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Excerpt from Petroglyphs of Saint Vincent, British West Indies For the purpose of the present article the petroglyphs now being considered may be classified under three heads: (i) Deeply incised, (2) shallow, and (3) cave. This classification is followed herein when individual examples are discussed. The process by which the distinct types of petroglyphs were made must have been somewhat different. In all probability examples of the first and third classes were produced by means of a primitive chisel; the outlines of the shallow type may have been first scratched out and then finished by friction.1 Im Thurn states that in British Guiana the deeply incised and shallow eu gravings are never found in the same district. In St Vincent, the areas in which they are found are separated by only a few miles. Nevertheless it is quite possible that they represent different periods and cultures. Our notes may incidentally throw some light on the debatable question of the antiquity of the aboriginal occupancy of St Vincent. It is an accepted fact that Indians occupied this island under settled conditions long before the coming of Columbus. But how long? This is a question for which it seems impossible to find a definite answer. Judging from the appearance of the rock-engravings and the fact that the older figures had probably become effaced by the time the later incisions were made, it would seem that man found a home in this island much farther back in prehistoric times than is often supposed. Unfortunately it is not possible to estimate, with any degree of precision, how long a period would be required for the petroglyphs to have become obliterated by natural processes. It is probable that occupancy of the island gradually developed from occasional visits to settled and permanent residence. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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