HoiMEB.] ENGRAVINGS OF THE HUMAN FIGURE. 301 



as issuing from tbe mouth. The shaft held iu the right Land seems 

 to issue from a, circular figure, doubtless of sj'mbolic character, which 

 occupies the space in front of the head of the standing figure. It is 

 possible that the figure which issues fron the mouth of the victim 

 represents tlie point of this mystic shaft which has penetrated the 

 head, although we should have to allow some inaccuracies in the draw- 

 ing if this were the case. Any one at all familiar with the curious 

 pictographic manuscripts of the ancient Mexicans will see at a glance 

 that we have here a sacrificial scene, in which a priest seems to be en- 

 gaged in the sacrifice of a human being. In the extraordinary manu- 

 scripts of the ancient Aztecs we have many parallels to this design. 

 So closely does it approach the Aztec type that, although no duplicate 

 can be found in any of the codices, there is not a single idea, a single 

 member or ornament that has not its analogue in the Mexican manu- 

 scripts. To make this clear to every one I present, in Plate LXXV, 

 Fig. 4, a single example for comparison. This one is selected from the 

 manuscript of M. De Fejcrvary, preserved at Budapest, Hungary.! 

 Fortunately for the credit of this Missouri relic we do not find its dupli- 

 cate — there are only family resemblances ; there are similar plumes, 

 with similar ornaments and pendants, similar costume and attitudes; 

 there are similar features and similar symbols; but there is no absolute 

 identity, except in motive and conception. 



Among the multitude of works of art collected within the last de- 

 cade very few will be found to surpass iu interest the fragment of a shell 

 gorget from the McMahon Mound, at Sevierville, Tenn. The disk, when 

 entire, has been nearly five inches iu diameter. A little more than one- 

 third had crumbled away, and the remaining x^ortion was only preserved 

 by the most careful handling, and by immediate immersion in a thin so- 

 lution of glue. This specimen is the first of the kind ever bronght to 

 light in this country, and must certainly be regarded as the highest ex- 

 ample of aboriginal art ever found north of Mexico. The design, as in 

 the other cases, has been engraved on the convex surface of a polished 

 shell disk, and represents two human figures, plumed and winged and 

 armed with eagles' talons, engaged iu mortal combat. As in the last 

 specimen described, this has, at first sight, an exotic look, bearing cer- 

 tainly in its conception a general resemblance to the marvelous bas- 

 reliefs of Mexico and Central .\merica; but the resemblance goes no 

 further, and we are at liberty to consider it a northern work sui generis. 

 The design has apparently covered the entire tablet, leaving no space 

 for encircling lines. The two figures are in profile and face each other 

 in a fierce onset. Of the right-hand figure only the body, one arm, and 

 one leg remain. The left-hand figure is almost complete; the outline of 

 the face, one arm, and one foot being obliterated. The right hand is 

 raised above the head in the act of brandishing a long double-pointed 

 ' Kingsborough, Vol. Ill, pi. 22. 



