44 PICTOGRAPHS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 



instance, on the Corentyne river, the markings on the rock are bo much above the 



level of the river when al its greatest height, that they could onlj bave I n made 



by erecting a staging against the face of the rock, unless the river was at the time 

 much above its usual level. The widths of the furrows vary from half an inch to 

 one inch, while the depth never exceeds one-fourth of an inch. Si .me times the mark- 

 ings are ali in ist level with the surrounding surfaces, owing to the waste or degrada 

 t ion by atmospheric influences, which have acted with greater force upon the rough 

 rock than on the polished face of the grooved markings. The furrows present the 

 same weather-stained aspect as the roeks upon which they are cut, and both the rocks 

 and the furrows are in some instances coated with a thin layer of the oxides of iron 

 and manganese. 



The Indians of Guiana know nothing about the picture writing by I radii ion. They 

 scout the idea of their having been made by the hand of man, and ascribe them to 

 the handiwork of the Makunaima, their great spirit. Nevertheless, they do not re- 

 gard them with auy superstitious feelings, looking upon them merely as curiosities, 

 which is the more extraordinary as there are numbers of large rocks without any 

 markings on some rivers, which they will not even look at in passing, lest some ca- 

 lamity should overtake them. Their Peaimen or sorcerers always squeeze tobacco 

 juice in their eyes on approaching these, but pay no regard to the sculptured 

 rocks. In the Pacaraima mountains, between the villages of Mora and Itabay, the 

 path passes through a circle of square stones placed on one end, one of which has a 

 carviug upon it : some of these blocks have been thrown down and broken by the 

 Indians, clearly proving their utter disregard for them. If then there were any tra- 

 ditions regarding these writings handed down from father to son, I conclude that the 

 Indians of the present day — the most superstitious of beings — would undoubtedly 

 treat them with awe and respect. Again, if their forefathers were as indolent as 

 they now arc, they never would have gone to the trouble of making these pictures 

 merely for the purpose of passing away their time, which they could have more easily 

 accomplished by lying in their hammocks from morning to night in a semi-dreamy 

 sort of state, as their descendants do at present. As these figures were evidently 

 cut with great care and at much labor by a former race of men, I conclude that they 

 were made for some great purpose, probably a religious one, as some of the figures 

 give indications of Phallic worship. 



PETROGIYPHS I\ BRAZIL. 



The following is an abstract from a paper by J. Whitfield on Rock 

 Inscriptions iu Brazil, in the Journal of the Anthropological Institute 

 of Great Britain and Ireland, 1874, Vol. Ill, p. 114: 



The rock inscriptions were visited in August, 1865, during an exploring expedition 

 for gold mines in the province of Ceara. Several similar inscriptions are said to exist 

 in the interior of the province of Ceara", as well as in the provinces of Pernambuco and 

 Piauhy, especially in the Sertaos, that is, in the thinly-wooded parts of the interior, 

 but no mention is ever made of their having been seen near the coast. 



In the margin and bed only of the river are the rocks inscribed. On the margin 

 they extend in some instances to fifteen or twenty yards. Except in the rainy n ason 

 the stream is dry. The rock is a silicious schist of excessively hard and flinty texture. 

 The marks have the appearance of having been made with a blunt heavy tool, such 

 as might be made with an almost worn-out mason's hammer. 



The situation is about midway between Serra Grande or [biapaba and Sena Meri- 

 oca, about seventy miles from the coast and forty west of the town Sobral. There 

 are not any indications of works of art or other antiquarian remains, nor anything 

 peculiar to the locality. The country is gently undulating, and of the usual character 

 that obtains for hundreds of miles extending along the base of the Serra Ibiapaba. 



The native population attribute all the 'Letreiros' (inscriptions), as they do every- 



