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i INDIAN
ROCK-PICTURES 483
the highest fall, and cannot be reached without risk.
They were engraved by a young woman who was
lamenting the death of her mother, for whose
epitaph they were probably intended. Day by
day she sat on the rock engaged in her task, while
her fast-falling tears ceased not to mingle with the
cataract. Thus months passed away, until one day
the maiden, worn with grief and fading almost to a
shadow, fell over the rock and disappeared among
the roaring breakers at its base.
I had not with me pencil or paper of any kind,
and I was obliged to content myself with a hasty
glance at the figures, some of which represented
human beings ;
was I able to revisit the spot.
nor
On the top of the same rock there are shallow
impressions, apparently the work of nature, which
bear some resemblance to a human form, and are
called by the Indians Tupana-rangaua (the figure
of God). The damsels of the Paapun's visit the
spot on stated occasions, and kneeling clown on the
knees of the figure, perform some kind of devotion
-what,
I could not learn.
I copied a few rude figures on the rocks near
the village of Jauarite. Those on Fig. 21 seem to
represent very rudely various types of trees, as seen
in the three figures on the right. The two upper
ones indicate a buttressed stem or aerial roots, with
flowers or fruits on the three terminal branches ;
while the lower one has a tap-root, and diverging
branches of a more usual type. The lower middle
figure is probably the very rudest symbol
human form ;
while
of a
the remainder seem to be
merely fanciful geometrical patterns.
The large figure on Fig. 22 is called by the Indians