126 Comparative P^tew of 



practical arts of lite." P. 84. The desert of Atacama divides 

 the kingdom of Peru from that of Chile, and is nearly a hun- 

 dred miles in length. A river, abounding in salt, runs through 

 it. This desert was the favourite sepulchre of the Peruvian 

 nations for successive ages. The climate, salt, and sand, dry 

 up the bodies, and the remains of whole generations of the 

 former inhabitants of Peru may now be examined, after the 

 lapse perhaps of thousands of years. Dr Morton has been 

 enabled to examine nearly one hundred Peruvian crania, and 

 concludes that that country has been, at different times, peo- 

 pled by two nations of differently formed crania, one of which 

 is perhaps extinct, or at least exists only as blended by adven- 

 titious circumstances, in very remote and scattered tribes of 

 the present Indian race. " Of these two families, that which 

 was antecedent to the appearance of the Incas is designated 

 as the ancient Peruvian, of which the remains have been 

 found only in Peru, and especially in that division of it now 

 called Bolivia. Their tombs, according to Mr Pentland, 

 abound on the shores and islands of the great Lake Titicaca, 

 in the inter-alpine valley of the Desaquadera, and in the ele- 

 vated valleys of the Peruvian Andes, between the latitudes of 

 14° and 19° 30' south." Our knowledge of their physical ap- 

 pearance is derived solely from their tombs. They were not 

 different " from cognate nations in any respect except in the 

 conformation of the head, which is small, greatly elongated, 

 narrow in its whole length, with a very retreating forehead, 

 and possessing more symmetry than is usual in skulls of the 

 American race. The face projects, the upper jaw is thrust 

 forward, and the teeth are inclined outward. The orbits of 

 the eyes arfe large and rounded, the nasal bones salient, the 

 zygomatic arches expanded ; and there is a remarkable sim- 

 pUcity in the sutures that connect the bones of the cranium." 

 P. 97. Dr Morton presents the following cranium. Fig. 4 

 of his series, " as an illustrative type of the cranial peculiari- 

 ties of the people f and he is of opinion that the form is 

 " natural, unaltered by art." 



