58 THE ABORIGINES OF PORTO RICO [eth. axn. 25 



ZEMIS OF STONE 



The Haitians, says an early writer, had semis made of stone, some 

 of which were supposed to make the rain, others to cause the crops 

 to grow, and still others to aid women in childbirth. We have also a 

 statement that certain stone sei/u's or little id(jls — the frontal amulets 

 described later — were tied to the forehead by the Carib when the}' 

 went into battle. 



Early writers have given us no figures of the many kinds of stone 

 zemis used by aboriginal Haitians or Porto Ricans, but we can hardly 

 doubt that many of those considered in the following descriptions 

 belong to this category. It is believed by the writer that all three- 

 pointed .stones are practically semis and were used "to make the yucca 

 grow." The stone heads and masks that form striking objects in col- 

 lections of Porto Rican antiquities may have had the same name, but 

 have been put to ditierent uses. 



ZEMIS or COTTON CLOTH INCLOSINO BONES 



The skull or other bones of the dead were wrapped in cotton cloth 

 or basketry and preserved for worship. The crania were sometimes 

 attached to Ijodies made of cotton in human form and were kept in 

 a certain house, generally that of the cacique. Human bones were 

 treated as .3V'////.v and preserved for religious purposes. 



The Carib also made cotton images which contained human bones 

 that are thus referred to by Davies: 



They expect, in their sickness, the sentence of tlieir life or death from tliose 

 detestable oracles, which they receive by the means of these puppets of cotton, 

 wherein they wrap up the worm-eaten bones of some wretched carcass, taken out of 

 the grave. . . . They burn in honor of them the leaves of tobacco, and sometimes 

 they paint their n<;ly shapes in the most considerable place of their vessels, which 

 they call piraguas, or they wear hanging about their necks a little image representing 

 some one of those cursed spirits. 



Peter Martvr mentions seated semis made of cotton, but as objects 

 of this kind are naturally perishable few specimens have been pre- 

 served to the present time. One of these found in Santo Domingo, 

 formerl}' owned by Senor Rodriguez, consisted of a skull inclosed in 

 a cotton covering and mounted on a body stuti'ed with the .same mate- 

 rial. Apparently, artificial eyes were inserted in the eye sockets and 

 cotton or otliei- fabrics were tied about the legs and arms. 



ZEJIIS I'AIXTEI) ON THEIU liOUIES ANT) FACKS 



The habit of painting the body and face with various pigments is 

 mentioned by several of the early writers, one or more of whom have 

 recorded that the pictures represented are tutelary gods, or si-mis. 

 Then> is unfortunately no account o'ivino- detailed information as to 



