240 



ANCIENT MONUMENTS. 



index of royalty be a sceptre, or a simple carved and polished stone, so that it is 

 sanctioned with general recognition. 



Fig. 139 (half size) is made of a beautiful variety of quartz, of a white ground, 

 clouded with green. It is smoothly wrought and polished, and is perforated from 

 the ends. The shape is well shown by the engraving and supplementary section. 

 It was probably designed for suspension, as an ornament. 



F I o . ] 4 II . 



Fig. 140 (quarter size) is wrought from the beautiful variegated slate so 

 often referred to. It is marked upon its upper convex edge with notches, twenty- 

 eiffht in number. Its purpose must remain entirely a matter of conjecture. 



Mica Ornaments. — Thin sheets of mica, cut in the form of scrolls, discs 

 etc., have been occasionally found in the mounds. Fig. 141 presents examples. 

 The scrolls, in this instance, measure six inches in length, and the discs are two 

 inches in diameter. These are composed of the silvery or opaque mica, and are 

 shaped with the utmost precision. The edges are perfectly smooth, as if cut with 

 a very sharp instrument. They exhibit not the slightest irregularity, but are 

 geometrically correct. Each piece is perforated with a small hole, such as 

 would be formed by thrusting a blunt needle through it. They were probably in 

 some way attached as ornaments to the dress.* 



* Humboldt states that the Gnaijnares of the Rio Caura in South America are accustomed to stain 

 themsL'lves with arnotto, and to m;iive broad transverse stripes on the body with some unctuous substance 

 on which they stick spangles of silvery mica. Seen at a distance they appear to be dressed in lace 

 clothes. ( Pers. Ndrrnliim, ch. x.xiv.) Other nations, both of South and North America, used gold dust or 

 other shining material, "with which they sprinkled tlieir bodies and seemed to be gilt." {[lnrkliii,l, vol. 

 2. p. SV.) 



