86 



SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 



\'()[>. 70 



to the archaic ware of the X'alley of Mexico. Burnt-clay heads from 

 the Huaxtec region distinctly resemble archaic heads from the X'alley 

 of Mexico, two of which, from San Juan Teotihnacan, are here 

 figured ( fig. 93 ) . 



A tiat Stone slab (fig". 94) from Cerro de Cebadilla in the I'anuco 

 region, now in the U. S. National Museum, was part of the facing of 

 one of these cuves, or possibly one of the bounding stones of a ball 

 court used by the Huaxtecs, and recalls prehistoric Porto Rican 

 remains called jiici^^os dc bola. The stone idols from the Huaxtec 



Fk; 



97. — Stone Idol, Jopoy. Tamaulipas, U. S. National 

 Museum. Photograph by De Lancey Gill. 



region are characteristic, as seen in the hitherto undescrilied speci- 

 mens (figs. 95, 96, 97). The representation of a conical hat found 

 on one specimen ( fig. 98 ) would seem to indicate the same god as 

 that figured and identified by Sahagun as Ouetzalcoatl, the Plumed 

 Serpent. The art shown by figure 100 recalls that on stone collars 

 and three-pointed stones, but the enigmatical objects from Haiti and 

 F'orto Rico are not found in Xorth, Central, or South America. 

 Possibly the stone collars of the Antilles may be idols embodying the 

 insular conception of a being corresponding to the Bird Snake 

 Dragon of the Mayas. 



