PERUVIAN STONE corpses, or whether mummification with them was the natural result of climatic influences and the salts contained in the soil in which they are inhumed. Dr. Le Plongeon believes that the preservation of the bodies is a consequence of both causes. He says it is evident that the Peruvians were in possession of a process of embalming; but they employed it to preserve only the bodies of monarchs and persons of rank. It is no less certain that the climate and the salts of potash (generally nitrate) which abound in the coast soil of Peru, and also the cold, dry, and rarefied air of the high mountains, of themselves have been sufficient to mummify and preserve the vast numbers of bodies that are strewn everywhere in that country, without any more preparation than the common shrouding in use among the inhabitants. WAR-CLUB. The bodies of the Incas after death were placed in the great Temple of the Sun at Cuzco, and their bowels, deposited in golden vases, were preserved in the magnificent temple of Tambo, four leagues from the capital. These bodies were prepared with consummate skill, for without any other protection from atmospheric influences than the oily ointment with which they were smeared, they remained for centuries in so perfect a state, that any one entering the temple and seeing them as they sat in their golden seats on each side of the image of their deity, the men to the right, the queens or coyas to the left, might have taken them for living worshipers, performing their devotions and adoring their father-the Sun! Mummification by climatic and chemical effects is proved by examining bodies found abundantly in the sepulchral mounds. These bodies show that the parts most readily suffering decomposition have not been removed, to facilitate any artificial process of embalming. The brown or blackish mass in the crania of these bodies is shown by HUARACA - SLING MADE OF LEATH ER. SILVER LAMP-HALF NATURAL SIZE. chemical and microscopic analysis to be the cerebral fat and the red globules of dried blood. In numerous instances mummies are found in which the viscera and intestines may yet be seen, as also the heart, surrounded by the pericardium, the shriveled lungs, the diaphragm, etc. As additional proof of the preservative power possessed by the soil of certain portions of the Peruvian coast, Dr. Le Plongeon refers to the story of the body of Dean Saavedra, interred a hundred years ago in a vault of a church near Trujillo. When discovered it was in as perfect condition as when it was first inhumed, the flesh being plump and fresh, and the joints as supple as if the Dean had just breathed his last breath. Le Plongeon relates this wonderful "fact" on the authority of General Carvaedo, who in person investigated the matter in 1829. The church stands on a high bluff on the site of an ancient Indian mound, formed by the pulverized bones of thousands upon thousands of the inhabitants of the city of Chimu-canchu. The incredulous Doctor no doubt took pleasure in accounting for a Roman Catholic miracle on natural principles. When an Indian grave is opened, the first thing that presents itself is a bundle wrapped in a coarse mat of rushes. Removing this, nothing is seen but a roll of cloth about two and a half feet high by two in diameter, in appearance something like a rough-wrought statue, in a squatting position. A round knot forms the head, two round protuberances mark the place of the knees, while two other bunches indicate the feet. The whole is snugly tied up in a net with wide meshes, made of rope of rushes. Untying the net and unsewing the interior cloth, which is commonly woolen, painted in brilliant colors, the red predominating, one or two pieces of cloth are found firmly sewed around the body. Between these two cotton pieces the worldly goods of the deceased are placed, such as small utensils and the personal ornaments he was fond of the hualqui or pouch, which contains his stock of coca, and suspended around his neck is his canopa or personal deity. Removing the inner of these cloths, another shroud of cotton fabric, very fine in texture, is discovered, no doubt originally white, but discolored to a yellowish hue by time. Immediately within this is the mummified body, in a greater or less degree of preservation. The flesh is dried up and shriveled, the skin looks like old parchment drawn tight over the bones, and the features are greatly disfigured. The head is always enveloped in two or three rolls of cotton cloth; the outer, of a most delicate texture, is adorned with variegated colors; the inner, of much coarser material, sustains the pads of yellow cotton wool with which it is generally wrapped. The bodies are almost invariably inhumed in a squatting posture. The hands are placed against the jaws; the arms, folded close to the breast, are retained in this position by means of a rope passed round the neck and wrists, serving also to keep the head upright. The thighs forced against the abdomen and breast, the legs doubled down against the thighs, bringing the knees to a level with the chin, help to support the head, while the feet are crossed inwardly, the toes facing each other. The whole was bound with ropes to keep every part in place. The hair is generally best preserved, and in many instances of mummied women it is artistically dressed and braided. The microscope discloses that the hair is flat instead of cylindrical like that of the Caucasian race. Whether it has become so by drying, or whether it is a peculiarity of this extinct race, is a question yet to be solved. A few miles from the village of Sisicaya, in the valley of Espiritu Santo, can be seen among the rocks which cover the rough slope of a hill, a strange sepulchral monument, which seems the handiwork of a people little acquainted with the arts of civilization, and to belong to an epoch much more remote than that to which belong the ruins that cover the hillsides everywhere in this populous valley. It bears a striking resemblance to a Druidical temple in the Isle of Jersey. It consists of a few flat unhewn stones, about four feet high, set firmly in the ground, and forming an oval, or an irregular circle, with an opening toward the east. This aperture is only a space of eighteen inches be SUPAY-THE DEVIL-MADE OF BLACK GLOSSY CLAY. JAR-MADE OF BLACK CLAY FOUND NEAR TUMBEZ. tween two stones. On the upper end of these upright stones are laid horizontally large slabs, in such a manner as to brace themselves mutually. On these are placed others, overlapping those beneath, resting against and strengthening each other. Over these again others project, so as to form an apex, the upper ones being thinner than those below. Another stone rests on the top of all, completely closing the aperture, and forming within a kind of dome of the rudest and most primitive construction. The slopes of the hills on both sides of this valley abound in the ruins of deserted villages. Conspicuous among their tumblingdown walls and roofless houses are some singular structures, built of adobe, without openings, and resembling small ovens about four feet high. As they are without opening, the puzzle what may have been their use is solved by demolishing the top and looking down. into the interior, where human bones together with the fragments of domestic utensils leave no doubt as to their purpose. Dr. Le Plongeon invariably found human remains in those which he broke open. One of the largest he examined contained two mummies, a man and a woman. They stood opposite each other, their backs resting against the walls, and they were surrounded by various articles which had probably belonged to them during their lives. Near the woman stood a pretty basket with a cover, made of rushes. In the basket were spindles loaded with thread, cottonwool, thread-balls of different colors, a few silver ornaments and other little trinkets such as women are wont to keep in their workboxes. There were also earthen pots, some new and some bearing evidence of use. On the seacoasts the sepulchral monuments built of adobe were generally square, but occasionally oval. It seems to be a sin gular fact that the ancient Peruvians seldom occupied arable lands, or places that could be irrigated, for burial-purposes. When that became a necessity, however, the monuments exhibit a series of small chambers adjoining each other, about three feet square and four high, so arranged that one wall would answer for two graves at once. The ground plan resembled a chessboard. The bodies, shrouded and in the squatting posture, were placed each one in his compartment, with all his worldly riches. The chamber was then filled nearly full with sand or earth, and a layer of adobes, cement'ed, sealed the tomb, and at the same time formed a floor for another series built above the first and in a similar manner. is the accumulation during ages of the earth ly remains of countless generations, which forms the huacas or artificial mounds which are such a prominent feature of the Peruvian coast, everywhere along the shores and in the interior, from the mouth of the Guayaquil river to the northern boundaries of the Desert of Atacama. JAR OF BLACK CLAY, FROM TOMB OF THE CHINUS. On the eastern slopes of the Cordilleras, from the brow of the mountains to the shores of Lake Titicaca, the graves were all built of stones, some in a very rude shape, consisting merely of unhewn stones placed upon each other, without cement or even clay to hold them together. These were filled with squatting corpses, and the vacant spaces with stones, until the whole looked like a square heap. Near the shores of the Lake Titicaca, however, considerable architectural skill is evinced on the part of the builder. These funeral monuments or chulpas abound particularly in the department of Puno, in the modern political division of Peru. They are circular towers, varying from ten to thirty feet in height, their diameter increasing in proportion to their elevation, and the walls diverging in a graceful outer curve toward the top. The whole, surmounted with a dome-shaped roof, presents an elegant ap double rows at right angles. The opening are so small that a man can enter only by creeping in on hands and knees, when he finds himself confronted with the gnaning skeletons that have held silent reign for rolling centuries. In the dominions of the chieftain ChimuCanchu, in the northern part of Peru, the nobles and distinguished persons were buried in tombs carefully built and adorned, into which, with the deceased, were put his treas ures, his wives, servants, plenty of provisions and large supplies of chicha. Explorations of these mounds often reward the explorer by the discovery of curious articles of gold and silver, sometimes of copper, which may be seen in the collections of various antiquaries who have interested themselves in these researches. The proficiency which this ancient people had attained in the arts of spinning, weaving, and dyeing, was truly admirable. This is abundantly proved by the remains of most beautiful fabrics artistically interwoven with intricate designs and ornaments of gold, silver, and feathers, all made by hand, without loom or any but the most primitive machinery. Judging by the spindles, threads, and other materials found in the graves, the Peruvian Indians of the present day employ nearly the same processes for spinning and weaving that their ancestors did in the time of the Conquest, and for how long before, who shall inform us? EARTHEN WATER-JAR. Though they knew how to extract the most permanent and exquisite dyes from plants and woods, their knowledge of the art of painting was manifestly in a very crude condition. Judging by the pictures on their sacred vases and domestic earthenwares, their attainment in this art must have been quite in its infancy. We find also that their wooden handiwork is of the coarsest and most unfinished character; and it is truly singular that while they invented tools which enabled them to master the difficulties of cutting stone, they had none which enabled them to overcome the tenacity of ligneous fibre. Though the country abounds everywhere in iron, they were unacquainted with its use, and their copper tools were inadequate to working the hard woods of their forests. At the same time they worked mines of gold, silver, tin, and quicksilver, and knew how to smelt and refine the ores. Copper must have been held by these old inhabitants of Peru as a vile metal, for it was mostly employed in the fabrication of weapons, tools, etc., while silver and gold were used for personal ornaments, decoration of temples and palaces, and even for domestic utensils. The plastic art among the Peruvians presents one most singular feature. The figures, whether of animals or human beings, are all short and bulky, with an utter disproportion between the parts. It is always on the head that the artist lavishes his skill, paying very little attention to body or limbs. Even in the heads, the nose and ears are out of all proportion with the whole, and are always larger than nature. These Peruvian artists seem to have employed all their talent in the fabrication of huacas, canopas, and the vases which were to be placed in the sepulchers. Articles of domestic use were of the coarsest and simplest manufacture. The materials were a colored clay and a blackish sort of earth, mixed in such a manner as not to absorb liquids. The secret is lost to us. Though a few specimens appear to have been' exposed to the action of fire, a vast majority were manifestly baked or hardened by exposure to the heat of the sun. A striking feature of Peruvian pottery is the long slim neck through which to pour liquids, placed on the handle, even forming a part of it in every vessel. In almost all these vessels there was a small orifice through which the air, escaping when the vessel was filled, made a sound like the noise of the animal represented. The monkeys shrieked, the cats mewed, birds sang, serpents hissed, etc. On some of these vessels the faces are undoubtedly portraits of the persons in whose sepulchers they are found. They bear striking resemblance to the present Indian inhabitants of the interior of Peru. The Peruvians seem to have been entirely unacquainted with the use of explosive compounds, although the country abounds in saltpeter and sulphur. In war they wore a defensive armor, which consisted of a close, heavy tunic quilted with cotton, with a shield covered with raw-hide, and a casque for the protection of the head. ROUND CHULPAS, OR BURIAL TOWERS These, made of wood or skins, represent the head of some wild animal with the mouth open, exposing the grinning teeth. It was stated by the Spanish invaders that the Peruvians used bows, and arrows tipped with bones, sometimes with copper. These weapons are however seldom if ever found in the graves. Their weapons were generally made of chonta, a very hard species of wood, but they preferred the huayacan, which was much harder, so hard, in fact, that they could not work it with their copper tools, and were obliged to employ those of stone. They used the lance, the spear, the javelin, and the long and short sword, made of wood and of copper. The huactana, or war-club, seems to have been a common and favorite arm, as it is often found in the tombs. These clubs are usually made of stone in the shape of a star, with six or eight radiations, and a hole in the center for a handle. Slings, with which they were very expert, are found in large quantities. Indeed, every man appears to have possessed one. They were made of raw-hide beautifully braided. The hair was preserved on the wide place which was to receive the stone, and on the loop through which they passed the finger, in order to hold the instrument in the hand. Dr. Le Plongeon discovered many wrapped round the heads of mummies, even those of infants. STATUE OF AN INCA CHIEFMADE OF RED CLAY. Space forbids farther detail of the curious matter contained in Le Plongeon's manuscript. It all serves to intensify the interest which has been already awakened in Peruvian Antiquities. There, in the dreamful drowsiness that rose, Blent with the busy humming of the bee I read, as one who dreams at mid-day time, In the far eld, when chivalry shone bright A potent Lord and powerful did dwellHis wealth and honors were a tale to tell. On his broad lands his serfs and vassals all By thousands ate the bitter bread of thrall; For proud was he and cruel, fierce of heart, He took small heed of others' life or limb, And held his bondsmen as the baser part Of the great world God made alone for him In sooth it seemed his cup did overbrim With all good things, where in the pride of birth Beneath his iron rule the land waxed faint; Yet was there one that loved him fast and well, |