FEWKEs] CULTURE AREAS IN THE WEST INDIES 153 



of these implements. Pestles from different islands differ more than 

 mortars, their handles admitting of different ornamentation. 



The simplest form of Guadeloupe mortar "^ is a slab of stone with 

 a shallow curved depression on one side. Examples of this type are 

 numerous, and, as thej^ possess no features characteristic of typical 

 areas, they need not be considered. 



In the mortar (pi. 74, C) next to be considered, the longer axis 

 has been elongated to such an extent as to give the object a 

 boat shape. This specimen, now in the Berlin Museum, is said to 

 have come from one of the Lesser Antilles, but from which is not 

 definitely known. In all these objects the cavity is mucli smoother 

 than the outside surface and shows by the way it is worn signs of 

 long-continued use. The size of these mortars points to their use 

 in grinding of some cereal, as maize, rather than roots or fruits. 

 They do not greatly differ from the forms of mortars found on the 

 mainland of South America, where, however, flat slabs of rock were 

 often used in grinding corn. It is, of course, not necessary to sup- 

 pose tliat mortars from the Lesser Antilles were used for maize, even 

 if their shapes are similar to tho.se whei-e corn was a food cereal. 



In a specimen ({*1. 75, 6*) in the Berlin Museum we have a true 

 mortar which has a spheroidal form with a circular cavity of about 

 half its longer axis on one side. The side view of this specimen 

 differs from that above mentioned in the thickness of its walls, but 

 especially in the character of the depression. 



The accompanying repi-esentations (figs. 26, 27) show a unique stone 

 object from the Guesde collection in the Berlin Museum, concerning 

 the use of which several suggestions have been made, but which has 

 never been satisfactorily identified. When seen from above the form 

 reminds one of the skeleton frame of certain cup-shaped sponges in 

 which we have a hemispherical knob or attachment to the bottom of 

 the sea from which arise walls flaring outward, leaving a deep con- 

 cavity and wide-open mouth. The interior wall is smooth, the lips 

 rounded, and the outer surface crossed by radiating grooves alternat- 

 ing with elevations extending from the knob-like base near which 

 they are deepest, becoming shallower as they approach the margin. 

 Provisionally this object is identified as a mortar. 



The sj^ecimen is thus referred to by the late Prof. Mason ^ in his 

 account of the Guesde collection: "An unique specimen of light- 

 brown color and quite rough. It is hollow like a mortar, but the 

 Bft)st remarkable feature about it is the series of flutings on the 

 surface. M. Guesde is of the opinion that it was rather a cover for 

 something than a grinding stone. In deference to this opinion it is 

 drawn with the broad part downward. Height, 6^ inches." 



•• Several of the Guesde mortars have been described by the late Prof. Mason. 

 lOp. cit., p. 814. 



