76 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 177 
N-18: HOBO HILL 
Hobo Hill is a finger of the same chain on which N-1 is located 
(figs. 4, 22), lying southeast of Kumaka Hill. The northwest side 
rises steeply, flattening out just below the crest. Here sherds were 
found over a gradually sloping area 15 meters in diameter in a 
manioc field. The nearest fresh water source is the headwaters of 
the Attabani Creek 100 meters to the northeast. The soil was slightly 
darker in the site area than the surrounding bright orange laterite. 
Sherds occurred only from the surface to a depth of 5 cm. and were 
all badly eroded. A few glass and earthenware fragments from the 
same area appeared to be associated with recent gardening activity. 
The 199 sherds include the Mabaruma Phase types, Mabaruma Plain, 
Hosororo Plain, and Koberimo Plain. 
N-19: KUMAKA CREEK 
Kumaka Creek was visited by Verrill in 1917 (1918 a, p. 16). He 
describes the site as located on the eastern slope of Kumaka Hill 
(figs. 4, 22). The reddish soil produced no shell refuse, only pot- 
sherds and stone. In 1920 Vincent Roth spent half an hour at the 
site in the company of a geologist, J. A. Bullbrook. At that time, 
a road had been cut through the slope and Roth noticed that “a small 
portion of the road has been metalled with the material removed 
from the midden so that one can now find pieces of pre-historic pot- 
tery in the middle of the road” (V. Roth, MS., p. 12). On the 
afternoon of September 19, 1944, Osgood dug on the slopes of Kumaka 
Hill, collecting sherds that included examples of a decorative style 
not found at Mabaruma Headquarters (N-1). Osgood (1946, pp. 
48-49) searched for a place with sufficient depth of refuse to show 
the relative age of the two sites, but was unsuccessful. 
In 1953 the site was essentially as the earlier visitors reported it. 
The road, which leads from Mabaruma Government Headquarters 
to the dock, has been paved but its course has not changed. It runs 
down the steep western slope of Kumaka Hill to the base of the hill, 
skirting the tidal swamp, and passes close to Kumaka Creek, which 
flows along the base of the hill before turning into the swamp (fig. 
95). The site is on the slope, beginning at the bend in the creek 
and extending 70 meters to the northeast. The lower edge is bounded 
by the flat and the upper limit is 17 meters up the hillside, between 
5 and 6 meters above the creek level. ‘The northeast third of the site 
is occupied by the Kumaka Spirit Shop, surrounded by a lawn. 
Large clumps of bamboo grew along the southeast side of the road. 
The southwestern part of the site was covered with orange, guava, 
and banana trees entangled with abundant thorny vines. A group 
of large iron concretion boulders marks the western edge of the site. 
