CATARACTS OF THE ORINOCO. 171 



poised on only a single point of their surface, as if the slightest 

 shock of the earth would hurl them down. 



The further side of this rocky valley is thickly wooded. It 

 is in this shady spot that the cave of the Ataruipe is situated; 

 properly speaking, however, it is not a cave, but a vault 

 formed by a far projecting and overhanging cliff, — a kind of 

 bay hollowed out by the waters when formerly at this high level. 

 This spot is the grave of an extinct tribe (11). We counted 

 about six hundred well-preserved skeletons, placed in as many 

 baskets, formed of the stalks of palm-leaves. These baskets, 

 called by the Indians mapires, are a kind of square sack 

 varying in size according to the age of the deceased. Even 

 new-born children have each their own mapire. These 

 skeletons are so perfect, that not a rib or a finger is wanting. 



The bones are prepared in three different ways : some are 

 bleached, some dyed red with onoto, the pigment of the Bixa 

 Orellana; others like mummies, are anointed with fragrant 

 resin and wrapped in banana leaves. 



The Indians assured me that the corpse was buried during 

 several months in a moist earth, which gradually destroyed the 

 flesh ; and that after being disinterred, any particles of flesh 

 still adhering to the bones were scraped off with sharp 

 stones. This practice is still continued among many tribes of 

 Guiana. Besides these baskets or mapires, we saw many 

 urns of half-burnt clay, which appear to contain the bones of 

 whole families. The largest of these urns are upwards of 

 three feet in height and nearly six feet in length, of an elegant 

 oval form, and greenish colour; with handles shaped like 

 crocodiles and serpents, and the rims bordered with flowing 

 scrolls and labyrinthine figures. These ornaments are pre- 

 cisely similar to those which cover the walls of the Mexican 

 palace at Mitla. They are found in eveiy clime and every 

 stage of human culture, — among the Greeks and Romans, no 

 less than on the shields of Otaheitans, and other South Sea 

 islanders, — in all regions where a rhythmical repetition of 



