24 Timehri. 



required. A pottery of sufficient size to have provided over 30,000 pots 

 at one time would be a credit to a large city. Moreover potters do not 

 bake each pot in a separate kiln. 



The third theory is the only one which fits the facts. The covered pots, 

 the covers being roughly formed by hand on one side and bearing the 

 imprints of sand and earth on the other, as if formed of soft clay and 

 covered with earth while fresh. The fact that all the pots were of large 

 size ; the surrounding charcoal and lumps of half-baked clay in the 

 earth ; their uniform position and the fact that they evidently had been 

 exposed to fire and that they contained some material which had been in- 

 cinerated, all tend to prove that they were the burial urns of some pre- 

 historic unknown tribe which inhabited the savannahs in immense num- 

 bers, for it is unlikely that Indians would convey their dead to a com- 

 mon burial place from any considerable distance. The question then 

 arises as to their age and their origin. 



The thickness of the layer of loam over the pots can give little or no idea 

 as to the time which has elapsed since the pots were placed on the knoll. 

 It is entirely a vegetable mold formed from dead and decaying grass and 

 weeds and for many years after the knoll was left to itself it was no doubt 

 exposed to the heavy tropical rains which washed away the deposits 

 almost as fast as formed. The growth upon the knoll is equally valueless 

 as a guide for estimating the age of the pottery, for there are no large 

 trees and the weeds and small growth are of a character which grows, 

 dies down and grows again in a few years ; the extent of growth depending 

 largely upon the periods of drought and flood. 



The condition of the pottery, however, proves that an immense period of 

 time must have elapsed since the pots were placeed upon the knoll. They 

 have not been disturbed or broken by subsequent inhabitants for their 

 original position can be traced, and yet, they have crumbled to bits and 

 have collapsed through the lapse of countless years. I do not know how 

 long it takes for a well-made piece of pottery to decay and disintegrate, 

 and no doubt this varies with the climate and moisture of the soil, but 

 it must require a very long period. Finally, as before mentioned, is the 

 fact that no stone implements, — not even a smoothed pjbble or chip of 

 stone, — were found on the knoll. If this is owing to the fact that the 

 inhabitants had no knowledge of stone-working if, indeed, they ante- 

 dated the stone age, then the pots must be inconceivably ancient ; 

 but I am not aware that any race developed pottery-making until after 

 they developed the art of making stone implements aud I am of the 

 opinion that the absence of such utensils points to a race which depended 

 entirely upon fishing, tilling tho soil, and perhaps snaring or shooting 

 birds and small game, for which purposes bone or even hardened wood 

 would serve every need. 



That they were a race antedating any of the present tribes of Guiana, I 

 am convinced, and I am equally certain that they were totally distinct from 



