FEWKEsl CTJLTUKE AREAS IN THE WEST INDIES 235 



A bone swallow stick was found by the late Theodoor de Booy in 

 the Virgin Islands, and is now in the Museum of the American Indian 

 (Heye Foundation). The eyes and mouth are inlaid with shell. 



SHELL OBJECTS 



The shell mask (pi. 117, C") in the Heye collection is almost iden- 

 tical with that figured by the author in his Aborigines of Porto Eico, 

 but is much better carved. It was purchased by the author from 

 Senor Seiyo, of Arecibo. As in the Merino specimen, there are two 

 holes near the rim for suspension by a band. These holes alternate 

 with round elevations. There is also a perforation in the chin — a 

 feature absent in the Merino specimen. On each cheek of the Hej'e 

 specimen there is an engraved circle, recalling the elevations or wens 

 on cheeks of the stone head in the Berlin Museum previously referred 

 to. The curved incised line on the forehead of the Heye specimen 

 ends in three extensions, recalling a hand with fingers. The anoma- 

 lous position of these appendages, which do not occur in the Meriiio 

 specimens, is an objection to our identification of this as a fore limb. 



The Heye collection has an imitation of teeth made of shell. This 

 object (pi. 117. 5) was probably formerly inlaid in a wooden figure 

 of some West Indian god and represented its teeth. It has been 

 suggested that these imitation teeth were used as an amulet, either 

 suspended around the neck or carried with other fetishes in a special 

 sack for that purpose.*" 



The object, the carved surface of which is shown in plate 117, D, is 

 made of shell and is perforated in the middle. 



CLAY OBJECTS 



Disks made of clay or burnt earthenware often have incised figures 

 upon them, suggesting that they were used as stamps for pottery or 

 fabrics. These disks also, in some instances, bear knobs forming 

 handles fashioned in the form of animals. One of these stamps, with 

 the knob broken but the incised legs of an animal still shown, is fig- 

 ured in my memoir on the Aborigines of Porto Rico and Neighbor- 

 ing Islands." The incised designs on the surface of this disk rep- 

 resent the legs of a frog, turtle, or other animal. The body and head, 

 formerly in relief, have been broken oflF, but the author has seen speci- 

 mens from Santo Domingo in which the whole body of a frog is rep- 

 resented on one of these stamps. 



Clay Cylindebs 



In essential features the clay cylinder (pi. 117, (7) is unlike other 

 objects of the same type elsewhere described ; the figure incised on its 



"Possibly this object was tied to a belt in front, as recorded in older histories. 

 *' Twenty-fiifth Ann. Kept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., pi. Lxxxvi. 



