484 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, lb96. 



216 



Fig. ];!4. 

 SCULPTURED HUMAN HEAD, 



LIMESTOME. 

 Collected liy Presiilent Thomas Jef- 

 ferson. Cat. No. 16S16, U.S.N.M. 

 4 natural size. 



Poinponius Mela says : ^ 



Testum autom rei, Quintum Metellam Cclereui adicit, eumque ita rettulisse coni- 

 ineniorat: cum Galliiu proconsule pi-acessit, Indos (iiiosdnm a rege Botorum doiio 

 sibi datos; unde in eas terras deveuissent requircMido cognossc, vi teinpestatum ex 



Iiidieis icqnoribiis abreptos, eineusosque qu;u iutereraut, 



tandem iu Geriiianiiu litora exisse. 



Pliny records the same fact as follows: ^ 



Idem Nepos de septeiitrionali circuitu tradit Quinto Me- 

 tello Celeri L. Afraiii in consulatu collegie, sed tuni Galliic 

 proconsnli, Indos a rege Suevorum doiio datos, i\ni ex 

 India commerci causa navigautes tempestatibus essent in 

 Germaniam abrepti. 



The reports of tbese two writers agree in all 

 essential parts, except the word Botorum in Pom- 

 ponius Mela, and Suevorum in Pliny. Subject to 

 this variation, the story of both, as reported by 

 Cornelius Nepos, is that a king (of the Botes 

 or of the Sueves) made a present to Quintius 

 Metellus Celeri of an Indian or Indians, wlio, having been cast away 

 at sea, were stranded on the coast of Germany. M. de Cueleneer, in 

 his paper, " Type d'Indien du Nouveau Monde Kepresente sur un 

 Bronze Antique du Louvre" (1890), goes profoundly into this branch of 

 the subject, shows who Metellus was, where, and at what epoch he was 

 in command, and how he might have received from one of the barbarian 

 kings or tribes a present of slaves, which might have been Indian 

 castaways from the coast of North America. He then recites the dis 

 covery of the bronze situla in the Louvre, and by an 

 examination of its workmanship and appearance con- 

 cludes it was made in Italy during the first century 

 before the Christian era, and from its great resemblance 

 to the red race of America, as represented in the Catlin 

 Gallery, he concludes the chances are favorable for it 

 having been a sculptural representation of a North 

 American Indian. 



Fig. 134 represents the sculpture of a human head 

 almost life-size cut from limestone. It is of interest ir- 

 respective of any intrinsic value, on account of having 

 been in the possession of President Thomas Jefferson 

 while he lived at Monticello. Although much muti- 

 lated, it is still sufiliciently preserved to show creditable 

 aboriginal workmanship. There is no exaggeration or 

 deformity in any part of this head, which might be a likeness of an 

 aged person with a deeply wrinkled face. A conical cavity in its base 

 served to keep it in i)ositiou. There is another cavity in the bade of 

 the head. The records of the Smithsonian Institution contain no 

 information as to the locality whence it came. 



217 



Fig. 135. 

 DARK FKRK URINOUS 

 STONE, A NATURAL 

 FORMATION MODI- 

 FIED 1)Y CARVING 

 OF EYES, NOSE, 

 AND MOUTH. 



Ohio. 



Cat. No. 12292, U.S.N.M. 

 U natural size. 



'De Chorograpbin, III, 5, 15 (ed. (J, Partbey, Berlin, 1867). 

 ^Historicie naturalis libre, II, 67, 



