429 



fCushing 



Plate XXXV. 



The first figure here given, represents the statuette of a panther or 

 mountain lion-god. It is six inclies in height by two and a half inches 

 in length of base, from heel to knee-bend. It is carved from an exceed- 

 ingly hard knot, or gnarled block of fine, dark-brown wood, and had 

 either been saturated with some kind of varnish, or more probably had 

 been frequently anointed with the fat of slain animals or victims. 

 To this, doubtless, its remarkable preservation is due ; for it is still rela- 

 tively heavier, harder, and less shrunken by drying, than any other 

 specimen of like material in the collection. 



This extraordinary object of art is generally described on p. 387, and is 

 referred to elsewhere in the text ; but I would again call attention to 

 the fact that while the head and body are not only delicately fashioned 

 and finished, even to the extent of polishing, the legs and the ends of the 

 paws, although smoothed outside, are simply shaped, and, — as though 

 purposely — left unfinished ; and the spaces below the tail — which is con- 

 ventionally laid along the back after the manner of Z,uni carvings of 

 the same sort of animal-god — and the spaces between the legs, still show 

 the characteristic marks of the fine-edged shark-tooth-blade with which 

 the figure was carved. 



I found this gem of our art collections — on a happy day — at a depth of ■ 

 not more than twenty inches, just between the overlying muck and the 

 middle stratum of peat-marl, near tlie edge of the shell-bench — in section 

 15. Not far away were found, a large stool, a decayed mask, portions 

 of a short wooden stave, and of symbolic ear-buttons ; a sheaf of about 

 tw^o dozen throwing arrows, and other remains of w^arrior- and hunter- 

 paraphernalia and accoutrements. This afibrds convincing evidence 

 that the statuette was a fetish or god of war or the hunt, like its clum- 

 sier stone analogues in Zuni land. 



Fig. 2 represents the finest and most perfectly preserved example of 

 combined carving and painting, that we found — unless the figurehead 

 of a great sea turtle and its companion masks, referred to on p. 89, be 

 exempted. In form, or mere contour, it portrayed with startling fidelity 

 and delicacy, the head of a young deer or doe, a little under life-size ; 

 that is, in length, from back of head to muzzle, seven and a half inches; 

 in breadth across the forehead, five and a half inches. The view, as 

 stated in the text, on p. 392, where the significance of this figurehead is 

 discussed at large, — was an unfortunate choice for illustration, since it 

 is in full front, instead of in profile or a three-quarter aspect. Certain 

 points not noted in the text should be referred to here. Not only were 

 the ears, the bases of which were hollow, or tubular— and as already 



