162 A STUDY OF CHIRIQUIAN ANTIQUITIES. 



be expected from the ease with which clay may be modeled. They all belong 

 to the terra cotta ware. 



A series of clay stools is represented in Plate XLVI. One of the more elementary 

 forms is shown in figure a. The top is nearly square, concave in both directions 

 and without decoration. There are four legs, the two on each side connected 

 by a basal crosspiece, leaving the ends open. A figure, half-human, half-monkey, 

 stands between each pair of legs and helps to support the seat or plate. This 

 piece resembles one stage in the development of the metate (see fig. 21) on the 

 one hand and, on the other, the wooden seats (see fig. 22) in use among the 

 Chiriquians of today. 



Among the clay stools the elements of the prevailing type are seen to good 

 advantage in figure b. The seat is round instead of square and the four legs rest 

 on a ring at the bottom. The whole structure is strengthened by two opposite com- 

 paratively large grotesque figures, with monkey heads and human bodies. These 

 are hollow and serve as rattles. Similar figures are to be found among the gold 

 objects. In fact the metal-worker's technique seems to have been borrowed by 

 the makers of the clay stools. Contrary to the general rule, the top in figure c 

 is gently convex instead of concave. The four flat legs to which grotesque figures 

 are applied rest on a connecting ring at the bottom. The four interspaces are 

 almost completely filled by four supporting figures. 



An interesting type of stool is shown in figure d. The three legs or pillars are 

 spread laterally till they almost meet. In other words, the top or seat rests on 

 a hollow stand whose walls are continuous except for three narrow vertical slits. 

 Three fantastic forms are applied to the supporting walls. These are slit on 

 the hollow bodies of the figures outside. To a marked degree, the flattened or 

 beaten character of the arms of the latter resembles work in metal. There are 

 nineteen additional small grotesque heads applied to the margin of the seat. An 

 incised braidlike fillet encircles the base ; a similar one is placed beneath the series 

 of small heads. Incised zigzag patterns relieve the monotony of what would other- 

 wise be plain interspaces. They are probably serpent motives and are so placed 

 as to appear to be held in the hands of the three applied figures, recalling the 

 attitude of the alligator-god holding a snake in either hand (see PI. XLVIII, fig. g). 



A low stool with convex seat is reproduced in figure e. The circular wall of 

 the hollow stand is broken at irregular intervals where openings of various shapes 

 and sizes are so made as not to interfere with, but on the contrary to heighten the 

 effect of the numerous applied figures of men and monkeys. The bodies of all 

 these are uniformly marked with diminutive circular indentations, which occasion- 

 ally appear also on the supporting wall. Three of the figures have human bodies 

 and monkey heads ; two of them are inverted, the other is upright. The remaining 

 ten are long-tailed monkeys, apparently both old and young ; all of them in pictures- 

 que attitudes, some playful, some demure. 



In figure /, the monkey forms that support the seat are similar to those seen 

 in the stone stools (see PI. IV, fig. d). The animals seem to be swinging round 

 a circle holding each other's hands. The tail of each is fused with the left elbow 

 of the figure on its right and is also supported by a tiny monkey sitting on the 

 basal ring below it. The margin of the seat is battered in places, as if the piece 



