1893.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 225 



modes of burial of their dead, some being deposited in caves in the 

 rocks, which are numerous, while others are placed in the sands of 

 the sea-shore, which are frequently thrown up into hills of consider- 

 able size by the trade winds. Tradition places burial in caves as 

 the earliest and most important. The chiefs and men of note were 

 here laid away with great secrecy and care. 



In search of these, Dr. Whitney, after receiving the speaker's let- 

 ter of request, set out, in company with a friend, to the island of 

 Hawaii. After reaching the locality, they procured with difficulty 

 aud at considerable expense, a couple of old native men to act as 

 guides. 



They were led over miles of rough, desolate land to a hollow, 

 which, to the uninitiated eyes of the explorers, looked like hundreds 

 of other similar places. The men threw out several large stones, 

 exposing a small opening. This, when enlarged as much as possi- 

 ble, admitted them into Egyptian darkness below. They crawled 

 upon their stomachs until a space was reached where they could 

 walk in a stooping position, carrying with them lighted can- 

 dles and bags in which to bring away anything of interest they 

 might find. This passage-way at last opened into a cave eight or 

 ten feet high and twenty feet wide, with ledges upon the sides. It 

 was here, wrapped in the tapa or Hawaiian cloth, specimens of which 

 are presented with the crania, they found what they had so long and 

 laboriously sought. These caves were dry and seemed pervaded by 

 some antiseptic influence. 



Dr. Whitney thought that owing to the difficulty of reaching 

 these sacred precincts, the body was disemboweled, the legs were 

 doubled up, the head bent down, and the whole wrapped in thicknesses 

 of tapa cloth, so as to occupy as little space as possible. With the 

 bodies were found a great variety of objects, including a quantity of 

 ava, a root used for the preparation of a mild intoxicant, and sup- 

 posed to have been offered as food for the departing spirit, cala- 

 bashes, sticks used by bird-catchers, and some elegant large tapas 

 the size of a bed-spread. 



Dr. Whitney was assured that the cave had not been opened for 

 over seventy years, and that many of the crania were probably 

 several centuries old. 



Dr. Whitney has been, for many years, a careful student of these 

 old burying places, but he had never before found any locality so 

 interesting as the cave from which he obtained the specimens pre- 

 sented to the Academy. 



The bleached crania are from the sand burial places, and were 

 partially or wholly exposed. The knees were flexed against the 

 breast and all tied closely about and buried in a sitting posture. 



