40 BULLETIN 134, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



than that of the chonta palm, but heavier in weight and as durable. 

 One side of the pestle is a flattened and smooth surface, the opposite 

 side is ornamented with a decorative design of incised geometric 

 lines (pi. 5, No. 1), throwing into relief a series of floral designs 

 extending from near the basal end to where the tapering lateral 

 edges terminate in the constricted neck or handle. The basal end is 

 rectangular in section with the two corner segments of the decorated 

 surface removed. A wide median ridge is thus formed, reaching to 

 the handle, which is several inches in length, round in section, and 

 surmounted by an enlarged knob-like carving representing a human 

 head. Projecting from the top is another smaller head carving 

 similar in design. As this pattern is found repeatedly in the wood 

 carvings of the Choco, it will be more fully described under that 

 caption. The employment of incised lines and dots to form the out- 

 line and rib veins of a leaf; the joining together at a focal point of 

 elliptic incised lines in low relief; the cutting of zigzag lines, either 

 singly or concentrically in parallel, alternately convergent and diver- 

 gent, to form triangles or diamond-shaped figures in low relief is 

 the essence of the art motive of the Choco. To say that all and each 

 of these geometric figures have been derived from a prototype based 

 on a modeling of life forms is to read into the artistic technique of 

 the Choco something that may or may not have transpired. It is 

 apparent, however, that the geometric designs here found epitomize 

 the art motive of the Choco. It is found repeated again and again 

 on wood, pottery, and on textiles. 



A medicine pestle (Cat. No. 327504, U.S.N.M.), " ina sarsowedi " 

 (Tule), used by the Tule for making medicine, is dissimilar to the 

 Choco pestle in form and has no decorative design in incised figures. 

 It is carved from a block of hard red logwood 30.5 cm. (12 in.) in 

 length. The lateral surfaces are flattened and smoothly polished. 

 From the basal end, which is double lobed or heart shaped, the lateral 

 edges taper to the handle, rounded in section, which is surmounted 

 by a knob-like guard with flattened sides (pi. 5, No. 2). 



A paddle, much lighter and thinner, used by the Choco (Cat. No. 

 327511, U.S.N.M.), 41.2 cm. (16.2 in.) in length and 6.2 cm. (2.4 in.) 

 wide at the basal end, has flattened lateral surfaces, without a median 

 ridge, and is undecorated. It is characteristically of Chocoan outline 

 and dimensions, with a human figure head carving on handle guard 

 (pi. 5, No. 4). 



A rice pounder carved from a heavy dark brown wood, 19.7 cm. 

 (7.8 in.) in length with a basal diameter of 5 cm. (1.9 in.), is conical 

 in section and has a smoothly finished surface. The decorative work 

 consists of a series of parallel incised lines placed diagonally to the 

 longitudinal axis and intersecting another series of similarly incised 

 lines at an acute angle on a circular collar elevated one-third of an 



