FEWKES] ARCHEOLOGICAL TRIP TO WEST INDIES II 9 



Stone beads, of which there are many in the Imbert collection, in 

 addition to the perforation through the axis, often have a smaller 

 hole near the end, at right angles to this perforation, possibly for the 

 insertion of feathers. 



One of many problematical specimens in the Archbishop's collec- 

 tion is a large, flat, circular stone with a perforated extension on the 

 rim (plate xli, i). The author has seen another specimen, rec- 

 tangular in shape, with two extensions, one on each angle of the same 

 side. The use of these stones is unknown. It has been suggested that 

 they were used to aid parturition, but there is no evidence to sup- 

 port this theory. One surface of the circular stone is decorated with 

 a shallow, meandering groove ; the other is without ornamentation. 



Senor Imbert's collection contains a stone slab, a foot square, 

 which the owner regards as a gaming implement. On each face 

 there are six small pits arranged in two rows, and Senor Imbert 

 believes that a pebble or other small object was placed under one or 

 another of these pits and covered by the stone. It is supposed that, 

 in playing the game, the opponent guessed under which depression 

 the pebble was concealed, possibly indicating his choice by pointing 

 at the corresponding depression on the upper surface. The author, 

 having no other interpretation of the use of this slab, which is un- 

 doubtedly artificially worked and prehistoric, mentions this explana- 

 tion more as a plausible hypothesis than as an exact determination of 

 its use. 



Stone Mortars. — Excavated stones, ranging widely in form and 

 identified as mortars, were collected both in Santo Domingo and in 

 Porto Rico. One of the best specimens, in the form of a shallow 

 bowl, forms a part of the Archbishop's collection. Others are 

 elongated or boat-shaped, and some have ornamented elevations on 

 the rim. 



In the Archbishop's collection, also, there is a flat stone slab with 

 a shallow depression on one side as if designed to serve likewise as 

 a mortar ; but as the depression is perforated, it could not well have 

 been used as such. It may have formed part of a primitive mill and 

 have been used with an oval stone, flat on one side and convex on 

 the other. The latter object, which has a pit in the middle and 

 shallow grooves irregularly arranged in a radial direction on the 

 convex side, may have served as a nether stone to the perforated 

 slab. 



Ornamented Stone Pestles. — The skill of the Antilleans in stone 

 working is nowhere better shown than in the carvings on the handles 

 of their pestles. These carvings are so well executed that the pestles 



