Returning to the south-eastern Chontal province, the only well-attested permanent monuments are burial mounds or cairns of stone, although the Chevalier Friederichsthal claims to have found here "remains of ancient towns and temples," which, nevertheless, he does not attempt to describe, and Mr Squier mentions a traditionary ruined city near Juigalpa.[II-41] The cairns are found in the regions about the towns of Juigalpa and Libertad, although exploration would doubtless reveal their existence elsewhere in the province. At both the places named they occur in great numbers over a large area. "At Libertad," says Mr Boyle, "graves were so plentiful we had only the embarrassment of choice. Every hill round was topped with a vine-bound thicket, springing, we knew, from the cairn of rough stone reverently piled above some old-world chieftain." No farther description can be given of them than that they are rectangular embankments of unhewn stone, built, in some cases at least, with regularly sloping sides, and of varying dimensions, the largest reported being one hundred and twenty by one hundred and seventy-five feet, and five feet high. Being opened they disclose earthen burial urns containing, as at Ometepec, human remains, both burned and unburned, and a great variety of stone and earthen relics both within and without the cinerary vase. The burial deposit is oftenest found above, but sometimes also below, the original surface of the ground. These cairns appear to have somewhat more regularity, on the exterior at least, than the stone tumuli of Ometepec. A more thorough examination of both is necessary before it can be determined whether or not the Ometepec mounds are, as Mr Squier believes, the ruins of teocallis and not tombs, and whether some of the Chontal cairns may not be the ruins or foundations of ancient structures. There can be little doubt that the Nicaraguans employed the mound-temple in their worship, and it is somewhat remarkable if modern fanaticism has left no traces of them; yet it is probable that wood entered more largely into their construction than in more northern climes. Mr Boyle found one grave near Juigalpa differing from the usual Chontal method of interment, and agreeing more nearly with that practiced in Mexico and Ometepec; and Mr Pim mentions the occurrence of numerous graves in the province, of much smaller size and of different proportions, the largest being twenty by twelve feet, and eight feet high.[II-42]