FEWKES] ARCHEOLOGICAL TRIP TO WEST INDIES 12/ 



in relief decoration, practised surface painting only to a limited ex- 

 tent, and were apparently ignorant of glazing. The clay used in 

 their earthenware was coarse, but in some instances the finished 

 product was polished. 



The pottery objects vary in form from the shallow platter to the 

 graceful vase, and include bottle-shaped jars and simple double- 

 handled cooking pots. To one of the latter the soot still adhered 

 when found. The most elaborate of all these vessels are the effigy 

 forms, on which the head and other parts of the body are repre- 

 sented in relief. Marks of the coils of clay by which the vessels 

 were built up may still be seen in several bowls. The surfaces were 

 polished with sriioothing stones evidentl}' in nmch the same manner 

 as among the Pueblo tribes of our Southwest. 



One of the exceptional forms of Antillean pottery in the Arch- 

 bishop's collection from Santo Domingo is a vase (plate xlv) with 

 a central prolongation for a neck and two lateral extensions, re- 

 sembling mammae, on which decorated nipples appear. The central 

 prolongation appears to have been made separately from the body, 

 and to have been later attached with resin or gum. It is ornamented 

 with eyes, mouth, and other organs in relief. In addition to its 

 rarity in form, this jar is a striking specimen symbolically, the 

 genitals of both sexes being represented in its decoration. 



A small flat dish is decorated with a sinuous elevation extending 

 about it, recalling the ornamentation of a fragment of pottery de- 

 scribed by Mason. The two bottle-shaped vessels, with their necks 

 ornamented in relief and the surfaces decorated with incised figures, 

 are not duplicated in collections of West Indian pottery. These were 

 obtained from the Archbishop of Santo Domingo. 



Among the common objects found in the excavation of caves, 

 village sites, and burial mounds, are many small, burnt-clay heads, 

 often grotesquely human in shape, with protuberant mouths and 

 eyes, suggesting the heads of monkeys, birds, lizards, and other 

 animals. By some writers and many collectors these heads are sup- 

 posed to be idols and are called zemis, but there is good evidence 

 that they are simply relief ornaments from the sides or rims of clay 

 vessels, a perfect one of which, in the form of a shallow bowl, occurs 

 in the Archbishop's collection. 



The boat-shaped effigy vase shown in plate xlvi has a projection 

 on one end bearing a face, and ridges or elevations on the sides repre- 

 senting limbs, while the upper surface is ornamented with incised 

 lines forming complex figures. This vase is said to have been found 

 in a cave at Aguas Buenas, in the interior of Porto Rico, but unfortu- 

 nately the author could not purchase it. 



