18 THE ABORIGINES OF PORTO EICO Ieth. ann. 25 



important acciuisitions. with the iiic\ny specimens obtained one or two 

 at a time hy excavations or purchase, equaled in number the West 

 Indian objects previously existing- in the Smithsonian collection, 

 which was alreadj- one of the largest in the world. 



The collection made in 1904 was numerically' somewhat smaller than 

 that of iyo3, but not less important. It contains several unicjue 

 specimens that add greatly to the value of the material already acquired. 

 Small collections wei'e brought from Cuba, Trinidad, Barbados, St 

 Vincent, and Grenada. The Neumann collection, which was the 

 largest purchased in 1901, contains several rare specimens of types of 

 stone artifacts hitherto unrepresented in the United States National 

 Museum. Among the important objects obtained this year (1904) 

 are a line effigy vase, three three-pointed idols presented by Senor 

 Zoller, of the Aguirrc Central, near Ponce, and a collection of stone 

 implements from St Vincent, presented b}' Mr Jacobson, of Port of 

 Spain, Trinidad. While the collections now in Washington serve as 

 the basis of this article, the author has drawn, some of his material 

 from published descriptions of Porto Rican prehistoric objects in the 

 museums at New York, Copenhagen, Paris, Berlin, and London. 



The author is indebted for assistance in his West Indian tield work 

 to many friends, among whom should be specially mentioned Maj. 

 J. W. Powell, late Director of the Bureau of American Ethnology; 

 Dr W J McGee, formerly ethnologist in charge, and Prof. W. H. 

 Holmes, the present Chief. Numerous courtesies were extended to 

 him by officials in Porto Rico, as well as Ijy local archeologists in that 

 and other islands. He takes this opportunitj' to express his thanks 

 to all those to whom he has been indebted in the preparation of this 

 work. 



He is indebted to Senor Ramon Imbert, of Puerto Plata, Santo 

 Domingo, for an opportunity to study the latters collection and to make 

 use of sketches of several specimens; also to Sefior Llenas, of Santiago 

 de los Caballeros, and to many others. Unfortunateh', he has not been 

 able to examine the West Indian anticjuities in European museums, 

 with the important exception of a few stone idols and implements in 

 the Museo Arqueologico, Madrid. These objects and some others 

 exhibited in the Exposicion Historico in that city in 1892 were exam- 

 ined by the author, who was able at that time to make sketches of 

 the most suggestive, which are pictured in the following pages. He 

 regrets that he has not been able to see several small private collections 

 of which he has information — those made by Mr Suchert, Herr Krug, 

 M. Pinart, and others. The best collection still remaining in Porto 

 Rico is owned l)y Padre Nazario, of Guayanilla, but there are several 

 smaller ones containing instructive material. Visits were made to 

 Guayanilla, where the author was hospitably received b}' Padre 

 Nazario and shown his collection, the result of a lifelong interest in 



