ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCHES IN NICARAGUA. 



27 



five times. The series of illustrations of the hieroglyph-like figures shows some 

 of the variations in detail indulged in by the artist. 



In No. 299, a bowl, with the faces in relief, Fig. 50, is repeated three times 

 with the crucial form at a between. On the inside of No. 22,381 is Fig. 51 three 

 tiihcs reproduced, with a circle separating the groups, while on 22,374 the 

 awkward figure, Fig. 52, is seen on the outside twice on one side with a circle 

 between, and once on the other. Fig. 53 on the outside of No. 22,375 occurs on 

 each side three times with the usual circle intervening. 



Fig. 64. 



Fig. 55. 



Fig. 56. 



No. 7,509. 



No. 14,104. 



On No. 22,310 the figure, Fig. 54, is found four times on the outside, the 

 fifth has been lost by the breaking out of a fragment. The circles shaded with 

 red fill in the intervals. In this specimen the curls at a and b vary in direction. 

 Fig. 55 is repeated four times around the inside of No. 7,509, alternating with I. 

 It is produced once in the bottom. In each of the spaces between the feet of the 

 tripod 14,104 is Fig. 56, with slight alterations. 



These figures are probably conventional representations which vary so far 

 from, the original design as to be unrecognizable. 



The design next to be considered is that noticed in Fig. 16, where panels of 

 a novel variety may be observed. The study of this pattern shows what would 

 have been a veiy interesting instance of evolution in ornament, if the specimens 

 had only been discovered in different layers of geological formation or with sur- 

 roundings indicating difference in age of deposit. But as they were nearly all 

 from the same burial ground, and as the circumstances under which they were 

 found gave no evidence of great difference in the dates of interment, the progres- 

 sive arrangement of the series can only be used to show what may have been 

 successive steps in development. 



Fig. 58. 

 Fig. 57. 



No. 22,377. 



No. 22,854. 



