146 BRAZILIAN ROCK INSCRIPTIONS. 
According to traditions, Bento Maciel, the first donatory of the 
ancient Capitania do Cabo do Norte, set up marks fixing the lim- 
its between his Captaincy and French Guayana, but these marks, 
when the boundary question afterward arose, could not be found. 
In 1727 the Captain, Joao Paes do Amaral, who had been on service 
in the north, reported having discovered them on the Rio Oyapock. 
So important was this announcement that the Governor of Para 
immediately sent the Alferes Palheta with a party to report on the 
discovery. This expedition proved ,unsuccessful, and in 1728 
another expedition under Captain Pinto da Gaya was sent out. 
This officer discovered the supposed marks on the top of a hill 
called Mont d’Argent and was disappointed to find them nothing 
but Indian drawings. These he had all carefully copied in ink, his 
drawings being submitted to the government, with his report. The 
original papers and sketches Senhor Penna has been so kind as to 
place in my hands. Of one of the sets of drawings I have made 
an accurate reduction on Pl. 10, by the aid of photography. Fig- 
ures 2, 3, and 4, on the same plate, are from another set of sketches 
accompanying the above report. These figures resemble in many 
points Indian drawings from Brazil, but the square spiral recalls 
some Mexican ornaments. 
The antiquity of the rock paintings and sculptures of Eastern 
South America is undoubted, and they are mentioned by many of 
the ancient writers, as well as by Humboldt and others in more 
recent times. It is well known that the drawings of Ereré, and 
those of Obidos, about to be described, existed more than two 
hundred years ago. There can be no doubt that they antedate the 
civilization of the Amazonas, and there is a strong probability 
that some of them, at least, were drawn before the discovery of 
America.* I kold it most probable that the rock paintings 
sculpturings were made by tribes which inhabited the Amazonas 
previous to the Tupi invasion. The sculpturings are supposed to 
be older than the paintings. This is also, I believe, the opinion of 
Senhor Penna. I think the Ereré figures have a deep significance 
A people that would go to so much trouble as to draw figures of 
the sun and moon high up on cliffs on the tops of mountains must 
Ks an 
* At Ereré occur the half obliterated sign, I. H. S., and the date 1764 (Pl. pb 
dently the work of the Jesuits. These last inscriptions are very fresh and are 
in a lighter red on the lichen-blackened or whitened surface that obscures the 0 
inscriptions. 
