1880 .] 
119 
[Putnam. 
had been, notwithstanding many difficulties, very successful in 
exploring several caves that long ago were used as burial places 
by the Indians of that region. These burial caves have been 
mentioned by a few writers, and stories have been told by people 
who visited them or heard o£ them, nearly half a century ago, of 
the immense number of human bodies that they contained. Since 
then the caves have been, unfortunately, pretty thoroughly worked 
over for nitre, and it is said that thousands of the “ mummies,” as 
the bundles of human bones are called, were used for fuel by the 
nitre workers. Dr. Palmer, however, after considerable search in 
several caves, had found in their deep recesses a number of the 
bundles that had not been disturbed and these he had brought to 
Cambridge, where they had been carefully opened and their con- 
tents and wrappings arranged in such a way as to keej) all belong- 
ing to a bundle together. Each bundle it was found contained 
the bones of one or more human skeletons and various objects 
such as ornaments, implements, small baskets, sandals, and articles 
of clothing. The great resemblances of these “ mummies ” with 
those found in the caves in Kentucky and Tennessee is of partic- 
ular interest. Mr. Putnam stated that he considered the collection 
one of great interest and that a detailed account of it would be 
given, in which Dr. Palmer’s notes would be incorporated. 
Dr. Palmer then exhibited a small portion of the collection, 
including a number of pieces of cloth which were beautifully 
woven from agave fibre, also cords and bands made of the same 
fibre, baskets which were probably used as food vessels, large 
stone knives that were fastened to short handles of wood, shell 
and bone beads, a necklace made by stringing the vertebrae of a 
snake on several pieces of soft cord, portions of a fringed skirt, 
on the edge of which feathers had been fastened, a feather head- 
dress, braided sandals, and many other interesting objects which 
were found in the bundles. Some of the pieces of woven cloth 
were eight to ten feet in length and about four feet in width, and 
were not only finely and evenly woven, but were also of several 
different colored patterns. While explaining the different spec- 
imens, Dr. Palmer made many interesting remarks upon Indian 
life of the present time, and compared some of the ancient 
