FEWKBSj CULTURE AREAS IN THE WEST INDIES 161 



projection on one edge. Another specimen (C, D) has projections 

 on both edges, the latter resembling a stone object figured by Mason 

 from Guadeloupe. Both are rare in West Indian collections. 



The grinder (pi. 82, E) is from St. James Parish, Nevis, and 

 belongs to one of the type forms of grinders from St. Kitts. Its 

 form is better suited to a rubbing stone than to a pestle such as occurs 

 in Santo Domingo.^^" 



In the Connell collection is a remarkable specimen of stone carv- 

 ing from the island, Nevis, similar in technique to a " pillar stone," 

 now in the British Museum, described and figured by Joyce, but 

 originally from Nevis. This remarkable specimen is a torso, of which 

 two human legs and the lower part of the abdomen are carved in relief 

 on the surface of a soft stone slab. The feet have been broken off at 

 the ankles, and the remainder is more or less mutilated. The knees 

 are extended, with several folds of skin indicating muscles on the 

 inside of the legs,' similar to the specimen in the British Museum. 

 The sex is realistically indicated. The carving of the lower abdomen 

 and limbs is of a high order of excellence. A remarkable character- 

 istic of this specimen, a feature which it shares with the pillar stone 

 described by Joyce, is a Medusa-like head, with curled hair cut in 

 relief, between the extended knees. The eyes and nose of this head 

 are represented, though considerably battered, and there is a kind of 

 chaplet on the forehead. Grooves and rows of holes on the cheeks 

 and chin suggest that feathers, or some other decoration, were in- 

 serted in these holes. The hair is curly, like that of an African 

 rather than an Indian, and is represented in relief by scrolls on the 

 crown and the ears. The collector of this specimen records that there 

 was formerly another fragment of this carving which has disap- 

 peared, and may be that described by Joyce in the British Museum. 

 The art of these two specimens is practically identical, and if they 

 are pillar stones or examples of West Indian prehistoric art, as they 

 seem to be, they present one of the best examples of Antillean stone- 

 work known to the author. The supposition that they were pillar 

 stones seems logical, in which case they may have been set up and 

 treated as idols. The treatment of the hair is not typically Ameri- 

 can, and it has been suggested that they may have been brought to 

 this island from the Old World. 



One of the remarkable and exceptional forms of stone objects 

 in the Connell collection, figured by Dr. Branch and represented in 

 plate 82, /t, is an elongated oval ring, the perforation being in the 



•i" Joyco, Prehistoric antiquities from tlip Antilles, in tlie British Museum. Journ. 

 Eoy. Antlirop. Inst., vol. xxxvli, pi. ui, flg. 3, 1917. 



160658°— 34 ETH— 22 II 



