42 MEMOIRS OF THE CARNEGIE MUSEUM 
legged table with cylindrical, tapering legs. The plate is never curved as in the 
Nicoyan forms, but is entirely flat, and surrounded with a low elevated rim. It is 
rectangular in shape with somewhat rounded corners and of considerable thickness. 
Most of the specimens appear decorated with a succession of knobs representing 
small rudely executed animal heads along the lower border of the rim, others are 
plain. Dr. Ferraz’ found not less than nine similarly decorated metates associated 
with the very remarkable ‘mesa altar” he has described from San Isidro near the 
capital. I obtained four specimens for the Carnegie Museum from the same neigh- 
borhood. Metates with four legs are today common in the houses of the present 
inhabitants on the highlands, but these are all of modern manufacture from the 
stone-quarries near Cartago. None of a similar shape has been found in any of the 
ancient graves or sites. 
The Nicoyan type of metate, having flat, triangular, and perforated legs, has 
been already illustrated by Squier" from Nicaragua by a specimen described as 
haying been dug up at Leon during his residence there. 
Further north along the same coast in the parts of Salvador and Guatemala 
which I visited, these metates are supplanted by crude forms, usually devoid of 
ornament. South of Nicoya on the mainland of Costa Rica the types under dis- 
cussion are replaced by another of oval shape, concave, and without legs, which I 
discovered in my excavations at Carrizal near Puntarenas. 
In contrast to the superb ancient metates of this portion of Costa Rica it is of 
interest to compare those in actual use today by the Talamanca Indians of South- 
eastern Costa Rica. Their stone mills (see Pl. X XI) still used in every palenque 
are the most primitive ever used by man, consisting of a large flat river boulder on 
top of which is placed another smaller, but still unusually large, oval, heavy crush- 
ing stone, which the woman works with a partly rocking motion when preparing 
the corn. ‘This type of rocking mills perhaps points back to a time when corn was 
not known at all or of little importance in comparison with various hard-shelled 
fruits of trees, some of which are still employed at times when there is a failure of 
the crop of corn. 
The lavish ornamentation of the Nicoyan metates is remarkable. Even the 
under side of the plates of these artefacts has been embellished with elaborate 
designs. ‘This has rarely been observed outside of the area of this Central Ameri- 
can culture. Figures of the only two specimens of metates thus ornamented from 
10 Ferraz, Juan Fernandez: ‘‘ Informe Relativo al Afio Economico de 1899-1900 del Museo Nacional de Costa 
Rica.’? San José, 1900, p. 23. 
Squier, E. G., ‘‘ Nicaragua, Its People, Scenery, ete.’’ New York, 1860, pp. 256-7. 
