542 Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 



of those times — the denizens of those caverns — who carried them 

 there to devour them. In the midst of these testimonials of an 

 order of things differing from the actual, he had not the slightest 

 vestige of the existence of man ; and if man had existed, how could 

 he have escaped the fate of animals stronger than he, who were vic- 

 tims of these ferocious and gigantic beasts of prey ? This evidence 

 he thought sufficient to decide the question negatively, when he 

 unexpectedly met the first remains of the human species under cir- 

 cumstances which, at least, admit of a contrary solution. He found 

 these remains in a cavern which contained mixed with them bones 

 of animals decidedly extinct ; (Platyonyx Bucklandii, Chlamydothe- 

 rium Humboldtii, Chi. majus, Dasypus sulcatus, Hydrochmrus sulcidens, 

 &c.) a circumstance which ought to call attention to these interest- 

 ing relics. Besides, they present all the characters of really fossil 

 bones. They were in part petrified, and in part penetrated with 

 iron particles, which gave to them a metallic lustre, resembling 

 bronze, and at the same time an extraordinary weight. Of the im- 

 mense age of these remains there can be no doubt ; but, upon the 

 question of the coexistence with animals whose remains were found 

 with them, we cannot, unfortunately, arrive at a definite conclusion, 

 as the cave is situated on the margin of a lake whose waters rise 

 annually, and in the rainy season enter it ; so it is possible the re- 

 mains of animals, now existing, might have been more recently in- 

 troduced, and mixed with those already deposited. These bones 

 are in different states of preservation ; some differing little from 

 new bones, while others approximate to the sub-metallic state al- 

 ready referred to ; but the greater number occupy a grade of decom- 

 position intermediate between the two extremes. 



A similar difference, but less conceivable, he noted among the hu- 

 man bones, proving a diversity of ages, while all showed an antiquity ; 

 making them most interesting, even if they do not solve the question 

 of coexistence. In Europe, (says the Doctor,) the remains of the 

 great species of terrestrial mammiferous animals are the only proof 

 of their existence ; as no mention is made of them in history, conse- 

 quently their extinction dates back more than three thousand years. 

 Applying the same result to the extinct species of Brazil, with which 

 they agree in their state, and attributing to the human bones found 

 in a state perfectly analogous to those which characterize these fos- 

 sils, we take for them an age of thirty centuries and upward. Ad- 

 mitting, then, the proofs of these documents, the population of Bra- 

 zil is derived from very remote times, and undoubtedly anterior to 

 the time of history. 



The question then arises, who were these people ? what their 

 mode of life ? of what race ? and what their intellectual perfection ? 

 The answers to these questions are, happily, less difficult and doubt- 

 ful. He examined various crania, more or less perfect, in order to 

 determine the place they ought to occupy in the system of anthro- 

 pology. The narrowness of the forehead, the prominence of the zy- 

 gomatic bones, the facial angle, the maxillary and orbital conforma- 

 tion all assign to these crania a place among the characteristics of 



