86 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



views of the writer, and will be gladly received by those fond of 

 recondite studies. Of fig". 92 she says: 



This is the most curious and ingenious form. I have never seen; 

 a duplicate of this brooch. It symbolizes the totems, or family 

 union and the man, including the story of their warrior ancestors,, 

 and tells the story of the union of the Wolf and Bear. The upper 

 figurehead represents the Bear. The lower, the Wolf, united by 

 a human face, signifying the head of the family. The figure of the 

 Wolf terminates in the war club. The Bear holds the war club,, 

 and the pin or buckle unites the two. The Bear chief had married 

 the Wolf woman. Both descended from sachems or head chiefs. 

 Fig. 99 represents a combination of the great Eagle, guardian of 

 the dews and war, or sky and earth. At the spread of the tail the 

 small winged symbols indicate his duty in the air. The flat half 

 circles tell the sign of his earth or war office. The simplest brooch 

 is not an accident of the graver's tool. Each stroke is a symbol in 

 hieroglyphs, understood by the expert sign-reader. Fig. 155 is 

 rare, inasmuch as the design is not common. It is the symbol of 

 the warrior. One end forms the tomahawk, the other a war club. 



Fig. 86 may be called either pyriform or cordate, the central aper- 

 ture being the latter, while the opening above changes the general 

 design to the pyriform. There are basal projections, and those at 

 the top suggest the general figure of a crown. The surface is plain.. 

 Mrs Converse considers some of the figures above the cordate 

 forms as owls' heads, taking these for emblems of silence and 

 secrecy. This one she describes as a " heart. Owl defined by the 

 open mouth only. Eyes closed." Fig. 87 she calls " very rare. 

 Finely engraved." The writer has seen but one resembling this, 

 and that was by no means as elaborate and fine. The general form 

 is that of a heart with a coronet above, but with unusual surface 

 decoration. 



Fig. 95 is another unique brooch, with several half circular pro- 

 jections, and a fanlike ornament above, which may be a variation 

 of the more common form of the crown, surmounting the open 

 heart below. This general plan appears in very many brooches, 

 with endless changes. Mrs Converse thought, this " represents* the 

 flaring tail of a bird, yet the heart is on guard in the center. Evi- 

 dently a totem bird." Fig. 100 is also unique. Both heart and 



