FEWKEsJ ARCHEOLOGICAL OBJECTS 197 



are not perforated and were probably idols rather than fetishes. From 

 the statement that the wooden turtle was " found in a cave near St 

 Vincent" a locality not clearly defined, this object may be associated 

 with Carib people, who were the last aborigines to inhabit the Lesser 

 Antilles, but it may have been made by an antecedent race which these 

 people replaced. 



The following legend of the origin of the turtle is recorded hy Ramon 

 Pane: 



Caracaracol going into the house of Aiamavaco asked some cazzabi of him, which, 

 as has been said, is bread. He elajit his hand on his nose,- and threw on him a 



Guanguaio, full of Cogiba, which he had made that day After this, 



Caracaracol returned to his brothel's, and told them what had happened to him with 

 Baiamanicoel, and the stroke he gave him on the shoulder with the Guanguaio, and 

 that it pained him very much. His brothers look'd upon his shoulder, and perceiv'd 

 it was much swollen which swelling increased so much that he was like to die. 

 Therefore they endeavored to cut it open, and could not; but taking an instrument 

 of stone, they opened it, and out came a live female tortoise; so they built their house, 

 and bred up the Tortoise. 



One of the tinest exampl(>s of Antillean wood carving known to the 

 author was seen in the citj' of Puerto Plata, Santo Domingo. It 

 represents a serpent. The lateral view of this object (plate xc, b) 

 shows the ornamentation of the body and head. The wooden serpent 

 has a single coil and is made from one piece of hard black wood, 

 the head and most of the body being decorated with incised circles, 

 triangles, and parallel lines. The arrangement of these decorations 

 may be seen on examination of the illustration, reproduced from a 

 hurried sketch made by the author a short time before leaving Puerto 

 Plata. The end of the tail is smooth and much flattened, but the 

 whole surface of the bell}' is cai'ved to indicate a series of overlapping 

 scales, beginning at the throat. Pieces of gold, shell, or some precious 

 stones were evidently inserted into the eye sockets, where there 

 still remain fragments of the material by which they were attached. 

 Along the back of the image there is a row of live incised circles, the 

 first of which is situated on the upper part of the head. This speci- 

 men could not be purchased by the author, but it is to be hoped that 

 it may l^e acquired later b}' some museum, where it can be examined 

 b}' ethnologists and more detailed drawings of it published. 



The early writers speak ver^' explicitlj' of the use of wooden idols 

 by the aborigines of Haiti and, as several of the objects have been 

 preserved to the present day and are available for studj^, we can 

 form an idea of their form and general appearance. So far as the 

 author knows there is no wooden idol of the Borinquefios in existence; 

 but, as the culture of prehistoric Porto Rico was similar to that of 

 Haiti, we may reasonably suppose their idols were similar. Wooden 

 idols from Jamaica, Turks island, and Cuba are known. In general 



