Chapter VII: Part 7

Fig. 268[269] represents a well-preserved disk with four volute arms forming the tetraskelion, and thus allied to the Swastika. The volutes (to the right) are deeply cut and for about one-third their length penetrate the shell, producing four crescent-shaped perforations which show on the opposite side. This specimen is from a stone grave near Nashville, Tenn., and the original is in the Peabody Museum. Fig. 269[270] shows a specimen from the Brakebill mound, near Knoxville, Tenn. It has a dot in the center, with a circle five-eighths of an inch in diameter. There are four volute arms which start from the opposite sides of this circle, and in their spiral form extend to the right across the field, increasing in size as they approach the periphery. This is an interesting specimen of the tetraskelion or spiral Swastika, in that it is unfinished, the outline having been cut in the shell sufficient to indicate the form, but not perfected. Figs. 270 and 271 show obverse and reverse sides of the same shell. It comes from one of the stone graves of Tennessee, and is thus described by Dr. Joseph Jones, of New Orleans,[271] as a specimen of the deposit and original condition of these objects:

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 breastbone 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 up 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, has been covered with red paint, much of
which is still visible. The convex smooth surface is highly polished
and plain, with the exception of the three concentric marks. The
material out of which it is formed was evidently derived from a large
flat seashell. * * * 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 rivers. * * * This
ornament when found lay upon the breastbone 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 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.

Fig. 271 represents the back or convex side of the disk shown in fig. 270. The long curved lines indicate the laminations of the shell, and the three 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, Tenn.

Figs. 272, 273, and 274 are other representations of shell carved in spirals, and may have greater or less relation to the Swastika.[272] They are inserted for comparison and without any expression of opinion. They are drawn in outline, and the spiral form is thus more easily seen.

Mr. Holmes[273] makes some observations upon these designs and gives his theory concerning their use:

I do not assume to interpret these designs; they are not to be
interpreted. 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 possessor, aside
from simple ornaments, 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 the priesthood.

_The spider._--The spider was represented on the shell gorgets. Figs. 275 to 278[274] present four of these gorgets, of which figs. 275 to 277 display the Greek cross in the center, surrounded by two concentric incised lines forming a circle which is the body of a spider. Fig. 276 shows the same spider and circle, and inside of it a cross much resembling the Swastika, in that the arms are turned at their extremities to the right and form, in an inchoate manner, the gamma. Fig. 278 represents the shell with the spider, and, though it contains no cross nor semblance of the Swastika, derives its value from having been taken from the same mound on Fains Island, Tennessee, as was the true Swastika. (See fig. 237.)

_The rattlesnake._--The rattlesnake was a favorite design on these gorgets, affording, as it did, an opportunity for the aborigines to make a display of elegance of design, and of accuracy and fineness in execution. Fig. 279 is a specimen in which the snake is represented coiled, the head in the center, the mouth [V]-shaped in strong lines, the body in volute fashion; on the outside of the circle the tail is shown by its rattle. This specimen is represented three-fourths size, and comes from McMahon mound, Tennessee. Four others of similar design are also from Tennessee and the adjoining States, but the locality is more restricted than is the case with other shell disk ornaments.

_The human face and form._--These were also carved and wrought upon shells in the same general locality. The engraving is always on the convex side of the shell which has been reduced to a pear-shaped form.[275]

These human faces and forms (figs. 280-288), as well as the others, belong to the mound builders, and are found with their remains in the mounds. The figures are inserted, as is the rattlesnake, for comparison with the shell designs and work shown in the Buddha figure (pl. 10) and its associates. Slight inspection will show two styles, differing materially. To decide which was foreign and which domestic, which was imported and which indigenous, would be to decide the entire question of migration, and if done off-hand, would be presumptuous. To make a satisfactory decision will require a marshaling and consideration of evidence which belongs to the future. The specimens shown in figs. 280 to 285 are from Tennessee and Virginia. They are all masks, bearing representations of the human face. The first two are from the McMahon mound, Tennessee; that in fig. 282 from Brakebill mound, Tennessee, and that represented in fig. 283 from Lick Creek mound, Tennessee. The shell shown in fig. 284 is from Aquia Creek, Virginia, and that in fig. 285 is from a mound in Ely County, Va. The workmanship on these has no resemblance to that on the Buddha figure (pl. 10), nor does its style compare in any manner therewith.

On the contrary, figs. 286 to 288, representing sketches (unfinished) of the human figure, from mounds in Tennessee and Missouri, have some resemblance in style of work, though not in design, to that of the Buddha and Swastika figures. The first step in execution, after the drawing by incised lines, seems to have been to drill holes through the shell at each corner and intersection. The work on the specimen shown in fig. 286 has progressed further than that on the specimens shown in figs. 287 and 288. It has twenty-eight holes drilled, all at corners or intersections. This is similar to the procedure in the Buddha statue (pl. 10). In fig. 287 the holes have not been drilled, but each member of the figure has been marked out and indicated by dots in the center, and circles or half circles incised around them in precisely the same manner as in both Swastikas (figs. 237 and 238), while fig. 288 continues the resemblance in style of drawing. It has the same peculiar garters or bracelets as the Buddha, the hand is the same as in the fighting figures (fig. 239), and the implement he holds resembles closely those in the copper figures (figs. 240 and 241).

DESIGNS ON POTTERY.

Spiral-volute designs resembling the Swastika in general effect are found on aboriginal mound pottery from the Mississippi Valley. The Fourth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1882-83,[276] shows many of these. Fig. 289 represents a teapot-shaped vessel from Arkansas, on the side of which, in incised lines, is shown the small circle which we saw on the shell disks, and springing from the four opposite sides are three incised lines, twisting spirally to the right, forming the four volutes of the Swastika (tetraskelion) and covering the entire side of the vessel. The same spiral form of the Swastika is given in fig. 290, a vessel of eccentric shape from Pecan Point, Ark. The decoration is in the form of two lines crossing each other and each arm then twisting to the right, forming volutes, the incised lines of which, though drawn close together and at equal distances, gradually expand until the ornament covers the entire side of the vase. It is questionable whether this or any of its kindred were ever intended to represent either the Swastika or any other specific form of the cross. One evidence of this is that these ornaments shade off indefinitely until they arrive at a form which was surely not intended to represent any form of the cross, whether Swastika or not. The line of separation is not now suggested by the author. An elaboration of the preceding forms, both of the vessel and its ornamentation, is shown by the vessel represented in fig. 291, which is fashioned to represent some grotesque beast with horns, expanding nostrils, and grinning mouth, yet which might serve as a teapot as well as the former two vessels. The decoration upon its side has six incised lines crossing each other in the center and expanding in volutes until they cover the entire side of the vessel, as in the other specimens. Fig. 292 shows a pot from Arkansas. Its body is decorated with incised lines arranged in much the same form as fig. 291, except that the lines make no attempt to form a cross. There are nine arms which spring from the central point and twist spirally about as volutes until they cover the field, which is one-third the body of the bowl. Two other designs of the same kind complete the circuit of the pot and form the decoration all around. Fig. 293[277] represents these volutes in incised lines of considerable fineness, close together, and in great numbers, forming a decoration on each of the sides of the vase, separated by three nearly perpendicular lines.

The spiral Swastika form appears painted upon the pottery from Arkansas. The specimen shown in fig. 294[278] is a tripod bottle. The decoration upon the side of the body consists of two lines forming the cross, and the four arms expand in volutes until the ornament covers one-third of the vessel, which, with the other two similar ornaments, extend around the circumference. This decoration is painted in red and white colors on a gray or yellowish ground. Fig. 295 shows a bowl from mound No. 2, Thorn's farm, Taylor Shanty group, Mark Tree, Poinsett County, Ark. It is ten inches wide and six inches high. The clay of which it is made forms the body color--light gray. It has been painted red or maroon on the outside without any decoration, while on the inside is painted with the same color a five-armed cross, spirally arranged in volutes turning to the right. The center of the cross is at the bottom of the bowl, and the painted spiral lines extend over the bottom and up the sides to the rim of the bowl, the interior being entirely covered with the design. Another example of the same style of decoration is seen on the upper surface of an ancient vase from the province of Cibola.[279]

The specimen shown in fig. 296 is from the mound at Arkansas Post, in the county and State of Arkansas.[280] It represents a vase of black ware, painted a yellowish ground, with a red spiral scroll. Its diameter is 5-1/2 inches. These spiral figures are not uncommon in the localities heretofore indicated as showing the normal Swastika. Figs. 297 and 298[281] show parallel incised lines of the same style as those forming the square in the bird gorgets already noted (figs. 263-267). Fig. 297 shows a bowl nine inches in diameter; its rim is ornamented with the heart and tail of a conventional bird, which probably served as handles. On the outside, just below the rim, are the four incised parallel lines mentioned. In the center of the side is represented a rolling under or twisting of the lines, as though it represented a ribbon. There are three on each quarter of the bowl, that next the head being plain. Fig. 298 represents a bottle 6-1/2 inches in diameter, with parallel incised lines, three in number, with the same twisting or folding of the ribbon-like decoration. This twists to the left, while that of fig. 297 twists in the opposite direction. Both specimens are from the vicinity of Charleston, Mo.

DESIGNS ON BASKETRY.

The volute form is particularly adapted to the decoration of basketry, of which fig. 299 is a specimen. These motifs were favorites with the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico and Arizona.

IV.--THE CROSS AMONG THE AMERICAN INDIANS.

DIFFERENT FORMS.

The foregoing specimens are sufficient evidence of the existence of the Swastika among the aboriginal North Americans during the mound-building period, and although there may be other specimens of the Swastika to be reported, yet we might properly continue this investigation for the purpose of determining if there be any related forms of the cross among the same peoples. This is done without any argument as to the use of these designs beyond that attributed to them. The illustrations and descriptions are mainly collected from objects in and reports of the U. S. National Museum and the Bureau of Ethnology.

THE CROSS ON OBJECTS OF SHELL AND COPPER.

The shell gorget presented in fig. 300 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 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, both well worn with cord-marks indicating suspension. The cross in the center of the concave face of the disk is quite simple and is made by four triangular perforations which separate the arms. The face of the cross is ornamented with six carelessly drawn incised lines interlacing in the center as shown in the figure, three extending along the arm to the right and three passing down the lower arm to the inclosing line. Nothing has been learned of the character of the interments with which this specimen was associated.[282] The incised lines of the specimen indicate the possible intention of the artist to make the Swastika. The design is evidently a cross and apparently unfinished.

The National Museum possesses a large shell cross (fig. 301) which, while quite plain as a cross, has been much damaged, the rim that formerly encircled it, as in the foregoing figure, having been broken away and lost. The perforations are still in evidence. The specimen is much decayed and came to the National Museum with a skull from a grave at Charleston, Mo.; beyond this there is no record. The specimen shown in fig. 302 is quoted as a "typical example of the cross of the mound-builder." It was obtained from a mound on Lick Creek, Tennessee, and is in the Peabody Museum, Cambridge, Mass. While an elaborate description is given of it and figures are mentioned as "devices probably significant," and "elementary or unfinished," and more of the same, yet nowhere is suggested any relationship to the Swastika, nor even the possibility of its existence in America.

A large copper disk from an Ohio mound is represented in fig. 303. It is in the Natural History Museum of New York. It is eight inches in diameter, is very thin, and had 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. Fig. 304 shows a shell gorget from a mound on Lick Creek, Tennessee. It is much corroded and broken, yet it shows the cross plainly. There are sundry pits or dots made irregularly over the surface, some of which have perforated the shell. Pl. 19 represents a recapitulation of specimens of crosses, thirteen in number, "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, one is cut in stone, three are painted upon pottery, and four are executed upon copper. With two exceptions, they are inclosed in circles, and hence are symmetrical Greek crosses, the ends being rounded to conform to a circle."[283] Figs. 7 and 9 of pl. 19 represent forms of the Latin cross, and are modern, having doubtless been introduced by European priests. Figs. 10 to 13 are representatives of the Swastika in some of its forms.

EXPLANATION OF PLATE 19.

1 2 3
4 5
6
7 9
8
10 11 12 13

VARIOUS FORMS OF CROSSES IN USE AMONG NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS, FROM GREEK CROSS TO SWASTIKA.

Fig. 1. GREEK CROSS.
2. GREEK CROSS.
3. CROSS ON COPPER.
4. CROSS ON SHELL.
5. GREEK CROSS.
6. GREEK CROSS.
7. LATIN CROSS (Copper).
8. GREEK CROSS.
9. LATIN CROSS (Copper).
10. SWASTIKA ON SHELL.
11. SWASTIKA ON SHELL.
12. SWASTIKA ON POTTERY.
13. SWASTIKA ON POTTERY.

The U. S. National Museum possesses a small shell ornament (fig. 305) in the form of a cross, from Lenoir's burial place, Fort Defiance, Caldwell County, N. C., collected by Dr. Spainhour and Mr. Rogan, the latter being an employé of the Bureau of Ethnology. It is in the form of a Greek cross, the four arms crossing at right angles and being of equal length. The arms are of the plain shell, while they are brought to view by the field being cross-hatched. The specimen has, unfortunately, been broken, and being fragile has been secured in a bed of plaster.

This and the foregoing specimens have been introduced into this paper that the facts of their existence may be presented for consideration, and to aid in the determination whether the cross had any peculiar or particular meaning. The questions involuntarily arise, Was it a symbol with a hidden meaning, religious or otherwise; was it the totem of a clan, the insignia of a ruler, the charm of a priesthood, or did it, with all the associated shell engravings, belong to the category of trinkets? Those questions may be partially answered in the section on the meanings given to the cross by the North American Indians (p. 933).

There is also introduced, as bearing on the question, another shell ornament (fig. 306), the style, design, and workmanship of which has such resemblance to the foregoing that if they had not been (as they were) found together we would be compelled to admit their identity of origin, yet the latter specimen has but three arms instead of four. This might take it out of the category of crosses as a symbol of any religion of which we have knowledge. Many of the art objects in shell heretofore cited were more or less closely associated; they came from the same neighborhood and were the results of the same excavations, conducted by the same excavators. In determining the culture status of their makers, they must be taken together.

When we consider the variety of the designs which were apparently without meaning except for ornamentation, like the circles, meanders, zigzags, chevrons, herringbones, ogees, frets, etc., and the representations of animals such as were used to decorate the pipes of the aborigines, not alone the bear, wolf, eagle, and others which might be a totem and represent a given clan, but others which, according to our knowledge and imagination, have never served for such a purpose, as the manatee, beaver, wildcat, heron, finch, sparrow, crow, raven, cormorant, duck, toucan, goose, turkey, buzzard, cardinal, parroquet, conies, lizard; when we further consider that the cross, whether Greek, Latin, or Swastika form, is utterly unlike any known or possible totem of clan, insignia of ruler, or potent charm of priesthood; when we consider these things, why should we feel ourselves compelled to accept those signs as symbols of a hidden meaning, simply because religious sects in different parts of the world and at different epochs of history have chosen them or some of them to represent their peculiar religious ideas? This question covers much space in geography and in time, as well as on paper. It is not answered here, because no answer can be given which would be accepted as satisfactory, but it may serve as a track or indication along which students and thinkers might pursue their investigations.

The U. S. National Museum possesses a necklace consisting of three shell ornaments, interspersed at regular intervals with about fifty small porcelain beads (fig. 307).[284] It was obtained by Capt. George M. Whipple from the Indians of New Mexico. These shell ornaments are similar to objects described by Beverly in his work on the "History of Virginia," page 145, as "runtees" and "made of the conch shell; only the shape is flat as a cheese and drilled edgewise." It is to be remarked that on its face as well as on figs. 308 and 309[284] appears a cross of the Greek form indicated by these peculiar indentations or drillings inclosed in a small circle. The specimen shown in fig. 308 is from an ancient grave in Upper Sandusky, Ohio, and that shown in fig. 309 from an Indian cemetery at Onondaga, N. Y. Similar specimens have been found in the same localities.

THE CROSS ON POTTERY.

Fig. 310 shows a small globular cup of dark ware from the vicinity of Charleston, Mo.; height, 2-1/2 inches; width, 3-1/2 inches. It has four large nodes or projections, and between them, painted red, are four ornamental circles, the outside one of which is scalloped or rayed, while the inside one bears the figure of a Greek cross. The specimen shown in fig. 311 (Cat. No. 47197, U. S. N. M.) is a medium-sized decorated olla with scalloped margin, from New Mexico, collected by Colonel Stevenson. It has two crosses--one Greek, the other Maltese--both inclosed in circles and forming centers of an elaborate, fanciful, shield-like decoration. In fig. 312 (Cat. No. 39518, U. S. N. M.) is shown a Cochiti painted water vessel, same collection, showing a Maltese cross.

Dozens of other specimens are in the collections of the U. S. National Museum which would serve to illustrate the extended and extensive use of the cross in great variety of forms, so that no argument as to either the meaning or the extent of the cross can be based on the supposition that these are the only specimens. Fig. 313 (Cat. No. 132975, U. S. N. M.) shows a vase from Mexico, about 8 inches high, of fine red ware, highly polished, with an elaborate decoration. Its interest here is the Maltese cross represented on each side, with a point and concentric circles, from the outside of which are projecting rays. This may be the symbol of the sun, and if so, is shown in connection with the cross. This style of cross, with or without the sun symbol, is found in great numbers in Mexico--as, for example, the great cross, pl. 20, from the temple at Palenque.[285]

SYMBOLIC MEANINGS OF THE CROSS.

It would be an excellent thing to dissect and analyze the Swastika material we have found; to generalize and deduce from it a possible theory as to the origin, spread, and meaning of the Swastika and its related forms, and endeavor, by examination of its associated works, to discover if these were religious symbols or charms or mere decorations; and, following this, determine if possible whether the spread of these objects, whatever their meaning, was the result of migration, contact, or communication. Were they the result of similar, but independent, operations of the human mind, or were they but duplicate inventions, the result of parallelism in human thought? This investigation must necessarily be theoretical and speculative. The most that the author proposes is to suggest probabilities and point the way for further investigation. He may theorize and speculate, but recognizes what many persons seem not able to do--that speculation and theory are not to be substituted for cold facts. He may do no more than propound questions from which other men, by study, experience, philosophy, or psychology, may possibly evolve some general principle, or a theory pointing to a general principle, concerning the mode of extension and spread of culture among separate and independent peoples. When the facts shall have been gathered, marshaled, arranged side by side, and each aggregation of facts shall have been weighed, _pro_ and _con_, and its fair value given "without prejudice or preconceived opinion," then will be time enough to announce the final conclusion, and even then not dogmatically, but tentatively and subject to future discoveries.

Throughout this paper the author has sought but little more than to prepare material on the Swastika which can be utilized by those who come after him in the determination of the difficult and abstruse problems presented.

It is rare in the study of archæology and, indeed, in any science, that a person is able to assert a negative and say what does not exist. The present investigations are rendered much more comprehensive by the appearance of the extensive and valuable work of Col. Garrick Mallery in the Tenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, on the subject of "Picture Writing of the American Indians." It is a work of about 800 pages, with 1,300 illustrations, and is the result of many years of laborious study. It purports to be a history, more or less complete, of the picture writing, signs, symbols, totems, marks, and messages of the American Indian, whether pictographs or petroglyphs. A large portion of his work is devoted to ideography, conventional signs, syllabaries and alphabets, homorophs and symmorophs, and their respective means of interpretation. Among these he deals, not specifically with the Swastika, but in general terms with the cross. Therefore, by looking at Colonel Mallery's work upon this chapter (p. 724), one is able to say negatively what has not been found.

_Apropos_ of the meanings of the cross among the North American Indians Count Goblet d'Alviella says:[286]

It is nevertheless incontestable that the pre-Columbian cross of
America is a "_rose des vents_," representing the four directions
whence comes the rain, or the cardinal points of the compass, etc.,
etc.

Colonel Mallery's volume shows that it meant many other things as well.

_The four winds._--The Greek cross is the form found by Colonel Mallery to be most common among the North American aborigines, possibly because it is the simplest. In this the four arms are equal in length, and the sign placed upright so that it stands on one foot and not on two, as does the St. Andrew's cross. The Greek cross (fig. 314) represents, among the Dakotas, the four winds issuing out of the four caverns in which souls of men existed before the incarnation of the human body. All the medicine men--that is, conjurors and magicians--recollect their previous dreamy life in these places, and the instructions then received from the gods, demons, and sages; they recollect and describe their preexistent life, but only dream and speculate as to the future life beyond the grave. The top of the cross is the cold, all-conquering giant, the North Wind, most powerful of all. It is worn on the body nearest the head, the seat of intelligence and conquering devices. The left arm covers the heart; it is the East Wind, coming from the seat of life and love. The foot is the melting, burning South Wind, indicating, as it is worn, the seat of fiery passion. The right arm is the gentle West Wind, blowing from the spirit land, covering the lungs, from which the breath at last goes out gently, but into unknown night. The center of the cross is the earth and man, moved by the conflicting influences of gods and winds.

Rev. John McLain, in his work on the "Blackfoot Sun-dance," says:

On the sacred pole of the sun lodge of the Blood Indian is a bundle of
small brushwood taken from the birch tree, which is placed in the form
of a cross. This was an ancient symbol evidently referring to the four
winds.

_Sun and star symbols._--Great speculation has been made, both in Europe and America, over the relation between the Swastika and the sun, because the two signs have been associated by primitive peoples. Colonel Mallery gives the Indian signs for the sun, stars, and light.[287] These have been segregated, and it will be seen that the cross and circle are used indiscriminately for one and the other, and the fact of the two being found associated is no evidence of relationship in religious ideas (figs. 315-319).

_Dwellings._--Among the Hidatsa, the cross and the circle represent neither the sun nor any religious ideas, but merely lodges, houses, or dwellings. The crosses in fig. 319 represent Dakota lodges; the small circles signify earth lodges, the points representing the supporting poles. Buildings erected by civilized people were represented by small rectangular figures, while the circles with dots in a square represent earth lodges, the home of the Hidatsa.

_Dragon fly (Susbeca)._--Among some of the Indian tribes, the Dakotas among others, the Latin cross is found, i. e., upright with three members of equal length, and the fourth, the foot, much longer. The use of this symbol antedates the discovery of America, and is carried back in tradition and myth. This sign signifies the mosquito hawk or the dragon fly (fig. 320). It is called in that language the "Susbeca," and is a supernatural being gifted with speech, warning man of danger, approaching his ear silently and at right angles, saying, "Tci," "tci," "tci," an interjection equivalent to "Look out!" "You are surely going to destruction!" "Look out!" "Tci," "tci," "tci!" The adoption of the dragon fly as a mysterious and supernatural being is on account of its sudden appearance in numbers. In the still of the evening, when the shades of darkness come, then is heard in the meadows a sound as of crickets or frogs, but indistinct and prolonged; on the morrow the Susbeca will be hovering over it. It is the sound of their coming, but whence no one knows. The cross not only represents the shape of the insect, but also the angle of its approach. It is variously drawn, but usually as in fig. 320 _a_ or _b_, and, in painting or embroidery, _c_, and sometimes _d_.

Fig. 321 is described in Keam's MS. as follows:

This is a conventional design of dragon flies, and is often found
among rock etchings throughout the plateau [Arizona]. The dragon flies
have always been held in great veneration by the Mokis and their
ancestors, as they have been often sent by Oman to reopen springs
which Muingwa had destroyed and to confer other benefits upon the
people.

This form of the figure, with little vertical lines added to the
transverse lines, connects the Batolatci with the Ho-bo-bo emblems.
The youth who was sacrificed and translated by Ho-bo-bo reappeared a
long time afterwards, during a season of great drought, in the form of
a gigantic dragon fly, who led the rain clouds over the lands of
Ho-pi-tu, bringing plenteous rains.

_Mide' or Shamans._--Colonel Mallery (or Dr. Hoffman) tells us (p. 726) that among the Ojibways of northern Minnesota the cross is one of the sacred symbols of the Society of Mide' or Shamans and has special reference to the fourth degree. The building in which the initiation is carried on has its opening toward the four cardinal points. The cross is made of saplings, the upright poles approaching the height of four to six feet, the transverse arms being somewhat shorter, each being of the same length as the top; the upper parts are painted white or besmeared with white clay, over which are spread small spots of red, the latter suggesting the sacred shell of Mide', the symbol of the order. The lower arm of the pole is square, the side toward the east being painted white to denote the source of light and warmth; the face on the south is green, denoting the source of the thunder bird which brings the rains and vegetation; the surface toward the west is covered with vermilion, relating to the land of the setting sun, the abode of the dead; the north is painted black, as the direction from which comes affliction, cold, and hunger.

_Flocks of birds._--Groups of small crosses on the sides of Eskimo bow drills represent flocks of birds (Cat. Nos. 45020 and 44211, U. S. N. M.). They are reproduced in fig. 322. Colonel Mallery's fig. 28, page 67, represents a cross copied from the Najowe Valley group of colored pictographs, 40 miles west of Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara County, Cal. The cross measured 20 inches in length, the interior being painted black while the border is of a dark red tint. This design, as well as others in close connection, is painted on the walls of a shallow cave or rock shelter in the limestone formation. Fourteen miles west of Santa Barbara, on the summit of the Santa Ynez Mountains, is a cavern having a large opening west and north, in which are crosses of the Greek type, the interior portion being painted a dull earthy red, while the outside line is a faded-black tint. The cross measures nearly a foot in extent. At the Tulare Indian Agency, Cal., is an immense bowlder of granite. It has been split, and one of the lower quarters has been moved sufficiently to leave a passageway six feet wide and nearly ten feet high. The interior walls are well covered with large painted figures, while upon the ceilings are numerous forms of animals, birds, and insects. Among this latter group is a white cross about 18 inches in length (fig. 323), presenting a unique appearance, for the reason that it is the only petroglyph in that region to which the white coloring matter has been applied.

An interesting example of rock sculpturing in groups is in Owens Valley, south of Benton, Cal. Among them are various forms of crosses, and circles containing crosses of simple and complex types. The most interesting in this connection are the groups in fig. 324, _a_ and _b_. The larger one, _a_, occurs upon a large bowlder of tracite 16 miles south of Benton, at the "Chalk grave." The circle is a depression about one inch in depth, the cross being in high relief. The small cross _b_, found three miles north from this is almost identical, the arms of the cross, however, extending to the rim of the circle. In this locality occurs also the cross, _c_, same figure, and some examples having more than two cross arms.

_Human forms._--Other simple crosses represent the human form. Some of these are engraved or cut on the rocks of Owens Valley and are similar to those above described (fig. 324), but they have been eroded, so that beyond the mere cross they show slight relation to the human body (fig. 324, _d_, _e_, _f_). Col. James Stevenson, describing the Hasjelti ceremony of the Navajoes,[288] shows the form of a man drawn in the sand (fig. 325). Describing the character shown in fig. 326, Keam says: "The figure represents a woman. The breath is displayed in the interior."[289]

_Maidenhood._--Concerning fig. 327 Keam, in his manuscript, says the Maltese cross was the emblem of a virgin, and is still so recognized by the Moki. It is a conventional development of the common emblem of maidenhood, wherein the maidens wear their hair arranged as in a disk three or four inches in diameter on each side of the head (fig. 327_b_). This discoidal arrangement of the hair is typical of the emblem of fructification worn by the virgin in the Muingwa festival. Sometimes the hair, instead of being worn in the complete discoidal form, is dressed upon two curving twigs, and presents the form of two semicircles upon each side of the head. The partition of these is sometimes horizontal, sometimes vertical. The combination of these styles (fig. 327 _a_ and _b_) present the forms from which the Maltese cross was conventionalized.[290]

_Shaman's spirit._--Among the Kiatéxamut and Innuit tribes, a cross placed on the head, as in fig. 328, signified a shaman's evil spirit or demon. This is an imaginary being under the control of the shaman to execute his wishes.[291]

_Divers significations._--The figure of the cross among the North American Indians, says Colonel Mallery,[292] has many differing significations. It appears "as the tribal sign for Cheyenne" (p. 383); "as Dakota lodges" (p. 582); "as a symbol for trade or exchange" (p. 613); "as a conventional sign for prisoners" (p. 227); "for personal exploits while elsewhere it is used in simple enumeration" (p. 348). Although this device is used for a variety of meanings when it is employed ceremonially or in elaborate pictographs of the Indians both of North and South America, it represents the four winds. This view long ago was suggested as being the signification of many Mexican crosses, and it is sustained by Prof. Cyrus Thomas in his "Notes on Mayan Mexican Manuscript,"[293] where strong confirmatory evidence is produced by the arms of the crosses having the appearance of conventionalized wings similar to some representations of the thunder bird of the northern tribes; yet the same author, in his paper on the study of the "Troano Manuscript,"[294] gives fig. 329 as a symbol for wood, thus further showing the manifold concepts attached to the general form of the cross. Bandelier thinks that the cross so frequently used by the aborigines of Mexico and Central America were merely ornaments and not objects of worship, while the so-called crucifixes, like that on the Palenque tablet, were only the symbol of the "new fire," or the close of the period of fifty-two years. He believes them to be representations of the fire drills more or less ornamented. Zamacois[295] says that the cross was used in the religion of various tribes of the peninsula of Yucatan, and that it represented the god of rain.

It is a favorite theory with Major Powell, Director of the Bureau of Ethnology, that the cross was an original invention of the North American Indian, possibly a sign common to all savages; that it represented, first, the four cardinal points, north, south, east, and west; and afterwards by accretion, seven points, north, south, east, west, zenith, nadir, and here.

Capt. John G. Bourke, in his paper on the "Medicine Men of the Apache"[296] discourses on their symbolism of the cross. He says it is related to the cardinal points, to the four winds, and is painted by warriors on their moccasins when going through a strange district to keep them from getting on a wrong trail. He notes how he saw, in October, 1884, a procession of Apache men and women bearing two crosses, 4 feet 10 inches long, appropriately decorated "in honor of Guzanutlí to induce her to send rain."

Dr. Brinton[297] tells of the rain maker of the Lenni Lenape who first drew on the earth the figure of a cross. Captain Bourke quotes from Father Le Clerq[298] as to the veneration in which the cross was held by the Gaspesian Indians, also from Herrara to the same effect. Professor Holmes[299] makes some pertinent observations with regard to the meanings of the cross given by the American Indians:

Some very ingenious theories have been elaborated in attempting to
account for 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 procreative 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 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 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. * * * A study of the designs associated
with the cross in these gorgets [figs. 302-304] is instructive, but
does not lead to any definite result; in one case the cross is
inscribed on the back of a great spider [figs. 275-278]; in another it
is surrounded by a rectangular framework of lines, looped at the
corners and guarded by four mysterious birds [figs. 263-266], while in
others it is without attendant characters, but the workmanship is
purely aboriginal. I have not seen a single example of engraving upon
the shell that suggested a foreign hand, or a design, with the
exception of this one [a cross], that could claim a European
derivation. * * * 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.

Continuing in his "Ancient Art in Chiriqui,"[300] presenting his "Series showing stages in the simplification of animal characters," and "derivation of the alligator," Professor Holmes elaborates the theory how the alligator was the original, and out of it, by evolution, grew the cross. His language and accompanying figures are quoted:

Of all the animal forms utilized by the Chiriquians, the alligator is
the best suited to the purpose of this study, as it is presented most
frequently and in the most varied forms. In figs. 257 and 258 [figs.
330 and 331 in the present paper] I reproduce drawings from the outer
surface of a tripod bowl of the lost color group. Simple and formal as
these figures are, the characteristic features of the creature--the
sinuous body, the strong jaws, the upturned snout, the feet, and the
scales--are forcibly expressed. It is not to be assumed that these
examples represent the best delineative skill of the Chiriquian
artist. The native painter must have executed very much superior work
upon the more usual delineating surfaces, such as bark and skins. The
examples here shown have already experienced decided changes through
the constraints of the ceramic art, but are the most graphic
delineations preserved to us. They are free-hand products, executed by
mere decorators, perhaps by women, who were servile copyists of the
forms employed by those skilled in sacred art.

A third illustration from the same group of ware, given in fig. 259
[fig. 332 of the present paper] shows, in some respects, a higher
degree of convention. * * *

I shall now call attention to some important individualized or
well-defined agencies of convention. First, and most potent, may be
mentioned the enforced limits of the spaces to be decorated, which
spaces take shape independently of the subject to be inserted. When
the figures must occupy a narrow zone, they are elongated; when they
must occupy a square, they are restricted longitudinally, and when
they occupy a circle, they are of necessity coiled up. Fig. 265 [fig.
333 of the present paper] illustrates the effect produced by crowding
the oblong figure into a short rectangular space. The head is turned
back over the body and the tail is thrown down along the side of the
space. In fig. 266 [fig. 334 of the present paper] the figure occupies
a circle and is, in consequence, closely coiled up, giving the effect
of a serpent rather than an alligator. * * *

I present five series of figures designed to illustrate the stages
through which life forms pass in descending from the realistic to
highly specialized conventional shapes. In the first series (fig. 277)
[fig. 335 of the present paper] we begin with _a_, a meager but
graphic sketch of the alligator; the second figure, _b_, is hardly
less characteristic, but is much simplified; in the third, _c_, we
have still three leading features of the creature--the body line, the
spots, and the stroke at the back of the head; and in the fourth, _d_,
nothing remains but a compound yoke-like curve, standing for the body
of the creature, and a single dot.

The figures of the second series (fig. 278) [fig. 336 of the present
paper] are nearly all painted upon low, round nodes placed about the
body of the alligator vases, and hence are inclosed in circles. The
animal figure in the first example is coiled up like a serpent [fig.
334], but still preserves some of the well-known characters of the
alligator. In the second example [fig. 336_b_] we have a double hook
near the center of the space which takes the place of the body, but
the dotted triangles are placed separately against the encircling
line. In the next figure the body symbol is omitted and the three
triangles remain to represent the animal. In the fourth there are four
triangles, and the body device being restored in red takes the form of
a cross. In the fifth two of the inclosing triangles are omitted and
the idea is preserved by the simple dots. In the sixth the dots are
placed within the bars of the cross, the triangles becoming mere
interspaces, and in the seventh the dots form a line between the two
encircling lines. This series could be filled up by other examples,
thus showing by what infinitesimal steps the transformations take
place. * * *

We learn by the series of steps illustrated in the annexed cuts that
the alligator radical, under peculiar restraints and influences,
assumes conventional forms that merge imperceptibly into these classic
devices.

Professor Holmes's theory of the evolution of the cross from the alligator and its location in Chiriqui is opposed to that of Professor Goodyear, who, in his "Grammar of the Lotus," ascribes the origin of the cross to the lotus and locates it in Egypt. I file what in law would be an "interpleader"--I admit my want of knowledge of the subject under discussion, and leave the question to these gentlemen.

INTRODUCTION OF THE CROSS INTO AMERICA.

Professor Holmes is, in the judgment of the author, correct when he insists upon the aboriginal character of the cross in America. We all understand how it is stated that the Spanish missionaries sought to deny this and to connect the apparition of St. Thomas with the appearance of the cross. Professor Holmes[301] says:

The first explorers were accompanied by Christian zealots who spared
no effort to root out the native superstition 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
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.

There is sufficient evidence, and to spare, of the aboriginal use of the cross in some of its forms, without resorting to the uncertain and forced explanation of its introduction by Christian missionaries. It is possible that the priests and explorers were, like Colonel Mallery's missionary, mistaken as to the interpretation given to the cross by the Indians. Dr. Hoffman, in his paper on the "Mide'wiwin or Grand Medicine Society of the Ojibwa,"[302] states the myth of the re-creation of the world "as thrown together in a mangled form by Hennepin." Dr. Hoffman observes:

It is evident that the narrator has sufficiently distorted the
traditions to make them conform as much as practicable to the Biblical
story of the birth of Christ.

And on the same page he quotes from Pêre Marquette, who says:

"I was very glad to see a great cross set up in the middle of the
village, adorned with several white skins, red girdles, bows, and
arrows, which that good people offered to the Great Manitou to return
him their thanks for the care he had taken of them during the winter,
and that he had granted them a prosperous hunting."

Marquette [comments Dr. Hoffman] was, without doubt, ignorant of the
fact that the cross is the sacred post, and the symbol of the fourth
degree of the Mide'wiwin, as is fully explained in connection with
that grade of society. The erroneous conclusion that the cross was
erected as an evidence of the adoption of Christianity and, possibly
as a compliment to the visitor was a natural one on the part of the
priest, but this same symbol of the Mide' society had probably been
erected and bedecked with barbaric emblems and weapons months before
anything was known of him.

Most aboriginal objects bearing crosses are from localities along the Ohio River and through Kentucky and Tennessee, a locality which the early Christian missionaries never visited, and where the cross of Christ was rarely, if ever, displayed until after that territory became part of the United States. Per contra, the localities among the Indians in which the early missionaries most conducted their labors--that is to say, along the Great Lakes and throughout northern Illinois--produce the fewest number of aboriginal crosses. This was the country explored by Fathers Marquette, Lasalle, and Hennepin, and it was the scene of most of the Catholic missionary labors. Professor Holmes seems to have recognized this fact, for he says:[303]

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 the
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.

The author agrees heartily with Professor Holmes's argument in this matter, and his conclusion, when he says of these objects (p. 270):

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 one (cross), that could claim a European
derivation.

There have been numerous European or Catholic crosses, as well as many other objects of European manufacture or objects of civilized types, found among the Indians. There have been silver crosses found with images of the Virgin thereon, with Latin inscriptions, or of Roman letters; there have been glass beads, iron arrowheads, and divers other objects found in Indian graves which bore indubitable evidence of contact with the whites, and no one with any archæological experience need be deceived into the belief that these were aboriginal or pre-Columbian manufacture. As a general rule, the line of demarkation between objects of Indian manufacture and those made by the whites is definite, and no practiced eye will mistake the one for the other. There may be exceptions, as where the Indian has lived with the whites or a white man with the Indians, or where an object is made with intent to deceive. In such cases one may have more trouble in determining the origin of the object.