FEWKEs] ARrHEOLOGirAL OBJECTS " 195 



Tile nature of the tluneiny .sticks .still used in mortuary dance.s by 

 the Indians of Guiana may he learned from im Thurn, who figures one 

 of these dance sticks with an efEgv of a quadruped attached to one 

 extremity. The same author .states that "the Ackawoi have one 

 dance in which each of the performers represents a different animal, 

 and each carries a stick on which is the figure of that animal."" He 

 likewise speaks of these dance sticks as "tipped with rude and painted 

 images of some bird, tish. or animal.'' 



There is every probability, since the resemblances lietween the abo- 

 rigines of Porto Rico and those of the mainland of South America 

 were linguistic-ally and otherwise very close, that the mortuary custom 

 of carrying sticks with attached figures or zemis existed likewise on the 

 i.sland, and that many of the stone images which show unmistakable evi- 

 dences of having been lashed to foreign objects were used for this 

 purpose. 



SWALLOWIN(i-.STICK.S 



Among the most remarkable specimens of wood carving from Santo 

 Domingo are five curved sticks with elaborate handles cut on their 

 ends, representing human beings. Figures of these objects, from 

 sketches made ))V the author, are shown in plate lxxxviii, parts 1 

 and 2. These sticks are now owned by Senor Imbert, of Puerto Plata, 

 who purchased them from a man that had found them Lii a cave with, 

 the wooden idol later described. 



CEREMONIAL BATOX 



Plate Lxxxix, h and h\ shows fairly well another of the many 

 forms of wood carving of the aborigines of Santo Domingo and 

 Porto Rico. Thej^ represent two different views of the head of a 

 ceremonial baton collected in Santo Domingo hy Mr W. ^I. Gabb and 

 now preserved in -the Smith.sonian collection. What animal is repre- 

 sented is unknown, l)ut it would appear to have a long tail like a lizard 

 and a snout resembling that of a mammal. The remarkable feature in 

 this figure is the repi'e.sentation of a iiird on the crown of the head. A 

 nearer examination of this effigy reveals a strong reseml)lance to the 

 stone bird above figured (figure 37), in the collection of Mr Yunghaimis. 

 The position of the bird on the crown of the head of another animal, 

 and its likeness to a stone bird showing evidences of having been lashed 

 to another object, add weight to the belief that some of the stone images 

 were tied to the crowns of the heads of those taking part in dances or 

 ceremonies. 



a Among the Indians of Guiana, p. 324, London, 1.883. 



