FEWKES] ARCHEOLOGICAL TRIP TO WEST INDIES 1 29 



dnho. These objects were fashioned with great care, sometimes 

 in the form of animals, and often were decorated with much skill. 

 Ten specimens of diihos^ were seen by the author during his visit, 

 five of which were made of wood and five of stone. Eight of the 

 specimens seen were from Porto Rico. One of the two wooden 

 stools especially worthy of mention is in the Imbert collection ; the 

 other, which is the best specimen known, belonged to the late Dr. 

 Llenas. 



Idol. — Seiior Imbert possesses a well preserved idol of human 

 form (plate xlvii), different from any yet described. It is made 

 from a log of hardwood, and was once apparently covered with a 

 black pitch, patches of which still adhere to the surface. The idol 

 assumes a sitting posture, with hands on the knees, below which are 

 enlargements representing the bands with which the Caribs bound 

 their limbs to increase their size. The head is provided with a 

 canopy, as in similar wooden figures. Evidently the eyes were of 

 shell or gold, remnants of an adhesive pitch with which they were 

 fastened in place being still visible in the sockets. The head is 

 hollow, or has a cavity which communicates exteriorly by a hole in 

 the back. Possibly a tube formerly connected this orifice with a 

 hidden man who uttered responses to the questions of the priest 

 through the medium of the idol ; in other words, we may suppose 

 that the image was sometimes used for oracular purposes, as de- 

 scribed by Oviedo and Gomara. 



Serpent. — One of the most remarkable specimens of West Indian 

 carving is an image of a serpent owned by Senor Eugenio Velasquez 

 of Puerto Plata. It is made of very hard black wood, the smoothly 

 polished surface being decorated with incised geometrical figures. 

 It represents a serpent in a single coil, with head slightly enlarged 

 and tail flattened. The head is well carved and is provided with 

 shallow eye-pits in which stones, shells, or gold nuggets were for- 

 merly inserted. The snake-like character of the mouth and nostrils 

 is well represented, but the teeth are indicated only by scratches. 

 On the top of the head is an incised circle and other geometrical 

 figures, and the neck has a collar of incised lines, broken at one 

 point, as is common in Antillean circular figures. Along the back 

 of the bodv there is a row of four circles alternating with tri- 



^ The Jibaros of Porto Rico, especially those in the mountains, still use a 

 wooden stool with goat-skin seat to which they give the name turey. Probably 

 the best locality in which to procure these modern stools is near Adjuntas, 

 where lives an old man who is very clever in their manufacture. The orna- 

 mentation of the modern turcys is limited to inlaid work on the back. 



