The Stone Ages of South Africa. 171 



Speaking of a Hottentot who breathed his last, he states that his 

 friends " bend his body, in such a manner that his head is brought 

 between his legs, so that it assumes the foetal form." 



All the accounts of the excavations agree on one point, and that 

 is that the skeletons were lying in the foetal posture, but Mr. Henkel 

 has made it quite clear that in the Coldstream cave fiat stones 

 were placed over the body. These stones are some 18 inches long 

 and wide, and from 3 to 4 inches thick. At Storms Eiver, Mr. 

 Fourcade, in search of human remains, says that it seemed as if 

 the grave had been covered with a flat stone. 



Mr. Dumbleton and Mr. Atkinson have not met with the stones, 

 but, not being aware of the fact, it is quite possible that they did not 

 notice them. 



We have thus proof of a burial rite, which, as far as we now 

 know, is peculiar to the littoral troglodytes, but which does not 

 appear to have been followed by all. At Touw Eiver, Eob Berg, 

 and Storms Eiver, the skeletons are wrapped in sea-weed ; one is, in 

 addition, shrouded in a skin. With it were discovered remains such 

 as tortoise-shells, that crumble to shreds as soon as handled or 

 exposed to the air, and a hafted tool, the scarcity of which in these 

 sepultures is not easily accounted for except on the ground that, 

 in other cases, the wooden hafting decayed without leaving any 

 trace. In the Tzitzikama cave sea-weed does not seem to have been 

 used in the burial, but we have there placed over the body stones, 

 some of which still retain traces of fire on the upper side. Is it 

 permissible to draw from these discrepancies the conclusion that 

 the people that buried their dead in these caves had different 

 practices, or that some were of greater antiquity than others ? 

 That they belonged to the same race is proved by the study of their 

 skulls ; but there is so far nothing to show that some of the burials 

 are more ancient than the others, nor do the skulls differ from those 

 of the surviving Hottentots in the manner of those of the 

 Neanderthal and of the Cro-Magnon, 



In most cases the caves contained several skeletons ; at Cold- 

 stream, in the superficial debris received from there, I find remains 

 of nine adults ; to all appearance the cave wall yield a great many 

 more ; twenty are said to have been exhumed. Some, if not most, 

 of these remains from the caves undoubtedly show signs of great 

 age. The vertebrae and ribs especially are as light as if they were 

 made of papier mache. Many of the bones are hygrometric ; most 

 of the relics, bone or shell, are strongly impregnated wdth salt — a 

 fact which, as Mr. E. Atkinson suggests, may account for their 



