n
Mexico, as an apt image of the Centre and the Four Quarters on account of
its shape and its possession of four wings. The conventionalized figure of
a butterfly, with a star on its body and four balls, painted with the
colors of the quarters, was a sacred symbol which is minutely described by
Sahagun and is figured on a manta in the B. N. MS. A glance at its
reproduction (fig. 21, no. 13) shows how the form of the insect has been
conventionalized so as to resemble the ollin (no. 12) and other Mexican
cross-symbols (nos. 2, 4, 11, 14 etc.). The eye or star in its centre,
like that in the ollin, and circle (no. 4), signify Polaris; the
conventionalized head and antennae are obviously made to convey the idea of
"two in one," of the Above and Below united in the Centre.

[Illustration.]

Figure 21.

I venture to suggest that the dragon-fly was employed as a cross-symbol in
an analogous manner, on the Algonquin garment preserved at the Riksmuseum,
Stockholm, and described by Dr. Hjalmar Stolpe in his admirable study on
American art (Amerikansk Ornamentik, Stockholm, 1896, p. 30). As I shall
revert to it later on, I now draw special attention to the circumstance
that instead of the cross, on a spider-gorget from Tennessee, there is a
round hole which, when the shell-disc is held aloft, lets a ray of light
shine through and furnishes an apt presentation of a star. This and the
cross furnish analogies to the Mexican and Maya symbols of Polaris which
are too obvious to need to be emphasized. Nor do these gorgets alone
furnish an undeniable indication that an identical symbolism extended from
Yucatan to Illinois. Other gorgets, also figured in Mr. Wm. H. Holmes'
monograph "Art in Shell," several of which are in the Peabody Museum, from
the stone graves in Tennessee, exhibit variously carved representations of
a serpent. In all specimens the identical idea is carried out: the eye of
the serpent forms the centre of the design on the disc and four circles on
the body of the reptile, or four solid bars, interrupting a hollow line
encircling the central motif, emphasized a division of the disc into four
equal parts. The idea of the Serpent in repose, the Centre and the Four
Quarters is thoroughly carried out and the true meaning of the design is
only appreciated by the light of the Maya and Mexican symbolism which has
already been so fully discussed.