;^^2 Voyage of the Novara. 



been borne towards the coast by the prevailing winds. Tlie 

 ashes themselves have no saline constituents, and are used 

 by the natives in the manufacture of sun-dried clay-bricks 

 {adoles), the quality of which they materially improve. 



We made an excursion to a churchyard in the vicinity of 

 d'Islay, where tlie skulls of some half a hundred human 

 beings lay exposed to view. They all seemed to have been 

 bleached by exposure, and were in good preservation, so that 

 on many might still be discovered heavy heads of hair. The 

 eyes had shrivelled up into the skidl, and were by no means 

 gleaming and crystal-like as is alleged of those found in 

 Indian graves, and offered for sale to strangers. These so- 

 called " crystallized human eyes," of which an Italian curi- 

 osity dealer of Arica possessed one or two sacks-full, belong 

 to a species of mollusca {Lol'igo gigas)^ and were used by the 

 Indians to adorn their dead. To this circumstance must be 

 attributed the great number that are to be found in the 

 graves in the neighbourhood of Arica. 



We continued to coast along during the entire niglit. 

 The number of passengers, especially of those on the 

 " 'tween decks," had again increased. Among the late ar- 

 rivals was an Austrian, a Tyrolese, from Iquique, who was 

 travelling into the interior of Peru. This man, seduced by 

 dazzling promises, had in 1856 emigrated to Peru with 293 

 of his fellow-countrymen, and after two years of the most 

 terrible hardships and privations, at last succeeded in finding 

 employment at the salt mines of Iquique. He was now 



