HOLMES] THE HUMAN FACE — THE HUMAN FIGURE. 297 



given by Schoolcraft, who describes it as follows: " This well-sculptured 

 article was discovered in the valley of the Kasauda' Creek, Onondaga 

 County. The material is a compact piece of sea-shell. It still pre- 

 serves in a considerable degree the smoothness and luster of its origi- 

 nal finish. * * * At the angle of the temples are two small orifices 

 for suspending it around the neck. The entire article is finished with 

 much skill and delicacy." ' 



The very rude specimen presented in Fig. 7 is from a monnd at Frank- 

 lin, Tenn. It seems to have been some natural form, but slightly 

 changed by art. A somewhat similar specimen from a mound in Ten- 

 nessee may be seen in the Peabody Museum. 



The cut presented in Fig. 5 is taken from Jones's Antiquities of Ten- 

 nessee, page 48. The specimen was obtained from the stone grave of a 

 child at the foot of a mound near Nashville, Tenn. It has diamond- 

 shaped eyes, a feature of very rare occurrence in the art of this region. 



THE HUMAN FIGVP.E. 



I now come to a class of works which are new and unique, and in 

 more than one respect are the most important objects of aboriginal art 

 yet found within the limits of the United States. These relics are four 

 in number, and come from that part of the mound-building district 

 occupied at one time by the " stone grave " peoples — three from Ten- 

 nessee and one from Missouri. Similar designs are not found in other 

 materials, and, indeed, nothing at all resembling them can be found, so 

 far as I know, either in stone or in clay. If such have been painted or 

 engraved on less enduring materials they are totally destroyed. I shall 

 first describe the specimens themselves, and subsequently dwell at some 

 length upon their authenticity, their significance, and their place in art. 



First, I present, in Plate LXXI, a shell gorget on which is engraved 

 a rather rude delineation of a human figure. The design occupies 

 the concave side of a large shell disk cut from a Busycon perversiim. 

 Near the upper margin are the usual holes for suspension. The en- 

 graved design fills the central portion of the plate and is inclosed by 

 two approximately parallel lines, between which and the edge of the 

 shell there is a plain belt three-fourths of an inch wide. A casual ob- 

 server would probably not recognize any design whatever in the jumble 

 of half obliterated lines that occui)ies the inclosed space. It will first 

 be noticed that a column about three fourths of an inch in width 

 stands erect in the center of the piptnre ; from this spring a number of 

 lines, forming serpentine arms, which give the figure as much the ap- 

 pearance of an octopus crowded into a collector's alcohol jar as of a 

 human creature. A little study will convince one, however, that the 

 central column represents the humau body, and the tangle of lines 

 surrounding it will be found to represent the arms, legs, hands, feet, 

 and their appendages — no line within the border being without its 



' Schoolcraft : Notes on the Iroquois, p. 235. 



