BY ANCIENT INHABITANTS OF CHIKIQUI. 



21 



The alligator.— -The alligator, which appears so frequently in the pot- 

 tery of Chiriqui, is only occasionally found in gold. A graphic specimen 

 illustrated in Harper's Weekly of August 6, 1859, is given in Fig. 15. 

 A similar piece formed of base metal is in the collection of Mr. Stearns. 



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Fig. 15, Figure of an alligator, published by F, M, Otis, in Harper's TVeekly. 



The crayfish (?).— In Fig. 1(3 we have a fine specimen intended ap- 

 parently to represent a crayfish or some similar crustacean form. The 

 head is supplied with complicated yet graceful antenn?e-like appen- 

 dages, made of wire, neatly coiled and welded together by pressure or 

 hammering. The eyes are gloljular and are encircled by the ends of a 



^ 



Fig. 16. Animal figure, in base metal plated witli gold. 



double loop of Mire which extends along the back and incloses a line 

 of minute balls or nodes. The peculiar wings and tail will be best 

 understood by referring to the illustration. The foundation metal is 

 much corroded, being dark and rotten, and the plating ot reddish gold 

 seems to have been coated with a thin film of yellow gold. The profile 



