f glazed and crudely painted earthenware, of which,
however, it was impossible to find two pieces that belonged to each
other. A narrow hole led from the large cavern into an obscure space,
which was so small that one could remain in it only for a few seconds
with the burning torch. This circumstance may explain the discovery,
in a coffin which was eaten to pieces by worms, and quite mouldered
away, of a well-preserved skeleton, or rather a mummy, for in many
places there were carcasses clothed with dry fibers of muscle and
skin. It lay upon a mat of pandanus, which was yet recognizable, with
a cushion under the head stuffed with plants, and covered with matting
of pandanus. There were no other remains of woven material. The coffins
were of three shapes and without any ornament. Those of the first form,
which were of excellent molave-wood, showed no trace of worm-holes or
decay, whereas the others had entirely fallen to dust; and those of
the third kind, which were most numerous, were distinguishable from
the first only by a less curved form and inferior material.

[Impressive location of burial cave.] No legend could have supplied
an enchanted royal sepulchre with a more suitable approach than that
of the last of these caverns. The rock rises out of the sea with
perpendicular sides of marble, and only in one spot is to be observed
a natural opening made by the water, hardly two feet high, through
which the boat passed at once into a spacious court, almost circular,
and over-arched by the sky, the floor of which was covered by the sea,
and adorned with a garden of corals. The steep sides are thickly hung
with lianas, ferns, and orchids, by help of which one climbs upwards
to the cavern, sixty feet above the surface of the water. To add to
the singularity of the situation, we also found at the entrance to
the grotto, on a large block of rock projecting two feet above the
ground, [A sea snake.] a sea-snake, which tranquilly gazed at us,
but which had to be killed, because, like all genuine sea-snakes,
it was poisonous. Twice before I had found the same species in
crevices of rock on the dry land, where the ebb might have left it;
but it was strange to meet with it in this place, at such a height
above the sea. It now reposes, as Platurus fasciatus Daud., in the
Zoological Museum of the Berlin University.

[Chinese dishers from a cave.] In Guiuan I had an opportunity of
purchasing four richly painted Chinese dishes which