ilOLMF.B.' 



THE CROSS OF THE MOUND-BUILDERS. 271 



table character. The most remarkable feature, however, is not that the 

 crosses resemble each other in these respects, but that they perform 

 like functions iu giving support to a symbolic bird which is perched 

 upon the summit. Tliis bird appears to be the important feature ot the 

 group, and to it, or the deity which it represents, the homage or sacri- 

 fice is offered. These analogies go still farther ; the bases of the cross 

 in the tablet and of the crosses in the paintings are made to rest upon 

 a highly conventionalized figure of some mythical creature. A consid- 

 eration of these facts seems to me to lead to the conclusion that the 

 myths represented in all of these groups are identical, and that the cross 

 and cross-like trees have a common origin. Whether that origin is in 

 the tree on the one hand or in a cross otherwise evolved on the other I 

 shall not attempt to say. . 



The gorget presented in Fig. 1., Plate LI, belongs to the collection of 

 Mr. F. M. Perrine, and was obtained irom a mound in Union County, 

 111. It is a little more than three inches in diameter and has been 

 ground down to a uniform thickness of about one-twelfth of an inch. 

 The surfaces are smooth and the margin carefully rounded and polished. 

 Near the upper edge are two perforations for suspension. The cord used 

 passed between the holes on the concave side, wearing a shallow groove. 

 On the convex side, or back, the cord marks extend upward and out- 

 ward, indicating the usual method of suspension about the neck. The 

 cross which occupies the center of the concave face of the disk, is quite 

 simple. It is partially inclosed on one side by a semicircular line, 

 and at present has no other definition than that given by four triangu- 

 lar perforations which separate the arms. The face of the cross is orna- 

 mented with six carelessly drawn incised lines, which interlace in the 

 center, as shown in the cut— three extending along the arm to the right 

 and three passing down the lower arm to the inclosing line. I have 

 not been able to learn anything of the character of the interments with 

 which this specimen was associated. 



Fig. 2 of the same plate represents a large shell cross, the encircling 

 rim of which has been broken away. The perforations are still intact. 

 The cross is quite plain. This specimen is very much decayed, and 

 came to the National Museum inside of a skull obtained from a grave at 

 Charleston, Mo. Beyond this there is no record of the specimen. 



In Fi"-. 1, Plate Ll'l, I present a large fragment of a circular shell 

 ornament, on the convex surface of which a very curious ornamental 

 design has been engraved. The design, inclosed by a circle, represents 

 a cross such as would be formed by two rectangular tablets or slips, 

 slit longitiidinallv and interlaced at right angles to each other. Be- 

 tween the arms of the cross in the spaces inclosed by the circular bor- 

 der line are four annuhir nodes, having small conical depressions in the 

 center. These nodes have been relieved by cutting away portions of 

 the shell around them. In the center of the cross is another small 

 node or ring similarly relieved. The lines are neat and deeply mcised. 



