RUBBING OR HAND STONES. 33 



The same motive repeated, except that the triangles point outward, is half cut 

 away by the deep dishing of the mealing plate. The bottom of the latter is quite 

 concave, as might be expected from the rather highly convex ventral curve ; and 

 is highly polished, particularly in the middle. It is also stained black, the stains 

 reaching nearly to the top of the high rim. The tail has two deep longitudinal 

 grooves, the sides of which are 

 ornamented with rows of trian- 

 gles in relief, their bases meeting 

 at the bottom of each groove. 

 There is also a row of these 

 triangles on either side of the 

 tail. The teeth are faithfully 

 rendered, the artist taking care 

 to make the lower canines close 

 in in front of the upper, as is 



the Case in nature. This Spec- Fig. 30.— Small crudely shaped metate with rectangular plate. 



imen was collected by Mr. F. 



D. Utley in the St. Andres mountains, near Bugavita. He obtained from the same 

 locality a very handsome jaguar metate similar to figure 28, the body, however, 

 being relatively longer and flatter. 



The Heye collection includes a large metate similar to figure 24, except that 

 the heads at either end are much flattened and the short sloping legs are per- 

 fectly plain. Of his Costa Rican metates, one has been figured by Hartman. 1 

 Two others are worthy of special mention. One of these (cat. no. 9622) is very 

 similar to the ordinary Chiriquian jaguar metate: by the addition of the head at 

 one end and the lower extremities from the pubic arch downward at the other, 

 the plate is converted into the body of a human female facing upward. The 

 human legs are curved downward and laterally till they unite with the metate 

 legs exactly as if they were a pair of jaguar tails instead. The other metate (cat. 

 no. 1872) with a plain rectangular plate and high rim and flat bottom is supported 

 on the backs of two jaguars, each with the head turned so as to face outward 

 and with nose on the ground. The tail is curved upward so as to take some of 

 the load. Each jaguar is represented with a single foreleg and hindleg. 



Rubbing or Hand Stones. — Very little general interest attaches to the compara- 

 tively insignificant upper millstones, which accounts in part, at least, for the rela- 

 tively small number to be found in the collections. According to Hartman, the 

 metates of Las Guacas far outnumbered the rubbing stones. During his " ex- 

 cavations on the spot, where about fifty complete metates were exhumed, not a 

 single complete rubbing stone was discovered. Only a couple of small frag- 

 ments were brought to light." In his previous excavations at Las Casitas, how- 

 ever, he did find " las manos " with several metates. The characteristic Nicoyan 

 grinding stone was sub-cylindrical, " and so much longer than the breadth of the 

 metate that the hands of the women when grinding could comfortably grasp both 



1 C. V. Hartman. Archeol. researches on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. Mem. Carnegie 

 museum, III, no. 1, figs. 64 and 65, 1907. 



Memoirs Conn. Acad., Vol. III. 6 



