aoLMKB.] CENTRALLY PERFORATED TABLETS. 265 



from the body of a large Busycon perversum, and is nine and a half 

 inches long by three inches in width at the widest part. The concave 

 surface has been highly polished, but is now somewhat roughened by 

 weathering; the back has been slightly ground to take off the rougher 

 ridges of growth ; the edges are even and rounded and in many places 

 quite thin. The peculiarity of its shape is such as to give it very much 

 the appearance of the sole of a sandal. The perforations are three in 

 number, one being near the middle and the others near the broader end, 

 about one and a half inches apart ; they are very neatly made and are 

 slightly bi conical and a little countersunk. There appears to be no evi- 

 dence whatever of abrasion by use. It was found associated with human 

 remains in a mound at Sharpsburg, Mercer County, Ohio. A similar 

 specimen from the same locality is nearly nine inches in length, and 

 lacks but a little of three and a half inches in width. As in the speci- 

 men illustrated, one perforation is placed near the middle and two 

 others near the broader end. This specimen is highly polished on the 

 broader part of the back, and is evooly smoothed on the concave side. It 

 bears evidence of considerable use, and the two holes are much worn by a 

 string or cord, which, passing from one hole to the other on the concave 

 side of the plate, gradually worked a deep groove between them. On 

 the back or convex side, the perforations show no evidence of wear. 

 The central perforation is not worn on either side. The letter of Mr. 

 Whitney, transmitting this relic to the National Museum, states that 

 there were in the mound " about ten pairs of the shell sandals of different 

 sizes, and made to fit the right and left feet." From the latter remark 

 I should infer that some were made from dextral and others from sinis- 

 tral shells; the two described are made from the Busycon perversum. 



An extremely fine specimen, much like the preceding, was exhumed 

 from an ancient mound in Hardin County, Ohio. It was found on the 

 head of a skeleton which occupied a sitting posture near the center of 

 the mound. It is nine inches in length by three and one-half inches in 

 width, and in shape resembles the sole of a moccasin, being somewhat 

 broader and less pointed than the specimen presented in Fig. 5. It had 

 been placed upon the skull with the wider end toward the back, but 

 whether laid there as a burial offering simply or as constituting a part 

 of the head-dress of the dead savage we have no means of determin- 

 ing. The perforations are three in number, and are placed similarly to 

 those in the specimen illustrated in Fig. 5. Two other skeletons had 

 similar plates associated with them, which differed from the one de- 

 scribed in size only, the smaller one being less than six inches in length. 

 Lithographs of two of these specimens are given by Mr. Matson, in 

 whose very excellent report they were first described.' 



The gorget presented in Fig. 1 of this plate is copied from School- 

 craft.' It was taken, along with many other interesting relics, from 



' Matson, in Ohio Centennial Report, p. 131. 



•Schoolcraft: History of the Indian Tribes, &c., part I, plate XIX. 



