98 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS [vol. 45 



pouch with pendent ornaments. The moccasins are of the usual 

 Indian type and are well delineated. A study of this figure strongly 

 suggests the idea that it must represent a disk thrower engaged, pos- 

 sibly, in playing the well-known game of chungkee. 



Reference has occasionally been made to more or less well-defined 

 analogies existing between the shell gorget engravings of the Missis- 

 sippi Valley and similar designs from Mexican engraved gorgets 

 and others occurring in various ancient manuscript books. The re- 

 semblances are indeed striking and deserve the attention of arch- 

 eologists. In plate xxx is presented an engraved gorget obtained in 

 Mexico, probably in the state of Guerrero, and now owned by the 

 Field Columbian Museum, Chicago, which will serve to illustrate 

 the resemblances and the differences in the delineations of the two 

 regions. The discoidal gorget is the most common form in both 

 Mexico and the United States ; but this specimen is oblong, being 

 wide above and narrow below, conforming in a measure to the 

 tapering form of the lip of the shell from which it was carved. The 

 gorget is rather roughly worked out and the upper margin has been 

 perforated for suspension, but two of the perforations have been 

 broken away. These perforations are in the plain border which 

 surrounds the design, but there are seven additional holes within the 

 engraved surface ; these may also have served for attaching the 

 ornament to a garment. The human figure, engraved in rather 

 crudely executed lines, faces to the left ; the right knee is bent as 

 in the Kentucky specimen, and the left leg extends forward. The 

 position of the arms is not readily made out, owing to the cramped 

 position imposed by the contracted space. What appears to be the 

 left hand, supplied with an enormous thumb, rests against the right 

 border of the design and grasps some kind of an implement pointed 

 downward. The right hand extends in front of the figure against 

 the left border and is partly broken away ; it appears to have grasped 

 a staff terminating in what may be a rattle or possibly a symbolic 

 device such as is often seen in ancient Mexican drawings. The 

 mask-like features of the personage are drawn with the usual bold- 

 ness of the Mexican work, and the eye is a conical depression sur- 

 rounded by a curved line the ends of which open backward. The 

 lower part of the face is covered with several groups of straight lines 

 and a row of large teeth is shown. The ear and the ear disk are 

 almost identical with corresponding features of the Kentucky speci- 

 men already shown. The somewhat elaborate headdress is well en- 

 graved, and the body and legs are covered with markings repre- 

 senting costume. At the waist there is a belt, and the legs show 

 encircling ornaments and indentations suggesting buttons. The de- 



