tands two feet above ground. It is made of two sticks of unequal
length, preferably sticks of pine wood, tied together in the form of
the Latin cross. I saw two crosses raised outside of a man's house,
which were formed by the natural growth of small pine trees, and
these were four feet high. The shamans, for their curing, use small
crosses--three or four inches long.

It is a well-known fact that on their arrival in America the Spaniards
to their amazement found Indians in possession of the cross. Omitting
here the cross of Palenque, the symbol of a tree, the tree of life,
it is safe to say that the original cross of most Mexican tribes is
the Greek cross, though the Latin was also used. To them the former
is of fundamental religious moment, as indicating the four corners
of the world; but a word for cross, or anything corresponding to
it, does not occur in the language of any of the tribes known to
me. Nevertheless the cross (the Greek), to the Indian the symbol of
a cosmic idea, is pecked on the rocks, or drawn on the sand, or made
in corresponding strokes with medicine over the patient's body.

With the Tarahumare the cross is the pivot around which all his
ceremonies and festivals move. He always dances to the cross, and on
certain occasions he attaches strings of beads, ears of corn, and other
offerings to it. It is used by the heathen as well as by the Christian
Tarahumares. The question is whether this tribe has changed its form
since its contact with the whites or whether the cross was originally
like the one in use to-day. From many of the Tarahumares' utterances
I incline to think that their cross represents a human figure with
arms outstretched, and is an embodiment of Father Sun, the Perfect
Man. When two crosses are placed on the patio, the smaller stands
for the moon. This conception also explains the custom of setting up
three crosses at the principal dance, the rutuburi, the third cross
representing probably the Morning Star. Among Christianised natives
the three crosses may come gradually to mean the Trinity.

On one occasion I saw a cross at least ten feet high with a cross
beam only one foot long, raised next to two crosses of ordinary
size, all standing on the patio of a well-to-do Indian, and the
inference was easily drawn that the high cross was meant for Father
Sun. The Northern Tepehuanes say that the cross _is_ Tata Dios,
the Christianised Indian's usual designation of God.

The impression