April, igoi. The Island of La Plata — Dorsey. 259 



by a pointed base, delicate neck, broadly turned mouth and large, 

 gradually contracting body. Near the lower portion of the body of 

 the vessel and on opposite sides are two handles, by means of 

 thongs through which the vessel was carried. The decoration is 

 typical and characteristic. The neck is encircled by white and red 

 lines alternately, while on the body the decoration is confined to one 

 side. Here we find three parallel red lines extending from the lower 

 extremity of the neck to the beginning of the base ; these lines enclose 

 many short, black, horizontal, parallel lines arranged in groups of 

 five. Beyond the three central red lines and on each side of them, 

 and bordered by additional red lines, just in front of the handles, is a 

 tree or plant-like ornamentation so characteristic of Cuzco pottery of 

 this class. On the middle red line, and thus near the center of the 

 vessel, is an equally characteristic ornament, consisting of the highly 

 conventionalized head of a puma in bold relief. 



In general shape the other vessel is like the one just described. 

 The side of the vessel, upon which is a small puma head in relief, and 

 the under portion of the vessel have been painted white, and upon this 

 is a black line decoration of geometric figures which has almost 

 entirely disappeared. 



There are also three small vessels, devoid of general interest, 

 which may have been used as toys. Two of them are undecorated, 

 while the third has been painted red, upon which is a decoration of 

 parallel rows of black triangles. The remaining pieces of pottery are 

 dish or saucer-like forms, three of which have, as a handle, on one side 

 a conventionalized duck's head. These three pieces are beautifully 

 decorated inside with parallel red bands. All the pieces of pottery 

 just described, with the exception of the piece first mentioned, have 

 nothing to distinguish them from the ordinary forms found over the 

 entire Quichua territory. 



CEREMONIAL STONE AXE. 



The remaining object to be described from the graves is probably 

 the most remarkable of all and in man)^ ways it may be considered as 

 one of the most remarkable stone implements ever found. In length 

 it measures nineteen and one-half inches and in the broadest part 

 twelve and one-half inches, while its thickness in no part exceeds 

 three-quarters of an inch ( see Fig. 42). It is made of grayish trach- 

 ite, is most beautifully polished and is in perfect condition except for 

 a small indentation near the lower edge. It requires but a superficial 



