Briuton.] 1 « O [Dec. 21, 



felt wraps used b}' the native iuliabitaiits.* As a decorative mo- 

 tive, or perhaps with a deeper significance, it is repeatedly found 

 on ancient Slavic and Teutonic vases, disinterred from mounds 

 of the bronze age, or earlier, in Central and Northern Europe. 

 Frequently the figure is simply that of three straight or curved 

 lines springing from a central point and surrounded by a circle, as : 



r 



Fig. 1. Fig. 2. 



In the latter we have the precise form of the Chinese Ta Ki, 

 a symbolic figure which plays a prominent part in the mystical 

 wa'iting, the divination and the decorative art of China.f 



As it is this symbol which, according to Dr. Hamy, the dis- 

 tinguished ethnologist and Director of the Museum of the Troca- 

 dero, Paris, indicates the preaching of Buddhistic doctrines in 

 America, it merits close attention. 



The Ta Ki, expressed by the signs: 



< 



Fig. 3. 



is properly translated, " The Great Uniter" {ta, great ; hi, to join 

 together, to make one, to unite), as in modern Chinese philoso- 

 phy, expressed in Platonic language, the One as distinguished 

 from the Many, and is regarded as the basis of the numerical sys- 

 tem. But as the Chinese believe in the mystic powers of num- 

 bers, and as that which reduces all multiplicity to unity naturally 

 controls or is at the summit of all things, therefore the Ta Ki ex- 

 presses the completest and highest creative force. 



* Von Liichan, in Zeifschrift fur Ethnologic, 188C, s. "01. 



t See Dumoutier, Xe Svastika etla JRoue Solaire C7i Chine, in Revue d' Ethnologic, 1885, p. 

 333, sq. 



