1(5 ANCIKNT ART OK THK I'KOVINCK oK CllllilyUI. 



Altliougli not apparently representing a very wide range of culture 

 vr distinctly separated periods of culture, the various groups of relics 

 exhibit considerable diversity in conception and execution, attribut- 

 able. no doubt, to variations in race and art inheritance. 



THE CEMETERIES. 



The ancient cemeteries, or lumcals, as they are called throughoul 

 Spanish America, are scattered over the greater part of the Pacific 

 slope of Chiriqui. It is said by some that they are rarely found 

 in the immediate vicinity of the sea, but they occur in the river 

 valleys, on the hills, the plateaus, the mountains, and in the deei)est 

 fcn-ests. They are very numerous, but generally of small extent. 

 The largest described is said to cover an area of about twelve acres. 

 They were probably located in the immediate vicinity of villages, 

 traces of which, however, are not described by explorers; biit there 

 can be no doubt that diligent search will bring to light the sites of 

 dwellings and towns. The absence of traces of houses or monuments 

 indicates either that the architecture of this region was then, as now, 

 of destructible inaterial, or, which is not likely, that so many ages 

 have passed over them that all traces of unburied art, wood, stone, 

 or clay, have yielded to the " gnawing tooth of time." 



One of the most circumstantial accounts of these bi;rial places is 

 given by Mr. Merritt. who was alsu the first in make tliem known to 

 science.' Mr. Merritt was direclordr a ^nld mine in \'ei-a,i;-ua. and in 

 the summer of 1850 spent several weeks in exploi-ing the graves of 

 Chiriqui ; he therefore sjjeaks from personal knowledge. In the autumn 

 of 1858 two native farmers of the parish of Bugaba. or Bugava, dis- 

 covered a golden image that had been exiiosed by the uprooting of a 

 plant. They pr.M-eeil,.,! secretly tn expl.nv the --raves, tlie existence 

 of which had l)een known fur years. In the following spring their 

 operations became known to the people, and within a month more than 

 a thoiisaud persons were engaged in working these extraordinary gold 

 mines. The fortunate discoverers succeeded in collecting about one 

 hundred and thirty pounds weight of gold figures, most of which 

 were more or less alloyed with copper. It is estimated that fifty 

 thousand dollars' worth in all was collected f r( im this cemetery, which 

 embraced rn area of twelve acres. 



Although there are rarely surface indications to mark the position 

 of the graves, long experience has rendered it comparatively easy to 

 discover them. The grave hunter carries a light iron rod, which he 

 runs into the ground, and thus, if any hard substance is present, dis- 

 covers the existence of a burial. It is mentioned by one or two writers 

 that the graves are in many cases marl^ed by stones, either loose or 

 set in the ground in rectangulai- and circular arrangenK^its. The 



' J. King Merritt: Paper read before tlic Aiin'ikaii Etlniulogical Society. 1S6(). 



