APPENDIX. 



NOTICES OF FISHING-IMPLEMENTS AND FISH-REPRESENTATIONS 

 DISCOVERED SOUTH OF MEXICO. 



Nicaragita. — Dr. J. F. Bransford, TJ. S. N., found during his explorations in 

 Central America, undertaken in the interest of the National Museum, on the 

 Island of Ometepec, in the Lake of Nicaragua, a number of sinkers made of lava 

 pebbles or of fi'agments of clay vessels. 



Fio. 372. (28846). Fio. 373. (28830). 



Figs. 372 and 373.— Stone sinkers. Ometepec Island. 



Figs. 372 and 373 represent two of the lava sinkers, which exhibit, respec- 

 tively, the notched and the grooved type. They are made of dark-colored, mass- 

 ive pebbles, showing the cellules often characteristic of volcanic ejections. 



The sinkers made of pieces of clay vessels are mostly notched on oj)posite 

 sides, like the originals of Figs. 374 and 375 on the next page. The slight 

 curve observable in these sinkers and their thickness (sometimes surpassing 

 half an inch) indicate that they were made of fragments of large and strong 

 vessels. The notches as well as the circumferences seem to have been ground, 

 and the latter are not angular, but rounded. Some specimens still show the 

 paint of the vessel. Similar sinkers, it will be remembered, have been found in 

 Germany.* 



Other objects from Ometepec Island, which, in all probability, served as 

 sinkers, are made of parts of the thickened rims of vessels. These specimens 

 generally i^resent an elongated form, and are encircled with a groove near each 



* See p. 62 of this work. 



319 



