93 
In all my explorations in the western part of our own 
country, and in Central and South America, the seats of high- 
est aboriginal civilization, I have only once found the arch 
proper among remains prima facie aboriginal, and that was 
among the ruins of Pachacamac, twenty miles south of Lima, 
in Peru. The building in which it occurs is of Inca origin, 
and called the Mamacona—ze. Convent of the Virgins of 
the Sun. It is one of several of the same origin intruded 
among the far more ancient structures of the natives of 
the Coast, subsequently to the Inca conquest. As will 
be seen from the photographs that I now submit, this is 
a perfect, well-turned arch, composed of adobes of large size, 
in all respects equal to any composed of similar material that 
are raised to-day. It is said that arches are also found among 
the aboriginal monuments in-the vicinity of Tumbez, North- 
ern Peru. 
We all know that a kind of bastard arch, formed by over- 
lapping stones, or flat stones set at a certain pitch against 
each other, like the rafters of a house, was known among all 
the relatively-civilized nations of the continent; but the 
true arch is a thing exceptional, and the one to which I have 
alluded entirely enigmatical, as I can scarcely conceive that 
the knowledge and skill of which it gives evidence, could 
have existed even among these wonderful architects, the 
Ancient Peruvians, without having a wider or more general 
application. 
I do not believe in the existence of arches among the ruins 
in the Cafion of Chelly, or anywhere else in New Mexico, 
except among the remains of the old Spanish missionary 
establishments, which have more than once been confounded 
with the monuments of the Indians. 
But whatever exaggeration or error of statement may have 
been made about the ruins in the Cafion of Chelly, it is 
dwarfed by the assertion that was made by Capt. Carmichael, 
at the late meeting of the British Association in Liverpool, 
namely, that “he had recently returned from California, 
where he had heard a Japanese and a Digger Indian of 
Nevada, then brought together for the first time, converse 
PROC. LYC. NAT. HIST. N. Y.—VOL. L 7 
