The ancient cities of the New World : being travels and explorations in Mexico and Central America from 1857-1882 . nceand was accordingly rare ; pottery was consequently replaced byfruit-shells, which had the advantage of being more durable,cheaper, and lighter. ? These shells are worked into a varietyof shapes differing in size and value : there are the jicaras,small cups, pure and simple; tccomatcs, large cups ; atotoniles,cubiletes, cocos, etc. ; then the jicara-flor, or half-shell cut cross-wise ; the most prized of all, the jicara-boton, half upper shell ;the jicara-barba, or shell cut l
The ancient cities of the New World : being travels and explorations in Mexico and Central America from 1857-1882 . nceand was accordingly rare ; pottery was consequently replaced byfruit-shells, which had the advantage of being more durable,cheaper, and lighter. ? These shells are worked into a varietyof shapes differing in size and value : there are the jicaras,small cups, pure and simple; tccomatcs, large cups ; atotoniles,cubiletes, cocos, etc. ; then the jicara-flor, or half-shell cut cross-wise ; the most prized of all, the jicara-boton, half upper shell ;the jicara-barba, or shell cut lengthwise. All these shells aregiven elegant shapes whilst growing on the tree, and when dryare ornamented with pretty devices either sunk or in relief. Acalabash having a very large shell is also fashioned into a vasecalled atecomate by the Indians, and painted with fast colours ofwhich the natives alone seem to have the secret. But if few fragments were found in comparison with thoseunearthed on the high plateaux, I had the good fortune to pickup two bricks covered with curious sunk designs, most rare, for. COMALCALCO. 20 they were the only two specimens I could find of the kind. Aconcentric drawing covers the first, whilst the second bears thefijll likeness of a warrior, with feathers about his head—it is arude drawing which was done on the soft clay before it wasbaked. Both bricks are in the Trocadero. Some 35 feet to the south-east of the palace, on a cementedplatform over 26 feet broad by 38 feet long, is a tower (No. iin our plan) which is supported and bound by the roots of largetrees surrounding it. It is oblong in shape, most picturesque,and, save the base, similar to that at Palenque. This tower hasthree storeys, of which two are still standing, and it may beassumed from what remains that the second storey was dividedinto four compartments or small rooms, the dimensions of whichare the following: two inner rooms, of 5 feet 7 inches on oneside, correspond to other t
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