.Appendix. 



ANTIQUITIES OF PERU.* 



BY J. B. STEERE, PH.D. 



On the old mail route from the Amazon to the Pacific, the 

 tropical jungle reaches, with but little interruption, to the village 

 of Molino Pampa, near the old town of Chachapoyas, where the 

 road breaks out all at once from groves of tree ferns and palms, 

 upon high, cool, grassy plains, with dry wastes intervening, both 

 so characteristic of the Andes. 



As soon as the rainy and timbered region is left behind, the 

 character of the remains and ruins left by the ancient peoples 

 who have inhabited the country, changes. Ruins of stone build- 

 ings are found, and the dead were buried in tombs of stone and 

 mud, or were put away in caves and crevices of the rocks, instead 

 of being buried in earthen jars, as on the Amazon. 



The physical characteristics of a country have much to do 

 with the habits of life of the people inhabiting it, and hence 

 much to do with the remains left by them. People living in 

 regions abounding in stone and with Httle timber, naturally use 

 the materials most abundant, and leave ruins of huge pyramids 

 and stone temples; while those dwelling in such heavily wooded 

 countries as the Amazon, where stone is rare, build their dwell- 

 ings of wood, and leave nothing to prove that they have existed 



*The subject originally treated of was " The Antiquities met with in a 

 Trip up the Amazon and across the Andes to the Pacific Coast;" but it seemed 

 too large to be condensed into the space allotted in the printed proceedings 

 of the Association, and that part relating to the remains of ancient races 

 found upon the Amazon has been omitted. 



