FEWKEsJ CULTURE AREAS 11^ THE WEST INDIES 245 



Brinton^" says this paper was not jjublished in English, Senor J. Q. 

 Garcia, in 1855, edited what he calls a Spanish translation of it in 

 the fourth volume of his Revista de la Habana. 



The figures accompanying this article include two stone images, 

 a few clay heads coiDied from Charlevoix,^ and a stone pestle taken 

 from Walton.^ The stone images are from Cuba, but the pestle 

 and the clay heads came from Santo Domingo. The images more 

 especially concern us in this article. One of these, called an idol, is 

 made of a hard stone of reddish color, highly polished, with a head 

 cut on one end. Poey believes it was originalh^ covered with a 

 varnish which has been worn off in exposed places. He is probably 

 right in this conclusion, for remains of a i-esinous substance which 

 once covered some of the three-pointed stone idols from Porto Rico 

 still adhere to several specimens. This so-called idol lias the gen- 

 eral form of a celt, although it differs in details from the cere- 

 monial celts which have thus far been described as from the West 

 Indies. It is now in the Archeological Museum at Madrid. There 

 is no doubt that the other image, described and figured both by 

 Poey and Ferrer,^ is an idol. The former likens its attitude to that 

 of a dog resting on his hind parts, the forelegs crossed over the ab- 

 dominal region. This specimen is now in the University of Habana, 

 to which institution it was presented by Ferrer. 



The form of this idol is different from that of idols from Santo 

 Domingo and Porto Rico, but its technique indicates an equally 

 high development in stone working. 



In a brief article of four pages; Brinton, " without aiming at 

 completeness," gives a review of the laliors and results of students 

 of the archeology of Cuba. He calls attention to some of the con- 

 tributions of Poey, Ferrer, Garcia. Pi y Margall, and others, and 

 shows that the archeology of Cuba " has not been wholly neglected 

 by intelligent Cubans, although it is true that there lias Ijeen little 

 serious investigation of the remains." He considers that " the most 

 promising localities for research would seem to be the extreme 

 eastern and western provinces, Santiago and Pinar del Rio. In the 

 caves of the latter we should, if anywhere, find traces of the Mayan 

 culture." * 



"" The .\rch;eology of Culia. American Archaeologist, vol. 2. Xo. 10, Oct., 1S9R. 



' L'llistoire de I'Isle I^spagnolo ou (ie S. Domingue, Paris, 1730. 



" Present State of the Spanish Colonies. Including a Particular Account of Illspafiola. 

 London, 1810. Mr. Walton finds in these pestles evidences among the Haitians of phallic 

 worship lilie that of the Hindoos, and Poey devotes considerable space in his articles to a 

 discussion of this theory, which he supports. The comparisons of this pestle to the yoni 

 and lingam appear to me to tie strained, es|>ecially when we examine a series of these 

 objects, some of which represent birds and other animals. 



2 Congreso Internacional de .\mericani.stas, .\ctas de la Cuarta Reunii'>n. Madrid, 1.SS1 



p. ■:i4-K 



' Brinton says that according to I-'errer there are caves along the Rio Cnyaguatege, in 

 Pinar del Rio, in which the aborigines Interred their dead. Archieology of Cuba, Amer. 

 ArchffiOl., vol, u, DO. 10, 1898, p. 256. 



