280 EXPLORATION OF THE CAVES OF BORNEO. 



upper 8 inches of the river mud, there occurred water-worn frag- 

 ments of a rather coarse but fairly well made pottery. It was so 

 fragmentary and water- worn that it was impossible to distinguish 

 of what kind of untensils it had formed a part. Associated with it 

 were a few marine shells (Cardium, Cyprcea, and others), a single 

 fragment of stone apparently bearing marks of human workman- 

 ship, pieces of burnt bone, fresh-water shells {JSferitina and Pota- 

 mides) also bearing the marks of fire, the tooth of a tiger cat, with 

 a hole bored through the base, a rude bone bead, and a few clean, 

 chips of quartz. No stone implements properly so called were 

 observed, though carefully looked for. These remains indicate 

 the presence of a settlement of people at some distance without 

 the cave on the banks of the stream, which formed the river mud 

 deposit. The quality of the pottery shows that this people had 

 attained a fair degree of cilvilisation. The presence of the marine 

 shells seems to imply that the sea coast was within easy reach of 

 the vicinity of the Jambusan Hill. The remains generally, although 

 of slight interest except to the local archaeologist, belong to a 

 ruder stage of art than the following. 



(3.) The traces of man in the remainder of the eleven caves 

 above referred to consist of human bones, associated, in some 

 instances, with works of art. These remains occur always either 

 just within or but a few yards removed from the entrances of the 

 caves. The caves in which they lie commonly open on the faces 

 of steep mural precipices. That at Ahup, where the largest ac- 

 cumulation exists, is at an elevation of not less than 100 feet 

 above the valley. The bones have belonged to individuals of va- 

 rious ages, they are mostly fragmentary, and they lie scattered on 

 the surface, or but lightly imbedded in the earth without reference 

 to their proper anatomical relations. Their condition will be 

 better judged from the sample sent than from any description that 

 I could give. Occasionally fragments occur bearing the marks of 

 fire. The works of art associated with them include broken jars, 

 cups, cooking pots, and other utensils of earthenware. The pottery 

 is of excellent make, and often glazed and painted. Besides the 

 pottery, beads and armlets of a very hard dark-blue glass, pieces of 

 iron, manufactured gold, and fragments of charcoal have been met 

 with. Similar beads are in the possession of the Land Dyaks at 



