194 Distinctive Characteristics of the 



ences of feature and complexion ; and the American nations 

 present a precisely parallel case. 



I was at one time inclined to the opinion that the ancient 

 Peruvians, who inhabited the islands and confines of the 

 Lake Titicaca, presented a congenital form of the head en- 

 tirely different from that which characterizes the great Amer- 

 ican race ; nor could I at first bring myself to believe that 

 their wonderfully narrow and elongated crania, resulted solely 

 from artificial compression applied to the rounded head of the 

 Indian. That such, however, is the fact has been indisputa- 

 bly proved by the recent investigations of M. D'Orbigny. 

 This distinguished naturalist passed many months on the 

 table-land of the Andes which embraces the region of these 

 extraordinary people, and examined the desiccated remains of 

 hundreds of individuals in the tombs where they have lain 

 for centuries. M. D'Orbigny remarked that while many of 

 the heads were deformed in the manner to which we have 

 adverted, others differed in nothing from the usual conforma- 

 tion. It was also observed that the flattened skulls were uni- 

 formly those of men, while those of the women remained 

 unaltered; and again, that the most elongated heads were 

 preserved in the largest and finest tombs, shewing that this 

 cranial deformity was a mark of distinction. But to do away 

 with any remaining doubt on this subject, M. D'Orbigny as- 

 certained that the descendants of these ancient Peruvians yet 

 inhabit the land of their ancestors, and bear the name of 

 Aymaras, which may have been their primitive designation ; 

 and lastly, the modern Aymaras resemble the common Q,ui- 

 chua or Peruvian Indians in every thing that relates to phys- 

 ical conformation, not even excepting the head, which, how- 

 ever they have ceased to mould artificially. 



Submitted to the same anatomical test, the reputed giant 

 and dwarf races of America prove to be the mere inventions 

 of ignorance or imposition. A careful inspection of the re- 

 mains of both, has fully satisfied me that the asserted gigantic 

 form of some nations has been a hasty inference on the part 

 of unpractised observers : while the so-called pygmies of the 

 valley of the Mississippi were mere children, who, for reasons 



