4 
THE COMUTI, OR TAQUIARI ROCK. 
in these sculptured figures. It bore a resemblance to the sculptures found to the eastward of Ekaterinburg, in Siberia, near the sources of the 
rivers Irbit and Pishma, tributary of the river Tura ; and at Digbton, near the banks of the Taunton river, twelve leagues south of Boston in 
the United States of America. The granite on which they were engraved was decomposing, and the figures much effaced ; I took however a 
drawing of a compartment of the rock. 
INDIAN “PICTURE WRITING” AT COMUTI, ON THE ESSEQUIBO. 
A mystery not yet solved hangs over these sculptured rocks. Whatever may be their origin, the subject is one of high interest, and 
demands the full investigation of the antiquarian and historian. I have myself traced these inscriptions through seven hundred miles of longitude, 
and five hundred of latitude, or scattered here and there over an extent of three hundred and fifty thousand square miles. I have copied many 
of them, and although they do not denote an advanced state of civilisation, in my opinion they have a higher origin and signification than that 
generally ascribed to them, namely, the idle tracings of hunting nations. It is remarkable that the situation of those which I have seen was 
generally near cataracts and rapids The Indian races of the present day can give no account of their origin ; some ascribe them to the 
good spirit, others to their forefathers ; and the Taruma Indians, on the river Cuyuwini, a tributary of the upper Essequibo, gave me, in answer 
to the question, who had made the figures which I saw sculptured on some blocks of greenstone in that river ? “ that women had made them 
a long time ago.” 
In the general uncertainty which prevails with regard to these monuments of by-gone races, it was particularly gratifying to me to 
find, during my last expedition, some sculptures which afforded a clue to the date when they were executed. Among the numerous figures 
which we found carved in hard granite blocks at the Ilha de Pedra, on the Rio Negro, and about twelve miles west of Itarendaua, or Pedrero, 
we likewise observed the representation of two vessels under sail ; the smaller with two masts, the larger not unlike a galleon ; there remains 
therefore no doubt that these pictures were made at a later period, and after the discovery of the Amazon, when the vessels of the 
Conquistador es floated on the mightiest stream in the world. The other figures are representations^ of birds, animals, and men. Among 
others there is a group of thirteen men arranged in a row as if dancing ; and they possibly relate to an event which caused great rejoicing, 
perhaps the first arrival of Europeans on the Amazon ; little thinking that the destruction of their own races would be consequent on the 
landing of their European tyrants. 
INDIAN “PICTURE WRITING’^ AT THE ILHA D£ PEDRA ON THE RIO NEGRO. 
The Indians of the present day, in the vicinity of Pedrero, admit the antiquity of these figures, and say, that they were engraved by 
means of constant friction with quartz pebbles. Such may have been the case ; but our attempt to produce such results proved fruitless 
as indeed did our endeavours to produce fire from two sticks, though it is done with comparative ease by the Indians : unwearied patience may 
have accomplished it These figures, it should be remarked, are not so deeply cut as those on the Corentyn, or at Waraputa, on the 
Essequibo. 
* In a paper which I addressed ten years ago to the Antiquarian Society of London, 1 gave an account of some sculptured rocks which are near a cascade in the Island of 
St. John’s, one of the Virgin Isles. They closely resemble those at the Cataract of Waraputa, on the river Essequibo. The Island of St, John's is known to have been 
inhabited by Caribs. 
