﻿FIELD AND FOREST 



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scaffold, erected for the purpose, where it remained until decomposi- 

 tion took place. If after several months had elapsed this was not fully 

 completed, a person, whose function it was, stripped the bones of all 

 remaing soft parts, and cleansed them by washing and otherwise pre- 

 pared them for a final interment. This was accomplished by inserting 

 the remains in one of these jars together with his weapons, tools, orna- 

 ments, and some smaller earthenware vessels containing food and 

 water. They were frequently ornamented with figures of animals, as 

 of the reptile, Fig. 2. This custom of exposure, before the final 

 sepulture, is observed by many of the aborignal tribes of the western 

 side of this continent from the Artie Circle down to the Equator. In 

 some cases stone cists or graves are employed to hold the bones not of 

 a single individual only, but of an entire family. The shoe shaped 

 urns are found buried in yellow clay, a few feet under the surface, the 

 aperture being covered over by one of their large shallow pans shown 

 at Fig. 6. Zapatero Island is very rocky, densely wooded and now 

 but sparsely inhabited, one consequence of there being but a small 

 margin of level land around it. It has been conjectured that it was 

 appropriated in former times to burial purposes only. 



Ten stone idols or images belonging to this period are sculptured so 

 as to represent the human figure in a crouching posture, with features 

 which bear, in all of them, the same national character. The human 

 face is a favorite ornament on the earthenware vessels, showing extreme 

 idiocy and degradation, but unfrequently it is replaced by grotesque 

 heads of the monkey, tiger, parrot, toucan or other animals often un- 

 determinable. Their beads were made of a hard jade or nephrite, of 

 greenish color and uniform in size, handsomely polished. Ornaments 

 of gold also are found, consisting of short cylinders formed from a thin 

 plate of the metal rolled together and arranged on a string. Small 

 shells, likewise from the adjacent sea shore, species of olivella or mar- 

 ginella, perforated lengthwise, so as to be conveniently strung, are 

 found in great numbers. The flint spear heads of this period are large, 

 of good shape but coarsely chipped. The designs painted on the 

 bottom of the large bowls or basins of this period are more artistic 

 than those of later date, and are characterized by the figures being 

 painted broadly and outlined in black. The comparison may be made 

 by the following figures, Fig. 3 being the more ancient. Figure 4 is 

 comparatively a feeble and childish conception. The basin shown at 



