GEOMETRICAL DESIGNS 
no attempts at reproducing birds, or the sun, the moon, 
the stars. 
The most interesting of all, from an ethnological point 
of view, were the geometrical designs. They closely re¬ 
sembled the incised lines and punch-marks of the Austra¬ 
lian aborigines, and the patterns common in Polynesia. 
Concentric circles, of more or less perfection, were common, 
some with a central cross of three and four parallel lines. 
Coils seemed beyond the drawing powers of Indian artists. 
Ovals, triangles, squares, the Egyptian cross (T-shaped), 
series of detached circles (these generally enclosed within 
a triangle, quadrangle, or lozenge) were frequent. Even 
more frequent were the parallel, incised lines, generally 
used as subsidiary filling or shading of other patterns, such 
as concentric circles, or sections of triangles or squares. 
It may be noted that a certain intelligence was dis¬ 
played by the artist in dividing circles fairly accurately 
into four and eight sections, the diameters intersecting 
pretty well in the centre of the circles. One pattern which 
seemed to take their fancy was that of an oval or a circle 
with a number of dots inside. 
In examining the cave closely, inside and outside, I 
also found upon the wall, which was simply covered with 
those images, some curious marks resembling the letters 
H P, A P, and W A , which seemed of a more recent 
date, perhaps left there by some missionary Father or 
native explorer, or by some escaped slave. 
Just below the point where the stream Capim Branco 
entered the S. Louren^o River (elevation 1,800 feet above 
the sea level), there was a most beautiful waterfall — the 
Salto Floriano Peixoto. Two minor falls, some thirty 
feet high (Salto Benjamin), were also to be seen under 
arches of luxuriant vegetation, just above the point of 
junction of the two streams. 
The roaring and foaming volume of water of the 
greater fall rolled over a vertical volcanic rock, about 
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