xvi Proceedings. {March Sth, igio. 



before the Incas, the ancient people the Chimus, had used this 

 valley as a cemetery, and the result has been the discovery of 

 many hundred pieces of probably the most ancient pottery in 

 the world, the product of a lost civilisation and possibly 5,000 

 to 10,000 years old. 



The pieces are in the best state of preservation, for there is 

 no rain in that part of Peru, and the silicates in the earth have 

 arrested decay ; even metals thus buried oxidize very slowly. 



The climate in the valleys of Peru is similar to that of Egypt 

 and probably drier. It is an accepted fact that iron resists 

 oxygen except when damp, for moisture acts like glue : iron does 

 not rust in dry oxygen. Even sycamore planks and cases in the 

 Cairo Museum have no sign of decay although 4,000 years old. 

 There is an arm chair there nearly as good as new about 3,000 

 years old ; I saw it the other day. 



All writers agree that the Chimus were the ancient rulers of 

 Peru until defeated about 500 or 600 years ago by the Incas. 

 The Spaniards conquered the Incas and destroyed their leaders 

 about 400 years ago. Sir Clements Markham says : " The 

 Chimus were a highly civilised people. We know this from the 

 remains of their systems of irrigation works, their vast and 

 elaborate palaces, factories, and places of sepulture, and from 

 their works of art ; but we know next to nothing of their origin 

 or history or their beliefs." Sir Clements Markhain, I may say, 

 has travelled in Peru ; he has written books on his travels and 

 on the antiquities of Peru, and probably he is the greatest living 

 authority on Peruvian lore. 



No Chimu alphabet has yet been discovered, no language has 

 been found, and, in the absence of proof, opinions differ about the 

 age of this pottery. Symbolism is the parent of the alphabet, 

 and we owe much to China and Egypt, for there it took thousands 

 of years to blossom, and the supreme partnership between the 

 tongue, the eye, the ear, and the hand at last gives us the 

 written word that will, in scorn of time, for ever silently speak to 

 man. 



When the Spaniards destroyed the Inca civilization and 



