FEWKEs] ARGHEOLOGICAL OBJECTS 201 



It must not necessarily be supposed that the natives drew up their 

 legs in the way shown in the wooden idols occupying these stools, for, 

 owing to the small size of these seats, such a position would have been 

 impossible. 



These figures were undoubtedly idols Worshipped by the aborigines 

 of the island upon which they were found. They probably stood in 

 niches in caves or in special houses dedicated to them. 



The twinning of idols in one figure recalls statements of early 

 authors that the great deity of the Haitians had two attendants to do 

 her bidding. The author of this paper has referred to a twin amulet 

 from Santo Domingo and has heard of an image of clay composed of 

 two united idols. All these Hgurines evidently represent the same or 

 a very similar conception in Antillean mythology. 



The wood of which this idol is made is so eaten in parts by insects 

 that its surface is riddled with holes and has been so exposed to the 

 elements that any varnish or resin with which it was once covered has 

 almost wholly disappeared. 



It is not known whether another idol formerly stood on the raised 

 canopjr above the twin figures; if so, it may have represented the 

 great Earth Mother of the Haitians, mentioned earlier in this report, 

 who is reputed to have had two servant gods. 



In his report on the Guesde collection. Professor Mason describes 

 another wooden idol, shown in plate xci, h and }j': 



A human figure carved from a single log of wood. The portions broken away render 

 it inij^ossible to tell how large the image was originally and what position the figure 

 occupied. Especially noticeable are the ear plugs and the bands drawn tightly 

 around the muscle of the arm. Length, 43 inches. 



These objects, according to Mr F. A. Ober, were found in a cave 

 near the ruins of Isabella, the first city founded by Columbus, on the 

 north coast of Santo Domingo. He writes: 



I saw the old negro who discovered them, some years ago, and he described their 

 position and the great fright they gave him. . . . They were placed in a niche 

 beneath an overhanging rock, at the entrance to a deep cavern, and doubtless they 

 had remained for at least four hundred years — since the advent of the Spaniards — 

 and how much longer no one knows. 



An examination of the last-mentioned wooden idol brings out signifi- 

 cant details. The canopy is here attached to the top of the head instead 

 of arising, as in the twin idol, from the stool. The fillet over the fore- 

 head is decorated with parallel incised lines that are broken at inter- 

 vals, following a design constantly occurring in Antillean geometrical 

 decorations. The ferrules surrounding the upper arm. resembling 

 armlets, represent woven cotton bands. It is highlj- probable that 

 in making this image the intention was to represent an animal's body 

 with a human head. Its normal position is with the body, not upright, 

 but slightly inclined, as indicated in the plate. This object is one of 



