METALLIC ORNAMENTS OF NEW YORK INDIANS / 



crown are much conventionalized, and the point of the former is 

 turned to one side and projects beyond the center. 



Fig. 136 is cordate, with the base curving to one side. The 

 crown above is hardly recognizable as such at first, and is much 

 ornamented. Mrs Converse described this as " a single heart, sur- 

 jnounted by the horns of a chief, typical of the faithful love of who- 

 ever presented it to the chief or sachem." It is a rather frequent 

 form. Fig. 146 is a fine example of the simple heart with an elegant 

 form of the crown. Mrs Converse's interpretation is ingenious: 

 ""Horned or chiefs brooch; the three branches denote three chiefs 

 in family succession." The triple character of the crown appears 

 in nearly all, there being a small central projection with a broader 

 one on each side. In rare instances there are more. 



Fig. 148 has the heart and crown, the former turning aside and 

 ending in an eagle's head. The definition of the owner is pretty: 

 '" The eagle defending the life or heart of its owner." A great 

 many of the single or double heart brooches end with eagles' heads, 

 .and come within the era of the American republic. It would be 

 asy to interpret them as meaning that the crown or royal rule, 

 through the heart's blood of the colonists freely shed, terminated 

 un the republic whose symbol is the eagle. 



Some of the writer's Onondaga brooches will follow. Fig. 94 is 

 "fine and perhaps unique. It has the crown and heart form, with 

 the point turned to one side. The crown has no points, and 

 includes a cordate perforation in its center, surrounded by other 

 forms. Its large size allowed more surface decoration than is usual 

 in these. Fig. 96 may be called a double heart, surmounted by a 

 crown in which are several cordate apertures. The basal termina- 

 tions are two eagles' heads. A friend had one from the Oneida 

 Indians precisely like this, and it is by no means a rare form. Sev- 

 eral of the same class are in the writer's collection. Fig. 101 is a 

 little smaller than the last, and the apertures in the crown are cres- 

 cents and quadrants. It is like one owned by Mrs Converse, of 

 -which she wrote: " Rare. A crown terminating with double eagle- 

 headed snake. This serpent has a power over the land and sea. 

 The wavy lines signifying water, the long or land line, and two 



