ARCIIEOLOGICAL RESEARCHES IN ARGENTINA AND BOLIVIA. 581 



ling* places I investigated, both in the l^una and at Toloniosa, no 

 object was met with that could suggest foreign influence, and that, 

 although the number of specimens obtained from the last-named 

 locality was several thousands, it is still a tolerably risky |)i"oceed- 

 ing to endeavor to identify the former inhabitants of the dwelling 

 places with an}' still extant Indian tribe. More extensive research is 

 requisite before that can be attemi)ted with any certainty of correct- 

 ness. Many circumstances point, nevertheless, to the Indians now 

 living in the Puna, though their numbers are exceedingly small, as 

 descendants of the tribes that were once so numerous and so i>owerful 

 in these regions. In spite of the great uncertainty still attachi.ng to 

 this problem, I have, nevertheless, thought it desirable to touch u]:)on 

 it here, in order to give rise possibly to a discussion upon it. 



