GEOGRAPHY AND ANTIQUITIES. 361 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



SEVERAL specimens of American antiquities have recently been re- 

 ceived in this city. They were discovered by an American traveller, 

 while exploring the country of the Sierra Madre, near San Luis Potosi, 

 Mexico, and excavated from the ruins of an ancient city, the existence 

 of which is wholly unknown to the present inhabitants, either by tra- 

 dition or history. They comprise two idols and a sacrificial basin, 

 hewn from solid blocks of concrete sandstone, and are in the most per- 

 fect state of preservation. The largest of the idols was undoubtedly 

 the god of sacrifice. It is of life size, and the only complete specimen 

 of the kind that has been discovered and brought away from the coun- 

 try. The anatomical proportions and beauty of this statue are not 

 admired at the present day, but the elaborate work upon its entire 

 surface attracts attention at once. It is principally ornamental, 

 interspersed with symbols of mythology, and occasional hieroglyph- 

 ics. It has two faces, representing youth and old age; signifying 

 that none are exempt from offering life as a sacrifice. The right 

 hand forms an aperture, in which a light burned during the time of 

 sacrifice. The smaller idol is the god of sorrow, to whom worship- 

 pers came to offer up their devotions for the tears it shed, and the re- 

 lief afforded them in their griefs. This statue is diminutive, the carv- 

 ings plain, and the whole simply devised. Their sacrificial basin meas- 

 ures two feet in diameter, and displays much skill and truth in the 

 workmanship. It is held by two serpents intwined, with their heads 

 reversed, the symbol of eternity, which enters largely into the my- 

 thology of the ancient Egyptians. The Egyptian gallery of the British 

 Museum contains several specimens of the work here described. 

 New Orleans Paper. 



A MONUMENT OF THE ONEIDAS. 



AT the ordinary monthly meeting of the National Institute, in June, 

 a brief memoir was read by Mr. Schoolcraft, on the Oneida Stone, a 

 curious and unique monument of the nationality of the Oneida tribe, 

 in Western New York. This stone, of which' Mr. S. presented a 

 specimen, has imparted a name to the tribe, who call themselves the 

 People of the Stone. Its chief interest arises from the ancient and 

 intimate connection which this extraneous mass of rock has with the 

 tribal origin, liberties, and security of this celebrated member of the 

 Iroquois confederacy. The stone is a large and solitary boulder of 

 sienite, totally different in character and appearance from the rocks of 

 the vicinity, and nowhere occurring in situ nearer than the Adirondack 

 Mountains of the Champlain country. 



In late years the "White Stone" of the Oneidas has been fre- 

 quently visited, and from the desire of possessing a specimen, it has 

 been gradually wearing away under the hard knocks of the antiquary. 

 In consequence of this, and in order to place it where it will be more ac- 

 cessible, this valuable relic has been removed to the cemetery of the city 

 of Utica, where it will be carefully preserved from future depredations. 



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