FEWKEsl ARCHEOLOGICAL OBJECTS 107 



of ii Hour mill. The lower millstone rests on the floor of the cabin, 

 where it is temporarily placed for use. There is fastened to the mid- 

 dle of this stone an iron rod projecting- above the surface about an 

 inch and titling into a hole in the upper millstone. This hole is par- 

 tially closed b\' a wooden bar inserted into a slot of the upper stone, 

 leaving a space on each side through which the corn to be ground is 

 dropped, to pass in due course between the stones. On the upper side 

 of the upper stone is an eccentric pit, into which tits a rod suspended 

 from the roof of the cabin. When this primitive mill is set up for 

 use, the woman who works it kneels before the mill, grasps the sus- 

 pended rod, and imparts to it a rotary movement, causing the upper 

 ^>tone to rotate on the lower, stationary, stone, all the time feeding in 

 the corn that later escapes between the rims of the millstones in the 

 form of meal. 



This form of mill was naturally adopted in those countries in which 

 the metate was little used. Although corn {Zea mays) is now eaten in 

 certain parts of Porto Kico by the peon class, especially in the isolated 

 regions about the Yunque and Cacique mountains, where mills of this 

 kind are common, it is probable that in prehistoric times the rotary 

 mill was unknown, while the stone metate was a favorite implement 

 among the people. 



The larger mortars here described may have been used as cooking- 

 vessels, although frpm the soot found on some of the pots made of 

 burnt clay there is no doubt that pottery vessels were emplo3'ed for 

 the purpose. The smaller mortars may have been put to such uses 

 as grinding condiments, paints, or tobacco leaves, or making sacred 

 meal. The flat stones, with surfaces not hollowed out, would have 

 served for a variety' of purposes, among which may have been bruis- 

 ing plants to obtain fibers for weaving textiles of various kinds. The 

 objects made of gold were evidently fashioned into shape by hammer- 

 ing. This could have been done onl}^ ))y means of stones, for so far as is 

 known the aborigines of Porto Rico were not acquainted with the art 

 of smelting gold. Suitable flat stones may have served as anvils for 

 beating- gold nuggets into the desired ornaments. 



Several mortars were collected by the author in his visits to Porto 

 Rico, especially in 1904. Plate xxviir shows four of these objects, 

 three of which closel}' resemble one another. Little can be added by 

 description to what is shown in the figures, except that the specimens 

 designated «, h, and d are hollowed out on one side, while e is flat on 

 top and base, hinting- that it mav not have had the same use as the 

 other three mortars. Possibly c was used for grinding paint, while 

 seeds or herbs were placed in tiie mortars containing cavities. Pestles 

 were employed with the latter type, but not with that represented 

 bv c. 



