NO. I HONDURAS — STRONG, KIDDER, AND PAUL II7 



vase (pi. i) at a depth of 1.25 meters furthers this possibility. That 

 both the more realistic and the more conventional aspects of the 

 Mayoid and the Bold Animalistic tradition occur in the shallow Lake 

 Yojoa Polychrome sites is certain. Their exact interrelationship, how- 

 ever, remains to be demonstrated. 



Two other sites on the north end of Lake Yojoa may be briefly 

 mentioned. The first of these is a little island, called merely. La 

 Islita. It is near the shore between Jaral and Agua Azul (see map, 

 fig, i). Yde (1936, p. 30) describes a stone serpent head from this 

 place which, subsequent to their visit, was reported to have been 

 smashed by natives looking for treasure. He refers to, but does not 

 reproduce, a photograph of this statue. Our guide brazenly showed 

 us a simple cylindrical statue, apparently anthropomorphic and about 

 I meter tall, the head and face of which had been completely smashed 

 by him in a futile search for treasure! Only a carved ear remained 

 and the rounded pediment which was like the simplest statue at Los 

 Naranjos (pi. 16, i). He did not know of the stone serpent head 

 but claimed a similar anthropomorphic statue had been taken from 

 the island to Tegucigalpa. Another man told us of a stone serpent 

 head that had been found on this island, but said that local people 

 had thrown it in the lake ! The island is very steep and densely wooded. 

 On top of one of the hills are a number of low, irregular mounds, 

 some of which are covered with rock slabs. Our guide had dug pits 

 in several of these and claimed to have found a few pieces of painted 

 pottery. The soil of the mounds is a red clay. Aside from a few 

 coarse brown sherds we saw no pottery at the site. There are said 

 to be other mounds of a similar nature on the island, which we did 

 not see. It is sincerely to be hoped that this interesting site may be 

 scientifically worked by archeologists before it is completely ruined. 



The other site is a group of three impressive mounds located in 

 the open pine and savannah country about 2 kilometers northwest 

 of the ranch house at Agua Azul (see map, fig. i ) . The largest mound, 

 to the north, is conical with a flattened top. It is approximately 7 

 meters high by 9 meters across, and is flanked to the west and south 

 by a terrace edged with straight walls of large boulders about i meter 

 in height. The west wall is about 5 meters from the edge of the mound 

 and the south wall about 6 meters from it. The south wall is com- 

 posed of several thicknesses of stone and terminates just east of the 

 center of the mound. The west wall is only one stone thick and termi- 

 nates just beyond the north edge of the mound. About 10 meters 

 south of the edge of this terrace are two more parallel mounds. The 

 mound to the east has an approximate length of 7 meters, and a 



