824 . PAPERS RELATING TO ANTHROPOLOGY. 



uietates, and numberless shards of painted ware, celts, etc. Amoug tlie 

 remains were some pieces of large jars. A head in green argillite was 

 found, but there were no specimens of the Santa Helena ware seen at 

 Ometepec and supposed to have been of Aztec manufacture.* 



In the evening we rode to the hacienda El lovo, and spent a quiet 

 day with Don David Hurtado. The owner of the hacienda, Jesus Maria, 

 dined with us and after giving accounts of shell heaps, stone images, 

 etc., told of a large block between his i^lace and Nagascola, on which 

 were carved the sun, moon, and other figures. The morning of May 1 

 we rode to Jesus Maria and accompanied the hidalgo in search of his 

 remarkable monolith. About midday we found a quarry of columnar 

 rock, whitish and soft ; near it lay the object of our search, found af- 

 ter hours of riding over hills parched by the sun and wind of the dry 

 season, and on this precious stone seemed concentrated the rays of the 

 tropic sun. We dismounted and walked around it in search of hiero- 

 glyphs. There were sundry marks and scratches as if a careless cow- 

 boy had made this his seat and scraped his spurs against the side. 

 Oh ! We remounted and turned our horses homeward, and conversa- 

 tion was not animated for some hours. 



The exi>lorer who goes to Spanish- America and lends a willing ear to 

 the yarns of the natives, will follow a will-o'-the-wisp from Texas to 

 Cape Horn, and return empty handed. I have accomijlished little ex- 

 cept when I have settled down at a point and by laborious investigation 

 ferreted out whatever of arch geological treasure was stored around, 

 sometimes to the great suprise of natives, who, born and raised in the 

 neighborhood, had never suspected the existence of the antiqiiedades. 



May the 2d we rode to the hacienda San Eaphael, G miles north of El 

 Jovo. The burials here were in a clump of trees on a slight elevation 

 above the plain, where enough of soil had accumulated above the lava 

 rock to support something more than the usual coat of grass. The bur- 

 ials were not more than 2 feet below surface. A vase 12 inches deep, 16 

 in diameter ,and 3§ across the mouth, contained burnt human bones. The 

 guide said that he found another here containing bones, and in other 

 cases fragments of large jars with bones. There were lying around 

 celts, fragments of red unpainted ware and of finely worked metates. 

 The graves were indicated by large stones. 



Continuing our journey to the northward, we visited the hacienda 

 Pelon, where on a slight eminence about a mile north of the house were 

 seen huacas like those seen in 1877 opposite Boquerones.t The pottery 

 was in some cases painted red. There was a fragment of coarse ware. 

 If inches thick, which must have been part of an immense vessel, judg- 

 ing by the curve. The guide rejiorted the finding here of large jars 3 



feet high, containing bones and charcoal. The two objects and 



were found in the loose dirt of an excavation. 



* Archaeological researches in Nicaragua, pp. 5.5, 80. 

 t Archaeological Researches in Nicaragua p. 74. 



