The ancient cemeteries, or huacals, as they are called throughout
Spanish America, are scattered over the greater part of the Pacific
slope of Chiriqui. It is said by some that they are rarely found in the
immediate vicinity of the sea, but they occur in the river valleys, on
the hills, the plateaus, the mountains, and in the deepest forests. They
are very numerous, but generally of small extent. The largest described
is said to cover an area of about twelve acres. They were probably
located in the immediate vicinity of villages, traces of which, however,
are not described by explorers; but there can be no doubt that diligent
search will bring to light the sites of dwellings and towns. The absence
of traces of houses or monuments indicates either that the architecture
of this region was then, as now, of destructible material, or, which is
not likely, that so many ages have passed over them that all traces of
unburied art, wood, stone, or clay, have yielded to the "gnawing tooth
of time."
One of the most circumstantial accounts of these burial places is given
by Mr. Merritt, who was also the first to make them known to science.[6]
Mr. Merritt was director of a gold mine in Veragua, and in the summer of
1859 spent several weeks in exploring the graves of Chiriqui; he
therefore speaks from personal knowledge. In the autumn of 1858 two
native farmers of the parish of Bugaba, or Bugava, discovered a golden
image that had been exposed by the uprooting of a plant. They proceeded
secretly to explore the graves, the existence of which had been known
for years. In the following spring their operations became known to the
people, and within a month more than a thousand persons were engaged in
working these extraordinary gold mines. The fortunate discoverers
succeeded in collecting about one hundred and thirty pounds weight of
gold figures, most of which were more or less alloyed with copper. It is
estimated that fifty thousand dollars' worth in all was collected from
this cemetery, which embraced an area of twelve acres.
Although there are rarely surface indications to mark the position of
the graves, long experience has rendered it comparatively easy to
discover them. The grave hunter carries a light iron rod, which he runs
into the ground, and thus, if any hard substance is present, discovers
the existence of a burial. It is mentioned by one or two writers that
the graves are in many cases marked by stones, either loose or set in
the ground in rectangular and circular arrangements. The graves do not
often seem to have had a uniform position in relation to one another or
to the points of the compass. In some cases they are clustered about a
central tomb, and then assume a somewhat radiate arrangement; again,
according to Mr. McNiel, they are sometimes placed end to end, occupying
long trenches.
[Footnote 6: J. King Merritt: Paper read before the American
Ethnological Society, 1860.]