38 COLUMBIAN HISTORICAL EXPOSITION AT MADRID. 



the earth. This explanation is supported by an ancient myth referred 

 to in L. Fernandez, Docurnentos Ineditos, Tom. Ill, page 337. 



The height of this object was 80 centimeters, and it may tie regarded 

 as one of the most remarkable specimens in the collection. 



Six curious examples were shown of the stone stools or seats which 

 were used by the chiefs or priests when they performed certain reli 

 gious ceremonies. Other objects in stone which may be enumerated 

 were heads of animals, grinding stones for maize, axes of the same 

 material, and a number of worked specimens of vases and ornaments 

 in greenish stones, which are usually classed among the jades or 

 nephrites. 



Quite a large number of specimens in burnt clay represent the industry 

 of the potter. One of these is a burial urn, which was found to contain 

 human bones, showing that this method of interment, common in the 

 adjacent territory of Nicaragua, was also not unknown in Costa Rica. 

 Of the 78 vases in terra cotta represented, a number are in the form 

 of animals rather accurately portrayed. The earthenware flutes or 

 whistles, so frequent in this portion of Central America, are repre 

 sented by 24 specimens of different forms, varying from 12 to 35 

 millimeters in height. 



Of miscellaneous objects, 3 native drums, 2 blowpipes, 2 staffs used 

 by the chiefs, 21 bows, several specimens of native weaving, and various 

 utensils for lighting fire, were displayed from existing tribes. 



Another department of the collection was derived from the Troyo 

 family, who have generously given to the National Museum a variety 

 of valuable objects. Among these may be mentioned several chisels 

 and spoons in stone, masses of stone intended to be used as maces or 

 war clubs, others with polished surface and fitted to the hand for use 

 as polishers or smoothers, grinding stones of various sizes and forms, 

 mortars and vases of the same material, and a line of small human 

 figures usually in a sitting position, probably intended as memorials of 

 the dead or as household gods. 



The relics in clay in this collection include several specimens of jars, 

 plates, spoons, whistles, rings, bells, and flower holders. Of these 

 about one half display designs upon the surface, either in low relief or 

 engraved upon the clay, and about one-fifth are decorated with paint 

 ings in different colors. 



Industry in copper and gold is represented by a series of objects 

 principally taken from natural history, such as eagles, frogs, lions, 

 and a number of curious little figures perhaps intended as images of 

 special deities. 



A few skulls taken from native graves offer a means of examining 

 the cranial characteristics of the natives. 



A collection of antiquities, 380 in number, obtained in the immediate 

 vicinity of Nicoya, is of peculiar value on account of its strict localiza 

 tion. The objects which it presents are in stone, pottery and in a few 



