Gushing.] <^ ^ ^ [Nov. 6, 



a fact which argues that they, like tlie wampum of other regions, were 

 used as tlie media of trade, or the basis of definite exchange valuation, 

 as well as, in case of the more elaborate of them, in the solemnization 

 of treaties. But by far the greater number of the articles of personal 

 adornment described in preceding paragraphs, were more than this. 

 They were found not indiscriminately, but definitely associated with other 

 ceremonial remains. They may therefore be regarded as having been es- 

 pecially sacred, used as amulets, and in many cases, as at the same time 

 badges of office, liirthright, or priestlj' rank. Certainly this may be 

 judged true of such as had been given distinctive forms, for semblance 

 or form is to the primitive-minded man, the most significant character 

 of any thing. The ear buttons already described illustrate this, as 

 well as certain of the gorgets. These were about three inches in diam- 

 eter, discoidal, and each cut out from the labrum of a pyrula or conch, 

 to represent a broad circle enclosing a cross. Above the end of the 

 upper arm of this cross, four holes were drilled (instead of one), for sus- 

 pension. The margin of the inner side was. moreover, scored with 

 definite numbers of notches. Thus it was plain that to the primitive 

 nature worshipers who made and used such gorgets the circle repre- 

 sented the horizon surrounding the world and its four quarters — typified 

 by the cross as well as the four holes or points — the notches in its rim, 

 the score of sacred days in the four seasons pertaining to the four quar- 

 ters thus symbolized ; and that this kind of ornament, if we may still 

 call it such, was the combined cosmical and calendaric badge, probably 

 of the priest who officiated in, and kept tally of, the ceremonials, and 

 ceremonial days, of the successive seasons. 



Miscellaneous Ceremonial Appliances ; Sacred and Sym- 

 bolical Objects ; Carvings and Paintings. 



Less difficulty attended the determination of other than the strictly 

 personal appliances of ceremonology which we found : and again, many 

 articles of both these classes, the meaning of which might have been 

 problematical had we found them dissociated, were readily enough 

 recognized when found together. This was particularly the case with 

 a heterogeneous collection of things I discovered close under the 

 sea wall, at the extreme western edge of the court. I regarded its 

 contents as having constituted the outfit of a "Medicine man," or 

 Shamanistic priest. It is true that it contained several articles of a 

 purely practical nature. There were two or three conch-shell bailers; 

 one or two picks or battering tools of conch-shell, of a kind already 

 described; and a hammer of a sort not in frequentlj' found elsewhere. 

 It was made from a large triton-shell by removing the labrum or two 

 first larger whorls, from the columella, and leaving this to serve as the 

 handle, while the remaining four or five smaller or apical whorls were 

 left to serve as the head. There were also several hollow shaving- 

 blades or rounding-planes, made from the serrate-edged dental i)lates or 



