392 THE LATIMER COLLECTION OF ANTIQUITIES. 



points for their destruction, nor sharp knives and scrapers to cut them 

 up and to tan their hides, which would be useless for clothing in this 

 climate if they had them. In the second place, many of the woods 

 are extremely hard, and with charring take a very fine point or 

 edge, sufficient to pierce or cut fish, birds, or men. We are not to lay 

 too much stress, therefore, upon the absence of rude stone implements, 

 especially as the collections from these parts are as yet very meager. 

 Still it is quite possible that the civilization of the Caribs and of their 

 hereditary enemies was introduced from the mainland, and the absence 

 of chipped and flaked tools, if further demonstrated, will be sufficient 

 evidence of this. 



As to the place of most of these objects in an anthropological museum 

 ■we are sufficiently informed, but concerning the use of the masks, the 

 mammiform stones, and the collars, we are entirely in the dark. Some 

 of these rare objects are figured and described in Flint-Chips, with 

 references to Latham, Wilson, to Cherminier and Guesde's collection 

 from Guadeloupe at the Paris Exposition, to Schomburgk, Poey, and 

 Cato, (Flint-Chips, pp. 223-240.) I have seen but cannot recall the 

 title of an account of the Copenhagen Museum by Valdemar Schmidt, 

 in which one or two figures are given. In Scribner's Monthly for 

 August, 1875, Dr. J. B. Holder figures and describes a collection in 

 the American Museum in Central Park, New York. 



As to whether they "were the work of the Caribs and of their more 

 peaceful neighbors there may be a difference of opinion. The fact that 

 the peculiar forms here enumerated are found throughout the ancient 

 Carib area ; that the stone seats resemble in form and ornamentation 

 those made of wood and used by persons of distinction mentioned by 

 the early historians of Columbus's voyages, and recently discovered by 

 Messrs. Gabb and Frith ; that the celts are like those used in Polynesia 

 and on the northwest coast of America, where large dug-out canoes are 

 still in use ; all these lend great force to the opinion that these are 

 Carib or Arawak implements, and not the relics of an older civilization 

 driven out by them. However, my own mind is very far from a positive 

 opinion on this point. 



Some suggestions of possible function arise in the mind concerning 

 these doubtful forms, when we come to handle a great number of them. 

 The rough under-surface of the mammiform stones suggests the grind- 

 ing of paint, incense, spice, or some other precious material, and the 

 natives are said by the historians to have been fond of aromatic sub- 

 stances. Against this it may be urged that they are too costly for 

 mortars ; that some are hollowed underneath, some are flat, and some 

 are convex; and that though very rough on the under side, the rough- 

 ness seems to be that of an original pecking, excepting at the chin and 

 knees of the Typhoean figure, where the stone is worn smooth. The 

 furrows at the base of the mamince seem to indicate the custom of lash- 

 ing them to a staff" as ensigns, or to dash out the brains of a victim or 



