PEWKES] ARCHEOLOGICAL OBJECTS 157 



that if objects are placed at their entrances they are removed within a 

 short time by troglodytes, and debris at the cave mouth is said to be 

 swept away in a manner otherwise inexplical)le. I was told bj' a man 

 who owns one of the finest wooden stools in Santo Domingo that he 

 obtained it from a (lil)aro who said that while hunting a goat in the 

 mountains he strayed into a cave which had not been entered in mod- 

 ern times. Penetrating an inner cham])er he saw in the dim light 

 what he supposed to ])e one of these cave-dwellers. He struck at it 

 with his machete and tied, but afterward returned to find that the 

 object of his fear was a wooden stool, which he removed and sold. As if 

 to corroborate the story of this '"paisano" (countryman), the object, 

 which is hideous enough in form and feature to frighten anyone if 

 encountered in the gloomy environment of a cave, still shows the 

 marks of the machete. A wooden stool or dvlui in the Smithsonian 

 collection described by Mason, alleged to be from Turks island, is 

 said to be hacked " by the hatchet of a vandal." Perhaps the mutila- 

 tion was due to fear rather than to malice. 



Near the hacienda Barranca, not far from the military road of Porto 

 Kico from Ponce to Juana Diaz, there are some instructive picto- 

 graphs, the situation of which is peculiar. On the side of the cliff 

 overlooking the river are numerous small caves, some of which are 

 mere niches in the rock. One of these is barely large enough to 

 admit the human body, but by lying at full length one may force his 

 head and shoulders through the entrance into an enlarged space inclosed 

 by rock walls. Upon the surface of this rock there are several picto- 

 graphs, the most striking of which are here reproduced on plate i.xi, 

 a-e. Some of these rock etchings appear to have been pecked into the 

 rock surface and then filled with pigment or earth of a color different 

 from that of the rock. Others are single pictographs. Their sides 

 average from 6 to 18 inches in length. 



Specimen a has a triangular form, reminding one of the profile of a 

 three-pointed stone idol. In h we have a representation of the head 

 and part of the body of a human being, the eyes and mouth being 

 readily recognized. Above the head there is a crescent-shaped body 

 crossed by a series of lines incised slightlv in the rock surface. This 

 individual pictograph is situated on the right-hand wall. 



The form figured as c was undoubtedly intended to represent tiie 

 human face, the eyes, mouth, and cheeks being well represented. In d 

 is represented a pictograph found in a neighboring cave or shrine. 

 This likewise represents a human face, but has a nose which appears 

 as a groove from the top, imparting a heart-shaped outline to the 

 whole. There is also a representation of an appendage to the side of 

 the head, but the nature of this is not clear from the pictograph. 



Several very good pictographs occur in faces of the granite near 

 the falls of the Rio Blanco, Huniacoa, Porto Rico. Of these Mr L. M. 



