Page:Nicaraguan Antiquities (1886).djvu/32

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and almost impossible to delineate. The anterior portion of the animal's head was crushed, as were also the legs and arms of the human image, whose face seemed designed to represent a skull with a long neck. The face of the principal figure was 21 cm. long. The length of the animal from the crown of the head to the root of the tail was 50 cm. The legs and claws of this animal were larger than those of the monkey in G.


G2

Not figured.

Male torso, impossible to complete. It was lying near G, and seemed to have belonged to the mound 2. It measured 57 cm. from the shoulder to the thighs. The breadth across the shoulders was 48 cm.


H

Pl. 11.

Male, sitting image. This is the first representative of a kind of idols, of which, as far as I know, not more than a single one from Central America previously has been figured.[1] Squier has also given an illustration of a statue from Pensacola (Las Isletas), in which a head of an animal is placed upon the head of a human figure, but there the animal's head evidently serves only as a helmet; this seems also to be the case with the above-mentioned image E 1, from the western side of the stone-mound 1. With regard to the present image, on the contrary, I believe that the head of the animal is the more important figure, representing a deity, the human figure being nothing but the bearer of the god, viz. a kind of caryatid. I formed this opinion on account of the very strongly marked supporting postures exhibited by the three human figures, bearing heads of animals, which follow next in my description. Of the image H only the upper portion remained; this showed, that the human figure had been sitting, or halfsitting, but not in what manner the arms had been used as supports. The head of the animal was a splendid head of a jaguar, very finely elaborated, and pretty well preserved. The mouth was somewhat open, showing distinctly elaborated lips, blunt molars and sharp, large


  1. Squier, 1. c., p. 64, and the plate facing the same page.