182 



A STUDY OF CHIRIQUIAN ANTIQUITIES. 



Fig. 307. — Whistle with tapir-like head. Alligator ware, 'h 



ear, black alone is used. The series of lines on the head, back and legs are 

 fine, clean-cut, straight and parallel. This is particularly true of the five longitudinal 



lines along the back that seem 

 almost too perfect to have been 

 done by free hand. The char- 

 acter of the painted decoration 

 on this figurine may be taken 

 as a clue to the particular species 

 of tapir with which the ancient 

 Chiriquian was most familiar. 

 Tapirus down, when full-grown, 

 is a nearly uniform blackish 

 brown. It is said to be unspotted 

 when young. On the other hand, 

 Tapirus bairdii, when young, is 

 irregularly marked with white 

 spots and stripes. The whistle 

 in question, therefore, evidently 

 represents the young of Tapirus 

 bairdii. The larger vesicular forms 

 of the tapir (see PI. XLI1I, fig. c 

 and text-fig. 245) may also be 

 referred to the same species and 

 to the adult stage after the coat- 

 ing has become a uniform color. 

 The right foreleg forms the mouth- 

 piece to the whistle. The two 

 finger-holes are placed at the 

 anal opening and on the left 

 shoulder, respectively. 



A species of tiger-cat is rep- 

 resented in figure 309. It is ap- 

 parently in motion and the at- 

 titude of the head, which is hollow 

 and supplied with a clay pellet, 

 adds interest to the composition. 

 The decoration is unusually well 

 preserved. The range from the 

 lowest to the highest tone is much 

 less than in the preceding whistle. 

 Peculiar interest attaches to 

 the frequent representations of 

 the jaguar, not only among Chi- 

 riquian whistles, but also as plastic 

 ornaments on zoormorphic forms of vessels (see PI. XLI, figs, c and d ; PI. XLIII, 

 figs, a and b ; text-fig. 244). In Mexican mythology, the jaguar is intimately 



Fig. 308. — Whistle evidently representing the young of Tapirus 

 bairdii. Alligator ware. 'I' 



Fig. 309. — Whistle representing a species of tiger-cat 

 also serving as a rattle. Alligator ware. 'I' 



