NO. 14 ARCHEOLOGY OF BAY ISLANDS, HONDURAS STRONG 3 1 



a cache of rifles, are among the finds reported from here, and the 

 gold cup incident at least is apparently true. (See Rose, 1904, p. 147.) 

 Incredible tales of magic and buried treasure float from mouth to 

 mouth around the islands, and a folklorist would have a rich field 

 for investigation among both whites and negroes. While no " trea- 

 sure " finds other than this one gold cup (apparently looted from 

 some church) ring true, the rumors have their inevitable concomitant 

 in a senseless destruction of Indian sites in the fruitless search 

 for gold. 



Brandon Hill Ca\e is a beautiful place, and wherever its winding 

 limestone passages may actually lead, they are extensive enough to 

 satisfy the most ardent cave explorer. The mouth of the cave is 

 difificult to reach, but having once attained it, one may sit at ease 

 in the cool entry chamber. There is about a foot of dust on the floor, 

 which has been much turned over, but we were a])le to find two 

 pieces of what appeared to be white rock painted bright red on one 

 face. These on analysis proved to be thick pieces of pottery. A 

 few plain brown sherds were also recovered as well as fragments of 

 green glass bottles. A fish line extends down the steep, narrow crevice 

 leading into the deeper passages of the cave. Mr. Haskell and 

 Mr. Payne crawled down and along these winding, bat-infested cracks 

 for about half an hour but returned without having reached the end 

 or having seen any likely places for excavation. 



Bird explored this cave until the descending crevices became too 

 small to permit passage. The material which he obtained indicates 

 that at least the main chamber was occupied by the aborigines. This 

 collection includes some 21 sherds from the shallow dirt floor just 

 inside the entrance, all of which had been turned over by treasure 

 hunters. The majority of these are of the plain monochrome, red 

 or brown ware, but there are a few sherds that are highly polished 

 and one that is incised. Several are from small open bowls and one 

 from a small jar with a short vertical neck. One sherd is part of an 

 annular base, and one is a loop handle. The pottery ranges from 

 1.2 cm to .3 cm in thickness. The thin sherds are of light brown 

 ware and may be Polychrome I in type, but if so, all traces of paint 

 have disappeared. The two most interesting sherds, however, arc 

 covered with a chalky white lime slip on the inside and a bright red 

 paint on the outer surface. This paint has worn olT in places, the 

 white showing through. The sherds are .7 cm in thickness and are 

 probably from the same vessel as those which we found. Seventy- 

 five feet inside the entrance Bird found four sherds on the rock 

 floor ; all are dark brown, and two are rather elaborately incised with 

 curved lines, scrolls, and dashes. 



