June, 1841.] 3f> 



extremity, but on reversing its position in the bed the end which 

 had before been a north pole was made a south one ; and vice versa . 



Dr. Morton made some remarks on the Ancient Peruvians ; 

 that extraordinary people who preceded the Inca race, and 

 whose monuments show a remarkable advance in civilization 

 at a very early epoch. 



" In my work on American skulls (Crania Americana,) I have 

 expressed the opinion that the heads of the ancient Peruvians were 

 naturally very much elongated ; and that they differed in this 

 respect from those of the Inca Peruvians, and other surrounding 

 nations ; and having given this opinion at a meeting of the Acade- 

 my prior to the publication of my work, I take this occasion to 

 renounce it. 



In the American Journal of Science, for March, 1840, I have 

 already, in a brief note, adverted to this change of opinion ; and I 

 now repeat my matured conclusions in connection with positive 

 facts, derived from the work of a distinguished traveller and natu- 

 ralist, M. Alcide D'Orbigny. 



This gentleman not only visited the elevated table-land of the 

 Andes, which was once inhabited by the ancient Peruvians, but he 

 remained a long time in that interesting region, and has collected 

 numerous facts in relation to the people themselves. 



1. The descendants of the ancient Peruvians yet inhabit the land 

 of their ancestors, and bear the name of Aymaras, which was pro- 

 bably their primitive designation. 



2. The modern Aymaras resemble the surrounding Quichua or 

 Peruvian nations, in colour, figure, features, expression, shape of 

 the head, (which they have ceased to mould into artificial forms,) 

 and in fact in every thing that relates to physical conformation and 

 social customs ; their languages differ, but even here there is a 

 resemblance which proves a common origin. 



3. On examining the tombs of the ancient Aymaras, in the envi- 

 rons of the lake Titicaca, M. D'Orbigny remarked that those which 

 contained the compressed and elongated skulls, contained also a 



