Page 578 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

him the use of fire. The grandfather was so
incensed by this petition that he spit freshly made
cohoba, the narcotic powder used by the Tamos in
the worship of zemis, on Deminan's back, causing
a painful inflammation. His brothers cut the
inflammation open and out came a living turtle.
The four brothers built a house, cohabited with
the turtle, and thus created the Tamo people (Arrom
1989, 84-89).
Having seen his grandfather's use of fire,
Deminan could pass this knowledge on to his
descendants. With it, the Tamos were able to clear
the forests for agriculture, bake the bread they
made from the cassava plant, and smoke tobacco.
In this statuette, Deminan is portrayed with
extended ear lobes and wearing a belt, both of
which are typical Tamo features. I.R. and J.J.A.

416-417
VOMITING SPATULAS

Taino
bone
2
416: 23.6 f9 /4J
2
417- 3 (9)
Collection of Fundacion Garcia Arevalo, Inc.

Before worshiping their idols, the Tainos purified
themselves by tickling their throats with spatulas
of wood or bone in order to induce vomiting.
Some of the spatulas made during the Chican
time (around A.D. 1200-1500, in the Tamo heart-
land) were elaborately carved; Dominican
archaeologists have found examples of such pieces
in the burials of elite persons (Rouse, forthcom-
ing). The first of these examples is decorated with
an anthropomorphic figure of a zemi and the
second with a zoomorphic carving of a bat.
I.R. and J.J.A.
414-415
arrival in the West Indies. This practice ended
CERAMIC BOTTLES around A.D. 600, but was revived by the so-called
Chican potters of Hispaniola A.D. 1200. The use of
Tamo
414: 49.5 x 43.2 foVzx 17) pottery bottles spread through most of the Tamo
heartland during the following three centuries.
Brian and Florence Mahony The two examples shown here are in the Boca

415: 18 x 20.4 (/ x 8) Chica style, which developed on the south coast of
the Dominican Republic (Rouse, forthcoming, fig.
Collection of Fundacion Garcia Arevalo, Inc. 12, a). The more elaborate bottles were undoubt-
edly used in ceremonies. I.R. and J.J.A.
Inhabitants of the tropical forests found it con-
venient to store their beverages in gourds and to
drink from them. The ancestors of the Tamos
began to supplement gourds with clay bottles
during the first centuries B.C. , shortly after their

THE AMERICAS 577