In Fig. 105 Mr. McNiel’s sketch of the southwest face of the rock is presented.
Fig. 105.—Petroglyphs in Colombia.
Other illustrations from Colombia appear as Figs. [151] and [1166], infra.
GUIANA.
The name of Guiana has been applied to the territory between the rivers Amazon, Orinoco, Negro, and Cassiquiare. It was once divided into the French, British, Dutch, Portuguese, and Spanish Guianas. The Portuguese Guiana now belongs to Brazil and Spanish Guiana is part of Venezuela. Many petroglyphs have been found in the several Guianas. They appear throughout the whole of the part belonging to Venezuela, but they are more thickly grouped in parts of the valley of the Orinoco.
The subject is well discussed in the following extract from Among the Indians of Guiana, by im Thurn (a):
The pictured rocks of Guiana are not all of one kind. In all cases various figures are rudely depicted on larger or smaller surfaces of rocks. Sometimes these figures are painted, though such cases are few and of but little moment; more generally they are graven on the rock, and these alone are of great importance. Rock sculptures may, again, be distinguished into two kinds, differing in the depth of incision, the apparent mode of execution, and, most important of all, the character of the figures represented.
Painted rocks in British Guiana are mentioned by Mr. C. Barrington Brown. He says that in coming down past Amailah fall, on the Cooriebrong river, he passed “a large white sandstone rock ornamented with figures in red paint.” * * * Mr. Wallace, in his account of his Travels on the Amazons, mentions the occurrence of similar drawings in more than one place near the Amazons. * * *
The engraved rocks must be of some antiquity; that is to say, they must certainly date from a time before the influence of Europeans was much felt in Guiana. As has already been said, the engravings are of two kinds and are probably the work of two different people; nor is there even any reason to suppose that the two kinds were produced at one and the same time.