July 18, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



105 



It is interesting to note that El Yunque, 

 the highest peak of the island, when seen 

 from the little coast town, Loquillo, has 

 an appearance that suggests a conical zemi, 

 with a central conical elevation and a later- 

 al elevation on each side. 



Thus far no zemis made of wood have 

 been described from Porto Rico, but sev- 

 eral from Hayti and the other Antilles, 

 have been found in special niches in the 

 walls of caves seated on god chairs, as sever- 

 al authors have described. In a report 

 on my late visit to the Antilles I shall de- 

 scribe and figure one of the most perfect 

 of these wooden zemis which has yet been 

 recorded. 



From what has been already given re- 

 garding the character of the zemis, as de- 

 duced from historical and archeological 

 sources, it is possible to state in resume the 

 following conclusion regarding the nature 

 of the worship which they illustrate. 

 Roughly speaking, Antillean worship was 

 a form of cultus called zemeism or ancestor 

 worship, the zemi representing the clan 

 ancient or tutelary god of the clan. These 

 clan gods in stone and wood represented 

 the ancestors of the clan, and were supposed 

 to have, by virtue of their forms, the magic 

 power of the ancestor. 



The figures painted on the bodies of the 

 caciques represent the clan tutelary beings, 

 each different and characteristic as the clan 

 differed. There is little doubt that when 

 a cacique was thus painted with the figure 

 of his tutelary in his own conception, as 

 well as in that of his clan, he became that 

 supernatural to all intents and purposes, 

 just as when a Pueblo Indian puts on a 

 mask with certain symbols he is trans- 

 formed into the being which the symbolism 

 of that mask represents. 



Not only did each cacique or clan pre- 

 serve as an object of worship, an idol repre- 

 senting his tutelary clan parent or zemi, but 

 also his bodily decorations in certain 



dances and at other times represented that 

 ancestor. In this occult or esoteric way 

 he became a living personator of the ances- 

 tors worshiped by the clan of which he 

 was chief. The painting of the body among 

 the Antilleans appears to have taken the 

 place of elaborate masks so common in 

 North America, a practical expedient which 

 the hot climate dictated. 



But the Antilleans were likewise familiar 

 with the use of masks in personations of 

 their gods, and while these objects are not 

 directly described as worn in their many 

 ceremonial dances, there can hardly be a 

 doubt that Dr. Chanca had this usage in 

 mind when he wrote certain passages of his 

 famous letter. That the Antilleans had 

 masks of ceremonial import, not only refer- 

 ences to them in the early Spanish writers 

 show, but also wooden and stone masks 

 existing in different, collections demon- 

 strate. Some of these, as one in the Capitol 

 at Hayti, are of a size to fit the face, others 

 are too small and too heavy to be worn, 

 so that the probability is that most of these 

 masks had become highly conventionalized 

 in their use. They were not worn, but still 

 functioned for the same purpose as if they 

 were. They represented symbolically the 

 clan zemi, but face and bodily decoration 

 made their use as face coverings redundant. 

 There is every probability that they were 

 carried in the hands or attached to rods or 

 other objects by those personating the an- 

 cients. 



In strict accord with this interpretation 

 of the symbolic masks of stone and wood 

 are the repeated statements in the early 

 chronicles that they were offered as gifts to 

 those whom the giver thought to be super- 

 natiiral, an act symbolizing the fealty of 

 the claii god or zemi to a higher god. This 

 is paralleled with modifications elsewhere 

 in primitive American religions. Monte- 

 zuma, believing Cortez a god, possibly Quet- 

 zalcoatl, sent him a bird snake mask of 



