fewkk: 1 AECHEOLOGICAL OBJECTS 169 



parable with ci'owns wbich were worn l)y them. It is quite improhable, 

 however, that objects which cost so much time and la))or were 

 designed to be purely ornamental; even were it granted that they were 

 symbols of this kind, the question would still remain, What is the 

 meaning of their superficial decoration i 



Senor E. Neuoiann" regards it as certain that the entire lifetime of 

 a human being would be required for the polishing and ornamentation 

 of a completed stone collar. He ascribes to a Catholic priest, whose 

 name is not given, the opinion that every cacique made a collar, to be 

 deposited over his grave on the day of his interment in order to drive 

 oti' the devil, but no proof is given to support this speculation. Seiior 

 Neumann regards the idea, which he attributes to SeiTor Pi y ^Nlargal, 

 that the tail of a serpent was cut on the surface of the cjoUar, as a 

 grave error, and seems not to have appreciated the true relation of the 

 two parts which Acosta supposes were united to form the serpent 

 image. 



Regarding the use of these collars, Ober* says: 



Just what that ui^e was, no one can tell, the liistorians being silent on the subject; 

 but I was? told, when in Puerto Rico, by an old priest, that the Indians made them to 

 be buried with them in their graves. One would spend a lifetime laboriously carv- 

 ing out this solid stone collar, that when he died it might be placed over his head, 

 thus securely fastening him to his last resting place and defying the efforts of the 

 devil to remove him. 



The various interpretations of stone collars referred tt) in the pre- 

 ceding pages resolve themselves into two groups, one of which lays 

 emphasis on the use of the.se objects as insignia or ornaments, the 

 other on their .sj'mbolism. Those who have pointed out what they 

 I'egard as their u.se have overlooked the fact that the decoration of 

 the collar is highly conventionalized, an explanation of the significance 

 of which they do not offer. "\A e may accept the theory that some of 

 them were worn on the body or around the neck, but the more im- 

 portant question of what thej' represent remains unanswered. 



But there is a very serious objection to the acceptance of the theory 

 that certain of these collars were worn as insignia, for some of theui 

 are too small, and the heaviest could be transported only a short dis- 

 tance, even by a strong man.'' Evidenth' the}^ were not worn by 

 chiefs as ornaments. The theory that they were worn, in some in- 

 .stances, bv victims of sacrificial rites is weak, for there is evidence in 

 historical records that sacrificial ceremonies, except certain ones of 

 verv harmless character, were not practised by the Antilleans. 



It may be said in reply that here we have survivals of insignia or 

 symbols no longer used but preserving the form of those which were 



a Benefactores y Hombres Notables de Puerto Rico, n, p. li. 



!> Aborigines of the West Indies. Pmcealings of the Aimriniii Anliijiniriaii Sorirlii, p. 2i<. Worcester, 

 Mass., 1894. 



cThis objection to the theory that tlie stone collar.s wei-e worn Viy men in drngpiiiK heavy objects, 

 as logs or canoes, is a valid one. 



