A Botanical and Economic Study. 103 



erful bill." 1 The inscription on the top of the left-hand slab 

 of Casa No. 3, interpreted by the Maya alphabet, reads as 

 follows: "the gods — earth, sky, water, maize — Kukuitz, 

 Kukulcan, Cauac, Muluc." '-' 



Many interesting finds were made in South America. That 

 the Peruvians were agriculturists, and cultivated maize as 

 the staple crop, is proved by the numerous works that they 

 have left; large terraces and irrigation canals testify to the 

 extent and development of the cultivation. The tombs, 

 graves, or huacas, have been relied upon generally for evi- 

 dence as to the Peruvian culture. These huacas nearly all 

 contain remains of maize, either in the ear or the grain. But 

 it has been shown conclusively that the graves, especially at 

 Ancon, have been used since the conquest, so that we must 

 be very judicious in the selection of our evidence and illus- 

 trations. The bodies of the Peruvians were buried in a 

 squatting position, with the thighs flexed on the pelvis, and 

 the legs drawn up parallel with the thighs. The face was 

 covered with cotton flock, sometimes llama wool ; the whole- 

 body being rolled in a mat, and then tightly tied up. Nuts, 

 needles, heads of maize, and copper agricultural implements 

 were included in the rolling." With the body were placed a 

 water-vessel, and a pot with grains of corn. 4 All along the 

 coast of Peru, for a distance of 1200 miles, are scattered here 

 and there thousands of ruins and huacas, while nearly every 

 hill and mountain have some upon them. We can say with 

 a reasonable amount of certainty that the Peruvians knew the 

 maize and used it. Darwin 5 unearthed some ears on a sea- 

 shore in South America, in a stratum which had evidently 

 been raised from nearer the sea-level, and to which he 

 assigns a great antiquity. Marcay ,; states that in the tombs 

 of the Aymara Indians the grain was found the color of old 

 mahogany, but it preserved its gloss, which he believes, from 



1 Science, xx, 1892, 100. 



2 Science, xx, 1892, 78 



8 Journ. Anthr. Inst., m, 311, 1874. 



4 Heath, E. R., Journ. Sciences, 3 Ser., 1879, 90. 



6 Darwin, Variations of Animals and Plants under Domestication, 1, 320. 



c Marcay, Travels in South America, 1, 69. 



