HOLMES ANNIVERSARY VOLUME 



The final zemi (pi. ill, e) differs from the other specimens in that 

 an incised line indicates the upper arm, so that in this feature, as 

 well as in the absence of a crown, the amulet from Comendador 

 stands apart from the other seven. This one is of a white nephritic 

 stone (amphibolite) and stands 2% inches high. In all other particu- 

 lars it may be classed with the others. The eyes, nose, and mouth 

 are well indicated by grooves; the ears are divided into an upper and 

 a lower lobe, and the lower lobes are perforated; the body is shown 

 in the usual haunched position. The amulet is perforated below the 

 ears for suspension, and also vertically from the top of the head 

 through the body to the soles of the feet. 



The writer wishes to note particularly that, with the excep- 

 tion of the eighth specimen, perhaps the most prominent points of 

 similarity between these amulets are that they are all devoid of arms, 

 that the legs in all cases are flexed under the erect body, that the 

 triangular piece of stone between the legs is present in every speci- 

 men, no matter what the significance the maker wished to imply by 

 it, and that the head in each instance is surmounted by an ornament 

 of some kind. The minor differences in the eyes, mouth, ears, etc., 

 found in the eight amulets are merely indicative of the vagaries of 

 the makers and of the different techniques employed by them. 



As has been seen, the history of each of the eight amulets is quite 

 clearly known. We find these objects distributed over a region be- 

 tween 1 8° and 22° N. latitude, and 66° and 75 W. longitude, or 

 approximately 240 miles from north to south and 540 miles from 

 east to west. This range of distribution is not so noteworthy when 

 one considers the long canoe voyages that were undertaken by the 

 pre-Columbian aborigines of the West Indies; yet it would tend to 

 indicate that these inhabitants either worshipped the same deities 

 and hence had closely related religious beliefs, or that they waged 

 war against one another and that the amulets, tied to the foreheads 

 of chiefs, were lost in conflict. To the writer, however, it would seem 

 more likely that the amulets were highly prized articles of barter 

 amongst the natives or were gifts from one cacique to another, in 

 which event the first theory would be tenable, namely, that the in- 

 habitants of the various islands of the northern Antilles worshipped 

 the same deities, or at least venerated them in common. In any event 

 a critical examination of the amulets illustrated in this paper will 

 convince the student that they were undoubtedly meant to represent 

 a single particular zemi. 



Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation 

 New York City 



[30] 



