376 THE LATIMER COLLECTION OF ANTIQUITIES. 



17003. A boat-shaped mortar or dish, sharp at each end, deeply con- 

 cave. A very beautiful and unique specimen. Length 1C.5 in., width 8.2 

 iu., height 4.75 in. 



17001. A semi-ovoid, deeply concave, tray-shaped mortar, 17 by 11 

 iuches. 



17005. Small cup-shaped mortar, similar to the paint mortars from the 

 United States. Herrera repeatedly mentions the painting of their 

 bodies black, white, and red by the Indians of the West Indies. 



17077. A small four-legged metate, slightly dished iu the middle, butfiat- 

 bottomed. This specimen resembles Fig. 8, on page 220 of Flint-Chips, 

 and may have been a stool, the wavy elevated rim precluding the use of a 

 muller, and a flat bottom reuderiug the use of a pestle quite improbable. 

 I shall speak of this subject more fully a little further on. 



17078. A massive three-legged metate, of a porous, dark, volcanic 

 stone. It is slightly sagged and depressed on one edge, and elevated at 

 one end. They have a backward slant, so as to resist the pressure of 

 the person operating at the higher end. Length of slab 21 inches, 

 width II inches. 



17070. A massive three-legged metate, similar to the foregoing, but 

 the surface is nearer a plane. The dimensions are the same. 



STOOLS. 



The single specimen under this head, (No. 1707G,) Fig. 21, has been 

 classed, hitherto, with metates. It is a thin and deeply-sagged slab of 

 grayish sandstone, and stands on four short legs. At the less elevated eud 

 three projections are neatly carved to represent the head and fore-feet 

 of a turtle. The eyes are deeply sunken as if for the insertion of pearls 

 or jewels. The higher eud is abruptly elevated about six inches, and is 

 crossed by a band ornamented with a scroll which occurs with certain 

 modifications on other objects. There is a decided warping or twist in 

 the upper surface, the ornamentation of which, as suggested by Dr. 

 Rail, renders the idea of its having been a metate doubtful. Iu Fig. 

 22 another view is given of the stool, which shows some of its char- 

 acters to better advantage. The following quotation from Stephens's 

 translation of Herrera (Herrera, Stephens's Translation, i, 5o) fully es- 

 tablishes its use: "When the ship was ready to sail (from Cuba) the 

 Spaniards returned on the 5th of November with three of the native In- 

 dians, saying they had traveled twenty two leagues and found a village 

 of fifty houses, and that they contained about 1,000 persons, because 

 a whole generation lived in a house ; and that the prime men came out 

 to meet them, led them by the arms, and lodged them in one of the new 

 houses, causing them to sit down on scats made of a solid piece of wood in the 

 shape of a beast with very short legs and the tail held up, the head before with 

 eyes and ears of gold, and that all the Indians sat about them on the 

 ground." This object beiug of stone, there might still have been room 



