BURIAL PLACES — CUBBA. 



191 



ceremony above-mentioned had been duly performed, and till 

 the natives who had been in the boats had chosen what they 

 pleased for their share. 



This tribe appears to have regular places for depositing their 

 dead; as on a small out -lying island, a little southward of Madre 

 de Dios, Mr. Low found a cave which had been used for such a 

 purpose : it was strewed with human bones, and the body of a 

 native child was found in a state of putrefaction. The bodies 

 seemed to have been placed in shallow graves, about a foot 

 deep, which had been dug along the sides of the cave, and 

 covered with twigs and leaves. Slips of a peculiar plant, 

 resembling box, had been carefully planted along the outer 

 sides of each grave, and those near the mouth of the cave had 

 taken root and were growing, but all those in the interior had 

 decayed. 



One evening, while at sea, Mr. Low called the boy to him, 

 and said, " Bob, look at the sun ; it is going to be drowned." 

 The boy shook his head, saying, " No, no drown ; to-morrow 

 morning get up again. Sun go round earth ; come again to- 

 morrow." 



The natives of this tribe* suppose that all white people 

 originally came from the moon ; they call them " cubba;'' and 

 often make use of an expression with reference to them which 

 means " White men of the Moon." These Indians, in com- 

 mon with those of the other southern tribes, are exceedingly 

 superstitious, implicitly believing omens, signs, and dreams, as 

 well as the ' wise men' among them, who are thought infal- 

 lible as prophets, doctors, and magicians. Once, when Mr. 

 Low was detained about three weeks by contrary winds and 

 bad weather, his crew became discontented, and attributed 

 their ill-luck to a native who was detained on board against his 

 will. To pacify those who were, in this instance, every bit as 

 superstitious as the aborigines themselves, a fire was made on 

 shore, to invite the Indians to approach ; and when they came 

 he delivered their countryman to them, explaining at the same 



* Chonos. 



