﻿FEWKES] PORTO KUAN MdM'. COLLARS ] 77 



tion. Sefior Neumann regards the idea, which he attributes to Sefior 

 Pi \ Margal, that the tail of a serpenl was cut on the surface of the 

 collar, a- a grave error, and seems nol to have appreciated the true 



relation of the two parts which Acosta supposes were united to form 

 the serpent image. 



Regarding the use of these collars, < 'her' says: 



" Just what that use was no one can tell, the historians being silent 

 mi the subject, hut 1 was told, when in Puerto Rico, by an old priest, 

 that the Indians made them to he buried with them in their graves. 

 ( >ne would spend a lifetime laboriously carving out this solid stone 

 collar, that when he died it might he placed over his head, thus 

 securely fastening him to his last resting place and defying the 

 efforts of the devil to remove him." 



The various interpretations of stone collars referred to in the pre- 

 ceding pages resolve themselves into two groups, one of which lays 

 emphasis on the use of these objects as insignia or ornaments, the 

 other on their symbolism. Those who have pointed out what they 

 regard as their use have overlooked the fact that the decoration of the 

 collar is highly conventionalized, an explanation of the significance of 

 which they do not offer. We may accept the theory that some of 

 them were worn on the body or around the neck, but the more impor- 

 tant question of what they represent remains unanswered. 



But there is a very serious objection to the acceptance of the theory 

 that certain of these collars were worn as insignia, for some of them 

 are too small, and the heaviest could be transported only a short dis- 

 tance even by a strong man." Evidently they were not worn by 

 chiefs as ornaments. The theory that they were in some instances 

 worn by victims of sacrificial rites is weak, for there is evidence in 

 historical records that sacrificial ceremonies, save of very harmless 

 character, were not practised by the Antilleans. 



It may be said in reply that here we have survivals of insignia or 

 symbols no longer used, but preserving the form of those which were 

 once employed ; and it may also be urged that the heavy, massive 

 forms of collars were unfinished, or that the massive and slender 

 forms had different uses. While all these suggestions may have 

 weight, it is remarkable that none of the early writers mention having 

 seen them on the bodies of Indians. If they were used at the time of 

 Las Casas. Roman Pane, Benzoni, and other early writers, it must 

 have been in secret, which would show that they were ceremonial 



1 Aborigines of the West Indies. Proc. Amer. Antiquarian Soc, Worces- 

 ter, Mass., 1894, p. 26. 



2 This objection to the theory that the stone collars were worn by men in 

 dragging heavy objects, as logs or canoes, is a valid one. 



