SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 



VOL. 70 



One of the figures (fig. 99) shows a circular stone object from 

 a Huaxtec ruin near Topila on which is depicted a cross used in 

 " patolh,'' a favorite game among the Mexicans. 



One of the most striking of the stone images from this region 

 is owned in Guerrero, San Luis Potosi. by General Larraga, and 

 was found in Consuelo. The remarkable thing about this idol is 

 the imitation of tattooing on the body, right leg, and wrists (fig. loi ) . 

 On the back is a representation of a human figure, the head of which 

 is in hieh relief. 





Fig. 99. — Stone slab at Mata de Palancho, near Topila, Vera Cruz, Mexico. 

 Courtesy of Drs. Adrian, Staub, and Mr. Muir. 



We have thus far little information on the antiquities of the region 

 that lies between the most northern of the Huaxtec ruins and Louis- 

 iana across the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, and Texas. The 

 modern Huaxtecs speak a language that shows relation to the Maya 

 stock, but they never attained a high degree of architecture nor 

 developed a complicated hieroglyphic calendar system comparable 

 with that of their southern relatives. None of the prehistoric 

 objects from other localities on the Gulf coast of Mexico are more 

 closely related to those of the Greater Antilles than the stone and 

 ceramic specimens of the Huaxtec, but the prehistoric culture of 

 Porto Rico-Haiti was indigenous and characteristic. 



Through the courtesy of Mr. J. M. Muir, Dr. H. Adrian, and 

 Dr. Staub, who have generously furnished him with photographs, 



