METALLIC ORNAMENTS OF NEW YORK INDIANS 85 



tient crenulations, and lines of crescent, elliptic and triangular open- 

 ings. There are many like this. 



Three Seneca circular brooches are shown from the Richmond 

 •collection. Fig. 56 has a close line of small bosses along the border, 

 and there are four long quadrilateral openings toward the central 

 one, which is both large and angular. Fig. 72. has a similar line 

 ■of bosses. The apertures are elliptic and triangular. Fig. 78 has 

 a simple rim, and the only aperture is the central one. On the sur- 

 face are triangles and other tracery. 



Fig. 199 is taken from a figure by L. H. Morgan, showing a 

 circular brooch of what is now a very extreme size. The apertures 

 •are a line of ellipses, one of large and one of small triangles. 



Fig. 55 was not mentioned among Mrs Converse's circular 

 brooches. The border is broadly crenulated, and 13 cordate aper- 

 tures point to the center. Surface tracery unites some of the hearts 

 so as to form a six pointed star. Her collection comprises some 

 •of the rarest forms now to be obtained, and these will successively 

 follow, except the Masonic forms. The localities are unimportant 

 and will be omitted. 



Fig. 92 is grotesque and involved. There are animal heads at 

 two opposite angles, of no very certain species. The artist may 

 have had some native kind in mind, but the surface decoration 

 might suggest the leopard and tiger. A grotesque face protrudes 

 heyond the point of the buckle, which probably amused the red 

 man greatly. Of course heraldic meanings might be attached to 

 every point, adding greatly to its poetic charms, but without 

 awakening any response in the mind of the Indian wearer. Fig. 99 

 shows an eagle with broadly expanded and conventional tail. One 

 wing is naturally raised, the other conventionally, and considerable 

 ornament is added. This should be dated since the rise of the 

 American republic. Fig. 155 has its counterpart in the Toronto 

 collection; and the writer is inclined to think it an extremely con- 

 ventionalized variant of the preceding, as may appear by reversing 

 it. 



Mrs Converse kindly sent her own interpretation of these 

 brooches, which is much more tasteful and poetic than the prosaic 



