FEWKBS] CULTURE AREAS IX THE WEST INDIES 85 



"Among several broken Fragments of Idols, said to be dug iip in 

 this Place," continues the Eev. Mr. Hughes, " I saw the Head of one, 

 which alone weighed above sixty Pounds "Weight. This, before it 

 was broken off, stood upon an oval Pedestal above three Feet in 

 Height . . . The Heads of all others that came within my Observa- 

 tion, were very small : One of these . . . exceeds not in weight fif- 

 teen Ounces; and all. that I have hitherto seen, are of Clay burnt.''" 



One or two more heads, former handles of pottery objects, have 

 been found at the settlement near the cave. 



IXDIAX EXCAVATinXS 



If Indian Castle were the only artificial excavation in Barbados it 

 must be confessed its very exceptional character would have great 

 weight, but artificial rooms dug in the rocks also occur at Freshwater 

 Bay and at Indian Eiver, both of these being known as Indian ex- 

 cavations, although they have a distinctive character. It may be 

 noticed that remains of.Indian village sites likewise occur near them 

 and aboriginal objects have been found in the immediate vicinity. ^^ 



As there are remnants of an old fort not far from the Indian ex- 

 cavations at Fi'eshwater Bay, the theory that these excavations are 

 " magazines " has been favored by several writers, but this explana- 

 tion would hardly hold for the similar structures on Mr. Belgrade's 

 property at Indian Eiver. where no indications of fortifications 

 exist. 



The general form of these excavations is rectangular and they 

 meas\ire several feet deep. They consist of several rooms hewn out 

 of the rock and arranged side by side, communicating with each 

 other, sometimes having alcoves or niches in their walls. On the 

 hypothesis that they are subterranean habitations we may suppose 

 them to have been formerly roofed and that the entrance to them, 

 which is not otherwise apparent, was a hatchway in the roof. In 

 similar excavations at Indian Eiver there was a side entrance 

 through the perpendicular bank of the neighboring stream.^' 



^Vhile the nature of these excavations is decidedly problematical 

 there seems no good reason to doubt their aboriginal character. 

 They have from the earlie.st times been known as Indian excavations, 

 and it would be strange if. after having been so called for so many 

 years, they are not of Indian manufacture or associated with the 



^' Hughes, op. clt., pp. 6-7. 



^^ Magistrate Sinkler. of Port of SpaiD. Trinidatl, in a figure in his Handbook of 

 Barbados designates these excavation.s as " Carib graves." They have also been called 

 magazines of the neighboring fort, but in this memoir the author regards them as Indian 

 pit houses. 



" The rock is here so soft that there was little difficulty in excavating holes of this 

 nature with shell implements. 



