150 TIEWS OF NATURE. 



the genuine Carib carvings of one of the smaller Virgin Islands 

 (St. John); but notwithstanding the wide extent of the Carib 

 invasions, and the ancient power of that fine race, I cannot 

 believe that this vast belt of carved rocks which intersects a 

 great portion of South America from west to east, is actually 

 to be ascribed to the Caribs. These remains seem rather to be 

 traces of an ancient civilization, which may have belonged to 

 an epoch when the tribes, whom we now distinguish by vari- 

 ous names and races, were still unknown. The veneration 

 which is everywhere shown by the Indians for these rude 

 carvings of their predecessors, proves that the present races 

 have no idea of the execution of similar works. Nay, 

 more than this, between Encaramada and Caycara, on the 

 banks of the Orinoco, many of these hieroglyphic figures are 

 found sculptured on the sides of rocks at a height which can 

 now only be reached by means of extremely high scaffolding. 

 When asked who can have carved these figures, the natives 

 answer with a smile, as if it were a fact of which none but a 

 white man could be ignorant, that " in the days of the great 

 waters their father sailed in canoes at this height." Here 

 we find a geological dream serving as a solution of the pro- 

 blem presented by a long extinct civilization. 



I would here be permitted to subjoin a remark, which I 

 borrow from a letter addressed to me by Sir Robert Schom- 

 burgk, the distinguished traveller already mentioned. " The 

 hieroglyphic figures are much more widely extended than 

 you probably have conjectured. During my expedition, the 

 object of which was the exploration of the river Corentyn, I 

 not only observed several gigantic figures on the rock of 

 Timeri (4 30' north lat. and 57 30' west long.), but I also 

 discovered similar ones in the vicinity of the great cataracts 

 of the river Corentyn (in 4 21' 30" north lat. and 57 55' 30" 

 west long.) These figures have been executed more carefully 

 than any others which I met with in Guiana. They are 

 about 12 feet in height and appear to represent human figures. 

 The head-gear is extremely remarkable; it surrounds the 

 entire head, spreads far out, and is not unlike the glory repre- 

 sented round the heads of Saints. I left drawings of these 

 images in the colony, which I hope 3ome day to be able to lay 

 collectively before the public. I have seen less complete 

 figures on the Cuyuwini, a river which, flawing from the 



