198 ISLAND L'ULrUEK AREA OF AMERICA [etu. iNN. 34 



been brought foi'ward, we are still somowliat per^^lexed as to w liat may 

 be regarded as their true use. A few of the more reasonable theories 

 are mentioned below : 



1. Insignia of office, worn on the person. 



2. Sacrificial objects. 



3. Idols for animal worship — serpents, lizards. 



4. Idols for tree worship, especially yuca. 



5. To assist childbir<^h — representations of female organ of 



generation. 

 0. Collar for men or women dragging canoes. 

 Ill the following pages the author will return to the interpretation 

 of the Antillean stone collars in connection with elbow and three- 

 pointed stones, but he will here state that he inclines to combine the 

 third and fourth theories mentioned above as the nearest approach 

 to a correct interpretation of the stone collars. The beneficent super- 

 natural being of the Porto Ricans and Haitians was probably the 

 Yuca god or the Sky supernatural who brought life to the food i>lant, 

 yuca, and, as occurs on the neighboring continent, was represented 

 by a mythic snake or dragon. Stone collars represent this god of 

 serpent form but also with human features carved upon them. An 

 undoubted serpent made of wood ''"'' has the same form of head as the 

 knob of tiie collar above figured. 



ELBOW STONES 



In an article entitled " Porto Eican Elbow Stones in the Heye 

 Museum, with Discussion of Similar Objects Elsewhere,'"'" the author 

 has published the following account of these instructive olijects: 



" Many prehistoric stone objects found in Porto IJico have taxed 

 the ability of archeologists to explain and have furnished the theorist 

 with abundant material for speculation. Among these may be men- 

 tioned tlu'ee-pointed idols, both with and without animal or human 

 heads. Other forms, from their resemblance to liorse collars, ha\e 

 from the first been designated as collars or collar stones. Those 

 prehistoric I'orto Eican stone objects that, from their shape, are 

 called elbow stones, are the Itast known and apparently one of the 

 most enigmatical types. 



" Elbow stones resemble, in general form, fragments of broken 

 collars, but a detailed study of various elbow stones and comparison 

 with stone collars, rather than bearing out this seeming resemblance, 

 tends to show that they form types distinguished by highly sjiecial- 

 ized characters. 



'^'"Aborigines of Porto Rico, Twenty-fifth Ann. Repl. Bur. .\mer. Ethn., pi. xc, h. 

 "■ American Antliropologrist, n. s., vol. xv, pp. 435-459. Reprinted as Cont. Heye Mug., 

 uo. 4. 



