104 



MASKS AND LABKETS. 



Mastoids of wood and terra cotta are not uncommon. In Squier's 

 Peru p. vii i he figures a maskoid of wood, which is reproduced bere 



(figure 13). It is of rather rough construction, 

 smeared with ;i reddish ochre and bears a not- 

 able resemblance to some found much fur- 

 ther north. He states that it was found at 

 Pachecamac, buried at the feet of a body, 

 under a pile of stones. This specimen is now 

 in the American Museum of Natural History 

 in New York City and is number 954 of the 

 Squier collection. 



In the "Necropolis of Ancou in Peru *' the 

 authors' figure several mummies in their 

 wraps. At the heads of several of them are 

 attached very similar maskoids, projecting 

 outside of the cerements and with various ap- 

 pendages attached at the back and sides. This recalls the Aleutian 

 and Mexican custom of covering the face of the dead with a mask. 

 It is entirely probable, from their similarity, that Squier's specimen had 

 been originally attached in like manner and become displaced. 



The United States National Museum has recently received a fine speci- 

 men (if this sort of mortuary woodeu maskoid, which is represented by 

 fig. 1 1- I 'late VI. Like the others, it is rudely carved, reddened with 

 ochre and originally had several little cloth bags and other appendages 

 attached to it. The original condition is restored as far as possible in 

 the figure. The whites of the eyes arc composed of oval pieces of white 

 shell, set into excavations in the wood. A number of little locks of hair 

 were put beneath them and the hair projecting around the edges well 

 represents eyelashes. The irides are represented by bluish circular 

 pieces of mussel (Mytilus) shell cemented on to the whites. This speci- 

 men, number 0537G of the museum register, was obtained by G. H. 

 Hurlbut at or near Lima, in Peru. Its total length is 12i inches. 



MASKS OF CENTRAL AMERICA AND MEXICO. 



It is unnecessary to refer at length to the use of masks and maskoids 

 in this region. The use of the human mask inlaid with obsidian and 

 turquoise has already been described under another head. Beside this 

 relic of humanity so strangely adorned, there is in the Christy collec- 

 tion a very similar wooden mask, inlaid with similar materials as well 

 as red and white shell. This is figured in a magnificent manner by 

 Waldeck,- and was used as described in the quotation from Sahagun 



1 ReisN and Stttbel. See plates 14, 15. 18, and 19. 

 Mon. Anr. da Mexique, p. viii, pi. 4:'.. Another is in the Berlin Museum. 



