198 



SECRETS OF EARTH AND SEA 



among the Indians of neighbouring territory. Swastikas 

 occur as decorations or lucky marks on the small- terra- 

 cotta " fig-leaf," which was worn by the women of some 

 of the aboriginal tribes of Brazil, and have also been 

 found on native pottery from the Paraguay River. 



Some students of this subject have held the opinion 

 that the " Swastika " has been invented independently at 

 different times in different parts of the world. It is a 

 fairly simple device, it is true; but the view which is 

 accepted at present is that it has spread from one centre 



— probably European in the 

 late Stone period — through 

 the Mykenaeans, across Asia, 

 and so with early immigrants 

 across the Pacific into the 

 American continent. 



Apart from this prob- 

 lem, there is an interesting 

 question as to how the 

 device probably took its 

 origin. The " Swastika " 

 is sometimes called the 

 " gammadion," because it 

 may be regarded as four 

 individuals of the Greek letter gamma (which has this 

 shape r) joined at right angles to one another. The old 

 English name for it, dating from Anglo-Saxon times, 

 was fylfot — an old Norse word of doubtful meaning, which 

 has no currency at the present day. 



A method of making the Swastika by piling up sand 

 or grain on a flat surface, actually in use at the present 

 time in India, is shown in Fig. 48. The artist makes 

 first of all a circle with a cross drawn within it (A). 

 Then the circle is rubbed out or cut away at four 

 corresponding points where the arms of the cross touch 



Fig. 47. — A stone slab from the 

 ancient city of Mayapan (Yucatan, 

 Central America), on which (right 

 side) a curvilinear swastika is 

 carved. (From the American Anti- 

 quarian Society, 1881.) 



