58 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 83 



on the opposite shore where the remains were discovered ; and under- 

 neath was the date 1891/93. This monument was erected here by 

 Dubois both to commemorate the find and to fix the point where it 

 was made. Regrettably the concrete is beginning to crumble, so that 

 already the valuable landmark needs restoration. 



From this point, at the time of low water, the river ranges from 

 approximately 75 to 200 feet in breadth. The water is sluggish and 

 greenish mud-gray in color, with muddy flats exposed at the edges 

 as if after a tide. The Pithecanthropus site appears as a low ledge 

 covered with what looks like rocks, dark grayish brown in color. 

 The river shows no very deep erosion, and the crumbling banks are 

 mostly steep. Cultivated land extends on both sides and there is no 

 jungle, though parts of the shore are covered with wild growth. 

 The river meanders through what appears to be a shallow depression, 

 on a plain, between the great Lawu volcano to the south and a distant 

 low ridge to the north. 



Outside of the monument there were no traces remaining of either 

 Dubois' or Selenka's excavations, and only one old man in our party 

 knew the sites. 



By this time a dozen or more native men and boys had congregated 

 on the elevated bank opposite the site of the Pithecanthropus, squat- 

 ting on the ground, and before each was a little pile of specimens — 

 more fossil bones from the site of the Pithecanthropus. Some of 

 these fossil bones were said to have been picked up on the site 

 since the night before. A number of nice specimens were sold by 

 the natives for a mere pittance, but again no trace of anything 

 even suggesting a primate. Several of the boys, as soon as they dis- 

 posed of what they had, shed the little clothing they had on, and 

 naked, waded and swam across the river to look for some more, 

 but found only a few slivers. When the writer was ferried over, 

 nothing of any value was left. 



On closer examination the terrain is seen to rise from the river 

 in this vicinity to two platforms of different heights, the lower on 

 the right side of the river being about 20 feet above the present level 

 of the water. Further down the river, as seen later, the banks are 

 of rather uniform height, ranging to about 20 feet above the level 

 of the water at that time. They show stratified sands and fine gravel, 

 but the stratification is not uniform or always horizontal. Here and 

 there are seen strata of coarse and more consolidated gravels or 

 lapilli, and beneath this once in a while appear dark blackish-blue 

 patches resembling that at the Pithecanthropus site. On closer exami- 



