176 ISLA]SrD CULTURE AREA OF AMERICA [eth. a.n.n. 31 



They are conspicuous in the equipment of the African voodoo or 

 obia men, who are said to emph)y them in some of their rites. 



The writer has excavated several of these implements in Porto 

 Rico caves, shell heaps, or middens, but the majority, counting into 

 hundreds, were purchased from the country people, who, finding 

 them in the soil while cultivating their " canucos," or small farms, 

 preserve them as curiosities for purposes above mentioned. Those 

 purchased by the author were, as a rule, slightly nicked by the 

 finders, their points or edges being broken under the impression 

 that they contain " electricity." 



Specimens of Antillean petaloid celts with figures or faces cut 

 ui:)on their surfaces are rare. These probably were carried by the 

 pointed extremity.^" The most highly ornamented bear a morpho- 

 logical likeness to idols, and their forms imply more than the term 

 " decorated celt '' would indicate, for some of these are practically 

 figurines rather than celts. The step, however, from the incised celt to 

 the idol is here, as elsewhere with man in lower stages, so slight that 

 nothing can be gained by ascribing one use or name to the engraved 

 petaloid and the other to the petaloid in the form of a figure.^' 



The form and sj'mbolism of the petaloids with life figures engraved 

 upon them have led the author to the belief that these celts were never 

 furnished with handles, but were used symbolically as insignia of 

 rank, and carried directly in the hand by the pointed ends or inserted 

 in staves or wooden sticks for the same purpose. 



Engraved celts have been collected in the Bahamas and the Greater 

 Antilles, but have never been foimd in the Lesser Antilles. The fol- 

 lowing list of specimens, named from the museums in which they 

 now are, contains the more important variations in this type of celt : 



1. Berlin Museum, No. 1. 



2. Rae specimen. 



3. Berlin Museum, No. 2. 



4. British Museum (4 specimens) . 



5. United States National Museum. 



6. Heye Museum. 



7. Museum of the University of Havana. 



8. Copenhagen Museum. 



9. Heye Museum (stone "dirk"). 



10. Blaclanore Museum (stone "dirk"). 



'"The term decorated celt or ceUs with incised decorations might suffice to designate 

 the simpler forms, but this name is inadequate to appl.v to the highly developed 

 specimens. 



»' The monolithic stone celts, or those In which blade and handle are formed of one 

 stone, are supposed to have been ceremonial in nature or to have been used in religious 

 practices. Incidentally they indicate the way a wooden handle was attached to a smooth 

 undecorated celt, and may throw some light on the probable way the celt with a figure 

 engraved on one side was used. 



