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ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCHES IN NICARAGUA. 



more clearly exhibited in a series through the illustrations, Figs. 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 

 in the last of which the limbs, the tail, and the face are suggestive of a rude 

 delineation of a conventional monkey. The face is an improvement on its first 

 appearance in Fig. 83, in the indication by dots of the nostrils and the pupils of 

 the eyes. 



We come now to the consideration of the faces in relief, which, in pairs, 

 ornament fourteen specimens of the collection. These show strikingly the 

 superiority of the manufacturers, in form, over their skill in drawing. They 

 had good mineral paints, in light yellow, red, and brownish black, yet their 

 highest achievement in the drawing of natural objects is that of the possible 

 imitation of a monkey in Fig. 90. Their skill in the fictile art is well exempli- 

 fied in the graceful form, Fig. 77. And here in these faces art went so far as to 

 give some shape to the prominent features nose, eyes, ears, and mouth and 

 the painter came in and, with his colors, brought the lines out in stronger relief. 

 In several cases teeth are represented, not with great fidelity to nature, but still 

 with a nascent regard for correct delineation. In Fig. 95, about the best of the 

 set, instead of the irregular oval or triangle, painted over, except where spots 

 were left for eyes and mouth, the features are in relief and painted, even to the 

 teeth and nostrils. With these, as with other primitive people, the worker in 

 the plastic clay had acquired considerable skill in modelling the form before he 

 could embellish his ware with agreeable painted ornamentation. 



Fig. 91. 



No. 22,356. 



In figure 91 may be observed a typical specimen in form and expression. 

 The eyes are oval and elongated, and slant inward and downward. The artist 

 was so careless as to have one eye higher than the other. The pupils are repre- 

 sented by dark spots. Between the eyes is a sigmoid figure, to indicate the 

 brows or nose. The latter is raised at the point, and has a dark horizontal line 

 in the place of the nostrils. From each corner of the mouth a broad red line or 



