Pre-Colombian Jamaica: Caribbean Archeology and Ethnohistory

Aboriginal Indian Remains in Jamaica by J. E. Duerden / 249
Ye Gods! What a struggle over the rocky path, holding on by fragile bushes,
and tho’ I had on thick soled boots, I feared to wound my feet on the sharp
crannies and fissures. But a treat is in store. Mr. Parchment leads me to a cave
which has long been known; but he promises now to conduct me to one which
has been visited but once since its discovery some six months back, and after
a search and cutting bush to make a way over a yet more frightful pass, I let
myself down into what out of compliment, was then and there christened ‘Sir
Arthur’s Cave.’ Mr. Parchment shows several skulls he had found there closely
packed together. It was a strange feeling to be nearly the first to have disturbed
the abode of the dead after a lapse perhaps of centuries. The cave is formed by
a hollow in a rock with a ledge overhanging, and you have to let yourself down
to enter it— indeed, so small is the aperture that its non- discovery previously
may be easily understood. The dimensions are small, and from the number of
skulls in a confined space, it must evidently have been used for purposes of sepulture,
though the remains of a Terra Cotta vase would lead one to imagine
that the Indians had either eaten there— perhaps when seeking refuge from the
Spaniards— or that in accordance with the superstitions of many ancient races
they had left food for the souls of departed friends. With some of the frail emblems
of mortality we embark to revisit friend James’s house. But I must not
omit to tell the learned visitor that just on leaving Mr. Parchment’s house, if
the sea be calm and the canoe can range alongside, a stone may be seen which
I was assured contained an inscription in strange characters.
I regretted not being able to inform myself on this point. Arthur R.” [30]
In the Museum are three or four skulls, aboriginal in character, but without
any history accompanying them. Mr. Hutchings identifies them as being those
obtained by Sir Arthur Rumbold and Mr. Hill from the Pedro Bluff caves.
The Hon. Henry Shirley also found in these caves two skulls, one of which
was taken to England by Mr. Fawcett in 1890, and was submitted to Sir. Wm.
Flower. The latter’s account, recognizing the aboriginal character of the skull,
was published in the Journal of the Anthropological Institute, and is referred to
on page 22.
In Vignes’, “Travels in America,” 1823, is a reference to some artificially flattened
crania of aborigines met with in St. Elizabeth. No doubt these were obtained
from the caves under consideration.
Hounslow.
Mr. W. L. Maxwell writes from Hounslow, in the Santa Cruz Mountains,
St. Eliza beth, referring to a cave in the vicinity which requires further investigations;
his father secured specimens of skulls and pottery from it, but unfortunately
they were destroyed by fire a few years ago.
Mr. Maxwell has sent to the Museum fragments of pottery since obtained