FEWKES] CULTURE AREAS IN THE WEST INDIES 221 



IDOLS 



Several stone objects of spherical or oblong form are covered with 

 projecting warts or wens, the signification of which is unknown. 



A few of these, resembling idols, but showing marks of having 

 been used as pounding implements, were purchased in Paris by Mr. 

 Here. The stone idol shown in figure 31 shares ^with the stone balls 

 the problematical excrescences. 



One of the most instructive idols in the Heye collection from 

 Santo Domingo obtained by Mr. Theodoor de Booy near Boca 

 Chica, on the south coast of Santo Domingo, is said to have 

 been found in a cave. This object, figured in plate 120, recalls 

 in several respects an object figured by Pinart and is remarkable on 

 account of the large size of the legs, as if afflicted with elephantiasis. 

 How much of these legs represents a seat is not known, but the rest of 

 the human anatomy is so well formed that one is tempted to intei-j^ret 

 these appendages as part of the seat. The relief figures on the shoul- 

 ders and that on the belt are instructive. The ornamentation of the 

 back of the head is very similar to that frequently found on tri- 

 pointed zemis. The hunchback is likewise not without a parallel 

 in clay figures already elsewhere described by Pinart. 



The head has a close likeness to figure a, plate Isxxii, in Aborigines 

 of Porto Rico, where we also have the same elephantiasis in the 

 lower legs. Particularly interesting is the head on the belt shown 

 in profile, which may have been a buckle. The features of tech- 

 nique are well brought out in the plate. 



BIRD STONES 



A worked stone from Arecibo purchased by the author from Sehor 

 Seiyo for the Heye collection has a bird form and is the only speci- 

 men of this form known to the author, with the exception of one 

 described by him in the Aborigines of Porto Rico (pi. lvi, fig. a, a,'). 

 This specimen has the different parts as legs and wings of a bird 

 somewhat more elaborated than that in the National Museum. 



This specimen (pi. 112, ^4) represents a bird with legs drawn up 

 below the breast. The wings are represented in the conventional 

 form, the joints being indicated by depressions, while the surface is 

 crossed by curved lines and triangular figures which may represent 

 feathers. The. use of this object is not known, nor can the specific 

 bird represented be identified. 



MORTARS AND GRINDERS. 



The ordinary form of Antillean mortars and grinders, like those of 

 other primitive races, is destitute of decoration and has a depression 

 in the surface. It may be of stone or wood. The former was gen- 

 erally used for grinding corn. Yuca roots were ground into meal 



