12 A STUDY OF CHIRIQUIAN ANTIQUITIES. 



•• Apres avoir ecarte les obstacles accumules par le temps et la vegetation, on 

 decouvre au niveau du sol un pavage, en forme de carre long, de trois a quatre 

 metres de long sur une largeur de deux ou trois, et de quatre-vingts centimetres 

 d'epaisseur en general; a chaque angle, un pilier carre en pierres, de 1.60 de 

 hauteur et de 0.25 au plus d'epaisseur. Au centre, a distance egale des quatre 

 angles, se trouve un autre pavage carre, correspondant au premier. Celui-ci 

 recouvre une voute en forme de citerne, d'un metre de long et de quatre-vingts 

 centimetres a peu pres de large. Le sol est empierre, et c'est la veritable entree 

 de la guaca. A deux metres a peu pres de profondeur se trouve enfin le tombeau, 

 dont la distance du premier pavage est en definitive de quatre a cinq metres. 

 Cette sorte de chambre a pres de trois metres de long, deux de large ; et sa hauteur 

 n'est guere que d'un metre et demi. Elle est creusee dans le sol sans etre revetue 

 d'aucune espece de maconnerie. Sa forme est pyramidale, et la pente commence 

 a l'entree pour aller en diminuant jusqu'au fond " ; (6) canal tombs, recognized 

 by a surface packing of river stones, two meters long by one meter in width. 

 Beneath this the tomb is sunk in the earth and is not lined with stones of any 

 kind. 



Mr. J. A. McNiel, who collected most of the specimens figured in this work, 

 witnessed the opening of many graves. He says there are seldom surface indi- 

 cations to attract the inexperienced eye, the location of the grave being ascer- 

 tained by thrusting a light iron bar into the ground till it strikes the stone roofing 

 over the vault. The latter varies in depth from one to five meters. Even after 

 allowing for surface wash and fill, there must have been considerable variation in 

 the original depth of the graves, as some of the deepest ones were so situated as 

 to preclude the possibility of subsequent fill. According to McNiel, the fiat roofing 

 stones rest upon round ones which form the walls of the vault. These were 

 evidently brought from river beds, and in many cases from long distances, as they 

 are more water-worn and much smoother than the stones of the locality in question. 

 He found no apparent orientation in a given direction, the graves, about a thou- 

 sand, in all the groups examined by him being " promiscuously strewn at much 

 cost of space." 



M. A. L. Pinart, J a later observer, states that the oval cists are the most nu- 

 merous ; and mentions a rectangular type of grave with walls and roofing of flat 

 stones. The human bones were placed on the floor of the chamber with no ap- 

 parent order, generally near the walls. The gold ornaments were with the bones, 

 while the pottery and stone objects were found at the center. He also speaks of 

 another class with rudely built chamber, whereas '• sur les cotes on avait creuse 

 dans la parois des niches, parfaitement garnies de dalles dans lesquelles etaient 

 deposes les cadavres ; chaque niche se fermait par une autre dalle." In such 

 tombs the artifacts of stone and pottery were placed in the chamber, the gold 

 ornaments, however, occurring only in the niches. Pinart insists that there are 

 but two kinds of graves in Chiriqui (and in all Panama), and is equally sure that 

 the bones were cleaned before being interred. 



1 Chiriqui: Bocas del Toro, Valle Miranda. Bull. Soc. de geogr. de Paris, 7 e ser., VI, 

 433, 1885. 



