363 



We, however, actually found pieces of skull only in the more shallow 

 vessels. It may be that the other vessels placed inside of the jar, and 

 all that were ranged outside, were buried with the same idea that the 

 Indians of our own country had in burying various utensils ; viz., that 

 they might serve the deceased in the spirit-world. 



My drawings of these small vessels are sufficiently distinct to give 

 you an idea of the form and comparative size, which was all I sought. 

 You may not, however, at once see the use of one or two of them. 

 One (figs. 6, 7, 8) jjuzzled us for a time ; but we found it to be a stand 

 or support for the cups, &c., which have round bottoms. Another 

 (fig. 3) I do not undei^tand; we got only a broken one : and I am in- 

 clined to think that I have drawn It wrong side up ; that, instead of 

 resembling a wine-cup, it should be inverted, so as to appear to be the 

 base of a larger vessel, of which the top has been broken off". 



Our munshi says that the story is current all over the countrj^, that 

 those people were burled alive. He says, that, for a long time, Yeman, 

 or the God of Death, did not make his appearance ; and that, when 

 people became so old and wasted away that they were of no further 

 use to their friends, they were buried alive in these jars. He said they 

 were found in his own village, and in many places in the countiy; but 

 he had never heard before of the existence of such smaller vessels as I 

 showed him. 



FKOM THE EEV. D. C. SCUDDEK. 



TiRUPUVANAM, Sept. 20, 1862. 

 We have come back from our tour of scientific research in the vicin- 

 ity of Mana Madura. We reached the village near which the relics 

 are at dusk, and 23assed the night. . . . Before five in the morning, 

 we set out for the remains, about half a mile off". All that is seen 

 above the surface is the rim of an earthen pot, about a foot and a half 

 or two feet in diameter. There were some dozen or more to be seen. 

 So we set to Avork to dig one wp. It was about two feet deep, without 

 a cover, and filled tight with gravel. We dug out the gravel, and at 

 the bottom found two little pots, of such pottery as all vessels are 

 made of in this country. Their shape, however, diff"ers from the one 

 common now; and in one we found about half a skull, much worn, 

 and its form preserved only by being embedded in earth. Several 

 teeth, and remains of other bones, were also discovered. We had two 

 or three coolies to work for us, and opened four more. On the out- 

 side of one we found a lot of vessels, broken and whole, of various 

 forms ; one kind a very graceful cup, not unlike a finger-bowl. In 

 each jar were found several vessels, and always remains of bones ; 

 though almost all were undistinguishable for rottenness. The object of _ 

 the jars, however, was clear : the place was a burial-ground, and a 



