PAPERS RELATING TO ANTHROPOLOGY. 821 



tion. In one place the excavation was carried to a depth of 6 feet; 

 i:)ieces of coarse pottery were found near the bottom, where apparently 

 undisturbed clay discouraged further digging. In neighboring huacas 

 were found some fine specimens a few years ago. One of them, ISTo. 

 50891, which was afterwards broken, was secured and mended. It is 

 well burned, light, and strong, and altogether a very fine specimen of 

 old Indian work. 



The afternoon of the 22d of April I started on an extended trip ac- 

 companied by Don Juan Mata-Eita, the jefe politico. Before leaving the 

 Department of Mcoya the fragment of a figure in argillite was obtained 

 at Savana Grande. There was much pretty quartz in the ridge which 

 separates Nicoya from Santa Cruz. We spent the night at the latter 

 place, and, furnished with letters from the jefe to the officials of his de- 

 partment along our proposed route, we resumed our journey in the 

 morning towards the Pacific. For some miles the road was along the 

 plain of Santa Cruz, and then we crossed a ridge not more than 200 or 

 300 feet high, and entered the townshif> or barrio of El Gallo (the cock). 

 The game-cocks of El Gallo, who are mostly smugglers, got into some 

 trouble a few years since, and the name of the barrio was changed to 

 El Yeinte-Siete de Abril, the anniversary of President Guardia's acces- 

 sion to power. The land here was very poor, and the inhabitants cor- 

 respondingly wretched. The business of smuggling over the Nicaragua 

 line helps them in their struggle. These people at once took us for 

 Government officers in search of contraband, and viewed every act and 

 word with suspicion. They apparently had forgotten how to tell the 

 truth, and really seemed the greatest liars on the face of the earth. 

 While sitting on our horses at the door of a hut with the whole family 

 protesting that they had never heard of any relics of antiquity in that 

 region, we pointed out fragments of pottery, etc., in a bank not 20 feet 

 away, ami we knew that at the time these i^eople had some good speci- 

 mens in their house, but they could not conceive such folly as two men 

 traveling in these parts merely in search of old pots ; believed us to be 

 ravenue oflicers, and did not wish to give us any pretext for remaining 

 in their neighborhood. But in this abominable barrio we had a most 

 delightful surprise. Eiding up to the house of the school-master, 

 we presented our letter and were received with charming courtesy. 

 There were two school-houses, one for girls the other for boys, on oppo- 

 site sides of a plaza. Between the two and a little back was the domicile 

 of the teacher, all in bamboo, and so neat and new, for a moment I thought 

 I was back in Japan. He was a mestizo of excellent manner and toler- 

 able education. His wife managed domestic afl^airs, while a daughter 

 of seventeen years relieved him of the girl school. She was an exquisite 

 specimen of the mestiza senorita, slender and graceful as a wand, with 

 hands and feet of a sylph, and eyes so large and so soft — verily I did 

 want to go to school again, and if there had only been the excuse of some 



