DEPARTMENT OF PREHISTORIC ANTHROPOLOGY. 335 



Alexander the Great adopted the lion's skin head-dress, and in a large 

 proportion of his coins, especially the tetradrachm, he is thus repre- 

 sented. It was at that period and in this coinage that Hercules began 

 to be represented with his club, his effigy being usually upon the re- 

 verse, while on the obverse was depicted Alexander with the lion-skin. 



On some of* the coins, instead of the lion skin, Alexander is repre- 

 sented with his head covered by the front portion of the skin of an ele- 

 phant, showing the tusks; this was adopted, as is supposed by some, 

 after his victories in India. 



It is probable that this object is unique in the locality in which it has 

 been found. The Indians of that locality, and possibly all over North 

 America, were in the habit of employing skins of beasts to cover them- 

 selves, whether for protection against cold or enemies, but more prob- 

 ably during their dances and ceremonies, in which they may have rep- 

 resented the animal whose skin they wore. Numerous cases of this 

 kind can be found. The buffalo dance among the Mandans is one of 

 this kind. It is described in the Smithsonian Report, 1885, Part n, 

 page 309. It is there said that this dance was to make the buffalo come 

 when the Indians are likely to starve for want of food. Their song was 

 to the Great Spirit, imploring him to send the buffalo, and promising to 

 cook the best of it for him. 



It is not improbable that in this way the skins of various animals thus 

 worn, and which in other countries served as the coat of arms of the 

 individual or family and became the foundation of heraldry, here found 

 their coun terpart in the different clans of various tribes, as the bear, the 

 wolf, the fox, etc., or in other localities it may have served as the totem 

 of the individual or his clan or tribe. 



It is to be remarked that the physiognomy of the individual isnotat 

 all Indian. He holds in his right hand, as it were by the neck, the 

 amputated head of another individual, which can be best seen by turn- 

 ing the front view upside down, which brings that head into a natural 

 position. The hair of this head is strained tight away from the head, 

 and drawn together and held at the foot of the statue. The features of 

 this head bear no greater resemblance to that of the Indian than does the 

 first. There are also ear ornaments in both figures, which have a re- 

 semblance to those from the farther south, Mexico and Central America, 

 rather than to anything pertaining to tin; Indian. 



In fact, all the peculiarities of the human portions of this figure point 

 to such a resemblance rather than to the North American Indian. 



Another floating straw of evidence in this direction is to be found in 

 Figs. 1 and 2 of Plate IX. Fig. ! is a stone object, in form of the llama, 

 and was brought from Teru by Mr. W. E. Curtis during his late visit 

 to that country, the result of which he has just published. Fig. "2 is a 

 cast of an objecf bearing a great resemblance to the llama, and in fact 

 to nothing else, t he original of which is in the possession of I )r. Snyder, 

 and which was found in a mound in Miama County, Ohio. It has been 



