222 ISLAND CULTUBE AREA OF AMERICA [eth. axx. i* 



for cassava bread on a flat board set with sharpened stones — a form 

 still used by the Carib. 



In the collection of the United States National Museum there 

 are several flat, rough stones, rectangular in shape, with rounded 

 corners, that have been identified as grinding stones. These objects 

 have a paired extension on one margin. They are supposed to have 

 been used in grinding seeds or roots, and are not common. Similar 

 flat stones with two projections occur in several European museums, 

 the best of which known to the author are in the Trocadero Museum, 

 Paris. 



A mortar jDresented to the United States National Museum by 

 Miss A. B. Gould has a concavity on each side, and a distinct groove 

 extending around the body. Of all West Indian mortars seen by 

 the author this is the most interesting and is of most exceptional 

 form. 



There are, however, many other forms, not unlike those described 

 by the author, some of which are represented in the Heye collection. 

 Haeberlin figures a fragment of a clay mortar from Porto Rico. 



One of the stone mortars, closely resembling in form an earthen- 

 ware vessel, is figured in plate 112, 5, C. This utensil is ornamented 

 with incised geoinetrical designs on the outer surface. The decora- 

 tions cover also the bottom of the mortar and bowl and are quite 

 different from the majority of geometric figures on earthenware 

 objects. They have, however, this in.s-tructive feature, that most of 

 the curved lines end in an enlai-gement — a common characteristic of 

 incised decorations. 



It is difficult to distinguish an implement on which the root of the 

 yuca, chocolate, or corn was ground from a seat (duho), and one or 

 two of the grinders are identified by some writers as seats. There is 

 reason to suspect these identifications, but not enough to prove their 

 falsity. It is probable that some of the objects described as seats or 

 Porto Eican duhos are in reality grinding stones, especially those of 

 very small size ; but at present the author has not been able to differ- 

 entiate the two, and it is possible that some of them were used for both 

 purposes. In this connection an incident quoted from Du Tertre may 

 be as instructive as it is amusing : " I recall," he writes (p. 433) . " that 

 an Indian capitaine, who was quite newly clothed, was rebuked quite 

 sharply by Madame Aubert, the wife of our governor in the island, 

 for his having sat upon her bed (hamas) , which was of white fustian, 

 where he had left a good part of his breeches (pantaloon legs) . Then 

 M. Aubert, her husband, invited him to dinner. He had much diffi- 

 culty in coming to a determination what to do, seeing in advance that 

 he would redden the bench on which he would sit; but having cast 

 his eyes on his plate, he imagined tliat this round article, which 

 only needed three legs to make of it a stool, had been placed there 

 to serve as a place to sit on, he took it and put it on the bench and 



