254 Field Columbian Museum — Anthropology, Vol. II. 



southern corner of the island, to the extent of several acres, is en- 

 tirely destitute of vegetation and furnishes a vast breeding ground for 

 pelicans which resort here in large numbers. The island has been 

 uninhabited during historic times, except that since 1889 a lighthouse 

 keeper has been stationed there. Points of archaeological interest 

 were found in two places, which from their character are of entirely 

 different origin and must be treated separately (see Fig. 38). I. A num- 

 ber of graves were found near the sea and just back from the 

 bay. II. On the plateau above this lowland were found several 

 heaps of potsherds, squared stones, etc. 



I. GRAVES. 



The lowland just mentioned is formed from a deposit brought down 

 from two ravines which extend back toward the center of the island. 

 In the triangle thus formed were made the principal excavations and 

 it was here that the gold and silver objects were found which so 

 excited the interest of General Flores. The work of excavation had 

 been chiefly done by the lighthouse keeper, a Jamaican negro. 

 Although he was still on the island, he proved to be of little assist- 

 ance to me in pointing out the localities from which material found 

 up to that time had been taken. After much hesitation on his part, 

 I finally located six holes which had been excavated. As near as I 

 could find out, from the first one they took twenty or thirty ounces 

 of gold and several pieces of pottery. In the second excavation were 

 found two images, one gold the other silver; in the third, fourth and 

 fifth holes nothing was found; in the sixth hole a large stone axe was 

 encountered. At what depth these objects had been found, or in 

 what position, I was unable to learn, so contradictory were the state- 

 ments of the Jamaican. Thinking that there might be additional graves 

 in this triangle, I decided to begin excavating at its apex and con- 

 tinue the work back to the base of the triangle. Naturally, as we 

 proceeded back from the apex the excavated wall grew constantly 

 deeper, so that, although it was but two feet deep at the begin- 

 ning of operations, by the time we had concluded our base line 

 was twenty-two feet deep. Inasmuch as the general nature of 

 the earth thus excavated was usually the same throughout, one 

 description may suffice for the entire area of the work and for this 

 purpose we may consider the character of the final twenty-two- 

 foot section. 



