1914.] 



NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 



199 



30 centimeters. It is composed of three two-strand cords in the 

 natural color, which, doubled in the middle, is passed downward 

 through one of the piercings, whereupon its projecting loop is traversed 

 by the free ends after crossing the lips. This is the simplest form of 

 loop knot. The three cords form individual entities at the lips, 

 and, unlike the labial ornaments figured by Dr. Rivet,^ there are no 

 connecting loops with pendant cords. Twenty-one and a half 

 centimetres below the lips, one of the ends of the left-hand cord has 

 been broken off. All the remaining strands are gathered together 

 at a point 30 cm. below the lips and, treated as a single strand, tied 

 in a simple knot. Below this they resume their individuality. 

 Both ends of the central cord and the remaining end of that on the 

 left are formed into a kind of uncut tassel by turning back the ends 

 and tying them in a siiigle knot. The other three cord-ends were 

 possibly united by a similar knot, though at present one of the 

 strands is looped back and knotted upon itself. These cords are 

 generally believed to be more than mere decoration, having a mne- 

 monic value, after the "manner of the Peruvian quipu (fig. 1). 



Cords of the lip decoration: Fig. 1. The Academy's tsantsa; Fig. 2. The 



Castner tsantsa. 



The chin is rounded and slightly receding, though the latter 

 appearance is considerably enhanced by the artificial protraction of 

 the lips. Two incisions have been made in it — one on the left side 

 extending almost vertically downward and following the curve from 

 the edge of the lower lip to a point corresponding to the gnathion 

 or slightly posterior to it, the other extending forward from the 

 severed edge of the neck to a point below the right angle of the 

 mouth, where the gash turns upward. These cuts were doubtless 

 made to facilitate the extraction of the lower maxillary bone and 

 were then sewed up with twisted fibre. In the lower seam, the 

 stitches remain in place, but those of the downward incision, with 



* Dr. Rivet, Les In'diens Jibaro; etude geographique, historique et ethno- 

 graphique, L'Atdhropologie, t. XIX, p. 79. 



