Prehistoric Mounds and Relics of North West District, B.G. 19 



" Red-hills are often selected by modern Indians for their provision 

 grounds and it is not improbable that the offerings, if they were such, 

 were placed upon the hills to induce good crops and freedom from pests, 

 etc. Perhaps the stone implements were originally contained in the pots 

 or placed with them as offerings ; but it is more probable that these 

 were dropped accidentally from time to time. 



Only by such a theory can I explain to my own satisfaction the 

 vast number of ornamental heads and vessels which are scattered over 

 these red hills. If they were refuse from villages they certainly would 

 be confined to the localities where the villages stood and would be found 

 beneath the surface at considerable depths. 



Moreover, it is difficult to believe that any Indian settlement would 

 make and accidentally destroy so many ornamented pots, for such vessJs 

 entailed a great deal of work and no doubt plain utensils would serve for 

 cooking purposes just as well ; but no plain and undecorated pottery 

 occurs with the ornamented relics. 



There is but one objection to this theory, one fact which might ren- 

 der it untenable, and that is the presence of decorated pottery and heads 

 upon the low granitic A kawabi Hill. The presence of these here may, 

 however, be accounted for in either one of two ways. 



The first explanation is that the decorated utensils were placed upon 

 this hill because a chief or prominent man was buried here. The second, 

 and most likely, is that it was here that the utensils were manufactured 

 and that those found at the spot to-day were those broken or injured in 

 the making. Several facts point to this. In the first place, all of the 

 heads and pieces of decorated pottery found here were near a clay bed 

 and were associated with bits of baked and half-baked clay and charcoal. 

 Many were evidently imperfect in modelling, or distorted by baking, 

 while last, and perhaps most conclusive of all, is the fact that among the 

 stone implements found are several polished objects of jasper or quartzite 

 which were unquestionably tools used in modelling and decorating the 

 pottery (Fig. 9.) 



But whatever the truth as to such matters, the question as to who these 

 people were, remains unanswered. No present-day inhabitants of Guiana, 

 or northern South America, make pottery of the type fouud on these 

 island hills of the North West District. 'I he Caribs, to be sure, make 

 ornamented vessels, but the decorations are mainly in colour and the 

 type of pottery is easily recognized and is totally distinct from these 

 prehistoric fragments. Not only were these highly decorative in designs 

 inscribed upon them, but they were brightly coloured as well, as shown 

 by specimens obtained, while lips, bases, rims and handles were ornament- 

 ed by well-modelled figures of birds, animals, reptiles and human beings. 

 Many of these are easily identified, although usually conventionalized and 

 often as grotesque as gargoyles, but Toucans, Macaws, Monkeys, Iguanas, 



