FEWEESi 



CULTURE AREAS IX THE WEST INDIES 225 



part of the body that can be identified is a circle with central dot, 

 probably the umbilicus, which for some unknown reason is so con- 

 stant on figures of Antilleans. 



In examining the arrangement of parts in this duho, and especially 

 the relation of the head and arms of the human figure which forms 

 its back to that of the seat itself, it appears that the former is an ad- 

 dition and not an essential part of the latter. In instances, however, 

 where an animal head appears between the two anterior legs of the 

 duho, these legs may be regarded as the fore limbs of the same 

 animal. Such is probably true of this duho, but the head on the 

 back has nothing to do with the rude anterior limbs here represented. 



This stone seat, formerly in Paris, now in the Museum f iir Volker- 

 kunde, Berlin, has already been described and figured by the late 

 Prof. O. T. Mason in his account of the Guesde collection. The 

 specimen is one of the best-made examples of these objects yet found. 



This specimen, according to the late Prof. Mason, was identified by 

 M. Guesde as an "idol." Mason considered it a duho or chair, as 

 shown in the following quotation : 



"A stone stool or chair of the variety mentioned and illustrated 

 in the Smithsonian Report, 1876, page 376. The material of those 

 there described, however, is either sandstone or wood, and the device 

 is some animal form. In M. Guesde's specimen the material is a dark 

 brown volcanic stone, and the device is the human form. Moreover, 

 the position is inverted. The man is lying on his back, with his feet 

 drawn up to form the legs of the stool. His arms, without any at- 

 tempt at accuracy of delineation, are doubled on his neck. The eyes 

 and mouth are like the same features in all aboriginal statuary, and 

 beautiful shells were doubtless inserted in them. The ears have large 

 openings in which were inserted plugs of wood, stone, shell, or 

 feathers. The legs of the chair, just beneath the man's shoulders, are 

 mere projections from the stone. The markings in the head and fore- 

 head are quite tastefully designed. The back does not slope upward 

 as much as in the Latimer specimens. In Dr. Liborio Lerda's Eldo- 

 rado is figured a mummified human body seated on a stone stool in 

 a cist. The figure in this paper and notes of im Thurn (Timehri, I, 

 271) should be consulted. The impossibility of using such objects 

 as mealing stones was jDointed out by the author of these notes 10 

 years ago, and im Thurn adds the very pertinent argument that the 

 ancient West Indians did not grind maize, subsisting mainly on 

 cassava. Dr. Joseph Jones quotes Sheldon as saying: 'When a 

 Carib died his body was placed in the grave in an attitude resembling 

 that in which they crouched around the fire or the table when alive, 

 with the elbows on the knees and the palms of the hands against the 

 cheeks.' Length, 16 inches; width, 6i inches; height of head, 6| 

 inches; of feet, 2 to 3 inches."" 



"Mason, op. cit., p. 827. 



160658°— 34 ETH— 22 15 



