[Antique insignia, amulets, implements and ornaments.]
It will tend to render the work of antiquarian examination exact, and
facilitate comparison, if names descriptive of the general classes
and species of each object of archæological inquiry be introduced.
No science can advance if the terms and definitions of it be left
vague. The mere inception of this design is here announced; it is not
proposed, at present, to do more than submit a few specimens from
a large number of antiquarian articles, the result of many years’
accumulation. The figures and descriptions introduced are confined
exclusively to the geographical area under examination.
To establish the classes of articles, names are introduced from the
Indian vocabulary. These are qualified by specific terms, adjective or
substantive, from the same class of languages, or from the English;
rarely from other sources. A nomenclature derived from such sources,
appeared preferable for these simple objects of savage art, to one
taken from the ancient languages, whose prerogative it has so long been
to furnish terms for science and art.
[Illustration: AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES—Plate I.]