﻿FEWKEs] PORTO RICAN STONE COLLARS 1 85 



Several sigrrificanl facts appear to supporl the theory thai another 

 ( >bjecl was i mce attached to the undecorated panel oi the stone collar : 



(1) This panel is left rough and is never decorated; its plane of 

 convexity is approximately the same as the concave curvature of the 

 base of the tripointed stones. It lias a pit or depression in its center, 

 and the baseof the tripointed stone sometimes has a similar pit in the 

 same relative position. ( )n this theor) the object of these pits would 

 he to insure a tinner attachment of the two objects. The use and 

 function of both collars and tripointed stones are enigmatical, but 

 their geographical distribution is identical, and the abundance or 

 rarity of the two are in the same relative proportion. 



(2) Some of the elbow stones appear feebly to support the Acosta 

 theory in this way. The elbow stone of the Latimer collection resem- 

 bles closely that part of a broken collar which includes the boss and 

 one panel. An examination of this panel shows that it conforms in 

 relative position to the undecorated panel of a collar. A human face 

 is carved in relief on this panel in the place at which the tripointed 

 ■-tone would have been cemented to the collar. The elbow stone 

 figured by Pinart has a similar face cut on its panel. On the suppo- 

 sition that there is a likeness in form between stone collars and elbow 

 stones, this fact may be significant. 



It may be mentioned that since Acosta wrote the lines above quoted 

 a larger number of these tripointed stones than he saw have been ex- 

 amined, and that from increased knowledge of them minor corrections 

 of his account are possible. For instance, what he calls " capricious 

 moldings " toward the end of the greater axis are undoubtedly legs 

 or appendages, while the " human face " at the other end of the 

 greater axis is now known to be sometimes replaced by the head of a 

 bird, lizard, or other animal. Acosta apparently was familiar with 

 but one kind of tripointed stone, or that called in this article the first 

 type. 



As objections to Acosta's theory of the former union of stone 

 collars and tripointed stones, the following may be urged : 



( 1 ) That in the available accounts of the religion of the natives of 

 the West Indies, no mention is made of a serpent cult, and that no 

 record contemporary with the aborigines has given the snake a promi- 

 nent place in myth or ritual. It is recorded, however, that two 

 wooden images of serpents stood at the entrance to a house on one of 

 the islands visited by the Spaniards, and I have already referred to a 

 wooden serpent idol in Puerto Plata, which is one of the best known 

 examples of aboriginal West Indian wood carving. These show con- 

 clusively that the Antilleans carved images of snakes in wood, hence 



