THE SWASTIKA 



197 



who worship the sun (which is associated with the 

 Swastika in China), call it by a native name signifying 

 " the luck." It is also found as a decorative design in 

 the most ancient remains of man in America, dating (so 

 far as can be guessed) from a thousand years or more 

 before Columbus (Fig. 47). 



It is generally held that the Swastika must have been 

 introduced into America in prehistoric times by early 

 redskin immigrants from Asia. The question has been 

 raised as to whether this introduction was before or after 

 the worship of Buddha in Asia. It is only amongst 



FlG. 46. Piece of a ceremonial bead -worked garter, showing star and 

 two swastikas (made by the Sac Indians, Cook County, Kansas. 

 (Modern.) 



Buddhists that the Swastika has a religious or sacred 

 character. Elsewhere it seems to have been a mark 

 or sign carrying "good luck." A representation of a 

 sitting human figure incised on shell has been found in a 

 prehistoric burial-mound in Tennessee, which has remark- 

 able resemblance to the Asiatic statues of the Buddha. 

 Shell ornaments have also been found here decorated 

 with sharply-cut Swastikas, and in a mound in Ohio 

 thin plates of copper were found cut into simple Swastika 

 shapes like that of Fig. 38, four inches across. Modern 

 Mexican Indians make brooches of gold and turquoise in 

 the form of the Swastika, and it is a favourite device 



