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riod has passed away since they flourished here. We were told, again 

 and again, that the large earthen vessels which we found were used 

 for the pui'pose of burying people alive. My watchman in ManS 

 Madura said there was a caste of people that didn't die, but, when 

 they grew old, they were placed in a sitting posture within those 

 earthen vessels (and he dropped himself suddenly to the ground, and 

 drew his knees up to his chin, in order to show me the mode of opera- 

 tion) ; and that a little rice was given them in a chatty, and a little 

 water in a cup, and they were left thus buried alive. 



The burial jars which we found, being buried upon a gentle slope of 

 ground, had been uncovered, as I have said, by the washing of the 

 rain through so long a period. Originally, I suppose that they were 

 buried to the depth of at least a foot or two below the surface ; and, 

 indeed, we were told that they were more abundant farther back upon 

 the summit of ground where the earth had not been so much washed 

 away, but that there we could only discover them by digging. 



The large earthen pots which form the jars vary in size ; the 

 smallest of those which we examined being about two feet in height, 

 and the largest probably four or four and a half feet : for we did not 

 dig this up entirely. These largest are about an inch in thickness. 



It would seem that these jars were receptacles for the bones and 

 other remains of bodies after burial. We did not see any ashes, or 

 pieces of charcoal ; but we found many pieces of bones, and still more 

 traces of bones already disintegrated, and reduced to dust. The im- 

 portant bones of the body may have been honored by being carefully 

 placed in the little vessels, from one to four of which we found in the 

 bottom of each jar. One shallow dish which we found contained about 

 one-third of the skull of a child, which was in sufficient preservation for 

 us to bring it away, though without taking it from the dish. Another 

 portion of a skull was found in a similar position ; but it was too far 

 gone to be saved. It would appear that the important bones, so far 

 as convenient, or perhaps simply the bones of the head, were placed 

 in these small vessels in the bottom of the jar ; and then the other 

 relics were thrown into the jar in a more careless manner, and the 

 whole covered up. 



In the section of a jar, I have represented the small vessels as canted 

 over more or less. How was this ? Probably the water which trickled 

 into the jars, and ran down the inside, rose high enough to float these 

 little vessels ; which, in that case, would never return to their original 

 position. Sometimes they were found quite tipped over upon one 

 side, and the lower half only filled with earth. 



, I mentioned a probable use of the small vessels placed within the bur- 

 ial-jars ; viz., to contain pieces of the skull and other important bones. 



