BERTHOUD BUDDHISM IN AMERICA. 27 



fastened by four nails." In Fig. 140 of the Bureau of Ethnology we 

 see "four dots also." 



I have noticed portions of the "svastika" on fragments of pottery 

 from New Mexico and Arizona, but as these fragments were imperfect 

 I merely indicate this resemblace to stimulate further research in this 

 curious matter. The figure 140 of the Ethnological Report, by 

 Holmes, compares the shape as " of two rectangular tablets or slips, 

 slit longitudinally and interlaced at right angles," * * '^ lines are 

 * * deeply incised." The object was made of shell, and was found 

 on Fain's Island, Tennessee. 



Dr. Schliemann says these signs, the "svastika and sauvastika," are 

 found in Europe, Asia, and Africa; that they are the same as the "sign 

 of life" written on the forehead, as mentioned in Ezekiel, chapter i.\., 

 verses 4-6. 



The universality of these signs cannot be ascribed to chance or the 

 evolution of an imitation in ornament, and is suggestive in North 

 America of a connection between their use and the rites, writings, and 

 teachings of Hoei-schin and the other Buddhist missionaries in Mexico 

 or California, which were finally, in the continual emigrations of the 

 American tribes, their feuds and wars, scattered eastward by fragments 

 of nations, or even whole emigrating tribes. Fig. 3 represents Fig. 140 

 of Ethnological Report of 1S81. 



{Representing Fig. 1 40 from illustrated catalogue of Bureau cf Ethnology, iSSi. 

 Pages 46b, 467. W. H. Holmes.] 



While we present these facts to your attention as perhaps fit subjects 

 for more critical examination and study by those who are more com- 



