I7r> 



THE ABOEIGIKES OF PORTO RTCO 



Stone with head in 

 relief. 



upright stones whicli inclose these places. It is probable that pillar 



stones served as idols to which offerings were made or near which 



I'ites and ceremonies were performed. 



A coiisideialilf number of these pillar stones occur in different parts 

 of Porto Rico, but most of them are so large 

 that they could not be transported to the 

 United States without great difficulty. Sev- 

 eral of these stones still remaining on the 

 island are well executed; others are simply 

 slabs of stone upon which are cut the rudest 

 possible caricatures of the human face or 

 head. The pillar stones are often called idols 

 and the tigui'es on them are sometimes classed 

 as pictographs. 



Two specimens of pillar stones are shown 

 on i)latc Lxx, one («) obtained by the author 

 in 1903; the other {h) one of the best in the 



famous Latimer collection. Both are massive, roughly shaped, and 



much worn by exposure to the elements. 



Specimen /j has a human face near the end, outlined by a groove throw- 

 ing it into low relief, the eyes and mouth being represented by deep 



pits. There is in this specimen a dei'i) furrow from between the eyes 



to the end of the stone, 



and four parallel grooves 



extend longitudinally from 



the chin, representing the 



bod}' or arms. There are 



evidences of pecking along 



the whole extent of the 



stone, indicating that its 



surface was artiHcially 



worked into its present 



shape. Near the blunt end 



of the stone are four pits 



deeper than the others, 



three of which may rep- 

 resent the eyes and mouth 



of a rude face. 



Illustration c represents 



a pillar stone, of which 



Professor Mason gives this 



description : 



1712(). A fish-shaped bowlder, 

 28..T inches long. On the nar- 

 row end is a sitting human figure, having the hands clasped under the chin and the 

 feet doubled up with the soles together. On the stomacli is a rirele, seeming to lia\'e 

 been designed to represent a human face. 



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Fig. 33. Pictograpli ou jjillai ;,toiie. 



