632 SLING CONTRIVANCES FOR PROJECTILE WEAPONS. 



dwellings and tombs — for instance, from the mummy caves of the 

 hacienda del Coyote, in Coahuila," or from San Marco, Fla.,'' Santa 

 Barbara, Cal.,^ Utah,'' and southwestern Colorado, and besides the 

 ordinary ones, several magnificent examples, certainly not intended 

 for use, being richly ornamented with carvings, paintings, and 

 gilding, and representing temple decorations, and probably dedi- 

 cated to the rain goddess Tlaloc,'' as they show her symbol. These 

 beautiful examples come from Tlaxiaco, in Mixtec, in the street of a 

 Pueblo toAvard Oaxaca.' 



The same type still appears at this day in spear slings used in 

 Michoacan on Lake Patzcuaro.^ There is no account from ancient 

 times that this type was in use in war, but it is still employed in 

 hunting water fowl *' on Lake Patzcuaro, the flat shores being cov- 

 ered with bamboo thickets in which thousands of ducks nest. The 

 spears are about 2 to 8 meters long and have a three-pronged 

 point. The spear sling from this area is flat on the upper side and 

 lialf round on the lower, OO centimeters long, with round grip, Avhich 

 broadens into a flat piece which has two holes for the third and 

 fourth fingers. ( Doctor Seler also mentioned f that the shafts from 

 Patzcuaro Lake, of which Mason gives first notice, had ears cut from 

 shells, tied on with cotton cord, one on each side, for the third and 

 fourth fingers. According to these writers, the shafts are very simi- 

 lar to those of the ancient Mexicans). The shaft narrows outward 

 and has a broad deep groove on the upper side, at the end of which a 

 small hook is carved from the shaft. Tlie gri]) is cut to fit the hand 

 and terminates in a hook which serves to draw the spear out of the 

 water (see pi. iv, figs. 35 and 36). This type was emploA^ed in Utah,''' 

 southwestern Colorado,'' California,' Florida,^ Mexico,^' ' '• ' especially 

 in Coahuila,'^ in Yucatan among the Tutulxiu,'^ Isthmus of Tehuan- 



a Doctor Seler; Globus, 61, No. 7, p. '.t7 ct seq. 



6 Mason: Intern. Arch. XI, 19; Stan-, il>i(l., p. 2.33 et seq. 



cDaltou: Intern. Arch. X, p. 2"J."> et aen. 



fi Herman Strebel : Intern. Arch. IV, p. 22.5 et seq. ; compare also Doctor Seler: 

 Intern. Arch. Ill, i)p. 1.S7-148, who considei-s that they are temple pieces dedi- 

 i"ited to the rain .U'xl- 



'Doctor Seler: Intern. Arch. Ill, ]>. l.">7 et seq. 



/Starr: Arch. XI, i>. 2:>.'i; also (Jloltns, 7S, ]>. 2(»7; and Indians of southern 

 Mexico, 111. 21. 



s Starr: Arcli. XI, j). 2;^>H et seq.; and Pepper: Cong, of Americanists, l!t02, 

 p. 107 et seq. 



''Mason: Arch. XI, ]>. 12'.> et seq. 



<■ Dalton : Arch. X, p. 22.5 et seq. 



3 From the Key dwellings on the Gulf coast and from San Marco in Florida : 

 Mason: Intern. Arch. XI, 1!». After Dalton: Proc. Amor. Philos. Soc. Phila., 

 1897, vol. 3.5, PI. XXXV, f. 1. 



'^ Mummy Cave of the Hacienda del Coyote; Doctor Seler: (Jlohns, <;i, p. 97. 



I Uhle: Mitth. Wiener Authrop. Gesellsch., 1887, No. XVII, part 2, pi). 107-114. 



