150 



A STUDY OF CHIRIQUIAN ANTIQUITIES. 



neck and head. In the specimen belonging to the Yale collection, these holes 

 do not show any distinct trace of wear. By passing a cord in through one of 

 the neck holes, up and out through the hole in the head on the same side, down 

 through the other head hole and out through the remaining neck hole (fig. 249 6), 



the free ends can be tied together, 

 thus making the head fast to the 

 body ; and if long enough they can 

 be tied to a bracket, the head and 

 trunk being held securely together 

 by the weight of the latter. 



Of these bird forms, the first two 

 described were collected by McNiel 

 and the last two by de Zeltner. 

 With the latter's collection there 

 came also a third head but no cor- 

 responding body. As has been said, 

 the paste in all is a deep red similar 

 to that of the polychrome group to 

 be described later. The character 

 of brush-work in the largest (see 

 fig. 246) is not unlike that in the 

 polychrome group. 



The discussion of the alligator 

 ware ends with a description of three 

 vases having characters that deviate 

 somewhat from the general type in 

 point of form and material, as well 

 as in the general character of the 

 painted designs. But they are, never- 

 theless, more nearly related to the 

 typical alligator ware than to any 

 other. 



In figure 250 a, reproducing a vase 

 from Divala, the paste is coarse and 

 the modeling crude. There is a 

 rather sharp angle between neck 

 and shoulder, instead of the blend- 

 ing of the contour lines so charac- 

 teristic of the alligator group. The 

 usual pale yellow slip does not seem 

 to have been employed. On the 

 other hand, the ground color is every- 

 where red. The delineating colors 

 are white and black, the white being 

 applied as a thick layer. It has scaled off in places, leaving the paste of the 

 walls bare. The black seems to have been used for outlining and for filling 



Fig. 251. 



Fig. 252. 



decoration. Alligator 



Fig. 251. Vase with problematical 

 ware. '/> 



Fig. 252. Vase combining features of alligator and lost color 

 groups, the dorsal-view motive occurring on the peripheral 

 band and those tangent to the neck. Alligator ware. '/> 



