THE INDIAlf CEMElERY OP THE GRUTA DAS MUMIAS. 21 3 



The ygaqabas were all ovoidal in form, without base, and were 

 buried upright. The mouth of each was closed by a round, thick 

 piece of the bark of the Jequitibd, set into the orifice. Outside, 

 the urns were covered with a sort of basket-work of the bast of 

 the Embauba t'rnga, a species of Cecropia, and to this was attached 

 a cord extending across the mouth to serve as a handle, the shape 

 of the ygagdbas rendering it necessary to provide means of this 

 kind for their conduction. It is worthy of note that all the urns 

 are small and contain only the bones of children. 



Over the mouth of No. 8 was found a small basket a little more 

 than eight inches in diameter and made of cipo tinga a kind of 

 Uiana, which had been split, carefully prepared and woven in an 

 open manner, the basket being furnished with a cord across the 

 mouth, to serve as a handle. It contained a number of little 

 bundles of palm straw, similar to those that form the outside cov- 

 ering of the body in No. 12. The basket was crushed flat by the 

 weight of the earth and stones. By the side of the same ygagdba 

 was found interred a bundle of five sticks, bound near each end 

 by a bit of cipo. These sticks were of about the thickness of a 

 finger and four were about three feet in length, the fifth was some- 

 what shorter. They were all sharp at one extremity and blunt 

 and polished at the other. My friend Dr. Muniz Barretto, who 

 was present when the pot was found, tells me that it contained 

 the skeleton of a child wrapped up in bast and palm straw, form- , 

 ing a bundle which was afterward tied up with a cord of the palm 

 fibre. 



By the side of No. 9, and in part bent over the mouth of the 

 pot, was found a "bornal de ca<ja" or a sort of small haversack, 

 woven in an open manner of palm fibre thread, and furnished 

 with a long cord by which it might be carried like a game bag. 

 According to the description of Dr. Bazilio this " bornal " was of 

 exactly the same shape as the sacks used at present, not only by 

 the Botocudos but also by many other Indian tribes of Brazil. 

 The sack was full of little bundles of palm straw, similar to those 

 found in the basket accompanying No. 8. 



The ygacdba, No. 10, broken in extraction, contained the bones 

 of a child of about twelve years of age and which had already 

 finished its first dentition. The vessel of which Sr. Antunes 

 showed me fragments, was of the form of an egg truncated at the 

 larger end. The mouth was large and entirely without lip. The 



