation of the tropics." This contrast arises from the height he has now gained above the hot coast region. The climate on the table-land is only cold in a relative sense, being mild to Europeans, with a mean temperature at the capital of 60°, seldom lowered to the freezing-point. The "temperate" slopes form the "Paradise of Mexico," from "the balmy climate, the magnificent scenery, and the wealth of semitropical vegetation." The Aztec and Tescucan laws were kept in state records, and shown publicly in hieroglyphs. The great crimes against society were all punished with death, including the murder of a slave. Slaves could hold property, and all their sons were freedmen. The code in general showed real respect for the leading principles of morality. In Mexico, as in ancient Egypt, the soldier shared with the priest the highest consideration. The king must be an experienced warrior. The tutelary deity of the Aztecs was the god of war. A great object of military expeditions was to gather hecatombs of captives for his altars. The soldier who fell in battle was transported at once to the region of ineffable bliss in the bright mansions of the sun.... Thus every war became a crusade; and the warrior was not only raised to a contempt of danger, but courted it--animated by a religious enthusiasm like that of the early Saracen or the Christian crusader. The officers of the armies wore rich and conspicuous uniforms--a tight-fitting tunic of quilted cotton sufficient to turn the arrows of the native Indians; a cuirass (for superior officers) made of thin plates of gold or silver; an overcoat or cloak of variegated feather-work; helmets of wood or silver, bearing showy plumes, adorned with precious stones and gold ornaments. Their belts, collars, bracelets, and earrings were also of gold or silver. Southey, in his poem, makes his Welsh prince, Madoc, thus boast: Their mail, if mail it may be called, was woven Of vegetable down, like finest flax, Bleached to the whiteness of new-fallen snow, ... Others of higher office were arrayed In feathery breastplates, of more gorgeous hue Than the gay plumage of the mountain-cock, Than the pheasants' glittering pride. But what were these Or what the thin gold hauberk, when opposed To arms like ours in battle? _Madoc_, i, 7. We learn of the ancient Mexicans, to their honor, that in the large towns hospitals were kept for the cure of the sick and wounded soldiers, and as a permanent refuge if disabled. Not only so, says a Spanish historian, but "the surgeons placed over them were so far better than those in Europe that they did not protract the cure to increase the pay." Even the red man of the woods, as we learn from Fenimore Cooper and Catlin, believes reverently in the Great Spirit who upholds the universe; and similarly his more civilized brother of Mexico or Tezcuco spoke of a Supreme Creator, Lord of Heaven and Earth. In their prayers some of the phrases were: The God by whom we live, omnipresent, knowing all thoughts, giving all gifts, without whom man is nothing, invisible, incorporeal, of perfect perfection and purity, under whose wings we find repose and a sure defense. Prescott, however, remarks that notwithstanding such attributes "the idea of unity--of a being with whom volition is action, who has no need of inferior ministers to execute his purposes--was too simple, or too vast, for their understandings; and they sought relief, as usual, in a plurality of deities, who presided over the elements, the changes of the seasons, and the various occupations of man." The Aztecs, in fact, believed in thirteen _dii majores_ and over 200 _dii minores_. To each of these a special day was assigned in the calendar, with its appropriate festival. Chief of them all was that bloodthirsty monster _Huitsilopochtli_, the hideous god of war--tutelary deity of the nation. There was a huge temple to him in the capital, and on the great altar before his image there, and on all his altars throughout the empire, the reeking blood of thousands of human victims was being constantly poured out. The terrible name of this Mexican Mars has greatly puzzled scholars of the language. According to one derivation, the name is a compound of two words, _humming-bird_ and _on the left_, because his image has the feathers of that bird on the left foot. Prescott naturally thinks that "too amiable an etymology for so ruffian a deity." The other name of the war-god, _Mexitl_ (i. e., "the hare of the aloes"), is much better known, because from it is derived the familiar name of the capital. [Illustration: Quetzalcoatl.] The god of the air, _Quetzalcoatl_, a beneficent deity, who taught Mexicans the use of metals, agriculture, and the arts of government. Prescott remarks that he was doubtless one of those benefactors of their species who have been deified by the gratitude of posterity. There was a remarkable tradition of Quetzalcoatl, preserved among the Mexicans, that he had been a king, afterward a god, and had a temple dedicated to his worship at Cholula[16] when on his way to the Mexican Gulf. Embarking there, he bade his people a long farewell, promising that he and his descendants would revisit them. The expectation of his return prepared the way for the success of the tall white-skinned invaders. [Footnote 16: The ruins were referred to in chap, iv, (_v._ p. 84, also 130.)] In the Aztec agriculture, the staple plant was of course the _maize_ or Indian corn. Humboldt tells us that at the conquest it was grown throughout America, from the south of Chile to the River St. Lawrence; and it is still universal in the New World. Other important plants on the Aztec soil were the _banana_, which (according to one Spanish writer) was the forbidden fruit that tempted our poor mother Eve; the _cacao_, whose fruit supplies the valuable chocolate; the _vanilla_, used for flavoring; and most important of all, the _maguey_, or Mexican aloe, much valued because its leaves were manufactured into paper, and its juice by fermentation becomes the national intoxicant, "pulque." The _maguey_, or great Mexican aloe, grown all over the table-land, is called "the miracle of nature," producing not only the _pulque_, but supplying _thatch_ for the cottages, _thread_ and _cords_ from its tough fiber, _pins_ and _needles_ from the thorns which grow on the leaves, an excellent _food_ from its roots, and _writing-paper_ from its leaves. One writer, after speaking of the "pulque" being made from the "maguey," adds, "with what remains of these leaves they manufacture excellent and very fine cloth, resembling holland or the finest linen." The _itztli_, formerly mentioned as being used at the sacrifices by the officiating priest, was "obsidian," a dark transparent mineral, of the greatest hardness, and therefore useful for making knives and razors. The Mexican sword was serrated, those of the finest quality being of course edged with itztli. Sculptured figures abounded in every Aztec temple and town, but in design very inferior to the ancient specimens of Egypt and Babylonia, not to mention Greece. A remarkable collection of their sculptured images occurred in the _place_ or great square of Mexico--the Aztec forum--and similar spots. Ever since the Spanish invasion the destruction of the native objects of art has been ceaseless and ruthless. "Two celebrated bas-reliefs of the last Montezuma and his father," says Prescott, "cut in the solid rock, in the beautiful groves of Chapoltepec, were deliberately destroyed, as late as the last century [i. e., the eighteenth], by order of the government." He further remarks: This wantonness of destruction provokes the bitter animadversion of the Spanish writer Martyr, whose enlightened mind respected the vestiges of civilization wherever found. "The conquerors," says he, "seldom repaired the buildings that they defaced; they would rather sack twenty stately cities than erect one good edifice." The pre-Columbian Mexicans inherited a practical knowledge of mechanics and engineering. The Calendar Stone, for example (spoken of in the preceding chapter), a mass of dark porphyry estimated at fifty tons weight, was carried for a distance of many leagues from the mountains beyond Lake Chalco, through a rough country crossed by rivers and canals. In the passage its weight broke down a bridge over a canal, and the heavy rock had to be raised from the water beneath. With such obstacles, without the draft assistance of horses or cattle, how was it possible to effect such a transport? Perhaps the mechanical skill of their builders and engineers had contrived some tramway or other machinery. An English traveler had a curious suggestion: Latrobe accommodates the wonders of nature and art very well to each other, by suggesting that these great masses of stone were transported by means of the mastodon, whose remains are occasionally disinterred in the Mexican Valley. The Mexicans wove many kinds of cotton cloth, sometimes using as a dye the rich crimson of the cochineal insect. They made a more expensive fabric by interweaving the cotton with the fine hair of rabbits, and other animals; sometimes embroidering with pretty designs of flowers and birds, etc. The special art of the Aztec weaver was in feather-work, which when brought to Europe produced the highest admiration: With feathers they could produce all the effect of a beautiful mosaic. The gorgeous plumage of the tropical birds, especially of the parrot tribe, afforded every variety of color; and the fine down of the humming-bird, which reveled in swarms among the honeysuckle bowers of Mexico, supplied them with soft aerial tints that gave an exquisite finish to the picture. The feathers, pasted on a fine cotton web, were wrought into dresses for the wealthy, hangings for apartments, and ornaments for the temples. When some of the Mexican feather-work was shown at Strasbourg: "Never," says one admirer, "did I behold anything so exquisite for brilliancy and nice gradation of color, and for beauty of design. No European artist could have made such a thing." Instead of shops the Aztecs had in every town a market-place, where fairs were held every fifth day--i. e., once a week. Each commodity had a particular quarter, and the traffic was partly by barter, and partly by using the following articles as money: bits of tin shaped like an Egyptian cross (T), bags of cacao holding a specified number of grains, and, for large values, quills of gold-dust. The married women among the Aztecs were treated kindly and respectfully by their husbands. The feminine occupations were spinning and embroidery, etc., as among the ancient Greeks, while listening to ballads and love stories related by their maidens and musicians (Ramusio, iii, 305). In banquets and other social entertainments the women had an equal share with the men. Sometimes the festivities were on a large scale, with costly preparations and numerous attendants. The Mexicans, ancient and modern, have always been passionately fond of flowers, and on great occasions not only were the halls and courts strewed and adorned in profusion with blossoms of every hue and sweet odor, but perfumes scented every room. The guests as they sat down found ewers of water before them and cotton napkins, since washing the hands both before and after eating was a national habit of almost religious obligation.[17] Modern Europeans believe that tobacco was introduced from America in the time of Queen Isabella and Queen Elizabeth, but ages before that period the Aztecs at their banquets had the "fragrant weed" offered to the company, "in pipes, mixed up with aromatic substances, or in the form of cigars, inserted in tubes of tortoise-shell or silver." The smoke after dinner was no doubt preliminary to the _siesta_ or nap of "forty winks." It is not known if the Aztec ladies, like their descendants in modern Mexico, also appreciated the _yetl_, as the Mexicans called "tobacco." Our word came from the natives of Hayti, one of the islands discovered by Columbus. [Footnote 17: Sahagun (vi, 22) quotes the precise instructions of a father to his son: he must wash face and hands before sitting down to table, and must not leave till he has repeated the operation and cleansed his teeth.] The tables of the Aztecs abounded in good food--various dishes of meat, especially game, fowl, and fish. The turkey, for example, was introduced into Europe from Mexico, although stupidly supposed to have come from Asia. The French named it _coq d'Inde_,[18] the "Indian cock," meaning American, but the ordinary hearer imagined _d'Inde_ meant from Hindustan. The blunder arose from that misapplication of the word "Indian," first made by Columbus, as we formerly explained. [Footnote 18: The Spanish named this handsome bird _gallopavo_ (Lat. _pavo_, the "peacock"). The wild turkey is larger and more beautiful than the tame, and therefore Benjamin Franklin, when speaking sarcastically of the "American Eagle," insisted that the wild turkey was the proper national emblem.] The Aztec cooks dressed their viands with various sauces and condiments, the more solid dishes being followed by fruits of many kinds, as well as sweetmeats and pastry. Chafing-dishes even were used. Besides the varieties of beautiful flowers which adorned the table there were sculptured Vases of silver and sometimes gold. At table the favorite beverage was the _chocolatl_ flavored with vanilla and different spices. The fermented juice of the maguey, with a mixture of sweets and acids, supplied also various agreeable drinks, of different degrees of strength. When the young Mexicans of both sexes amused themselves with dances, the older people kept their seats in order to enjoy their _pulque_ and gossip, or listen to the discourse of some guest of importance. The music which accompanied the dances was frequently soft and rather plaintive. The early Mexicans included the Tezcucans as well as the Aztecs proper; and since their capitals were on the same lake and both races were closely akin, we may devote some space to these Alcohuans or eastern Aztecs. Their civilization was superior to that of the western Aztecs in some respects, and Nezahual-coyotl, their greatest prince, formed alliance with the western state, and then remodeled the various departments of his government. He had a council of war, another of finance, and a third of justice. A remarkable institution, under King Nezahual-coyotl, was the "Council of Music," intended to promote the study of science and the practise of art. Tezcuco, in fact, became the nursery not only of such sciences as could be compassed by the scholarship of the period, but of various useful and ornamental arts. "Its historians, orators, and poets were celebrated throughout the country.... Its idiom, more polished than the Mexican, continued long after the conquest to be that in which the best productions of the native races were composed. Tezcuco was the Athens of the Western World.... Among the most illustrious of her bards was their king himself." A Spanish writer adds that it was to the eastern Aztecs that noblemen sent their sons "to study poetry, moral philosophy, the heathen theology, astronomy, medicine, and history." [Illustration: Ancient Bridge near Tezcuco.] The most remarkable problem connected with ancient Mexico is how to reconcile the general refinement and civilization with the sacrifices of human victims. There was no town or city but had its temples in public places, with stairs visibly leading up to the sacrificial stone, ever standing ready before some hideous idol or other--as already described. In all countries there have been public spectacles of bloodshed, not only as in the gladiators in the ancient circus-- butchered to make a Roman holiday, or the tournays of the middle ages, but in the prize-ring fights and public executions by ax or guillotine, of the age that is just passing away. The thousands who perished for religious ideas by means of the Holy Roman Inquisition should not be overlooked by the Spanish writers who are so indignant that Montezuma and his priests sacrificed tens of thousands under the claims of a heathen religion. The very day on which we write these words, August 18th, is the anniversary of the last sentence for beheading passed by our House of Lords. By that sentence three Scottish "Jacobites" passed under the ax on Tower Hill, where their remains still rest in a chapel hard by. So lately as 1873, the Shah of Persia, when resident as a visitor in Buckingham Palace, was amazed to find that the laws of Great Britain prevented him from depriving five of his courtiers of their lives. They had just been found guilty of some paltry infringement of Persian etiquette. During the last generation or the previous one, both in England and Scotland, the country schoolmaster on a certain day had the schoolroom cleared so that the children and their friends should enjoy the treat of seeing all the game-cocks of the parish bleeding on the floor one after another, being either struck by a spur to the brain, or else wounded to a painful death. When James Boswell and others regularly attended the spectacles of Tyburn and sometimes cheered the wretched victim if he "died game," the philosopher will not wonder at the populace of some city of ancient Mexico crowding round the great temple and greedily watching the bloody sacrifice done with full sanction of the priesthood and the king. The primitive religions were derived from sun-worship, and as fire is the nearest representative of the sun, it seemed essential to _burn_ the victim offered as a sacrifice. At Carthage, the great Phenician colony, children were cruelly sacrificed by fire to the god Melkarth of Tyre. "Melkarth" being simply _Melech Kiriath_ (i. e., "King of the City"), and therefore identical with the "Moloch" or "Molech" of the Ammonites, Moabites, and Israelites. In the earliest prehistoric age the children of Ammon, Moab, and Israel were apparently so closely akin that they had practically the same religion and worshiped the same idols. The tribal god was originally the god of Syria or Canaan. In more than a dozen places of the Old Testament we find the Hebrews accused of burning their children or passing them through the fire to the sun-god, but the ancient Mexicans did not burn their victims, and _in no case were the victims their own children_. The victims were captives taken in war, or persons convicted of crime; and thus the Mexicans were in atrocity far surpassed by those races akin to the Hebrews who are much denounced by the sacred writers, e. g.: Josiah ... defiled Topheth that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech (2 Kings xxiii, 10). They have built also the high places to burn their sons with fire for burnt-offerings (Jer. xix, 5). Yea, they shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan (Ps. cvi, 37). That a father should offer his own child as a sacrifice to the sun-god or any other, would to the mild and gentle Aztec be too dreadful a conception. It is the enormous number who were immolated that shocks the European mind, but to the populace enjoying the spectacle the victims were enemies of the king or criminals deserving execution. Perhaps it is a more difficult problem to explain how so civilized a community as the Aztec races undoubtedly were could look with complacency upon any one tasting a dish composed of some part of the captive he had taken in battle. It is not only repulsive as an idea, but seems impossible. Yet much depends on the point of view as well as the atmosphere. According to archeologists, all the primeval races of men could at a pinch feed on human flesh, but after many generations learned to do better without it. We may have simply outgrown the craving, till at last we call it unnatural, whereas those ancient Mexicans, with all their wealth of food, had refined upon it. Let us again refer to the Old Testament: Thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters and these hast thou sacrificed to be devoured (Ezek. xvi, 20). ... have caused their sons to pass for them through the fire, to devour them (Ezek. xxiii, 37). We may therefore infer that to the early races of Canaan (including Israel), as well as to the primeval Aztecs, it was a privilege and religious custom to eat part of any sacrifice that had been offered. There can be little doubt, to any one who has studied the earliest human antiquities, that all races indulged in cannibalism, not only during that enormously remote age called Paleolithic, but in comparatively recent though still prehistoric times. "This is clearly proved by the number of human bones, chiefly of women and young persons, which have been found charred by fire and split open for extraction of the marrow." Such charred bones have frequently been preserved in caves, as at Chaleux in Belgium, where in some instances they occurred "in such numbers as to indicate that they had been the scene of cannibal feasts." The survival of human sacrifice among the Aztecs, with its accompanying traces of cannibalism, was due to the savagery of a long previous condition of their Indian race; just as in the Greek drama, when that ancient people had attained a high level of culture and refinement, the sacrifice of a human life, sometimes a princess or other distinguished heroine, was not unfrequent. We remember Polyxena, the virgin daughter of Hecuba, whom her own people resolved to sacrifice on the tomb of Achilles; and her touching bravery, as she requests the Greeks not to bind her, being ashamed, she says, "having lived a princess to die a slave." A better known example is Iphigenia, so beloved by her father, King Agamemnon, and yet given up by him a victim for purposes of state and religion. [Illustration: Teocalli, Aztec Temple for Human Sacrifices.] From the Greek drama, human sacrifices frequently passed to the Roman; nor does such a refined critic as Horace object to it, but only suggests that the bloodshed ought to be perpetrated behind the scenes. In Seneca's play, Medea (quoted in our Introduction), that rule was grossly violated, since the children have their throats cut by their heroic mother in full view of the audience. In the same passage (Ars Poët., 185, 186) Horace forbids a banquet of human flesh being prepared before the eyes of the public, as had been done in a play written by Ennius, the Roman poet. The religious sacrifice of human victims by the "Druids" or priests of ancient Gaul and Britain seems exactly parallel to the wholesale executions on the Mexican _teocallis_, since the wretched victims whom our Celtic ancestors packed for burning into those huge wicker images, were captives taken in battle, like those stretched for slaughter upon the Mexican stone of sacrifice. Human sacrifice was so common in civilized Rome that it was not till the first century B. C. that a law was passed expressly forbidding it--(Pliny, Hist. Nat., xxx, 3, 4). CHAPTER VI ARRIVAL OF THE SPANIARDS The "New Birth" of the world, which characterized the end of the fifteenth century, had an enormous influence upon Spain. Her queen, the "great Catholic Isabella," had, by assisting Columbus, done much in the great discovery of the Western World. Spain speedily had substantial reward in the boundless wealth poured into her lap, and the rich colonies added to her dominion. Thus in the beginning of the sixteenth century the new consolidated Spain, formed by the union of the two kingdoms, Castile and Aragon, became the richest and greatest of all the European states. The Spanish governors in the West Indies being ambitious of planting new colonies in the name of the Spanish King, conquest and annexation were stimulated in all directions. When Cuba and Hayti were overrun and annexed to Spain, not without much unjust treatment of the simple natives, as we have seen, they became centers of operation, whence expeditions could be sent to Trinidad or any other island, to Panama, to Yucatan, or Florida, or any other part of the continent. After the marvelous experience of Grijalva in Yucatan, then considered an island, and his report that its inhabitants were quite a civilized community compared with the natives of the isles, Velasquez, the Governor of Cuba, resolved at once to invade the new country for purposes of annexation and plunder. Velasquez prepared a large expedition for this adventure, consisting of eleven ships with more than 600 armed men on board; and after much deliberation chose Fernando Cortés to be the commander. Who was this Cortés, destined by his military genius and unscrupulous policy to be comparable to Hannibal or Julius Cæsar among the ancients, and to Clive or Napoleon Bonaparte among the moderns? Velasquez knew him well as one of his subordinates in the cruel conquest of Cuba; before that Cortés had distinguished himself in Hayti as an energetic and skilled officer. Of an impetuous and fiery temper which he had learned to keep thoroughly in command, he was characterized by that quality possessed by all commanders of superior genius, the "art of gaining the confidence and governing the minds of men." As a youth in Spain he had studied for the bar at the University of Salamanca; and in some of his speeches on critical occasions one can find certain traces of his academical training in the adroit arguments and clever appeals. Other qualifications as an officer were his manly and handsome appearance, his affable manners, combined with "extraordinary address in all martial exercises, and a constitution of such vigor as to be capable of enduring any fatigue." Cortés on reviewing his commission from the Governor, Velasquez, was too shrewd not to be aware of the importance of his new position. The "Great Admiral," with reference to the discovery of the New World, had said: "I have only opened the door for others to enter"; and Cortés was conscious that now was the moment for that entrance. Filled with unbounded ambition he rose to the occasion. Velasquez somewhat hypocritically pretended that the object he had in view was merely barter with the natives of New Spain--that being the name given by Grijalva to Yucatan and the neighboring country. He ordered Cortés to impress on the natives the grandeur and goodness of his royal master; to invite them to give in their allegiance to him, and to manifest it by regaling him with such comfortable presents of gold, pearls, and precious stones as by showing their own good-will would secure his favor and protection. Mustering his forces for the new expedition, Cortés found that he had no sailors, 553 soldiers, besides 200 Indians of the island; ten heavy guns, four lighter ones, called falconets. He had also sixteen horses, knowing the effect of even a small body of cavalry in dealing with savages. On February 18, 1519, Cortés sailed with eleven vessels for the coast of Yucatan. Landing at Tabasco, where Grijalva had found the natives friendly, Cortés found that the Yucatans had resolved to oppose him, and were presently assembled in great numbers. The result of the fighting, however, was naturally a foregone conclusion, partly on account of "the astonishment and terror excited by the destructive effect" of the European firearms, and the "monstrous apparition" of men on horseback. Such quadrupeds they had never seen before, and they concluded that the rider with his horse formed one unaccountable animal. Gomara and other chroniclers tell how St. James, the tutelar saint of Spain, appeared in the ranks on a gray horse, and led the Christians to victory over the heathen. An especially fortunate thing for Cortés was that among the female slaves presented after this battle, there was one of remarkable intelligence, who understood both the Aztec and the Mayan languages, and soon learned the Spanish. She proved invaluable to Cortés as an interpreter, and afterward had a share in all his campaigns. She is generally called Marina. If the Spanish accounts are true, stating that the native army consisted of five squadrons of 8,000 men each, then this victory is one of the most remarkable on record, as a proof of the value of gunpowder as compared with primitive bows and arrows. To the simple Americans the terrible invaders seemed actually to wield the thunder and the lightning. Next day Cortés made an arrangement with the chiefs; and after confidence was restored, asked where they got their gold from. They pointed to the high grounds on the west, and said _Culhua_, meaning Mexico. The Palm Sunday being at hand, the conversion of the "heathen" was duly celebrated by pompous and solemn ceremonial. The army marched in procession with the priests at their head, accompanied by crowds of Indians of both sexes, till they reached the principal temple. A new altar being built, the image of the presiding deity was taken from its place and thrown down, to make room for that of the Virgin carrying the infant Saviour. Cortés now learned that the capital of the Mexican Empire was on the mountain plains nearly seventy leagues inland; and that the ruler was the great and powerful Montezuma. It was on the morning of Good Friday that Cortés landed on the site of Vera Cruz, which after the conquest of Mexico speedily grew into a flourishing seaport, becoming the commercial capital of New Spain. A friendly conference took place between Cortés and Teuhtlile, an Aztec chief, who asked from what country the strangers had come and why they had come. "I am a servant," replied Cortés, "of a mighty monarch beyond the seas, who rules over an immense empire, having kings and princes for his vassals. Since my master has heard of the greatness of the Mexican Emperor he has desired me to enter into communication with him, and has sent me as envoy to wait upon Montezuma with a present in token of good-will, and with a message which I must deliver in person. When can I be admitted to your sovereign's presence?" The Aztec chief replied with an air of dignity: "How is it that you have been here only two days, and demand to see the Emperor? If there is another monarch as powerful as Montezuma, I have no doubt my master will be happy to interchange courtesies." The slaves of Teuhtlile presented to Cortés ten loads of fine cotton, several mantles of that curious feather-work whose rich and delicate dyes might vie with the most beautiful painting, and a wicker basket filled with ornaments of wrought gold, all calculated to inspire the Spaniards with high ideas of the wealth and mechanical ingenuity of the Mexicans. Having duly expressed his thanks, Cortés then laid before the Aztec chief the presents intended for Montezuma. These were "an armchair richly carved and painted; a crimson cap bearing a gold medal emblazoned with St. George and the Dragon; collars, bracelets, and other ornaments of cut-glass, which, in a country where glass was unknown, might claim to have the value of real gems." During the interview Teuhtlile had been curiously observing a shining gilt helmet worn by a soldier, and said that it was exactly like that of Quetzalcoatl. "Who is he?" asked Cortés. "Quetzalcoatl is the god about whom the Aztecs have the prophecy that he will come back to them across the sea." Cortés promised to send the helmet to Montezuma, and expressed a wish that it would be returned filled with the gold-dust of the Aztecs, that he might compare it with the Spanish gold-dust! One reporter who was present says: He further told Governor Teuhtlile that the Spaniards were troubled with a disease of the heart for which gold was a specific remedy! Another incident of this notable interview was that one of the Mexican attendants was observed by Cortés to be scribbling with a pencil. It was an artist sketching the appearance of the strangers, their dress, arms, and attitude, and filling in the picture with touches of color. Struck with the idea of being thus represented to the Mexican monarch, Cortés ordered the cavalry to be exercised on the beach in front of the artists. The bold and rapid movements of the troops, ... the apparent ease with which they managed the fiery animals on which they were mounted, the glancing of their weapons, and the shrill cry of the trumpet, all filled the spectators with astonishment; but when they heard the thunders of the cannon, which Cortés ordered to be fired at the same time, and witnessed the volumes of smoke and flame issuing from these terrible engines, and the rushing sound of the balls, as they dashed through the trees of the neighboring forest, shivering their branches into fragments, they were filled with consternation and wonder, from which the Aztec chief himself was not wholly free. This was all faithfully copied by the picture-writers, so far as their art went, in sketching and vivid coloring. They also recorded the ships of the strangers--"the water-houses," as they were named--whose dark hulls and snow-white sails were swinging at anchor in the bay. Meantime what had Montezuma been doing, the sad-faced[19] and haughty Emperor of Mexico, land of the Aztecs and the Tezcucans? At the beginning of his reign he had as a skilful general led his armies as far as Honduras and Nicaragua, extending the limits of the empire, so that it had now reached the maximum. [Footnote 19: The name Montezuma means "sad or severe man," a title suited to his features, though not to his mild character.] Tezcuco, the sister state to Mexico, had latterly shown hostility to Montezuma, and still more formidable was the republic of Tlascala, lying between his capital and the coast. Prodigies and prophecies now began to affect all classes of the population in the Mexican Valley. Everybody spoke of the return from over the sea of the popular god Quetzalcoatl, the fair-skinned and longhaired (p. 93). A generation had already elapsed since the first rumors that white men in great mysterious vessels, bearing in their hands the thunder and lightning, were seizing the islands and must soon seize the mainland. No wonder that Montezuma, stern, tyrannical, and disappointed, should be dismayed at the news of Grijalva's landing, and still more so when hearing of the fleet and army of Cortés, and seeing their horsemen pictured by his artists--the whole accompanied by exaggerated accounts of the guns and cannon able to produce thunder and lightning. After holding a council, Montezuma resolved to send an embassy to Cortés, presenting him with a present which should reflect the incomparable grandeur and resources of Mexico, and at the same time forbidding an approach to the capital. The governor Teuhtlile, on this second embassy, was accompanied by two Aztec nobles and 100 slaves, bearing the present from Montezuma to Cortés. As they entered the pavilion of the Spanish general the air was filled with clouds of incense which rose from censers carried by some attendants. Some delicately wrought mats were then unrolled, and on them the slaves displayed the various articles, ... shields, helmets, cuirasses, embossed with plates and ornaments of pure gold; collars and bracelets of the same metal, sandals, fans, and crests of variegated feathers, intermingled with gold and silver thread, and sprinkled with pearls and precious stones; imitations of birds and animals in wrought and cast gold and silver, of exquisite workmanship; curtains, coverlets, and robes of cotton, fine as silk, of rich and various dyes, interwoven with feather-work that rivaled the delicacy of painting.... The things which excited most admiration were two circular plates of gold and silver, as "large as carriage-wheels"; one representing the sun was richly carved with plants and animals. It was thirty palms in circumference, and was worth about £52,500 sterling.[20] [Footnote 20: Robertson, the historian, gives £5,000; but Prescott reckons a _peso de oro_ at £2 12s. 6d.; whence the 20,000 of the text gives 20,000 x 2-5/8 = 2,500 x 21 = £52,500.] Cortés was interested in seeing the soldier's helmet brought back to him full to the brim with grains of gold. The courteous message from Montezuma, however, did not please him much. Montezuma excused himself from having a personal interview by "the distance being too great, and the journey beset with difficulties and dangers from formidable enemies.... All that could be done, therefore, was for the strangers to return to their own land." Soon after Cortés, by a species of statecraft, formed a new municipality, thus transforming his camp into a civil community. The name of the new city was _Villa Rica de Vera Cruz_, i. e., "the Rich Town of the True Cross." Once the municipality was formed, Cortés resigned before them his office of captain-general, and thus became free from the authority of Velasquez. The city council at once chose Cortés to be captain-general and chief justice of the colony. He could now go forward unchecked by any superior except the Crown. It was a desperate undertaking to climb with an army from the hot region of this flat coast through the varied succession of "slopes" which form the temperate region, and at last, on the high table-land, obtain entrance upon the great enclosed valley of Mexico. Cortés found that an essential preliminary was to gain the friendship of the Totonacs, a nation tributary to Montezuma. Their subjection to the Aztecs he had already verified, since one day when holding a conference with the Totonac leaders and a neighboring cazique (i. e., "prince"), Cortés saw five men of haughty appearance enter the market-place, followed by several attendants, and at once receive the politest attention from the Totonacs. Cortés asked Marina, his slave interpreter, who or what they were. "They are Aztec nobles," she replied, "sent by Montezuma to receive tribute." Presently the Totonac chiefs came to Cortés with looks of dire dismay, to inform him of the great Emperor's resentment at the entertainment offered to the Spaniards, and demanding in expiation twenty young men and women for sacrifice to the Aztec gods. Cortés, with every look of indignation, insisted that the Totonacs should not only refuse to comply, but should seize the Aztec messengers and hold them strictly confined in prison. Unscrupulous to gain his ends, Cortés by lies and cunning duplicity managed to set the Mexican nobles free, dismissing them with a friendly message to Montezuma, while at the same time securing the confidence of the simple-minded Totonacs, urging them to join the Spaniards and make a bold effort to regain their independence. Some thought that Cortés was really the kindly divinity Quetzalcoatl, promised by the prophets to bring freedom and happiness. As an instance of the religious enthusiasm of the Spanish invaders, we may give the account of the "conversion" of Zempoalla, a city in the Totonac district. When Cortés pressed upon the cazique of Zempoalla that his mission was to turn the Indians from the abominations of their present religion, that prince replied that he could not accept what the Spanish priests had told him about the Creator and Ruler of the Universe; especially that he ever stooped to become a mere man, weak and poor, so as to suffer voluntarily persecution and even death at the hands of some of his own creatures. The cazique added that he "would resist any violence offered to his gods, who would, indeed, avenge the act themselves by the instant destruction of their enemies." Cortés and his men seized the opportunity. There is no doubt that, after witnessing some of the barbarous sacrifices of human victims followed by cannibal feasts, their souls had naturally been sickened. They now proceeded to force the work of conversion as soon as Cortés had appealed to them and declared that "God and the holy saints would never favor their enterprise, if such atrocities were allowed; and that for his own part, he was resolved the Indian idols should be demolished that very hour if it cost him his life. "Scarcely waiting for his commands the Spaniards moved toward one of the principal _teocallis_, or temples, which rose high on a pyramidal foundation with a steep ascent of stone steps in the middle. The cazique, divining their purpose, instantly called his men to arms. The Indian warriors gathered from all quarters, with shrill cries and clashing of weapons, while the priests, in their dark cotton robes, with disheveled tresses matted with blood, rushed frantic among the natives, calling on them to protect their gods from violation! All was now confusion and tumult.... Cortés took his usual prompt measures. Causing the cazique and some of the principal citizens and priests to be arrested, he commanded them to quiet the people, declaring that if a single arrow was shot against a Spaniard, it should cost every one of them his life.... The cazique covered his face with his hands, exclaiming that the gods would avenge their own wrongs. "The Christians were not slow in availing themselves of his tacit acquiescence. Fifty soldiers, at a signal from their general, sprang up the great stairway of the temple, entered the building on the summit, the walls of which were black with human gore, and dragged the huge wooden idols to the edge of the terrace. Their fantastic forms and features, conveying a symbolic meaning which was lost on the Spaniards, seemed to their eyes only the hideous lineaments of Satan. With great alacrity they rolled the colossal monsters down the steps of the pyramid, amid the triumphant shouts of their own companions and the groans and lamentations of the natives. They then consummated the whole by burning them in the presence of the assembled multitude." After the temple had been cleansed from every trace of the idol-worship and its horrors, a new altar was raised, surmounted by a lofty cross, and hung with garlands of roses. A reaction having now set in among the Indians, many were willing to become Christians, and some of the Aztec priests even joined in a procession to signify their conversion, wearing white robes instead of their former dark mantles, and carrying lighted candles in their hands, "while an image of the Virgin half smothered under the weight of flowers was borne aloft, and, as the procession climbed the steps of the temple, was deposited above the altar.... The impressive character of the ceremony and the passionate eloquence of the good priest touched the feelings of the motley audience, until Indians as well as Spaniards, if we may trust the chronicler, were melted into tears and audible sobs." Before finally marching westward toward the temperate "slopes" of the mountains, Cortés had another opportunity of proving his generalship and prompt resource at a critical moment. When Agathocles, the autocratic ruler of Syracuse, sailed over to defeat the Carthaginians, the first thing he did on landing in Africa was to burn his ships, that his soldiers might have no opportunity of retreat, and no hope but in victory. Cortés now acted on exactly the same principle. After discovering that a number of his soldiers had formed a conspiracy to seize one of the ships and sail to Cuba, Cortés, on conviction, punished two of the ringleaders with death. Soon after, he formed the extraordinary resolution of destroying his ships without the knowledge of his army. The five worst ships were first ordered to be dismantled; and, soon after, to be sunk. When the rest were inspected, four of them were condemned in the same manner. When the news reached Zempoalla, the army were excited almost to open mutiny. Cortés, however, was perfectly cool. Addressing the army collectively, he assured them that the ships were not fit for service, as had been shown by due inspection. "There is one important advantage gained to the army, viz., the addition of a hundred able-bodied recruits who were necessary to man the lost ships. Besides all that, of what use could ships be to us in the present expedition? As for me, I will remain here even without a comrade. As for those who shrink from the dangers of our glorious enterprise, let them go back, in God's name! Let them go home, since there is still one vessel left; let them go on board and return to Cuba. They can tell how they deserted their commander and their comrades, and patiently wait till they see us return loaded with the spoils of the Aztecs." Persuasion is the end of true oratory. The reply of the army to Cortés was the unanimous shout "To Mexico! To Mexico!" After beginning the gradual ascent in their march toward the table-land of Mexico, the first place noted by the invaders was Jalapa, a town which still retains its Aztec name, known to all the world by the well-known drug grown there. It is a favorite resort of the wealthier residents in Vera Cruz, and that too tropical plain which Cortés had just left. The mighty mountain Orizaba, one of the guardians of the Mexican Valley, is now full in sight, towering in solitary grandeur with its robe of snow. At last they reached a town so populous that there were thirteen Aztec temples with the usual sacrificial stone for human victims before each idol. In the suburbs the Spanish were shocked by a gathering of human skulls, many thousand in number. This appalling reminder of the unspeakable sacrifices soon became a familiar sight as they marched through that country. Cortés asked the cazique if he were subject to Montezuma. "Who is there," replied the local prince, "that is not tributary to that Emperor?" "_I_ am not," said the stranger general. Cortés assured him that the monarch whom the Spaniards served had princes as vassals, who were more powerful than the Aztec ruler. The cazique said: Montezuma could muster thirty great vassals, each master of 100,000 men. His revenues were incalculable, since every subject, however poor, paid something.... More than 20,000 victims, the fruit of his wars, were annually sacrificed on the altars of his gods! His capital stood on a lake, in the center of a spacious valley.... The approach to the city was by means of causeways several miles long; and when the connecting bridges were raised all communication with the country was cut off. The Indians showed the greatest curiosity respecting the dresses, weapons, horses, and dogs of their strange visitors. The country all around was then well wooded and full of villages and towns, which disappeared after the conquest. Humboldt remarked, when he traveled there, that the whole district had, "at the time of the arrival of the Spanish, been more inhabited and better cultivated, and that in proportion as they got higher up near the table-land, they found the villages more frequent, the fields more subdivided, and the people more law-abiding." Before entering upon the table-land, Cortés resolved to visit the republic of Tlascala, which was noted for having retained its independence in spite of the Aztecs. After sending an embassy, consisting of the four chief Zempoallas, who had accompanied the army, he set out toward Tlascala, lingering as they proceeded, so that his ambassadors should have time to return. While wondering at the delay, they suddenly reached a remarkable fortification which marked the limits of the republic, and acted as a barrier against the Mexican invasions. Prescott thus describes it: A stone wall nine feet in height and twenty in thickness, with a parapet a foot and a half broad raised on the summit for the protection of those who defended it. It had only one opening in the center, made by two semicircular lines of wall overlapping each other for the space of forty paces, and affording a passageway between, ten paces wide, so contrived, therefore, as to be perfectly commanded by the inner wall. This fortification, which extended more than two leagues, rested at either end on the bold natural buttresses formed by the sierra. The work was built of immense blocks of stone nicely laid together without cement, and the remains still existing, among which are rocks of the whole breadth of the rampart, fully attest its solidity and size. Who were the people of this stout-hearted republic? The Tlascalans were a kindred tribe to the Aztecs, and after coming to the Mexican Valley, toward the close of the twelfth century, had settled for many years on the western shore of Lake Tezcuco. Afterward they migrated to that district of fruitful valleys where Cortés found them; _Tlascala_, meaning "land of bread." They then, as a nation, consisted of four separate states, considerably civilized, and always able to protect their confederacy against foreign invasion. Their arts, religion, and architecture were the same as those of the Aztecs and Tezcucans. More than once had the Aztecs attempted to bring the little republic into subjection, but in vain. In one campaign Montezuma had lost a favorite, besides having his army defeated; and though a much more formidable invasion followed, "the bold mountaineers withdrew into the recesses of their hills, and coolly watching their opportunity, rushed like a torrent on the invaders, and drove them back with dreadful slaughter from their territories." The Tlascalans had of course heard of the redoubtable Europeans and their advance upon Montezuma's kingdom, but not expecting any visit themselves, they were in doubt about the embassy sent by Cortés, and the council had not reached a decision when the arrival of Cortés was announced at the head of his cavalry. Attacked by a body of several thousand Indians, he sent back a horseman to make the infantry hurry up to his assistance. Two of the horses were killed, a loss seriously felt by Cortés; but when the main body had discharged a volley from their muskets and crossbows, so astounded were the Tlascalan Indians that they stopped fighting and withdrew from the field. Next morning, after Cortés had given careful instruction to his army (now more than 3,000 in number, with his Indian auxiliaries), they had not marched far when they were met by two of the Zempoallans, who had been sent as ambassadors. They informed Cortés that, as captives, they had been reserved for the sacrificial stone, but had succeeded in breaking out of prison. They also said that forces were being collected from all quarters to meet the Spaniards. At the first encounter, the Indians, after some spirited fighting, retreated in order to draw the Spanish army into a defile impracticable for artillery or cavalry. Pressing forward they found, on turning an abrupt corner of the glen, that an army of many thousands was drawn up in order, prepared to receive them. As they came into view, the Tlascalans set up a piercing war-cry, shrill and hideous, accompanied by the melancholy beat of a thousand drums. Cortés spurred on the cavalry to force a passage for the infantry, and kept exhorting his soldiers, while showing them an example of personal daring. "If we fail now," he cried, "the Cross of Christ can never be planted in this land. Forward, comrades! when was it ever known that a Castilian turned his back on a foe?" With desperate efforts the soldiers forced a passage through the Indian columns, and then, as soon as the horse opened room for the movements of the gunners, the terrible "thunder and lightning" of the cannon did the rest. The havoc caused in their ranks, combined with the roar and the flash of gunpowder, and the mangled carcasses, filled the whole of the barbarian army with horror and consternation. Eight leaders of the Tlascalan army having fallen, the prince ordered a retreat. The chief of the Tlascalans, Xicotencatl, was no ordinary leader. When Cortés wished to press on to the capital, he sent two envoys to the Tlascalan camp, but all that Xicotencatl deigned to reply was that the Spaniards might pass on as soon as they chose to Tlascala, and when they reached it their flesh would be hewn from their bodies for sacrifice to the gods. If they preferred to remain in their own quarters, he would pay them a visit there the next day. The envoys also told Cortés that the chief had now collected another very large army, five battalions of 10,000 men each. There was evidently a determination to try the fate of Tlascala by a pitched battle and exterminate the bold invaders. The next day, September 5, 1519, was therefore a critical one in the annals of Cortés. He resolved to meet the Tlascalan chief in the field, after directing the foot-soldiers to use the point of their swords and not the edge; the horse to charge at half speed, directing their lances at the eyes of their enemies; the gunners and crossbowmen to support each other, some loading while others were discharging their pieces. Before Cortés and his soldiers had marched a mile they saw the immense Tlascalan army stretched far and wide over a vast plain. Nothing could be more picturesque than the aspect of these Indian battalions, with the naked bodies of the common soldiers gaudily painted, the fantastic helmets of the chiefs bright with ornaments and precious stones, and the glowing panoplies of feather-work.... The golden glitterance and the feather-mail More gay than glittering gold; and round the helm A coronal of high upstanding plumes.... ... With war-songs and wild music they came on.[21] [Footnote 21: Southey (Madoc, i, 7).] The Tlascalan warriors had attained wonderful skill in throwing the javelin. "One species, with a thong attached to it, which remained in the slinger's hand, that he might recall the weapon, was especially dreaded by the Spaniards." Their various weapons were pointed with bone or obsidian, and sometimes headed with copper. The yell or scream of defiance raised by these Indians almost drowned the volume of sound from "the wild barbaric minstrelsy of shell, atabal, and trumpet with which they proclaimed their triumphant anticipations of victory over the paltry forces of the invaders." Advancing under a thick shower of arrows and other missiles, the Spanish soldiers at a certain distance quickly halted and drew up in order, before delivering a general fire along the whole line. The front ranks of their wild opponents were mowed down and those behind were "petrified with dismay." But for the accident of dissension having arisen between the chiefs of the Tlascalans, it almost seemed as if nothing could have saved Cortés and his Spanish army. Before the battle, the haughty treatment of one of those chiefs by Xicotencatl, the cazique, provoked the injured man to draw off all his contingent during the battle, and persuade another chief to do the same. With his forces so weakened, the cazique was compelled to resign the field to the Spaniards. Xicotencatl, in his eagerness for revenge, consulted some of the Aztec priests, who recommended a night attack upon Cortés's camp in order to take his army by surprise. The Tlascalan, therefore, with 10,000 warriors, marched secretly toward the Spanish camp, but owing to the bright moonlight they were not unseen by the vedettes. Besides that, Cortés had accustomed his army to sleep with their arms by their side and the horses ready saddled. In an instant, as it were, the whole camp were on the alert and under arms. The Indians, meanwhile, were stealthily advancing to the silent camp, and, "no sooner had they reached the slope of the rising ground than they were astounded by the deep battle-cry of the Spaniards, followed by the instantaneous appearance of the whole army. Scarcely awaiting the shock of their enemy, the panic-struck barbarians fled rapidly and tumultuously across the plain. The horse easily overtook the fugitives, riding them down, and cutting them to pieces without mercy." Next day Cortés sent new ambassadors to the Tlascalan capital, accompanied by his faithful slave interpreter, Marina. They found the cazique's council sad and dejected, every gleam of hope being now extinguished. The message of Cortés still promised friendship and pardon, if only they agreed to act as allies. If the present offer were rejected, "he would visit their capital as a conqueror, raze every house to the ground, and put every inhabitant to the sword." On hearing this ultimatum, the council chose four leading chiefs to be entrusted with a mission to Cortés, "assuring him of a free passage through the country, and a friendly reception in the capital." The ambassadors, on their way back to Cortés, called at the camp of Xicotencatl, and were there detained by him. He was still planning against the terrible invaders. Cortés, in the meantime, had another opportunity of showing his resource and presence of mind. Some of his soldiers had shown a grumbling discontent: "The idea of conquering Mexico was madness; if they had encountered such opposition from the petty republic, what might they not expect from the great Mexican Empire? There was now a temporary suspension of hostilities; should they not avail themselves of it to retrace their steps to Vera Cruz?" To this Cortés listened calmly and politely, replying that "he had told them at the outset that glory was to be won only by toil and danger; he had never shrunk from his share of both. To go back now was impossible. What would the Tlascalans say? How would the Mexicans exult at such a miserable issue! Instead of turning your eyes toward Cuba, fix them on Mexico, the great object of our enterprise." Many other soldiers having gathered round, the mutinous party took courage to say that "another such victory as the last would be their ruin; they were going to Mexico only to be slaughtered." With some impatience Cortés gaily quoted a soldiers' song: Better die with honor Than live in long disgrace! --a sentiment which the majority of the audience naturally cheered to the echo, while the malcontents slunk away to their quarters. The next event was the arrival of some Tlascalans wearing white badges as an indication of peace. They brought a message, they said, from Xicotencatl, who now desired an arrangement with Cortés, and would soon appear in person. Most of them remained in the camp, where they were treated kindly; but Marina, with her "woman's wit," became somewhat suspicious of them. Perhaps some of them, forgetting that she knew their language, let drop a phrase in talking to each other, which awoke her distrust. She told Cortés that the men were spies. He had them arrested and examined separately, ascertaining in that way that they were sent to obtain secret information of the Spanish camp, and that, in fact, Xicotencatl was mustering his forces to make another determined attack on the invading army. To show the fierceness of his resentment at such treatment, Cortés ordered the fifty spy ambassadors to have their hands hacked off, and sent back to tell their lord that "the Tlascalans might come by day or night, they would find the Spaniards ready for them." The sight of their mutilated comrades filled the Indian camp with dread and horror. All thoughts of resistance to the advance of Cortés were now abandoned, and not long after the arrival of Xicotencatl himself was announced, attended by a numerous train. He advanced with "the firm and fearless step of one who was coming rather to bid defiance than to sue for peace. He was rather above the middle size, with broad shoulders and a muscular frame, intimating great activity and strength. He made the usual salutation by touching the ground with his hand and carrying it to his head." He threw no blame on the Tlascalan senate, but assumed all the responsibility of the war. He admitted that the Spanish army had beaten him, but hoped they would use their victory with moderation, and not trample on the liberties of the republic. Cortés admired the cazique's lofty spirit, while pretending to rebuke him for having so long remained an enemy. "He was willing to bury the past in oblivion, and to receive the Tlascalans as vassals to the Emperor, his master." Before the entry into Tlascala, the capital, there arrived an embassy from Montezuma, who had been keenly disappointed, no doubt, that Cortés had not only not been defeated by the bravest race on the Mexican table-land, but had formed a friendly alliance with them. As Cortés, with his army, approached the populous city, they were welcomed by great crowds of men and women in picturesque dresses, with nosegays and wreaths of flowers; priests in white robes and long matted tresses, swinging their burning censers of incense. The anniversary of this entry into Tlascala, September 23, 1519, is still celebrated as a day of rejoicing. Cortés, in his letter to the Emperor, King of Spain, compares it for size and appearance to Granada, the Moorish capital. Pottery was one of the industries in which Tlascala excelled. The Tlascalan was chiefly agricultural in his habits; his honest breast glowed with the patriotic attachment to the soil, which is the fruit of its diligent culture, while he was elevated by that consciousness of independence which is the natural birthright of a child of the mountains. Cholula, capital of the republic of that name, is six leagues north of Tlascala, and about twenty southeast of Mexico. In the time of the conquest of the table-land of Anahuac, as the whole district is sometimes termed, this city was large and populous. The people excelled in mechanical arts, especially metal-working, cloth-weaving, and a delicate kind of pottery. Reference has already been made to the god Quetzalcoatl, in whose honor a huge pyramid was erected here. From the farthest parts of Anahuac devotees thronged to Cholula, just as the Mohammedans to Mecca. The Spaniards found the people of Cholula superior in dress and looks to any of the races they had seen. The higher classes "wore fine embroidered mantles resembling the Moorish cloak in texture and fashion.... They showed the same delicate taste for flowers as the other tribes of the plateau, tossing garlands and bunches among the soldiers.... The Spaniards were also struck with the cleanliness of the city, the regularity of the streets, the solidity of the houses, and the number and size of the pyramidal temples." After being treated with kindness and hospitality for several days, all at once the scene changed, the cause being the arrival of messengers from Montezuma. At the same time some Tlascalans told Cortés that a great sacrifice, mostly of children, had been offered to propitiate the favor of the gods. At this juncture, Marina, the Indian slave interpreter, again proved to be the "good angel" of Cortés. She had become very friendly with the wife of one of the Cholula caziques, who gave her a hint that there was danger in staying at the house of any Spaniard; and, when further pressed by Marina, said that the Spaniards were to be slaughtered when marching out of the capital. The plot had originated with the Aztec Emperor, and 20,000 Mexicans were already quartered a little distance out of town. In this most critical position, Cortés at once decided to take possession of the great square, placing a strong guard at each of its three gates of entrance. The rest of what troops he had in the town, he posted without with the cannon, to command the avenues. He had already sent orders to the Tlascalan chiefs to keep their soldiers in readiness to march, at a given signal, into the city to support the Spaniards. Presently the caziques of Cholula arrived with a larger body of levies than Cortés had demanded. He at once charged them with conspiring against the Spaniards after receiving them as friends. They were so amazed at his discovery of their perfidy that they confessed everything, laying the blame on Montezuma. "That pretense," said Cortés, assuming a look of fierce indignation, "is no justification; I shall now make such an example of you for your treachery that the report of it will ring throughout the wide borders of Anahuac!" At the firing of a harquebus, the fatal signal, the crowd of unsuspecting Cholulans were massacred as they stood, almost without resistance. Meantime the other Indians without the square commenced an attack on the Spaniards, but the heavy guns of the battery played upon them with murderous effect, and cavalry advanced to support the attack. The steeds, the guns, the weapons of the Spaniards, were all new to the Cholulans. Notwithstanding the novelty of the terrific spectacle, the flash of arms mingling with the deafening roar of the artillery, the desperate Indians pushed on to take the places of their fallen comrades. While this scene of bloodshed was progressing, the Tlascalans, as arranged, were hastening to the assistance of their Spanish allies. The Cholulans, when thus attacked in rear by their traditional enemies, speedily gave way, and tried to save themselves in the great temple and elsewhere. The "Holy City," as it was called, was converted into a pandemonium of massacre. In memory of the signal defeat of the Cholulans, Cortés converted the chief part of the great temple into a Christian church. Envoys again arrived from Mexico with rich presents and a message vindicating the pusillanimous Emperor from any share in the conspiracy against Cortés. Continuing their march, the allied army of Spaniards and Tlascalans proceeded till they reached the mountains which separate the table-land of Puebla from that of Mexico. To cross this range they followed the route which passes between the mighty Popocatepetl (i. e., "the smoking mountain") and another called the "White Woman" from its broad robe of snow. The first lies about forty miles southeast of the capital to which their march was directed. It is more than 2,000 feet higher than Mont Blanc, and has two principal craters, one of which is about 1,000 feet deep and has large deposits of sulfur which are regularly mined. Popocatepetl has long been only a quiescent volcano, but during the invasion by Cortés it was often burning, especially at the time of the siege of Tlascala. That was naturally interpreted all over the district of Anahuac to be a bad omen, associated with the landing and approach of the Spaniards. Cortés insisted on several descents being made into the great crater till sufficient sulfur was collected to supply gunpowder to his army. The icy cold winds, varied by storms of snow and sleet, were more trying to the Europeans than the Tlascalans, but some relief was found in the stone shelters which had been built at certain intervals along the roads for the accommodation of couriers and other travelers. At last they reached the crest of the sierra which unites Popocatepetl, the "great _Volcan_," to its sister mountain the "Woman in White." Soon after, at a turning of the road, the invaders enjoyed their first view of the famous Valley of Mexico or Tenochtitlan, with its beautiful lakes in their setting of cultivated plains, here and there varied by woods and forests. "In the midst, like some Indian empress with her coronal of pearls, the fair city with her white towers and pyramidal temples, reposing as it were on the bosom of the waters--the far-famed 'Venice of the Aztecs.'" This view of the "Promised Land" will remind some of the picturesque account given by Livy (xxi, 35) of Hannibal reaching the top of the pass over the Alps and pointing out the fair prospect of Italy to his soldiers. We may thus render the passage: "On the ninth day the ridge of the Alps was reached, over ground generally trackless and by roundabout ways.... The order for marching being given at break of day, the army were sluggishly advancing over ground wholly covered with snow, listlessness, and despair depicted on the features of all, Hannibal went on in front, and after ordering the soldiers to halt on a height which commanded a distant view, far and wide, points out to them Italy and the plains of Lombardy on both banks of the Po, at the foot of the Alps, telling them that at that moment they were crossing not only the walls of Italy but of the Roman capital; that the rest of the march was easy and downhill." The situation of Hannibal and his Carthaginians surveying Italy for the first time is in some respects closely analogous to that of Cortés pointing out the Valley of Mexico to his Spanish soldiers. CHAPTER VII CORTÉS AND MONTEZUMA We have now seen the Spanish conquerors with a large contingent of 6,000 natives surmounting the mountains to the east of the Mexican Valley and looking down upon the Lake of Tezcuco on which were built the sister capitals. Montezuma, the Aztec monarch, was already in a state of dismay, and sent still another embassy to propitiate the terrible Cortés, with a great present of gold and robes of the most precious fabrics and workmanship; and a promise that, if the foreign general would turn back toward Vera Cruz, the Mexicans would pay down four loads of gold for himself and one to each of his captains, besides a yearly tribute to their king in Europe. These promises did not reach Cortés till he was descending from the sierra. He replied that details were best arranged by a personal interview, and that the Spaniards came with peaceful motives. Montezuma was now plunged in deep despair. At last he summoned a council to consult his nobles and especially his nephew, the young King of Tezcuco, and his warlike brother. The latter advised him to "muster as large an army as possible, and drive back the invaders from his capital or die in its defense." "Ah!" replied the monarch, "the gods have declared themselves against us!" Still another embassy was prepared, with his nephew, lord of Tezcuco, at its head, to offer a welcome to the unwelcome visitors. Cortés approached through fertile fields, plantations, and maguey-vineyards till they reached Lake Chalco. There they found a large town built in the water on piles, with canals instead of streets, full of movement and animation. "The Spaniards were particularly struck with the style and commodious structure of the houses, chiefly of stone, and with the general aspect of wealth and even elegance which prevailed." Next morning the King of Tezcuco came to visit Cortés, in a palanquin richly decorated with plates of gold and precious stones, under a canopy of green plumes. He was accompanied by a numerous suite. Advancing with the Mexican salutation, he said he had been commanded by Montezuma to welcome him to the capital, at the same time offering three splendid pearls as a present. Cortés "in return threw over the young king's neck a chain of cut glass, which, where glass was as rare as diamonds, might be admitted to have a value as real as the latter." The army of Cortés next marched along the southern side of Lake Chalco, "through noble woods and by orchards glowing with autumnal fruits, of unknown names, but rich and tempting hues." They also passed "through cultivated fields waving with the yellow harvest, and irrigated by canals introduced from the neighboring lake, the whole showing a careful and economical husbandry, essential to the maintenance of a crowded population." A remarkable public work next engaged the attention of the Spaniards, viz., a solid causeway of stone and lime running directly through the lake, in some places so wide that eight horsemen could ride on it abreast. Its length is some four or five miles. Marching along this causeway, they saw other wonders; numbers of the natives darting in all directions in their skiffs, curious to watch the strangers marching, and some of them bearing the products of the country to the neighboring cities. They were amazed also by the sight of the floating gardens, teeming with flowers and vegetables, and moving like rafts over the waters. All round the margin, and occasionally far in the lake, they beheld little towns and villages, which, half concealed by the foliage, and gathered in white clusters round the shore, "looked in the distance like companies of white swans riding quietly on the waves." About the middle of this lake was a town, to which the Spaniards gave the name of Venezuela[22] (i. e., "Little Venice"). From its situation and the style of the buildings, Cortés called it the most beautiful town that he had yet seen in New Spain. [Footnote 22: Not to be confounded with the Indian village on the shore of Lake Maracaibo, to which (with similar motive) Vespucci had given that name--now capital of a large republic.] After crossing the isthmus which separates that lake from Lake Tezcuco they were now at Iztapalapan, a royal residence in charge of the Emperor's brother. Here a ceremonious reception was given to Cortés and his staff, "a collation being served in one of the great halls of the palace. The excellence of the architecture here excited the admiration of the general. The buildings were of stone, and the spacious apartments had roofs of odorous cedar-wood, while the walls were tapestried with fine cotton stained with brilliant colors. "But the pride of Iztapalapan was its celebrated gardens, covering an immense tract of land and laid out in regular squares. The gardens were stocked with fruit-trees and with the gaudy family of flowers which belonged to the Mexican flora, scientifically arranged, and growing luxuriant in the equable temperature of the table-land. In one quarter was an aviary filled with numerous kinds of birds remarkable in this region both for brilliancy of plumage and for song. But the most elaborate piece of work was a huge reservoir of stone, filled to a considerable height with water, well supplied with different sorts of fish. This basin was 1,600 paces in circumference, and surrounded by a walk." Readers must remember that at that age no beautiful gardens on a large scale were known in any part of Europe. The first "garden of plants" (to use the name afterward applied by the French) is said to have been an Italian one, at Padua, in 1545, a whole generation after the time of the arrival of Cortés in Mexico. It was only under Louis "Le Magnifique" that France created the Versailles Gardens, and not till the time of George III and his tutor Bute could we boast of the gardens at Kew, now admired by all the world. The ancient Mexicans, therefore, under their extinct civilization, had developed this taste for the beautiful many ages before the most cultivated races in Europe. Cortés took up his quarters at this residence of Iztapalapan for the night, expecting to meet Montezuma on the morrow. Mexico was now distinctly full in view, looking "like a thing of fairy creation," a city of enchantment. There Aztlan stood upon the farther shore; Amid the shade of trees its dwellings rose, Their level roofs with turrets set around And battlements all burnished white, which shone Like silver in the sunshine. I beheld The imperial city, her far-circling walls, Her garden groves and stately palaces, Her temples mountain size, her thousand roofs. And when I saw her might and majesty My mind misgave me then. _Madoc_, i, 6. That following day, November 8, 1519, should be noted in every calendar, when the great capital of the Western World admitted the conquering general from the Eastern World. The invaders were now upon a larger causeway, which stretched across the salt waters of Lake Tezcuco; and "had occasion more than ever to admire the mechanical science of the Aztecs." It was wide enough throughout its whole extent for ten horsemen to ride abreast. The Spaniards saw everywhere "evidence of a crowded and thriving population, exceeding all they had yet seen." The water was darkened by swarms of canoes filled with Indians; and here also were those fairy islands of flowers. Half a league from the capital they encountered a solid work of stone, which traversed the road. It was twelve feet high, strengthened by towers at the extremities, and in the center was a battlemented gateway, which opened a passage to the troops. Here they were met by several hundred Aztec chiefs, who came out to announce the approach of Montezuma, and to welcome the Spaniards to his capital. They were dressed in the fanciful gala costume of the country, with the cotton sash around their loins, and a broad mantle of the same material, or of the brilliant feather embroidery, flowing gracefully down their shoulders. On their necks and arms they displayed collars and bracelets of turquoise mosaic, with which delicate plumage was curiously mingled, while their ears, under lips, and occasionally their noses were garnished with pendants formed of precious stones, or crescents of fine gold. After all the caziques had performed the same formal salutation separately, there was no further delay till they reached a bridge near the gates of the capital. Soon after "they beheld the glittering retinue of the Emperor emerging from the great street leading through the heart of the city. Amid a crowd of Indian nobles preceded by three officers of state bearing golden wands, they saw the royal palanquin blazing with burnished gold. It was borne on the shoulders of nobles, and over it a canopy of gaudy feather-work, covered with jewels and fringed with silver, was supported by four attendants of the same rank." At a certain distance from the Spaniards "the train halted, and Montezuma, descending from the litter, came forward, leaning on the arms of the lords of Tezcuco and Iztapalapan"--the Emperor's nephew and brother, already mentioned. "As the monarch advanced, his subjects, who lined the sides of the causeway, bent forward, with their eyes fastened on the ground, as he passed." Montezuma wore the ample square cloak common to the Mexicans, but of the finest cotton sprinkled with pearls and precious stones; his sandals were similarly sprinkled, and had soles of solid gold. His only head ornament was a bunch of feathers of the royal green color. A man about forty; tall and rather thin; black hair, cut rather short for a person of rank; dignified in his movements; his features wearing an expression of benignity not to be expected from his character. After dismounting from horseback, Cortés advanced to meet Montezuma, who received him with princely courtesy, while Cortés responded by profound expressions of respect, with thanks for his experience of the Emperor's munificence. He then hung round Montezuma's neck a sparkling chain of colored crystal, accompanying this with a movement as if to embrace him, when he was restrained by the two Aztec lords, shocked at the menaced profanation of the sacred person of their monarch and master. Montezuma appointed his brother to conduct the Spaniards to their residence in the capital, and was again carried through the adoring crowds in his litter. "The Spaniards quickly followed, and with colors flying and music playing soon made their entrance into the southern quarter." On entering "they found fresh cause for admiration in the grandeur of the city and the superior style of its architecture. The great avenue through which they were now marching was lined with the houses of the nobles, who were encouraged by the Emperor to make the capital their residence. The flat roofs were protected by stone parapets, so that every house was a fortress. Sometimes these roofs seemed parterres of flowers ... broad terraced gardens laid out between the buildings. Occasionally a great square intervened surrounded by its porticoes of stone and stucco; or a pyramidal temple reared its colossal bulk crowned with its tapering sanctuaries, and altars blazing with unextinguishable fires. But what most impressed the Spaniards was the throngs of people who swarmed through the streets and on the canals." Probably, however, the spectacle of the European army with their horses, their guns, bright swords and helmets of steel, a metal to them unknown; their weird and mysterious music--the whole formed to the Aztec populace an inexplicable wonder, combined with those foreigners who had arrived from the distant East, "revealing their celestial origin in their fair complexions." Many of the Aztec citizens betrayed keen hatred of the Tlascalans who marched with the Spaniards in friendly alliance. At length Cortés with his mixed army halted near the center of the city in a great open space, "where rose the huge pyramidal pile dedicated to the patron war-god of the Aztecs, second only to the temple of Cholula in size as well as sanctity." The present famous cathedral of modern Mexico is built on part of the same site. A palace built opposite the west side of the great temple was assigned to Cortés. It was extensive enough to accommodate the whole of the army of Cortés. Montezuma paid him a visit there, having a long conversation through the indispensable assistance of Marina, the slave interpreter. "That evening the Spaniards celebrated their arrival in the Mexican capital by a general discharge of artillery. The thunders of the ordnance reverberating among the buildings and shaking them to their foundations, the stench of the sulfureous vapor reminding the inhabitants of the explosions of the great volcano (Popocatepetl) filled the hearts of the superstitious Aztecs with dismay." Next day Cortés had gracious permission to return the visit of the Emperor, and therefore proceeded to wait upon him at the royal palace, dressed in his richest suit of clothes. The Spanish general felt the importance of the occasion and resolved to exercise all his eloquence and power of argument in attempting the "conversion" of Montezuma to the Christian faith. For this purpose, with the assistance of the faithful Marina, Cortés engaged the Emperor in a theological discussion; explaining the creation of the world as taught in the Jewish Scriptures; the fall of man from his first happy and holy condition by the temptation of Satan; the mysterious redemption of the human race by the incarnation and atonement of the Son of God Himself. "He assured Montezuma that the idols worshiped in Mexico were Satan under different forms. A sufficient proof of this was the bloody sacrifices they imposed, which he contrasted with the pure and simple rite of the mass. It was to snatch the Emperor's soul and the souls of his people from the flames of eternal fire that the Christians had come to this land." Montezuma replied that the God of the Spaniards must be a good being, and "my gods also are good to me; there was no need to further discourse on the matter." If he had "resisted their visit to his capital, it was because he had heard such accounts of their cruelties--that they sent the lightning to consume his people, or crushed them to pieces under the hard feet of the ferocious animals on which they rode. He was now convinced that these were idle tales; that the Spaniards were kind and generous in their nature." He concluded by admitting the superiority of the sovereign of Cortés beyond the seas. "Your sovereign is the rightful lord of all: I rule in his name." The rough Spanish cavaliers were touched by the kindness and affability of Montezuma. As they passed him, says Diaz, in his History, they made him the most profound obeisance, hat in hand; and on the way home could discourse of nothing but the gentle breeding and courtesy of the Indian monarch. MONTEZUMA'S CAPITAL Cortés and his army being now fairly domesticated in Mexico, and the Emperor having apparently become reconciled to the presence of his formidable guests, we may pause to consider the surroundings. The present capital occupies the site of Tenochtitlan, but many changes have occurred in the intervening four centuries. First of all, the salt waters of the great lake have entirely shrunk away, leaving modern Mexico high and dry, a league away from the waters that Cortés saw flowing in ample canals through all the streets. Formerly the houses stood on elevated piles and were independent of the floods which rose in Lake Tezcuco by the overflowing of other lakes on a higher level. But when the foundations were on solid ground it became necessary to provide against the accumulated volume of water by excavating a tunnel to drain off the flood. This was constructed about one hundred years after the invasion of the Spaniards, and has been described by Humboldt as "one of the most stupendous hydraulic works in existence." The appearance of the lake and suburbs of the capital have long lost much of the attractive appearance they had at the time of the Spanish visit; but the town itself is still the most brilliant city in Spanish America, surmounted by a cathedral, which forms "the most sumptuous house of worship in the New World." The great causeway already described as leading north from the royal city of Iztapalapan, had another to the north of the capital, which might be called its continuation. The third causeway, leading west to the town Tacuba from the island city, will be noticed presently as the scene of the Spaniards' retreat. There were excellent police regulations for health and cleanliness. Water supplied by earthen pipes was from a hill about two miles distant. Besides the palaces and temples there were several important buildings: an armory filled with weapons and military dresses; a granary; various warehouses; an immense aviary, with "birds of splendid plumage assembled from all parts of the empire--the scarlet cardinal, the golden pheasant, the endless parrot tribe, and that miniature miracle of nature, the humming-bird, which delights to revel among the honeysuckle bowers of Mexico." The birds of prey had a separate building. The menagerie adjoining the aviary showed wild animals from the mountain forests, as well as creatures from the remote swamps of the hot lands by the seashore. The serpents "were confined in long cages lined with down or feathers, or in troughs of mud and water." Wishing to visit the great Mexican temple, Cortés, with his cavalry and most of his infantry, followed the caziques whom Montezuma had politely sent as guides. On their way to the central square the Spaniards "were struck with the appearance of the inhabitants, and their great superiority in the style and quality of their dress over the people of the lower countries. The women, as in other parts of the country, seemed to go about as freely as the men. They wore several skirts or petticoats of different lengths, with highly ornamented borders, and sometimes over them loose-flowing robes, which reached to the ankles. No veils were worn here as in some other parts of Anahuac. The Aztec women had their faces exposed; and their dark raven tresses floated luxuriantly over their shoulders, revealing features which, although of a dusky or rather cinnamon hue, were not unfrequently pleasing, while touched with the serious, even sad expression characteristic of the national physiognomy." When near the great market "the Spaniards were astonished at the throng of people pressing toward it, and on entering the place their surprise was still further heightened by the sight of the multitudes assembled there, and the dimensions of the enclosure, twice as large, says one Spanish observer, as the celebrated square of Salamanca. Here were traders from all parts; the goldsmiths from Azcapozalco, the potters and jewelers of Cholula, the painters of Tezcuco, the stone-cutters, hunters, fishermen, fruiterers, mat and chair makers, florists, etc. The pottery department was a large one; so were the armories for implements of war; razors and mirrors--booths for apothecaries with drugs, roots, and medical preparations. In other places again, blank-books or maps for the hieroglyphics or pictographs were to be seen folded together like fans. Animals both wild and tame were offered for sale, and near them, perhaps, a gang of slaves with collars round their necks. One of the most attractive features of the market was the display of provisions: meats of all kinds, domestic poultry, game from the neighboring mountains, fish from the lakes and streams, fruits in all the delicious abundance of these temperate regions, green vegetables, and the unfailing maize." This market, like hundreds of smaller ones, was of course held every fifth day--the week of the ancient Mexicans being one-fourth of the twenty days which constituted the Aztec month. This great market was comparable to "the periodical fairs in Europe, not as they now exist, but as they existed in the middle ages," when from the difficulties of intercommunication they served as the great central marts for commercial intercourse, exercising a most important and salutary influence on the community. One of the Spaniards in the party accompanying Cortés was the historian Diaz, and his testimony is remarkable: There were among us soldiers who had been in many parts of the world, Constantinople and Rome, and through all Italy, and who said that a market-place so large, so well ordered and regulated, and so filled with people, they had never seen. Proceeding next to the great _teocalli_ or Aztec temple, covering the site of the modern cathedral with part of the market-place and some adjoining streets, they found it in the midst of a great open space, surrounded by a high stone wall, ornamented on the outside by figures of serpents raised in relief, and pierced by huge battlemented gateways opening on the four principal streets of the capital. The _teocalli_ itself was a solid pyramidal structure of earth and pebbles, coated on the outside with hewn stones, the sides facing the cardinal points. It was divided into five stories, each of smaller dimensions than that immediately below. The ascent was by a flight of steps on the outside, which reached to the narrow terrace at the bottom of the second story, passing quite round the building, when a second stairway conducted to a similar landing at the base of the third. Thus the visitor was obliged to pass round the whole edifice four times in order to reach the top. This had a most imposing effect in the religious ceremonials, when the pompous procession of priests with their wild minstrelsy came sweeping round the huge sides of the pyramid, as they rose higher and higher toward the summit in full view of the populace assembled in their thousands. Cortés marched up the steps at the head of his men, and found at the summit "a vast area paved with broad flat stones. The first object that met their view was a large block of jasper, the peculiar shape of which showed it was the stone on which the bodies of the unhappy victims were stretched for sacrifice. Its convex surface, by raising the breast, enabled the priest to perform more easily his diabolical task of removing the heart. At the other end of the area were two towers or sanctuaries, consisting of three stories, the lower one of stone, the two upper of wood elaborately carved. In the lower division stood the images of their gods; the apartments above were filled with utensils for their religious services, and with the ashes of some of their Aztec princes who had fancied this airy sepulcher. Before each sanctuary stood an altar, with that undying fire upon it, the extinction of which boded as much evil to the empire as that of the Vestal flame would have done in ancient Rome. Here also was the huge cylindrical drum made of serpents' skins, and struck only on extraordinary occasions, when it sent forth a melancholy, weird sound, that might be heard for miles" over the country, indicating fierce anger of deity against the enemies of Mexico. As Cortés reached the summit he was met by the Emperor himself attended by the high priest. Taking the general by the hand, Montezuma pointed out the chief localities in the wide prospect which their position commanded, including not only the capital, "bathed on all sides by the salt floods of the Tezcuco, and in the distance the clear fresh waters of Lake Chalco," but the whole of the Valley of Mexico to the base of the circular range of mountains, and the wreaths of vapor rolling up from the hoary head of Popocatepetl. Cortés was allowed "to behold the shrines of the gods. They found themselves in a spacious apartment, with sculptures on the walls, representing the Mexican calendar, or the priestly ritual. Before the altar in this sanctuary stood the colossal image of Huitzilopochtli, the tutelary deity and war-god of the Aztecs. His countenance was distorted into hideous lineaments of symbolical import. The huge folds of a serpent, consisting of pearls and precious stones, were coiled round his waist, and the same rich materials were profusely sprinkled over his person. On his left foot were the delicate feathers of the humming-bird, which gave its name to the dread deity. The most conspicuous ornament was a chain of gold and silver hearts alternate, suspended round his neck, emblematical of the sacrifice in which he most delighted. A more unequivocal evidence of this was afforded by three human hearts that now lay smoking on the altar before him. "The adjoining sanctuary was dedicated to a milder deity. This was Tezcatlipoca, who created the world, next in honor to that invisible being the Supreme God, who was represented by no image, and confined by no temple. He was represented as a young man, and his image of polished black stone was richly garnished with gold plates and ornaments. But the homage to this god was not always of a more refined or merciful character than that paid to his carnivorous brother." According to Diaz, whom we have already quoted, the stench of human gore in both those chapels was more intolerable than that of all the slaughter-houses in Castile. Glad to escape into the open air, Cortés expressed wonder that a great and wise prince like Montezuma could have faith "in such evil spirits as these idols, the representatives of the devil! Permit us to erect here the true cross, and place the images of the Blessed Virgin and her Son in these sanctuaries; you will soon see how your false gods will shrink before them!" This extraordinary speech of the general shocked Montezuma, who, in reproof, said: "Had I thought you would have offered this outrage to the gods of the Aztecs, I would not have admitted you into their presence." Cortés, as a general, had some of the great qualities of Napoleon, but he also resembled him occasionally in a singular lack of delicacy and good taste. We do not, however, find that he ever showed such mean malignity as the French general did when persecuting Madame de Staël, because in her Germany she had omitted to mention his campaigns and administration. Within the same enclosure, Cortés and his companions visited a temple dedicated to Quetzalcoatl, a god referred to already. Other buildings served as seminaries for the instruction of youth of both sexes; and according to the Spanish accounts of the teaching and management of these institutions there was "the greatest care for morals and the most blameless deportment." SEIZURE OF MONTEZUMA After being guest of the Mexican Emperor for a week, Cortés resolved to carry out a most daring and unprecedented scheme--a purely "Napoleonic movement," such as could scarcely have entered the brain of any general ancient or modern. He argued with himself that a quarrel might at any moment break out between his men and the citizens; the Spaniards again could not remain long quiet unless actively employed; and, thirdly, there was still greater danger with the Tlascalans, "a fierce race now in daily contact with a nation that regards them with loathing and detestation." Lastly, the Governor of Cuba, already grossly offended with Cortés, might at any moment send after him a sufficient army to wrest from him the glory of conquest. Cortés therefore formed the daring resolve to seize Montezuma in his palace and carry him as a prisoner to the Spanish quarters. He hoped thus to have in his own hands the supreme management of affairs, and at the same time secure his own safety with such a "sacred pledge" in keeping. It was necessary to find a pretext for seizing the hospitable Montezuma. News had already come to Cortés, when at Cholula, that Escalante, whom he had left in charge of Vera Cruz, had been defeated by the Aztecs in a pitched battle, and that the head of a Spaniard, then slain, had been sent to the Emperor, after being shown in triumph throughout some of the chief cities. Cortés asked an audience from Montezuma, and that being readily granted, he prepared for his plot by having a large body of armed men posted in the courtyard. Choosing five companions of tried courage, Cortés then entered the palace, and after being graciously received, told Montezuma that he knew of the treachery that had taken place near the coast, and that the Emperor was said to be the cause. The Emperor said that such a charge could only have been concocted by his enemies. He agreed with the proposal of Cortés to summon the Aztec chief who was accused of treachery to the garrison at Vera Cruz; and was then persuaded to transfer his residence to the palace occupied by the Spaniards. He was there received and treated with ostentatious respect; but his people observed that in front of the palace there was constantly posted a patrol of sixty soldiers, with another equally large in the rear. When the Aztec chief arrived from the coast, he and his sixteen Aztec companions were condemned to be burned alive before the palace. The next daring act of the Spanish general was to order iron fetters to be fastened on Montezuma's ankles. The great Emperor seemed struck with stupor and spoke never a word. Meanwhile the Aztec chiefs were executed in the courtyard without interruption, the populace imagining the sentence had been passed upon them by Montezuma, and the victims submitting to their fate without a murmur. Cortés returning then to the room where Montezuma was imprisoned, unclasped the fetters and said he was now at liberty to return to his own palace. The Emperor, however, declined the offer. The instinctive sense of human sympathy must have frequently been not only repressed but extinguished by all the great conquering generals who have crushed nations under foot. Besides those of prehistoric times in Asia and Europe, we have examples in Alexander the Greek, Julius Cæsar the Roman, Cortés and Pizarro the Spaniards, Frederick the Prussian, and Napoleon the Corsican. The great French general consciously aimed at dramatic effect in his exploits, but how paltry his seizing the Duc d'Enghien at dead of night by a troop of soldiers, or his coercing the King of Spain to resign his sovereignty after inducing him to cross the border into France. In the unparalleled case of Cortés, a powerful emperor is seized by a few strangers at noonday and carried off a prisoner without opposition or bloodshed. So extraordinary a transaction, says Robertson, would appear "extravagant beyond the bounds of probability" were it not that all the circumstances are "authenticated by the most unquestionable evidence." The nephew of Montezuma, Cakama, the lord of Tezcuco, had been closely watching all the motions of the Spaniards. He "beheld with indignation and contempt the abject condition of his uncle; and now set about forming a league with several of the neighboring caziques to break the detested yoke of the Spaniards." News of this league reached the ears of Cortés, and arresting him with the permission of Montezuma, he deposed him, and appointed a younger brother in his place. The other caziques were seized, each in his own city, and brought to Mexico, where Cortés placed them in strict confinement along with Cakama. The next step taken by Cortés was to demand from Montezuma an acknowledgment of the supremacy of the Spanish Emperor. The Aztec monarch and chief caziques easily granted this; and even agreed that a gratuity should be sent by each of them as proof of loyalty. Collectors were sent out, and "in a few weeks most of them returned, bringing back large quantities of gold and silver plate, rich stuffs, etc." To this Montezuma added a huge hoard, the treasures of his father. When brought into the quarters, the gold alone was sufficient to make three great heaps. It consisted partly of native grains, and partly of bars; but the greatest portion was in utensils, and various kinds of ornaments and curious toys, together with imitations of birds, insects, or flowers, executed with uncommon truth and delicacy. There were also quantities of collars, bracelets, wands, fans, and other trinkets, in which the gold and feather-work were richly powdered with pearls and precious stones. Montezuma expressed regret that the treasure was no larger; he had "diminished it," he said, "by his former gifts to the white men." The Spaniards gazed on this display of riches, far exceeding all hitherto seen in the New World--though small compared with the quantity of treasure found in Peru. The whole amount of this Mexican gift was about £1,417,000, according to Prescott, Dr. Robertson making it smaller. It was no easy task to divide the spoil. A fifth had to be deducted for the Crown, and an equal share went to the general, besides a "large sum to indemnify him and the Governor of Cuba for the charges of the expedition and the loss of the fleet. The garrison of Vera Cruz was also to be provided for. The cavalry, musketeers, and crossbowmen each received double pay." Thus for each of the common soldiers there was only 100 gold _pesos_--i. e., £2-5/8 X 100 = £262 10s. To many this share seemed paltry, compared with their expectations; and it required all the tact and authority of Cortés to quell the grumbling. There still remained one important object of the Spanish invasion, an object which Cortés as a good Catholic dared not overlook--the conversion of the Aztec nation from heathenism. The bloody ritual of the _teocallis_ was still observed in every city. Cortés waited on Montezuma, urging a request that the great temple be assigned for public worship according to the Christian rites. Montezuma was evidently much alarmed, declaring that his people would never allow such a profanation, but at last, after consulting the priest, agreed that one of the sanctuaries on the summit of the temple should be granted to the Christians as a place of worship. An altar was raised, surmounted by a crucifix and the image of the Virgin. The whole army ascended the steps in solemn procession and listened with silent reverence to the service of the mass. In conclusion, "as the beautiful Te Deum rose toward heaven, Cortés and his soldiers kneeling on the ground, with tears streaming from their eyes, poured forth their gratitude to the Almighty for this glorious triumph of the cross." Such a union of heathenism and Christianity was too unnatural to continue. A few days later the Emperor sent for Cortés and earnestly advised him to leave the country at once. Cortés replied that ships were necessary. Montezuma agreed to supply timber and workmen, and in a short time the construction of several ships was begun at Vera Cruz on the seacoast, while in the capital the garrison kept itself ready by day and by night for a hostile attack. Only six months had elapsed since the arrival of the Spaniards in the capital, 1519, and now the army was in more uncomfortable circumstances than ever. Meanwhile, while Cortés had been reducing Mexico and humbling the unfortunate Montezuma, the Governor of Cuba had complained to the court of Spain, but without success. Charles V, since his election to the imperial crown of Germany, had neglected the affairs of Spain; and when the envoys from Vera Cruz waited upon him, little came of the conference except the astonishment of the court at the quantity of gold, and the beautiful workmanship of the ornaments and the rich colors of the Mexican feather-work. The opposition of the Bishop of Burgos thwarted the conqueror of Mexico, as he had already successfully opposed the schemes of the "Great Admiral" and his son Diego Columbus. We shall presently see how this influential ecclesiastic was able to thwart Balboa when governor of Darien. Velasquez was now determined to wreak his revenge upon Cortés without waiting longer for assistance from Spain. He prepared an expedition of eighteen ships with eighty horsemen, 800 infantry, 120 crossbowmen, and twelve pieces of artillery. To command these Velasquez chose a hidalgo named Narvaez, who had assisted formerly in subduing Cuba and Hispaniola. The personal appearance of Narvaez, as given by Diaz, is worth quoting: He was tall, stout-limbed, with a large head and red beard, an agreeable presence, a voice deep and sonorous, as if it rose from a cavern. He was a good horseman and valiant. Meanwhile Cortés persuaded Montezuma that some friends from Spain had arrived at Vera Cruz, and therefore got permission to leave him and the capital in charge of Alvarado and a small garrison. Montezuma, in his royal litter, borne on the shoulders of his Aztec nobles, accompanied the Spanish general to the southern causeway. When Cortés was within fifteen leagues' distance of Zempoalla, where Narvaez was encamped, the latter sent a message that if his authority were acknowledged he would supply ships to Cortés and his army so that all who wished might freely leave the country with all their property. Cortés, however, with his usual astuteness, replied: "If Narvaez bears a royal commission I will readily submit to him. But he has produced none. He is a deputy of my rival, Velasquez. For myself, I am a servant of the King; I have conquered the country for him; and for him I and my brave followers will defend it to the last drop of our blood. If we fall it will be glory enough to have perished in the discharge of our duty." Narvaez and his army were meantime spending their time frivolously; and when the actual attack was begun in the dead of night, under a pouring rain-storm, it appeared that only two sentinels were on guard. Narvaez, badly wounded, was taken prisoner on the top of a _teocalli_; and in a very short time his army was glad to capitulate. The horse-soldiers whom Narvaez had sent to waylay one of the roads to Zempoalla, rode in soon after to tender their submission. The victorious general, seated in a chair of state, with a richly embroidered Mexican mantle on his shoulders, received his congratulations from the officers and soldiers of both armies. Narvaez and several others were led in chains. Cortés not only defeated Narvaez, but, after the battle, enlisted under his standard the Spanish soldiers who had been sent to attack him--reminding one of the "magnetism" of Hannibal or Napoleon, and the consequent enthusiasm caused by mere presence, looks, and words. Before the rejoicings were finished, however, tidings were brought to Cortés from the Mexican capital that the whole city was in a state of revolt against Alvarado. On his march back to the great plateau Cortés found the inhabitants of Tlascala still friendly and willing to assist as allies in the struggle against their ancient foes, the Mexicans. On reaching the camp of the Spaniards in Mexico, Cortés found that Alvarado had provoked the insurrection by a massacre of the Aztec populace. Having entered the precincts with his army, Cortés at once made anxious preparations for the siege which was threatened by the Aztecs, now assembling in thousands. As the assailants approached "they set up a hideous yell, or rather that shrill whistle used in fight by the nations of Anahuac," accompanied by the sound of shell and atabal and their other rude instruments of wild music. This was followed by a tempest of missiles, stones, darts, and arrows. The Spaniards waited until the foremost column had arrived within distance, when a general discharge of artillery and muskets swept the ranks of the assailants. Never till now had the Mexicans witnessed the murderous power of these formidable engines. At first they stood aghast, but soon rallying, they rushed forward over the prostrate bodies of their comrades. Pressing on, some of them tried to scale the parapet, while others tried to force a breach in it. When the parapet proved too strong they shot burning arrows upon the wooden outworks. Next day there were continually fresh supplies of warriors added to the forces of the assailants, so that the danger of the situation was greatly increased. Diaz, an onlooker, thus wrote: The Mexicans fought with such ferocity that if we had been assisted by 10,000 Hectors and as many Orlandos, we should have made no impression on them. There were several of our troops who had served in the Italian wars, but neither there nor in the battles with the Turks had they ever seen anything like the desperation shown by these Indians. Cortés at last drew off his men and sounded a retreat, taking refuge in the fortress. The Mexicans encamped round it, and during the night insulted the besieged, shouting, "The gods have at last delivered you into our hands: the stone of sacrifice is ready: the knives are sharpened." Cortés now felt that he had not fully understood the character of the Mexicans. The patience and submission formerly shown in deference to the injured Montezuma was now replaced by concentrated arrogance and ferocity. The Spanish general even stooped to request the interposition of the Aztec Emperor; and, at last, when assured that the foreigners would leave his country if a way were opened through the Mexican army he agreed to use his influence. For this purpose he put on his imperial robes; his mantle of white and blue flowed over his shoulders, held together by its rich clasp of the green _chalchivitl_. The same precious gem, with emeralds of uncommon size, set in gold, profusely ornamented other parts of his dress. His feet were shod with the golden sandals, and his brows covered with the Mexican diadem, resembling in form the pontifical tiara. Thus attired and surrounded by a guard of Spaniards, and several Aztec nobles, and preceded by the golden wand, the symbol of sovereignty, the Indian monarch ascended the central turret of the palace. At the sight of Montezuma all the Mexican army became silent, partly, no doubt, from curiosity. He assured them that he was no prisoner; that the strangers were his friends, and would leave Mexico of their own accord as soon as a way was opened. To call himself a friend of the hateful Spaniards was a fatal argument. Instead of respecting their monarch, though in his official robes, the populace howled angry curses at him as a degenerate Aztec, a coward, no longer a warrior or even a man! A cloud of missiles was hurled at Montezuma, and he was struck to the ground by the blow of a stone on his head. The unfortunate monarch only survived his wounds for a few days, disdaining to take any nourishment, or to receive advice from the Spanish priests. Meanwhile, Cortés and his army met with an unexpected danger. A large body of the Indian warriors had taken possession of the great temple, at a short distance from the Spanish quarters. From this commanding position they kept shooting a deadly flight of arrows on the Spaniards. Cortés sent his chamberlain, Escobar, with a body of men to storm the temple, but, after three efforts, the party had to relinquish the attempt. Cortés himself then led a storming party, and after some determined fighting reached the platform at the top of the temple where the two sanctuaries of the Aztec deities stood. This large area was now the scene of a desperate battle, fought in sight of the whole capital as well as of the Spanish troops still remaining in the courtyard. This struggle between such deadly enemies caused dreadful carnage on both sides: The edge of the area was unprotected by parapet or battlement; and the combatants, as they struggled in mortal agony, were sometimes seen to roll over the sheer sides of the precipice together. Cortés himself had a narrow escape from this dreadful fate.... The number of the enemy was double that of the Christians; but the invulnerable armor of the Spaniard, his sword of matchless temper, and his skill in the use of it, gave him advantages which far outweighed the odds of physical strength and numbers. This unparalleled scene of bloodshed lasted for three hours. Of the Mexicans "two or three priests only survived to be led away in triumph"; yet the loss of the Spaniards was serious enough, amounting to forty-five of their best men. Nearly all the others were wounded, some seriously. After dragging the uncouth monster, Huitzilopochtli, from his sanctuary, the assailants hurled the repulsive image down the steps of the temple, and then set fire to the building. The same evening they burned a large part of the town. Cortés now resolved upon a night retreat from the capital; but when marching along one of the causeways they were attacked by the Mexicans in such numbers that, when morning dawned, the shattered battalion was reduced to less than half its number. In after years that disastrous retreat was known to the Spanish chroniclers as _Noche Triste_, the "Night of Sorrows." After a hurried six days' march before the pursuers, Cortés gained a victory so signal that an alliance was speedily formed with Tlascala against Mexico. Cortés built twelve brigantines at Vera Cruz in order to secure the command of Lake Tescuco and thus attempt the reduction of the Mexican capital. On his return to the great lake he found that the throne was now occupied by Guatimozin, a nephew of Montezuma. Using their brigantines the Spanish soldiers now began the siege of Mexico--"the most memorable event in the conquest of America." It lasted seventy-five days, during which the whole of the capital was reduced to ruins. Guatimozin, the last of the Aztec emperors, was condemned by the Spanish general to be hanged on the charge of treason. Cortés was now master of all Mexico. The Spanish court and people were full of admiration for his victories and the extent of his conquests; and Charles V appointed him "Captain-General and Governor of New Spain." On revisiting Europe, the Emperor honored him with the order of St. Jago and the title of marquis. Latterly, however, after some failures in his exploring expeditions, Cortés, on his return to Spain, found himself treated with neglect. It was then, according to Voltaire's story, that when Charles asked the courtiers, "Who is that man?" referring to Cortés, the latter said aloud: "It is one, sire, that has added more provinces to your dominions than any other governor has added towns!" Cortés died in his sixty-second year, December 2, 1547. CHAPTER VIII BALBOA AND THE ISTHMUS In the Spanish conquest of America there are three great generals: Cortés, Balbao, and Pizarro. The third may to many readers seem immeasurably superior as explorer and conqueror to the second, but it must be remembered that Pizarro's scheme of discovering and invading Peru was precisely that which Balboa had already prepared. Pizarro could afford to say, "Others have labored, and I have merely entered into their labors." What, then, was the work done by Balboa, and what prevented him from taking Peru? In 1510, the year before the conquest of Cuba, Balboa was glad to escape from Hispaniola, not to avoid the Spanish cruelties, like Hatuey, the luckless cazique, but to escape from his Spanish creditors. So anxious was he to get on board that he concealed himself in a cask to avoid observation. Balboa, however, had administrative qualities, and after taking possession of the uncleared district of Darien in the name of the King of Spain, he was appointed governor of the new province. He built the town Santa Maria on the coast of the Darien Gulf; but so pestilential was the district (and still is) that the settlers were glad after a short time to remove to the other side of the isthmus. It was by mere accident that Balboa first heard of a great ocean beyond the mountains of Darien, and of the enormous wealth of Peru, a country hitherto unknown to Spain or Europe. As several soldiers were one day disputing about the division of some gold-dust, an Indian cazique called out: "Why quarrel about such a trifle? I can show you a region where the commonest pots and pans are made of that metal." To the inquiries of Balboa and his companions, the cazique replied that by traveling six days to the south they should see another ocean, near which lay the wealthy kingdom. Resolving to cross the isthmus, notwithstanding a thousand formidable obstructions, Balboa formed a party consisting of 190 veterans, accompanied by 1,000 Indians, and several fierce dogs trained to hunt the naked natives. Such were the difficulties that the "six days' journey" occupied twenty-five before the ridge of the isthmus range was reached. Balboa commanded his men to halt, and advanced alone to the summit, that he might be the first who should enjoy a spectacle which he had so long desired. As soon as he beheld the sea stretching in endless prospect below him he fell on his knees; ... his followers observing his transports of joy rushed forward to join in his wonder, exultation, and gratitude. That was the moment, September 25, 1513, immortalized in Keats's sonnet: When with eagle eyes He stared at the Pacific, and all his men Looked at each other with a wild surmise, Silent, upon a peak in Darien. Balboa hurried down the western slope of the isthmus range to take formal possession in the name of the Spanish monarch. He found a fishing village there which had been named Panama (i. e., "plenty fish") by the Indians, but had also a reputation for the pearls found in its bay. In his letter to Spain, Balboa said, to illustrate the difficulties of the expedition, that of all the 190 men in his party there were never more than eighty fit for service at one time. Notwithstanding the wonderful news of the discovery of the "great southern ocean," as the Pacific was then called, Ferdinand overlooked the great services of Balboa, and appointed a new Governor of Darien called Pedrarias, who instituted a judicial inquiry into some previous transactions of Balboa, imposing a heavy fine as punishment. The new governor committed other acts of great imprudence, and at length Ferdinand felt that he had only superseded the most active and experienced officer he had in the New World. To make amends to Balboa, he was appointed "Lieutenant-Governor of the Countries upon the South Sea," with great privileges and authority. At the same time Pedrarias was commanded to "support Balboa in all his operations, and to consult with him concerning every measure which he himself pursued." Balboa, in 1517, began his preparations for entering the South Sea and conveying troops to the country which he proposed to invade. With four small brigantines and 300 chosen soldiers (a force superior to that with which Pizarro afterward undertook the same expedition), he was on the point of sailing toward the coasts of which they had such expectations, when a message arrived from Pedrarias. Balboa being unconscious of crime, agreed to delay the expedition, and meet Pedrarias for conference. On entering the palace Balboa was arrested and immediately tried on the charge of disloyalty to the King and intention of revolt against the governor. He was speedily sentenced to death, although the accusation was so absurd that the judges who pronounced the sentence "seconded by the whole colony, interceded warmly for his pardon." "The Spaniards beheld with astonishment and sorrow the public execution of a man whom they universally deemed more capable than any who had borne command in America, of forming and accomplishing great designs." This gross injustice amounting to a public scandal was accounted for by the malignant influence of the Bishop of Burgos, in Spain, who was the original cause of Balboa being superseded as Governor of Darien. The expedition designed by Balboa was now relinquished; but the removal of the colony soon afterward to the Pacific side of the isthmus may be considered a step toward the realization of an exactly similar attempt by Pizzaro. To some historical readers the word "Darien" only recalls the bitter prejudice entertained against William III, our "Dutch King," notwithstanding the special pleading of Lord Macaulay and others. Some Scottish merchants had adopted a scheme recommended by the most reliable authorities[23] of that age, viz., the settlement of a half-commercial, half-military colony on the Atlantic coast of the isthmus. Such a company, in the words of Paterson, would be masters of the "door of the seas," and the "key of the universe." The East India Companies both of England and Holland showed an envious jealousy of the Scottish merchants, and therefore no assistance was to be expected from the King, although he had given his royal sanction to the Scots Act of Parliament creating the company. The Scottish people, however, zealously continued the scheme. Some 1,200 men "set sail from Leith amid the blessings of many thousands of their assembled countrymen. They reached the Gulf of Darien in safety, and established themselves on the coast in localities to which they gave the names of New Caledonia and New St. Andrews." The Government of Spain (secretly instigated, it was believed, by the English King) resolved to attack the embryo colony. The shipwreck of the whole scheme soon followed, due undoubtedly more to the jealousy of the English merchants (who believed that any increase of trade in Scotland or Ireland was a positive loss to England) and the bad faith of our Dutch King, than to all other causes whatever. Of the colony, according to Dalrymple (ii, 103), not more than thirty ever saw their own country again. [Footnote 23: E.g., Paterson, founder of the Bank of England, Fletcher of Saltoun, the Marquis of Tweeddale, then chief Minister of Scotland, Sir John Dalrymple, etc.] In 1526 a company of English merchants was formed to trade with the West Indies and the "Spanish Main," and commanded great success. Other merchants did the same. Soon after the Spanish court instituted a coast-guard to make war upon these traders; and as they had full power to capture and slay all who did not bear the King of Spain's commission, there were terrible tales told in Europe of mutilation, torture, and revenge. The Windward Islands having been gradually settled by French and English adventurers, Frederick of Toledo was sent with a large fleet to destroy those petty colonies. This harsh treatment rendered the planters desperate, and under the name of buccaneers,[24] they continued "a retaliation so horribly savage [_v._ Notes to Rokeby] that the perusal makes the reader shudder. From piracy at sea, they advanced to making predatory descents on the Spanish territories; in which they displayed the same furious and irresistible valor, the same thirst of spoil, and the same brutal inhumanity to their captives." The pride and presumption of Spain were partly resisted by the English monarchs, but not with real effect before the time of Cromwell, strongest of all the rulers of Britain. Under his government of the seas Spain was deprived of the island of Jamaica; and the buccaneers to their disgust found that the flag of the great Protector was a check against all piracy and injustice. [Footnote 24: Named from _boucan_, a kind of preserved meat, used by those rovers. They had learned this peculiar art of preserving from the native Caribs.] Under Charles II, however, the buccaneers resumed their conflict with the Spanish, and in 1670, Henry Morgan, with 1,500 English and French ruffians resolved to cross the isthmus like Balboa, to plunder the depositories of gold and silver which lay in the city of Panama and other places on the Pacific coast. Having stormed a strong fortress at the mouth of the Chagres River, they forced their way through the entangled forests for ten days, and after much hardship reached Panama, to find it defended by a regular army of twice their number. The Spaniards, however, were beaten, and Morgan thoroughly sacked and plundered the city, taking captive all the chief citizens in order to extort afterward large ransoms. Ten years afterward the Isthmus of Darien was crossed by Dampier, another celebrated buccaneer, but his party was too small to attack Panama. They seized some Spanish vessels in the bay and plundered all the coast for some distance. The following description by the bold buccaneer is not without interest to those who consider the present importance of the place: Near the riverside stands New Panama, a very handsome city, in a spacious bay of the same name, into which disembogue many long and navigable rivers, some whereof are not without gold; besides that it is beautified by many pleasant isles, the country about it affording a delightful prospect to the sea.... The houses are chiefly of brick and pretty lofty, especially the president's, the churches, the monasteries, and other public structures, which make the best show I have seen in the West Indies. The present prosperity of Panama is due to its large transit trade, which was recently estimated at £15,000,000 a year. The pearl-fisheries, famous at the time of Balboa's visit, have now little value. The narrowest breadth of the isthmus being only thirty miles, there have naturally been many engineering proposals to connect the Pacific and Atlantic oceans by a canal. M. de Lesseps founded a French company in 1881 for the construction of a ship-canal with eight locks, and over forty-six miles in length; but in 1889, the excavations stopped after some 48-1/2 millions of cubic meters of earth and rock had been removed. Meanwhile a railway 47-1/2 miles long connects Colon on the Atlantic with Panama on the Pacific. The Mexican Isthmus of Tehuantepec, only 140 miles across, separates the Bay of Campeachy from the Pacific, and failing the Panama Canal some engineers were in favor of a _ship-railway_ for conveying large vessels _bodily_ from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The scheme met with great favor in the United States, but has not yet been carried out. The third proposal for connecting the two great oceans is probably the most feasible because it follows the most deeply marked depression of the isthmus. The Nicaraguan Ship-canal will, if the scheme be carried out, pass from Greytown on the Atlantic to Brito on the Pacific, about 170 miles apart, through the republic of Nicaragua, which lies north of Panama and south of Guatemala. One obvious advantage of this ship-canal is that the great lake is utilized, affording already about one-third of the waterway; only twenty-eight miles, in fact, being actual canal, and the rest river, lake, and lagoon navigation. In the latest specifications the engineers proposed to dam up the river (San Juan) by a stone wall seventy feet high and 1,900 feet long, thus raising the water to a level of 106 feet above the sea. Only three locks will be required to work the Nicaraguan Ship-canal. CHAPTER IX EXTINCT CIVILIZATION OF PERU § (A) _Peruvian Archeology_ As the extinct civilization of the Incas of Peru is the most important phase of development among all the American races, so also their prehistoric remains are extremely interesting to the archeologist. [Illustration: Monolith Doorway. Near Lake Titicaca. Fig. 1.] 1. _Architecture._--In the interior of the country we find many remarkable examples of stone building, such as walls of huge polygonal stones, four-sided or five-sided or six-sided, some six feet across, laid without mortar, and so finely polished and adjusted that the blade of a knife can not be inserted between them. The strength of the masonry is sometimes assisted by having the projecting parts of a stone fitting into corresponding hollows or recesses in the stone above or below it. The stones being frequently extremely hard granite, or basalt, etc., antiquarian travelers have wondered how in early times the natives could have cut and polished them without any metal tools. The ordinary explanation is that the work was done by patiently rubbing one stone against another, with the aid of sharp sand, "time being no object" in the case of the laborers among savage and primitive races. It is believed by most antiquaries that long before the period of the Incas there was a powerful empire to which we must attribute such Cyclopean ruins; especially as the construction and style differ so greatly from what is found in the Inca period. The huge stones occur at Tiahuanacu (near Lake Titicaca), Cuzco, Ollantay, and the altar of Concacha. Fig. 1 is a broken doorway at Tiahuanacu, composed of huge monoliths. Fig. 2 is an enlargement of an image over the doorway shown in Fig. 1. The doorway forms the entrance to a quadrangular area (400 yards by 350) surrounded by large stones standing on end. The gateway or doorway of Fig. 1 is one of the most marvelous stone monuments existing, being _one block of hard rock_, deeply sunk in the ground. The present height is over seven feet. The whole of the inner side "from a line level with the upper lintel of the doorway to the top" is a mass of sculpture, "which speaks to us," says Sir C. R. Markham, "in difficult riddles of the customs and art culture, of the beliefs and traditions of an ancient" extinct civilization. The figure in high relief above the doorway (Fig. 2) is a head surrounded by rays, "each terminating in a circle or the head of an animal." Six human heads hang from the girdle, and two more from the elbows. Each hand holds a scepter terminating at the lower end with the head of a condor--that huge American vulture familiar to the Peruvians. That bird of prey was probably an emblem of royalty to the prehistoric dynasty now long forgotten. [Illustration: Image over the doorway shown in Fig. 1. Near Lake Titicaca. Fig. 2.] Some older historians speak of richly carved statues which formerly stood in this enclosure, and "many cylindrical pillars." Of the masonry of these ruins generally, Squier says: "The stone is faced with a precision that no skill can excel, its right angles turned with an accuracy that the most careful geometer could not surpass. I do not believe there exists a better piece of stone-cutting, the material considered, on this or the other continent." The fortress above Cuzco, the capital of the Incas, is considered the grandest monument of extinct American civilization. "Like the Pyramids and the Coliseum, it is imperishable.... A fortified work, 600 yards in length, built of gigantic stones, in three lines, forming walls supporting terraces and parapets.... The stones are of blue limestone, of enormous size and irregular in shape, but fitted into each other with rare precision. One stone is twenty-seven feet high by fourteen; and others fifteen feet high by twelve are common throughout the work." In all the architecture of the prehistoric Peruvians the true arch is not found, though there is an approach to the "Maya arch," formerly described, finishing the doorway overhead by overlapping stones. The immense fortresses of Ollantay and Pisac are really hills which, by means of encircling walls, have been transformed into immense pyramids with many terraces rising above each other. All large buildings, such as temples and palaces, were laid out to agree with the "cardinal points," the principal entrance always facing the rising sun. The tomb construction of the ancient Peruvians has been already noticed (_v._ chap. iv). To the south of Cuzco are the ruins of a temple, Cacha, which is considered to be of a date between the Cyclopean structures already described and the Inca architecture. The chief part is 110 yards long, built of wrought stones; and in the middle of the building from end to end runs a wall pierced by twelve high doorways. There were also two series of pillars which had formerly supported a floor. Those traces of the Cyclopean builders point to an extremely early date, but several students of the Peruvian antiquities point confidently to distinct evidence of a still more primitive race--to be compared, perhaps, with those builders of "Druidic monuments" whom it is now the fashion to call "neolithic men." Some "cromlechs" or burial-places have been found in Bolivia and other parts of Peru; and in many respects they are parallel to the stone monuments found in Great Britain as well as Brittany and other parts of Europe. Some of those Peruvian cromlechs consist of four great slabs of slate, each about five feet high, four or five in width, and more than an inch thick. A fifth is placed over them. Over the whole a pyramid of clay and rough stones is piled. Possibly that race of cromlech builders bore the same relation to the temple builders described above that the builders of Kits Coty House, between Rochester and Maidstone, bore to the temple builders of Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain. If they had to retreat, as the ice-sheet was driven farther from the torrid zone, then by the theory of the Glacial Period the Cromlech men in both cases would at last be simply Eskimos. 2. _Aqueducts._--The ancient Peruvians attained great skill in the distribution of water--especially for irrigation. Artificial lakes or reservoirs were formed, so that by damming up the streams in the rainy season a good supply was created for the dry season. Some great monuments still remain of their hydraulic engineering, such as extensive cisterns, solid dikes along the rivers to prevent overflow, tunnels to drain lakes during an oversupply, and, in some places, artificial cascades. 3. _Roads and Bridges._--The roads and highways of the Incas were so excellent that "in many places" they still offer by far the most convenient avenues of transit. They are from fifteen to twenty-five feet in width, bedded with small stones often laid in concrete. As the use of beasts of burden was almost unknown, the roads did not ascend a steep inclination by zigzags but by steps cut in the rock. At certain distances public shelters were erected for travelers, and some of these still offer the best lodging-houses to be found along the routes. Bridges were of wood, of ropes made from maguey fiber, or of stone. Some of the latter are still in excellent condition, in spite of the violence of the mountain torrents which they have spanned for four centuries. 4. _Sculpture._--The Maya race of Yucatan and Central America were much superior to the prehistoric Peruvians in stone sculpture. Except those examples already referred to under 1, their artists have apparently produced nothing to show skill in workmanship, much less fertility of imagination. That is largely explained by their lack of suitable tools. 5. _Goldsmith's Work._--In this branch of art the ancient Peruvians greatly excelled, especially in inlaying and gilding. Gold-beating and gilding had been prosecuted to remarkable delicacy, and the very thin layers of gold-leaf on many articles led the Spaniards at first to believe they were of the solid metal. These delicate layers showed ornamental designs, including birds, butterflies, and the like. 6. _Pottery._--In this department of industrial art the prehistoric Peruvians showed much aptitude both "in regard to variety of design and technical skill in preparing the material. Vases with pointed bottoms and painted sides recalling those of ancient Greece and Etruria are often disinterred along the coast." The merit of those artists lay in perfect imitation of natural objects, such as birds, fishes, fruits, plants, skulls, persons in various positions, faces (often with graphic individuality). Some jars exactly resembled the "magic vases" which are still found in Hindustan, and can be emptied only when held at a certain angle. 7. Though ignorant of perspective and the rules of light and shade, these ancient Peruvians had an accurate eye for color. "Spinning, weaving, and dyeing," to quote Sir C. R. Markham, "were arts which were sources of employment to a great number, owing to the quantity and variety of the fabrics.... There were rich dresses interwoven with gold or made of gold thread; fine woolen mantles ornamented with borders of small square plates of gold and silver; colored cotton cloths worked in complicated patterns; and fabrics of aloe fiber and sheep's sinews for breeches. Coarser cloths of llama wool were also made in vast quantities." [Illustration: The Quipu.] 8. The _quipu_ (i e., "knot").--Without writing or even any of the simpler forms of pictographs which some Indian races inferior to them in refinement had invented, the Peruvians had no means of sending a message relating to tribute or the number of warriors in an army, or a date, except the _quipu_. It consisted of one principal cord about two feet long held horizontally, to which other cords of various colors and lengths were attached, hanging vertically. The knots on the vertical cords, and their various lengths served by means of an arranged code to convey certain words and phrases. Each color and each knot had so many conventional significations; thus _white_ = silver, _green_ = corn, _yellow_ = gold; but in another quipu, _white_ = peace, _red_ = war, soldiers, etc. The quipu was originally only a means of numeration and keeping accounts, thus: a single knot = 10 a double knot = 100 a triple knot = 1,000 two singles = 20 two doubles = 200 etc. 9. The great stone monuments described in our first section belonged, according to some writers, to a dynasty called Pirua, who ruled over the highlands of Peru and Bolivia long before the times of the Incas. That early race had as the center of their civilization the shores of Lake Titicaca. 10. _The Ancient Capital._--Cuzco, the center of government till the time of the conquest by the Spaniards, and for a long time the only city in the Peruvian empire, deserves a paragraph under the head archeology. Its wonderful fortress has already been referred to, and there are other Cyclopean remains, such as the great wall which contains the "stone of twelve corners." Some monuments of the Inca period also attract much attention, such as the Curi-cancha temple, 296 feet long, the palace of Amaru-cancha (i. e., "place of serpents"), so called from the serpents sculptured in relief on the exterior. Of these and other buildings Squier remarks that the "joints are of a precision unknown in our architecture; the world has nothing to show in the way of stone-cutting and fitting to surpass the skill and accuracy displayed in the Inca structures of Cuzco." To obtain the site for their capital the Incas had to carry out a great engineering work, by confining two mountain torrents between walls of substantial masonry so solid as to serve even to modern times. The Valley of Cuzco was the source of the Peruvian civilization, center and origin of the empire. Hence the name, Cuzco = "navel," just as the ancient Greeks called Athens _umbilicus terræ_, and our New England cousins fondly refer to Boston, Mass., as "the hub of the universe"! [Illustration: Gold Ornament (? Zodiac) from a Tomb at Cuzco.] § (B) _Peru before the Arrival of the Spaniards_ The "national myth" of the Peruvians was that at Lake Titicaca two supernatural beings appeared, both children of the Sun. One was Manco Capac, the first Inca, who taught the people agriculture; the other was his wife, who taught the women to spin and weave. From them were lineally derived all the Incas. As representing the Sun, the Inca was high priest and head of the hierarchy, and therefore presided at the great religious festivals. He was the source from which everything flowed--all dignity, all power, all emolument. Louis le Magnifique when at the height of his power might be taken as a type of the emperor Inca: both could literally use the phrase, _L'état c'est Moi,_ "The State! I am the State!" In the royal palaces and dress great barbaric pomp was assumed. All the apartments were studded with gold and silver ornaments. The worship of the Sun, representing the Creator, the Dweller in Space, the Teacher and Ruler of the Universe,[25] was the religion of the Incas inherited from their distant ancestry. The great temple at Cuzco, with its gorgeous display of riches, was called "the place of gold, the abode of the Teacher of the Universe." An elliptical plate of gold was fixed on the wall to represent the Deity. [Footnote 25: According to Sir C. R. Markham, F. R. S.] Sufficient evidence is still visible of the engineering industry evinced by the natives before the arrival of Pizarro. We give some particulars of the two principal highways, both joining Quito to Cuzco, then passing south to Chile. First, the high level road, 1,600 miles in length, crossing the great Peruvian table-land, and conducted over pathless sierras buried in snow; with galleries cut for leagues through the living rock, rivers crossed by means of bridges, and ravines of hideous depth filled up with solid masonry. The roadway consisted of heavy flags of freestone. Secondly, the low level highway along the coast country between the Andes and the Pacific. The prehistoric engineers had here to encounter quite a different task. The causeway was raised on a high embankment of earth, with trees planted along the margin. In the strips of sandy waste, huge piles (many of them to be seen to this day) were driven into the ground to indicate the route. Another colossal effort was the conveyance of water to the rainless country by the seacoast, especially to certain parts capable of being reclaimed and made fertile. Some of the aqueducts were of great length--one measuring between 400 and 500 miles. The following table gives the Peruvian calendar for a year: I. Raymi, the _Festival of the Winter Solstice_, in honor of the Sun June 22d. Season of plowing July 22d. Season of sowing August 22d. II. _Festival of the Spring Equinox_ September 22d. Season of brewing October 22d. Commemoration of the Dead November 22d. III. _Festival of the Summer Solstice_ December 22d. Season of exercises January 22d. Season of ripening February 22d. IV. _Festival of Autumn Equinox_ March 22d. Beginning of harvest April 22d. Harvesting month May 22d. Since Quito is exactly on the equator, the vertical rays of the sun at noon during the equinox cast no shadow. That northern capital, therefore, was "held in especial veneration as the favored abode of the great deity." At the feast of Raymi, or New Year's day, the sacrifice usually offered was that of the llama, a fire being kindled by means of a concave mirror of polished metal collecting the rays of the sun into a focus upon a quantity of dried cotton. The national festival of the Aztecs we compared to the secular celebration of the Romans; so now the Raymi of the Peruvians may be likened to the Panathenæa of ancient Athens, when the people of Attica ascended in splendid procession to the shrine on the Acropolis. In Mexico the Spanish travelers often experienced severe famines; and in India, even at the present day (to the disgrace perhaps of our management) nearly every year many thousands die of hunger. It was very different under the ancient Peruvians, because by law "the product of the lands consecrated to the Sun, as well as those set apart for the Incas, was deposited in the _Tambos_, or public storehouses, as a stated provision for times of scarcity." The Spaniards found those prehistoric agriculturists utilizing the inexhaustible supply of guano found on all the islands of the Pacific. It was not till the middle of the nineteenth century that the British farmer found the value of this fertilizer. CHAPTER X PIZARRO AND THE INCAS When stout-hearted Balboa first reached the summit of the isthmus range and looked south over the Bay of Panama, he might have seen the "Silver Bell," which forms the summit of the mighty volcano Chimborazo. Still farther south in the same direction lay the "land of gold," of which he had heard. Balboa was unjustly prevented from exploring that unknown country, but among the Spanish soldiers in Panama there were two who determined to carry out Balboa's scheme. The younger, Pizarro, was destined to rival Cortés as explorer and conqueror; Almagro, his companion in the expedition, was less crafty and cruel. Sailing from Panama, the Spanish first landed on the coast below Quito, and found the natives wearing gold and silver trinkets. On a second voyage, with more men, they explored the coast of Peru and visited Tumbez, a town with a lofty temple and a palace for the Incas. They beheld a country fully peopled and cultivated; the natives were decently clothed, and possessed of ingenuity so far surpassing the other inhabitants of the New World as to have the use of tame domestic animals. But what chiefly attracted the notice of the visitors was such a show of gold and silver, not only in ornaments, but in several vessels and utensils for common use, formed of those precious metals as left no room to doubt that they abounded with profusion in the country. After his return Pizarro visited Spain and secured the patronage of Charles V, who appointed him Governor and Captain-General of the newly discovered country. In the next voyage from Panama, Pizarro set sail with 180 soldiers in three small ships--"a contemptible force surely to invade the great empire of Peru." Pizarro was very fortunate in the time of his arrival, because two brothers were fiercely contending in civil war to obtain the sovereignty. Their father, Huana Capac, the twelfth Inca in succession from Manco Capac, had recently died after annexing the kingdom of Quito, and thus doubling the power of the empire. Pizarro made friends with Atahualpa, who had become Inca by the defeat and death of his brother, and a friendly meeting was arranged between them. The Peruvians are thus described by a Spanish onlooker: First of all there arrived 400 men in uniform; the Inca himself, on a couch adorned with plumes, and almost covered with plates of gold and silver, enriched with precious stones, was carried on the shoulders of his principal attendants. Several bands of singers and dancers accompanied the procession; and the whole plain was covered with troops, more than 30,000 men. After engaging in a religious dispute with the Inca, who refused to acknowledge the authority of the Pope and threw the breviary on the ground, the Spanish chaplain exclaimed indignantly that the Word of God had been insulted by a heathen. Pizarro instantly gave the signal of assault: the martial music struck up, the cannon and muskets began to fire, the horse rallied out fiercely to the charge, the infantry rushed on sword in hand. The Peruvians, astonished at the suddenness of the attack, dismayed with the effect of the firearms and the irresistible impression of the cavalry, fled with universal consternation on every side. Pizarro, at the head of his chosen band, soon penetrated to the royal seat, and seizing the Inca by the arm, carried him as a prisoner to the Spanish quarters. For his ransom Atahualpa agreed to pay a weight of gold amounting to more than five millions sterling. Instead of keeping faith with the Inca by restoring him to liberty, Pizarro basely allowed him to be tried on several false charges and condemned to be burned alive. After hearing of the enormous ransom many Spaniards hurried from Guatemala, Panama, and Nicaragua to share in the newly discovered booty of Peru, the "land of gold." Pizarro, therefore, being now greatly reenforced with soldiers, forced his way to Cuzco, the capital. The riches found there exceeded in value what had been received as Atahualpa's ransom. As Governor of Peru, Pizarro chose a new site for his capital, nearer the coast than Cuzco, and there founded Lima. It is now a great center of trade. Pizarro lived here in great state till the year 1542, when his fate reached him by means of a party of conspirators seeking to avenge the death of Almagro, his former rival, whom he had cruelly executed as a traitor. On Sunday, June 26th, at midday, while all Lima was quiet under the siesta, the conspirators passed unobserved through the two outer courts of the palace, and speedily despatched the soldier-adventurer, intrepidly defending himself with a sword and buckler. "A deadly thrust full in the throat," and the tale of daring Pizarro was told. _Raro antecedentem scelestum_ _Deseruit pede Poena claudo._ When Did Doom, though lame, not bide its time, To clutch the nape of skulking Crime? W. E. GLADSTONE. GENERAL INDEX. A. Agathocles, 119. Agassiz, 73. Alfred, King, 19. Almagro, Pizarro's rival, 186, 189. Alvarado, 158, 159. America, Discoveries of, 19-35, 38-45, 48-53. America, origin of the name, 50. American Archeology, 71-79 (_see_ also AZTEC, PERU, CIVILIZATION). Amerigo (_Americus_), (_see_ VESPUCCI). Anahuac, 56, 58, 63. Archeology, 71-88 (see under AZTEC, MEXICO, PERU, and CIVILIZATION, EXTINCT). Aristotle, shape of the earth, 10. Arthur, King, 19. Atahualpa, Inca, 187, 188. Atlantic, ridge, 15. Atlantis, island or continent, 14, 15. Avalon, 17. Aztecs, their traditions, 54, 56, 57, 62, 63. Aztecs, antiquities, 55. Aztecs, kingdom, 58; empire founded, 76. Aztecs, letters, etc., 58, 79-82. Aztecs, astronomy, 64, 65, 68, 83. Aztecs, human sacrifices, 59, 60, 62, 102, 106; how explained by comparison with Jews, Greeks, Druids, etc., 100-106. Aztecs, priesthood, 65, 67. Aztecs, religion, 92, 93; laws, 90. Aztecs, natural piety, 66-68. Aztecs, secular festival, 68-70. Aztecs, soldiery, 91, 92. Aztecs, agriculture, 94. Aztecs, markets, 97, 147. Aztecs, banquets, social amusements, 97, 99. Aztlan, 56. B. Bacon, Roger, 18. Bahamas, 41. Balboa, 9, 50, 52, 164, 168. Balboa scheme--adopted by Pizarro, 186. Balboa hears of the Land of Gold, 165. Balboa crosses the isthmus, 166, 167. Balboa unjustly treated, 167, 168. Barcelona, Columbus honored at Court, 45. Basque Discovery, 32. Boston in Vinland, 26, 182. Brandan, St. discoverer, 32. Brito, ship-canal, 172. Buccaneers, origin, etc., 169, 170. Buffon, 15. Burgos, Bishop of, 157, 168. C. Cabot, 38, 48, 49. Cabrera reaches Brazil, 49. Cakama, prince of Tezcuco, 154. Calendar Stone, 83, 84. Calicut reached by Gama, 49. Canaanites, etc., sun-worship, 102, 103. Cannibalism, 102, 103. Capac, Inca, 182, 187. Carthage, 17, 102. Cathay, 39, 43, 45. Cazique, 43, 117, etc. Celtic discoveries, 19, 30-32. Chalco, Lake, 136, 137. Charles V. and Cortés, 164. Chiapas, 77. Chibchas, 85. Cholula, 84, 94, 130, 133. Civilization, Extinct, chaps, iii, ix. Civilization, Celtic, 19. Civilization, Norse, 19-25, 27-31. Civilization, Aztec, etc., 54-70, 82, 83. Civilization, Peru, 172-185. Colon (_see_ COLUMBUS); also an Atlantic port on the isthmus of Darien, 172. Columbia, 76, 85. Columbus, 17-18, 37, 38-46, 157. Columbus, early failures, 39. Columbus, voyage to Iceland, 39. Columbus, variation of the compass, 41, 42, 49. Columbus, discovers Bahamas, Cuba, Hayti, 42-44. Columbus, discovers Trinidad and Orinoco, 45. Columbus, map by (found in 1894), 42. Columbus, autograph (cut) and epitaph, 46. Columbus, Ferdinand, 18; Bartholomew, 43. Columbus, Diego, 47, 157. Continent, supposed southern (cut), 12. Continent, Western, 13 (_see_ ATLANTIS, HESPERIDES). Condor, emblem of prehistoric Inca, 173, 175 (cuts). Copan, 79-81. Cordova lands on Yucatan, 53. Cortés appointed leader, 53, 64, 77, 80. Cortés at Cuba and Hayti, 117. Cortés at Yucatan, 109. Cortés and Teuhtile, in, 112. Cortés, generalship, 119, 124, 126, 159. Cortés, resource, 127, 128, 158. Cortés, cruelty, 129, 132, 153. Cortés at Popocatepetl, 133. Cortés and Montezuma, 141, 143-143. Cortés, lack of delicacy, 152. Cortés, arrest of Montezuma, 152-157. Cortés, personal courage, 162. Cortés, retreat, "Night of Sorrows," 163. Cortés, Mexico retaken and its emperor hanged, 164. Cortés and Charles V., 164. Cliff-houses, 86. Cotton, Az. tec., preparation of, 84, 96. Cromwell, his influence, 170. Cruz, Vera, 110, 114, 120, 156, 157, 163. Cuba, 43-45, 51-53, 84. Culhua, 110. Cuzco, 174, 176, 181, 183, 188. Cuzco, Cyclopean remains, 181, 183. Cuzco, temple, 183. Cyclopean ruins in Peru, 173, 178, 181-183. Cyclopean ruins in Peru (cuts), 173, 175. D. Dalrymple, Sir John, 169, 170. Dampier, buccaneer, 170. Darien, taken by Balboa, 169. Darien, Scottish Expedition, 169. Darien, causes of failure, 169, 170. Darien, crossed by Morgan, 170, 171. Darien, crossed by Dampier, 171. Diaz, navigator, rounds the Cape of Good Hope and names it the "Stormy Cape," 49. Diaz, historian, quoted, 148, 151, 158, 160. Dighton Stone, 28 (cuts, 27, 28). Diodorus Siculus, 16. Druid Sacrifices, 106. "Druidic," 74, 177, 178. E. Edward VI and Cabot, 48. Elysian Fields, 13, 14, 16. Erik the Red, 20. Escobar, 162. Euripides, quoted, 14. F. Feather-work, 84, 96. Ferdinand and Isabella, 40, 41. Feudalism ended, 36. G. Gama, De, 38, 58. Gardens, 138, 139. Glazier, Theory, 73-74. Gladstone quoted, 189. Gosnold's Expedition, 25, 26. Greenland, 19-25, 30, 31. Grijalva and Yucatan, 10, 53. Guatemala, 58, 76, 79. Guatimozin, 163. Gunnbiorn, 20. H. Hannibal on the Alps, 134, 135. Harold Fair-hair, 20. Hatuey, 51, 52. Hayti, 43, 98. Helluland (Newfoundland), 22. Henry VII., 48, 49. Hercules' Pillars, 13, 17. Herodotus, 10, 11. Hesiod, quoted, 13. Hesperides, Isles of the Blest, 14. Homer, quoted, 10, 13. Honduras, 76, 79. Huitzilopochtli, god of battles, 93, 94, 150, 151 (_see_ MEXITL.) Humboldt, 35, 50, 65, 73, 83, 94. I. Iceland, 19, 20. Incas, 172, 182 (_see_ PERU). "Indian," as a term applied to the New World by mistake, a blunder still perpetuated, 42 (_cf_. 98.) Indians, "Red-skins," 72-74, 80, 90. Ingolf, 19. Iphigenia, 104. Ireland, Mickle, 20, 31, 32. Italian Discovery, 34-36. Itztli (obsidian), used as a sharp flint, 95. Iztapalapan, 138. J. Jamaica, 170. Jewish "Discovery," 33. Juan, S., ship-canal, 172. K. Katortuk (Greenland), 21, 22 (cut, 21). Kingsborough, Lord, 34, 69, 82. L. Leif Erikson, 21-23. Lesseps de, 171-173. Loadstone, 41, 42. Longfellow, quoted, 29. Lucian, quoted, 17. M. Madoc, 32, 33, 70. Magellan reaches the Pacific Ocean and names it, 49; killed at Matan, 50. Magnetic Pole, 41. Maguey plant, its singular value, 94. Major, Mr., on Pre-Columbian discoveries of America, and site of the Greenland colonies, 35, 36. Malte-Brun, 35. Marina, "slave-interpreter," 109, 115, 128, 131. Markham, Sir C., quoted, 30, 174, 179, 183. Markland (Nova Scotia), 22. Marvels, Age of, 38, 39. Maya, Mayapan, 76, 79. Maya, MS., 81, 82. Maya, trade, 84. _Mayflower_ lands in Vinland, 26. Medea, 18, 104. Merida, 78. Mexico, Mexicans (_see also_ AZTECS). Mexico, archeology, 72-86. Mexico, geography, 89, 90, 133-135. Mexico, valley, 134, 135. Mexico, town, 139, 142, 145-151. Mexico, wealth, 155. Mexico, siege, 160-164. Mexico, ferocity in war, 160-164. Mexitl, the god of battles, another name for Huitzilopochtli, 93. Monolith (cuts), 173, 175. Montezuma I., 57. Montezuma, 110-113. Montezuma, meaning of name, 113. Montezuma, power, 120, 121, 135, 141. Montezuma, affability, 144. Montezuma, dress, etc., 161. Montezuma, death, 162. Montgomery, James, 20, 22, 23. Morgan, buccaneer, 170. Mound builders, 31, 71, 85. Müller, Max, quoted, 56. N. Narvaez, 158, 159. Nicaragua, ship-canal, 58, 172. Norse Discovery, 19-32. Norse towns in Greenland, 20. Norumbega, 25. O. Ocean, Western, 12, 16, 17. Ocean, Southern, first name for the Atlantic (q.v.) Oceanus, river, 10. Ogygia, 16. Ollantay, Peru, 174, 176. Orinoco, discovered, 45. Orizaba, 120. Overland Route, 37. P. Pacific, first seen, 166. Pacific, first sailed upon, 50. Palenque, 77, 79, 81. Palos, 41, 45. Panama, 166, 171, 172. Panama, modern, 171. Paper (prehistoric) of Mexico, 82. Pedrarias, 167, 168. Peru and Incas, chaps. ix., x. Peru agriculture, 182, 185. Peru aqueducts, roads, etc., 177. Peru archeology, 172-182. Peru architecture, 87, 172-178. Peru calendar, 184, 185. Peru chulpas, 87 (cut). Peru quipu, 180 (cut). Peru sculpture and pottery, 178. Peru history and religion, 182. Phenicians, 11, 17. Pictograph, 80, 112. Pindar, quoted, 13. Pizarro, 164, 167. Pizarro and Atahualpha, 187, 188. Pizarro and Peru, 186-189. Pizarro, first and second voyages, 186, 187. Pizarro imitated Balboa, 165, 186. Pizarro invades Peru, 187. Pizarro, his treachery and cruelty, 188, 189. Pizarro at Cusco, 188. Pizarro founds Lima, 188. Pizarro, "Doom" at last, 189. Plato, 14, 15. Plutarch, 16. Polo, Marco, 39, 43. Polyxena, 104. Popocatepetl, 133, 134. Ptolemy, 11, 39. Pythagorean theory, 10. Q. Quetzalcoatl, 84, 93, 94, 111, 113, 130, 152. Quipu, 180, 181 (cut, 180). R. Rafn, 28, 29, 31. Raymi, Peruvian festival, 184, 185. Renascence, 9, 36, 37. Renascence influence on travel and exploration, 38. Renascence assisted the Reformation, 37. Runes in Greenland, 27, 28. S. Sebastian, Magellan's Basque lieutenant, 33, 50. Seneca, 18, 19 (title-page). "Scraelings," Vinland, 23. "Skeleton in Armor," 29. Spain, how consolidated, 37, 106. Spain, close of its colonial history, 52. Squier, quoted, 176, 181. T. Tambos, Peru, 185. Tehuantepec, isthmus, 171. Tenochtitlan, Mexico, 57. Teocalli, 106, 117, 148-151, 156 (cut, 105). Tezcatlipoca, god of youth, 61. Tezcuco, eastern capital, Mexico, 56. Tezcuco, 56, 57, 136. Tezcuco, king of, 100. Tezcuco, lake, 139-140. Thorfinn, 23. Thorwaldsen, 23. Titicaca, lake, 71, 182. Titicaca (_see_ CYCLOPEAN RUINS), 174, 175. Tlaloc, god of rain, 63. Tlascala, 113, 121-127, 130, 153, 159, 163. Tlascala, people, and siege, 130, 133. Toltecs, 56, 71. Totonacs, 115. Trinidad, 45. Tula, 56. Tumbez, Peru, 186. Turks, causing civilization, 36, 38. U. Utatla, 79. Uxmal, 55, 76 (frontispiece). V. Valladolid, 46. Velasquez, 51-53, 107, 108, 158. Vesper, 14 (_see_ HESPERIDES). Vespucci, 49, 51, 52. Vinland (New England), 23, 25. Vinland, map of, 24. Voltaire, story of Cortés, 164. W. Waldseemüller, 50. Watling's Island, 42. Welsh Discovery, 32, 33. William III. and Darien Scheme, 168-169. Wilson, "Prehistoric Man," 26, 81. World, shape of, 9-11. X. Xalapa, 120. Xicotencatl, Tlascalan, 124, 126, 127-130. Xicotencatl appearance, 129. Y. Yochicalco, 86. Yucatan, 53, 54, 75-77. Z. Zempoalla, "conversion of," 116. Zempoalla, 119, 158, 159. Zeni, Italian brothers, 34-35. Zeno map, 34, 35. Zipango (Japan), 39, 45. Zodiac, comparative, 55. Zodiac (cut) from a tomb at Cusco, 182. * * * * * Transcriber's note: The many spelling and hyphenation discrepancies in this text are as in the original. 


c0: 42564
c1: Holmes, William Henry
c6: 66294
c7: 3165
c8: 69
c9: 42564.txt
c10: 42564.txt
c2:
  Art in Shell of the Ancient Americans Second annual report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1880-81, pages 179-306

c4:
  Many species of the _Fissurella_ and _Dentalium_ shells were in common use, advantage being taken of the natural perforations for stringing, the latter being quite extensively used for money on the Pacific slope. Carved from _pectunculus_ shells.

c5:
  art; beads; belt; body; busycon; coast; cross; cut; design; diameter; end; examples; fig; figure; form; gorgets; half; head; human; illustration; inches; indians; length; lines; manner; mound; museum; national; natural; new; number; objects; ornaments; pendants; perforations; plate; present; shell; shell beads; specimen; stone; surface; tenn; time; tribes; use; wampum; white

c11:
   TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: Words that were printed in italics are marked with _ _. Printing and spelling errors have been corrected. A list of these corrections can be found at the end of the document. Inconsistencies in spelling, hyphenation and between the List of Illustrations and the actual titles of Plates have not been corrected. SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION----BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY. ART IN SHELL OF THE ANCIENT AMERICANS. BY WILLIAM H. HOLMES. CONTENTS. Page. Introductory 185 Implements and utensils 189 Unworked shells 189 Vessels 192 Spoons 198 Knives 201 Celts 203 Scrapers 205 Agricultural implements 207 Fishing appliances 207 Weapons 210 Tweezers 211 Ornaments 213 Pins 213 Beads 219 Perforated shells 219 Discoidal beads 221 Massive beads 223 Tubular beads 226 Runtees 228 Beads as ornaments 230 Beads as currency 234 Mnemonic use of beads 240 Pendants 255 Perforated plates 264 Engraved gorgets 267 The cross 268 The scalloped disk 273 The bird 280 The spider 286 The serpent 289 The human face 293 The human figure 297 ILLUSTRATIONS. Page. PLATE XXI.--Natural shells as vessels 192 XXII.--Vessels artificially shaped 194 XXIII.--Vessel with engraved surface 196 XXIV.--Spoons 200 XXV.--Celts 204 XXVI.--Cutting and scraping implements 206 XXVII.--Weapons, agricultural implements, etc. 208 XXVIII.--Fishing appliances 210 XXIX.--Manufacture of pins and beads 214 XXX.--Pins, Atlantic coast forms 216 XXXI.--Pins, Pacific coast forms 218 XXXII.--Beads, perforated shells 220 XXXIII.--Beads, discoidal in form 222 XXXIV.--Beads, massive in form 224 XXXV.--Beads, tubular in form 226 XXXVI.--Beads, "Runtees" 228 XXXVII.--The wampum belt in treaties 240 XXXVIII.--Wampum belts 242 XXXIX.--Wampum belts 244 XL.--Wampum belt 246 XLI.--Wampum belt 248 XLII.--Wampum belt 250 XLIII.--The Penn belt 252 XLIV.--Strings of wampum 254 XLV.--Ancient pendant ornaments 256 XLVI.--Plain pendants, Atlantic coast forms 258 XLVII.--Plain pendants, Pacific coast forms 260 XLVIII.--Plain pendants, Pacific coast forms 262 XLIX.--Plain pendants, Pacific coast forms 264 L.--Perforated plates 266 LI.--Engraved gorgets, the cross 268 LII.--Engraved gorgets, the cross 270 LIII.--Engraved gorgets, the cross 272 LIV.--Engraved gorgets, scalloped disks 274 LV.--Engraved gorgets, scalloped disks 276 LVI.--Engraved gorgets, scalloped disks 278 LVII.--Scalloped disks, etc. 280 LVIII.--Engraved gorgets, the bird, etc. 282 LIX.--Engraved gorgets, the bird, etc. 284 LX.--Engraved gorgets, the bird 286 LXI.--Engraved gorgets, the spider 288 LXII.--Engraved gorgets, the rattlesnake 290 LXIII.--Engraved gorgets, the rattlesnake 290 LXIV.--Engraved gorgets, the rattlesnake 292 LXV.--Engraved gorgets, the rattlesnake 292 LXVI.--The serpent 292 LXVII.--Engraved gorgets, the human face 294 LXVIII.--Engraved gorgets, the human face 294 LXIX.--Engraved gorgets, the human face 296 LXX.--Engraved gorgets, the human face 296 LXXI.--Engraved gorgets, the human figure 298 LXXII.--Engraved gorgets, the human figure 298 LXXIII.--Engraved gorgets, the human figure 300 LXXIV.--Engraved gorgets, the human figure 300 LXXV.--Engraved gorgets, the human figure 302 LXXVI.--The human figure 302 LXXVII.--Sculptured frogs 304 ART IN SHELL OF THE ANCIENT AMERICANS. BY WILLIAM H. HOLMES. INTRODUCTORY. The student will find scattered throughout a wide range of archæologic literature frequent but casual mention of works of art in shell. Individual uses of shell have been dwelt upon at considerable length by a few authors, but up to this time no one has undertaken the task of bringing together in one view the works of primitive man in this material. Works of ancient peoples in stone, clay, and bronze, in all countries, have been pretty thoroughly studied, described, and illustrated. Stone would seem to have the widest range, as it is employed with almost equal readiness in all the arts. Clay is widely used and takes a foremost place in works of utility and taste. Metals are too intractable to be readily employed by primitive peoples, and until a high grade of culture is attained are but little used. Animal substances of compact character, such as bone, horn, ivory, and shell, are also restricted in their use, and the more destructible substances, both animal and vegetable, however extensively employed, have comparatively little archæologic importance. All materials, however, are made subservient to man and in one way or another become the agents of culture; under the magic influence of his genius they are moulded into new forms which remain after his disappearance as the only records of his existence. Each material, in the form of convenient natural objects, is applied to such uses as it is by nature best fitted, and when artificial modifications are finally made, they follow the suggestions of nature, improvements being carried forward in lines harmonious with the initiatory steps of nature. Had the materials placed at the disposal of primitive peoples been as uniform as are their wants and capacities, there would have been but little variation in the art products of the world; but the utilization of a particular material in the natural state gives a strong bias to artificial products, and its forms and functions impress themselves upon art products in other materials. Thus unusual resources engender unique arts and unique cultures. Such a result, I apprehend, has in a measure been achieved in North America. In a broad region at one time occupied by the mound-building tribes we observe a peculiar and an original effort--an art distinctive in the material employed, in the forms developed, and to some extent in the ideas represented. It is an age of shell, a sort of supplement to the age of stone. It is not my intention here to attempt at extended discussion of the bearings of this art upon the various interesting questions of anthropologic science, but rather to present certain of its phases in the concrete, to study the embodiment of the art of the ancient American in this one material, and to present the results in a tangible manner, not as a catalogue of objects, but as an elementary part of the whole body of human art, illustrating a particular phase of the evolution of culture. This paper is to be regarded simply as an outline of the subject, to be followed by a more exhaustive monograph of the art in shell of all the ancient American peoples. Art had its beginning when man first gathered clubs from the woods, stones from the river bed, and shells from the sea-shore for weapons and utensils. In his hands these simple objects became modified by use into new forms, or were intentionally altered to increase their convenience. This was the infancy, the inception of culture--a period from which a tedious but steady advance has been made until the remarkable achievements of the present have been reached. Rude clubs have become weapons of curious construction and machinery of marvelous complication, and the pebbles and shells are the prototypes of numerous works in all materials. Rude rafts which served to cross primeval rivers have become huge ships, and the original house of bark and leaves is represented by palaces and temples, glittering with light and glowing with color. The steps which led up to these results are by no means clear to us; they have not been built in any one place or by any one people. Nations have risen and fallen, and have given place to others that in turn have left a heap of ruins. We find it impossible to trace back through the historic ages into and beyond the prehistoric shadows, the pathway to culture followed by any one people. The necessity for groping increases with every backward step, and we pick up one by one the scattered links of a chain that has a thousand times been broken. So far our information is meager and fragmentary, and centuries of research will be required to round up our knowledge to such a fullness as to enable us to rehabilitate the ancient races, a result to be reached only by an exhaustive comparative study of the art products of all peoples and of all ages. By collecting the various relics of art in shell I shall be able to add a fragment to this great work. Destructible in their character these relics are seldom preserved from remote periods, and it is only by reason of their inhumation with the dead that they appear among antiquities at all. A majority of such objects, taken from graves and tumuli, known to post-date even the advent of the white race in North America, are so far decayed that unless most carefully handled they crumble to powder. It is impossible to demonstrate the great antiquity of any of these relics. Many of those obtained from the shell heaps of the Atlantic coast are doubtless very ancient, but we cannot say with certainty that they antedate the discovery more than a few hundred years. Specimens obtained from the mounds of the Mississippi Valley have the appearance of great antiquity, but beyond the internal evidence of the specimens themselves we have no reliable data upon which to base an estimate of time. The age of these relics is rendered still less certain by the presence of intrusive interments, which place side by side works of very widely separated periods. The antiquity of the relics themselves is not, however, of first importance; the art ideas embodied in them have a much deeper interest. The tablets upon which the designs are engraved may be never so recent, yet the conceptions themselves have their origin far back in the forgotten ages. Deified ancestors and mythical creatures that were in the earlier stages rudely depicted on bark and skins and rocks were, after a certain mastery over materials had been achieved, engraved on tablets of flinty shell; and it is probable that in these rare objects we have, if not a full representation of the art of the ancient peoples, at least a large number of their most important works, in point of execution as well as of conception. Man in his most primitive condition must have resorted to the sea-shore for the food which it affords. Weapons or other appliances were not necessary in the capture of mollusks; a stone to break the shell, or one of the massive valves of the shells themselves, sufficed for all purposes. The shells of mollusks probably came into use as utensils at a very early date, and mutually with products of the vegetable world afforded natural vessels for food and water. For a long period the idea of modifying the form to increase the convenience may not have been suggested and the natural shells were used for whatever purpose they were best fitted. In time, however, by accidental suggestions it would be found that modifications would enhance their usefulness, and the breaking away of useless parts and the sharpening of edges and points would be resorted to. Farther on, as it became necessary to carry them from point to point, changes would be made for convenience of transportation. Perforations which occur naturally in some species of shell, would be produced artificially, and the shells would be strung on vines or cords and suspended about the neck; in this way, in time, may have originated the custom of wearing pendants for personal ornament. Following this would be the transportation of such articles to distant places by wandering tribes, exchanges would take place with other tribes, and finally a trade would be developed and a future commerce of nations be inaugurated. Results similar to the foregoing would spring doubtless from the employment of substances other than shell, but that material most closely associated with the acquisition of food would come first prominently into use. The farther these useful articles were carried from the source of supply the greater the value that would attach to them, and far inland the shell of the sea might easily become an object of unusual consideration. Having an origin more or less shrouded in mystery, it would in time become doubly dear to the heart of the superstitious savage, perhaps an object of actual veneration, or at least one of such high esteem that it would be treasured by the living and buried with the dead. The material so plentiful on the sea-shore that it was thought of only as it proved useful for vessels and implements, became a valued treasure in the interior; its functions were gradually enlarged and differentiated; it was worked into varied shapes, such as pendants for the ears, beads for the neck, pins for the hair, and elaborate gorgets for the breast; it served its turn as fetich and charm; and was frequently used in the ceremonial jugglery of the mystic dance. The slightest modification of these relics by the hand of man attracts our attention, and from that infant stage of the art until the highest and most elaborate forms are reached they have the deepest interest to the student of human progress. IMPLEMENTS AND UTENSILS. UNWORKED SHELLS. Some writers have suggested that the ancient peoples of the interior districts must have held shells from the sea in especial esteem, not only on account of their rarity, but also by reason of some sacred properties that had, from the mystery of their origin, become attached to them. It would appear, however, that shells were valued chiefly for their utility and beauty, and that fresh water as well as marine varieties were constantly employed. In their unworked state, for their beauty alone, they are treasured by peoples in all grades of culture, from the savage up through the barbarian stages to the most civilized state. As they are most conveniently shaped for utensils and implements, they have been of great service in the arts, and were thus of the greatest importance to primitive peoples. It must not be supposed that the natural shells found in graves were always destined for use in an unworked state, but they should doubtless in many cases be regarded as highly-valued raw material intended for use in the manufacture of articles of utility and taste, in the tempering of potter's clay, or in effecting exchanges with neighboring tribes. As vessels for food and drink, and as cups for paint, many species are most conveniently shaped. Good examples may be found in the _Haliotis_, so plentiful on the Pacific coast, the _Helcioniscus_ of the Pacific islands, the _Pattelidæ_ of Central and South America, or the _Pecten_ of many seas. In their natural state they have a twofold interest to us--as utensils they are the forerunners of many more elaborate forms that have been evolved in more advanced stages of culture, and in their distribution they give us important insight into the commerce and migrations of their aboriginal owners. _Pectens._--The Pectens are very widely distributed, and on account of their beauty of form and color have been in great favor with all peoples. They figure in the heraldic devices of the Middle Ages and in the symbolic paintings of the ancient Mexicans. They have been employed extensively by the ancient inhabitants of America as ornaments and rattles, and many examples exhumed from graves, mounds, and refuse heaps appear to have been used as utensils, cups for paint, and vessels for food and drink. They are especially plentiful in the cemeteries of the ancient Californians, from which Schumacher and Bowers have made excellent collections, and specimens may be found in the great museums of the country. A very good example of this shell (_Janira dentata_)[1] is shown in Fig. 3, Plate XXI, which represents a paint cup from Santa Barbara, Cal. This cup is still partially filled with dark, purplish, indurated paint. Some were receptacles for asphaltum, while others, which are quite empty, were employed probably for domestic purposes. The species chiefly used on the Atlantic coast are the _Pecten irradians_ and _P. concentricus_. On the Pacific coast the _Pecten caurinus_ and _P. hastatus_ are employed by the Makah and other Indians for rattles, and it is probable that some of the rudely perforated specimens found in our collections were intended for the same purpose. _Clams._--Clams formed a very important part of the food of the ancient seaboard tribes, and the emptied shells have been utilized in a great variety of ways. The valves of many species are large and deep, and are available for cups and dishes, and as such are not scorned even by the modern clam-baker, who, like the ancient inhabitant, makes periodical visits to the sea-shore to fish and feast. They were also used as knives, scrapers, and hoes, and in historic times have been extensively used in the manufacture of wampum. The hard-shell clam, _Venus mercenaria_, on account of the purplish color of portions of the valves, has been most extensively used for this purpose. A southern variety, the _Mercenaria præparca_, is much larger and furnishes excellent dishes. The soft-shell clam, _Mya arenaria_, has been an important article of food, but the valves are not serviceable in the arts. The hen clam, _Mactra ponderosa_, which has large handsome valves, has also been used to some extent for utensils. On the Pacific coast the large clam, _Pachydesma crassatelloides_, is known also to be similarly used. _Unios._--Shells of the great family of the _Unios_ have always held an important place in the domestic and mechanical arts of the savages of North America. Their chalky remains are among the most plentiful relics of the mounds and other ancient burial-places, and they come from kitchen middens and the more recent graves with all the pearly delicacy of the freshly emptied shell. The valves of many varieties of these shells are well adapted to the use of man. Not large enough for food vessels, they make most satisfactory spoons and cups, and are frequently found to retain portions of the pigments left from the last toilet of the primeval warrior and destined for use in the spirit land. It is probable, however, that they were much more frequently employed as knives and scrapers, and as such have played their part in the barbaric feast of the primitive village, or have assisted in the bloody work of scalp-taking and torture. They are pretty generally distributed over the country, and their occurrence in the mounds will probably have but little importance in the study of artificial distribution. Very little trouble has been taken by explorers and writers to identify the numerous species collected. _Haliotis._--The _Haliotis_ affords one of the best examples of the varied uses to which the natural shell has been applied by savage peoples. Recent explorations conducted by the government exploring parties in California have brought to the notice of archæologists and the world the existence of a new field of research--the burial-places of the ancient tribes of the Pacific coast. Many of the interments of this region are probably post-Columbian. Several species of this beautiful shell were used and are taken from the graves in great numbers, the pearly lusters being almost perfectly preserved. Many were used as paint-cups, and still retain dark pigments, probably ochers; one of these, a fine example of the _Haliotis californianus_, is shown in Fig. 4, Plate XXI. Some had contained food, and in a few cases still retained the much-esteemed _chia_ seed, while in others were found asphaltum, which was employed by these peoples in a variety of arts, the rows of eyes in the _Haliotis_ usually being stopped with it, and in one case, as shown in a specimen in the National Museum, it has been used to deepen a cup by building up a rim around the edge of a shallow shell. Many others are quite empty, and doubtless served as bowls, dishes, and spoons, or were ready at hand for the manufacture of implements and ornaments. Buried with the dead, they were designed to serve the purposes for which they were used in life. This shell probably formed as important a factor in the commerce of these tribes as did the large conchs of the Atlantic coast in that of the mound-builders and their neighbors. In recent times they are known to have a high value attached to them, and Professor Putnam states[2] that a few years ago a horse could be had in exchange for a single shell of the _Haliotis rufescens_. This species is a great favorite toward the south, and the _Haliotis Kamschatkana_, which furnishes a dark greenish nacre, is much used farther north. The rougher and more homely oyster-shell has also enjoyed the favor of the mound-building tribes, and has probably served many useful purposes, such as would only be suggested to peoples unacquainted with the use of metal. Many species of the _Fissurella_ and _Dentalium_ shells were in common use, advantage being taken of the natural perforations for stringing, the latter being quite extensively used for money on the Pacific slope. In Fig. 2, Plate XXI, a cut is given of a _Mytilus_ shell paint-cup from an ancient Peruvian grave. It is copied from Plate 83 of the Necropolis of Ancon.[3] It is represented as still containing red paint, probably cinnabar. A great variety of the larger univalve sea-shells were used in the unaltered state, the _Busycons_ probably taking the most important place, species of the _Strombus_, the _Cassis_, the _Nautilus_ and _Fasciolaria_ following in about the order named. The _Busycon perversum_ has been more extensively used than any other shell, and consequently its distribution in one form or other is very wide. It is obtained along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts from Massachusetts to Mexico, and within the United States it is artificially distributed over the greater part of the Atlantic slope. The uses to which this shell has been put by the ancient Americans are so numerous and varied that I shall not attempt to enumerate them here. They are, however, pretty thoroughly brought out in the subsequent pages of this paper. From the employment of shells in their complete state their modification for convenience is but a slight step, and when once suggested is easily accomplished--holes are bored, handles are carved or added, margins are ground down, useless parts are broken away, and surfaces are polished. The columellæ are removed from the large univalves, and the parts used for a great variety of purposes. The mechanical devices employed have been very simple, such as flint implements for cutting, and rough stones for breaking and grinding. Hand-drills were at first used for perforating; but later mechanically revolving drills were devised. [Illustration: PL. XXI--SHELL VESSELS. 1. From a plate in De Bry. 2. From a Peruvian grave. 3. _Pecten_, California grave. (1/1) 4. _Haliotis_, California grave. (3/4)] VESSELS. I shall not attempt to take up the various classes of objects in shell in the order of their development, as it would be hard to say whether food utensils, weapons, or ornaments were first used. It is also difficult to distinguish weapons proper from implements employed in the arts, such as celts, knives, hammers, etc., as it is probable they were all variously used according to the needs of their possessors. Having briefly treated of natural vessels, it seems convenient to go on with vessels shaped by art. Early explorers in many portions of the American continent record, in their writing, the use by the natives of shells of various kinds as vessels. We have in this case historic evidence which bears directly upon prehistoric customs. Indeed, it is not impossible that the very shells used by the natives first encountered by Europeans, are the identical ones exhumed so recently from burial places, as many of the finer specimens of shell objects have associated with them articles of undoubted European manufacture. A notice of the earliest recorded use of these objects naturally introduces the prehistoric use. With many nations that were bountifully supplied with convenient earthen and stone vessels, as well perhaps as others of the hard shells of fruits, the sea-shell was nevertheless a favorite vessel for drinking. Herrera describes the use of silver, gold, shell, and gourd cups at the banquets of the elegant monarch Montezuma II, who "sometimes drank out of cocoas and natural shells richly set with jewels." Other authors make similar statements. Clavigero says that "beautiful sea-shells or naturally formed vessels, curiously varnished, were used." In many of the periodical feasts of the Florida Indians shells were in high favor, and it is related how at a certain stage of one of the dances two men came in, each bearing very large conch-shells full of black drink, which was an infusion of the young leaves of the _cassine_ (probably _Ilex Cassine_, L.). After prolonged ceremonies, this drink was offered to the king, to the whites present, and then to the entire assembly.[4] It is a remarkable fact that a similar custom has been noticed among the Moquis of Arizona. Lieutenant Bourke witnessed the snake dance of that tribe a few years ago, and states that in front of the altar containing the snakes was a covered earthen vessel, which contained four large sea-shells and a liquid of some unknown composition, of which the men who handled the snakes freely drank. Vessels thus associated with important ceremonial customs of savages would naturally be of first importance in their sepulchral rites. De Bry, in the remarkable plates of his "Brevis Narratio," furnishes two instances of such use. Plate 19 shows a procession of nude females who scatter locks of their hair upon a row of graves, on each of which has been placed a large univalve shell, probably containing food or drink for the dead, and in Plate 40 we have another illustration of this custom, the shell being placed on the heap of earth raised above the grave of a departed chieftain. In Plate XXI, Fig. 1, an outline of the shell represented is given; it resembles most nearly the pearly nautilus, but, being drawn by the artist from memory or description, we are at liberty to suppose the shell actually used was a large _Busycon_ from the neighboring coast, probably more or less altered by art. Haywood, Hakluyt, Tonti, Bartram, Adair, and others mention the use of shells for drinking vessels, and in much more recent times Indians are known to have put them to a similar use. On account of the rapidity with which they decay, we can know nothing of surface deposits of shells by prehistoric or even by comparatively recent peoples. It is only through the custom of burying valued articles with the dead that any of these relics are preserved to us. When we consider the quantity of such objects necessarily destroyed by time, exposure, and use, we marvel at the vast numbers that must have been, within a limited period of years, carried inland. In the more recent mounds there may be found specimens obtained by the Indians through the agency of white traders, but the vast majority were derived doubtless from purely aboriginal sources. Many instances could be cited to show that the whites have engaged in the trade in shells. Kohl, in speaking of early trade with the Ojibways of Lake Superior, states that when the traders "exhibited a fine large shell and held it to the ears of the Indians, these latter were astonished, saying they heard the roaring of the ocean in it, and paid for such a marvelous shell furs to the value of $30 or $40, and even more."[5] Cabeça de Vaca[6] traded in sea-shells and "hearts" of sea-shells among the Charruco Indians of the Gulf coast nearly three hundred and fifty years ago. The form of vessel of most frequent occurrence is made by removing the whorl, columella, and about one-half of the outer shell of the large univalves. The body of the lower whorl is cut longitudinally, nearly opposite the lip and parallel with it. The spire is divided on the same plane, a little above the apex, giving a result well illustrated in Fig. 1, Plate XXII. A very convenient and capacious bowl is thus obtained, the larger specimens having a capacity of a gallon or more. The work of dividing the shell and removing neatly the interior parts must have been one of no little difficulty, considering the compactness of the shell and the rudeness of the tools. For nomadic peoples these vessels would have a great superiority over those of any other material, as they were not heavy and could be transported without danger of breaking. In the manufacture of these vessels the _Busycon perversum_ seems to have been a great favorite; this may be the result of the less massive character of the shell, which permits more ready manipulation. The spines are less prominent and the walls more uniform in thickness than in shells of most other varieties found along the Atlantic seaboard. Specimens of the _Strombus_, _Cassis_, and _Fasciolaria_ were occasionally used. The specimen illustrated in Fig. 1, Plate XXII, is from a mound at Ritcherville, Ind., and is now in the National Museum at Washington. It is made from a _Busycon perversum_, and is ten and one-half inches in length by six and one-half in width at the most distended part. The body and spire have been cut in the manner described above, and the interior whorl and columella have been skillfully taken out. The rim is not very evenly cut, but is quite smooth. The outer surface of the shell has been well polished, but is now worn and scarred by use. The substance of the shell is very well preserved. A second example, now in the national collection, is from an ancient mound at Naples, Ill. It is very similar to the preceding, being made from the same species of shell. It is eleven inches in length by seven in width. The body of the shell is well preserved, the apex, however, being broken away. A small specimen, also in the National Museum, was obtained from a mound at Nashville, Tenn., by Professor Powell. It is three and a half inches in length, and very shallow, being but a small portion of the lower whorl of a _Busycon_. [Illustration: PL. XXII--VESSELS. 1. Shell vessel made from a _Busycon perversum_, Ind. (2/5) 2. Earthen vessel made in imitation of shell, Mo. (3/4)] Among the more recent acquisitions to the national collection are two very fine specimens of these _Busycon_ vessels. One of these was obtained from a mound at East Dubuque, Ill. It is eleven inches in length by seven in width at the widest part; the exterior surface is highly polished; the interior is less so, having suffered somewhat from decay; the beak is very long and slender, and has been used as a handle. The whole vessel has a dipper-like appearance. The finest example of these vessels yet brought to my notice was obtained from a mound at Harrisburg, Ark., by Dr. Palmer, in October, 1882. It differs from the other specimens described in having an elaborate ornamental design engraved on the exterior surface. In shape it corresponds pretty closely to the first specimen figured, no part of the spire, however, being cut away; the interior parts have been removed, as usual. The surface is quite smooth, and the ridges on the inner surface of the spire are neatly rounded and polished. Its length is eleven inches, and its width seven. Plate XXIII is devoted to the illustration of this specimen. The entire exterior surface, from apex to base, is covered with a design of engraved lines and figures, which are applied in such a manner as to accord remarkably well with the expanding spiral of the shell. The upper surface of the spire is unusually flat, and has been ground quite smooth. It will be seen by reference to Fig. 2, Plate XXIII, that a series of lines, interrupted at nearly regular intervals by short cross lines and rectangular intaglio figures, has been carried from the apex outward toward the lip. Another series of lines begins on the upper margin next the inner lip of the shell, passes around the circumference of the upper surface, and extends downward over the carina, covering, as shown in the other figure, the entire body of the vessel, excepting the extreme point of the handle. The base of the shell, which is perforated, has a small additional group of lines. The lines of the principal series are, on the more expanded portion of the body of the shell, about eight inches long, and are interrupted by two rows of short lines and two rows of incised rectangular figures. The space between the latter contains the most interesting feature of the design. Three arrow-head shaped figures, two inches in length by one and one-half in width, are placed, one near the outer lip, another near the inner lip, and the third in the middle of the body, a little below the center. These figures are neatly cut and symmetrical, and resemble a barbed and blunt-pointed arrow-head. Near the center of each is a small circle, which gives the figure a close resemblance to a variety of perforated stone implements, one specimen of which has been found near Osceola, Ark. Whatever may be the significance of this design, and it is undoubtedly significant, it is at least a very remarkable piece of work and a highly successful effort at decoration. The pottery of this region which is generally highly decorated with painted and incised lines, contains nothing of a character similar to this, and it is probable that what I have come to consider a rule in such matters applies in this case; the design on the shell is significant or ideographic, that on the pottery is purely ornamental. [Illustration: PL. XXIII--ENGRAVED VESSEL. Harrisburg, Ark.] For the purpose of showing the very wide distribution of vessels made from large seashells, especially the _Busycon perversum_, I introduce here descriptions of most of the specimens heretofore reported. Dr. Rau, in his paper on ancient aboriginal trade in North America, states that in the collection of Colonel Jones, of Brooklyn, there is a vessel formed from a _Cassis_ which is eight and a half inches long, and has a diameter of seven inches where its periphery is widest. It was obtained from a stone grave near Clarksville, Habersham County, Georgia.[7] Two fine specimens of the _Cassis flammea_ were taken from mounds in Nacoochee Valley, Georgia. They were nearly ten inches in length and about seven inches in diameter. The interior whorls and columellæ had been removed, so that they answered the purpose of drinking cups or receptacles of some sort.[8] From a stone grave mound near Franklin, on the Big Harpeth River, Prof. Joseph Jones took two large sea-shells, one of which was much decayed. The interior surface of these shells had been painted red, and the exterior had been marked with three large circular spots.[9] In the grave of a child, near the grave just mentioned, the following relics were found: "Four large sea-shells, one on each side of the skeleton, another at the foot, and the fourth, a large specimen, with the interior apartments cut out and the exterior surface carved, covered the face and forehead of the skull."[10] In a small mound opposite the city of Nashville, Tenn., Professor Jones found "a large sea-conch." The interior portion or spiral of which had been carefully cut out; it was probably used as a drinking vessel, or as the shrine of an idol as in a case observed by Dr. Troost.[11] Two large shells of _Busycon_, from which the columellæ had been removed, were obtained from the Lindsley mounds, sixty miles east of Nashville, by Professor Putnam.[12] Professor Wyman, writing of the mounds of Eastern Tennessee, says that "among the implements are well-preserved cups or dishes, made of the same species of shell [_Busycon perversum_] as the preceding, but of much more gigantic size than those now found. One of them measures a foot in length, though the beak has been broken off. When entire its length could not have been less than fourteen or fifteen inches. These shells probably came from the Gulf of Mexico, and found their way into Tennessee as articles of traffic. The dishes are made in the same way, and not to be distinguished from those found in Florida at the time of the first visit of the Europeans, or from those, as will be seen further, found in the ancient burial mounds. The great similarity in the style and make of these dishes renders it quite probable that they were manufactured in Florida."[13] A number of similar dishes, made from the same shell, were obtained from mounds at Cedar Keys, Florida, by Professor Wyman.[14] Francis Cleveland, C. E., who, in 1828, had charge of the excavation known as the "deep cut" on the Ohio Canal, informed Colonel Whittlesey that at the depth of twenty-five feet in the alluvium several shells belonging to the species _Busycon perversum_ were taken out.[15] Dr. Drake, writing of the Cincinnati mounds, mentions "several large marine shells, belonging, perhaps, to the genus _Buccinum_, cut in such a way as to serve for domestic utensils, and nearly converted into a state of chalk."[16] Mr. Atwater states that "several marine shells, probably _Buccinum_, cut in such a manner as to be used for domestic utensils, were found in a mound on the Little Miami River, Warren County, Ohio."[17] A _Cassis_ of large size, from which the inner whorls and columella had been removed to adapt it for use as a vessel, was found in Clark's mound, on Paint Creek, Scioto Valley, Ohio.[18] This specimen is eleven and a half inches in length by twenty-four in circumference at the largest part. It is further stated that fragments of these and other shells are found in the tumuli and upon the altars of the mound-builders. In digging the Ohio and Erie Canal, there was found, near Portsmouth, its southern terminus on the Ohio River, a cluster of five or six large shells, which appeared to have been thus carefully deposited by the hand of man. They were about three feet beneath the surface. The columellæ of some large shells, probably the _Strombus gigas_, were also discovered.[19] Several large marine shells were found in a mound near Grand Rapids, Mich. They were all hollowed out, apparently for carrying or storing water, and in one case perforated at the upper edge on opposite sides for suspension by a cord or thong.[20] Mr. Farquharson mentions a vessel made from a _Busycon perversum_, obtained from a mound near Davenport, Iowa. The shell has been cut through about an inch above the center; it is thirteen inches in length by seven in width, and has a capacity of nearly two pints.[21] He also describes a large specimen of _Cassis_ from a mound in Muscatine County, Iowa.[22] Long, in his expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains in 1819, speaks of a large shell which seems to have been reverenced as a kind of oracle. This may have been one of the large, brilliantly-colored fossil _Baculites_ so common in the upper Missouri region. His description will be given in full in treating of the sacerdotal uses of shells. In the Naturalist for October, 1879, Mr. Frey describes a sea-shell drinking vessel, somewhat modified by art, having a length of four and one-half inches. This, with other relics, among which were many shell beads, was found in an ancient grave in eastern New York, probably in the Mohawk Valley. These vessels of shell have also served as models for the primitive potter. The ancient peoples of the middle Mississippi district were extremely skillful in the reproduction of natural objects in clay, and it is not surprising that they should imitate the form of the shell. In the Peabody Museum is an earthen vessel copied from a shell vessel of the class just described, the characteristic features being all well imitated. It is about nine inches wide, eleven long and four deep. It is neatly made, and ornamented with the red and white designs peculiar to the pottery of this region. It was taken from one of the Stanley mounds, Saint Francis River, Ark. A small earthen vessel made in imitation of these shell vessels is illustrated in Fig. 2, Plate XXII. It is of the ordinary blackish ware so common in the middle Mississippi district. The general shape of the shell is well represented; the sides, however, are nearly symmetrical and the spire is represented by a central node, surrounded by four inferior nodes. It is four inches wide and five and one-half long. Three others represent shell vessels, somewhat less closely, the spires and beaks being added to the opposite sides of ordinary cups. SPOONS. As domestic utensils bivalve shells have held a place hardly inferior in importance to that of the large univalves. Marine and fluviatile varieties have been used indiscriminately, and generally in the natural state, but occasionally altered by art to enhance their beauty or add to their convenience. The artificial utensils do not, however, present a very great variety of form, the alteration consisting chiefly in the carving out of a kind of handle, by which device hot food could be eaten without danger of burning the fingers. The handle, which may be seen in all stages of development, is produced by cutting away portions of the anterior and basal margins of the shell, leaving the salient angle projecting; this angle is then undercut from the opposite sides so that it is connected with the body of the valve by a more or less restricted neck. The outer edge of the handle is frequently ornamented with notches, and in a few cases a round perforation has been made near the anterior tip for the purpose of suspension. In one case a rude design of small circular depressions has been added to the upper surface. In the finished implement the hinge, ligament, and teeth have been cut away, the thick dorsal margin carefully ground down, leaving a smooth, neat edge, and the anterior point, which was presented to the lips in eating or drinking, was well rounded and polished. The whole surface of the shell in the more finished specimens has been most carefully dressed. Altogether, the fashioning of these spoons must be regarded as a very ingenious performance for savages, and has cost much more labor than would the attachment of a handle, for which purpose it is not improbable the lateral notches may at times have been used. Our collections furnish no examples of marine univalves worked in this manner; a few slightly altered specimens, however, have been reported. Nearly all the specimens of carved spoons that have come to my notice are made from a few species of _Unio_. It is a curious fact that most of these utensils have been made from the left valve of the shell, which gives such a position to the handle that they are most conveniently used by the right hand, thus indicating right-handedness on the part of these peoples. In the national collection there are two left-handed specimens, one from Nashville, Tenn., and one from Union County, Ky. Professor Putnam states that he has "examined over thirty of these shell-spoons now in the museum [Peabody], and all are made from the right [left] valves of _Unionidæ_, and so shaped as to be most conveniently used with the right hand."[23] By reference to Fig. 1, Plate XXIV, the probable manner of grasping and using the spoon will be seen. It will also be observed that the left valve of the shell is used to make the right-handed spoon, supposing of course that the point of the spoon is presented to the lips, the hinge corner being much less convenient for that purpose. In regard to the use of these objects, which have occasionally been taken for ornaments, it should be mentioned that very many of them have been found within earthen vessels placed in the graves with the dead. The vessels, in all probability, were the receptacles of food, the spoons being so placed that they could be used by the dead as they had been used by the living. The specimen shown in Fig. 3, Plate XXIV, was obtained by Professor Powell, from a mound near Nashville, Tenn. It is made from the left valve of a very delicate specimen of the _Unio ovatus_,[24] and has been finished with more than usual care. The entire rim is artificially shaped, the natural shell being much reduced, and six notches ornament the outside of the handle. The bowl of the spoon is nearly four inches in length and two and one-half in width. Eight other specimens were obtained from the same locality by Professor Powell. All are made from the _Unio ovatus_, one only being left-handed. All are inferior in finish to the specimen illustrated. The handles of a number are rudimentary, and the margins and surfaces are but slightly worked. The spoon illustrated in Fig. 4, Plate XXIV, is made from the left valve of a _Unio alatus_ (?) and was obtained from a mound at Madisonville, Ohio. It is an unusually well-finished and handsome specimen, and notwithstanding its fragile character, is well preserved. A portion of the point has, unfortunately, been broken away. The handle is ornamented with four shallow notches, the anterior point being neatly rounded and perforated for suspension. The edges of the utensil have been carefully finished, and both the inner and outer surfaces have been ground down and polished so that all the natural markings are obliterated, and the surface shows the pearly marbling of the foliation. This specimen is figured in an interesting paper,[25] prepared by Mr. Charles F. Low, as an ornament, this use being suggested by its finish and decoration; but as it was found in what was presumably a food vessel, and at the same time resembles so closely the spoons of other localities, I take the liberty of classifying it with them. One of the most interesting collections of these utensils was made in Union County, Ky., by S. S. Lyon. Our information in regard to this lot of specimens is, unfortunately, quite meager, as Mr. Lyon's report gives them but casual mention. Fig. 2, Plate XXIV, illustrates the finest of these specimens on a scale of one-half. The shell used is a large specimen of _Unio ovatus_, the bowl of the spoon being about four inches long and three wide. As the right valve has been used, the utensil is left-handed. The handle is ornamented with two marginal notches; the basal point is long and spine-like, and is deeply undercut. The anterior point is beak-like in shape, the nicely made perforation holding, in relation to it, the position of an eye, which, together with the comb-like notches above, gives a pretty close resemblance to a bird's head. The point of the spoon is broken away. [Illustration: PL. XXIV--SHELL SPOONS. 1. Manner of grasping spoon. 2. From a mound in Kentucky. (1/2) 3. From a mound near Nashville. (1/1) 4. From a mound in Ohio. (1/1)] The seven remaining spoons from this locality have a variety of handles, all of which are notched on the outer margin, while a few only are deeply undercut; all have been made from the left valve of the _Unio ovatus_ (?) and are of medium size and ordinary finish. Another specimen in the national collection comes from Henderson County, Ky. The shell used is the _Unio ovatus_; the handle is notched on the outer margin, but is only slightly under-cut; the thick margin of the shell about the hinge has not been removed. A spoon made from the left valve of a _Unio silignoidens_ (?) has recently been obtained from a mound at Osceola, Ark.; it is but slightly worked, having a series of small notches cut in the basal margin, toward the front. The Natural History Museum of New York contains a specimen of this class, labeled as coming from Georgia. It has a rounded handle, without either perforation or notches. The Peabody Museum contains a very superior collection, consisting of specimens from several localities. Six of these, made from _Unionidæ_, mostly from the _Unio ovatus_, were obtained from one of the Bowling mounds near Nashville, Tenn.; others crumbled on being handled and were lost. Several others were obtained in the same region.[26] Two more were found in an earthen vessel between two skeletons, in one of the Lindsley mounds at Lebanon, sixty miles east of Nashville.[27] In a stone-cist mound on the Big Harpeth River, Prof. Joseph Jones found "a few large fresh-water mussel-shells, which were much altered by time. These mussel-shells appeared from their shape to have been artificially carved, and to have been used as ornaments and also as spoons or cups for dipping up food and drink."[28] Three fine specimens have recently been obtained from graves at Harrisburg, Ark. They are but slightly worked as compared with the more elaborate specimens. The hinge, teeth, and ligaments have been ground down and a portion of the postero-dorsal margin removed, leaving the posterior point and basal margin projecting for a handle. The surfaces are well smoothed. The general outline of the shell is subtriangular; it is three inches wide by four and one-half in length and is probably made from the _Unio cuneatus_. Beverly gives a plate illustrating two Virginia Indians, man and wife, at dinner; on the mat by the woman is "a Cockle-Shell, which they sometimes use instead of a Spoon." "The Spoons which they eat with, do generally hold half a Pint; and they laugh at the English for using small ones, which they must be forc'd to carry so often to their Mouths, that their Arms are in Danger of being tir'd, before their Belly."[29] KNIVES. From a very early date shells must have been employed quite extensively by the ancient Americans as implements, as weapons for war and the chase, as appliances for fishing, as agricultural implements, and as knives, gougers, scrapers, perforators, etc., in a variety of arts. It is a noteworthy fact, however, that our collections do not abound in objects of these classes, and our literature furnishes but little information on the subject. Our interest lies chiefly in such of these objects as have been shaped by the hand of man, but to illustrate their use we will find it instructive to study the various ways in which the natural shells have been employed. In this manner we may trace the origin and development of artificial forms. As we have seen in the early modification of food utensils the beginning of the art of cutting and shaping shell, which in time led to the manufacture of objects of taste, and probably proved an important step in the evolution of native American art, so in this convenient and workable material, as employed in the mechanical arts, we witness the inception of many important human industries, and in the rude machines constructed from shell probably behold the prototypes of numerous works in stone and metal. It cannot be supposed that such of these objects as we do possess are of very ancient date, as the material is not sufficiently enduring. It is also improbable that such objects would, as a rule, be so frequently deposited in graves, as food vessels or objects of personal display, and objects not so deposited must soon have disappeared. The early explorers of the American coast make occasional mention of the employment of shells in the various arts. As many of these notices are interesting, and have an important bearing upon the subject under consideration, I will present a number of them here. Among a majority of the American Indians, knives of stone, obsidian, jasper, and flint were in general use, but it would seem that shells artificially shaped and sharpened were also sometimes used for shaping objects in wood and clay, in preparing food, in dressing game, and in human butchery. Strachey informs us, in volume VI of the Hakluyt Society, that when the omnipotent Powhatan "would punish any notorious enemy or trespasser, he causeth him to be tyed to a tree, and with muscle shells or reedes the executioner cutteth off his joints one after another, ever casting what is cutt off into the fier; then doth he proceede with shells and reedes to case the skyn from his head and face."[30] Such knives were also used by Powhatan's women for cutting off their hair.[31] A number of authors mention the use of shells as scalping-knives. Kalm, speaking of the Indians of New Jersey, says that "instead of knives, they were satisfied with little sharp pieces of flint or quartz, or else some other hard kind of a stone, or with a sharp shell, or with a piece of bone, which they had sharpened."[32] The Indians encountered by Henry Hudson during his first voyage, in making him welcome, "killed a fat dog, and skinned it in great haste with shells which they had."[33] Beverly asserts that before the English supplied the Virginia Indians with metallic tools, "their Knives were either sharpen'd Reeds, or Shells, and their Axes sharp Stones bound to the end of a Stick, and glued in with Turpentine. By the help of these they made their Bows of the Locust Tree."[34] Drake, in his "World Encompassed," speaking of some of the southern tribes of South America, probably the Patagonians, says that "their hatchetts and knives are made of mussel-shells, being great and a foot in length, the brickle part whereof being broken off, they grind them by great labor to a fine edge and very sharpe, and as it seemeth, very durable.[35] * * * Their working tools, which they use in cutting these things and such other, are knives made of most huge and monstrous mussell shells (the like whereof have not been seen or heard of lightly by any travelers, the meate thereof being very savourie and good in eating), which, after they have broken off the thinne and brittle substance of the edge, they rub and grind them upon stones had for the purpose, till they have tempered and set such an edge upon them, that no wood is so hard but they will cut it at pleasure with the same."[36] According to Sproat, shell knives were used by the Indians of Vancouver's Island in carving the curious wooden images placed over graves.[37] Ancient shell knives are very rarely found in collections. Such specimens as have come to my notice could as well be classed as scrapers or celts. We will probably not be far wrong in concluding that such implements were used for scraping and digging as well as for cutting. As a rule, knives proper were simply sharpened bivalve shells. The scrapers so frequently mentioned were doubtless often the same, but probably more frequently portions of the lower whorl of the large univalves. CELTS. Implements of this class are generally made from the lower part of large univalves. They were probably used in a variety of ways, with handles and without. The spine-like base of the shell forms the shaft, the blade being cut from the broadly expanded wall of the lower whorl. Nearly all the specimens in the national collection have been obtained in this way. In Plate XXV three very fine examples are figured. The specimen illustrated in Fig. 1 is more than usually well fashioned, and is extremely massive, having the proportions and almost the weight of typical stone celts. It is five inches in length, two and three-fourths in width, and nearly one inch through at the thickest part. The edge is even and sharp, and but slightly rounded; the beveled faces are quite symmetrical, and meet at an angle of about 35°; the faces are curved slightly, following the original curvature of the shell, and the sides are evenly dressed and taper gently toward the upper end which shows some evidence of battering. The surface of the specimen is slightly chalky from decay. It has been made from a _Strombus gigas_, or some equally massive shell. It was collected at Orange Bluff, Fla., by T. S. Barber. A profile view of the same specimen is presented in Fig. 2. The specimen shown in Fig. 3 was found in Madison County, Ky., and is the only one in the national collection from the Mississippi Valley. It was obtained from a mound, but in what relation to the human remains I have not learned. It is fashioned much like the specimen just described; it is one and a half inches in width at the upper end, and two inches wide near the cutting edge. It has also been made from a very massive shell. Fig. 4 illustrates a specimen from St. Michael's Parish, Barbadoes, West Indies. It is made from the basal portion of a _Busycon perversum_. The handle is curved and neatly rounded, and the edge is beveled or sharpened on the inside only. [Illustration: PL. XXV--SHELL CELTS. 1. Orange Bluff, Fla. (3/4) 2. Orange Bluff, Fla. (3/4) 3. Madison County, Ky. (3/4) 4. Barbadoes, W. I. (3/4)] In the national collection there are about twenty of these objects; six are from Tampa, Fla.; four of these are fragmentary; the remaining two are short and triangular, and have been made, one from a _Busycon perversum_, the other from a _Busycon_ or _Strombus_. The cutting edge is wide and well sharpened. Two are from Cedar Keys, Fla., and are made from thin-walled specimens of the _Busycon perversum_. The larger is six and one-half inches in length by three in width toward the base; the other is about one-half as large. Both are rudely made, and show the effects of use. Five came from East Pass, Choctawhatchie Bay, Fla. Two of them are fragmentary; one of the entire specimens is very well made, and has a regularly beveled, oblique edge, while another is remarkable in having a curiously worn edge, which is deeply serrated by use or weathering. The majority of these specimens are from ancient shell heaps. Three are from St. Michael's Parish, Barbadoes, West Indies, one of which has already been described. Professor Wyman, in the Naturalist for October, 1868, illustrates two of these celt-like implements from the fresh-water shell heaps near St. Johns, Fla. One is made from a triangular piece cut from a _Busycon carica_, so as to comprise a portion of the rostrum, which serves as a handle, and a portion of a swollen part of the body, which terminates in the cutting edge of the tool. The sides and apex are smoothed and rounded, while the base is regularly rounded and ground to an edge like that of a gouge, but with the bevel on the inside. This author states that another specimen, obtained at Old Enterprise, shows clearly that it was detached from the shell by first cutting a groove and then breaking off the fragment. He also gives two views of a small shell celt which, from the exterior markings and the thick ridge on the inside, is thought to have been cut from the base of a _Strombus gigas_. "The broad end is ground to a blunt edge like that seen in most of the stone chisels from the other States, and the other is ground to a blunt point." These implements are frequently mentioned by early explorers. In Plate 12 of the "Admiranda Narratio," an Indian is represented[38] with a shell implement, scraping away the charred portions from the interior of a canoe which is being hollowed out by fire. The same implement was employed for removing the bark from the tree trunks used. Catlin, in speaking of the Klahoquat Indians of Vancouver's Island, says that "a species of mussel-shell of a large size, found in the various inlets where fresh and salt water meet, are sharpened at the edge and set in withes of tough wood, forming a sort of adze, which is used with one hand or both, according to its size; and the flying chips show the facility with which the excavation is made in the soft and yielding cedar, no doubt designed and made for infant man to work and ride in."[39] Wood, speaking of the Indians of New England, says that "their Cannows be made either of Pine-trees, which before they were acquainted with _English_ tooles, they burned hollow, scraping them smooth with Clam-shels and Oyster-shels, cutting their out-sides with stone-hatchets."[40] The method of hafting these implements, when used for axes and adzes, was doubtless the same as that employed for stone implements of similar shapes. This is illustrated in Fig. 2, Plate XXVII, the handle being securely fastened by cords or sinews. It will be seen that but one of the specimens mentioned comes from the interior, and that from Madison County, Ky. SCRAPERS. The great majority of the scraping implements obtained from the mounds, graves, and shell heaps are simply valves of _Unio_ or clam-shells, unaltered except by use; yet there is a widely distributed class of worked specimens, which have been altered by making a rough perforation near the center of the valve, and by the grinding down and notching of the edges. A very fine specimen is illustrated in Fig. 3, Plate XXVI. It is formed of the left valve of a _Unio tuberculosus_. It was taken from a mound at Madisonville, Ohio, and is now in the national collection. A similar specimen from the same locality is illustrated in an account of the exploration conducted by the Scientific and Literary Society of Madisonville.[41] I have seen four other fine specimens from the same locality; all are made of the shell of the _Unio tuberculosus_ (?). It will be seen by reference to Fig. 3 that the posterior point of the shell is much worn, as if by use, while at the opposite end, near the hinge, the margin has been slightly notched. The large specimen, figured in the Madisonville pamphlet, as well as all other examples from this locality, are also much worn at the posterior end, and slightly notched on the anterior margin. The perforations are roughly made, and nearly one-half an inch in diameter. I have carefully examined all the specimens of this class within my reach, probably twenty-five in all, most of which are in the national collection, and I find them all very much alike. They are from two to five inches in length, have rude central perforations, and are worn by use at the posterior point, and notched on the anterior margin. The blunting of one end by use calls for no explanation, but the purpose of the perforation is a little obscure. It may have been used for convenience in transportation, but more probably for attaching a handle. On discovering that a notch had in all cases been made at the upper end, I became convinced that the latter use was intended. Whether the supposed handle has been long or short, or attached longitudinally or transversely, I am unable to determine. In Plate XXVI, Figs. 4 and 5, two methods of hafting are illustrated. If used for striking, the long handle would be the more suitable, but if for scraping, dressing skins, scaling fish, or shaping wood or clay, the handle suggested in Fig. 5 would be the most convenient. The clam-shell agricultural implements, so frequently mentioned by explorers along the Atlantic coast, were attached to handles in the manner of hoes or adzes, as shown in Fig. 2, Plate XXVII. It is possible that the specimens under consideration may have been hafted in this manner. A perforated valve of a _Unio gibbosus_, which has probably been used as a knife or scraper, is shown in Fig. 1, Plate XXVII. It was obtained from a cave near Nashville, and is now in the national collection. Another interesting variety of shell implement is shown in Fig. 1, Plate XXVI. It was obtained from the Oconee River, near Milledgeville, Ga., and is made from the left valve of a _Unio vericosus_. Its perfect state of preservation indicates that it is of quite recent manufacture. A deep, sharply cut groove encircles the beak and hinge of the shell, and the posterior margins are considerably worn. A few shallow lines have been engraved on the smooth convex surface of the valve. The position of the groove suggests the method of hafting shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 6, Plate XXVI, represents a perforated _Pecten_, which may have been used as an implement or as part of a rattle. It was collected by Mr. Webb on the west coast of Florida. [Illustration: PL. XXVI--SHELL IMPLEMENTS. 1. Scraper, Georgia. (1/1) 2. Probable manner of hafting. 3. Implement from a mound, Ohio. (1/1) 4. Probable manner of hafting. 5. Probable manner of hafting. 6. Perforated _Pecten_, Florida. (1/2)] AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. The first explorers of the Atlantic seaboard found many of the tribes cultivating the soil to a limited extent, corn being the chief product. The methods and appliances were exceedingly primitive, and the implements employed, whether wood, bone, stone, or shell, possess but little interest to art. Unworked shells, lashed to rude handles, served all the purposes as well as if wrought out in the most fanciful manner. The large, firm valves of clam-shells were most frequently used, as the following extracts will show. "Before the Indians learned of the English the use of a more convenient instrument, they tilled their corn with hoes made of these shells, to which purpose they are well adapted by their size."[42] A further reference to this shell is found in Wood's New England Prospect: "The first plowman was counted little better than a Juggler: the _Indians_ seeing the plow teare up more ground in a day, than their Clamme shels could scrape up in a month, desired to see the workemanship of it, and viewing well the coulter and share, perceiving it to be iron, told the plowman, hee was almost _Abamocho_, almost as cunning as the Devill."[43] And again the same author says: "An other work is their planting of corne, wherein they exceede our _English_ husband-men, keeping it so cleare with their Clamme shell-hooes, as if it were a garden rather than a corne-field, not suffering a choking weede to advance his audacious head above their infant corne, or an undermining worme to spoile his spurnes."[44] Other writers make but the most casual mention of this subject. De Bry gives, in Plate XXI, Vol. II, a picture in which a number of natives are engaged in cultivating their fields. In Fig. 3, Plate XXVII, I give an enlarged cut of one of the implements employed; the original drawing has probably been made from memory by the artist, and the cut serves no purpose except to give an idea of the general shape of the implement and to suggest the manner of hafting, if indeed the implement is not made wholly from a crooked stick. [Illustration: PL. XXVII--SHELL IMPLEMENTS. 1. Shell implement, Tennessee. 2. Probable manner of hafting celt. 3. Implement illustrated in De Bry. 4. Shell club-head, Florida. 5. Shell implement, Peru.] FISHING APPLIANCES. The use of shell in the manufacture of fishing implements seems to have been almost unknown among the tribes of the Atlantic coast, and with the exception of a few pendant-like objects, resembling plummets or sinkers of stone, nothing has been obtained from the ancient burial mounds of the Mississippi Valley. Hooks of shell, however, are very plentiful in the ancient burial-places of the Pacific coast, and are frequently so well shaped as to excite our admiration. Hooks and other fishing apparatus, in whole or in part made of shell, are extensively employed by the present natives of the Pacific islands and among the numerous tribes of the northwest coast, although bone and ivory are in much higher favor for these purposes. We cannot say with certainty for what purpose the various sinker-like objects of shell were used. In all cases they are so perforated or grooved as to be suspended by a string; but it is the custom of all savage peoples to employ very heavy pendants as ornaments for the ears or for suspension about the neck, and where stone could be secured for such ordinary uses as the sinking of nets or lines, it seems improbable that objects of shell, which form superb ornaments, would be so employed. That hooks were used to some extent by the Atlantic coast Indians is proved by the association of bone hooks with other ancient relics. I am not aware that their use has been noticed by early writers, who describe at length, however, the capture of fish by means of arrows, spears, and nets. The ancient Mexican manuscripts contain many drawings showing the use of nets in fishing, but the use of hooks and lines is not suggested. In the absence of positive proof as to the exact manner in which the plummet-like objects were utilized, I shall for the present follow the custom of the best authors and classify the heavier specimens as sinkers. The smaller specimens will be described as pendant ornaments. In Fig. 8, Plate XXVIII, a very handsome specimen from a refuse heap on Blennerhasset Island, Ohio River, is shown. It has been cut from the columella of a _Busycon perversum_, the reverse whorl being indicated by the well-preserved spiral groove, and was suspended by means of a small, well-made perforation near the upper end. The surface is weathered and chalky with age. Another specimen, from the same locality, differs but slightly from this; the perforated end is broken away; the surface is deeply weathered, and the more compact laminæ stand out in high relief. Two specimens from Sarasota Bay, Fla., resemble these very closely in shape and size; instead of a perforation, however, they are grooved near the upper end. They are made from the columellæ of the _Busycon perversum_. One of them is shown in Fig. 9, Plate XXVIII. It is possible that a number of the small shells usually supposed to be perforated for use as ornaments have been used for sinkers. One such specimen, collected by Professor Velie in Florida, is preserved in the national collection. It is made from an almost entire specimen of a small but compact univalve--a dextral-whorled _Busycon_ or a _Strombus_. A shallow groove has been cut near the basal point for the purpose of attaching a line. A fourth specimen, from Florida, is represented by a cast presented by Professor Velie; it is three inches in length and nearly one inch in diameter, and has been derived from the columella of a _Busycon perversum_. It has a broad groove near the upper end, with a long, sloping shoulder, the body being somewhat conical below. Other specimens of similar character have recently been added to the national collection. A grooved specimen of medium size was obtained from a mound at Madisonville, Ohio, and is figured by the explorers.[45] A few smaller specimens come from New York, and others from Kentucky, but they were probably intended for ornaments, and as such I prefer to class them. From the Pacific coast we have a large number of examples, one of the finest being illustrated in Fig. 7, Plate XXVIII. It is a flattish, somewhat pear-shaped pendant, and has a neatly cut groove near the upper end. It was collected by Bowers on the island of Santa Rosa, Cal., and was probably made from a _Pachydesma_ or _Amiantis_. A new-looking specimen from Santa Barbara, carved from a flat bit of pearly _Haliotis_, represents a fish, the mouth, gills, body, and tail being distinctly shown. It may have been used as a bait. By far the most interesting examples of fishing implements of ancient date have been obtained from graves in California; these are well represented in the collections made by Schumacher and Bowers. A number of specimens may be seen in the National Museum; one sinker from this collection has already been described. Fish-hooks, however, constitute the great majority of the specimens, and many of them are of such unprecedented forms that they have been mistaken for ornaments. The marked peculiarity consists in the great width of the body of the hook, and the deeply involuted character of the barbless point, making it seem impossible that a fish should be impaled at all. It may be that this hook was intended only as a contrivance for securing bait, and that the fish, having swallowed this, was unable to disgorge it, and in this way was secured by the fisherman. In Plate XXVIII, three of these hooks are illustrated. The method of fastening them to the line is not well known, and the form does not suggest it, except in a few cases in which the shaft is enlarged slightly at the upper end. The head is never perforated, but is frequently pointed, and may have been inserted in a head of some other material and secured by means of asphaltum. The fact that portions of this material still adhere to the upper part of the shaft confirms this conjecture. None of these hooks are barbed. Similar hooks of bone, exhibited in the national collection, have barbs on the outside, near the point. Hooks resembling these are used by some tribes to secure the ends of strings of beads. Prof. F. W. Putnam has described a number of these hooks which belong to the Peabody Museum. The largest is two and three-fourths inches in length and one inch wide at the middle of the shank. These came from San Clemente, San Miguel, and Santa Cruz islands, and the mainland about Santa Barbara, and are accompanied by stone implements used in their manufacture.[46] The natives of Tahiti had fish-hooks made of mother-of-pearl, and every fisherman made them for himself. They generally served for the double purpose of hook and bait. "The shell is first cut into square pieces, by the edge of another shell, and wrought into a form corresponding with the outline of the hook by pieces of coral, which are sufficiently rough to perform the office of a file; a hole is then bored in the middle; the drill being no other than the first stone they pick up that has a sharp corner; this they fix into the end of a piece of bamboo and turn it between the hands like a chocolate mill; when the shell is perforated, and the hole sufficiently wide, a small file of coral is introduced, by the application of which the hook is in a short time completed, few costing the artificer more time than a quarter of an hour."[47] The specimens illustrated are made from the thicker portions of species of the _Haliotis_ or of the valves of the dark purplish _Mytilus californianus_. They are handsome objects, their surfaces being well rounded and polished. In the collection there are specimens which illustrate very well the process of manufacture. A series of these is given in Plate XXVIII. Fig. 1 shows a small fragment broken out roughly from the shell, probably by a stone or shell implement. Fig. 2 shows a similar specimen in which an irregular perforation has been made. In Fig. 3 we see a considerable advance toward completion; the hole has been enlarged by rubbing or filing with some small implement, and the outline approximates that of the finished hook. Figs. 4, 5, and 6 represent typical examples of the completed hooks. These range in size from one-half to three inches in length, the width being but slightly less. The skill acquired in the manufacture of such objects of use is of the greatest importance in the development of art. It is only through the mastery of material thus engendered that the arts of taste become possible. [Illustration: PL. XXVIII--SHELL FISHING APPLIANCES. 1, 2, 3. Manufacture of hooks. 4, 5, 6. Hooks from graves, California. 7. Pendant or sinker, California. 8, 9. Pendants, Atlantic slope. (1/1)] WEAPONS. It would hardly seem at first glance that shells or shell substance could be utilized for weapons to any advantage. A close examination, however, of some of the more massive varieties will convince us that they could be made available. The specific gravity of some varieties, such as the _Strombus_ and _Busycon_, is equal to that of moderately compact stone, and with their long, sharp beaks they would, with little modification, certainly make formidable weapons. Dr. Charles Rau seems to have been the first to call attention to the use of shells as club-heads by the tribes of Florida. In his valuable paper on the archæological collections of the National Museum he gives a very good description, which I copy in full: "It further appears that the Florida Indians applied shells of the _Busycon perversum_ as clubs or _casse-tetes_ by adapting them to be used with a handle, which was made to pass transversely through the shell. This was effected by a hole pierced in the outer wall of the last whorl in such a manner as to be somewhat to the left of the columella, while a notch in the outer lip, corresponding to the hole, confined the handle or stick between the outer edge of the lip and the inner edge of the columella. The anterior end of the canal, broken off until the more solid part was reached, was then brought to a cutting edge nearly in the plane of the aperture. A hole was also made in the posterior surface of the spire behind the carina in the last whorl, evidently for receiving a ligature by means of which the shell was more firmly lashed to the handle."[48] Mention of these objects is also made by Knight in a recent pamphlet, the method of hafting being illustrated.[49] Professor Wyman, in the Naturalist for 1878, describes and illustrates an object of this class, made from a _Busycon_, which he is inclined to regard as one of the conch-shells said to have been used by the Indians for trumpets. It is presumably from one of the shell heaps on the St. Johns River, Fla.[50] In Fig. 4, Plate XXVII, I illustrate one of the National Museum specimens. The posterior point is much reduced by grinding, the apex and nodes are somewhat battered, and the whole surface of the shell is worn and discolored. There are about a dozen specimens in the National collection; in nearly all cases they are made from heavy walled specimens of the _Busycon perversum_, and range from three to eight inches in length. They are described as coming from three localities, St. Johns River, Clearwater River, and Sarasota Bay, Fla. All were probably obtained from shell heaps, and although ancient, two of the specimens still retain rude and insignificant-looking handles of wood. It will be seen from the foregoing that shells have actually been employed as weapons, a use, however, which would probably never have been suggested but for the great scarcity of stone along the southern coast. TWEEZERS. A rather novel use of shells by the ancient Indians is mentioned by early writers. The two valves of small mussels or clams were made to do service as tweezers for pulling out their hair. Adair, speaking of the Choctaws, says that "both sexes pluck all the hair off their bodies with a kind of tweezers, made formerly of clam shells."[51] Strachey states that shells were used by the Virginian Indians for cutting hair. Beverly says of the Virginia Indians that they "pull their Beards up by the Roots with Muscle-shells, and both Men and Women do the same by the other Parts of their Body for Cleanliness sake."[52] Heckewelder states that "Before the Europeans came into the country their apparatus for performing this work consisted of a pair of mussel-shells, sharpened on a gritty stone, which answered the purpose very well, being somewhat like pincers."[53] Fig. 5, Plate XXVII, reproduced from a plate in the Necropolis of Ancon[54] represents two small _Mytilus_ shells pierced at the beak and bound together with a cord. They were found in one of the ancient graves of Peru, and may have been used for a similar purpose. ORNAMENTS. PINS. Having studied the application of shell material to the various utilitarian arts, I turn to the consideration of what may, with more or less propriety, be called the arts of taste. The skill acquired by the primitive artisan in shaping the homely spoon or the rude celt served a good purpose in the more elegant arts, and opened the way to a new and unique field for the development and display of the remarkable art instincts of these savages. It probably required no great skill and no very extended labor to fashion the various utensils and implements of the outer walls of the univalves or the thin valves of clams and mussels; but to cut out, grind down, and polish the columellæ of the large conchs required a protracted effort and no little mechanical skill. Of the various objects shaped from the columellæ, beads are probably the most important; but a large class of pin-shaped articles naturally come first, as they consist of entire or nearly entire columellæ dressed down to the desired shape. The use of these objects is still problematical. As they are found in most cases deposited with human remains, they were doubtless highly valued. They must have served a definite purpose in well-established and wide-spread customs, as they are found distributed over a district almost co-extensive with that occupied by other shell vestigia of marine origin. Let us first study the process of manufacture. A considerable number of the larger species of marine univalves have been brought into requisition. Various species of _Busycon_, _Strombus_, and _Fasciolaria_ offer almost equal facilities; the former, however, seems to have been decidedly the favorite, the _Busycon perversum_ having furnished at least three-fourths of the columns used. This result may be attributed, however, to the fact that, for reasons already mentioned, the _perversum_ was so universally employed for vessels, the axes extracted from these being then ready for further manipulation. The outer case of the shell being somewhat fragile it is probable that the sea has very frequently broken it away, leaving the dismantled columella to be washed ashore in a shape convenient for manufacture or for inland trade. If the demand for these objects was very great, it is to be presumed that on shores where they abound these shells were broken open and the columns extracted for purposes of traffic. The State of Tennessee is found to be the great store-house of these as well as other ancient objects of shell. This is probably owing to two causes: first, that far inland, where they were difficult to procure, and very costly, they were highly esteemed, and hence consecrated to the use of the dead; and, second, the conditions under which they were buried had much to do with preserving them from rapid decay, while on the coast or when exposed to the atmosphere they soon disappeared. An interesting series of specimens illustrating the various stages of manufacture of articles from the columella is presented in Plate XXIX. In Fig. 1 a section of a _Busycon perversum_ is given. The position of the columella and its relations to the exterior parts may be clearly seen. The reverse whorl of the spire will be noticed, and the consequent sinistral character of the groove. Fig. 2 illustrates the extracted columella in its untrimmed state. A similar specimen is shown in Fig. 3, Plate XXXI. It was obtained from the site of an old Indian lodge on the island of Martha's Vineyard. This, with a number of smaller specimens, may be seen in the National Museum. They show no signs of use, and were probably destined for manufacture into pins or beads. Columellæ in this state are very frequently found in the mounds and graves of the interior States; a majority probably belong to the _Busycons_, but a considerable number are derived from the _Strombidæ_. A few specimens of large size may be seen in the national collection. Fig. 3 represents a roughly dressed pin, of a type peculiar to the Pacific coast. Fig. 4 illustrates a completed pin of the form most common in the middle Mississippi province. Fig. 5 shows a rather rare form of pin, pointed at both ends. Bone pins of this form are quite common. Fig. 6 represents a nearly symmetrical cylinder. Fig. 7 illustrates the manner of dividing the cylinders into sections for beads. [Illustration: PL. XXIX--MANUFACTURE OF IMPLEMENTS AND ORNAMENTS. 1. Section of _Busycon perversum_. 2. Roughly trimmed columella. 3. Headless pin, western form. 4. Tennessee form. 5. Pin pointed at both ends. 6. (Omitted.) 7. Manner of cutting into beads. 8. Derivation of a celt from _Busycon_. 9. Derivation of ornaments from _Haliotis_. 10. Derivation of ornaments from _Busycon_. 11. Bead with cylindrical, countersunk perforation. 12. Bead with conical perforation. 13. Bead with bi-conical perforation. 14. Bead imperfectly perforated.] In 1881 some very important additions to the National Museum were made, from the mounds of Tennessee. These include a great wealth of objects in shell. From the McMahan mound at Sevierville, Tenn., there are a dozen shell pins, all made from the _Busycon perversum_. The entire specimens range from three to six inches in length; two are fragmentary, having lost their points by decay. In shape these objects are quite uniform, being, however, as a rule, more slender in the shaft than the average pin. The heads range from one-half to one inch in length, and are generally less than one inch in diameter. They are somewhat varied in shape, some being cylindrical, others being conical above. The shaft is pretty evenly rounded, but is seldom symmetrical or straight. It is rarely above one-half an inch in diameter, and tapers gradually to a more or less rounded point. The groove of the canal shows distinctly in all the heads, and may often be traced far down the shaft. In a number of cases the surface retains the fine polish of the newly-finished object, but it is usually somewhat weathered, and frequently discolored or chalky. These specimens were found in the mounds along with deposits of human remains, and generally in close proximity to the head; this fact suggests their use as ornaments for the hair. Two illustrations are given in Plate XXX. Fig. 1 represents a fine example, six and a quarter inches in length. The head is deeply grooved, and is apparently cut from the middle part of the columella, the shaft being formed from the spine-like basal point. The spiral canal, which is clearly defined, makes but one revolution in the entire length of the pin. In Fig. 5 a somewhat similar specimen is represented. Two fine specimens come from a mound on Fain's Island, Tennessee River. The larger one is made from the columella of some heavy shell, probably the _Strombus gigas_. The head is cylindrical, and the shaft large, but imperfect. The smaller is a little more than two inches in length, the head being small and conical, and the point more than usually blunt. Another specimen was obtained from a mound at Taylor's Bend, near Dandridge, Tenn. The head is almost spherical, and the point broken off; the whole surface is new looking and highly polished. A number of bone pins pointed at both ends were obtained from Fain's Island, besides many perforators and other well-made implements of bone. Prof. C. C. Jones describes[55] a number of shell pins without mentioning localities, stating, however, that such pins have been obtained from a mound on the Chattahoochie River, below Columbus, Ga. He publishes illustrations of two varieties. One, of the ordinary type, is five and a half inches in length, one inch of that distance being occupied by the head, which is an inch and a quarter in diameter. The shank is an inch and a half in circumference, and, while tapering somewhat, is quite blunt at the point. The other is of somewhat rare occurrence, being pointed at both ends. An example of this variety is given in Fig. 4, Plate XXX. They are usually small and short, seldom exceeding three inches in length. In the national collection there are ten fine pins, obtained by C. L. Stratton from a mound on the French Broad River, fifteen miles above Knoxville, Tenn. Four only are made from the _Busycon perversum_. The largest specimen has a very large, cylindrical head, with an extremely deep groove. The shaft has been at least five inches long, and is nearly one-half an inch in diameter. Another fine specimen is five inches long, very slender, and nearly symmetrical. A small, almost headless pin, not quite one and a half inches in length, is peculiar in having a longitudinal perforation. It has probably been strung as a bead. A fourth specimen is five and three-quarters inches in length. The head is well rounded above, and the shaft tapers gradually to a slender symmetrical point. The other specimens from the same locality are in an advanced stage of decay, the points being entirely destroyed. The Peabody Museum contains a large number of very fine specimens of this class. The most important of these were obtained from the Brakebill, Lick Creek, and Turner mounds of Tennessee, by the Rev. E. O. Dunning. The largest of these is upward of six inches in length. An unusually symmetrical and well-preserved specimen from the Lick Creek mound is nearly seven inches in length. One specimen only in this collection differs from the type already described; this has been made from a dextral-whorled shell; the head is somewhat spherical, but is unusual in having an umbonate projection at the top. It is illustrated in Fig. 6, Plate XXX. Another small pin, which is about one and one-half inches in length, has a poorly defined head, and would seem useless for the purposes ordinarily suggested for the larger specimens. A recent collection from Pikeville, Tenn., includes a number of specimens made from the spike-like base of the _Busycon perversum_. They are roughly finished, and taper to a point at both ends. The larger ones are six inches in length and nearly one inch in diameter. All are perforated longitudinally. This perforation is neatly made and about one-eighth of an inch in diameter. In one specimen which has been broken open two perforations may be seen running almost parallel with each other, as if they had been bored from opposite ends and had failed to meet. The length of these perforations is quite remarkable, and it is difficult to understand how, with the primitive tools at the disposal of these people, a uniform diameter could be given throughout. One of these objects is shown in Fig. 3, Plate XXX. Other States besides Tennessee have furnished a limited number of shell pins. Their occurrence in a mound near Columbus, Ga., has already been mentioned. The national collection contains a fine specimen from Macon, Ga., collected by J. C. Plant. The Peabody Museum has a number from mounds on the Saint Francis River, Ark. One of these is illustrated in Fig. 8, Plate XXX. They differ from the pins heretofore described, being in all cases unsymmetrical. The shaft is flat and somewhat curved, and joins the mushroom-shaped head near one edge. This results from the peculiar shape of the portion of the shell from which the pin is derived, the head being cut from the peripheral ridge and the shaft from the body below or the shoulder above. Two specimens of this class have recently been obtained from a mound at Osceola, Ark. A profile view of one is shown in Fig. 10, Plate XXX. A pin of this class, from a burial mound at Black Hammock, Fla., is described and illustrated by Professor Wyman.[56] From the fact of its being perforated at the point, he regards it as a pendant ornament. He states that it is cut from the suture, where a whorl joins the preceding one. In this respect it resembles the specimens from Arkansas. It is made from a _Busycon perversum_. In the National Museum we have two specimens from Florida. One of these, from Pensacola, is illustrated in Fig. 2, Plate XXX, and is of the ordinary form. The other is a short, broad-headed specimen, illustrated in Fig. 7, Plate XXX. In the Peabody Museum are two small specimens of the ordinary type, from a mound near Jamestown, Va. One of these, a small, pointed variety, is given in Fig. 9, Plate XXX. [Illustration: PL. XXX--PINS--EASTERN FORMS.] In Volume VI of Schoolcraft's Indian Tribes, a pin, probably of shell, is shown in a plate illustrating relics from South Carolina. A few localities have furnished bone, stone, and clay pins similar to these in shape. Specimens of the latter may be found both in the National and Peabody museums. They were probably intended as stoppers for bottle-shaped earthen vessels. Bone pins are generally headless, and have in most cases been intended as implements for perforating and for sewing. Mr. Schumacher found a pin-like object of bone on the island of San Clemente, Cal. It resembles the shell pins pretty closely, having a somewhat spherical head. It is figured by Professor Putnam in a recent work.[57] As already stated, the exact uses to which these pins were applied by the mound-building tribes are unknown; various uses have been suggested by archæologists. The favorite idea seems to be that they were hair-pins, used by the savages to dress and ornament the hair. It would seem that many of them are too clumsy for such use, although when new they must have been very pretty objects. The shorter and headless varieties would certainly be quite useless. Similar objects of bone or ivory, often tastefully carved, are used by the natives of Alaska for scratching the head, although it seems improbable that this should have been their most important function. Professor Dall suggests that some of the shell pins may have been used as were the "blood-pins" of the Indians of the northwest coast. When game is killed by an arrow or bullet, the pin is inserted in the wound, and the skin drawn and stitched over the flat head, so that the much valued blood may be prevented from escaping. A small, very tastefully carved specimen of these pins is given in Plate XXXI, Fig. 4. It was obtained from the Indians of Oregon. A similar specimen comes from San Miguel Island, Cal. It is possible that they may have served some purpose in the arts or games of the ancient peoples; yet when we come to consider the very great importance given to ornaments by all barbarians, we return naturally to the view that they were probably designed for personal decoration. From the Pacific coast we have shell pins of a very different type. They also are made from the columellæ of large marine univalves, and were probably used as ornaments, doubtless to a great extent as pendants. These objects have been obtained in great numbers from the ancient graves of the California coast, at Santa Barbara, at Dos Pueblos, and on the neighboring islands of Santa Clara, Santa Catalina, San Clemente, and Santa Rosa. Professor Dall is of the opinion that the shell mostly used is the _Purpura crispata_, the smaller specimens probably being derived from the _Mitra maura_. Such a very concise description of these objects is given by Prof. F. W. Putnam in a recent paper that I beg leave to quote it here, omitting his references to figures: "A columella was ground down to the required size and shape, and made into a pendant by boring a hole through the larger end. In order to make this pendant still more attractive, the spiral groove is filled with asphaltum, or a mixture of that material and a red pigment. Sometimes the spiral groove was so nearly, or even wholly, obliterated in the process of grinding the columella into shape as to make it necessary to enlarge or even recut the groove in order to make a place for the much-loved asphaltum." Another form, made from another shell, is described, the whorls of which are "loose and open, so that a natural tube exists throughout the length of the spire; at the same time the spiral groove in the central portion is very narrow; consequently it has to be artificially enlarged for the insertion of the asphaltum, which thus winds spirally about the shell. As the natural orifice at the large end of the shell seems to have been too large for properly adjusting and confining the ornament as desired, this difficulty was overcome by inserting a small shell of _Dentalium_, or by making a little plug of shell, which is carefully fitted and bored."[58] The national collection contains upward of fifty of these pins, which come from ancient graves at Santa Barbara and Dos Pueblos, Cal., and from the islands of Santa Cruz and San Miguel. These vary in length from one to five inches, the well-finished specimens seldom reaching one half an inch in diameter. At the upper end they round off somewhat abruptly to an obtuse point, but taper to a sharp point at the lower end, something like a cigar. Two fine examples are shown in Figs. 1 and 2, Plate XXXI. All show the spiral groove, and nearly all have portions of the asphaltum remaining. The columellæ from which they are made may be to some extent naturally perforated, but are certainly not sufficiently so to permit the ready passage of a cord. The points are seldom sharp, and are often broken off. A bit of _Dentalium_ inserted into the perforation and set with asphaltum helps to enforce the point and to guard against further breakage. The larger specimens are seldom perforated transversely at either end, while the smaller ones are almost always perforated at the larger end, which is slightly flattened. A good example is shown in Fig. 5, Plate XXXI. A peculiar bulb-pointed specimen is illustrated in Fig. 6, Plate XXXI. The bulb is made from the upper end of the columella. There are six of these pins in the collection. The consideration of these pins leads naturally to the presentation of other classes of objects manufactured from the columellæ of marine univalves among which beads are the most numerous and important. [Illustration: PL. XXXI--PINS--PACIFIC COAST FORMS. 1. Shell pin from San Miguel Island. 2. Shell pin from Dos Pueblos, Cal. 3. An untrimmed columella. 4. Bone pin from Oregon. 5. Shell pin from San Miguel Island. 6. Shell pin from San Miguel Island. (1/1)] BEADS. I shall not attempt within the limits of this paper to give more than an outline of this important division of my subject. The use of beads seems to have been almost universal with peoples of all times and of all grades of culture, and the custom of wearing them is a relic of barbarism that promises to be carried a long way into the future. All suitable natural objects have been brought into requisition--animal, vegetable, and mineral. Shells from the sea, precious stones from the mountains, and fruits from the forest have been utilized; and claws of birds, teeth of animals, and even the nails of the human hand have been worked into ornaments to gratify the barbaric vanity of the "untutored savage." The flinty substance of the shells of mollusks has been a favorite material at all times and with all peoples. Especially is this true of the shell-loving natives of North America, among whom shell beads have been in use far back into the prehistoric ages, and who to-day, from Oregon to Florida, burden themselves to discomfort with multiple strings of their favorite ornament; and this, too, without reference to their value as money or their service as charms. On the necks of brawny and unkempt savages I have seen necklaces made of the highly glazed _Oliva_, or of the iridescent nacre of the pearly _Haliotis_, that would not shame a regal wardrobe, and have marveled at the untaught appreciation of beauty displayed. Beads made of shell may have three divisions based upon derivation, and three based upon function. First, they consist of all smaller varieties of natural shells, pierced for suspension, or only slightly altered, to add to beauty or convenience; second, they are made of the shells of bivalves and the outer walls of univalves; or, third, of the columellæ of the larger univalves cut to the desired sizes, and shaped and polished to suit the savage taste. As to function, they may be classed as personal ornaments, as money, and as material for mnemonic records. PERFORATED SHELLS. Under this head I shall examine briefly the manner of piercing or altering the smaller varieties of shells preparatory to stringing. The multitudes of perforated shells exhumed from the graves of our ancient tribes afford a fruitful field of study, and our large collections of more recent specimens serve to illustrate the manner in which they were employed. In Plate XXXII illustrations are given showing the various methods of manipulation and perforation. In North America the _Marginella_, the _Oliva_, and the _Cyprea_ seem to lead in importance. Fig. 1 represents an _Oliva_, the apex of which has been broken away and the rough edge ground down, producing a passage for a thread, which may be introduced through the natural aperture below. This is a common method of perforation in many widely separated districts, and with a considerable variety of shells. The specimen figured is from a mound in Cocke County, Tenn. It is an _Oliva literata_ from the Atlantic coast. Fig. 2 shows a very usual method of treating small univalves. The most prominent part of the lower whorl is ground down until the wall is quite thin, and a small round hole is then drilled through it. The specimen illustrated is a large _Olivella biplicata_, obtained from the island of Santa Rosa, Cal. Figs. 3 and 4 illustrate specimens from Mexico. Some thin-bladed implement, probably of stone, has been used to saw a slit or notch in the first convolution of the shell near the inner lip. Fig. 3 has one of these perforations, and Fig. 4 has two. The shell is the _Oliva literata_, from the Atlantic coast. Fig. 5 is simply one-half of an _Olivella biplicata_ with the interior parts extracted. It is made by cutting the shell longitudinally and drilling a central perforation. The specimen figured is from San Miguel Island, Cal. Fig. 6 illustrates the manner of breaking out a disk preparatory to making a bead. This disk, when perforated, is frequently used by the Indians of the Pacific coast without additional finish. Fig. 7 shows two examples of beads made from small specimens of the _Olivella biplicata_; both extremities are ground off, leaving a rather clumsy cylinder. The originals are from graves on the island of Santa Rosa. Such beads are frequently worn at the present time. One of the specimens shown in Fig. 8 is from a grave in Monroe County, New York, and the other is from a mound in Perry County, Ohio. The shell is the _Marginella conoidalis_, which has a wide distribution in the ancient burial-places of the Atlantic slope. In making the perforation the shoulder is often ground so deeply as to expose the entire length of the interior spiral. Fig. 9 represents a perforated _Cerrithidea sacrata_, from Santa Rosa Island, Cal. The method of perforating employed is a usual one with small shells of this form. Similar specimens come from many parts of the United States. Beads of this and the preceding variety are said to have constituted the original wampum of the Atlantic seaboard. Fig. 10 illustrates a rude bead made from the spire of a univalve, probably a small specimen of _Busycon perversum_. Most of the body of the shell has been removed and a perforation made near the border. Three of these specimens were found in a burial mound at Murphysboro, Ill. Fig. 11 illustrates a perforated _Cyprea_ from the Pacific coast. This is a recent specimen, which illustrates an ancient as well as a modern method of perforation. Fig. 12 shows a rather peculiar method of treating _Cyprea_ shells by the tribes of the Pacific coast and the Pacific islands. The prominent part of the back is cut or ground away, and the columella is partially or wholly removed, a passage the full size of the natural aperture being thus secured. This is also an ancient as well as a modern method of treatment. [Illustration: PL. XXXII--PERFORATED SHELL BEADS. (1/1)] Small bivalve shells are prepared for stringing by drilling one or more holes in the center or near the margin, according to the manner in which they are to be strung. Such beads have been in almost universal use by primitive peoples, both ancient and modern. Shells with natural perforations, such as the _Fissurellas_ and _Dentalia_, are extensively employed by the west coast peoples, and foreign varieties of the latter have been largely imported by Europeans, and from very early times have been used by the tribes of all sections. The natural perforation of the _Fissurella_ is often artificially enlarged, and additional perforations are made near the margin. Examples may be seen in Plate XLIX. I shall include under the head of beads all small objects having a central or nearly central perforation, made for the purpose of stringing them in numbers. In shape, they range from straw-like cylinders, three, four, and even five inches long, with longitudinal perforations, to thin, button-like disks, two or more inches in diameter. In general the cylinders are made from the columellæ of univalves, and the disks from the outer walls of the same, or from the shells of bivalves. Of course, there are forms that fall under no classification, such as disks with perforations parallel with the faces, or cylindrical forms with transverse perforations, while many small, pendant-like objects, of varied shapes, are strung with the beads, and might be classed with them; but these are exceptions, and can be described along with the classified objects most nearly resembling them. The grinding down and the perforating of natural shells is easily accomplished, so that any savage could afford to decorate his person with this jewelry in profusion. But the class of beads illustrated in Plates XXXIII, XXXIV, and XXXV could not have been made without the expenditure of much time and labor, and doubtless owe their existence, in a measure, to mercenary motives. As they were made from the walls or columellæ of massive shells, they must have been broken or cut out, ground smooth about the edges, and perforated; this, too, with most primitive tools. DISCOIDAL BEADS. In shape discoidal beads range from the concavo-convex sections of the curved walls of the shell to totally artificial outlines, in such forms as doubly-convex disks, cylinders, and spheroids. In size the disks vary from very minute forms, one-tenth of an inch in diameter and one-thirtieth of an inch in thickness, to two inches in diameter and nearly one-half an inch in thickness. The thickness of the finished beads is governed in a great measure by the thickness of the shell from which they are manufactured. The _Venus mercenaria_ of the Atlantic coast and the heavier _Unios_ of the Mississippi Valley give a general thickness of from one-eighth to three-eighths of an inch, while others, such as the heavy clams of the Pacific, are very much thicker. The walls of univalves, especially near the base, are often extremely heavy, while the smaller varieties of shells furnish specimens of wafer-like thinness. In Plate XXXIII a series of beads of this class is given, beginning with the smaller disks and ending with those of large, though not the largest, size. In Fig. 1 I present two views of a minute disk, obtained, with many others of similar shape and size, from a mound on Lick Creek, Tenn. The perforations in these specimens, as well as in most of those that follow, are bi-conical, and sufficiently irregular in form to indicate that they are hand-made. Beads of this general appearance have been found in a multitude of graves and mounds, distributed over a large part of North as well as of South America. A vast majority of these beads are doubtless of aboriginal make, as they are found in the oldest mounds. Fig. 2 represents a minute form from Santa Cruz Island, Cal. The peripheral surface is ornamented with a net-work of incised lines. Fig. 3 illustrates a small cylindrical bead, with large perforation, from a mound near Prairie du Chien, Wis. It was found, with a number of others, near the neck of the skeleton of a child. Fig. 4 represents a small spheroidal bead from the great mound near Sevierville, Tenn.; it is neatly made and well preserved. Figs. 5 and 6 illustrate specimens of roughly finished concavo-convex disks, much used by both ancient and modern tribes of California, Arizona, and New Mexico. I essayed at one time to purchase a long necklace of these homely ornaments from a Navajo Indian in Arizona, but soon discovered that it was beyond my reach, as my best mule was hardly considered a fair exchange for it. These beads are made from the _Oliva_ chiefly, but to some extent from small bivalves. This bead is not common in the mounds of the Mississippi Valley, but is used by many modern savages. It seems to be the form called, by the Indians of Virginia, "roenoke," which, according to Beverly, is made of the cockle-shell, broken into small bits, with rough edges, and drilled through in the same manner as beads. Fig. 7 represents a smoothly cut bead of medium size, said to have been obtained from a grave at Lynn, Mass. It has been cut from the curved wall of some large univalve, and is very similar to modern specimens in use over a greater part of the United States. Fig. 8 belongs to a necklace brought from the northwest coast, and is very much like the specimen shown in Fig. 7. Fig. 9 is a well-made specimen from Sevierville, Tenn. The sides are ground perfectly flat and the edges are well rounded. The shell is very compact, and well preserved, and bears a close resemblance to bone or ivory. Fig. 10 represents a thin, fragile disk, from a mound in Southern Illinois. It is made of a _Unio_, and separates into thin sheets or flakes, like mica. Figs. 11 and 12 illustrate two compact, nearly symmetrical specimens from a mound at Paint Rock Ferry, Tenn. Fig. 13 is from the same locality, and is hemispherical in shape. Fig. 14 represents a button-like disk, with large conical perforation, from a mound at Paint Rock Ferry, Tenn. It has probably been made from the wall of a large marine univalve. The fine specimen shown in Fig. 15 comes from a mound in Cocke County, Tenn., and is unusually well preserved. It is very compact, having the appearance of ivory, and has probably been made from the basal portion of a large univalve. The perforation is extremely large, and is conical, having been bored entirely from one side. Figs. 16 and 17 represent two fine specimens from California. They are nearly symmetrical, the faces being flat or slightly convex. The smaller one has been coated with some dark substance--the result, probably, of decay--which has broken away in places, exposing the chalky shell. The edges are ornamented with shallow lines or notches. Such disks, when used as ornaments, probably formed the central piece of a necklace, or were fixed singly to the hair, ears, or costume. As long as these larger specimens retained the color and iridescence of the original shell, they were extremely handsome ornaments, but in their present chalky and discolored state they are not prepossessing objects. This plate will serve as a sort of key for reference in the study of beads of this class, as the specimens are typical. [Illustration: PL. XXXIII--DISCOIDAL BEADS. (1/1)] MASSIVE BEADS. Beads made from the columellæ of univalves have generally a number of distinguishing characteristics. They are large and massive, and rarely symmetrical in outline, being sections of roughly dressed columns. They are somewhat cylindrical, and often retain the spiral groove as well as other portions of the natural surface. In cases where the form is entirely artificial they may be distinguished by the sinuous character of the foliation. The perforation is nearly always with the axis of the bead, and is in most cases bi-conical. In Plate XXIX a series of cuts is given which illustrates the various methods of perforation and shows very distinctly the differences between the rude work of savages and the mechanically perfect work of modern manufacturers. Beads of this class are more decidedly aboriginal in character than those of any other group, and are without doubt of very ancient origin. They are widely distributed, and have been found in graves and mounds covering an area outlined by Massachusetts, Canada West, Minnesota, Missouri, and the Gulf and Atlantic coasts. Figs. 1, 6, 7, 11, and 14 of Plate XXXIV represent typical specimens of this class. In every case they are considerably altered by decay, rarely retaining any of the original polish. All come from ancient burial mounds, some of the interments of which probably antedate, while others post-date, the coming of the whites. The bead shown in Fig. 1 is made from the columella of a _Busycon perversum_. It is a rude, tapering cylinder, with rounded ends and deep spiral groove. The perforation is bi-conical and somewhat irregular. This, with many similar beads, made of both dextral and sinistral shells, was associated with human remains in the great mound at Sevierville, Tenn. The bead illustrated in Fig. 6 has been made from the column of some dextral whorled shell. It was obtained from a mound on Lick Creek, East Tenn. It is a typical specimen of average size, and illustrates very well the large collection of this class of relics made by Dr. Troost. Fig. 7 was obtained from a mound at Franklin, Tenn. It is cut from the columella of a _Busycon perversum_, and is of the usual form, being a heavy, short cylinder, rounded at the ends until it is somewhat globular. The perforation is very large, and has been made almost entirely from one end. The surface is much weathered, the firmer _laminæ_ being distinctly relieved. Other specimens from the same locality are much smaller. Fig. 11 is from a grave in an ancient cemetery at Swanton, Vt., and is similar to the preceding, having been cut, however, if correctly represented, from a dextral whorled shell. The cut is copied from a paper by G. H. Perkins.[59] Fig. 14 illustrates a very large specimen of these beads from the Lick Creek Mound, East Tenn. The surface is encrusted, stained, and decayed. It has been made from the broad beak of a _Strombus_ or dextral whorled _Busycon_. The perforation is symmetrical and bi-conical. Specimens upwards of two inches in length and one and one-fourth in width come from the same place. The larger perforations are three-eighths of an inch in diameter at the ends and quite small in the middle. Fig. 12 represents a large bead of symmetrical outline, made from the columella of a _Busycon perversum_. The shape is artificial, with the exception of a small portion of the spiral canal. The surface retains much of the original polish, but exfoliation has commenced on one side. The perforation is about three-sixteenths of an inch in diameter at the ends and one-sixteenth in the middle. There is a slight offset where the perforations meet. It is from a burial mound at Harrisburg, Ark. The bead shown in Fig. 9 is one of a large number obtained from a mound at East St. Louis, Ill. It is a symmetrical, well-polished cylinder. The small portion of the spiral groove which remains indicates that it is derived from a _Busycon perversum_. The perforation is neatly made and doubly conical in shape. The symmetry, finish, and fine condition of this bead lead to the suspicion that it may be of recent manufacture. Its form is by no means a common one among ancient mound relics. The bead represented in Fig. 10 is described and illustrated by Squier and Davis.[60] This, with many similar specimens, was taken from a mound in the Ohio Valley. It is made from the columella of some marine univalve, and is well wrought and symmetrical. Fig. 5 is a flattish, highly polished bead from Monroe County, New York. The material, which resembles ivory, may have been obtained from the tusk of some animal. It is slightly concave on one side and convex on the other. The perforation is neatly made and of uniform diameter throughout. In Fig. 4 I present a bead of unusual shape; it is made from the basal portion of some heavy univalve. The axis and perforation are at right angles to the plane of lamination. The middle portion of the bead has been excavated, producing a form resembling a labret or lip-block, in common use by many tribes. It is from a mound on French Broad River, Tenn. We have a bead of similar shape, but which has a lateral perforation, from a mound at Nashville, Tenn. Fig. 2 illustrates a spheroidal bead obtained from an ancient grave on Santa Rosa Island, Cal. The form is unusually symmetrical and the perforation neatly made, being small, doubly conical, and slightly countersunk at one end. The surface is smooth and retains a little of the original purplish hue of the shell, probably a _Hennites giganteus_. Others of the same shape from this locality exhibit like characteristics. A few similar specimens come from San Miguel Island. Another large specimen from this locality is shown in Fig. 8. It is somewhat flat, and is quite wide in the middle portion, tapering rapidly towards the ends. The perforation is small and regular. The lines of foliation are distinctly marked, but are not sufficiently characteristic to indicate the part of the shell from which the bead is derived. _Pearls._--Two of the most remarkable beads in the national collection are illustrated in Figs. 3 and 13. The latter is an enormous pearl, probably derived from the _Haliotis Californianus_. It is somewhat pear-shaped, the base being rounded and the apex a little bent. The transverse section is subtriangular. Having been buried for an unknown period in the soil or sand, it has suffered greatly from decay, and has probably lost considerably by exfoliation. The thin, chalky lamellæ come away readily in concentric scales, exposing the iridescent _nacre_ beneath. The perforation is about one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter, and seems to pass through a natural cavity in the interior of the pearl. The smaller specimen given in Fig. 3 is in many respects, similar to the large one. Another, of about the same size as Fig. 3 bears quite a marked resemblance to a lima bean, and is pierced laterally, giving a button like appearance. These specimens were obtained from graves on San Miguel Island, by Stephen Bowers. [Illustration: PL. XXXIV--MASSIVE BEADS AND PEARLS. (1/1)] TUBULAR BEADS. In Plate XXXV I have arranged a number of cylindrical beads, together with a few others of unclassified form. Figs. 1 and 2 illustrate the most common form of the ancient wampum, the white example being made from the columella of a small univalve, and the dark one from the purple portion of a _Venus mercenaria_. The specimens represented belong to the celebrated "Penn belt," preserved in the rooms of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. It is not known positively that beads of this particular shape were employed in pre-Columbian times; but it is certainly one of the earliest historical forms, and one which has been manufactured extensively by the Indians as well as by the whites. They may be found both in very old and in very recent graves, in widely separated parts of the United States and British America, and have always formed an important part of the stock of the Indian trader. Figs. 3 and 4 represent a very large class of Pacific coast forms. These are from the island of San Miguel. They are simple white cylinders, with somewhat irregular bi-conical perforations. Many examples may be found which taper slightly toward the ends. They are coated with a rusty-looking deposit, which breaks away easily, exposing the chalky substance of the shell. They range from one-half to three inches in length, and from one-eighth to three-eighths in diameter. They are probably made from the thick valves of the _Pachydesma crassatelloides_ or the _Amiantis callosa_. They were probably used as beads for the neck and as pendant ornaments for the ears. The longer specimens may have been worn in the nose. It is also said that beads of this class were used as money. Fig. 5 illustrates a very long, tubular bead found at Piscataway, Md. It has been made from the columella of some large univalve. It is four and a half inches long and one-fourth of an inch in diameter. The surface is smooth, but a little uneven, and the ends taper slightly. The perforation which has apparently been made from both ends, as there is an offset near the middle, is quite regular, though slightly enlarged near the ends. A large number of beads of the class illustrated in Fig. 6, Plate XXXV, were obtained from the ancient graves of San Miguel Island, Cal. They have been made from one of the large bivalve shells of the Pacific coast, probably the _Pachydesma crassatelloides_. The curvature of the bead is the result of the natural curve of the valve from which it is fashioned. The larger specimens are nearly five inches in length. In the middle portion they are three-eighths of an inch in diameter. They taper gradually towards the ends to the size of the perforation, which averages about one-sixteenth of an inch. The curvature of the bead is so great that there has been much difficulty in making the perforations from opposite ends meet, and none of the larger specimens will permit the passage of a wire, although the perforations lap considerably and water passes through quite freely. It will be observed that the surface of these objects is coated with a dark, rough film, which, when broken away, exposes the natural shell. Such beads may have been used as nose ornaments, but more probably formed parts of some composite ornament for the neck or ear. Fig. 7 represents a bone nose ornament obtained from the Pai-Ute Indians by Professor Powell. Its shape is not unlike that of the curved bead just described. The large rude bead given in Fig. 8 is made from the thick lip or rim of the _Haliotis Californianus_. This, with a number of similar specimens, was obtained from an ancient grave at Dos Pueblos, Cal. The perforations are all large and symmetrical. In one case the hole has been reduced at the ends by inserting small bits of shell, through which minute passages have been made. In Figs. 9 and 10 I give two illustrations of a bead of rather remarkable form. A large number of similar specimens have been brought from Dos Pueblos, La Patera, and the islands of San Miguel and Santa Cruz. They are made from the hinge of the _Hennites giganteus_, a large bivalve, having a delicate purplish tinge. The shape results from the form of the hinge; the curve is the natural curve of the shell; and the notch near the middle of the convex side is the natural pit, often somewhat altered by art to add to the appearance or to assist in completing the perforation. The holes are generally very small, and have been made with much difficulty, owing to the curvature of the bead. Where by accident the perforation has become enlarged at the end, it has been bushed by setting in a small piece of shell. The specimen figured is perforated near the end for suspension, no longitudinal perforation having been attempted. Fig. 11 shows one of these beads in an unfinished state, the portion of the hinge used being roughly broken out and slightly rounded. We have in the national collection specimens of this class in all stages of manufacture. Professor Haldeman has described and illustrated a number of similar beads. He describes the rounded notch near the middle as artificial, and considers it a device to help out the perforation or facilitate the stringing. Professor Putnam, in the same work,[61] states that the "notches were subsequently filled with asphaltum even with the surface of the shell." The curved bead illustrated in Fig. 12 is made from a _Dentalium indianorum_ (?) by removing the conical point. These shells, either entire or in sections, are much used by the Indians of the northwest, both as ornaments and as a medium of exchange. [Illustration: PL. XXXV--BEADS. 1, 2. Beads from the Penn Belt. 3, 4. Pacific coast forms. 5. Bead from Maryland. 6. A Pacific coast form. 7. A Pai-Ute nose ornament (bone). 8. Bead made from a _Haliotis_. 9, 10, 11. Beads made from hinge of _Hennites_. 12. Bead made from a _Dentalium_. 13. Bead from mound, Tenn. (1/1)] RUNTEES. In Plate XXXVI I present a number of illustrations of a class of relics which have occasionally been mentioned in literature, and which are represented to some extent in our collections. As these objects resemble beads rather more closely than pendants, I shall refer to them in this place, although Mr. Schoolcraft considers them badges of honor or rank, and treats them as gorgets. He describes them as consisting of a "circular piece of flat shell, from one and a half to two inches in diameter, quartered with double lines, having the devices of dots between them. This kind was doubly perforated in the plane of the circle."[62] In "Notes on the Iroquois," by the same author, we have a much fuller description. He says that "this article is generally found in the form of an exact circle, rarely a little ovate. It has been ground down and repolished, apparently, from the conch. Its diameter varies from three-fourths of an inch to two inches; thickness, two-tenths in the center, thinning out a little towards the edges. It is doubly perforated. It is figured on the face and its reverse, with two parallel latitudinal and two longitudinal lines crossing in its center, and dividing the area into four equal parts. Its circumference is marked with an inner circle, corresponding in width to the cardinal parallels. Each division of the circle thus quartered has five circles, with a central dot. The latitudinal and longitudinal bands or fillets have each four similar circles and dots, and one in its center, making thirty-seven. The number of these circles varies, however, on various specimens. In the one figured there are fifty-two."[63] Figs. 1 and 2 are copied from Plate 25 of Schoolcraft. The smaller was obtained from an ancient grave at Upper Sandusky, Ohio, and the larger from an Indian cemetery at Onondaga, N. Y. Others have been found at Jamesville, Lafayette, and Manlius, in the latter State. The Indians, according to Mr. Schoolcraft, have no traditions respecting this class of objects, and we are quite in the dark as to their significance or the manner in which they were used. Mr. W. M. Beauchamp, of Baldwinsville, N. Y., has very kindly sent me sketches of two of these objects. The originals were obtained from an ancient village site at Pompey, N. Y. One is almost a duplicate of the smaller specimen copied from Schoolcraft, but the other, which is illustrated in Fig. 4, Plate XXXVI, presents some novel features. The central portion of the face is occupied by a rosette-like design, which consists of six sharply oval figures that radiate from the center like the spokes of a wheel. These rays are ornamented with a series of oblique lines, arranged in couplets. The margin is encircled by a narrow band, similarly figured. Mr. Beauchamp expresses the opinion that these specimens are of European origin. The specimen shown in Fig. 3 belongs to a necklace now in the national collection. This necklace was obtained from the Indians of New Mexico by Lieutenant Whipple, and consists of three of these shell ornaments, together with about fifty small porcelain beads. The shell beads are strung at regular intervals. The specimen illustrated is ornamented with a design in minute conical pits, arranged precisely as are the circlets in the crosses and encircling bands of the New York and Ohio specimens. The edges and surfaces are much worn by use. The substance of the shell is well preserved, and has an ivory-like appearance although in the specimen shown in the cut the lamination of the shell is distinctly seen. The perforations in these three specimens are quite symmetrical, and suggest the use of machinery. The method of perforation is identical in all these specimens, and will be readily understood by reference to the two sections given in Figs. 5 and 6. All of these specimens are nearly circular; but the regularity of the outline is in some cases marred by shallow notches produced by wear at the perforations. This wear has been accelerated by the abrasion of the small beads with which the disks have probably been strung. It will be noticed that there is quite a close resemblance between these objects and the "runtees" of the early writers. Beverly gives an illustration of an Indian boy who is described as wearing a necklace of these "runtees," which "are made of the Conch Shell, as the Peak is, only the Shape is flat and like a Cheese, and drill'd Edge-ways."[64] A portion of this illustration is copied in Fig. 5, Plate XXXVI. It will be seen by reference to this cut that the manner of stringing corresponds with the method in which the objects under consideration would have to be strung. [Illustration: PL. XXXVI--RUNTEES. 1. New York. 2. New York. 3. Arizona. 4. New York. 5, 6. Sections. 7. Manner of wearing. (1/1)] It is probable that the signification of the designs engraved upon these ornaments will remain forever a matter of conjecture. It cannot be affirmed that the cross, which occurs on the faces of most of the specimens, has any particular significance, although it may represent the points of the compass. That it may have some emblematic meaning is, however, not impossible. I have counted the number of circlets on all of the specimens with which I am acquainted. The result is shown in the following table: ----------------+-------------------------+------------------+------ | In the cross. | | +-------------------------+ In the |Total. |Longitudinal | Transverse| circle, exclusive| | arm. | arm. | of cross. | ----------------+-------------+-----------+------------------+------ No. 1 (Fig. 1) | 10 | 9 | 23 | 41 No. 2 (Fig. 3) | 10 | 12 | 27 | 48 No. 3 (Fig. 2) | 11 | 9 | 23 | 42 No. 4[A] | 9 | 9 | 20 | 37 No. 5[A] | 12 | 11 | 29 | 51 No. 6[B] | 9 | 9 | 20 | 37 ----------------+-------------+-----------+------------------+------ [A] Schoolcraft: Notes on Iroquois, p. 233. [B] From sketch by Mr. Beauchamp. The central circlet having been counted with each arm of the cross, the total number of circlets in each specimen will be one less than the sum of the three columns. These circlets may be numerals. The design may be significant of some rank, the badge of a secret order, or the totem of a clan. The general arrangement of the figures upon the face of these disks suggests an incipient calendar. These beads are doubtless American in origin, as nothing of a similar form, so far as I can learn, occurs in European countries. The fact that they are found in widely separated localities indicates that they were probably used in trade since the advent of the whites. This is possibly some form of bead held in high esteem by tribes of the Atlantic coast when first encountered by the whites who have taken up its manufacture for purposes of trade. BEADS AS ORNAMENTS. I have already spoken casually of the use of beads for personal ornament, but it will probably be better to enlarge a little upon the subject at this point. Beads are generally found in the graves of ancient peoples in a loose or disconnected state, the strings on which they were secured having long since decayed. We cannot, therefore, with certainty, restore the ancient necklaces and other composite ornaments; but we can form some idea of their character by a study of the objects of which they were made and the positions held by these objects at the period of exhumation. Much can also be learned by a study of the ornaments of modern peoples in similar stages of culture. As a rule, the combinations in the pendant ornaments of the ancient American seem to have been quite simple. Being without glass, and practically without metals, they had few of the resources of the modern savage. Their tastes were simple and congruous, not having been disturbed by the debasing influence of foreign innovation, which is the cause of so much that is tawdry and incongruous in the art of modern barbarians. A curious example of a modern necklace is given by Professor Haldeman,[65] who had in his possession an Abyssinian necklace "composed of European beads, cowries (_Cyprea_ shell), a triangular plate of glass, two small copper coins, small spheric brass buttons, cornelian, date-seeds, numerous cloves pierced through the sides, a fragment of wood, a bit of cane, and an Arab phylactery." Something can be learned of the practices of the ancient Americans in the use of beads and pendant ornaments generally, by a study of the remains of their paintings and sculptures--such, for instance, as may be found in the Goldsborough manuscripts or the superb lithographs of Waldeck, examples of which are given in Plate XLV. In a number of cases necklaces of the mound-builders have been found upon the necks of skeletons, just as they were placed at the time of burial. Captain Atwater in describing the contents of a mound at Marietta, Ohio, makes the statement that on the breast of a skeleton "lay a stone ornament, with two perforations, one near each end, through which passed a string, by means of which it was suspended around the wearer's neck. On the string, which was made of sinew, and very much injured by time, were placed a great many beads made of ivory or bone."[66] A similar necklace is described by Mr. Matson, in the Ohio Centennial Report, p. 127. It was found on the skeleton of a little girl, and was so made as to be larger in the center of the neck in front, tapering almost to a point at the middle of the back. On page 129 of the same volume much more varied uses of bead ornaments are suggested. Mr. Matson describes four skeletons, on each of which shell beads were found. In three cases they had been placed about the neck only; in the fourth, nearly thirty yards of beads had been used. There were four strands about the neck, crossing over on the breast and back and passing down between the legs. Strings passed down the legs to the feet, and were also found along the arms and around the wrists. The arrangement of the various parts of a necklace or string of pendants is found to be much alike the world over, consisting of a strand of beads, small toward the ends and increasing in size toward the middle, where a central bead or pendant of peculiar form or unusual size is placed. The practices of modern barbarians in the employment of beads as ornaments are extremely varied. They are employed in dressing the hair, in head-dresses and plumes, and pendants to these; as pendants to the hair, ears, nose, and lips; as necklaces and bracelets; as belts for the waist and sashes to be thrown across the shoulders; and as anklets and pendent ornaments to all parts of the costume. Father Rasles, writing of the Abnaki Indians of Canada in 1723, says: "If you wish to see him in all his finery, you will find he has no other ornaments but beads; these are a kind of shell or stone, which they form into the shape of little grains, some white and others black, which they string together in such a way as to represent different showy figures with great exactness. It is with these beads that our Indians bind up and plait their hair on their ears and behind; they make of them pendants for the ears, collars, garters, large sashes of five or six inches in breadth, and on these kinds of ornaments they pride themselves much more than a European would on all his gold and jewelry."[67] It is related of the New England Indians that more than a hundred years ago, they "hung strings of money about their necks and wrists, as also upon the necks and wrists of their wives and children. They also curiously make girdles, of one, two, three, four, and five inches thickness, and more, of this money; which, sometimes, to the value of ten pounds or more, they wear about their middle, and as a scarf about their shoulders and breasts. Yea, the princes make rich caps and aprons, or small breeches of these beads, thus curiously strung into many forms and figures; their black and white finely mixed together."[68] It is further recorded that the New England Indians "wore ear-rings and nose-jewels; bracelets on their arms and legs, rings on their fingers, necklaces made of highly polished shells found in their rivers and on their coasts. The females tied up their hair behind, worked bands round their heads and ornamented them with shells and feathers, and wore strings of beads round several parts of their bodies. Round their moccasins they had shells and turkey spurs, to tinkle like little bells as they walked."[69] The Indian women of the New Netherlands also gave great attention to personal decoration. One writer states that they ornamented the lower border of their skirts "with great art, and nestle the same with strips, which are tastefully decorated with wampum. The wampum with which one of these skirts is ornamented is frequently worth from one to three hundred guilders. * * * Their head-dress forms a handsome and lively appearance. Around their necks they wear various ornaments, which are also decorated with wampum. Those they esteem as highly as our ladies do their pearl necklaces. They also wear bead hand-bands, or bracelets, curiously wrought, and interwoven with wampum. Their breasts appear about half covered with an elegantly wrought dress. They wear beautiful girdles, ornamented with their favorite wampum, and costly ornaments in their ears."[70] Smith states, in writing of Powhatan, that he found him "reclining proudly upon a Bedstead a foote high, upon tenne or twelve Mattes, richly hung with manie Chaynes of great Pearles, about his necke, and covered with a great Couvering of Rahaughcums,"[71] and the young women who surrounded him wore "a great Chaine of white Beades over their shoulders."[72] The following is from Wood, whose quaint and graphic descriptions of the New England Indians are always interesting: "But a Sagamore with a Humberd in his eare for a pendant, a black hawk on his _occiput_ for his plume, Mowhackees for his gold chaine, a good store of Wampompeage begirting his loynes, his bow in his hand, his quiver at his back, with six naked _Indian_ spatterlashes at his heels for his guard, thinkes himselfe little inferior to the great _Cham_; he will not stick to say he is all one with King _Charles_. Hee thinkes hee can blow down Castles with his breath and conquer kingdomes with his conceit."[73] Du Pratz, in speaking of the Louisiana Indians, says: "The women's ear-rings are made of the center part of a large shell called bingo, which is about the thickness of one's little finger, and there is a hole in the ear about that size for holding it."[74] Lewis and Clark found the Shoshone Indians of the Upper Missouri using shells of the pearl oyster to decorate the collars of their fur tippets. The children wore beads around their necks; grown persons suspended them in little bunches from the ears, and the collars of the men were formed either of sea-shells from the southwest or from twisted grass with porcupine quills.[75] Among the Carrier Indians of the Northwest both sexes perforate their noses, and from them the men often suspend an ornament consisting of a piece of an oyster shell or a small piece of brass or copper. The women, particularly those who are young, run a wooden pin through their noses, upon each end of which they fix a kind of shell bead, which is about an inch and a half long, and nearly the size of the stem of a common clay pipe. These beads they obtain from their neighbors, the At-e-nâs, who purchase them from another tribe that is said to take them from the sea-shore, where they are reported to be found in plenty. It is also stated of the same Indians that "the young women and girls wear a parcel of European beads, strung together and tied to a lock of hair directly behind each ear. The men have a sort of collar of the shell beads already mentioned, which they wind about their heads or throw around their necks."[76] The absurd extreme to which this passion for ornament is carried is well illustrated by an example given by Swan, who, speaking of the tribes north of the Columbia River, says that "some of these girls I have seen with the whole rim of their ears bored full of holes, into each of which would be inserted a string of these shells that reached to the floor, and the whole weighing so heavy that, to save their ears from being pulled off, they were obliged to wear a band across the top of the head."[77] When, however, beads are found in the graves in quantity, by thousands or tens of thousands, we shall probably have to attribute to them other than ornamental uses. Captain Tom, of the Nishinam tribe of California, according to Powers,[78] had nearly a half bushel of shell beads and trinkets. One string of these, worn by his wife on special occasions, contained sixteen hundred pieces; but these treasures were hoarded because of their value as money rather than as ornaments. The wampum belts used by many of the tribes of Indians are known to contain enormous numbers of beads. One of the historical belts kept by the Onondagas among their treasures contains nearly ten thousand beads. The famous belt of William Penn has about three thousand. Sir John Lubbock, in his "Prehistoric Times," expresses surprise at the great number of beads sometimes found, instancing the Grave Creek mound of Virginia, which contained between three and four thousand. This number will, however, appear very insignificant when compared with a collection such as the costume of the great King Philip could have furnished. Drake relates that Philip had a coat "made all of wampampeag," which, when in need of money, he "cuts to pieces, and distributes it plentifully among the Nipmoog sachems and others, as well to the eastward as southward, and all round about."[79] By adding to this store of beads the contents of two belts, one of which was nine inches in breadth, and so long that when placed upon the shoulders it reached to the ankles, we conclude that the greatest collection ever taken from a prehistoric mound could not compare for a moment with the treasure of this one historic chieftain. A great deal of art is shown in the stringing and mounting of beads. The simplest form is a single strand, a twisted string of vegetable fiber, a strip of buckskin, or a bit of sinew being passed through the perforations. Again, rows of strands are placed side by side and fastened at intervals in such a manner as to keep them approximately parallel, or the beads when long are put on equidistant cross strands, the longitudinal strands serving to keep them in place; they are also woven into the fabric by being mounted upon one of the strands before twisting. It is also a very usual practice to sew them on strips of cloth or buckskin, patterns being produced by using beads of different colors. The manner of stringing in the manufacture of belts will be given in detail under Mnemonic Uses of Beads. BEADS AS CURRENCY. It will probably be impossible to prove that the prehistoric peoples of North America employed a medium of exchange in a manner corresponding to our use of money. It is a well-known fact, however, that a currency of shell beads was in general use throughout the Atlantic coast region very early in the historic period. Of all objects within the reach of savage peoples, shells, either in their natural forms or in fragments artificially fashioned for convenience of use, are the best adapted for such a purpose. In examining the contents of ancient cemeteries and mounds where all objects of value were to some extent deposited, we find no other relics that could have been conveniently used for such a purpose. It is not probable that objects subject to rapid decay, such as wood, fruits, and seeds, could ever have come into general use for money, although such objects are employed to some extent by savages in different parts of the world. The unlimited supply or easy manufacture of these objects would be against their use for this purpose, whereas the difficulty of shaping and perforating the flinty substance of shells would prevent such a plentiful production as to destroy the standard of value. Objects and substances having a fairly uniform value, resulting from their utilitarian attributes, have been employed by primitive peoples as standards of value; as, for instance, cattle, in ancient Rome; salt, in Assyria; tin, in Britain, and cocoa, in Mexico. But such mediums of exchange are local in use. With these articles this function is only accidental. The utilization of shells for money would naturally originate from the trade arising from their use as utensils and ornaments in districts remote from the source of supply. Yielding in the worked state a limited supply, and at the same time filling a constant demand, they formed a natural currency, their universal employment for purposes of ornament giving them a fixed and uniform value. They have undoubtedly been greatly prized by the ancient peoples, but on the part of the open-handed savage they were probably valued more as personal ornaments than as a means of gratifying avaricious propensities. Lewis H. Morgan, who had access to all the sources of information on the subject, says that "wampum has frequently been called the money of the Indian; but there is no sufficient reason for supposing that they ever made it an exclusive currency, or a currency in any sense, more than silver or other ornaments. All personal ornaments, and most other articles of personal property, passed from hand to hand at a fixed value; but they appear to have had no common standard of value until they found it in our currency. If wampum had been their currency it would have had a settled value, to which all other articles would have been referred. There is no doubt that it came nearer to a currency than any other species of property among them, because its uses were so general, and its transit from hand to hand so easy, that everyone could be said to need it." Yet he admits that "the use of wampum reaches back to a remote period upon this continent"; and further, that it was an original Indian notion which prevailed among the Iriquois as early at least as the formation of the League. He goes on to state that "the primitive wampum of the Iriquois consisted of strings of a small fresh-water spiral shell called in the Seneca dialect _Ote ko-á_, the name of which has been bestowed upon the modern wampum."[80] Loskiel says that "before the Europeans came to North America, the Indians used to make strings of wampom chiefly of small pieces of wood of equal size, stained either black or white. Few were made of muscle, which were esteemed very valuable and difficult to make; for, not having proper tools, they spent much time in finishing them, and yet their work had a clumsy appearance."[81] Hutchinson is of the opinion that "the Indians resident northeastward of the province of New York had originally no knowledge of this sort of money or medium of trade."[82] The great body of our historical evidence goes to show, however, that a currency of shell was in use among the Atlantic coast tribes when first encountered by the Europeans. Thomas Morton, in speaking of the Indians of New England as far back as 1630, says that "they have a kinde of beads in steede of money to buy withal such things as they want, which they call wampampeak; and it is of two sorts, the one is white and the other is a violet coloure. These are made of the shells of fishe; the white with them is as silver with us, the other as our gould, and for these beads they buy and sell, not only amongst themselves, but even with us. We have used to sell them any of our commodities for this wampampeak, because we know we can have beaver again from them for it: and these beads are current in all parts of New England, from one end of the coast to the other, and although some have endeavoured by example to have the like made, of the same kinde of shels, yet none has ever, as yet, obtained to any perfection in the composure of them, but the Savages have found a great difference to be in the one and the other; and have knowne the counterfett beads from those of their owne making and doe slight them."[83] According to Roger Williams also, the Indians of New England, as far back as his observations extend, were engaged in the manufacture of shell money as a well-established industry. It seems altogether impossible that such a custom should have been successfully introduced by the English, as the Indian is well known to be averse to anything like labor excepting in his traditional occupations of war and the chase, and if the whites had introduced it, would certainly have looked to them for a supply by means of trade in skins and game rather than apply himself to a new and strange art. Roger Williams says that "they that live upon the Sea side generally make of it, and as many as they will. The Indians bring downe all their sorts of Furs, which they take in the countrey, both to the Indians and to the English for this Indian Money: this Money the English, French and Dutch, trade to the Indians, six hundred miles in severall ports (north and south from New England) for their Furres, and whatsoever they stand in need of from them." Their methods were also aboriginal, another indication that the art was not of European introduction; and Williams states that "before ever they had awle blades from Europe, they made shift to bore their shell money with stones."[84] That wampum was also manufactured farther south we learn from Lindström, who is writing of the Indians of New Sweden: "Their money is made of shells, white, black, and red, worked into beads, and neatly turned and smoothed; one person, however, cannot make more in a day than the value of six or eight stivers. When these beads are worn out, so that they cannot be strung neatly, and even on one thread, they no longer consider them good. Their way of stringing them is to rub the whole thread full of them on their noses; if they find it slides smooth and even, like glass beads, then they are considered good, otherwise they break and throw them away."[85] Although Beverly did not write until the beginning of the eighteenth century, his statements are probably based upon accurate information. Speaking of the Virginia Indians, he says that they "had nothing which they reckoned riches before the English went among them, except _Peak_, _Roenoke_, and such-like trifles made out of the _Cunk Shell_. These past with them instead of Gold and Silver, and serv'd them both for Money and Ornament. It was the _English_ alone that taught them first to put a value on their Skins and Furs, and to make a Trade of them."[86] From Lawson, who wrote in 1714, but whose statements deserve consideration, we also learn that the money of the Carolina Indians is "all made of shells which are found on the coast of Carolina, which are very large and hard so that they are very difficult to cut. Some English smiths have tried to drill this sort of shell-money, and thereby thought to get an advantage; but it proved so hard that nothing could be gained."[87] Speaking of its use and value in New York, he remarks that "an Englishman could not afford to make so much of this wampum for five or ten times the value; for it is made out of a vast great shell, of which that country affords plenty; where it is ground smaller than the small end of a tobacco pipe, or a large wheat straw." * * * "This the Indians grind on stones and other things until they make it current, but the drilling is the most difficult to the Englishman, which the Indians manage with a nail stuck in a cane or reed. Thus they roll it continually on their thighs with their right hand, holding the bit of shell with their left; so, in time, they drill a hole quite through it which is a very tedious work; but especially in making their ronoak, four of which will scarce make one length of wampum. The Indians are a people that never value their time, so that they can afford to make them, and never need to fear the English will take the trade out of their hands. This is the money with which you may buy skins, furs, slaves, or anything the Indians have; it being their mammon (as our money is to us) that entices and persuades them to do anything, and part with everything they possess, except their children for slaves. As for their wives, they are often sold and their daughters violated for it. With this they buy off murders; and whatsoever a man can do that is ill, this wampum will quit him of and make him, in their opinion, good and virtuous, though never so black before."[88] Adair confirms the statements made by these writers, and adds emphasis to the fact that the shell beads had, among the Cherokees and other southern Indians, a fixed value as currency. "With these they bought and sold at a stated current rate, without the least variation for circumstances either of time or place; and now they will hear nothing patiently of loss or gain, or allow us to heighten the price of our goods, be our reasons ever so strong, or though the exigencies and changes of time may require it."[89] We find plentiful evidence in the stories of the early Spanish adventurers that beads made from sea shells were held in high esteem by the Indians of the south, but, so far as I am aware, there is no statement indicating that they formed a well-regulated medium of exchange. In regard to the manufacture of wampum by the whites, the following quotations will be instructive: "Many people at _Albany_ make the _wampum_ of the _Indians_, which is their ornament and their money, by grinding some kinds of shells and muscles; this is a considerable profit to the inhabitants."[90] "Besides the _Europeans_, many of the native _Indians_ come annually down to the sea shore, in order to catch clams, proceeding with them afterwards in the manner I have just described. The shells of these clams are used by the _Indians_ as money, and make what they call their wampum: they likewise serve their women as an ornament, when they intend to appear in full dress. These wampums are properly made of the purple parts of the shells, which the _Indians_ value more than the white parts. A traveller, who goes to trade with the _Indians_, and is well stocked with them, may become a considerable gainer; but if he take gold coin, or bullion, he will undoubtedly be a loser; for the _Indians_, who live farther up the country, put little or no value upon these metals which we reckon so precious, as I have frequently observed in the course of my travels. The _Indians_ formerly made their own wampums, though not without a deal of trouble: but at present the _Europeans_ employ themselves that way; especially the inhabitants of _Albany_, who get a considerable profit by it. In the sequel I intend to relate the manner of making wampum."[91] "The article was highly prized as an ornament, and as such constituted an article of trafic between the sea-coast and the interior tribes. * * * "The old wampum was made by hand, and was an exceedingly rude article. After the discovery, the Dutch introduced the lathe in its manufacture, polished and perforated it with exactness, and soon had the monopoly of the trade. The principal place of its manufacture was at Hackensak, in New Jersey. The principal deposit of sea shells was Long Island, where the extensive shell banks left by the Indians, on which it is difficult to find a whole shell, show the immense quantities that were manufactured."[92] The name _wampum_ is often applied to shell beads indiscriminately, but frequently has a more restricted significance, referring to the small cylindrical varieties used in strings and belts. It was known first in New England as _wampumpeag_, _wampompeage_, _peag_, _wompam_ and _wampum_; the Dutch of New Sweden knew it as _seawan_, _sewant_, and _seawant_, while on the Virginia coast, it was called _peak_, a roughly made discoidal variety being known as _ronoak_ or _roenoke_, and heavy flattish beads pierced edgeways were called _runtees_. It is probable that all of these names are American in origin, although there is some difference of opinion as to their derivation. Loskiel says that _wampom_ is an Iroquois word meaning muscle, but according to Morgan, who is probably the best modern authority on this subject, the word _wampum_ is not Iroquois in origin but Algonkin, as it was first known in New England as _wampumpeage_. Roger Williams, speaking of the money of the New England Indians, probably the Narragansetts (Algonkin), says that "their white they call _Wompam_ (which signifies white); their black _Suckanhock_ (_Sácki_, signifying black)." In another place he gives the word _wompi_ for white. Wood mentions two varieties of beads known in New England _wampompeage_ and _mowhackees_. The latter is probably derived from _mowêsu_, which, according to Williams, also signifies black. It would seem that we have but little evidence of the ancient use of shell money amongst the tribes of the Mississippi Valley or the Pacific coast; yet we are not without proofs that it came into use at a very early date throughout the entire West, and even today the custom is by no means obsolete. The ancient burial places of the Pacific coast are found to contain large quantities of beads precisely similar to those now used as money by the coast tribes. Lewis and Clark, speaking of traffic among the Indians of the Columbia River, state that shell beads are held in very high esteem by these people, and that to procure them they will "sacrifice their last article of clothing or their last mouthful of food. Independently of their fondness for them as an ornament these beads are the medium of trade by which they obtain from the Indians still higher up the river, robes, skins, chappeled bread, bear grass."[93] The _Dentalium_ shell has always been the favorite currency of the peoples of the Northwest and is highly valued, especially by the inland tribes. It is frequently found in ancient graves at great distances from the sea-shore. A few specimens have been found in burial places in the Ohio Valley, but we have no means of determining the source from which they were derived. As the modern use of this currency has but little archæologic interest, I will not enlarge upon the subject here. For further information the reader is referred to the following authors: J. K. Lord, The Naturalist in British Columbia, Vol. II, pp. 20 to 26; R. E. C. Stearns in the American Naturalist, Vol. III, No. 1, and in proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, Vol. V, Part II, p. 113; W. H. Pratt in proceedings of the Davenport Academy of Natural Sciences, Vol. II, Part I, p. 38; and Stephen Powers in Vol. 3, Contributions to North American Ethnology, pp. 21, 24, 30. MNEMONIC USE OF BEADS. One of the most remarkable customs practiced by the American Indians is found in the mnemonic use of wampum. This custom had in it a germ of great promise, one which must in time have become a powerful agent in the evolution of art and learning. It was a nucleus about which all the elements of culture could arrange themselves. I shall not at present undertake to divest the custom of adventitious features such as have been introduced by contact with European influence. Yet there is no reason to fear that any of the important or essential features have been derived from outside sources. It is not possible from any known records to demonstrate the great antiquity of this use of wampum. It does not seem probable, however, that a custom so unique and so wide-spread could have grown up within the historic period; nor is it probable that a practice foreign to the genius of tradition-loving races could have become so well established and so dear to their hearts in a few generations. Mnemonic records are known to have come into use among many nations at a very early stage of culture. Picture writing as developed in the north is but another form of mnemonic record, a fact, a thought, a verse of a song being associated with an ideographic design, more or less suggestive of the subject. The Peruvians had their _quipus_, in which the record was made by associating things to be remembered with knots made in cords of different colors, each combination having a fixed association. The Mexicans had gone further and had achieved a system of picture writing that was very unique and curious, in which a phonetic element had already made its appearance, while the Mayas could boast the discovery of a true phonetic system with an alphabet of twenty-seven sounds. The mnemonic use of wampum is one which, I imagine, might readily develop from the practice of gift giving and the exchange of tokens of friendship, such mementos being preserved for future reference as reminders of promises of assistance or protection. In time the use of such mementos would develop into a system capable of recording affairs of varied and complicated nature; particular facts or features of treaties would be assigned to particular objects, or portions of objects. With this much accomplished, but one step was necessary to the attainment of a hieroglyphic system--the permanent association of a single object or sign with a particular idea. The wampum records of the Iroquois were generally in the form of belts, the beads being strung or woven into patterns formed by the use of different colors. By association simply they were made to record history, laws, treaties, and speeches--a fact, a law, a stipulation, or a declaration being "talked into" a particular part or pattern of the design with which it was ever afterwards associated, thus giving additional permanency to tradition and bringing it one step further forward in the direction of written records. Such records were, of course, quite useless without the agency of an interpreter. Among the Iroquois, according to Morgan, one of the Onondaga sachems was made hereditary "keeper of wampum," whose duty it was to be thoroughly versed in its interpretation. But knowledge of the contents of these records was not confined to the keeper, or even to the sachems. At a certain season each year the belts were taken from the treasure-house and exposed to the whole tribe, while the history and import of each was publicly recited. This custom is kept up to the present day. It is recorded by Ruttenber that among the Mohicans a certain sachem had charge of the bag of peace which contained the wampum belts and strings used in establishing peace and friendship with the different nations.[94] Aside from records wampum was used in the form of strings and belts for a variety of purposes; some of them were probably mnemonic, others only partially so, being based either upon its association with the name of some chief or clan, or upon a semi-sacred character resulting from its important uses. It was employed in summoning councils, and the messenger who journeyed from tribe to tribe found in it a well recognized passport. When a council was called it was presented by the delegates from the various tribes as their credentials; it was used in the ceremony of opening and closing councils, as was also the calumet; it assisted in solemnizing oaths and in absolving from them; white, it was a messenger of peace; black, it threatened war, and covered with clay, it expressed grief. "White wampum was the Iroquois emblem of purity and faith, it was hung around the neck of the white dog before it was burned; it was used before the periodical religious festivals for the confession of sins, no confession being regarded as sincere unless recorded with white wampum; further than this, it was the customary offering in condonation of murder, although the purple was sometimes employed. Six strings was the value of a life, or the quantity sent in condonation, for the wampum was rather sent as a regretful confession of the crime, with a petition for forgiveness, than as the actual price of blood."[95] We readily recognize the influence of the Christian missionary in a number of these symbolic uses of wampum. The literature of wampum would fill a volume, but I forbear presenting more than will give an outline of the subject, confining myself to such quotations as will serve to show clearly the extent and importance of this ancient custom and its attendant practices. The method of handling the belts of wampum in the presence of ceremonial assemblies is extremely interesting, and cannot be better presented than in the words of eye-witnesses. The following is quoted from Brice, who is describing a council held in the Muskingum Valley in 1764: "An Indian council, on solemn occasions, was always opened with preliminary forms, sufficiently wearisome and tedious, but made indispensable by immemorial custom, for this people are as much bound by their conventional usages as the most artificial children of civilization. The forms were varied, to some extent, according to the imagination of the speaker, but in all essential respects they were closely similar throughout the tribes of the Algonkin and Iroquois lineage. "They run somewhat as follows, each sentence being pronounced with great solemnity, and confirmed by the delivery of a wampum belt: 'Brothers, with this belt I open your ears that you may hear; I remove grief and sorrow from your hearts; I draw from your feet the thorns that pierced them as you journeyed thither; I clean the seats of the council-house, that you may sit at ease; I wash your head and body, that your spirits may be refreshed; I condole with you on the loss of the friends who have died since we last met; I wipe out any blood which may have been spilt between us.' This ceremony, which, by the delivery of so many belts of wampum, entailed no small expense, was never used except on the most important occasions; and at the councils with Colonel Bouquet the angry warriors seem wholly to have dispensed with it. * * * And his memory was refreshed by belts of wampum, which he delivered after every clause in his harangue, as a pledge of the sincerity and truth of his words. "These belts were carefully preserved by the hearers as a substitute for written records, a use for which they were the better adapted, as they were often worked in hieroglyphics expressing the meaning they were designed to preserve. Thus at a treaty of peace the principal belt often bore the figure of an Indian and a white man holding a chain between them."[96] From an account of a council held by the Five Nations at Onondaga nearly two hundred years ago, to which the governor of Canada sent four representatives, I make the following extract: "During the course of the proceedings Cannehoot, a Seneca sachem, presented a proposed treaty between the Wagunhas and the Senecas, speaking as follows: 'We come to join the two bodies into one. * * * We come to learn wisdom of the Senecas (giving a belt). We by this belt wipe away the tears from the eyes of your friends, whose relations have been killed in the war. We likewise wipe the paint from your soldiers' faces (giving a second belt). We throw aside the ax which Yonondio put into our hands by this third belt.' A red marble sun is presented--a pipe made of red marble. 'Yonondio is drunk; we wash our hands clean from his actions (giving a fourth belt). * * * We have twelve of your nation prisoners; they shall be brought home in the spring (giving a belt to confirm the promise). We will bring your prisoners home when the strawberries shall be in blossom, at which time we intend to visit Corlear (the governor of New York), and see the place where wampum is made.' "The belts were accepted by the Five Nations, and their acceptance was a ratification of the treaty. A large belt was also given to the messengers from Albany as their share. A wampum belt sent from Albany was, in the same manner, hung up and afterwards divided."[97] This indicates a most extravagant use of belts; but since it is probable that as many were received in return this was a matter of little importance. The great profusion of wampum used in some of the later treaties is a matter of surprise. In a council held between four Indian ambassadors from New England and the French thirty-six fine large belts were given by the ambassadors to thank them that their people had not been treated with hostility.[98] "The appendix to the second volume of Proud's History of Pennsylvania contains the journals of Frederick Christian Post, who was sent by Governor Denny, in 1758, to make a treaty with the Alleghany Indians; and in delivering the governor's answer to the chiefs, on his second visit in the same year, after proposing to them to unite in a treaty of peace which had lately been concluded with the Indians at Easton, and producing sundry belts, one of which was marked with figures representing the English and the Indians delivering the peace-belt to one of the commissioners, he proceeds to say: 'Brethren on the Ohio, if you take the belts we just now gave you, as we do not doubt you will, then by _this belt_'--producing another and using their figurative style of speech--'I make a road for you, and invite you to come to Philadelphia, to your first old council-fire, which we rekindle up again, and remove disputes, and renew the first old treaties of friendship. This is a clear and open road for you; therefore, fear nothing, and come to us with as many as can be of the Delawares, Shawanese, or the Six Nations; we will be glad to see you; we desire all tribes and nations of Indians who are in alliance with you may come.' Whereupon a large white belt, with the figure of a man at each end and streaks of black representing the road from the Ohio to Philadelphia, was then given to them."[99] Lafitau, whose statements are considered unusually trustworthy, as they were based chiefly on personal observation of the Indian tribes of Canada, gives the following very instructive account of the mnemonic use of wampum: "All affairs are conducted by means of branches [strings] and necklaces [belts] of porcelain [wampum] which with them take the place of compacts, written agreements, and contracts. * * * The shell, which is used for affairs of state, is worked into little cylinders of a quarter of an inch in length and large in proportion. They are distributed in two ways, in strings and in belts. The strings are composed of cylinders threaded without order one after another, like the beads of a rosary; the beads are usually quite white, and are used for affairs of little consequence, or as a preparation for other more considerable presents.[100] "The belts are large bands, in which little white and purple cylinders are disposed in rows, and tied down with small thongs of leather, which makes a very neat fabric. The length and size and color are proportioned to the importance of the affair. The usual belts are of eleven rows of a hundred and eighty beads each. "The 'fisk,' or public treasure, consists principally of these belts, which, as I have said, with them, take the place of contracts, of public acts, and of annals or registers. For the savages, having no writing or letters, and therefore finding themselves soon forgetting the transactions that occur among them from time to time, supply this deficiency by making for themselves a local memory by means of words which they attach to these belts, of which each one refers to some particular affair, or some circumstance, which it represents while it exists. "They are so much consecrated to this use that besides the name _Gaïonni_, which is their name for the kind of belts most used, they bestow that of _Garihona_, which means a transaction; that of _Gaouenda_, voice or word, and of _Gaianderenfera_, which means grandeur or nobility; because all the affairs dignified by these belts are the endowment and province of the _agoïanders_ or nobles. It is they who furnish them; and it is among them that they are redivided when presents are made to the village, and when replies to the belts of their ambassadors are sent. "The _agoïanders_ and the ancients have, besides this, the custom of looking over them often together, and of dividing among themselves the care of noting certain ones, which are particularly assigned to them; so that in this way they do not forget anything. "Their wampum would soon be exhausted if it did not circulate; but in almost all affairs, either within or without, the law requires a reply, word for word, that is to say, for one belt one must give another, to be of about the same value, observing, however, a slight difference in the number of beads, which must be proportioned to the rank of the persons or nations with which they treat. "They do not believe that any transaction can be concluded without these belts. Whatever proposition is made to them, or reply given them, by word of mouth alone, the affair falls through, they say, and they let it fall through very effectually, as though there had been no question about it. Europeans little informed or little concerned about their usages have slightly inconvenienced them on this point in retaining their belts without giving them a similar response. To avoid the inconvenience which might arise from this they acquired the style of giving only a small quantity, excusing themselves on the plea that their wampum was exhausted; and they supplied the rest with packages of deer-skin, in return for which they were given trinkets of small value, so that transactions between the Europeans and them have become a sort of trade. "Although all the savage nations of America make various kinds of ornaments of shells, I believe that it is only those of North America who employ them in transactions. I cannot even affirm that all of these do."[101] A very complete account of wampum is given by Loskiel, from whose work the following extract is made: "Four or six strings joined in one breadth, and fastened to each other with fine thread, make a _belt of wampom_, being about three or four inches wide, and three feet long, containing, perhaps, four, eight, or twelve fathom of wampom, in proportion to its required length and breadth. This is determined by the importance of the subject which these belts are intended either to explain or confirm, or by the dignity of the persons to whom they are to be delivered. Everything of moment transacted at solemn councils, either between the Indians themselves or with Europeans, is ratified and made valid by strings and belts of wampom. Formerly, they used to give sanction to their treaties by delivering a wing of some large bird; and this custom still prevails among the more western nations, in transacting business with the Delawares. But the Delawares themselves, the Iroquois, and the nations in league with them, are now sufficiently provided with handsome and well-wrought strings and belts of wampom. Upon the delivery of a string, a long speech may be made and much said upon the subject under consideration, _but when a belt is given few words are spoken_; but they must be words of great importance, frequently requiring an explanation. Whenever the speaker has pronounced some important sentence, he delivers a string of wampom, adding, 'I give this string of wampom as a confirmation of what I have spoken'; but the chief subject of his discourse he confirms with a belt. The answers given to a speech thus delivered must also be confirmed by strings and belts of wampom, of the same size and number as those received. Neither the colour nor the other qualities of wampom are a matter of indifference, but have an immediate reference to those things which they are meant to confirm. The brown or deep violet, called black by the Indians, always means something of severe or doubtful import; but the white is the colour of peace. Thus, if a string or belt of wampom is intended to confirm a warning against evil, or an earnest reproof, it is delivered in black. When a nation is called upon to go to war, or war declared against it, the belt is black, or marked with red, called by them, the _colour of blood_, having in the middle the figure of an hatchet in white wampom. * * * They refer to them as public records, carefully preserving them in a chest made for that purpose. At certain seasons they meet to study their meaning, and to renew the ideas of which they were an emblem or confirmation. On such occasions they sit down around the chest, take out one string or belt after the other, handing it about to every person present, and that they may all comprehend its meaning, repeat the words pronounced on its delivery in their whole convention. By these means they are enabled to remember the promises reciprocally made by the different parties; and it is their custom to admit even the young boys, who are related to the chiefs, to their assemblies; they become early acquainted with all the affairs of the State; thus the contents of their documents are transmitted to posterity, and cannot be easily forgotten."[102] It is to be presumed that if a treaty or a promise were broken, the belt would be released from its office and in the same form, or worked into another, could again be used. Otherwise the records, if properly kept, would in time become extremely cumbersome. The repudiation of a treaty and of the wampum which accompanied it is recorded by Brice. It was at a council held at Miami, in 1790, between Mr. Gamelin and a number of tribes. Mr. Gamelin in beginning his speech presented each nation with strings of wampum, but "the Indians were displeased with the treaty, and after consultation returned the wampum, saying: 'From all quarters we receive speeches from the Americans and not one is alike. We suppose that they intend to deceive us. Then take back your branches of wampum.' The Pottawatomies were better pleased with the speeches and accepted the wampum."[103] Another good example which illustrates the manner of canceling treaties, confirmed by wampum, is given by Mr. Gilpin: "When Washington, then but a youth of twenty-one, was intrusted by the colonial governor of Virginia with a mission to the western wilds of Pennsylvania, where the French from Canada were then penetrating and had already established, as was believed, four posts within our limits and were seeking to unite the natives in alliance against us, * * * he found that such an alliance had indeed been formed. He found that they had exchanged with the French, as its symbol, a wampum belt on which four houses were rudely embroidered--the representations of the posts which were to be defended, even at the risk of war. Influenced by his remonstrances, the Indian sachems consented to withdraw from the alliance; but they declared that the belt of wampum must be returned before the agreement could be abolished; and one of the sachems repaired to the French commander in order to restore to him the token of the warlike compact, and to proclaim the intention of the red men to take no part in the impending struggle."[104] Heckewelder relates that "it once happened that war messengers endeavored to persuade and compel a nation to accept the belt by laying it on the shoulders or thigh of the chief, who, however, after shaking it off without touching it with his hands, afterwards, with a stick, threw it after them, as if he threw a snake or toad out of his way."[105] It is remarkable that other objects were not more frequently used for mnemonic records. We can only explain the partiality shown to wampum on the supposition that the idea of value was not entirely lost sight of and that importance was attached to a record which in itself merited preservation. Yet instances of the use of other objects are often met with. Parkman states that "the figures on wampum belts of the Iroquois were for the most part simply mnemonic. So also were those carved in wooden tables, or painted on bark or skin, to preserve in memory the songs of war, hunting, or magic."[106] At one of the councils at Onondaga in 1690, a treaty was pledged and recorded in wampum by all the contracting parties but the New England colonies, which sent a wooden model of a fish as a token of their adherence to the terms of the treaty.[107] Hunter, speaking of the manners and customs of the Osages, states that "they use significant emblems, such as the wing of the swan and wild goose, wampum, and pipes, in overtures for peace, while arrows, war clubs, and black and red painting, are used as indications or declarations of war. Any article, such as a skin painted black, or the wing of a raven, represents the death of friends, and when colored or striped with red, that of enemies. Amongst the Canada Indians when peace was conceded, a reddened hatchet was buried as a symbol of the oblivion of all past hostility between the contracting parties. A mutual exchange of neck ornaments sealed the treaty after its terms were debated and determined. But all was not yet over, for the chiefs on each side proffered and accepted presents of rare articles, such as calumets of peace, embroidered deer skins, &c. This kind of ceremonial barter being terminated to their mutual satisfaction, or otherwise, the conference broke up."[108] Gumilla says that the Oronoco Indians ratify their treaties with sticks which they give reciprocally,[109] and the Araucanians, according to Molina, carry in their hands, when they conclude a peace, the branches of a tree, regarded as sacred by them, which they present to each other.[110] I have already enumerated the various kinds of beads and shown the sources from which they were derived and the uses to which they were applied. I have yet to describe the manner in which they are strung or combined in strings and belts. The beads chosen as most convenient for stringing or weaving into fabrics were small cylinders from one-eighth to one-quarter of an inch in diameter, and from one-quarter to one-half an inch in length. White strings or belts were sufficient for the expression of simple ideas or the association of simple facts, but the combinations of colors in patterns rendered it possible to record much more complicated affairs. In belts used for mnemonic purposes the colors were generally arranged without reference to the character of the facts or thoughts to be intrusted to them, but in a few cases the figures are ideographic, and are significant of the event to be memorized. Strings cannot be utilized in this way. _Wampum in strings._--From Mr. Beauchamp's notes I have compiled the following brief account of the use of strings of wampum among the modern Iroquois. Six strings of purple beads united in a cluster represent the six nations. When the tribes meet the strands are arranged in a circle, which signifies that the council is opened. The Onondagas are represented by seven strings, which contain a few white beads; the Cayugas by six strands, all purple, and the Tuscaroras by seven strands, nearly all purple. The Mohawks have six strings, on which there are two purple beads to one white. These are illustrated in Fig. 2, Plate XLIV. There are four strings in the Oneida cluster; these contain two purple to one white bead. The Senecas have four strings, with two purple beads to one white. The three nations which were brothers are represented by similar clusters. When a new chief is installed the address delivered on the occasion is "talked into" ten very long strings of white wampum. Three strings, mostly white, represent the name of the new chief. One of these clusters is shown in Fig. 1, Plate XLIV.[111] When a chief dies he is mourned on ten strings of black wampum. If he has merely lost his office, six short strings are used. According to Mr. Beauchamp, possession of beads gives authority, and they are also used as credentials, or, as the Indians express it, "Chief's wampum all same as your letter." Such of these strings as remain in existence are still in use among the Iroquois, and are considered very precious by them, being made of antique hand-made beads. In the literature relating to our Indian tribes we find occasional reference to the use of strings of wampum in ways that indicate that they were invested with certain protective and authoritative qualities, doubtless from their association with the name of some chief, clan, or tribe. It is recorded that on one occasion Logan, the Mingo chief, saved a captive white from torture by rushing through the circle of Indians and throwing a string of wampum about the prisoner's neck. Through the virtue of this string he was enabled to lead him away and adopt him into his family. A somewhat different use is mentioned by Pike, to whom a Chippewa chief made a speech, during which he presented his pipe to Mr. Pike to bear to the Sioux. Attached to the pipe were seven strings of wampum, which signified that authority was given by seven chiefs of the Chippewa to conclude peace or make war.[112] _Wampum belts._--In the manufacture of belts a great deal of skill and taste have been shown. The large figured varieties were intricate in design and extremely pleasing in color. Belts of wampum beads were probably used simply as a part of the costume long before they became the vehicles of tradition, and beads were doubtless used in other parts of the costume in a similar manner. It is said that in New England they were made by the women; in later times it is probable that the whites engaged to some extent in their manufacture. Mr. Morgan gives such a good account of the details of belt making that I beg leave to quote him in full: "In making a belt no particular pattern was followed; sometimes they are of the width of three fingers and three feet long, in other instances as wide as the hand and over three feet in length; sometimes they are all of one color, in others variegated, and in still others woven with the figures of men to symbolize, by their attitudes, the objects or events they were designed to commemorate. The most common width was three fingers, or the width of seven beads, the length ranging from two to six feet. In belt making, which is a simple process, eight strands or cords of bark thread are first twisted, from filaments of slippery elm, of the requisite length and size; after which they are passed through a strip of deer-skin to separate them at equal distances from each other in parallel lines. A piece of splint is then sprung in the form of a bow, to which each end of the several strings is secured, and by which all of them are held in tension, like warp threads in a weaving machine. Seven beads, these making the intended width of the belt, are then run upon a thread by means of a needle, and are passed under the cords at right angles, so as to bring one bead lengthwise between each cord and the one next in position. The thread is then passed back again along the upper side of the cords and again through each of the beads; so that each bead is held firmly in its place by means of two threads, one passing under and one above the cords. This process is continued until the belt reaches its intended length, when the ends of the cords are tied, the end of the belt covered and afterward trimmed with ribbons. In ancient times both the cords and the thread were of sinew."[113] In another place Mr. Morgan states that belts were also made by covering one side of a deer-skin belt with beads, probably by sewing them on;[114] a method which is everywhere common in the use of glass beads in modern work, but is not noticed in any of the mnemonic belts now extant. It is a remarkable as well as a lamentable fact that none of the great collections of the country can boast the possession of a wampum belt. Considering their importance in our early history, and the great numbers that at one time must have been in existence, this is rather extraordinary. I have taken considerable pains to collect accurate representations of a number of examples of the ancient belts for this work, and am only sorry that I am unable to present them in color--the only method by which they can be adequately shown. As those which have come to my notice represent but a few localities, I shall insert descriptions of a number from regions as remote as possible. There is, however, great uniformity in design and method of construction; the result, probably, of their international character. From Heckewelder I quote the following: "Their belts of wampum are of different dimensions, both as to the length and breadth. White and black wampum are the kinds they use; the former denoting that which is good, as peace, friendship, good-will, &c.; the latter the reverse; yet occasionally the black also is made use of on peace errands, when the white cannot be procured; but previous to its being produced for such purpose, it must be daubed all over with chalk, white clay, or anything which changes the color from black to white. * * * A black belt with the mark of a hatchet made on it with red paint is a war belt, which, when sent to a nation, together with a twist or roll of tobacco, is an invitation to join in a war. * * * Roads from one friendly nation to another are generally marked on the belt by one or two rows of white wampum interwoven in the black, and running through the middle, and from end to end. It means that they are on good terms, and keep up a friendly intercourse with each other."[115] A belt accepted by the Indians of Western Pennsylvania from the French in a treaty which secured to the latter four forts within English territory had embroidered upon it four houses, pictographic representations of the forts. Another example of the belts used in Pennsylvania, upwards of a century ago, is described in Beatty's Journal. The Delawares, in explaining to Beatty a former treaty with Sir William Johnson, "showed a large belt of wampum of friendship which Sir William Johnson had given them. On each edge of this were several rows of black wampum, and in the middle were several rows of white wampum. In the middle of the belt was a figure of a diamond, in white wampum, which they called the council fire. The white streak they called the path from him to them and them to him."[116] Loskiel states that "the Indian women are very dexterous in weaving the strings of wampom into belts, and marking them with different figures, perfectly agreeing with the different subjects contained in the speech. These figures are marked with white wampom upon black, and with black upon the white belts. For example, in a _belt of peace_, they very dexterously represent, in black wampom, two hands joined. The belt of peace is white, a fathom long and a hand's breadth."[117] In Plate XXXVII I present a fac-simile reproduction of a plate from the well known work of Lafitau,[118] in which we have a graphic yet highly conventional representation of a council or treaty in which wampum belts were used. It is probably drawn from description and is far from truthful in detail. The more important facts are, however, very clearly presented. No information is given either of the people or the locality. The scene is laid in the middle of a broad featureless plain, the monotony of which is broken by three highly conventionalized trees. The parties to the treaty are ranged in two rows, placed, face to face. The chief who speaks stands at the farther end holding a belt in his right hand. Three other belts lie upon the mat at his feet, while a fifth is shown on a large scale in the foreground. The patterns can not be clearly made out, but in a general way resemble very closely the designs woven into the belts of the Iroquois. [Illustration: PL. XXXVII--USE OF WAMPUM BELTS IN INDIAN COUNCIL. _Facsimile_ of a plate in Lafitau.] The small belt shown in Fig. 1. Plate XXXVIII, is probably one of the most recent examples. The cut is copied from Plate 1 of the Fifth Annual Report of the Regents of the University of New York on the condition of the State Cabinet of Natural History, p. 72. The beads of which it is composed formerly belonged to the celebrated Mohawk chief, Joseph Brant. They were afterwards purchased from his daughter by Mr. Morgan. In 1850 they were taken to Tonawanda, in the State of New York, and made into this belt. The trimmings are apparently of ribbons, and the symmetry and uniformity of the whole work give it a new look not noticeable in the other specimens. The design consists of a row of dark diamond-shaped figures upon a white ground. It is now preserved in the State Cabinet of Natural History at Albany. A belt of unusual form is shown in Fig. 2, Plate XXXVIII. It was kindly lent by Mrs. E. A. Smith, of Jersey City, by whom it was obtained from the Mohawks. It is 26 inches (251 beads) in length and in width varies from three inches (11 beads) at one end to about one inch (5 beads) at the other. It is bifurcated at the wide end, five rows having been omitted from the middle of the belt for about one-third of the length. Near the middle of the belt one row of beads is dropped from each side. Between this and the smaller end at nearly equal intervals it is twice depleted in a like manner. The beads are quite irregular in shape and size, but rather new looking and are strung in the usual manner, the longitudinal strings being buckskin and the transverse small cords of vegetable fiber. The ends and edges are all neatly finished by wrapping the marginal strings with a thin fillet of buckskin. The figures are in white beads upon a ground of purple. The form of this belt indicates that it has been adapted to some particular use, the placing of cords at the corners and shoulders suggesting its attachment in a fixed position to some part of the person or costume. [Illustration: PL. XXXVIII--WAMPUM BELTS. 1. Mohawk Belt. 2. Mohawk Belt.] In Plates XXXIX, XL, XLI and XLII, I present a series of illustrations of the wampum belts belonging to the Onondagas. They are preserved as a most precious treasure by these people at their agency in Onondaga County, New York. The drawings were made by Mr. Trill from a series of minute photographs made from the original belts by General J. S. Clark, of Auburn, New York. These were obtained for me by the Rev. W. M. Beauchamp, of Baldwinsville, New York, who has also very kindly furnished many of the facts embodied in the following descriptions.[119] These belts are made in the usual manner, and present a great variety of shapes, sizes, and designs. Their full history has never been obtained by the whites, and it is not probable that the Indians themselves have preserved a very full account of their origin and significance. They are all ancient, and, judging by their appearance, must date far back in the history of the League. Many of them are quite fragmentary, and fears are entertained that they will gradually fall to pieces and be lost. It is to be hoped that measures will be taken to have them preserved at least in the form of accurate chromo-lithographs. Mr. Beauchamp states that they are yearly wasting away, as a little wampum is annually cast into the fire at the burning of the "white dog," and these belts are the source of supply. The small belt presented in Fig. 1, Plate XXXIX, is somewhat fragmentary, an unknown number of beads having been lost from the ends. It is seven rows wide and at present two hundred beads long. The design consists of a series of five double diamonds worked in dark wampum upon white. At one end a few rows of an additional figure remain, and at the other a small white cross is worked upon a ground of dark beads. The number of figures may be significant of the number of parties to a treaty. Fig. 2 represents a well preserved belt, seven rows in width and about three hundred and twenty in length. The ground is of dark wampum, on which are worked five hexagonal figures of white wampum. For a short space at the ends alternate rows are white. As was suggested in regard to the preceding belt, the figures in this may represent the parties to a treaty. The belt shown in Fig. 3 differs from the others in being pictographic. It is also quite perfect, although the character of the beads indicates considerable age. It is seven rows in width and three hundred and fifty beads in length. The figures are white, on a dark ground, and consist of a cross near one end, connected by a single row of beads with the head of the figure of a man toward the other end. Beneath the feet of the elementary man the figure of a diamond is worked. The cross is probably significant of the mission of the man who comes from a long distance to the lodge or council of the red man. This is probably a French belt. [Illustration: PL. XXXIX--WAMPUM BELTS BELONGING TO THE ONONDAGAS.] The remnant of a very handsome belt is shown in Plate XL. Considerable wampum has been lost from both ends, but the design appears to be nearly perfect, and consists of a trowel or heart-shaped figure in the center with two rectangular figures on the right and two on the left. These are in white upon a dark ground. Mr. Beauchamp states that it is said to be very old, and is thought to represent the formation of the Iroquois league and to signify "one heart for all the nations." He doubts its great antiquity as the beads are too regular for hand-made cylinders. The belt is thirty-eight rows wide and about two hundred beads in length. [Illustration: PL. XL--WAMPUM BELT BELONGING TO THE ONONDAGAS.] The large elaborately figured belt shown in Plate XLI is almost perfect. The lateral margins are white; a broad notched band of dark wampum occupies the middle of this belt; through this from end to end runs a chain of white diamonds, sixteen in number, which may represent States or nations. It is forty-five rows wide and two hundred and forty beads long. [Illustration: PL. XLI--WAMPUM BELT BELONGING TO THE ONONDAGAS.] The magnificent belt shown in Plate XLII, is probably the finest example in existence. It is fifteen rows wide and six hundred and fifty in length, making the enormous total of nine thousand seven hundred and fifty beads. Mr. Beauchamp believes that this belt, or one like it, has been described as representing the formation of the League. From Webster's[120] statement, that it was "made by George Washington," he surmises that it is a belt memorizing a covenant between the Indians and the government. In the center is a house which has three gables and three compartments. Next the house on either side are two pictographic men, who appear to stand beneath protecting arms which pass over their heads, connect with the house, and grasp the hands of the first personages immediately on the right and left. In all there are fifteen figures of men, two being connected with the house; of the others, six stand on the right and seven on the left of the central group. It is suggested by Mr. Beauchamp that these figures may represent the thirteen colonies. [Illustration: PL. XLII--WAMPUM BELT BELONGING TO THE ONONDAGAS.] Six other belts are shown in the photographs procured by General Price. One of them is thirteen rows wide and two hundred and fifty beads in length. The light ground is decorated with groups of triple chevrons. This belt is somewhat fragmentary. Another is forty-nine rows wide, being the widest example known. The original length cannot be determined, but at present it is two hundred and forty beads in length, and hence contains about twelve thousand beads. The pattern is simple, consisting of a dark ground notched at the edges with triangular figures of white. As the four remaining belts of this fine collection have no features of especial interest, they need not be described here. The remarkable belt shown in Plate XLIII has an extremely interesting, although a somewhat incomplete, history attached to it. It is believed to be the original belt delivered by the Leni-Lenape sachems to William Penn at the celebrated treaty under the elm tree at Shackamaxon in 1682. Although there is no documentary evidence to show that this identical belt was delivered on that occasion, it is conceded on all hands that it came into the possession of the great founder of Pennsylvania at some one of his treaties with the tribes that occupied the province ceded to him. Up to the year 1857 this belt remained in the keeping of the Penn family. In March, 1857, it was presented to the Pennsylvania Historical Society by Granville John Penn, a great grandson of William Penn. Mr. Penn, in his speech on this occasion,[121] states that there can be no doubt that this is the identical belt used at the treaty, and presents his views in the following language: "In the first place, its dimensions are greater than of those used on more ordinary occasions, of which we have one still in our possession--this belt being composed of eighteen strings of wampum--which is a proof that it was the record of some very important negotiation. In the next place, in the center of the belt, which is of white wampum, are delineated in dark-colored beads, in a rude but graphic style, two figures--that of an Indian grasping with the hand of friendship the hand of a man evidently intended to be represented in the European costume, wearing a hat; which can only be interpreted as having reference to the treaty of peace and friendship which was then concluded between William Penn and the Indians, and recorded by them in their own simple but descriptive mode of expressing their meaning, by the employment of hieroglyphics. Then the fact of its having been preserved in the family of the founder from that period to the present time, having descended through three generations, gives an authenticity to the document which leaves no doubt of its genuineness; and as the chain and medal which were presented by the Parliament to his father, the admiral, for his naval services, have descended amongst the family archives unaccompanied by any written document, but is recorded on the journals of the House of Commons, equal authenticity may be claimed for the wampum belt confirmatory of the treaty made by his son with the Indians; which event is recorded on the page of history, though, like the older relic, it has been unaccompanied in its descent by any document in writing." [Illustration: PL. XLIII--THE PENN BELT. (1/4)] It will be seen, by reference to the accompanying illustration, that beside the two figures of men there are three oblique bands of dark wampum, one on the left and two on the right. The one next the central group on the right is somewhat broken, and consists of two long bands and one short one. It is probable that these bands were used to record, by association, some important features of the treaty in which the belt was used. The beads are strung upon cords made of sinew or vegetable fibre, while the longitudinal fillets are of buckskin. This belt may be seen at the rooms of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. [Illustration: PL. XLIV--STRINGS OF WAMPUM. 1. Name of New Chief. 2. "Mohawk."] PENDANTS. It would probably be vain to attempt to determine how pendant ornaments first came into use, whether from some utilitarian practice or through some superstitious notion. It matters not, however, whether the first pendant was an implement, a utensil, or a fetichitic talisman; it has developed by slow stages into an ornament upon which has been lavished the best efforts of culture and skill. The simple gorget of shell suspended upon the naked breast of the preadamite is the prototype of many a costly jewel and many a princely decoration. With the American savage it was a guardian spirit, invested with the mystery and the power of the sea, and among the more cultured tribes became in time the receptacle of the most ambitious efforts of a phenomenal art. The important place the gorget has taken in ornament and as a means of displaying personal aggrandizement has made it a most powerful agent in the evolution of the arts of taste. As a rule the larger and more important pendants are employed as gorgets, but vast numbers of the smaller specimens are strung with beads at intervals along the strings, attached as auxiliary pendants to the larger gorgets, suspended from the nose, ears, and wrists, or form tinkling borders to head-dresses and garments. These pendants consist either of entire shells, or of parts of shells, pierced or grooved to facilitate suspension. The purely artificial forms are infinitely varied. The character of the shell, however, has much to do with the form of the finished ornaments, deciding their thickness and often their outline. In size they range from extremely minute forms to plates six or more inches in diameter. The perforations, in position and number, are greatly varied, but as a rule the larger discoidal pendants will be found to have two marginal perforations for suspension. These nicely-polished shell-disks afforded tempting tablets for the primitive artist, and retain many specimens of his work as an engraver. The engraved specimens, however, should be treated separately, according to the class of design which they contain. Plain pendants need but a brief notice, and may be treated together as one group, with such subdivisions only as may be suggested by their form, their derivation, or their geographical distribution. _Plain pendants._--It will be unnecessary to cite authorities to show that our ancient peoples were fond of pendant ornaments, and wore them without stint, but to illustrate the manner in which they were used and the methods of combining them with other articles of jewelry in necklaces, bracelets, &c., I shall refer briefly to the literature of the period of American discovery. The inhabitants of Mexico are said to have been very simple in the matter of dress, but displayed much vanity in their profuse employment of personal ornament. Besides feathers and jewels, with which they adorned their clothes, they wore pendants to the ears, nose, and lips, as well as necklaces, bracelets, and anklets. The ear ornaments of the poor were shells, pieces of crystal, amber, and other brilliant stones, but the rich wore pearls, emeralds, amethysts, or other gems, set in gold.[122] The priestly personages so graphically delineated in the ancient Aztec manuscripts are as a rule loaded down with pendant ornaments. In traveling north along the west coast of Mexico the Friar Niza encountered Indians who wore many large shells of mother of pearl about their necks, and farther up toward Cibola the inhabitants wore pearl shells upon their foreheads;[123] and Cabeça de Vaca when among the pueblos of New Mexico noticed beads and corals that came from the "South Sea." Ornaments made from marine shells are found in many of the ancient ruins to-day. They are also highly valued by the modern Indians of this region. In the earliest accounts of the Indians of the Atlantic coast we find frequent mention of the use of pendants and gorgets, and the manner of wearing them as ornaments. Beverly, after having described beads made of a shell resembling the English buglas, says that they also make "runtees" of the same shell, and grind them as smooth as peak. "These are either large like an oval Bead, drill'd the length of the Oval, or else they are circular and flat, almost an Inch over, and one Third of an Inch thick, and drill'd edgeways. Of this Shell they also make round Tablets of about four Inches Diameter, which they polish as smooth as the other, and sometimes they etch or grave thereon Circles, Stars, a half Moon, or any other Figure suitable to their Fancy. These they wear instead of Medals before or behind their Neck, and use the _Peak_, _Runtees_, and _Pipes_ for Coronets, Bracelets, Belts, or long Strings hanging down before the Breast, or else they lace their Garments with them, and adorn their _Tomahawks_, and every other thing that they value."[124] The "Pipes" here spoken of were probably long, heavy cylindrical beads. In referring to this class of ornaments, Lafitau says: "The collars which the savages sometimes wear around the neck are about a foot in diameter, and are not different from those which one now sees on some antiques, on the necks of statues of barbarians. The northern savages wear on the breast a plate of hollow shell, as long as the hand, which has the same effect as that which was called _Bulla_ among the Romans."[125] Wood, speaking of the Indians of Northern New England, in 1634, says: "Although they be thus poore, yet is there in them the sparkes of naturall pride, which appeares in their longing desire after many kinds of ornaments, wearing pendants in their eares, as formes of birds, beasts, and fishes carved out of bone, shels, and stone, with long bracelets of their curious wampompeag and mowhackees, which they put about their necks and loynes."[126] Kalm says of the Indians of Lorette, near Quebec, Canada, that "round their necks they have a string of violet wampums, with little white wampums between them. These wampums are small, of the figure of oblong pearls, and made of the shells which the _English_ call clams. At the end of the wampum strings many of the _Indians_ wear a large French silver coin, with the king's effigy, on their breasts; others have a large shell on the breast, of a fine white colour, which they value very high, and is very dear; others, again, have no ornament at all round the neck."[127] Pendants of metal and medals of European manufacture soon replaced in a great measure the primitive gorgets of shell; and early in the history of the tribes a heterogeneous collection of native beads, silver crosses, and traders' medals, ornamented the breasts of the simple savages. In studying the habits and customs of our native peoples we look with a great deal of interest upon the earliest historical records, but generally find it prudent to remember that the "personal equation" was unusually large in those days, and in studying the illustrations given in the works of early writers we must make due allowance for the well-known tendency to exaggerate as well as for the fact that the artist has more frequently drawn from descriptions than from sketches made on the spot. In Plate XLV two examples are given which seem to me to be trustworthy, as they agree with the descriptions given, and are in a general way characteristic of the American aborigines. Fig. 1 is reproduced, original size, from Plate 2, Volume II, of Lafitau, and shows a broad necklace ornamented with figures that resemble arrow heads. From this, by means of a cord, is suspended a large circular disk with concave front, which undoubtedly represents a shell gorget. In front of this and suspended from the necklace are two long strands of beads of various sizes and shapes, which give completeness to a very tasteful ornament. In the same plate is a pretty fair drawing of a native in costume. He is represented wearing a necklace similar to the one just described. An enlarged drawing of this ornament is given in Fig. 2. In Fig. 3 I reproduce a necklace from a plate in De Bry, which consists of a string of beads with two large disks that look more like metal than shell. A similar ornament is shown in Fig. 4, but with figured disks and secondary pendants. It is copied from the Codex of the Vatican. A common form of necklace among the ancient Aztecs consisted of small univalve shells suspended from a string. One of these, with other pendants, is shown in Fig. 5. It is also copied from the Vatican Codex. Others of a much more complex nature may be found in the same manuscript. Of even greater interest are the beautiful necklaces, with their pendants, found in the sculptures of Mexico and Yucatan.[128] Three of these are shown in Figs. 6, 7, and 8. One has a disk with human features engraved upon it, another has a cross with equal arms, and another a T-shaped cross. All have more or less auxiliary ornamentation. In Fig. 9 I present a bracelet of beads and pendants from Peru which illustrates one of the simpler uses of pendants. I have not learned whether the parts of this ornament were originally arranged as given in the cut or not; the original stringing may have been somewhat different. The beads are mostly of shell, and are of a variety of colors, white, red, yellow, and gray. The discoidal and cylindrical forms are both represented. The former range from one-eighth to three-eighths of an inch in diameter; the latter are one-eighth of an inch in thickness and three-eighths in length. The larger pendants, made of whitish shell, are carved to represent some life form, probably a bird; a large perforation near the upper end passes through the head, two oblique notches with deep lines at the sides, define the wings, and a series of notches at the wide end represent the tail. Two smaller pendants are still simpler in form, while another, with two nearly central perforations and notched edges, resembles a button. [Illustration: PL. XLV--ANCIENT PENDANTS. 1, 2. Necklaces, from Lafitau. 3. From De Bry. 4, 5. From Mexican Paintings. 6, 7, 8. From ancient sculptures. 9. Bracelet from a Peruvian grave.] _Eastern forms._--The great number of elaborately carved and engraved gorgets of shell found among the antiquities of the Atlantic slope, all of which need careful descriptions, so overshadow the simple forms illustrated in Plate XLVI, that only a brief description of the latter need be given. Rudeness of workmanship and simplicity of form do not in any sense imply greater antiquity or a less advanced state of art. The simpler forms of plain pendants constituted the every-day jewelry of the average people and, like beads, were probably used freely by all who desired to do so. Many forms are found--circular, oval, rectangular, triangular, pear-shaped, and annular. The more ordinary forms are found in mounds and graves in all parts of the country; other forms are more restricted geographically, and probably exhibit features peculiar to the works of a particular clan, tribe, or group of tribes. Even these simple forms may have possessed some totemic or mystic significance; it is not impossible that the plainer disks may have had significant figures painted upon them. Such of the forms as are found to have definite geographic limits become of considerable interest to the archæologist. In method of manufacture they do not differ from the most ordinary implements or beads, the margins being trimmed, the surfaces polished and the perforations made in a precisely similar manner. In Plate XLVI I present a number of plain circular disks. The larger specimens are often as much as four or even five inches in diameter and the smaller fraternize with beads, as I have shown in Plate XLV. Figs. 1 and 2 are from a mound at Paint Rock Ferry, Tenn. They are neat, moderately thin, concavo-convex disks, with smooth surfaces and rounded edges. The first has two perforations at the upper edge, while the other has similarly placed but much smaller ones, besides a small central perforation surrounded by an incised circle. The national collection contains similar specimens from most of the Atlantic States; they differ from the larger discoidal beads only in the method of perforation. A typical specimen of this class, four and a half inches in diameter, is shown in Fig. 3. It was associated with the remains of a number of children in a mound in Hardin County, Ohio. Disks of this class were usually suspended upon the breast with the concave side out. That many of the specimens described were suspended in this way is indicated by the character of the abrasion produced by the cords. On the concave side the cord of suspension has worn deep grooves between the perforations, and on the opposite or convex side similar grooves extend obliquely upward from the holes toward the margin of the disk, indicating the passage of the cord upward and outward around the neck of the wearer. A large white disk, similar to the one just described, was obtained from a grave at Accotink, Va. It is five inches in diameter and has one central and three marginal perforations. It is made from a _Busycon perversum_, and is neatly shaped and well polished. A fine specimen two inches in diameter was obtained from a mound on the French Broad River, Tenn., and, with many other similar specimens, is now in the national collection. The central perforation is often very much enlarged. A number of specimens, recently sent to the National Museum, from a mound in Auglaize County, Ohio, show several stages of this enlargement. One specimen five inches across has a perforation nearly one inch in diameter, while in another the perforation is enlarged until the disk has become a ring. These gorgets show evidences of long use, the surfaces and edges being worn and the perforations much extended in the manner described above. They have been derived from the _Busycon perversum_. In Fig. 4 I illustrate an annular gorget from a mound in Alexander County, Ill. It was found associated with ornaments of copper by the side of a human skull, and is hence supposed to have been an ear ornament. It is fragmentary and has suffered greatly from decay, the surface being mostly covered with a dark film of decomposed shell substance, which when broken away, exposes the chalky surface of the shell. These shell rings, so far as I can learn, have been found in the States of Ohio and Illinois only. Rectangular pendants are much more rare. The national collection contains one rude specimen from Texas. It is about two inches wide by two and a half long, and is made from the base of some large dextral-whorled shell. A similar but much more finished specimen comes from Georgia, and is preserved in the New York Natural History Museum. A large keystone-shaped gorget with rounded corners was obtained from an ancient burial place at Beverly, Canada. It is illustrated in Plate L, Fig. 1. The small pendant shown in Fig. 5 is given by Schoolcraft in "Notes on the Iroquois." It represents rudely the human figure, and is ornamented with eight perpendicular and four or five transverse dots. It was found on the site of an old fort near Jamesville, N. Y. In the same work Mr. Schoolcraft illustrates another small pendant, which is reproduced in Fig. 6. The body is heart-shaped, the perforation being made through a rectangular projection at the upper end. It was found at Onondaga, N. Y. The small pendant presented in Fig. 7 is from West Bloomfield, N. Y. It has been suspended by means of a shallow groove near the upper end. It is made from the basal point of a dextral-whorled shell. The handsome little pendant shown in Fig. 8 was found with similar specimens in Monroe County, New York--probably on some ancient village site. It is well preserved and has been made from the columella of a dextral-whorled shell. An ornamental design, consisting of lines and dots, is engraved upon the face. A small, deeply countersunk perforation has been made near the upper end. These objects have apparently been strung with beads, as the perforations show evidence of such abrasion as beads would produce. Many of the New York specimens have a new look, and their form suggests the possibility of civilized influence. They are certainly more recent than the western and southern specimens. A small cylindrical pendant is illustrated in Fig. 9. A large, neat perforation has been made at the upper end, and the middle portion of the body is ornamented by a series of encircling grooves. This specimen has been made from a large _Unio_ and was obtained from a mound in Union County, Ky. [Illustration: PL. XLVI--PENDANT ORNAMENTS--EASTERN FORMS.] _Western forms._--In variety of form the plain pendants of the California coast excel all others. Specimens from the graves are generally well preserved, not having lost their original iridescence, although so much decayed as to suffer considerably from exfoliation. As indicated by the present well preserved condition of these shell ornaments, they are probably not of very ancient date; indeed it is highly probable that many of them are post-Columbian. Cabrillo visited the island of Santa Rosa in 1542 and found a numerous and thriving people. In 1816 only a small remnant of the inhabitants remained, and these were removed to the main-land by Catholic priests. Their destruction is attributed to both war and famine. The history of the other islands is doubtless somewhat similar. Articles made from shell are found to resemble each other very closely, whether from the islands or the main-land. All probably belong to the same time, and although the peoples of the islands are said to have spoken a different language from those of the main-land, their arts were apparently pretty much the same. They do not differ, as far as works in shell are concerned, from the modern tribes of the main-land. There is also a noticeable resemblance between the art of the ancient California Islanders and that of the present inhabitants of the great Pacific archipelagoes. The record of many of the specimens obtained from these islands seems to be very incomplete, scarcely more being known than the fact that they were obtained from the ancient graves. Since, however, they are almost exclusively ornaments belonging probably to a single period, detailed accounts of their methods of occurrence would not add greatly to their value. In previous chapters vessels, hooks, and beads made of the _Haliotis_ have been described, and the high estimation in which they are everywhere held briefly noted. The variety of ways in which this shell is utilized is indeed remarkable and the multitude of forms into which it is worked for ornament is a matter of surprise. All are neatly and effectively worked, and evince no little skill and taste on the part of the makers. The _Haliotis_ is not the only shell used, but it has no rival in point of beauty. Bivalve shells are utilized to a considerable extent, many tasteful things being made from the _Fissurella_, the _Mytilus_, the _Pachydesma_, and the _Pecten_. The perforations are generally neatly made and are more numerous than in similar eastern specimens; besides those for suspension there are frequently many others for the attachment of secondary pendants and for fastening to the costume. Many specimens are ornamented with edgings of notches and crossed lines but very few have been found on which significant characters have been engraved, and we look in vain for parallels to the curious designs characteristic of the gorgets of the mound-builders. A glance at the numerous examples given in Plates XLVII, XLVIII, and XLIX will give a good idea of the multiplicity of forms into which these ornaments are wrought. A rather remarkable group of pendants is represented by Fig. 1. They are characterized by a deep scallop at the left, with a long curved hook-like projection above. They take their form from the shape of the lip of the _Haliotis_, from which they are made--the hook being the upper point of the outer lip where it joins the body, and the scallop the line of the suture. The body of the ornament is formed from the lip of the shell. In size they vary to some extent with the shells from which they are derived. The body is at times quite oval and again slender and hooked like the blade of a sickle. The perforations are generally very numerous, a fact that indicates their use as central pieces for composite pendants. It is apparent that the wearers thought more of the exquisite coloring of these ornaments than of the outline or surface finish. This is only one of many instances that prove the innate and universal appreciation of beauty of color by savage peoples. In Fig. 2 a fine example of the subtriangular or keystone-shaped pendants is presented. The edges are very neatly cut and the corners slightly rounded. The back is ground smooth, but on the front the original surface of the shell is preserved, the colors being extremely rich and brilliant. A single perforation has been drilled near the upper end. It is made from a _Haliotis rufescens_, and was obtained from the island of Santa Rosa. The handsome specimen shown in Fig. 3 was obtained from a grave on the island of San Miguel. It has suffered much from decay. There are four neatly made perforations near the center. It has apparently been cut from the same shell as the preceding. Fig. 4 is a small keystone-shaped specimen having two perforations. Fig. 5 represents a small, delicate specimen of rectangular shape, having two minute perforations. This, as well as the preceding, was obtained from a grave on the island of San Miguel. Fig. 6 illustrates a small oval, wafer-like specimen, the edges of which have been ornamented with a series of crossed lines. It has three neat perforations on the line of the longer axis. It is from the island of Santa Cruz. Fig. 7 represents a small button-like disk with a central perforation; the margin is ornamented with a series of radiating lines. It was obtained from Santa Barbara. A pendant of very peculiar form is shown in Fig. 8. The oval body has three marginal projections, all of which are perforated; there is also a perforation near the center. The surface retains a heavy coating of some dark substance, which gives the ornament much the appearance of corroded metal. It was obtained from San Miguel Island. In a number of cases advantage has been taken of the natural perforations of the shell, both to give variety to the outline of small pendants and to save the labor of making artificial perforations. A very handsome little specimen is shown in Fig. 9. The two indentations above and below represent two of the natural perforations of the shell; artificial perforations are made in each of the four corners or wings. It was also obtained from the island of San Miguel. Fig. 10 represents a leaf-shaped pendant with notched edges and a single perforation. It comes from the island of Santa Cruz. [Illustration: PL. XLVII--PLAIN PENDANTS--PACIFIC COAST FORMS. (1/1)] The examples given are typical of the very large class of ornaments derived from the _Haliotidæ_. The striking specimens shown in Plate XLVIII are, with one exception, made from shells of this class. The two sickle-shaped pendants illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 are made from the broadened inner lip of the _Haliotis californianus_ (?). In one a single perforation has been made near the upper end; in the other there are two, one near each end. The faces have been neatly dressed and the corners ornamented with minute notches. They are from graves on Santa Cruz Island. Two exquisite specimens, also from Santa Cruz Island, are presented in Figs. 3 and 4. They have been cut from the body of a _Haliotis splendens_ (?), and finished with much care. Two perforations have been made near the upper margin, which is arched or curved while the lower is nearly straight. The edges are neatly notched. Although somewhat altered by exposure these objects are still very pretty. A very neat, well preserved little pendant is shown in Fig. 5. The specimen presented in Fig. 6 is peculiar in having a series of five perforations, one near the middle and the others near the ends. The example given in Fig. 7 has two perforations, one at each end. These are all made from species of the _Haliotis_. The specimen presented in Fig. 8 is made from the lip of a _Cyprea spadicea_ with very little change except the carefully made perforation. It is from the island of San Miguel. The idea of beautifying ornaments made from the _Haliotis_ and other shells by notching the edges may have been suggested by the natural notches characteristic of the _Cypreas_. [Illustration: PL. XLVIII--PENDANT ORNAMENTS OF THE PACIFIC COAST. 1-7. Pendants made of the _Haliotis_. (1/1) 8. Pendant made of a _Cyprea_. (1/1)] Figs. 1, 2, and 3, Plate XLIX, illustrate a group of small, delicate, ladle-shaped pendants. The perforation for suspension is at the upper end of the handle and the body has an oval or circular perforation, which is often so enlarged as to leave only a narrow ring, like the rim of an eyeglass. The specimen shown in Fig. 3 has two lobes, with a large perforation or opening in each. In one instance the handle is quite wide at the upper end and ornamented by two deep lateral notches. The edges of these specimens are nearly always adorned with notches or crossed lines. All are fashioned from the _Haliotis_, and although considerably stained are still well enough preserved to show the pearly lusters of that shell. Circular and oval disks are also numerous and vary much in finish; some have a great number of perforations or indentations, and nearly all are neatly notched around the margins. Examples are given in Figs. 4 and 5. The national collection contains a number of rings and pieces of rings made from the valves of a large clam, probably a _Pectunculus_, one example of which is shewn in Fig. 6. The convex back of the shell is ground off until a marginal ring only remains. A perforation is made near the angle of the beak. The shell is from the California coast, but the rings were collected mostly if not entirely from Arizona and New Mexico. It is not impossible that the tribes of the interior procured these articles from white traders, as they are known to have secured other shell ornaments in this way. The natives of the California coast were not slow in taking advantage of natural forms to aid their art or to save labor. The shells of the _Fissurellidæ_ as well as of the _Haliotidæ_ have been in great favor. They have been used as beads and pendants in their natural state or the natural perforations have been enlarged until only a ring has been left, or the margin and sides have been ground down until nothing of the original form or surface remained. Two of these forms are shown in Figs. 7 and 8. They are from graves on San Miguel Island, and are made from the _Lucupina crenulata_; others come from Santa Cruz Island; and probably also from the adjoining islands as well as from the main-land. Rings are also made from other shells. Examples made from the _Acmæa mitra_ and _Cyprea spadicea_ are shown in Figs. 9, 10, and 11. They come from San Miguel. [Illustration: PL. XLIX--PLAIN PENDANTS--PACIFIC COAST FORMS. (1/1)] PERFORATED PLATES. We find that pendant gorgets grade imperceptibly into another group of objects, the use or significance of which have not be fully determined. These objects are more frequently made of stone or copper, but good examples in shell have been found. As a rule they take the form of thin oblong plates which exhibit great variety of outline. The perforations are peculiar, and have not been designed for ordinary suspension, but are placed near the middle of the specimen as if for fixing it to the person or costume by means of cords. Many theories have been advanced in attempting to determine their use. They have been classed as gorgets, badges of authority, shuttles, armor plates, wrist protectors, and as implements for sizing sinews and twisting cords. Objects of this class in stone have been frequently illustrated and described. They are made of many varieties of stone, some of which seem to have been selected on account of their beauty. They have been neatly shaped and often well-polished. The edges are occasionally notched and the surfaces ornamented with patterns of incised lines. The perforations vary from one to four, the greater number of specimens, however, having only two. In the early days of mound exploration objects of this class were even greater enigmas, if possible, than they are to-day. Even the material of which a number of them were formed remained for a long time undetermined. Schoolcraft has published an illustration of a large specimen from the Grave Creek Mound, Va. This drawing is reproduced in Fig. 3, Plate L. The original was six inches long, one and three-tenths inches wide, and three-tenths of an inch in thickness. He expresses the opinion that it was one of those ancient badges of authority formerly in such general use among the Indians.[129] Another specimen, very much like the last in size and shape, but made of shell, supposed at the time of discovery to be ivory, was found associated with human remains in the Grave Creek Mound. It is described by Mr. Tomlinson in the American Pioneer,[130] and the cut given in Plate L, Fig. 4, is copied from that work. A remarkable specimen of this class is given in Fig. 5. It is made from the body of a large _Busycon perversum_, and is nine and a half inches long by three inches in width at the widest part. The concave surface has been highly polished, but is now somewhat roughened by weathering; the back has been slightly ground to take off the rougher ridges of growth; the edges are even and rounded and in many places quite thin. The peculiarity of its shape is such as to give it very much the appearance of the sole of a sandal. The perforations are three in number, one being near the middle and the others near the broader end, about one and a half inches apart; they are very neatly made and are slightly bi-conical and a little countersunk. There appears to be no evidence whatever of abrasion by use. It was found associated with human remains in a mound at Sharpsburg, Mercer County, Ohio. A similar specimen from the same locality is nearly nine inches in length, and lacks but a little of three and a half inches in width. As in the specimen illustrated, one perforation is placed near the middle and two others near the broader end. This specimen is highly polished on the broader part of the back, and is evenly smoothed on the concave side. It bears evidence of considerable use, and the two holes are much worn by a string or cord, which, passing from one hole to the other on the concave side of the plate, gradually worked a deep groove between them. On the back or convex side, the perforations show no evidence of wear. The central perforation is not worn on either side. The letter of Mr. Whitney, transmitting this relic to the National Museum, states that there were in the mound "about ten pairs of the shell sandals of different sizes, and made to fit the right and left feet." From the latter remark I should infer that some were made from dextral and others from sinistral shells; the two described are made from the _Busycon perversum_. An extremely fine specimen, much like the preceding, was exhumed from an ancient mound in Hardin County, Ohio. It was found on the head of a skeleton which occupied a sitting posture near the center of the mound. It is nine inches in length by three and one-half inches in width, and in shape resembles the sole of a moccasin, being somewhat broader and less pointed than the specimen presented in Fig. 5. It had been placed upon the skull with the wider end toward the back, but whether laid there as a burial offering simply or as constituting a part of the head-dress of the dead savage we have no means of determining. The perforations are three in number, and are placed similarly to those in the specimen illustrated in Fig. 5. Two other skeletons had similar plates associated with them, which differed from the one described in size only, the smaller one being less than six inches in length. Lithographs of two of these specimens are given by Mr. Matson, in whose very excellent report they were first described.[131] The gorget presented in Fig. 1 of this plate is copied from Schoolcraft.[132] It was taken, along with many other interesting relics, from one of the ossuaries at Beverly, Canada West. It is formed from some large sea shell, and is three inches in width by three and three-fourths inches in length. Its perforations are four in number, and are so placed as to be conveniently used either for suspension by a single cord or for fixing firmly by means of two or more cords. It seems to hold a middle place between pendants proper and the pierced tablets under consideration.[133] The unique specimen given in Fig. 2 is from Cedar Keys, Florida, but whether from a grave or a shell-heap I am at present unable to state. In its perforations, which are large and doubly conical, it resembles very closely the typical tablet of stone. The outline is peculiar; being rounded at the top, it grows broader toward the base like a celt, and terminates at the outer corners in well-rounded points, the edge between being ornamented with a series of notches or teeth. It has been cut from the wall of a _Busycon perversum_, and is sharply curved. The surface is roughened by time, but there is no evidence of wear by use either in the perforations or in the notches at the base. [Illustration: PL. L--PERFORATED PLATES. 1. Ornament from Beverly, C. W. 2. Ornament from Florida. 3, 4. Objects from the Grave Creek Mound, Va. 5. Perforated plate from Ohio.] In studying these remarkable specimens the fact that they so seldom show marks of use presents itself for explanation. Dr. Charles Rau, whose opinions in such matters are always worthy of consideration, remarks "that at first sight one might be inclined to consider them as objects of ornament, or as badges of distinction; but this view is not corroborated by the appearance of the perforations, which exhibit no trace of that peculiar abrasion produced by constant suspension. The classification of the tablets as 'gorgets,' therefore, appears to be erroneous."[134] The same argument could, however, be brought with equal force against their use for any of the other purposes suggested. The perforations, if not used for suspension or attachment, would be subject to wear from any other use to which they could be put. But, as we have already seen, one of the specimens in shell exhibits well-defined evidence of wear, and that of such a character as to indicate the passage of a cord between the perforations in a position that would produce abrasion between the holes on the concave side of the plate, but would leave the back entirely unworn. This peculiar result could only be produced by attachment in a fixed position, concave side out, to some object perforated like the plate, the cord passing directly through both. The perforations of pendants necessarily show wear on both sides; a like result would follow from the use of these plates in any of the other ways mentioned. Those made of shell could not, on account of their warped shape, be used for shuttles; besides, they show no evidence of marginal wear, such as would result from this use. The fact, too, that the material had to be brought from the distant sea-shore would seem to render it too rare and precious to be employed in the ordinary arts when wood, stone, and bone would serve the purpose as well. Owing to the carelessness or negligence of collectors we have but little information in regard to their relation to the human remains with which they were deposited. Such facts as we have, however, tend, I believe, to show that they were used for personal decoration. Again, the material of which they are formed is, on account of its beauty, especially adapted for ornament, and for this use it has been almost exclusively reserved by peoples as distant from the sea as were the ancient peoples of the Ohio Valley. ENGRAVED GORGETS. It has already been suggested that the simpler forms of pendants with plain surfaces may have had particular significance to their possessors, as insignia, amulets, or symbols, or that they may have received painted designs of such a character as to give significance to them. For ornament the natural or plainly polished surface of the shell possessed sufficient beauty to satisfy the most fastidious taste--a beauty that could hardly be enhanced by the addition of painted or incised figures. But we find that many of the larger gorgets obtained from the mounds and graves of a large district have designs of a most interesting nature engraved upon them, which are so remarkable in conception and execution as to command our admiration. Such is the character of these designs that we are at once impressed with the idea that they are not products of the idle fancy, neither is it possible that they had no higher office than the gratification of barbarian vanity. I have given much time to their examination, and, day by day, have become more strongly impressed with the belief that no single design is without its significance, and that their production was a serious art which dealt with matters closely interwoven with the history, mythology and polity of a people gradually developing a civilization of their own. Although these objects were worn as personal ornaments they probably had specialized uses as insignia, amulets, or symbols. As _insignia_, they were badges of office or distinction. The devices engraved upon them were derived from many sources and were probably sometimes supplemented by numeral records representing enemies killed, prisoners taken, or other deeds accomplished. As _amulets_, they were invested with protective or remedial attributes and contained mystic devices derived from dreams, visions, and many other sources. As _symbols_ they possessed, in most cases, a religious character, and were generally used as _totems_ of clans. They were inscribed with characters derived chiefly from mythologic sources. A few examples contain geometric designs which may have been _time-symbols_, or they may have indicated the order of ceremonial exercises. That these objects should be classed under one of these heads and not as simple ornaments engraved with intricate designs for embellishment alone is apparent when we consider the serious character of the work, the great amount of labor and patience shown, the frequent recurrence of the same design, the wide distribution of particular forms, the preservation of the idea in all cases, no matter what shortcomings occur in execution or detail, and the apparent absence of all lines, dots, and figures not essential to the presentation of the conception. In describing these gorgets I have arranged them in groups distinguished by the designs engraved upon them.[135] They are presented in the following order: The Cross, The Scalloped Disk, The Bird, The Spider, The Serpent, The Human Face, The Human Figure: and to these I append The Frog, which is found in Arizona only, and although carved in shell does not appear to have been used as a pendant, as no perforations are visible. Within the United States ancient tablets containing engraved designs are apparently confined to the Atlantic slope, and are not found to any extent beyond the limits of the district occupied by the stone-grave peoples. Early explorers along the Atlantic coast mention the use of engraved gorgets by a number of tribes. Modern examples may be found occasionally among the Indians of the northwest coast as well as upon the islands of the central Pacific. THE CROSS. The discoverers and early explorers of the New World were filled with surprise when they beheld their own sacred emblem, the cross, mingling with the pagan devices of the western barbarian. Writers have speculated in vain--the mystery yet remains unsolved. Attempts to connect the use of the cross by prehistoric Americans with its use in the East have signally failed, and we are compelled to look on its occurrence here as one of those strange coincidences so often found in the practices of peoples totally foreign to each other. If written history does not establish beyond a doubt the fact that the cross had a place in our aboriginal symbolism, we have but to turn to the pages of the great archæologic record, where we find that it occupies a place in ancient American art so intimately interwoven with conceptions peculiar to the continent that it cannot be separated from them. It is found associated with other prehistoric remains throughout nearly the entire length and breadth of America. I have the pleasure of presenting a few new examples of this emblem, obtained from the district at one time occupied by the mound-builders. The examples are carved in shell or engraved upon disks of shell which have been employed as pendant gorgets. In the study of these particular relics, one important fact in recent history must be kept constantly in mind. The first explorers were accompanied by Christian zealots, who spared no effort to root out the native superstitions and introduce a foreign religion, of which the cross was the all-important symbol. This emblem was generally accepted by the savages as the only tangible feature of a new system of belief that was filled with subtleties too profound for their comprehension. As a result, the cross was at once introduced into the regalia of the natives; at first probably in a European form and material attached to a string of beads in precisely the manner that they had been accustomed to suspend their own trinkets and gorgets; but soon, no doubt, delineated or carved by their own hands upon tablets of stone and copper and shell, in the place of their own peculiar conceptions. From the time of La Salle down to the extinction of the savage in the middle Mississippi province, the cross was kept constantly before him, and its presence may thus be accounted for in such remains as post-date the advent of the whites. Year after year articles of European manufacture are being discovered in the most unexpected places, and we shall find it impossible to assign any single example of these crosses to a prehistoric period, with the assurance that our statements will not some day be challenged. It is certainly unfortunate that the American origin of any work of art resembling European forms must rest forever under a cloud of suspicion. As long as a doubt exists in regard to the origin of a relic, it is useless to employ it in a discussion where important deductions are to be made. At the same time it should not be forgotten that the cross was undoubtedly used as a symbol by the prehistoric nations of the South, and consequently that it was probably also known in the North. A great majority of the relics associated with it in ancient mounds and burial places are undoubtedly aboriginal. In the case of the shell gorgets, the tablets themselves belong to an American type, and are highly characteristic of the art of the Mississippi Valley. A majority of the designs engraved upon them are also characteristic of the same district. We find at rare intervals designs that are characteristically foreign; these, whether Mexican or European, are objects of special interest and merit the closest possible examination. That the design under consideration, as well as every other engraved upon these tablets, is symbolic or otherwise significant, I do not for a moment doubt; but the probabilities as to the European or American origin of the symbol of the cross found in this region are pretty evenly balanced. In its delineation there is certainly nothing to indicate its origin. By reference to Plate LIII it will be seen that in all the examples given it is a simple and symmetrical cross, which might be duplicated a thousand times in the religious art of any country. A study of the designs associated with the cross in these gorgets is instructive, but does not lead to any definite result. In one case the cross is inscribed upon the back of a great spider; in another it is surrounded by a rectangular framework of lines, looped at the corners, and guarded by four mysterious birds, while in others it is without attendant characters; but the workmanship is purely aboriginal. I have not seen a single example of engraving upon shell that suggested a foreign hand, or a design, with the exception of this one, that could claim a European derivation. Some very ingenious theories have been elaborated in attempting to account for the presence of the cross among American symbols. Brinton believes that the great importance attached to the points of the compass--the four quarters of the heavens--by savage peoples has given rise to the sign of the cross. With others the cross is a phallic symbol, derived, by some obscure process of evolution, from the veneration accorded to the reciprocal principle in nature. It is also frequently associated with sun-worship, and is recognized as a symbol of the sun--the four arms being remaining rays left after a gradual process of elimination. Whatever is finally determined in reference to the origin of the cross as a religious symbol in America will probably result from the exhaustive study of the history, language, and art of the ancient peoples, combined with a thorough knowledge of the religious conceptions of modern tribes, and when these sources of information are all exhausted it is probable that the writer who asserts more than a probability will overreach his proofs. Such delineations of the cross as we find embodied in ancient aboriginal art represent only the final stages of its evolution, and it is not to be expected that its origin can be traced through them. In one instance, however, a direct derivation from nature is suggested. The ancient Mexican pictographic manuscripts abound in representations of trees, conventionalized in such a manner as to resemble crosses; these apparently take an important part in the scenes depicted. By a comparison of these curious trees with the remarkable cross in the Palenque tablet, I have been led to the belief that they must have a common significance and origin. The analogies are indeed remarkable. The tree-cross in the paintings is often the central figure of a group in which priests offer sacrifice, or engage in some similar religious rite. The cross holds the same relation in the Palenque group. The branches of these cross-shaped trees terminate in clusters of symbolic fruit, and the arms of the cross are loaded down with symbols which, although highly conventionalized, have not yet entirely lost their vegetable character. The most remarkable feature, however, is not that the crosses resemble each other in these respects, but that they perform like functions in giving support to a symbolic bird which is perched upon the summit. This bird appears to be the important feature of the group, and to it, or the deity which it represents, the homage or sacrifice is offered. These analogies go still farther; the bases of the cross in the tablet and of the crosses in the paintings are made to rest upon a highly conventionalized figure of some mythical creature. A consideration of these facts seems to me to lead to the conclusion that the myths represented in all of these groups are identical, and that the cross and cross-like trees have a common origin. Whether that origin is in the tree on the one hand or in a cross otherwise evolved on the other I shall not attempt to say. The gorget presented in Fig. 1, Plate LI, belongs to the collection of Mr. F. M. Perrine, and was obtained from a mound in Union County, Ill. It is a little more than three inches in diameter and has been ground down to a uniform thickness of about one-twelfth of an inch. The surfaces are smooth and the margin carefully rounded and polished. Near the upper edge are two perforations for suspension. The cord used passed between the holes on the concave side, wearing a shallow groove. On the convex side, or back, the cord marks extend upward and outward, indicating the usual method of suspension about the neck. The cross which occupies the center of the concave face of the disk, is quite simple. It is partially inclosed on one side by a semicircular line, and at present has no other definition than that given by four triangular perforations which separate the arms. The face of the cross is ornamented with six carelessly drawn incised lines, which interlace in the center, as shown in the cut--three extending along the arm to the right and three passing down the lower arm to the inclosing line. I have not been able to learn anything of the character of the interments with which this specimen was associated. Fig. 2 of the same plate represents a large shell cross, the encircling rim of which has been broken away. The perforations are still intact. The cross is quite plain. This specimen is very much decayed, and came to the National Museum inside of a skull obtained from a grave at Charleston, Mo. Beyond this there is no record of the specimen. [Illustration: PL. LI--SHELL GORGETS--THE CROSS. 1. From a mound, Union County, Ill. 2. From Charleston, Mo. (1/1)] In Fig. 1, Plate LII, I present a large fragment of a circular shell ornament, on the convex surface of which a very curious ornamental design has been engraved. The design, inclosed by a circle, represents a cross such as would be formed by two rectangular tablets or slips, slit longitudinally and interlaced at right angles to each other. Between the arms of the cross in the spaces inclosed by the circular border line are four annular nodes, having small conical depressions in the center. These nodes have been relieved by cutting away portions of the shell around them. In the center of the cross is another small node or ring similarly relieved. The lines are neat and deeply incised. The edge of the shell has been broken away nearly all around. The accompanying cut represents the ornament natural size--one and a half inches in diameter and one-sixteenth of an inch in thickness. It was obtained from a mound on Fain's Island, Tennessee. The small gorget presented in Fig. 2, Plate LII, is of inferior workmanship and the lines and dots seem to have a somewhat haphazard arrangement. The cross, which may or may not be significant, consists of two shallow irregular grooves which cross each other at right angles near the center of the disk and terminate near the border. There are indications of an irregular, somewhat broken, concentric line near the margin. A number of shallow conical pits have been drilled at rather irregular intervals over most of the surface. One pair of perforations seems to have been broken away and others drilled, one of the latter has also been broken out. A triangular fragment is lost from the lower margin of the disk. This specimen was obtained from a mound on Lick Creek, East Tennessee, by Mr. Dunning. The gorget shown in Fig. 3 contains a typical example of the cross of the mound-builder. The cut was made from a pencil sketch and is probably not quite accurate in detail. The border of the disk is plain, with the exception of the usual perforations at the top. The cross is inclosed in a carelessly drawn circle, and the spaces between the arms, which in other crosses are entirely cut out, or are filled with rays or other figures, are here decorated with a pattern of crossed lines. The lines which define the arms of the cross intersect in the middle of the disk. The square figure thus produced in the center contains a device that is probably significant. A doubly-curved or S-shaped incised line, widened at the ends, extends obliquely across the square from the right upper to the left lower corner. This figure appears to be an elementary or unfinished form of the device found in the center of many of the more elaborate disks. Intersected by a similar line it would form a cross like that upon the back of one of the spiders shown in Plate LXI, or somewhat more evenly curved, it would resemble the involuted figure in the center of the circular disks given in Plate LIV. This specimen was obtained from a mound on Lick Creek, Tenn., and is now in the Peabody Museum. In Fig. 4 a large copper disk from an Ohio mound is represented. The specimen is eight inches in diameter, is very thin, and has suffered greatly from corrosion. A symmetrical cross, the arms of which are five inches in length, has been cut out of the center. Two concentric lines have been impressed in the plate, one near the margin and the other touching the ends of the cross. It is now in the Natural History Museum at New York. [Illustration: PL. LII--THE CROSS OF THE MOUND-BUILDERS. 1. Shell gorget, Fain's Island, Tenn. 2. Shell gorget, Lick Creek, Tenn. 3. Shell gorget, Lick Creek, Tenn. 4. Copper plate, Ohio.] In Plate LIII I present a large number of crosses, most of which have been obtained from the mounds, or from ancient graves, within the district occupied by the mound-builders. Eight are engraved upon shell gorgets (illustrations of which are given in the accompanying plates), one is cut in stone, three are painted upon pottery, and four are executed in copper. With two exceptions they are inclosed in circles, and are hence symmetrical Greek crosses, the ends being rounded to conform to the circle; the remaining two (Figs. 14 and 15) represent forms of the Latin cross, and resemble the crosses attached to the rosaries of the Catholic priesthood. A silver cross similar to the last given was obtained from a mound in Ohio. The plate itself is instructive, and may be presented without further remark. [Illustration: PL. LIII--THE CROSS.] SCALLOPED DISKS. In making a hasty classification of the many engraved gorgets, I have found it convenient to place in one group a numerous and somewhat extraordinary class of designs which have been engraved upon scalloped disks. Like the cross, the symbol here represented is one that cannot with certainty be referred to an original. The general shape of the disks is such as to suggest to most minds a likeness to the sun, the scallops being suggestive of the rays. As this orb is known to be an object of first importance in the economy of life--the source of light and heat--it is naturally an object of veneration among many primitive peoples. It is well known that the barbarian tribes of Mexico and South America had well-developed systems of sun-worship, and that they employed symbols of many forms, some of which still retained a likeness to the original, while others had assumed the garb of animals or fanciful creatures. These facts being known, it seems natural that such a symbol as the one under consideration should be referred to the great original which it suggests. The well-known fact that the district from which these gorgets come, was, at the time of discovery by the whites, inhabited by a race of sun-worshipers--the Natchez--gives to this assumption a shadow of confirmation. So far as I am aware, however, no one has ventured a positive opinion in regard to their significance, but such suggestions as have been made incline toward the view indicated above. I feel the great necessity of caution in such matters, and while combating the idea that the designs are ornamental or fanciful only, I am far from attributing to them any deeply mysterious significance. They may in some way or other indicate political or religious station, or they may even be cosmogenic, but the probabilities are much greater that they are time symbols. Before venturing further, however, it will be well to describe one of these disks, a typical example of which is presented in Plate LIV. The specimen chosen as a type of these rosette-like disks was obtained from a mound near Nashville, Tenn., by Professor Powell. It was found near the head of a skeleton, which was much decayed, and had been so disturbed by recent movements of the soil as to render it difficult to determine its original position. The shell used is apparently a large specimen of the _Busycon perversum_, although the lines of growth are not sufficiently well preserved to permit a positive determination of the species. The substance of the shell is well preserved; the surface was once highly polished, but is now pitted and discolored by age. The design is engraved on the concave surface as usual, and the lines are accurately drawn and clearly cut. The various concentric circles are drawn with geometric accuracy around a minute shallow pit as a center. These circles divide the surface into five parts--a small circle at the center surrounded by four zones of unequal width. The central circle is three-eighths of an inch in diameter, and is surrounded by a zone one-half an inch in width, which contains a rosette of three involuted lines; these begin on the circumference of the inner circle in three small equidistant perforations, and sweep outward to the second circle, making upwards of half a revolution. These lines are somewhat wider and more deeply engraved than the other lines of the design. In many specimens they are so deeply cut in the middle part of the curve as to penetrate the disk, producing crescent-shaped perforations. The second zone is one-fourth of an inch in width, and in this, as in all other specimens, is quite plain. The third zone is one-half an inch in width, and exhibits some very interesting features. Placed at almost equal intervals we find six circular figures, each of which incloses a circlet and a small central pit; the spaces between the circular figures are thickly dotted with minute conical pits, somewhat irregularly placed; the number of dots in each space varies from thirty-six to forty, which gives a total of about two hundred and thirty. The outer zone is subdivided into thirteen compartments, in each of which a nearly circular figure or boss has been carved, the outer edges of which form the scalloped outline of the gorget. Two medium sized perforations for suspension have been made near the inner margin of one of the bosses next the dotted zone; these show slight indications of abrasion by the cord of suspension. These perforations, as well as the three near the center, have been bored mainly from the convex side of the disk. Whatever may be the meaning of this design, we cannot fail to recognize the important fact that it is significant--that an idea is expressed. Were the design ornamental, we should expect variation in the parts or details of different specimens resulting from difference of taste in the designers; if simply copied from an original example for sale or trade to the inhabitants we might expect a certain number of exact reproductions; but in such a case, when variations did occur, they would hardly be found to follow uniform or fixed lines; there would also be variation in the relation of the parts of the conception as well as in the number of particular parts; the zones would not follow each other in exactly the same order; particular figures would not be confined to particular zones; the rays of the volute would not always have a sinistral turn, or the form of the tablet be always circular and scalloped. It cannot be supposed that of the whole number of these objects at one time in use, more than a small number have been rescued from decay, and these have been obtained from widely scattered localities and doubtless represent centuries of time, yet no variants appear to indicate a leading up to or a divergence from the one particular type. A design of purely ornamental character, even if executed by the same hand, could not, in the nature of things, exhibit the uniformity in variation here shown. Fancy, unfettered by ideas of a fixed nature, such as those pertaining to religious or sociologic customs, would vary with the locality, the day, the year, or the life. I have examined upwards of thirty of these scalloped disks, the majority of which are made of shell. I shall not attempt to describe each specimen, but shall call attention to such important variations from the type as may be noticed. [Illustration: PL. LIV--SCALLOPED SHELL DISK. Nashville, Tenn. (1/1)] In Fig. 1, Plate LV, we have a well-preserved disk which has four involute lines, the others having three only; these lines are deeply cut and, for about one-third of their length, penetrate the shell, producing four crescent-shaped perforations. The circles in the third or dotted zone are neatly made and evenly spaced, and inclose circlets and conical pits. The dots in the intervening spaces are closely and irregularly placed, and in number range from forty to forty-five, giving a total of about three hundred and forty. Other features are as usual. The specimen was obtained from a stone grave in Kane's Field, near Nashville, Tenn., and is now in the Peabody Museum. It is possible that the specimen presented in Fig. 2, Plate LV, should not be placed in this group; but as there are many points of resemblance to the type, it may be described here. At first sight it appears that one of the outer zones is lacking, but it will be seen that through some unknown cause the two have been merged together, alternating bosses of the outer line being carried across both zones. The whole design has been carelessly laid out and rudely engraved. The lines of the involute are arranged in four groups of two each and occupy an unusually wide belt. There are near the margin two sets of perforations for suspension. The specimen was obtained from the Brakebill mound, near Knoxville, Tenn., and is in an advanced stage of decay. [Illustration: PL. LV--SHELL DISKS. 1. From a mound near Nashville. (1/1) 2. From the Brakebill Mound. (1/1) Tennessee.] In Plate LVI, Fig. 4, I present a small specimen, which has the appearance of being unfinished. The zones are all defined, but, with the exception of the outer, which has thirteen bosses, are quite plain. The lines are deeply but rudely cut. It was obtained from a stone grave at Oldtown, Tenn., and is now in the Peabody Museum. Besides the type specimen already presented, there may be seen in the National Museum two very good examples, from a mound near Franklin, Tenn. The smaller is about three inches in diameter and is nearly circular; it has suffered much from decay, but nearly all the design can be made out. The lines of the involute penetrate the disk producing short crescent-shaped perforations; the circles in the dotted zone are seven in number and inclose the usual circlets and conical pits; the dots in the intervening spaces are too obscure to be counted. The specimen has sixteen marginal scallops. The larger specimen is somewhat fragmentary, portions being broken away from opposite sides. It is nearly four and a half inches in diameter, and the design has been drawn and engraved with more than ordinary precision. The central circle incloses a perforated circlet, and the involute lines are long and shallow. The dotted zone has seven circles with inclosed circlets and pits. The outer zone contains fifteen oval figures. Another example of these shell disks is illustrated by Professor Putnam, in the eleventh annual report of the Peabody Museum, page 310. It is said to have been found near Nashville, Tenn., although its pedigree is not well established. According to Professor Putnam, it is made from the shell of a _Busycon_, and is apparently in a very good state of preservation. It is about four inches in diameter and is inscribed with the usual design, a central circle and dot surrounded by a triple involute and three concentric zones. The narrow inner zone is plain, as usual; the middle dotted zone has six circles with central dots, the spaces between being closely dotted, and the outer zone contains thirteen of the oval figures, the outer edges of which form the scalloped margin of the disk. The perforations for suspension are placed as usual near the inner margin of the outer zone in the spaces between the oval figures. A fine example of engraved disks has been figured by Dr. Joseph Jones, from whose work the illustrations given in Figs. 1 and 2, Plate LVI, have been taken. As his description is one of the first given and quite graphic, I make the following quotation: "In a carefully constructed stone sarcophagus, in which the face of the skeleton was looking toward the setting sun, a beautiful shell ornament was found resting upon the breast-bone of the skeleton. This shell ornament is 4.4 inches in diameter, and it is ornamented on its concave surface, with a small circle in the center, and four concentric bands, differently figured, in relief. The first band is filled by a triple volute; the second is plain, while the third is dotted, and has nine small round bosses carved at unequal distances upon it. The outer band is made up of fourteen small elliptical bosses, the outer edges of which give to the object a scalloped rim. This ornament on its concave figured surface had been covered with red paint, much of which was still visible. The convex smooth surface is highly polished and plain, with the exception of three concentric marks. The material out of which it is formed was evidently derived from a large flat sea-shell. * * * The form of the circles or '_suns_' carved upon the concave surface is similar to that of the paintings on the high rocky cliffs on the banks of the Cumberland and Harpeth. * * * This ornament, when found, lay upon the breast-bone, with the concave surface uppermost, as if it had been worn in this position suspended around the neck, as the two holes for the thong or string were in that portion of the border which pointed directly to the chin or central portion of the lower jaw of the skeleton. The marks of the thong by which it was suspended are manifest upon both the anterior and posterior surfaces, and in addition to this the paint is worn off from the circular space bounded below by the two holes."[136] Fig. 2 represents the back or convex side of the disk, the long curved lines indicate the laminations of the shell, and the three narrow crescent-shaped figures near the center are perforations resulting from the deep engraving of the three lines of the volute on the concave side. The stone grave in which this ornament was found occupied the summit of a mound on the banks of the Cumberland River opposite Nashville, Tennessee. Professor Jones, also represents in the same work, page 109, a large fragment of a similar ornament which has apparently had seven circlets in the dotted zone and thirteen marginal bosses. This specimen, which is three and one-half inches in diameter, was exhumed by Dr. Grant, from "a small rock mound" near Pulaski, Giles County, Tennessee. [Illustration: PL. LVI--SCALLOPED SHELL DISKS. 1. Nashville, Tenn. 2. Nashville, Tenn. (reverse). 3. Nashville, Tenn. 4. Oldtown, Tenn. 5. Nashville, Tenn. 6. Pulaski, Tenn.] Prof. C. C. Jones describes a number of stone disks containing designs which evidently belong to the class under consideration. He inclines to the opinion that they were designed for some sacred office, and suggests that they were used as plates to offer food to the sun god. The specimen of which I present an outline in Fig. 3, Plate LVII, is figured by Mr. Jones, and his description is as follows: It is "circular in form, eleven inches and a half in diameter, an inch and a quarter in thickness, and weighing nearly seven pounds. It is made of a close-grained, sea-green slate, and bears upon its surface the stains of centuries. Between the rim, which is scalloped, and the central portion, are two circular depressed rings, running parallel with the circumference and incised to the depth of a tenth of an inch. This circular basin, nearly eight inches in diameter, is surrounded by a margin or rim a little less than two inches in width, traversed by the incised rings and beveled from the center toward the edge. The lower surface or bottom of the plate is flat, beveled upward, however, as it approaches the scalloped edge, which is not more than a quarter of an inch in thickness. * * * The use of these plates from the Etowah Valley may, we think, be conjectured with at least some degree of probability. It is not likely that they were employed for domestic or culinary purposes. Their weight, variety, the care evidenced in their construction, and the amount of time and labor necessarily expended in their manufacture, forbid the belief that they were intended as ordinary dishes from which the daily meal was to be eaten, and suggest the impression that they were designed to fulfill a more unusual and important office. The common vessels from which the natives of this region ate their prepared food were bowls and pans fashioned of wood and baked clay, calabashes, pieces of bark, and large shells. Flat platters, made of an admixture of clay and pounded shells, well kneaded and burnt, were ordinarily employed for baking corn-cakes and frying meat; but it does not anywhere appear that ornamental stone plates were in general use."[137] This specimen, or one identical with it, is in the possession of the Natural History Museum in New York. It was plowed up in 1859 on the lower terrace of a large mound near Cartersville, Ga. Other specimens somewhat similar to the one described by Professor Jones have been obtained from the same region, two of which are now in the National Museum. One of these from a mound on the Warrior Riv. is made of gray slate, and is about eight inches in diameter. It is smooth, symmetrical, and doubly convex. There are three shallow, irregular lines near the border, and the periphery is ornamented with twenty-one scallops. Another specimen, a cut of which has already been published by Dr. Rau in "The Archæological Collection of the National Museum," p. 37, is illustrated in Plate LVII, Fig. 1. It is nearly one-half an inch in thickness, and about ten inches in diameter. A single incised line runs parallel with the circumference, which is ornamented with nine rather irregularly placed notches. The stone disk, of which an outline is given in Fig. 2, Plate LVII, was obtained from the Lick Creek mound, in East Tennessee. Its resemblance to the shell disks is so striking that it must be regarded as having a similar origin if not a similar use. The division into zones is the same as in the shell disks; the outer is divided into twelve lobes, and the cross in the center takes the place of the involute rosette with its central circle. The fact that this particular design is engraved on heavy plates of stone as well as upon shell gorgets is sufficient proof that its origin cannot be attributed to fancy alone. I have seen at the National Museum a curious specimen of stone disk, which should be mentioned in this place, although there is not sufficient assurance of its genuineness to allow it undisputed claim to a place among antiquities. It is a perfectly circular, neatly-dressed sandstone disk, twelve inches in diameter and one-half an inch in thickness. Upon one face we see three marginal incised lines, as in the example just described, while on the other there is a well-engraved design which represents two entwined or rather knotted rattlesnakes. An outline of this curious figure is given in Plate LXVI. Within the circular space inclosed by the bodies of the serpents is a well-drawn hand in the palm of which is placed an open eye; this would probably have been omitted by the artist had he fully appreciated the skeptical tendencies of the modern archæologist. The margin of the plate is divided into seventeen sections by small semicircular indentations. This object is said to have been obtained from a mound near Carthage, Ala. The reverse is shown in Fig. 4, Plate LVII. A similar specimen from a mound near Lake Washington, Mississippi, is described by Mr. Anderson.[138] [Illustration: PL. LVII--SCALLOPED DISKS. 1. Stone, Warrior River, Ala. 2. Stone, Lick Creek Mound, Tenn. 3. Stone, Etowah, Valley, Ga. 4. Stone, Carthage, Ala. 5. Stone, Sun symbol, Uxmal.] The short time at my disposal has barely permitted me to collect the facts, and I shall have to leave it to the future or to others to follow out fully the suggestions here presented. I had expected to find some uniformity in the numbers or ratios of the various zones, circles, and dots, and by that means possibly to have arrived at some conclusion as to their significance. I have already shown that certain elements of the design are fixed in position and number, while others vary, and the following table is presented that these facts may be made apparent. The list is quite incomplete. It will be seen by reference to the fourth column that the involute symbol of the inner zone is, with one exception, divided into three parts. The second zone is not given in the table, as it is always plain. The third or dotted zone contains circlets which range from six to nine, while the dots, which have been counted in a few cases only, have a wide range, the total number in some cases reaching three hundred and forty. The bosses of the outer zone range from thirteen to eighteen. The examples in stone seem to have a different series of numbers. The student will hardly fail to notice the resemblance of these disks to the calendars or time symbols of Mexico and other southern nations of antiquity. There is, however, no absolute identity with southern examples. The involute design in the center resembles the Aztec symbol of day, but is peculiar in its division into three parts, four being the number almost universally used. The only division into three that I have noticed occurs in the calendar of the Muyscas, in which three days constitute a week. The circlets and bosses of the outer zones gives them a pretty close resemblance to the month and year zones of the southern calendars. My suggestion that these objects may be calendar disks will not seem unreasonable when it is remembered that time symbols do very often make their appearance during the early stages of barbarism. They are the result of attempts to fix accurately the divisions of time for the regulation of religious rites, and among the nations of the south constituted the great body of art. No well-developed calendar is known among the wild tribes of North America, the highest achievements in this line consisting of simple pictographic symbols of the years, but there is no reason why the mound-builders should not have achieved a pretty accurate division of time resembling, in its main features, the systems of their southern neighbors. Column headers: [A] Illustrated in-- [B] Collection. [C] Locality. [D] Divisions of involute. [E] Circlets in 2d zone. [F] Bosses in marginal zone. [G] Dots in 2d zone. [H] Peculiar features. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SHELL. ----------+------------+-----+---+-----+---+------+------------------- [A] | [B] | [C] |[D]| [E] |[F]| [H] | ----------+------------+-----+---+-----+---+------+------------------- Pl. LIV |N. M., 32060|Tenn.| 3 | 6 |13 |340(?)|Three central | | | | | | | perforations. Pl. LV, 1 |P. M., 15247| do | 4 | 8 |14 | | Pl. LVI, 1|J. Jones | do | 3 | 9 |14 | |Three incisions. Pl. LVI, 3|P. M., 11801| do | 3 | 6 |13 | | Pl. LVI, 4|P. M., 15969| do | 3 |Plain|13 | |Unfinished (?) |P. M., 15896| do | 3 | 8 |17 | | |P. M. | do | 3 | 6 |16 | | |P. M., 15906| do | 3 | 8 |13 |100(?)|Two central | | | | | | | perforations. |P. M., 15835| do | 3 | 6 |14 |250(?)| |P. M., 15916| do | 3 | 6 |18 | |Three crescent | | | | | | | perforations. |N. M., 19976| do | 3 | 7 | 6 | | |N. M., 19975| do | 3 | 7 |15 |280(?)| ----------+------------+-----+---+-----+---+------+------------------- STONE. ----------+------------+-----+---+-----+---+------+------------------- Pl. LVII,1|N. M., 9334 |Ga. | |Plain| 9 | | Pl. LVII,2|P. M., 2962 | do | | do |12 | |Cross in center. Pl. LVII,3|N. Y. Nat. | do | | do |24 | | | Hist. M.| | | | | | |N. M., 9332 | do | | do |21 | | Pl. LXVI |N. M. |Ala. | | do |17 | |Serpent, obverse. |Anderson |Miss.| | do |18 | |Serpent, center. ----------+------------+-----+---+-----+---+------+------------------- N. M., National Museum. P. M., Peabody Museum. THE BIRD. With all peoples the bird has been a most important symbol. Possessing the mysterious power of flight, by which it could rise at pleasure into the realms of space, it naturally came to be associated with the phenomena of the sky--the wind, the storm, the lightning, and the thunder. In the fervid imagination of the red man it became the actual ruler of the elements, the guardian of the four quarters of the heavens. As a result the bird is embodied in the myths, and is a prominent figure in the philosophy of many savage tribes. The eagle, which is an important emblem with many civilized nations, is found to come much nearer the heart of the superstitious savage; its plumes are the badge of the successful warrior; its body a sacred offering to his deities, or an object of actual veneration. The swan, the heron, the woodpecker, the paroquet, the owl, and the dove were creatures of unusual consideration; their flight was noted as a matter of vital importance, as it could bode good or evil to the hunter or warrior who consulted it as an oracle. The dove, with the Hurons, is thought to be the keeper of the souls of the dead, and the Navajos are said to believe that four white swans dwell in the four quarters of the heavens and rule the winds. The storm-bird of the Dakotas dwells in the upper air, beyond the range of human vision, carrying upon its back a lake of fresh water; when it winks its eyes there is lightning; when it flaps its wings we hear the thunder; and when it shakes out its plumage the rain descends. Myths like this abound in the lore of many peoples, and the story of the mysterious bird is interwoven with the traditions which tell of their origin. A creature which has sufficient power to guide and rule a race is constantly embodied in its songs, its art, and its philosophy. Thus highly regarded by the modern tribes, it must have been equally an object of consideration among prehistoric races. We know that the Natchez and the Creeks included the bird among their deities, and by the relics placed within his sepulchers we know that it held an important place in the esteem of the mound-builder. Our prehistoric peoples seem to have taken special delight in carving its form in wood and stone, in modeling it in clay, in fashioning it in copper and gold, and in engraving it upon shell. One of the most interesting of all the specimens preserved to us is illustrated in Plate LVIII. The design with which this relic is embellished possesses no little artistic excellence, and doubtless embodies some one of the many charming myths of the heavens. I am perfectly well aware that a scientific writer should guard against the tendency to indulge in flights of fancy, but as the myths of the American aborigines are highly poetical, and abound in lofty rhetorical figures, there can be no good reason why their graphic art should not echo some of these rhythmical passages. To the thoughtful mind it will be apparent that, although this design is not necessarily full of occult mysteries, every line has its purpose and every figure its significance. Yet of these very works one writer has ventured the opinion that "they do but express the individual fancy of those by whom they were made;" that they are even without "indications of any intelligent design or pictographic idea." I do not assume to interpret these designs; they are not to be interpreted. Besides, there is no advantage to be gained by an interpretation. We have hundreds of primitive myths within our easy reach that are as interesting and instructive as these could be. All I desire is to elevate these works from the category of trinkets to what I believe is their rightful place--the serious art of a people with great capacity for loftier works. What the gorgets themselves were, or of what particular value to their possessors, aside from simple ornament, must be, in a measure, a matter of conjecture. They were hardly less than the totems of clans, the insignia of rulers, or the potent charms of a priesthood. The gorget in question is unfortunately without a pedigree. It reached the National Museum through the agency of Mr. C. F. Williams, and is labeled "Mississippi." On its face, however, there is sufficient evidence to establish its aboriginal origin. The form of the object, the character of the design and the evident age of the specimen, all bespeak the mound-builder. It was in all probability obtained from one of the multitude of ancient sepulchers that abound in the State of Mississippi. The disk is four and a quarter inches in diameter, and is made from a large, heavy specimen of the _Busycon perversum_. It has been smoothly dressed on both sides, but is now considerably stained and pitted. The design has in this case been engraved upon the convex side, the concave surface being plain. The perforations are placed near the margin and are considerably worn by the cord of suspension. In the center is a nearly symmetrical cross of the Greek type inclosed in a circle one and one-fourth inches in diameter. The spaces between the arms are emblazoned with groups of radiating lines. Placed at regular intervals on the outside of the circle are twelve pointed pyramidal rays ornamented with transverse lines. The whole design presents a remarkable combination of the two symbols, the cross and the sun. Surrounding this interesting symbol is another of a somewhat mysterious nature. A square framework of four continuous parallel lines, symmetrically looped at the corners, incloses the central symbol, the inner line touching the tips of the pyramidal rays. Outside of this again are the four symbolic birds placed against the side of the square opposite the arms of the cross. These birds, or rather birds' heads, are carefully drawn after what, to the artist, must have been a well recognized model. The mouth is open and the mandibles long, slender, and straight. The eye is represented by a circlet which incloses a small conical pit intended to represent the iris, a striated and pointed crest springs from the back of the head and neck, and two lines extend from the eye, down the neck, to the base of the figure. In seeking an original for this bird we find that it has perhaps more points of resemblance to the ivory-billed woodpecker than to any other species. It is not impossible, however, that the heron or swan may have been intended. That some particular bird served as a model is attested by the fact that other specimens, from mounds in various parts of Tennessee, exhibit similar figures. I have been able to find six of these specimens, all of which vary to some extent from the type described, but only in detail, workmanship, or finish. The specimen presented in Fig. 2, Plate LIX, was obtained by Mr. Cross from a stone grave on Mr. Overton's farm near Nashville, Tenn. Professor Putnam, who secured it from Mr. Cross, has published a cut of it in the Eleventh Annual Report of the Peabody Museum. It is made from a large marine shell, probably a _Busycon_, and is represented natural size both by Mr. Putnam and myself. The design is essentially the same as that shown in the type specimen, but is much more rudely executed. A circlet with a central pit takes the place of the cross and sun. The looped rectangular figure has but two lines and the birds' heads are not so full of character as those on the other specimens; they resemble the heads of chicks with a few pin-feathers sprouting from the back and top of the head rather than full-fledged birds. The design is engraved on the concave side. The perforations are much worn. This specimen is now in the Peabody Museum. [Illustration: PL. LVIII--SHELL GORGET--THE BIRD. Mississippi. (1/1)] The same collection contains a large fragment of another small disk about two inches in diameter. The central part seems to be plain, but the looped figure, which has four lines, resembles very closely that engraved on the other plates. It is mentioned by Professor Putnam, on page 309 of the Eleventh Annual Report of the Peabody Museum. It is said to have been found on the surface in Humphrey County, Tennessee. A much larger specimen, which resembles my type specimen very closely, is shown in Fig. 1, Plate LIX. It was obtained by Professor Putnam and Dr. Curtis from a stone grave on Mrs. Williams' farm, Cumberland River, Tennessee. It is nearly circular, and about two and a half inches in diameter. A small piece has been lost from the upper margin. It is neatly made and quite smooth, and the lines of the design are clearly and evenly engraved. The small cross in the center is inclosed by a plain narrow zone, and is defined by four triangular perforations between the arms. In this respect it resembles other shell crosses found within the Mississippi Valley. Surrounding the plain zone are eight pyramidal rays with cross-bars; in this feature, and in the drawing of the looped square and the birds' heads, there is but little variation from the type specimen. The surface upon which the engraving is made seems to be slightly convex. Another specimen of this class was obtained from a stone grave near Gray's mound, at Oldtown, Tenn. It is shown in Fig. 3, Plate LIX. The design is very much like that of the type specimen, from which it differs in having four large perforations near the center. Although the engraved design which once occupied the central space is almost totally effaced, one or two of the tips of the pyramidal rays may be detected. It is probable that the four round perforations correspond to the four triangular ones by which the arms of the cross in the preceding example are defined. The perforations for suspension are near one margin, and seem to be very much worn by use. The whole object is fragile from decay. This specimen is also in the Peabody Museum. One more very imperfect specimen obtained from a stone grave in the Cumberland Valley is nearly five inches in diameter and very irregular in outline. Barely enough of the engraved design remains to show that it belongs to the class under consideration. It will be observed that the specimens of this class obtained from Tennessee are confined to a limited area. It thus seems especially unfortunate that so little is known of the history of the type specimen given in Plate LVIII, as without assurance of the correctness of the statement that it is from Mississippi we cannot make use of it to show geographical distribution. In reference to this point, however, we have a few very interesting facts which make the occurrence of specimens in localities as widely separated as the "Cumberland River" and "Mississippi" seem inconsequential. I refer now to two specimens described by Dr. Abbott in "Primitive Industry." One of these is a remarkable slate knife, the striking features of which are a "series of etchings and deeply incised lines of perhaps no meaning. Taken in order, it will be noticed that at the back of the knife are four short lines at uniform distances apart, and a fifth near the end of the implement. Besides these are fifteen shorter parallel lines near the broader end of the knife and about the middle of the blade. A series of five zigzag lines are also cut on the opposite end of the blade. * * * More prominent than the numerous lines to which reference has been made, are the clearly defined, unmistakable birds' heads, placed midway between the two series of lines. * * * Did we not learn from the writings of Heckewelder, that the Lenapé had 'the turkey totem,' we might suppose that this drawing of such bird heads originated with the intrusive southern Shawnees, who, at one time, occupied lands in the Delaware Valley, and who are supposed by some writers to have been closely related to the earliest inhabitants of the Southern and Southwestern States. Inasmuch as we shall find that, not only on this slate knife, but upon a bone implement also, similar heads of birds are engraved, it is probable that the identity of the design is not a mere coincidence, but that it must be explained either in accordance with the statements of Heckewelder, or be considered as the work of southern Shawnees after their arrival in New Jersey. In the latter event, the theory that these disks were the work of a people different from and anterior to the Indians found in the Cumberland Valley at the time of the discovery of that region by the whites is, apparently, not sustained by the facts."[139] A cut of the bone implement referred to above is reproduced from Dr. Abbott's work, in Plate LIX, Fig. 4. It has probably been made from a portion of a rib of some large mammal and is thought to be somewhat fragmentary. "The narrow portion has been cut or ground away to some extent, and the edges are quite smoothly polished. Near the end of this handle-like portion, there is a countersunk perforation, and upon the concave side of the wider part there are rudely outlined the heads of two birds."[140] These resemble somewhat closely the heads depicted on the other specimen described by Dr. Abbott. The specimens referred to are both from New Jersey, and are probably surface finds. Although the heads represented on these specimens do certainly in some respects suggest that of the turkey, the characters are not sufficiently pronounced to make it impossible that some other bird was intended, so that the original in the mind of the ancient artist may have been the same as that from which the examples on shell were drawn. In comparing the northern examples with those of Tennessee I observe another feature that is more conclusive as to the identity of origin than the rather obscure resemblance of the birds' heads delineated. I have not had the opportunity of examining the specimen illustrated in Fig. 4; but in the cut given by Dr. Abbott a rather indefinite figure can be traced which has a striking resemblance to the looped rectangle characteristic of the designs on shell. This resemblance could hardly be owing to accident, and if the peculiar figure mentioned is actually found in conjunction with the birds' heads upon the New Jersey specimen, it will certainly be safe to conclude that the bone, stone, and shell objects belonged to the same people, and that they constituted the totems of the same clan, or were the insignia of corresponding offices or orders.[141] As bearing upon the question of the species of bird represented in the preceding specimens, I present in Plate LX an illustration published by Dr. Rau in the Smithsonian Report for 1877. This remarkable ornament (represented in Fig. 3) was obtained from a mound in Manatee County, Florida. It is a thin blade of gold, pointed at one end and terminating at the other in a highly conventionalized representation of a bird's head, the general characteristics of which are much like those of the examples engraved upon shell. The crest is especially characteristic, and, as pointed out by Dr. Rau, suggests a prototype in the ivory-billed woodpecker, an inhabitant of the Gulf States. The significance of the looped figure which forms so prominent a feature in the designs in question has not been determined. I would offer the suggestion, however, that, from the manner of its occurrence, it may represent an inclosure, a limit, or boundary. It may be well to point out the fact that a similar looped rectangle occurs several times in the ancient Mexican manuscripts. One example, from the Vienna Codex,[142] is presented in Fig. 5, Plate LIX. It is not a little remarkable that a cross occupies the inclosed area in all these examples. [Illustration: PL. LIX--THE BIRD. 1. Shell gorget from stone grave, Tenn. 2. Shell gorget from stone grave, Tenn. 3. Shell gorget from stone grave, Tenn. 4. Bone implement, N. J. 5. Design from Aztec painting.] I shall close this very hasty review of the bird in the art of the Mound Builders by presenting the remarkable example of shell carving shown in Fig. 1, Plate LX. Like so many of the National Museum specimens, it is practically without a record--a stray. It is labeled "B. Pybas, Tuscumbia, Ala." It is old and fragmentary, the shell substance being, however, quite well preserved. It is the right-hand half of a gorget which represents an eagle's head in profile. The skill of the ancient artist is shown to great advantage; nothing can be found, even in the most elaborately carved pipes, equal to the treatment of this remarkable head. To overcome the difficulty of cutting the flinty and massive shell was no small triumph for a people still in the stone age. To conceive and execute such a graphic work is a still more marvelous achievement.[143] The lines of the mandibles and protruding tongue are strongly and correctly drawn. The eye and the markings of the head are executed in smooth, deeply incised lines, and are conventionalized in a manner peculiar to the American aborigines. [Illustration: PL. LX--THE BIRD. 1. Fragment of shell gorget, Alabama. (1/1) 2. Gold ornament, Florida. (1/2) 3. Head of ivory-billed-woodpecker.] THE SPIDER. Among insects the spider is perhaps best calculated to attract the attention of the savage. The tarantula is in many respects a very extraordinary creature, and is endowed with powers of the most deadly nature, which naturally places it along with the rattlesnake in the category of creatures possessing supernatural attributes. Its curiously constructed house with the hinged door and smoothly plastered chamber must ever elicit the admiration of the beholder. But the spider, which spins a web and projects in mid-air a gossamer structure of marvelous symmetry and beauty, and builds an ambush from which to spring upon his prey, was probably one of the first instructors of adolescent man, and must have seemed to him a very deity. It is not strange, therefore, that the spider appears in the myths of the savages. With the great Shoshone family, according to Professor Powell, the spider was the first weaver, and taught that important art to the fathers. The Cherokees, in their legend of the origin of fire, "represent a portion of it as having been brought with them and sacredly guarded. Others say that after crossing wide waters they sent back for it to the Man of Fire from whom a little was conveyed over by a spider in his web."[144] The spider occurs but rarely in aboriginal American art, occasionally it seems, however, to have reached the dignity of religious consideration and to have been adopted as a totemic device. Had a single example only been found we would not be warranted in giving it a place among religious symbols. Four examples have come to my notice; these are all engraved on shell gorgets and are illustrated in Plate LXI. Two are from Illinois, one from Missouri, and the other from Tennessee.[145] The example shown in Fig. 1 was obtained by Mr. Croswell from a mound near New Madrid, Mo. It is described as a circular ornament, three inches in diameter, that had, apparently, been cut from a _Busycon_. Mr. Croswell says that "the convex face was entirely plain, but the concave side bears the figure of a tarantula, or large spider, very skillfully engraved, the body being formed by a circle inclosing a cross, showing beyond doubt its sacred and symbolic character. This ornament, when found, lay on the breast-bone of a skeleton, with the concave or ornamented side uppermost. Two holes in the upper part were evidently intended for the thong or string by which it had been suspended from the neck. A circumstance that renders this relic still more interesting is the fact that two other shell ornaments, bearing precisely similar devices, have recently been found in Illinois within seven miles of this city, thus proving that the figures were not a mere fanciful invention, but had some symbolic meaning."[146] The disk thus briefly described by Mr. Croswell is so much like the example shown in Fig. 3 that I shall not describe it further, but shall refer to its peculiarities in the descriptions of others that follow. The handsome gorget illustrated in Fig. 3 was obtained from a mound in Saint Clair County, Illinois, seven miles from the city of Saint Louis. It was found upon the breast of a skeleton, and was very much discolored and quite fragile from decay, but no part of the design, which is engraved upon the concave side, has been obliterated. Near the margin and parallel with it three lines have been engraved. The spider is drawn with considerable fidelity to nature and covers nearly the entire disk, the legs, mandibles, and abdomen reaching to the outer marginal line. As in the specimen described above, the thorax is placed in the center of the disk, and is represented by a circle; within this a cross has been engraved, the ends of which have been enlarged on one side, producing a form much used in heraldry, but one very rarely met with in aboriginal American art. The head is somewhat heart-shaped and is armed with palpi and mandibles, the latter being ornamented with a zigzag line and prolonged to the marginal lines of the disk. The eyes are represented by two small circles with central dots. The legs are correctly placed in four pairs upon the thorax, and are very graphically drawn. The abdomen is large and heart-shaped, and is ornamented with a number of lines and dots, which represent the natural markings of the spider. The perforations for suspension are placed near the posterior extremity of the abdomen. It will be observed that this is also the case with the three other specimens. Having described this specimen somewhat carefully, it will be unnecessary to give a detailed description of the very similar specimen shown in Fig. 2. The latter was found in a stone grave in Saint Clair County, Illinois, and does not differ in any essential feature from either of the other specimens, one of which was found near by, and the other about one hundred miles farther south. In reference to the cross it has been suggested that it may have been derived from the well-defined cross found upon the backs of some species of the genus _Atta_, but there appears to be good reason for believing otherwise. The cross here shown has a very highly conventionalized character, quite out of keeping with the realistic drawing of the insect, and, what is still more decisive, it is identical with forms found upon many other objects. The conclusion is that the cross here, as elsewhere, has a purely symbolic character. Spider gorgets are also mentioned by A. J. Conant in the Kansas City Review, Vol. I, page 400, and in his work on the Commonwealth of Missouri, page 96, but no details are given. It is probable that the objects referred to by Mr. Conant are the same as those more definitely placed by Prof. Hilder. The specimen shown in Fig. 4 was obtained from a mound on Fain's Island, Tennessee. The disk is somewhat more convex on the front than is indicated in the engraving. It is two and a half inches in diameter, and is quite thin and fragile, although the surface has not suffered much from decay. The margin is ornamented with twenty-four very neatly made notches or scallops. Immediately inside the border on the convex side are two incised circles, on the outer of which two small perforations for suspension have been made; inside of these, and less than half an inch from the margin, is a circle of seventeen sub-triangular perforations, the inner angle of each being much rounded. Inside of this again is another incised circle, about one and one-fourth inches in diameter, which incloses the highly conventionalized figure of an insect resembling a spider. In a general way--in the number and arrangement of the parts--this figure corresponds pretty closely to the very realistic spiders of the three other disks; in detail however, it is quite unlike them. It is much more highly conventionalized--the natural markings of the body being nearly all omitted, and the legs being without joints and square at the tips. The cross does not appear on the body, but its place is taken by a large conical perforation, made entirely from the convex side. The central segment of the body is round, as in the other cases; to this the four pairs of legs are attached. Without reference to the other specimens, it would be difficult to distinguish the anterior from the posterior extremity, and even with this aid we cannot be quite certain. The larger extremity is somewhat triangular in outline and is ornamented with two cross lines and two eyes. Were it not for the fact that these eyes resemble so closely those found in the other specimens I should call this the posterior extremity, as the opposite end terminates in a pair of well-shaped mandibles, the triangular space between them being cut quite through the disk. The section of the body between this and the central circle also resembles the head, which suggests the conclusion either that the eyes are misplaced or that, as drawn, they are only intended to represent the bright spots of the insect's body. The rarity of these spider gorgets makes it seem rather remarkable that specimens should occur in localities so widely separated as Fain's Island and Saint Louis, but the races inhabiting this entire region, are known to have had many arts in common, and besides this it is not impossible that the same tribe or clan may, at different times, have occupied both of these localities. The marked differences in the design and execution of these specimens, however, indicate a pretty wide distinction in the time or art of the makers. [Illustration: PL. LXI--SPIDER GORGETS. 1. From a mound, Missouri. 2. From a stone-grave, Illinois. 3. From a mound, Illinois. 4. From a mound, Tennessee. (1/1)] THE SERPENT. The serpent has had a fascination for primitive man hardly surpassed by its reputed power over the animals on which it preys. In the minds of nearly all savages it has been associated with the deepest mysteries and the most potent powers of nature. No other creature has figured so prominently in the religious systems of the world, few of which are free from it; and as art, in a great measure, owes its existence to an attempt to represent or embellish objects which are supposed to be the incarnations of spirits, the serpent is an important element in all art. Wherever the children of nature have wandered its image may be found engraved upon the rocks, or painted or sculptured upon monuments of their own construction. It is found in a thousand forms; beginning with those so realistic that the species can be determined, we may pass down through innumerable stages of variation until all semblance of nature is lost. Beyond this it becomes embodied in the conventional forms of art or looks back from its obscure place in an alphabet through a perspective of metamorphism as marvelous as that visible to the creature itself could it view the course of its evolution from the elements of nature. So well is the serpent known as a religious symbol among the American peoples that it seems hardly necessary to present examples of the curiously interesting myths relating to it. We are not surprised to find the bird, the wolf, or the bear placed among representatives of the "Great Spirit," and hence to find them embodied in art; but it would be a matter of surprise if the serpent were ever absent. With the mound-builders it seems to have been of as much importance as to other divisions of the red race, ancient or modern. It is of very frequent occurrence among the designs engraved upon gorgets of shell, a multitude of which have been thus dedicated to the serpent-god. It is a well-known fact that the rattlesnake is the variety almost universally represented, and we find that these engravings on shell present no exception to this rule. From a very early date in mound exploration these gorgets have been brought to light, but the coiled serpent engraved upon their concave surfaces is so highly conventionalized that it was not at once recognized. Professor Wyman appears to have been the first to point out the fact that the rattlesnake was represented; others have since made brief allusion to this fact. Two examples only have been illustrated; one by Professor Jones,[147] who regards it as being without intelligent design, and the other by Dr. Rau,[148] who does not suggest an interpretation. Among the thirty or forty specimens that I have examined, the engraving of the serpent is, with one exception, placed upon the concave side of the disk, which is, as usual, cut from the most distended part of the _Busycon perversum_, or some similar shell. The great uniformity of these designs is a matter of much surprise. At the same time, however, there is no exact duplication; there are always differences in position, detail, or number of parts. The serpent is always coiled, the head occupying the center of the disk. With a very few exceptions the coil is sinistral. The head is so placed that when the gorget is suspended it has an erect position, the mouth opening toward the right hand. As at first glance it will be somewhat difficult for the reader to make out clearly the figure of the serpent, even with the well defined lines of the drawing before him, I will present the description pretty much in the order in which the design revealed itself to me in my first attempt to decipher it. The saucer-like disks are almost circular, the upper edge being mostly somewhat straightened--the result of the natural limit of the body of the shell above. All are ground down to a fairly uniform thickness of from one-eighth to one-fourth of an inch. The edges are evenly rounded and smooth. Two small holes for suspension occur near the rim of the straighter edge, and generally on or near the outline of the engraved design, which covers the middle portion of the plate. The diameter ranges from one to six inches. To one who examines this design for the first time it seems a most inexplicable puzzle; a meaningless grouping of curved and straight lines, dots and perforations. We notice, however, a remarkable similarity in the designs, the idea being radically the same in all specimens, and the conclusion is soon reached that there is nothing haphazard in the arrangements of the parts and that every line must have its place and purpose. The design is in all cases inclosed by two parallel border lines, leaving a plain belt from one-fourth to three-fourths of an inch in width around the edge of the disk. All simple lines are firmly traced, although somewhat scratchy, and are seldom more than one-twentieth of an inch in width or depth. In studying this design the attention is first attracted by an eye-like figure near the left border. This is formed of a series of concentric circles, the number of which varies from three in the most simple to twelve in the more elaborate forms. The diameter of the outer circle of this figure varies from one-half to one inch. In the center there is generally a small conical depression or pit. The series of circles is partially inclosed by a looped band one-eighth of an inch in width, which opens downward to the left; the free ends extending outward to the border line, gradually nearing each other and forming a kind of neck to the circular figure. This band is in most cases occupied by a series of dots or conical depressions varying in number from one to thirty. The neck is decorated in a variety of ways; by dots, by straight and curved lines, and by a cross-hatching that gives a semblance of scales. A curious group of lines occupying a crescent-shaped space at the right of the circular figure and inclosed by two border lines, must receive particular attention. This is really the front part of the head--the jaws and the muzzle of the creature represented. The mouth is always clearly defined and is mostly in profile, the upper jaw being turned abruptly upward, but, in some examples, an attempt has been made to represent a front view, in which case it presents a wide V-shaped figure. It is, in most cases, furnished with two rows of teeth, no attempt having been made to represent a tongue. The spaces above and below the jaws are filled with lines and figures, which vary much in the different specimens; a group of plume-like figures, extends backward from the upper jaw to the crown, or otherwise this space is occupied by an elongated perforation. The body is represented encircling the head in a single coil, which appears from beneath the neck on the right, passes around the front of the head, and terminates at the back in a pointed tail with well defined rattles. It is engraved to represent the well-known scales and spots of the rattlesnake, the conventionalized figures being quite graphic. In the group of specimens represented in Plate LXIV areas of cross-hatched lines, representing scales, alternate with circular figures, containing two or three concentric circles and a central dot. In some cases one or more incised bands cross the body in the upper part of the curve. The examples shown in Plate LXV have many distinctive features. The markings of the body consist of alternating areas of scales and chevrons or of chevrons alone. These figures are interrupted in the upper part of the coil by a number of lines which cross the body at right angles. The body is in many cases nearly severed from the rim of the disk by four oblong perforations, which follow the border line of the design. In most cases three other perforations occur about the head; one represents the mouth, one defines the forehead and upper jaw, and the third is placed against the throat. These may be intended merely to define the form more clearly. The curious plume-like figures that occur upon the heads of both varieties may indicate the natural or reputed markings of the animal represented. It is possible that the group shown in this plate may be intended to represent the common yellow rattlesnake, the _Crotalus horridus_, of the Atlantic slope, the characteristic markings of which are alternating light and dark chevrons, while the diamond rattlesnake, the _Crotalus adamanteus_, of the Southern States may have served as a model for the other group. In Plate LXII I present two of these rattlesnake gorgets. The specimens shown in Fig. 1 is from Georgia and is the smallest example that has come to my notice. It is represented natural size. The design is quite obscure, but enough remains to show that it does not differ essentially from the type already presented. There appear to be no holes for suspension, but it is probable that two of the oblong perforations upon the border of the design had been used for that purpose. The handsome specimen given in Fig. 2 was obtained from the great mound at Sevierville, Tenn., and is in a very good state of preservation. It is a deep, somewhat oval plate, made from a _Busycon perversum_. The surface is nicely polished and the margins neatly beveled. The marginal zone is less than half an inch wide and contains at the upper edge two perforations, which have been considerably abraded by the cord of suspension. Four long curved slits or perforations almost sever the central design from the rim; the four narrow segments that remain are each ornamented with a single conical pit. The serpent is very neatly engraved and belongs to the chevroned variety. The eye is large and the neck is ornamented with a single rectangular intaglio figure. The mouth is more than usually well defined. The upper jaw is turned abruptly upward and is ornamented with lines peculiar to this variety of the designs. The body opposite the perforations for suspension is interrupted by a rather mysterious cross band, consisting of one broad and two narrow lines. As this is a feature common to many specimens it probably has some important office or significance. [Illustration: PL. LXII--RATTLESNAKE GORGETS. 1. Shell gorget from Georgia. (1/1) 2. McMahan Mound, Tenn. (1/1)] In Plate LXIII I present two of the best examples of these serpent gorgets yet brought to light. They were obtained from the McMahan Mound, at Sevierville, Tenn., in 1871, and are in an excellent state of preservation. Both are made from large heavy specimens of the _Busycon perversum_. The example given in Fig. 1 is but slightly altered by decomposition, the translucency of the shell being still perceptible. The back retains the strongly marked ridges of growth. The interior has been highly polished, but is now somewhat marked, apparently by some fine textile fabric which has been buried with it and has, in decaying, left its impress upon the smooth surface of the shell. The design is very much like the type described, but has some peculiar features about the neck and under the head of the serpent. The specimen shown in Fig. 2 may be regarded as a type of these gorgets, and is the one chiefly used in the general description given on a preceding page. It is six inches long by five wide, and has been neatly dressed and polished on both sides. As every detail is clearly and correctly shown in the cut I shall not describe it farther. [Illustration: PL. LXIII--RATTLESNAKE GORGETS. 1. McMahan Mound, Tenn. 2. McMahan Mound, Tenn. (3/4)] For convenience of comparison I have arranged two plates of outlines. The specimen shown in Fig. 1, Plate LXIV, is almost identical with the one last mentioned in size and shape. This, with the similar but somewhat smaller specimen given in Fig. 2, is also from the McMahan Mound. Figs. 3 and 4 are outlines of the specimens already given in Plate LXIII. The fine specimen shown in Fig. 5 is from the Brakebill Mound, near Knoxville, Tenn., and is now in the Peabody Museum. It is five inches in length and a little more than four and one-half in width. It is very much like the Sevierville specimens and is made of the same species of shell. The markings of the space beneath the head are peculiar, and in some other details it differs from the other specimens. Fig. 6 illustrates a large specimen now in the National Collection. It is also from Tennessee, and resembles the preceding examples quite closely. [Illustration: PL. LXIV--RATTLESNAKE GORGETS. 1. McMahan Mound. 2. McMahan Mound. 3. McMahan Mound. 4. McMahan Mound. 5. Brakebill Mound. 6. Williams Island. Tennessee.] The specimens illustrated in Plate LXV represent a somewhat different type of design, but are found associated with the others. The three shown in Figs. 2, 6, and 7 belong to the Peabody Museum, and are from mounds in East Tennessee. The others are in the National Collection, and come from the same region. [Illustration: PL. LXV--RATTLESNAKE GORGETS. 1. McMahan Mound. 2. Lick Creek Mound. 3. McMahan Mound. 4. McMahan Mound. 5. Green County Mound. 6. Lick Creek Mound. Tennessee.] It was my intention to pursue this study somewhat further, and the illustrations presented in Plate LXVI were partially prepared for the purpose of instituting comparisons between these northern forms and others of the south, but the time at my disposal will not permit of it. Fig. 1 is an outline of a rattlesnake gorget, probably from Georgia, which is preserved in the Natural History Museum of New York. It is four inches in length by three and one-half in width. The same specimen is figured by Jones in Plate XXX of his "Antiquities of the Southern Indians." Fig. 2 represents a large specimen from Tennessee, which is now preserved in the National Collection. The design is placed upon the gorget somewhat differently from the other specimens, the mouth of the serpent being near the top and the neck below at the right. There is also a dotted belt at the right of the head which is not found in any of the specimens described. Figs. 3 and 4 represent drawings of serpents' heads found in the ancient city of Chimu, Peru.[149] Fig. 5 is copied from one of the codices of Goldsborough, and is a very spirited representation of a plumed and spotted rattlesnake. The tablet shown in Fig. 6 has already been described under "scalloped disks." The remarkable plumed and feathered serpent given in Fig. 7 is painted upon the rocks at Lake Nijapa, Nicaragua.[150] [Illustration: PL. LXVI--THE SERPENT. 1. Shell gorget, Georgia. 2. Shell gorget, Tennessee. 3, 4. Painting, Peru. 5. From an Aztec painting. 6. Stone disk, Carthage, Ala. 7. Painted on rock, Nicaragua.] THE HUMAN FACE. A very important group of shell ornaments represent, more or less distinctly, the human face. By a combination of engraving and sculpture a rude resemblance to the features is produced. The objects are generally made from a large pear-shaped section of the lower whorl of heavy marine univalves. The lower portion, which represents the neck and chin, is cut from the somewhat restricted part near the base of the shell, while the broad outline of the head reaches the first suture of the noded shoulder of the body whorl. The simplest form is represented by a specimen from a mound at Sevierville, Tenn. It is a plain, pear-shaped fragment, with evenly dressed margin and two perforations, which take the position of the eyes. A sketch of this is presented in Fig. 1, Plate LXIX. Similar specimens have been obtained from mounds in other States. A little further advance is made when the surface of the most convex part is ground away, with the exception of a low vertical ridge, which represents the nose. Further on a boss or node appears below the nose, which takes the place of the mouth, as seen in Fig. 2. From the elementary stages exhibited in these specimens a gradual advance is made by the addition of details and the elaboration of all the features. A corona encircles the head, the ears are outlined (Fig. 5, Plate LXX), the eyes are elaborated by adding one or more concentric circles or ovals, brows are placed above, and groups of notched and zigzag lines extend downward upon the cheeks. The node at the mouth is perforated or cut in intaglio in circular or oblong figures, and the chin is embellished by a variety of incised designs. Illustrations of the various forms are given in Plates LXIX and LXX. These objects are especially numerous in the mounds of Tennessee, but their range is quite wide, examples having been reported from Kentucky, Virginia, Illinois, Missouri, and Arkansas, and smaller ones of a somewhat different type from New York. In size they range from two to ten inches in length, the width being considerably less. They are generally found associated with human remains in such a way as to suggest their use as ornaments for the head or neck. There are, however, no holes for suspension except those made to represent the eyes, and these, so far as I have observed, show no abrasion by a cord of suspension. Their shape suggests the idea that they may have been used as masks, and as such may have been placed upon the faces of the dead in the same manner that metal masks were used by some oriental nations. Among the large number of interesting objects of shell obtained from the McMahan Mound at Sevierville, Tenn., were a number of these shell masks. In the notes of the collector they are mentioned as having been found on the breast or about the heads of skeletons. The example shown in Fig. 1, Plate LXVII, is a medium-sized, rather plain specimen from the above-named locality. It is seven and one-fourth inches long and nearly six inches wide, and has been made from a _Busycon perversum_. The margins are much decayed, and the convex surface is pitted and discolored. The inside is smooth, and has a slight design rudely engraved upon it. Of a very different type is the specimen shown in Fig. 2. It is new looking, and well preserved. The slightly translucent surface is highly polished, and the engraved lines are quite fresh looking. It was collected by J. D. Lucas, and is labeled Aquia Creek, Va. It is five and one-half inches in length by five in width, and is apparently made from some dextral-whorled shell. The outline is somewhat rectangular, the upper surface being pretty well rounded and ornamented with a corona of incised lines, which are arranged in six groups of four each. Inside of these a single incised line runs parallel with the edge, from temple to temple. The eyes are represented by small circles with small central pits, and the lids are indicated by long, pointed ellipses. From each of the eyes a group of three zigzag lines extends downward across the cheek, terminating near the edge of the plate, opposite the mouth. These lines may be interpreted in two ways: First, if the object is a mourning mask, made with especial reference to its use in burial, they may signify tears, since, in the pictographic language of many tribes, tears are represented by lines descending from the eyes, and, with other nations, running water is symbolized by curved or zigzag lines; in the second place, these lines may represent figures painted upon the face during the period of mourning, or they may simply represent the characteristic lines of the painting or tattooing of the clan or tribe to which the deceased belonged. It is not at all improbable that these objects were further embellished by painted designs which have been obliterated. The nose is represented by a flat ridge, which terminates abruptly below, the nostrils being indicated by two small excavations. The mouth is represented by an oval node, in which a horizontal groove has been made. [Illustration: PL. LXVII--THE HUMAN FACE. 1. Mask-like ornament, Tennessee. (1/2). 2. Mask-like ornament, Virginia. (3/4).] The most elaborately engraved example of these masks yet brought to the notice of the public is shown in Plate LXVIII. It was obtained by Mr. Lucien Carr from a large mound, known as the Ely Mound, near Rose Hill, Lee County, Virginia, and is described and illustrated by that gentleman in the tenth annual report of the Peabody Museum.[151] Wishing to present this fine specimen to the best advantage possible, I have had a large cut made from a photograph furnished by Professor Putnam, curator of the Peabody Museum. Parts of the design which were obscure I have strengthened, following the guidance of such fragments of lines as were still traceable, or by simply duplicating the lines of the opposite side, as these designs are in all cases bi-symmetrical. Having described a great number of relics exhumed from this mound, Mr. Carr goes on to say "that the most interesting of the articles taken from this grave was an engraved shell made from the most dilated portion of the _Strombus gigas_, and carved on the convex side into the likeness of a human face." It measures 138 millimeters in length, by 120 in breadth. It is perforated with three holes, "the two upper of which are surrounded with circles, and represent eyes; between these is a raised ridge of shell, in place of the nose, and below this is a third hole, which is just above a series of lines that were probably intended as the mouth. Four lines, parallel to each other during three-fourths of their length, begin at the outer corner of the eye and are zigzaged to the lower jaw, where they are drawn to a point. The concave side of the shell is perfectly plain, and still preserves its high polish, though the right portion of the face on the carved or convex side shows the sad effects of time and exposure." Although I have not had an opportunity of examining this specimen closely, I am inclined to the opinion, judging by its outlines, that the shell from which it was made has been sinistrally whorled, and hence a _Busycon perversum_. I should also prefer to consider the hole beneath the nose as representing the mouth, as it certainly does in many other cases, and the peculiar figure--the three vertical lines which extend downward from the hole and the two banded figures that cross them at right angles--as a representation of some painted or tattooed design characteristic of the builders of the mound. [Illustration: PL. LXVIII--SHELL MASK. Virginia. (1/2)] Other examples of these objects are represented in Plate LXIX. Of especial interest I may mention the specimen shown in Fig. 4, obtained, with other similar examples, by Professor Putnam, from the Lick Creek mound, in East Tennessee. The perforations which represent the eyes are surrounded by two concentric circles, and the zigzag lines beneath are supplemented by two sets of pendant figures formed of notched lines, the two longer of which extend down the sides of the nose, the others being connected with the lower margin of the eye. In one example four parallel lines pass from the mouth downward over the chin. Fig. 3 represents a specimen from the Brakebill Mound, East Tennessee. The mouth is not indicated, and the nose is but slightly relieved. Each eye, however, is inclosed by a figure which extends downward over the cheek, terminating in three sharp points. [Illustration: PL. LXIX--THE HUMAN FACE. 1. McMahan Mound, Tenn. 2. McMahan Mound, Tenn. 3. Brakebill Mound, Tenn. 4. Lick Creek Mound, Tenn. 5. Aquia Creek, Va. 6. Mound, Ely County, Va.] So far as the specimens at hand show, this peculiar embellishment of the eyes and mouth is characteristic of Virginia and East Tennessee. A small specimen from Georgia, now preserved in the Natural History Museum at New York, has a somewhat similar ornamentation of the eyes. This specimen is shown in Fig. 6, Plate LXX. In Fig. 8 of the same plate we have the representation of a face modeled in clay, on which a number of incised lines, similar to those engraved on shell, have been drawn. The crown of notches is also present. The specimen has been illustrated by Professor Jones.[152] It is now in the museum of Natural History at New York, and was probably obtained from the Etowah Valley, Georgia. Examples in stone are also numerous, and show certain features in common with those in shell. Fig. 9 is from Northern Ohio, and is carved from a nodule of iron ore. The very beautiful little head shown in Figs. 1 and 2 is from a cave at Mussel Shoals, Ala. It is made of shell, and is somewhat altered by decay. The crown is peculiarly notched, and resembles a very common Mexican form. The notch in the middle of the forehead can be traced to a division in the head-dress noticed in the more elaborately carved Mexican specimens. The example shown in Figs. 3 and 4 is copied from a rather rude cut given by Schoolcraft, who describes it as follows: "This well-sculptured article was discovered in the valley of the Kasauda Creek, Onondaga County. The material is a compact piece of sea-shell. It still preserves in a considerable degree the smoothness and luster of its original finish. * * * At the angle of the temples are two small orifices for suspending it around the neck. The entire article is finished with much skill and delicacy."[153] The very rude specimen presented in Fig. 7 is from a mound at Franklin, Tenn. It seems to have been some natural form, but slightly changed by art. A somewhat similar specimen from a mound in Tennessee may be seen in the Peabody Museum. The cut presented in Fig. 5 is taken from Jones's Antiquities of Tennessee, page 48. The specimen was obtained from the stone grave of a child at the foot of a mound near Nashville, Tenn. It has diamond-shaped eyes, a feature of very rare occurrence in the art of this region. [Illustration: PL. LXX--THE HUMAN FACE. 1, 2. Shell ornament from a cave, Alabama. (1/1) 3, 4. Shell ornament from New York. (1/1) 5. Shell ornament, stone grave, Tennessee. 6. Shell ornament from Georgia. (1/1) 7. Shell ornament from Tennessee. (1/1) 8. Face modeled in clay, Georgia. 9. Face carved in iron ore, Ohio.] THE HUMAN FIGURE. I now come to a class of works which are new and unique, and in more than one respect are the most important objects of aboriginal art yet found within the limits of the United States. These relics are four in number, and come from that part of the mound-building district occupied at one time by the "stone grave" peoples--three from Tennessee and one from Missouri. Similar designs are not found in other materials, and, indeed, nothing at all resembling them can be found, so far as I know, either in stone or in clay. If such have been painted or engraved on less enduring materials they are totally destroyed. I shall first describe the specimens themselves, and subsequently dwell at some length upon their authenticity, their significance, and their place in art. First, I present, in Plate LXXI, a shell gorget on which is engraved a rather rude delineation of a human figure. The design occupies the concave side of a large shell disk cut from a _Busycon perversum_. Near the upper margin are the usual holes for suspension. The engraved design fills the central portion of the plate and is inclosed by two approximately parallel lines, between which and the edge of the shell there is a plain belt three-fourths of an inch wide. A casual observer would probably not recognize any design whatever in the jumble of half obliterated lines that occupies the inclosed space. It will first be noticed that a column about three-fourths of an inch in width stands erect in the center of the picture; from this spring a number of lines, forming serpentine arms, which give the figure as much the appearance of an octopus crowded into a collector's alcohol jar as of a human creature. A little study will convince one, however, that the central column represents the human body, and the tangle of lines surrounding it will be found to represent the arms, legs, hands, feet, and their appendages--no line within the border being without its office. The upper extremity of the body is occupied by a circle one-eighth of an inch in diameter, which represents the eye. The head is not distinguished from the body by any sort of constriction for the neck, but has evidently been crowned by a rude aurora-like crest similar to that found in so many aboriginal designs. This does not appear in the engraving given, as it, as well as other features, was so nearly obliterated as to escape observation until the idea was suggested by the study of other similar designs. The mouth is barely suggested, being represented by three shallow lines placed so low on the trunk that they occupy what should be the chest. From the side of the head a number of lines, probably meant for plumes, extend across the bordering lines almost to the edge of the shell; below this are two perforated loops, which seem to take the place of ears; the one on the right is doubly perforated and has a peculiar extension, in a bent or elbowed line, across the border. The arms are attached to the sides of the body near the middle in a haphazard sort of way and are curiously double jointed; they terminate, however, in well-defined hands against the right and left borders, the thumb and fingers being, in each case, distinctly represented. The legs and feet are at first exceedingly hard to make out, but when once traced are as clear as need be. The body terminates abruptly below within an inch of the base of the inclosed space. One leg extends directly downward, the foot resting upon the border line; the other extends backward from the base of the trunk and rests against the border line at the right; the legs have identical markings, which probably represent the costume. Each foot terminates in a single well-defined talon or claw, which folds upward against the knee. This is a most interesting feature, and one which this design possesses in common with the three other drawings of the human figure found in Tennessee. The spaces between the various members of the figure are filled in with ornamental appendages, which seem to be attached to the hands and feet, and probably represent plumes. The numerous perforations in this specimen are worthy of attention: within the border line there are twenty-six, which vary from one-fourth to one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter. They are placed mostly at the joints of the figure or at the junction of two or more lines. Such perforations are of frequent occurrence in this class of gorgets and may have had some particular significance to their possessors. This specimen was found in the great mound at Sevierville, Tenn., upon the breast of a skeleton, and is now in the National Collection. It has suffered considerably from decay, the surface being deeply furrowed, pitted, and discolored. The holes are much enlarged and the lines in places are almost obliterated. I began the study of this design with the thought that, in reference to this specimen at least, Professor Jones was right, and that the confused group of lines might be the meaningless product of an idle fancy, but ended by being fully satisfied that no single line or mark is without its place or its significance. [Illustration: PL. LXXI--SHELL GORGET--THE HUMAN FIGURE. McMahan Mound, Tennessee. (2/3)] After having examined this design so critically, it will be an easy matter to interpret that engraved upon the tablet illustrated in Plate LXXII. Although found in widely separated localities, and engraved in a somewhat different style, they are identical in type, and exhibit but slight differences in detail. At the top of the plate we have the two doubly conical perforations for suspension, but the double border line is not completed above, being interrupted by the plumes from the head. The head itself is decorated with the usual crown of radiating lines, a small circle with a central pit represents the eye, and below this is a well-defined mouth with a double row of teeth. Extending to the right from the mouth is an appendage consisting of one straight and two interrupted lines, which may be a part of the costume, or, since it issues from the mouth, may possibly symbolize speech. The body, which is short and straight, is divided vertically into three parts; the central space contains a large conical perforation, and is covered with a lace-work of lines; the lateral spaces are ornamented with rows of buttons or scales, which consist of meagerly outlined circles with central dots. The curiously folded arms have precisely the same relative positions as the corresponding members in the other specimen, and the fingers touch the bordering line on the right and left, the thumb being turned backward against the elbow. The legs are represented in a manner that suggests a sitting posture, the rounded knees coming in front of and joining the base of the body; in position and decoration they repeat the other specimen. The feet, or the rounded extremities that represent them, rest upon the border line, as in the case previously described, and terminate in upturned talons that are long, curved, and jointed, and terminate in square or blunt tips. Plume-like appendages are attached to the arms and legs, and fill the spaces not occupied by the members of the body; these plumes or pendants are always represented by folded bands or fillets which are ornamented on one side with dots. A plume attached to the left side of the head is represented by two curved lines, which reach to the edge of the shell. There are five perforations, two for suspension, two at the sides of the face, and one near the middle of the trunk. This specimen is in a very perfect state of preservation, the surface being smooth and but little stained. It is somewhat pear-shaped, resembling in this respect the mask-like gorgets previously described. It is about seven inches in height and five in width, and has been made from a very thick and compact shell, probably a _Busycon_. It was obtained from a mound in Meigs County, Tennessee, and is preserved in the Peabody Museum. In mechanical execution this specimen is much superior to the preceding one; the edges and surface of the shell are nicely dressed, although the lines of the design are indifferently cut. [Illustration: PL. LXXII--SHELL GORGET--THE HUMAN FIGURE. Mound, Tennessee. (3/4)] Another unique shell gorget is presented in Plate LXXIII. It was obtained from a mound in Southeastern Missouri, and is now in the possession of Professor Potter, of Saint Louis. The disk is about four and a half inches in diameter, and was originally nearly circular, but the edges are now much decayed and battered. A cut with a brief description is given by Mr. A. J. Conant in his recent work, "Foot-prints of Vanished Races," page 95. My cut is made from a photograph obtained from Professor Putnam, of the Peabody Museum. This is probably the same photograph used by Mr. Conant. The engraved design is of a totally distinct type from the last, and evinces a much higher grade of skill in the artist. It is encircled by six nearly parallel lines, which occupy about half an inch of the border of the disk. Portions of these still remain, the inner one being nearly entire. Between this and the second line are two perforations for suspension. The idea first suggested by a glance at the engraved design is that it strongly resembles the work of the ancient Mexicans, and the second idea of many archæologists will probably be that there may be a doubt of its genuineness. Setting this question aside for the present, let us examine the engraving in detail. Placing the plate so that the two perforations are at the left, we have the principal figure in an upright posture. This figure apparently represents a personage of some importance, as he is decked from head to foot with a profusion of ornaments and symbols. He is shown in profile with the arms extended in action, and the feet separated as if in the act of stepping forward. The head is large, occupying about one-third of the height of the design. The elaborate head-dress fills the upper part of the inclosed space, pendant plumes descend to the shoulders before and behind, and circular ornaments are attached to the hair and the ear. The conventionalized eye is lozenge or diamond shaped, with a small conical pit for the pupil. The profile shows a full forehead, a strong nose, and a prominent chin. Two lines extend across the cheek from the bridge of the nose to the base of the ear. In and projecting from the mouth is a symbolic figure, the meaning of which can only be conjectured. The shoulders and body are but meagerly represented. From the waist a peculiar apron-like object is suspended, which reaches to the knees; it may be a part of the costume or a priestly symbol. The legs and feet are dwarfed, but quite well outlined. There are encircling bands at the knees and ankles, and a fan-like extension of the costume, somewhat resembling the tail of a bird, descends between the legs. Attached to the back, is a figure of a rather extraordinary character. Similar figures may be seen in some of the Mexican paintings, and seem to represent a contrivance for carrying burdens, in which at times elfish figures are accommodated. The right arm is extended forward, and the hand grasps a singular shaft, with which a blow is aimed at the severed head of a victim, which is held face downward by the left hand of the standing figure. The severed head still retains the plumed cap, from which a long pendant descends in front of the face. The eye is lozenge-shaped. A zigzag line crosses the cheek from the ear to the bridge of the nose, and a curious symbolic figure is represented as issuing from the mouth. The shaft held in the right hand seems to issue from a circular figure, doubtless of symbolic character, which occupies the space in front of the head of the standing figure. It is possible that the figure which issues from the mouth of the victim represents the point of this mystic shaft which has penetrated the head, although we should have to allow some inaccuracies in the drawing if this were the case. Any one at all familiar with the curious pictographic manuscripts of the ancient Mexicans will see at a glance that we have here a sacrificial scene, in which a priest seems to be engaged in the sacrifice of a human being. In the extraordinary manuscripts of the ancient Aztecs we have many parallels to this design. So closely does it approach the Aztec type that, although no duplicate can be found in any of the codices, there is not a single idea, a single member or ornament that has not its analogue in the Mexican manuscripts. To make this clear to every one I present, in Plate LXXV, Fig. 4, a single example for comparison. This one is selected from the manuscript of M. De Féjerváry, preserved at Budapest, Hungary.[154] Fortunately for the credit of this Missouri relic we do not find its duplicate--there are only family resemblances; there are similar plumes, with similar ornaments and pendants, similar costume and attitudes; there are similar features and similar symbols; but there is no absolute identity, except in motive and conception. [Illustration: PL. LXXIII--SHELL GORGET--THE HUMAN FIGURE. Missouri. (1/1)] Among the multitude of works of art collected within the last decade very few will be found to surpass in interest the fragment of a shell gorget from the McMahan Mound, at Sevierville, Tenn. The disk, when entire, has been nearly five inches in diameter. A little more than one-third had crumbled away, and the remaining portion was only preserved by the most careful handling, and by immediate immersion in a thin solution of glue. This specimen is the first of the kind ever brought to light in this country, and must certainly be regarded as the highest example of aboriginal art ever found north of Mexico. The design, as in the other cases, has been engraved on the convex surface of a polished shell disk, and represents two human figures, plumed and winged and armed with eagles' talons, engaged in mortal combat. As in the last specimen described, this has, at first sight, an exotic look, bearing certainly in its conception a general resemblance to the marvelous bas-reliefs of Mexico and Central America; but the resemblance goes no further, and we are at liberty to consider it a northern work _sui generis_. The design has apparently covered the entire tablet, leaving no space for encircling lines. The two figures are in profile and face each other in a fierce onset. Of the right-hand figure only the body, one arm, and one leg remain. The left-hand figure is almost complete; the outline of the face, one arm, and one foot being obliterated. The right hand is raised above the head in the act of brandishing a long double-pointed knife. At the same time this doughty warrior seems to be receiving a blow in the face from the right hand of the other combatant, in which is clutched a savage-looking blade, with a curved point. The hands are vigorously drawn, the joints are correctly placed, and the thumb presses down upon the outside of the forefinger in its natural effort to tighten and secure the grasp. Two bands encircle the wrists and probably represent bracelets. The arms and shoulders are plain. The head is decorated with a single plume, which springs from a circular ornament placed over the ear; an angular figure extends forward from the base of this plume and probably represents what is left of the head-dress proper; forward of this, on the very edge of the crumbling shell, is one-half of the lozenge-shaped eye, the dot intended to represent the pupil being almost obliterated. It is certainly a great misfortune that both faces are completely gone; their exact character must remain conjectural. A neat pendant ornament is suspended upon the well-formed breast, and a broad belt encircles the waist, beneath which, covering the abdomen, is a design that suggests the scales of a coat of mail. The legs are well-defined and perfectly proportioned; the left knee is bent forward and the foot is planted firmly on the ground, while the right is thrown gracefully back against the rim at the left. Double belts encircle the knees and ankles. The legs terminate in wonderfully well-drawn eagle's feet, armed with vigorously curved talons. A very interesting feature of the design is the highly conventionalized wing, which is attached to the shoulder behind, and fills the space beneath the uplifted arm. A broad many-feathered tail is spread out like a fan behind the legs. The right hand figure, so far as seen, is an exact duplicate of the left. A design of undetermined significance occupies the space between the figures beneath the crossed arms; it may represent conventionalized drapery, but is more probably symbolic in its character. The heads have probably been a little too large for good proportion, but the details of the anatomy are excellent. The muscles of the shoulder, the breast and nipple, the waist, the buttock, and the calves of the legs are in excellent drawing. The whole group is most graphically presented. A highly ideal design, it is made to fill a given space with a directness of execution and a unity of conception that is truly surprising. [Illustration: PL. LXXIV--ENGRAVED GORGET--FIGHTING FIGURES. Tennessee. (1/1)] Let us turn for a moment from this striking effort of the mound-builders to the early efforts of other peoples in the engraver's art. Here are the drawings of the Troglodytes of France, scintillations of paleolithic genius, which appear as a flash of light in the midst of a midnight sky. They are truly remarkable. The clear-cut lines that shadow forth the hairy mammoth suggest the graphic and forcible work of the Parisian of to-day. The rude Esquimaux of our own time engraves images of a great variety of natural objects on his ornaments and implements of ivory in a manner that commands our admiration. But these shell tablets have designs of a much higher grade. They not only represent natural objects with precision, but they delineate conceptions of mythical creatures of composite character for which nature affords no model. In execution the best of these tablets will not compare with the wonderful works in stucco and stone of Palenque, or the elaborate sculptures of the Aztecs, but they are, like them, vigorous in action and complete in conception. In case the authenticity of these relics be questioned, the facts in regard to them, so far as known, are here presented for reference. As to the two specimens from Sevierville, Tenn. (Plates LXXI and LXXII), the shadow of a doubt cannot be attached to them. Were there no record whatever of the time or place of discovery, the evidence upon the faces of the relics themselves would show satisfactorily that they are genuine. They were taken from the great mound, which I have called the McMahan Mound, at Sevierville, Tenn. This mound was opened in 1881 by one of our most experienced collectors, Dr. E. Palmer. The specimens when found were in a very advanced stage of decay, pitted, discolored, and crumbling, and had to be handled with the utmost care to prevent total disintegration. They were dried by the collector, immersed in a weak solution of glue, and forwarded immediately to the National Museum at Washington. In this mound a multitude of relics were found, a large number being of shell, many of which are figured and described in this paper. These two gorgets, as well as many others of more ordinary types were found on or near the breasts of skeletons, and it is highly probable that they were suspended about the necks of the dead just as they had been worn by the living. By accurately ascertaining the authenticity of one of these specimens we establish, so far as need be, the genuineness of all of the same class. If one is genuine that is sufficient; the others may or may not be so, without seriously effecting the questions at issue, yet the occurrence of duplicate or closely related specimens in widely separated localities furnishes confirmatory evidence of no little importance. I do not wish to be understood as casting a doubt upon any of the four specimens described, as I am thoroughly convinced that there is no cause for suspicion. The Missouri gorget, which has already been described and figured, was obtained by unknown persons in Southeastern Missouri. Several years back it came into the hands of Colonel Whitley, and from him it was obtained by its present owner, Professor Potter, of Saint Louis. There has never been a question as to its genuineness, and according to Professor Hilder, who saw it shortly after its discovery, the appearance and condition of the specimen were such that it could not have been of fraudulent manufacture. It was chalky and crumbling from decay, the lines of the design bearing equal evidence with the general surface of the shell of great age. Beside this, even if it were possible to produce such a condition in a recently carved shell, there existed no motive for such an attempt. Nothing was to be made by it; no benefit could accrue to the perpetrator to reward him for his pains, and, further, there was no precedent, there was extant nothing that could serve as a model for such a work. In Plate LXXV I have arranged a number of figures for convenience of comparison, Figs. 1, 3, 5, and 6, being outlines of the four examples just described. In regard to the restored part of the outline in Fig. 1, I wish to say that my only object in filling out the figure on the right was to secure as far as possible the full effect of the complete original. Observing that all that remains of the right hand figure--the arm, the body, the leg and foot, is a duplicate of the left, it is safe to conclude that the design has been approximately bi-symmetrical, slight discrepancies probably occurring in the details of head and arm, in the expression of face, or in the character of the weapon. It is much to be regretted that the faces are totally destroyed. In Fig. 2 I present a group of two figures from the so-called "sacrificial stone" found in the Plaza Mayor, city of Mexico. It seems to represent the submission of one warrior or ruler to his victorious opponent, and is one of many designs that might be presented to illustrate the analogies of the Tennessee relic with the interesting works of the far South. There is what might be called a family resemblance, a similarity in idea and action, but little analogy of detail. The northern work is by far the more spirited, and is apparently superior in all the essentials of artistic excellence. [Illustration: PL. LXXV--THE HUMAN FIGURE. 1. Shell gorget, McMahan Mound, Tenn. 2. Sculptured in stone, Mexico. 3. Shell gorget, mound, Missouri. 4. Figure from an Aztec painting. 5. Shell gorget, McMahan Mound, Tenn. 6. Shell gorget, Lick Creek Mound, Tenn.] In the composite character of the personages represented this picture finds no parallel. Composite figures are of frequent occurrence in Peruvian art, as in the running figures sculptured on the great monolith at Tiahuanuco, or the mythical combats of the gods of the earth and sea painted on the pottery of Chimu. They are also found in the manuscripts of the ancient Mexicans, as well as in the paintings of the modern Pueblos of New Mexico (Fig. 1, Plate LXXVI), and in the totemic art of the Haidahs (Fig. 2, Plate LXXVI). The most frequent combinations are of birds with men, the inspiration of the work in all cases being derived from the mythology of the people. The wearing of masks has doubtless given rise to many such conceptions, and where the head alone of the human creature has undergone metamorphosis, we may suspect that a mask has originated the conception; but the Tennessee example appears to be the only one in which wings are added independently of the arms or in which bird's feet are attached to the otherwise perfect human creature. [Illustration: PL. LXXVI--COMPOSITE FIGURES. 1. Design on Zuñi war-shield, painting. 2. Thunder-bird of the Haidahs, painting.] And now we come to the question of the origin of these objects, and especially of the example most closely resembling Mexican work. The Missouri gorget is in many respects quite isolated from known works of the Mississippi Valley. Must it be regarded as an exotic, as an importation from the South, or does it belong to the soil from which it was exhumed? In order to answer this question we must not only determine its relations to the art of Mexico, but we must know just what affinities it has to the art of the mound-builders. In the first place, gorgets of shell are a marked characteristic of the personal embellishment of the northern peoples. They may have been in use among the Aztecs, but do not appear among southern antiquities, and no evidence can be derived from history. This gorget belongs, in its general character as an ornament, to the North. It is circular in form, it has two small perforations near the margin for suspension, and is made from the wall of a large univalve. The design occupies the central portion of the convex side of the disk and is inclosed by a number of incised lines. In all of these features, together with its technical execution and its manner of inhumation, it is identical with the well-known work of the mound-builders. These analogies could hardly occur if it were an exotic. It is true, however, as we have already seen, that the design itself has a closer affinity to Mexican art than to that of the North. It represents a sacrificial scene, and has many parallels in the paintings and sculpture of the South, whereas no such design is known in the art of any nation north of Mexico. The engravings of the mound-builders represent legendary creatures derived from the myths of the fathers, and in this respect have their parallels in the bird-man of the Haidahs, the war-god of the Zuñis, and the mythical deities of other countries; but they are never illustrative of the customs or ceremonies of the peoples themselves. As an ornament this Missouri gorget is a member of a great family that is peculiarly northern, but the design engraved upon it affiliates with the art of Mexico, and so close and striking are the resemblances, that accident cannot account for them, and we are forced to the conclusion that it must be the offspring of the same beliefs and customs and the same culture as the art of Mexico. [Illustration: PL. LXXVII--FROGS, ARIZONA. Carved from _pectunculus_ shells. (1/1)] FOOTNOTES: [1] I am greatly indebted to Prof. W. H. Dall, of the Coast Survey, for assistance in the identification of Pacific coast varieties. [2] Putnam: in Surveys West of the 100th Meridian, Vol. VII, p. 251. [3] Reiss and Stübel: Necropolis of Ancon, Peru, Plate 83. [4] De Bry: Collectio Pars 2. Brevis Narratio, 1591, Plate 29. [5] Kohl: Kitschi-Gami, vol. I, p. 186, Rau, trans. [6] Cabeça de Vaca: Relation et Naufrages. Paris, 1837, p. 121. Spanish ed., 1555. [7] Rau, in Smithsonian Report for 1872, p. 376. [8] Jones: Antiquities of the Southern Indians, p. 233. [9] Jones: Aboriginal Remains of Tennessee, p. 59. [10] _Ibid._, p. 60. [11] _Ibid._, p. 45. [12] Putnam, in Eleventh Annual Report, Peabody Museum, p. 355. [13] Wyman, in Third Annual Report, Peabody Museum, p. 7. [14] Wyman, in Third Annual Report, Peabody Museum, p. 8. [15] Foster: Prehistoric Races of the United States, p. 78. [16] Since the shell here named is quite small it is probable that the specimens found were _Busycons_. [17] Long's Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, Vol. I, p. 361. [18] Atwater, in Transactions American Antiquarian Society, Vol. I. [19] Squier and Davis: Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley, p. 283. [20] _Ibid._, p. 284. [21] Farquharson, in Proceedings of the Am. Association, 1875, page 296. [22] _Ibid._, p. 297. [23] Putnam, in Eleventh Annual Report, Peabody Museum, p. 235. [24] I am indebted to Dr. Charles A. White, of the Geological Survey, for the identification of the numerous specimens of _Unionidæ_ mentioned in this paper. [25] Archæological Explorations by the Literary and Scientific Society of Madisonville, 1879. [26] Putnam, in Eleventh Annual Report, Peabody Museum, p. 334. [27] _Ibid._, p. 344. [28] Jones: Antiquities of Tennessee, p. 64. [29] Beverly: History of Virginia, 1722, pl. 10, p. 154. [30] Strachey, in Hakluyt Society Publications, vol. VI, p. 52. [31] _Ibid._, vol. VII, p. 67. [32] Kalm's Travels, London, 1772, vol. I, p. 341. [33] Collections New York Historical Society, vol. I, 2nd series, p. 198. [34] Beverly: History of Virginia, 1722, p. 197. [35] Drake, in Hakluyt Society Publications, vol. XVI, p. 74. [36] _Ibid._, p. 78. [37] Sproat's Savage Life, p. 86. [38] De Bry: Collectio Pars 1. "Admiranda Narratio," Plate 12. [39] Catlin: Indians of the Rocky Mountains and Andes, page 101. [40] Wood: New England Prospect, p. 102. [41] Archæological Explorations by the Literary and Scientific Society of Madisonville, Ohio, Part I, p. 17. [42] Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., vol. VII, p. 193. [43] Wood: New England Prospect, p. 87. [44] Wood: New England Prospect, p. 106. [45] Archæological Explorations by the Literary and Scientific Society, part II, p. 38, fig. 31. [46] Putnam, in Explorations West of the 100th Meridian, vol. VII, p. 223. [47] Cook: Voyage Around the World, 1770, vol. II, p. 218. [48] Rau: Archæological Collection of the National Museum, page 67. [49] Knight: Savage Weapons at the Centennial Exhibition, page 10. [50] Wyman: American Naturalist for October, 1878, p. 453. [51] Adair: History of the American Indians, p. 6. [52] Beverly: History of Virginia, p. 140. [53] Heckewelder's Indian Nations, p. 205. [54] Reiss and Stübel: Necropolis of Ancon, Plate 83, fig. 17-1/2. [55] Jones: Antiquities of the Southern Indians, pp. 234, 518. [56] Wyman, in the American Naturalist, November, 1868, Plate X, p. 455. [57] Putnam, in Surveys West of the 100th Meridian, Vol. VII, p. 230. [58] Putnam, in Surveys West of the 100th Meridian, Vol. VII, p. 259. [59] Perkins, on An Ancient Burial-Ground in Swanton, Vt., Proceedings of the American Association, 1873. [60] Squier and Davis: Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley, p. 232. [61] Putnam, in Surveys West of the 100th Meridian, Vol. VII, p. 266. [62] Schoolcraft: History of the Indian Tribes, Vol. III, p. 79, Plate 25. [63] Schoolcraft: Notes on the Iroquois, p. 233. [64] Beverly: History of Virginia, p. 145, Plate VI. [65] Haldeman, in Surveys West of the 100th Meridian, Vol. VII, p. 263. [66] Atwater: Western Antiquities, p. 86. In the early days of mound exploration shell was usually mistaken for bone or ivory. [67] Kip: Jesuit Missions, p. 25. [68] Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 1794, Vol. III, pp. 231, 232. [69] Worsley: A View of the American Indians, p. 65. [70] Collections of the New York Historical Society, 1841; vol. I, 2nd Series, p. 194. [71] Thought to be raccoon skins. [72] Smith: True Relation of Virginia, pp. 33, 34. [73] Wood: New England Prospect, p. 74. [74] Du Pratz: History of Louisiana, p. 364. [75] Lewis and Clark: Expedition up the Missouri, &c., p. 537. [76] Harmon's Journal, p. 287. [77] Swan: The Northwest Coast, p. 158. [78] Powers: Contributions to North American Ethnology, Vol. III, p. 263. [79] Drake: Book of Indians, p. 27. [80] Morgan, in Fifth Annual Report on the New York State Cabinet of Natural History, pp. 71, 73. [81] Loskiel: Mission of the United Brethren, Latrobe trans., p. 34. [82] Hutchinson: History of Mass., Vol. I, p. 406. [83] Thomas Morton, in Historical Tracts, Vol. II, p. 29. [84] Williams: A Key into the Language of America, p. 144. [85] Penna: Historical Society, Vol. III, p. 131. [86] Beverly: History of Virginia, p. 195. [87] Lawson: History of North Carolina; Raleigh reprint, 1860, p. 315. [88] On this point, however, the author quoted is apparently at fault, as there is abundance of proof that the whites often engaged successfully in the manufacture of this shell money. [89] Adair: History of the American Indians, p. 170. [90] Kalm's Travels, London, 1772, Vol. II, p. 100. [91] _Ibid._, Vol. I, pp. 190, 191. [92] Ruttenber: Indian Tribes of the Hudson River, p. 26. [93] Lewis and Clark: Expedition up the Missouri, p. 73. [94] Ruttenber: Indian Tribes of the Hudson River, page 43. [95] Morgan, in Fifth Annual Report on the condition of the New York State Cabinet of Natural History, page 73. [96] Brice: History of Fort Wayne, 1868, page 28. [97] Events in Indian History, Lancaster, Pa., 1841, page 143. [98] History and description of New France, Vol. II, page 256. [99] Penn, in Memoirs Hist. Soc. Penn'a, Vol. VI, p. 222. [100] In order to make the authors meaning quite clear, a free translation has been given of such words as _porcelaine_, _branches_, _colliers_, etc., as his use of them is somewhat confusing. [101] Lafitau: Moeurs des Sauvages Ameriquains, 1724, tom. II, pp. 502-'3 and 506-'7. [102] Loskiel: Missions of the United Brethren. Trans. by La Trobe, Book I, p. 26. [103] Brice: History of Fort Wayne, p. 118. [104] Gilpin, in Memoirs of the Hist. Soc. of Penna. Vol. VI, p. 248. [105] Heckewelder: Indian Nations, 1876, p. 110. [106] Parkman: Jesuits in North America, p. xxxiii. [107] Events in Indian History, Lancaster, Pa., 1841, p. 143. [108] Hunter: Indian Manners and Customs, p. 192. [109] Gumilla: Histoire de Orinoque, Vol. III, p. 91. [110] Molina: History of Chili, Vol. I, p. 119. [111] From an original sketch by Mr. Beauchamp. [112] Pike: Travels through the Western Territories of N. A., 1805-'7, p. 103. [113] Morgan, in Fifth Annual Report on the Condition of the New York State Cabinet of Natural History, 1852, p. 72. [114] Morgan: League of the Iroquois, p. 387. [115] Heckewelder: Indian Nations, 1876, pp. 108-'9-'10. [116] Beatty: Journal of Two Months Tour, 1768, p. 67. [117] Loskiel: Missions of the United Brethren. Trans, by La Trobe, 1794. Book I, p. 26. [118] Lafitau: Moeurs des Sauvages Ameriquains, Tome II, p. 314. [119] Mr. Beauchamp has published many interesting facts in regard to these belts in the American Antiquarian, Vol. II, No. 3. [120] Present chief of the Onondagas. [121] The proceedings attending the presentation are fully recorded in the Memoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, volume iii, page 207. A full size lithographic illustration of the belt printed in color is also given. [122] Clavigero: History of Mexico, Trans. by Cullen, vol. I, p. 437. [123] Davis: Spanish Conquest of New Mexico, p. 121. [124] Beverly: History of Virginia, p. 196. [125] Lafitau: Moeurs des Sauvages Ameriquains, p. 61. [126] Wood: New England Prospect, p. 74. [127] Kalm: Travels in North America, 1772, vol. ii, p. 320. [128] _Vide_ Kingsborough, Waldeck, Bancroft, &c. [129] Schoolcraft, in Trans. Am. Eth. Soc., Vol. II, Plate 1. [130] Tomlinson, in The American Pioneer, Vol. II, p. 200. [131] Matson, in Ohio Centennial Report, p. 131. [132] Schoolcraft: History of the Indian Tribes, &c., part I, plate XIX. [133] The ossuaries here mentioned are in the township of Beverly, twenty miles from Dundas, at the head of Lake Ontario. They are situated in a primitive forest, and were discovered upwards of thirty years ago through the uprooting of a tree. Large numbers of skeletons had been deposited longitudinally in trenches, with many implements, utensils, and ornaments. Two brass kettles were found in one of the graves. (Schoolcraft: Red Races of America, p. 326.) [134] Rau: Archæological Collection of the National Museum, p. 33. [135] The handsome illustrations presented in the accompanying plates were mostly drawn by Miss Kate C. Osgood, who has no superior in this class of work. [136] Jones: Aboriginal Remains of Tennessee, pp. 42-3. [137] Jones: Antiquities of the Southern Indians, pp. 373-5. [138] Anderson, in the Cincinnati Quarterly Journal of Science, October, 1875, p. 378. [139] Abbott: Primitive Industry, pp. 70, 72, and 73. [140] _Ibid._, p. 207. [141] Since this paragraph has been in type I have seen the specimen, and find that the looped figure is clearly defined. [142] Kingsborough: vol. II, Plate 20. [143] Let any one who thinks lightly of such a work undertake, without machinery or well-adapted appliances, to cut a groove or notch even, in a moderately compact specimen of _Busycon_, and he will probably increase his good opinion of the skill and patience of the ancient workman if he does nothing else. [144] E. G. Squier: Serpent Symbol, page 69, quoting MSS. of J. H. Payne. [145] I am very much indebted to Prof. F. F. Hilder, of Saint Louis, for photographs of three of these specimens as well as for much information in regard to their history. [146] Croswell, in Transactions Academy of Science of Saint Louis, vol. III, p. 537. [147] Jones: Antiquities of the Southern Indian, plate XXX. [148] Archæological Collection of the National Museum, p. 69. [149] Squier: Peru, p. 186. [150] Bancroft: Native Races of the Pacific States, vol. IV., p. 37. [151] Carr, in Tenth Annual Report Peabody Museum, p. 87. [152] Jones: Antiquities of the Southern Indians, p. 430. [153] Schoolcraft: Notes on the Iroquois, p. 235. [154] Kingsborough, Vol. III, pl. 22. INDEX. Abbott, C. C., describes bird totems 284 Adair, James, describes shell tweezers 212 , on use of shell money 237 Agricultural implements. (_See_ Implements.) Amiantis shells, Manufacture of beads from 226 Art, Antiquity of shell works of 187 , Burial of shell works of 187 , Evolution of 185, 192, 202, 210, 213, 225 , Inception of 186 , Materials employed in 185, 188 , Preservation of shell works of 186 Asphaltum used by California Indians 191, 209, 218 Atwater, Caleb, describes shell necklace 231 vessel 197 Beads of other materials 219, 232, 235 shell 219 , Classification of 219 discoidal in form 221 , Kinds of, used in belts 247 , Manner of stringing 234, 236, 244, 248 , Manufacture of 236 , by whites 238 massive in form 223 , Mnemonic use of 240, 254 or "Runtees" 228 , Perforated 219 tubular in form 226 used as money 219, 233 ornaments 219, 230, 234 Beatty, Charles, describes wampum belts 250 Beauchamp, W. M., Beads sketched by 228 , on belts of wampum 252 strings of wampum 248 Belts, wampum, Character of the patterns woven into 240, 246, 248 , Dimensions of 250, 253 , Keeper of the Iroquois 241, 244 made by Indian women 249 , Manufacture of 248 , Method of handling, in councils 241, 246 , Number of beads in 233, 251 , Profuse use of 242 , Rarity of, in collections 249 ; the Penn belt 253 , Use of, as mnemonic records 240, 254 , W. A. Brice on use and repudiation of 242, 246 Beverly, R., describes shell beads 229 money 237 pendants 256 spoon 201 , mentions shell knives 202 tweezers 212 Bird; carving of eagle's head 285 , Embodiment of the, in art 280 engraved on bone 284 stone 284 shell gorgets 280 , Examples of the, engraved on shell gorgets 281 , Gold ornament representing head of 285 , Myths of the 280 , Significant character of the, in engraved designs 281, 284 , Species of, represented 282, 284 , Superstitions in regard to the 280 , The Dakotas' thunder 281 , Totemic use of the 284 Bourke, Lieut. John G., on Moqui shell vessels 193 Bowers, Stephen, Shell objects collected by 209, 226 Brakebill mound 215, 275, 292, 296 Brice, W. A., on repudiation of wampum 246 use of wampum belts 242 Brinton, D. G., on the origin of the cross 270 Busycon shells, Columellæ of, used as pendants 209, 258 pins 213 , Gorgets derived from 273, 276, 282, 290, 292, 294, 296 , Pendants derived from 209, 259 , Perforated plates derived from 265 used as beads 220, 224 celts 204 vessels 194, 197 weapons 211 in the arts 191 Cabeça de Vaca on trade in shells 194 Cabrillo, João, visits Island of Santa Rosa 260 Calendars, Pictographic symbols of the Sioux 279 , Probable use of shell disks as 268, 273, 278 used by ancient Mexicans 279 modern tribes 279 Carr, Lucien, describes shell gorget 295 Cassis shells used as vessels 191, 194, 196 Catlin, George, describes shell adze 205 Celts, Examples of 203 , Manufacture of 203 of shell 203, 205 Clam shells used as implements 190, 205, 207 utensils 190 in manufacture of ornaments 263 wampum 190, 226, 238, 257 Clark, J. S., Photographs made by 252 Clavigero, F. X., on use of shell ornaments 256 vessels in Mexico 193 Cleveland, F., describes shell vessels 197 Columellæ, Manner of extracting, from shell 214 used in manufacture of heads 219, 223 pins 213, 218 Conant, A. J., describes shell gorgets 300 , mentions shell gorgets 287 Cross design associated with others 270 combined with spider design 288 in Aztec paintings 285 engraved on shell gorgets 268 , Evolution or derivation of the 270 , Examples of the, combined with birds 282, 283 , Examples of the, from mounds 271, 273 , Introduction of the Christian 269 , Occurrence of the, in ancient Mexican art 270 Yucatan 270 , Origin of the, among mound builders 269 , Prehistoric use of the, in America 268, 270 , Symbolic character of the 269 Croswell, C., describes shell gorgets 286 Curtis, Dr., Shell gorgets collected by 283 Cyprea shells used as beads 219 ornaments 263 Dall, W. H., use of pins 217 , Shells identified by 190 Davis, W. H. H., mentions shell pendants 256 Dentalium shells used for money 191, 220, 227, 239 ornament 191, 218, 220, 227 in bushing 218, 227 Disks, Scalloped, probably time symbols 273 , Relation of, to human remains 276 shell, from mounds 275, 278 , Shell gorgets in the shape of 268, 273, 279 stone 277 with engravings of knotted serpents 278 , Table of 280 , The sun suggested by 273 , Type example of 273 ; use of sun symbols of similar shape 273 Drake, Daniel, describes shell vessel 197 Dunning, E. O., Shell ornaments collected by 272 pins collected by 215 Ely mound in Virginia 295 Engraved gorgets. (_See_ Gorgets.) Face, Human, Description of shell gorgets representing the 294 engraved and carved on shell gorgets 293, 297 modeled in clay 296 , Portions of shell used for representing 293 , Use or significance of shell gorgets representing 295 Fain's Island mound 215, 272, 288 Farquharson, B. J., describes shell vessel 197 Fasciolaria shells, Columellæ of, used for pins 213 used as vessels 194 Figure, Human. (_See_ Human figure.) Fishing appliances, Shell 207 ; hooks 208 , Manufacture of 210 ; sinkers 208 Fissurella shells used as ornaments 191, 220, 261, 263 Frey, S. L., describes shell vessel 198 Gilpin, H. D., on the use of wampum belts 246 Gorgets, Engraved, Classification of 267 design on, character of 267 described by Beverly 256 , Modern examples of 268 of shell 267, 305 , Significance of designs on 267, 274, 278, 282 used as amulets 267 insignia 267, 273 symbols 268, 273 totems 268 Grave Creek mound 234, 264 Gray's mound, Oldtown, Tenn. 283 Gumilla, Joseph, concerning emblems in treaties 247 Hafting of implements of shell 203, 205, 211 Haldemann, S. S., describes shell beads 227, 230 Haliotis shells used as vessels 189, 191 in manufacturing beads 225, 227 fish hooks 209 pendants 209, 261 trade 191 Heckewelder, Johann, describes shell tweezers 212 wampum belts 250 , on the use of wampum belts 246 Hennite shells used in manufacture of beads 225, 227 Hilder, F. F., describes shell gorgets 286, 288, 303 , photographs of gorgets procured by 286 Human figure engraved on shell gorgets 297 , Comparison of, with other examples 302 southern examples 301 Hunter, J. D., concerning emblems in treaties 247 Hutchinson, Thomas, on the antiquity of wampum 235 Implements of shell, Agricultural 207 Insignia or badges of shell 264, 266, 273 Jones, C. C., describes shell pins 215 vessel 196 stone disks 277 , mentions shell gorgets 287, 293, 298 Jones, Joseph, describes shell disk 276 gorgets 297 spoons 201 vessel 196 Kalm, Peter, mentions shell knives 202 , on shell money 238 pendants 257 Knight, E. H., describes shell weapons 211 Knives of shell 201 , rarity of, in collections 203 used by Honda Indians 202 Pacific Coast tribes 203 Patagonians 203 Kohl, J. G., on trade in shells 194 Lafitau, J. F., on the use of shell pendants 256 wampum 243 wampum belts 250 Lawson, John, on the use of shell money 237 Le Moyne, d'Iberville, on the use of shell vessels 193 Lewis and Clark describe shell ornaments 233 on value of beads 239 Lick Creek mound 215, 224, 272, 278, 296 Lindström, P., on the use of shell money 236 Lord, J. K., on shell money 239 Loskiel G. H., gives an account of wampum 245 , on the antiquity of use of wampum 235 manufacture of wampum 235 origin of the word wampum 239 wampum belts 250 Low, C. P., Shell spoons collected by 200 described by 200 Lyon, S. S., Shell spoons collected by 200 McMahan mound 214, 292, 294, 298, 301, 303 Manufacture of shell objects 204, 210, 212, 216, 218, 220, 228, 236, 255, 261, 263, 286, 293 Marginella shells used as beads 219 Matson, J. S. B., Beads discovered by 231 , describes shell plates 265 Mnemonic records, Interpretation of 241, 244, 246 , Iroquois keeper of 241, 244 of Mexicans 240 N. A. Indians 240 Peruvians 240 , Origin of 240 , Use of materials other than shell for 245, 247 , Use of wampum for 240, 254 Molina, G. I., concerning emblems in treaties 247 Morgan, L. H., on the antiquity of wampum 235 origin of the word wampum 239 uses of wampum 235 wampum belts 249 records 241 Morton, Thomas, on the use of shell money 236 Myth, Spider, obtained by J. W. Powell 286 Mytilus, shells used as utensils 191, 212 in manufacture of fish hooks 210 ornaments 261 Oliva shells used as beads 219, 222 Olivella shells used as beads 220 Ornaments of shell 213, 305 Osgood, Kate C., Drawings made by 268 Oyster shells used as utensils 191 Pachydesma shells used as utensils 190 in manufacture of beads 226 ornaments 261 pendants 209 Palmer, E., Collections by 303 Parkman, Francis, on the use of wampum 247 Pearls perforated for beads 225 used by Powhatan 232 Pecten shells used as implements 206 ornaments 189, 261 rattles 190, 206 vessels 189 in art 189 Pectunculus shells, Manufacture of rings from 263 Pendants, Beads used as 230 , Classification of 255, 207 , Engraved 267, 305 , Forms and sizes of 255, 258, 261, 263 , Historic use of 255, 268 illustrated by Lafitau 257 in De Bry 257 Mexican paintings 257 sculptures of Mexico and Yucatan 258 , Importance of, in evolution of art 255 of shell 209, 255 the Atlantic coast 258 , Origin of use of 255 , Ornamental notching of edges of 262 , Perforations of 255, 261 , Plain, of the Pacific coast 260 Atlantic coast 258 , Various uses of 255, 261, 267 Penn, J. G., describes Penn belt 259 Perforated tablets. _See_ Tablets. Perforations of objects of shell 216, 220, 223, 227, 236, 262 Perkins, G. H., Shell beads illustrated by 224 Perrine, F. M., Shell gorgets belonging to 270 Pins, cut from body of shell 216 , Examples of 213, 218 made from collumellæ of shell 213, 218 obtained from mounds 213, 218 of shell 213, 218 , Use of bone 217 , problematicals 213, 217 Potter, W. B., Shell gorget owned by 299, 303 Powell, J. W., Nose ornament collected by 227 , Shell disk collected by 273 spoon collected by 199 , Spider myth obtained by 286 Powers, Stephen, describes shell beads 239 ornaments 233 Pratt, H. W., on shell money 239 Pratz, Lepage du, describes shell ornaments 232 Putnam, F. W., describes bone pins 217 shell fish-hooks 209 gorgets 276, 282, 295 pins 218 spoons 195 vessels 196 , on use of asphaltum 227 value of Haliotis shells 191 Rasle, Father Sebastian, on the use of shell beads 231 Rau, Charles, describes gold ornament 285 shell gorget 289 vessel 196 weapon 210 , on classification of perforated plates 266 cut of stone disk 278 Records. (_See_ Mnemonic records.) "Runtees," a variety of shell beads 228 , Manner of stringing 229 , Origin of 230 , Signification of figures engraved upon 228 Ruttenber, E. M., on the Keeper of wampum 241 manufacture of shell money 238 Scalloped disks. (_See_ Disks.) Schoolcraft, H. R., describes shell beads 228 ornaments 297 pendants 260 plates 264 Schumacher, Paul, Shell objects collected by 209, 217 Scrapers of shell 205 , Examples of 205 Serpent characteristics that attract the savage 289 design, Discovery of shell gorgets ornamented with 289 engraved upon shell gorgets 268, 289, 293 stone disks 278 , Examples of gorgets ornamented with 290 of Mexico and Peru 293 ; the rattlesnake 289 , Embodiment of the, in art 289 ; rattlesnake species represented on shell 291, 293 , Superstitions in regard to 289 , Use of the, as a religious symbol 289 Shells, Artificial distribution of 196, 205, 213, 230 , Trade in 188, 191, 193, 196, 236 used as models for the potter 198 in natural state 187, 191 Smith, Erminnie A., Wampum belt loaned by 251 Smith, John, describes shell ornaments 232 Spider characteristics that attract savages 286 design engraved upon shell gorgets 286, 289 , Examples of, on shell gorgets 286 in art 286 , Myths concerning the 286 Spoons of shell deposited with the dead 199 , Examples of 199 , Manufacture of 198 the Unio shell 198, 201 Squier, E. G., mentions spider myths 286 Squier and Davis describe shell beads 225 Stearns, R. E. C., on shell money 239 Strachey, William, mentions shell knives 202 Stratton, C. L., Shell pins collected by 215 Strombus shells, Columellæ of, used in manufacture of beads 224 pendants 208 pins 213, 215 used as vessels 191, 194, 197 in manufacture of celts 204 gorgets 295 Swan, J. G., describes shell ornaments 233 Tablets, Perforated, Forms of 264 , made of shell 264, 267 , Manner of burial of 265 , Method of attachment of 266 , Perforations of 265 , Theories of use of 264 , Undetermined character of 264 Time symbols, Probable use of shell disks as 268, 273, 278 Tomlinson, A. B., describes shell plate 264 Trill, C. F., Drawings made by 251 Troost, Dr. Gerard, Shell objects collected by 224 Tweezers of shell 212 Unio shells obtained from mounds 190 used as implements 190, 205 utensils 190, 199 in manufacture of beads 223 ornament 260 spoons 199 Velie, J. W., Shell pendants collected by 208 Vessels, artificially shaped 192 , Engraved shell 193 in clay imitating shells 198 , Manufacture of shell 194, 196 , Natural shells 190 of the Mound Builders 194, 196 used by the Florida Indians 193 Moquis Indians 193 in Mexico 192 Wampum, Antiquity of use of as currency 234 as currency 234 , Derivation of the word 238 in costumes 232, 234 , Literature of 241, 248 , Manufacture of 226, 236 , by whites 238 , Mnemonic use of 240, 254 , Modern use of 239, 252 , Origin of mnemonic use of 240 , Symbolic uses of 241, 248 , Use of, in strings 243, 248 treaties and councils 242 , on Pacific Coast 239 , Varieties of beads used as 247 Weapons of shell 210 , Manner of hafting 211 Whipple, Lieut. E. W., Necklace obtained by 220 Whiteley, Colonel, Shell gorgets procured by 303 Whitney, J. L., describes shell plate 265 Williams, C. F., Shell gorgets collected by 282 Williams, Roger, on the name wampum 239 use of shell money 236 Wood, William, describes shell pendants 256 , mentions shell implements 205, 207 ornaments 232 Wyman, Jeffries, describes shell celt 204 gorgets 289 pins 216 vessel 196 weapons 211 CORRECTIONS: page original text correction 186 of curions construction of curious construction 198 in ancient grave in an ancient grave 199 Fig. I, Plate XXIV Fig. 1, Plate XXIV Plate XXVI 6. Perforated pecten, 6. Perforated Pecten, 203 n 36 _Ibid_ _Ibid._ 214, 294, 301, 303 the McMahon mound the McMahan Mound 217 very different type very different type. 218 collumellæ of marine columellæ of marine Plate XXXI An untrimmed columela. An untrimmed columella 219 the _Maginella_ the _Marginella_ 222 In fig. 1 I present In Fig. 1 I present 225 East St. Louis, Ills. East St. Louis, Ill. 232 n 69 View the American A View of the American 236 the Salvages have found the Savages have found 236 of New Sweeden: of New Sweden: 238 of making wampum. of making wampum." 240 would be assinged to would be assigned to 242 Algonkin and and Iroquois Algonkin and Iroquois 242 Cannehoot, a Seneca sachem Cannehoot, a Seneca sachem, 246 n 102 Book 1, p. 26. Book I, p. 26. 246 by his remontrances by his remonstrances 248 chiefs of the Chippeway chiefs of the Chippewa 250 n 118 Tome, II, p. 314. Tome II, p. 314. 251 belts of the Irqouois belts of the Iroquois 252 and be lost and be lost. 252 Mr. Beauchamp, states Mr. Beauchamp states 252 The belt shown in Fig 3 The belt shown in Fig. 3 255 a phenominal art. a phenomenal art. 264 as from the main land. as from the main-land. 271 in Fig. 1., Plate LI, in Fig. 1, Plate LI, 282 On it face, however On its face, however 282 the State of Missisippi the State of Mississippi 286 illustrated in Plate LX. illustrated in Plate LXI. 287 2x Mr. Crosswell Mr. Croswell Plate LXII 1. McMahan Mound, Tenn. 2. McMahan Mound, Tenn. 296 painted or tatooed design painted or tattooed design Plate LXIX Acquia Creek, Va. Aquia Creek, Va. 298 hands againstthe hands against the 302 broad many-featherd tail broad many-feathered tail 303 (Plates LXXI and LXXIII), (Plates LXXI and LXXII), 304 In Fig. 3 I present In Fig. 2 I present MODERN SPELLING OF SCIENTIFIC NAMES OF SHELL SPECIES MENTIONED: original text modern name Pagenumbers Cerrithidea Cerithidea 220 Cyprea Cypraea 219, 220 2x, 230, Plate XLVIII, 263 2x, 264 Hennites Hinnites 225, 227, Plate XXXV Lucupina Lucapina 264 silignoidens siligineoides 200 vericosus verrucosus 206 


