Journal of the Federated Malay States museums - Sabrizain.org

230 Journal of the F.M.S. Museums. [Vol. VII,
the surface in the lime-cemented layer of shell and bone
deposit. It is a block of limestone, hollowed out on one
surface by constant use.
The hard layer of deposit proved to be the richest in
interesting objects and, in additi"n to the grinding slab, there
were discovered in it the mealing or grinding-stone, the human
remains, and the stone implement already mentioned.
The mealing-stone. a circular water-rounded granite
pebble, is stained with the red pigment referred to above.
Other water-worn stones, mostly of quart/, were found in fair
numbers, all having evidently been brought home by the
cave-dwellers with the intention of making use of them.
Some of these also were stained with pigment, having
been probably used for grinding it up.
The stone implement was found in a small trial pit, sunk
previous to general excavation. I shall, however, describe
this specimen later, when dealing with similar objects obtained
in the course of excavating the other bay at the mouth of
the Qua Kajang. The human remain.- were, rather unfortunately,
first discovered by one of my Malays. This man. being
tired with digging, had left the spot at which we were
working, and had started scratching and burrowing in the
trial pit just mentioned. When he had been thus employed
for some time, he brought me a fragment of human jaw with
some teeth still in it. saying that he had found a good many
other pieces of bone and had thrown them out of the hole. I,
therefore, set to work to collect as many of the broken bits as
possible and to excavate some pieces of jaw which were visible
in the burrow that h? had made. There were thus retrieved
the greater portions of an upper and a lower jaw. but only
one small portion of the skull, some fragments of ribs, and
some finger-bones. When the surrounding ground, which
formed part of the block that I had decided to open, was
properly excavated, some arm. leg, foot, and other bones were
also discovered; these were removed, as far as was possible.imbedded
in lime and shell matrix. A very large part of the
skeleton was missing, and our efforts to find the rest of it
were not successful.
These bones have not yet been cleaned or reported upon
by an expert, so I do not feel justified in making more than a
few remarks anent them. Judging by the teeth, they are
those of an aged person, the worn-down state of the molars
being remarkable. 1 The front teeth appear to have been filed
down to a certain extent, a practice still indulged in by the
Malays and some of the Negrito tribes. 1 could see no signs of
the earth above the body having been disturbed since its first
deposition. The bones were, as alreadv stated, imbedded in a
matrix of shells and fragments "f bones, w^ere hard, though
' This is also a noticeable characteristic of sonif of the human teeth found
by Mr Wray.