668 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLV. No. 1174 



as the cross, the swastika, the wall of Troy, 

 etc., arose in the new world as well as in the 

 old; yet it is hard to believe that such com- 

 plicated labyrinths similar in every detail 

 could have had separate origins. Similar en- 

 vironments often call forth similar responses 

 in different organisms. In such cases the 

 similarities when carefully analyzed are found 

 to be superficial. The details will not agree. 

 In this case, however, the agreement is exact. 

 Again there is a possible question that the 

 figure from Fewkes is not of genuine Pima 

 origin. A brief history of this symbol will 

 make this clear. It seems that an unknown 

 Spanish traveler visited the Pima country in 

 the year 1761 or 1762. An account of this 

 visit exists in the form of a manuscript." On 



Fig. 1. After Fig. 34, American Anthropologist, 

 Vol. IX., 1907, p. 511 (inverted). 



Fig. 2. After a Coin from Cnossus in Crete 

 (200-67 B.C.). (Cat. of Greek Coins in British Mu- 

 seum, Vol. 1887, Plate VI., Fig. 5.) 



the margin of one of the pages of this manu- 

 script appears the figure which I have re- 

 printed from Fewkes (Fig. 1). According to 

 the unknown Spaniard the Pimas draw the 

 symbol on the sand. He stated that it repre- 

 sents " a house of amusement rather than that 

 2 Eudo Ensayo. 



of a magnate." As no ruin has ever been dis- 

 covered with such a ground plan, Dr. Fewkes 

 was led to question an old Pima concerning it. 

 When Higgins (the name of the Indian) waa 

 shown the figure and told the opening lines of the 

 quotation (from the Spanish narrative), the last 

 clause being withheld, he responded that he knew 

 of no ancient house in that region which had a 

 ground plan like that indicated in the figure. He 

 was acquainted with a children's game that em- 

 ployed a similar figure traced in the sand. The 

 Pimas, he said, call the figure Tcuhuki, the house of 

 Tcuhu, a cultus hero sometimes identified with 

 Moctezuma. 



A search in Russell's work on the Pima 

 Indian^ and Culin's " Games of the liforth 

 American Indians "* failed to discover a 

 description of such a game. However, Rus- 

 sell did describe a game called Tculikwikut, 

 a dart and ring game in which count is kept 

 by means of little stones. These are moved on 

 a diagram made up of a series of small holes 

 in the sand arranged in the form of a whorl 

 arising from a center called Tcunni Ki (the 

 council house). 



According to Russell Tcuhu in the mythol- 

 ogy of the Pima is Gopher, who dug the spiral 

 hole through which the Pima clans came up 

 from the underworld. From this it seems 

 possible that both Russell and Fewkes were 

 dealing with the same game. Strength is 

 given to this idea by the fact that Dr. Fewkes 

 showed " Higgins " the diagram and the Indian 

 said that it was the House of Tcuhu. The 

 Indian did not draw the diagram. He may 

 have simply recognized the spiral character of 

 the labyrinth and not have considered the 

 details. 



With such fragments of evidence and with 

 so many gaps to be filled it would be prema- 

 ture to draw any conclusion as to how this 

 complicated symbol happens to be found in 

 both the old world and the new. The writer 

 publishes this in hopes that some reader will 

 also be familiar with the symbol and can aid 

 in its interpretation. 



Harold Sellers Colton 



UNrvERsiTY or Pennsylvania 



3 Twenty-sixth Ann. Kept. Bur. Eth. 



* Twenty-fourth Ann. Eept. Bur. Eth. 



