326 



PAPERS RELATING TO ANTHROI^OLOGY, 



"black. In form and detail they are often novel, and notwithstanding 

 the fact that no such models have come down to us from antiquity, 

 hawkers and dealers find a ready sale for them. The vases are gen- 

 erally large and upright, and are covered with embellishments pretty 

 much as those known to have been made at San Juan, but the intaglio 

 figures are more frequently indented or stamped than incised. One 

 variety is distinguished by a p.eries of whistles which encircle the rim 

 or are attached to the neck or body. The mouths of the whistles are 

 sometimes obscure iiud are ranged about the rim, often in places diffi- 

 cult to reach with the lips. The whistles are modeled roughly after 

 ancient forms, and usually the bulbous body, which contains the air 

 chamber, is modeled to resemble a human face with distended cheeks. 

 I present a typical but rude example in Fig. 7. 



Fig. 7. — Rude vase in biowu clay, with whistles attached. 



Some pieces are very much superior to this, and belong to a better 

 period of the manufacture or are the work of superior artists. It is 

 possible that such vases may not all have been made with the idea 

 of deceiving, and that their intrinsic beauty was sufficient to secure 

 them a market. Xo satisfactory estimate of their age can be formed, 

 yet I believe that very few persons having any knowledge of such mat- 

 ters will venture to call any of them antique. 



The piece shown in Fig. 8 is preserved in the Mexican Museum, and 

 is not only very pretentious, but has many jioints worthy of admiration. 

 It is unusually elaborate, and is unique in having both a lid and a 

 pedestal or stand. The lid is bell-shaped and the neck is encircled by 

 a series of whistles; the mouth-pieces of these appear as narrow slits 

 on the upper surface of the rim of the vessel and the sound holes 

 are in the eyes or mouths of the faces which form the body of the 

 whistles. Detailed description is unnecessary, as the cut conve^i a 

 very complete idea of the work. The color is that of ordinary burnt 

 clay and the surface is hardly tarnished by age. An illustration of 

 this piece was published by Charnay in the Xortli American Review. 

 He expresses the opinion that it is not ancient. In some of its charac- 



