46 ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCHES IN NICARAGUA. 



cylinders. A small golden image of a man was found in one jar. It was made 

 by the curious process practiced by the Coibas at the time of the discovery,* 

 " by soldering gold wires, drawn out into the finest threads, upon thin hammered 

 plates of the same metal, (the plate giving the general shape and outline, the 

 wire adding bulk, shade, and design.)" The features of the face, the fingers and 

 toes were formed in relief by the wires. Back of the shoulders was a ring, by 

 which it could be suspended. A larger image of similar workmanship was sent 

 to the National Museum from Zapatera by Dr. Flint, and one from Costa Rica 

 by Seiior Zeledon. Several were received from the neighborhood of Bogota, 

 Colombia. 



In one jar an image of a frog, carved in shell, was discovered. 

 The following shells, identified by Mr. Dall, were found in the burial urns. 

 They had holes for strings : 



Malca ringens, Swains. 



Trivia Solandri, Gray, (ribbed.) 



Columbella major, Sow. (smooth.) 



Oliva. Species too imperfect for determination. 



A piece of flint and a fragment of a pestle were found in No. XXXIV. 

 The flints discovered were simply chips, too crude to have been intended as 

 instruments ; they were generally of whitish chalcedony. Under CXLI was a 

 piece of a tortilla roller. Near No. CXLV was a celt, with the cutting edge 

 much worn. Obsidian, the itztli of the Aztecs, was not met with, nor was there 

 anything like a pipe. 



HACIENDA DE BALTAZA. 



At this place, about two miles south of Moyogalpa, the mode of burial was 

 similar to that at Luna's. A section of the lake bank, which was twelve feet 

 high, is shown at page 6. The Spanish proprietor of the estate has for years 

 collected antiquities and sold them in Rivas and Granada. From this place 

 came most of Captain Dow's pretty collection of Ometepec pottery. 



In 1877 I disinterred one large, round, flaring-rimmed jar and cap on this 

 hacienda. It contained bones, the skull facing to the south. Near by was a small 

 cup, ornamented with the representation of a monkey in relief. The ground had 

 been well dug over, and fragments of round and oblong jars were strewn around 

 in a profusion showing that great numbers had been taken out, the collector 

 caring little for any except the small painted vessels of Luna pottery. Inland, 

 from the line of burials, the soil contained immense numbers of fragments of the 



* Address read before the American Geographical Society, July 10th, 1876, by Dr. C. H. Bercndt. 



