NO. 14 ARCHEOLOGY OF BAY ISLANDS, HONDURAS — STRONG I23 



a much-weathered stone implement (19.5 cm in length) with an 

 ovoid head, flattened on two faces, and a small, cylindrical, round- 

 ended handle. No grooves are visible on the two faces, but the imple- 

 ment strongly suggests a bark beater. The other objects consist of 

 one fragment of a crude marble bowl ; half of a discoidal marble stone ; 

 a fragment of pumice, grooved by use ; two small fragments of cylin- 

 drical, polished roller pestles ; and a crude disk bead of gray steatite. 

 This material has a utilitarian aspect and contrasts markedly with the 

 ornate and presumably ceremonial material from Kelly Hill. 



THE SACRIFICIAL SPRING 



The sites which we examined on the northeast end of the island can 

 be reached from either Mangrove or Savannah Bights, but the latter, 

 being on the lee side of the island, is the safest anchorage (see map, 

 fig- 33)- From the latter place we visited the Sacrificial Spring where 

 Mitchell-Hedges and Lady Richmond Brown obtained a large col- 

 lection in 1930. The site can be easily reached by following the trail 

 half way to Marble Hill and then branching ofif across a mangrove 

 swamp for a short distance (see map, fig. 33). Unfortunately, at the 

 time of our visit we had not read Mitchell-Hedges' account of the 

 discovery. This account in part is as follows : 



Arriving there, Lady Richmond Brown and I, accompanied by our natives, 

 entered a valley, on each side of which rose great hills. The first quarter of a 

 mile we traversed of this sinister place almost dispelled any expectations enter- 

 tained by us that within this region could possibly be the evidences of what was 

 once a vast civilization. 



The bed of the valley, which was almost perfectly flat swamp, seemed to hold 

 the chill of death as one entered the gloomy depths of the jungle. The ground 

 squelched beneath our boots and the stench which arose from the swamp as 

 we cut our way through the undergrowth told of rotted and decayed vegetation — 

 vegetation which had laid there disintegrating for thousands of years ; poisonous — 

 the very atmosphere was the breath of a sepulchre. 



From the ooze towered a forest of white mangroves, their fantastic roots 

 curling over the ground in every direction like the tentacles of a giant octupus. 

 Hideous snakes, great land crabs and noisome fungi appeared to be the only 

 life in this land of rot. Only that which was loathsome seemed to have its being 

 in the faint ghostly glimmer, where a few sickly beams of sunlight struggled 

 through the interlaced branches of the mangroves. 



We toiled on cutting and hacking every foot of the way with our machetes. 

 The heat was overpowering, mosquitoes and botlas flies swarmed about us, 

 while the perspiration trickled down our bodies until finally our shirts, breeches 

 and boots were sodden. 



A miniature stream crept through the swamp, and this we followed. [There 

 follows an account of a fierce encounter with an enraged iguana which, for lack 

 of space, I must omit.] .... 



