94 THE ABORIGINES OF PORTO RICO [eth. axn. I'o 



lie classed certain boot-shaped or crescentic stones of unknown use, 

 which are found in several collections. Others belonging to this group 

 are called, for want of a better name, smoothing stones. 



Celts made of conch shells are very common in Barbados, the 

 Bahama islands, and in some of the Lesser Antilles, but very few of these 

 objects have been found in the larger West Indian islands. Where 

 this kind of celt occurs there is no hard rock available, and these imple- 

 ments afford a most instructive example of the effect of geological 

 environment on primitive art. 1 know of only one Porto Rican shell 

 celt — that preserved in the collection of ^Ir Yunghannis. Like the 

 Barbados specimens, it is made from the lip of a conch shell, showing 

 well-marked signs of chipping along its cutting edge. 



The specimens figured in plate xi illustrate the general forms of small 

 stone celts collected in Porto Rico. As will l)e noticed, they assume 

 many shapes — from that of a chisel to the broad-edged battle-ax. 

 The end opposite the cutting edge is generally pointed, jus'tifying the 

 name petaloid, but this end is often })lunt, rounded, or even flat. 

 The one feature that they all share — that which distinguishes the 

 true Porto Rican from the Carib stone ax of St Vincent and other 

 islands of the Lesser Antilles — is the absence of a groove for the 

 attachment of a handle. This is not peculiar to any one West Indian 

 island, for petaloid celts occur in all islands, from Trinidad to Cuba, 

 inclusive. 



It often happens that the Porto Rican stone implement is elongated 

 into a chisel-like instrument, many specimens of which arc represented 

 in plate xi. Several of these might more properly be designated 

 celts, rejiresenting an intermediate form between a stone chisel and a 

 petal-shaped weapon. These stone chisels are sometimes highly pol- 

 ished and are generally made of very hard stone. Plate xi shows also 

 representations of other forms of stone implements from Porto Rico, 

 some being chisel-shaped, others almost triangular in profile, and still 

 others oblong. The implements of the oblong type, being destitute of 

 sharpened edges, could not properly be called either chisels or celts, 

 as their real use is not known. The stone celts are called b}' the 

 country people to-day jnedru del rayo, ''thunder stones," and the 

 almost universal belief in the West Indies is that they are thunder- 

 bolts, caused b}' lightning. There are figured in plate xii five of the 

 most nearl\- .symmetrical and most highly polished petaloid celts 

 obtained in Porto Rico. 



The two upper celts shown in this plate, from a cave at Cayuto, near 

 Utuado, were found, one on each side of a globular vase containing 

 several hundred stone beads, and may be regarded as saci'ificial offerings. 

 A good specimen of a celt of soft stone is shown in the center of the 

 lower series, to the right of which is a celt of the hard green stone 

 resembling jadeite or serpentine, that probably came fi'om South 



