PREHISTORIC ART. 



591 



is quite simple, consistiug of liues and dots in black. The sound of 

 this rattle is clear and distinct — similar to that of metallic bells. 



A recent addition to the Museum (Cat. Ko. 196675, U.S.N.M., Phil- 

 lips collection), is a gourd shaped rattle modeled in grayish colored 

 clay, the neck or handle representing a grotesque human head. The 

 globular part containing clay pellets is divided in the same manner 



Fig. 236. 



HANDLE OF INCENSE BURNER WITH RATTLE. 



Hill of Tepeyac, Mexico. 



Cat. No. 990S2, U.S.N. M. fe natural size. 



as the preceding (fig. 235), and in addition there are two small holes 

 placed on opposite sides of the chamber in a line transverse to the 

 division or slit. The clay is not well baked and the sound is rather 

 feeble. 



Additional specimens of earthenware rattles in the United States 

 National Museum not figured are as follows : 



There are a number of broken pottery instruments or objects in the 

 United States i^ational Museum which at first sight were thought to 

 have been rattles. They are in the form of a slightly tapering tube, 

 varying in length from 2 feet to G inches, and in diameter from 1^- to 

 1^ inches. In some of these a serpent or reptile's head containing a 

 clay pellet is represented at one end, as shown in fig. 230. Tlie clay is 

 well tempered and the sound produced quite brilliant. Eecent acces- 

 sions from Mexico, however, furnish evidence that the above are handles 

 of vessels used in religious ceremonies (incense burners?), the rattle 

 probably serving an accessory purpose. Among the objects recently 

 found by Mr. Edward Palmer in a burial cave at Dos Caminos, 25 miles 

 east of Acapulco, were twenty-nine fragments. Ten of these are the 

 upper part of handles with a portion of the bowl still attached, and 

 nineteen are the lower ends terminating in heads of reptiles. One ves- 

 sel has been suflicieutly restored to indicate its character, and is here 



