20 FIELD AND FOREST. 



chant, who resided for a long time in Porto Rico, having wide connec- 

 tions with the adjacent islands and the United States. 



The people occupying these islands before the arrival of Columbus 

 are designated as Caraibs or Caribs, described by some authors as harm- 

 less and^-innoffensive and by others as Cannibals and revelling in cere- 

 monies attended with human sacrifices. About thirty oval stone rings 

 of this invoice are supposed to have been used in these latter perform- 

 ances, either to strangle the victim or to hold down by their weight 

 his extremities whilst extended on the altar. They are neatly cut out 

 of solid masses of trap or basaltic rock with sculptured ornamentation, 

 and carefully smoothed or polished. In shape and dimensions they 

 closely resemble a horse collar, and hence are usually called stone col- 

 lars, The execution of such work without steel tools is very remarka- 

 ble and could have been accomplished only by years of long and pa- 

 tient labor. The shape of a few of them is nearly circular, and a kin- 

 dred implement from Guatemala has the form of the letter if, with a 

 statement from the bishop of that place that it was formerly used for 

 strangling vi6lims in human sacrifices. Several of these collars are in 

 the European museums, but have up to this time defied all conjecture 

 as to their real use. 



In the collection are also over one hundred stone celts, hatchets, chis- 

 els and general cutting tools, made of the harder kinds of stone. Sev- 

 eral are made of jade or nephrite, a mineral held in very high esteem 

 by all the people of Mexico, Central America and the Antilles. All 

 of these are beautifully shaped and polished. There are also about fif- 

 ty specimens ofrubbing, grinding and crushing implements for reducing 

 grains, seeds, or other food products to finer consistence, by being 

 rolled or rubbed over a hard stone plate or tabular surface. These 

 are of very grotesque shape, of which it is impossible to convey an idea 

 without figu res. 



Stone idols, pottery, and a miscellaneous group of objects from var- 

 ious parts of the world accompanied the above, the whole forming one 

 of the most important ace essions ever received at the National Museum. 



The donor, Mr. Latimer, was Avell known in our Eastern cities and 

 frequently visited the United States to enjoy the society of his friends, 

 the amusement of Duck shooting and field sports generally. On sev- 

 eral occasions he travelled over Europe and picked up various curious 

 works in sculpture and antiquities, some of which accompany this col- 



