608 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



The red Indians were the tallest of the three ; the skull 

 was large and the leg-bones large and long ; their implements 

 roughly made, often merely chipped stones, mostly of phono- 

 lite or greenstone, flint being rarely used ; their graves were 

 mostly oblong holes, 15ft. to 20ft. deep, with niches at the 

 sides to receive the bodies. Very few gold ornaments are 

 found. The pottery is roughly made, neither glazed nor 

 painted, and ornamented with lines and dots. The bones are 

 usually stained red ; hence their name. 



The purple Indians, or Morado, were about 5ft. 8iu. or 

 5ft. 10in. in height, the bones being bluish-grey in colour, 

 although called purple. Their implements were of polished 

 stone, well formed and polished. Buried with them are often 

 large quantities of gold ornaments. From one grave, of which 

 a sectional drawing is given, as much as 121b. avoirdupois of 

 gold was taken. The wife is usually found buried with the 

 husband, and a slave or attendant (especially if there is a 

 quantity of gold ornaments) is also found placed in a niche in 

 the upper part of the shaft, as if on guard. Around the body 

 are placed earthen vessels, doubtless to contain food, &c. ; and 

 at the head of each body are small effigies in clay. On the 

 right of the man appear his arms and copper or gold orna- 

 ments. The passages leading to the vaults are often compli- 

 cated ; the shaft is from 25ft. to 60ft. deep, from the bottom 

 of which the passage or tunnel, in a more or less tortuous 

 direction, according to the rank of the dead, ends at length in 

 a vaulted chamber. From the vault to a turn in the passage 

 in a line with the shaft is usually a small hole pierced 

 through the surrounding earth, evidently for ventilation. 

 After the bodies were buried the entrance from the passage 

 to the vault was barricaded with timber, and then the whole 

 of the passages and shaft were filled in with earth, and so tightly 

 rammed that the " grave- searchers " find it far easier work to 

 sink a new shaft down on to the vault than to clean out 

 the old one. They are enabled to do this, since by careful 

 search the remains of a filled-in trench can be found, extend- 

 ing from the mouth of the shaft to a point vertical to the 

 position of the vault. The trench has been so carefully filled 

 in that both it and the shaft are extremely difficult to dis- 

 cover, and to be a successful grave -finder requires much 

 practice and experience. 



Among the favourite emblems on the pottery of the Morado 

 race were owls (most probably parrots), frogs, and lizards. In 

 the grave (the subject of the sketch, Plate LI.), in addition to 

 the gold before mentioned, were found two clay effigies, the 

 face of the one representing the woman being much broader 

 and larger than that of the man. There was also a clay seal, 

 of the impression of which a sketch is given. These seals are 



