Mr. P. F. Bellamy on two Peruvian Mummies. 99 



of the two specimens now produced : and the position is con- 

 siderably strengthened by the great relative length of the large 

 bones of the cranium ; by the direction of the plane of the oc- 

 cipital bone, which is not forced upwards, but occupies a place 

 in the under part of the skull ; by the further absence of marks 

 of pressure, there being no elevation of the vertex nor pro- 

 jection of either side ; and by the fact of there being no instru- 

 ment nor mechanical contrivance suited to produce such an 

 alteration of form (as these skulls present) found in connexion 

 with them *. 



The remarkably flattened forehead, indicative of the very 

 small size of the anterior lobes of the brain, is worthy of re- 

 mark ; and it will be for phrenologists to reconcile this fact 

 with those now recorded, which bespeak for this people a tole- 

 rably advanced state of civilization : they were manufacturers 

 and agriculturists ; bestowed their dead with peculiar care, 

 paying particular attention to their imaginary wants, and had 

 certain superstitious notions connected with their departure 

 to some distant region. Are these marks of intellect the re- 

 sult of original powers of invention, or are they the result of 

 intercourse with other and more civilized people ? 



This peculiar race were in all probability the aborigines of 

 the country ; and it is possible that these mummies may be 

 the relics of some of the last of the Titicacans, deposited after 

 the invasion of the country by those enlightened conquerors, 

 who subdued them, not by the sword, but by moral agencies, 

 and imparted to them a knowledge of their arts and rites and 

 superstitions. But it will be for the ethnologist to show how 

 far the facts now stated are found to accord with the manners, 

 customs and attainments of eastern nations ; and to say to 

 what people the first emigrants to this part of the western 

 shores of America belonged. Failing in this however, it will, 

 I think, be fair to attribute to the indigenae a mental capacity 

 equal to originate such inventions, and to arrive at such at- 

 tainments as the specimens before us manfest. 



It is probable that the extinction of this once typical variety 

 of the human family was produced gradually by an intermix- 

 ture of blood with those who afterwards became the lords of 

 the soil, and whose line of princes, untainted by such inter- 

 course, formed the Incas dynasty so remarkable in the history 

 of Peru. 



Lastly, I would suggest that the adult skulls of Titicacans 

 before alluded to are of two kinds, the one possessing all the 

 peculiarities of the race in its unalloyed form — the true Titi- 

 ckcan ; and the other being of a spurious character, resulting 



* See the note at the end of this communication, 

 H2 



