THOMAS.] 



IMPLEMENTS AND SYMBOLS. 



133 



hand being thrust through the hole. I am unable even to surmise its use. 

 In four instances it stands behind a priest, who is in a squatting posture and 

 appears to be holding bread oi- maize in his hand and performing some 

 religious ceremony. In two instances it is in the hand 

 of a priest clothed in black, and in a similar 

 posture, who holds it in front of him. In all 

 cases it extends as high as the top of the head, 

 and the curved ends turn from the person. 



A very singular implement (Fig. 37) is 

 figured in tlie third division of Plate XXIII*. 

 ^*''"- ■'^- It appears from the figures in the plate to i''"- ^<J- 



have been held, while in use, in the right hand, which grasped the hoop 

 at a. Its use can only be guessed by the connection in which it is found. 

 In each case it is held up beside a tree, which appears to have been sev- 

 ered at the point immediately opposite, the top. not yet fallen down. On 

 the severed end of one we see the supposed death symbol. From these facts 

 I infer that it was used as a kind of saw, though it is possible it 

 was employed in peeling the bark from the trees used in the manu- 

 facture of their wooden idols. If used as a saw, which I think 

 most likeh', the teeth were probably flint chips, fastened to the 

 hoop by strings or thongs. A fact worthy of notice is that the J^""'- ■'''• 

 figure immediately following (or preceding) these in the third division 

 of Plate XXIV* shows the use of the machete in felling trees, but here the 

 evident intention is to represent a much larger tree, as shown by the diam- 

 eter and three branches, a tree also of a different species. 



An implement of the form shown in Fig. 38 is represented in the mid- 

 dle division of Plate XXXI*. As this appears from the figure fl^^^^^^ 

 in the plate to be used by the individual in whose hands it is a 



held to sever the cord which he also grasps, I pre- 

 J I sume it is a cutting instrument, probably of flint. 



The personage represented by the right-hand figure fc'--'-^ '-^^3} 

 in this division is the god of death, and the death fh;. 39. 

 symbol is in the same compartment; therefore it is presumable that the 



