Wooden Duho With Anthropomorphic Head (Puerto Rico)

Whilst rereading Joanna Ostapkowicz's "Taíno Wooden Sculpture: Duhos, Rulership and the Visual Arts in the 12th-16th Century" this week, we have been struck how interesting the different types of duhos truly can be. Her photographs of the various pieces are also stunning, although the thesis should be published with color photographs and updates for the stools that have been dated. Nonetheless, thanks to this dissertation, one can see different types of duhos less frequently discussed. The above case, found in a cave near Trujillo Alto in Puerto Rico, is one of the few wooden (the only?) duhos we have seen from Puerto Rico with a human figure at the top or tip of the back. What is surprising about it, however, is the piece's legs are clearly modeled on or similar to zoomorphic duhos with the head in between the front legs. The position of the legs and pose are suggestive of that, too. Does that mean the artist was initially intending to produce a zoomorphic duho but changed their mind? Or is there something here about the animal-human features? The human head's features seem to be a little distinct from similar duhos from Hispaniola, too. 

A Duho Without a Head

  

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We were recently revisiting Ostapkowicz's dissertation on the duho and looking at images of the stools again. Somehow it escaped us how unusual and interesting the Hispaniola duho purchased in 1925 for the National Museum of the American Indian truly is. Despite bearing so many stylistic features common to duhos from the island of Hispaniola, including some rather famous pieces surviving in museums in Europe and the Dominican Republic, this particular one lacks a head between the front legs. The high-backed stool has the panel with the 3 circles and dots as well as a similar panel at the front, whoever carved this piece apparently did not include a head (anthropomorphic or zoomorphic). Nor can one find a head at the top of the duho, with a human or anthropomorphic head as a few examples found in eastern Hispaniola and Dominica show (although the Dominica find was likely from Hispaniola). 

While duhos without heads exist, one with the specific set of features like this, seems rather unusual. It would be intriguing to learn more about the piece's history, but all we can say with certainty is that it was purchased in Paris in the 1920s and supposedly came from the Dominican Republic. It would be interesting to know if it had any connection with the famous duho given to the Musée de l'Homme by a wealthy French collector. In the case of this more famous example of Taino masterpieces, the stool was allegedly from Haiti.

La Gonave Antiquities (Olsen)

Whilst taking another look at Fred Olsen's On the Trail of the Arawaks, we were reminded of 3 marvelous wooden pieces found in La Gonave included in his book. It's not entirely clear where they were found, but at least some of them were allegedly discovered in a cave on the island. Since they are likely at least 500 years old, we should be grateful they have survived at all. The first piece, a tray or platter of oval shape, has definitely borne some of the negative effects of its great age.

Another one of the La Gonave finds was a duho with an animal-shaped head. It too has not been very well preserved, but it's stylistically similar to other Hispaniola stools with zoomorphic figures. It's a pity Olsen's book did not include photographs from all angles of this fine duho.

Perhaps the finest of the La Gonave finds is the above duho (or votive altar?). One can detect symmetrical patterns and grooves in it that bring to mind some of the finest duho panels from the island of Hispaniola. 

Juan de la Cosa and Hispaniola

 

Although we can only make out a few of the words on Juan de la Cosa's map of Hispaniola, we were recently examining it again. We can just make out Isabela, Vega real and Cabo de San Miguel (Cabo Tiburón). Santo Domingo is possibly legible, too. Another site with clearer views of the place names on the map is still quite difficult to read. Unfortunately, the map doesn't use any indigenous toponyms although other islands in the Caribbean are portrayed with their indigenous names (Puerto Rico and Cuba, for instance). Some of the Lucayan islands also appear with their local names, too. Intriguingly, some of the names in that part of Juan de la Cosa's map are also regions of Hispaniola known under indigenous names. Baoruco, or Bahoruco, for instance, is in Hispaniola but the map seems to place it among the Lucayan islands north of the Tortuga region. One also can spot a place in the Lucayan archipelago called Haiti, which seems to be mistakenly applied to this region. But in his defense, Juan de la Cosa's map was finished about 8 years after the initial landing of Columbus in this region.

Nasr Bultu and Binawa Integration

Whilst re-reading Dierk Lange's A Sudanic Chronicle: The Borno Expeditions of Idris Alauma (1564-1576) According to the Account of Ahmad b. Furtu, we were reminded of the Binawa convert, Nasr Bultu. Close ties between him and the vizier of Idris b. Ali of Borno (r. 1564-1596), Kursu b. Harun, also an Ngizim according to Lange, were also indicated by Nasr's Islamic conversion. Presumably, this is why Nasr Bultu began to use an Islamic name like Nasr. However, each of his appearances in Ahmad b. Furtu's chronicle include the surname Bultu. 

We wonder if this surname is actually the Kanuri word for hyena, búltu (Cyffer's spelling). In the Ngizim-English dictionaries easily found online, that language's word for hyena is not like the Kanuri term. For instance, the dictionary affiliated with the Yobe Languages Research Project lists bədlamu (see the Ngizim-English-Hausa Dictionary by Mohammed Alhaji Adamu and Usman Babayo Garba Potiskum). Intriguingly, the Hausa language does have the word bultu for a type of hornbill, possibly pointing to a Hausa connection for Nasr Bultu's surname. Since the Binawa were part of the Western Ngizim, a possible Hausa-derived word used for a name was perhaps plausible?

However, the closer ties of Nasr Bultu to Borno and one of its top officials during the reign of Idris Alooma could have played a greater role in the Binawa leader's new name. If one theorizes that his surname was also new like his first name of Nasr, perhaps the Kanuri-derived word was another sign of the integration of non-Kanuriphone populations into Borno. Islam and Islamic-derived names were an important part of that process. But, adding Kanuri names or surnames could have been yet another layer of the role of culture and language in integrating other ethnic groups into the state. Why the name of an animal may have been adopted as a surname is not clear, either, although it may have ties to the depiction of the hyena in Kanuri folklore and oral literature. The word also appears as part of the name of the imam of a mosque in Gazargamo, Ahmad Bultu Zawamma (see "An Account of N'Gazargamu" in Palmer's Bornu Sahara and Sudan).

Descourtilz and Haitian Antiquities of the Indians

Naturalist Descourtilz sketched some examples of figures he called cemis from what is today Haiti. Shown them by Desdunes-Lachicotte and presumably coming from the Artibonite region, one of the pieces is rather remarkable. According to Descourtilz, a turtle cemi figure's shell included a Sun, Moon, and star depicted on it. Given the symbolic role of the turtle in some of the myths recorded by Pané, the turtle cemi figure may be connected to the cosmology of the indigenes.

Force Your Way (FF VIII)

 

We found this jazz interpretation of one of the best songs from Final Fantasy VIII quite interesting. The Consouls consistently bring a unique jazz interpretation of some of the musical gems from the series. Even this Final Fantasy, far from our favorite, had a few great moments on its soundtrack.