80 ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCHES IN NICARAGUA. 



the floor of their huts. The grandees had the distinction of cremation, and their 

 ashes were buried in urns.* 



The mode of burial at Santa Helena was that described for the poorer people, 

 and that such was their pecuniary condition was indicated by the absence of rich 

 ornaments in gold or green stones, and the comparative scarcity of the fine terra- 

 cotta, fragments of which were found in the vessels, as if they had been particu- 

 larly prized. The style of painting has been described as Aztec. I have seen 

 this terra-cotta from no place except Ometepec. A class of painted ware 

 resembling it to a certain extent, and seemingly intermediate between it and the 

 Luna, was found at Los Cocos on the island, and on the mainland at Palos 

 ISTegros and Managua. Dr. Flint has sent specimens of the latter class from 

 Zapatera, Nandaime, Granada, arid Nincliri all within the territory occupied by 

 the Chorotegas, whose work it probably was. 



The Santa Helena ware was found at Pueblo Viejo under a solid crust of the 

 old lava or cinder. On the results of the last eruption was a soil which, at the 

 time of the conquest, supported a large population. Oviedo says there were nine 

 villages on the island.f It must have required long years for the soil to form, the 

 Indians to lose their dread of the volcano sufficiently to live in such an exposed 

 position, and, finally, for the growth of the population. So at least a century 

 may well be believed to have passed between the time of the latest eruption and 

 the occupation of the country by the Spaniards. The great numbers of the 

 relics at Pueblo Viejo, Los Angeles, and other places, indicate a large population 

 prior to the occurrence of the volcanic eruption. 



Antedating this era was that during which the Chorotegas occupied the 

 country. Of the extent of the latter period we have no means of forming an 

 opinion. 



The period of the Luna pottery and the burial urns was anterior to the time 

 of the Chorotegas, immediately, possibly, but of this also we lack evidence. The 

 people of Santa Helena borrowed of them the form of the shoe-shaped jars, but 

 the pattern may have been taken from burials even then ancient. The Luna 

 terra-cotta has only been found in burial places on the island of Ometepec, a 

 fact which led Fricdrichstahl to think that this was used as a grand cemetery for 

 people living on the mainland. Boyle figures two specimens from Chontalcs,J but 

 as he does not mention how he obtained them, it is probable they were stray 

 pieces from Ometepec. In the painting on this pottery there is no appearance of 

 figures resembling the styles of the Aztecs or Mayas, except the possible simi- 

 larity pointed out between figure 116 and the design from the temple at Ocosingo. 



* Ovicdo. Historia General y Natural Jo lus Indias, Tom. IV, page 48. 



Bancroft. Native Races of the Pacific _States, Vol. II, page 800. 

 f Oviedo. Historia General y Natural de las Indias, Tom. IV, page 63. 

 i Boyle. A Ride across a Continent, Vol. II, page 96. 



