rt." This expression is of particular interest because it
explains a strange mortuary custom which consisted in placing a piece of
jade, chal-chihuitl, or precious green stone, in the mouth of a noble
person, after death, saying that it was "his heart." In the case of the
lower class a stone of little value, named texaxoctli, was employed. In
ancient Mexico, therefore, the presence of jade or any green stone, in a
grave, proved that the body was that of a free member of the upper caste.
It is evident that the employment of this significant emblem was suggested
by the Nahuatl word for "freeman," and constituted a sort of rebus
expressing this title or rank.

In the Peabody Museum there are several specimens of jade celts, collected
by Dr. Earl Flint in Nicaragua, which had been cut into two or more
pieces. Professor Putnam had the satisfaction of discovering that these
pieces from different graves fitted together. His inference that the stone
must have been rare and highly prized, probably from some motive connected
with native ritual, is fully supported by the explanation afforded by the
existence of the Nahuatl word. It is evident that, in order to provide a
dead kinsman with the mark of his rank, a living chief would gladly have
divided his own celt of jade, if, for some reason or other, no other green
stone was forthcoming at the time of burial.

Let us now rapidly enumerate a few facts which prove that not only burial
customs but also social organization and numerical divisions were carried
northward from the southern cradle of ancient American civilization. I
shall make two statements only, hoping that competent authorities on North
American tribal organization, and amongst them, my esteemed friend and
colleague, Miss Alice C. Fletcher, will supply a number of authoritative
reports on these matters.

Referring to the writings of Horatio Hale, whose comparatively recent loss
will long be deeply felt by all students of aboriginal history and
languages, I quote the following sentences from his interesting pamphlet
on "Four Huron Wampum records," published, with notes and addenda by Prof.
E. B. Tylor of Oxford, in 1897.

"The surviving members of the Huron nation, even in its present broken,
dispersed and half extinct condition, still retain the memory of their
ancient claim to the headship of all the aboriginal tribes of America
north of Mexico.... The Hurons or Wendat, as they should be properly
styled, belonged t