156 Annals of the South African Museum. 



to be broken. It was soon discovered that each skeleton had three 

 or four flat stones placed directly over the remains. At about 

 2 feet 6 inches the skeleton of v^hat appeared to be a woman was 

 discovered ; next to it was the skeleton of a child approximately two 

 to three years old. The skeleton of the child had two flat stones 

 above it. It was lying on its right side. The left hand was lying 

 across the neck. The legs were doubled up, the knees nearly 

 touching the chin. The debris was carefully removed, and sur- 

 rounding the wrists and ankles were pieces of perforated bone or 

 ostrich-shell averaging -^\r of an inch in diameter. The ' beads ' 

 were strung on a cord, which, however, crumbled away as soon as 

 touched. One hundred and forty-two ' beads ' were collected, but 

 this does not represent the total number, as some were lost. The 

 perforations appear to have been made in the same manner as the 

 holes in the ' stone hammers ' (! kwes) — that is to say, they were 

 conical in shape, commenced from either side, meeting in the centre. 

 The beads are in a good state of preservation. 



" At the same elevation and underneath a flat stone, in a cavity 

 8 or 9 inches deep, were discovered a number of shells averaging 

 about 1 inch in diameter, each being perforated so as to admit of 

 being threaded, apparently used as a wrist or waist ornament 

 (PL XXVII., Fig. 205). No cord was found. Ninety-one shells 

 in good preservation were found — about a dozen or fifteen had 

 perished.* 



" Excavation was continued to a depth of about 9 feet, and up to 

 the time of my visit in July, 1909, seventeen skeletons were dis- 

 covered. In every case flat stones tvere found to cover the skeleton. 

 These stones appear to have been placed directly upon the body, 

 as shown by the evidence of the bones in some cases adhering to 

 the stones, and other indications produced by decomposition of the 

 flesh. In every case the skeletons were doubled up in a manner some- 

 what similar to that of the child already described. All the skeletons 

 discovered by Mr. Witcher were lying on the riglit side. His son, how- 

 ever, asserts that one skeleton he removed was lying on the left side. 



"In the course of excavation three stones were found on w-hich 

 drawings were executed in black. 



" On No. 1 are four drawings of human beings with prominent 

 calves and buttocks. The sizes of the figures are respectively 4-|, 

 41, U, and li inches (PI. XXVII., Fig. 199). 



" On No. 2 is to be seen the figure of a human being (PI. XXVII., 

 Fig. 201). 



• They are small examples of CVi-ssis achatina, Lam. 



