tgiS. [.Evans: C<\ », Lenggong, Perak. 229 



loose sliell. hone, and earth deposit lying below it. Beneath 

 this \\a.- the limestone rock of the hill in which the rut- is 

 situated. For the next few days, after opening these pus. we 

 were engaged in excavating a block of the cave floor to a length 

 of thirty-one feet and a breadth of abi ait eight feet, the excava- 

 tion being carried down t*> the solid rock. We were rewarded 

 by the discovery, with which I will later deal in detail, of large 

 quantities of the spiral shells mentioned above; numbers of 

 fragments of bone, chiefly mammalian, some pieces of red iron 

 oxide, similar to those found by Mr. Wray at Gunong Cheroh ' : 

 a round water-worn st'.ne. probabiy used for grinding: a 

 mealing-slab : some pottery; parts ol a human skeleton; a 

 chipped stone implement of primitive type, and a rather doubt- 

 ful implement of red stone. 



The floor of the cave consisted of a mass of shells and 



bones mixed with earth and lime, the latter, however, not being 

 usuallv present in sufficient quantity, or never having been 

 moist enough, to bind the deposit together. The bones found 

 were mostly in a fragmentary condition, having seemingly been 

 pounded to bits in order to extract the marrow. Main- of the 

 fragments were blackened, or browned, by burning, and some, 

 from the hard layer mentioned above, were much mineralized. 

 No marks of gnawing were to be observed on any of them, so 

 it would seem likely that the cave-dwellers did not keep dogs. 

 No bone implements of any kind were found, and only one 

 small piece which shewed signs of having been cut with a sharp 

 instrument. Remains of the following animals were detected 

 — deer (Ce rvtts unicolor), muntjac. squirrel, rhinoceros, bamboo- 

 rat and wild-pig. 



The molluscan shells belonged to the genera Unto and 

 Melania. The former were rare, the latter abundant, while a 

 peculiar feature was that in every case the topmost whorls of 

 the spiral shells had been broken off, 2 evidently f>>r the 

 purpose of facilitating the extraction of their contents. The 

 Patani Malays of Upper Perak search for these mollusks for 

 food, 3 but they told me thai the Negritos did not do so. this 

 information being subsequently confirmed by several men of 

 the local tribe, particularly by the two whom I employed in 

 digging. Furthermore, no such shells were found among the 

 animal and other recent remains which the Negritos had left 

 in the caves, nor do I remember ever having seen them lying 

 about in their encampments. 



I have already mentioned that a mealing-slab. very 

 similar to those obtained by Mr. Wray. was discovered in the 

 cave. This was turned up at a depth of about two feet from 



■ These are in ihe I'erak Museum 

 Mr Wray notes that the shells of Melania found in tic cave excavated 

 bv him had been .^iniilarly treated 



3 The Malay borl the mollusks and suck them out of their shells. The 

 top whorls of the shells are knocked off before boiling, in order to render then- 

 contents easy I 



