52 BULLETIN 14 7, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



are fashioned without arms, while legs are represented as flexed under 

 an erect body. Then, there is a marked triangular elevation in tri- 

 angular form of the lower abdominal section. The head is devoid of 

 representations of facial features, except for a prominent snout 

 region and a high projection of the posterior skull section, probably 

 representing a form of headdress. Minor differences, such as faint 

 indications of facial features, eyes, ears, mouth, and so forth, exist 

 as forms of local developments in art design. It is definitely estab- 

 lished that certain forms of the same variety of zemi carving have 

 been found in Cuba and on Turks Island. In other words, the form 

 of shell zemi recovered at San Juan is typical of one form of amulet 

 or zemi common to the island Arawak, of the Greater Antilles, as a 

 whole. Whether this form of zemi was fashioned by different makers 

 throughout the several islands named or whether its widely diffused 

 appearance is indicative of native trade in religious objects, it remains 

 that its use as a common form of spirit was common to the area as 

 a whole. The zemi here referred to is illustrated in Plate 10 as 3. 

 This conventionalized form was cut from a large section of conch shell. 

 A transverse perforation for suspension had been drilled at the back 

 of the neck section. Head and facial features are in one slightly 

 concave surface, with one end serving as the projecting snout region 

 and the other as an exaggerated crown or, possibly headdress. Arms 

 are represented in embryo by incised grooves extending diagonally 

 from the neck region to the center of torso at the sides. The erect 

 body is unmarked except, as are all similarly carved zemis, namely, 

 with a sharply defined triangular elevation of the lower abdominal 

 section. Deeply incised grooves separate this abdominal proturber- 

 ance from the legs, which are represented as flexed backward at the 

 knees under the haunches but are terminated as a flat surface at base 

 of figure. Feet are not indicated. This lack is balanced by corre- 

 sponding absence of hands. A deeply incised groove separates the 

 leg sections from one another and from the triangular abdominal 

 projection or apron. The significance of this conventionalized form 

 of zemi is not known. 



There are several points of difference between the shell zemi fig- 

 ured as 3 of Plate 10 (also as 2 of pi. 11) and the bone zemi figured 

 as 1 of Plate 11. The former is representative of conventionalized 

 art in almost every respect and is protean in design; the latter is 

 realistic and the product of a more mature shaping technic. The 

 material of which the latter figurine has been shaped is a durable, 

 fine-textured bone of undeterminel variety, yellowed from weather- 

 ing, and is semifossilized. Two biconical perforations for suspension 

 appear at the back of the head, when viewed from the front with 

 the figurine in an upright position. In this position the features 



