Appendix. 143 



and at different times, and that the Incas were inhabitants of the 

 cooler plateaus of the interior. Their principal cities of Quito, 

 Cajamarca, and Cuzco, were ail on these plateaus, and the 

 remainder of the race are now found inhabiting the cold moun- 

 tain valleys, or upon the estates of the interior, employed as 

 peons or serfs. The whole Spanish account of the conquest, and 

 of the people and their customs, numbers, cities, etc., seems a 

 bundle of lies, conflicting among themselves, and not at all 

 corresponding with the real facts, where they can now be inves- 

 tigated. This leaves the question of the origin and distribution 

 of races in South America open to the theories and speculations 

 of every one; and the graves and ruins give, and will continue 

 to give for a long time to come, vast quantities o'f material to 

 found theories upon. 



The graves that I examined seem capable of being divided 

 into two classes; but whether the difference was caused by differ- 

 ence of race or difference of locality and surroundings, is 

 doubtful. The general style of burial on the plains was in vaults 

 beneath the surface. In finding them, one generally digs through 

 two or three feet of sand, sometimes rinding bodies l>ing prone 

 in this, wrapped in cotton cloth ; and then coarse mats of rushes 

 or bamboo are reached, supported upon poles, that lie across the 

 vault below. In one end of this vault the bodies are found, 

 appearing to be bundles of cloth, standing on end, and these 

 bundles are often enveloped in baskets or sacks of coarsely plaited 

 rushes. Upon unwrapping these bundles the bodies are found 

 to have been doubled up so that the knees nearly touch the 

 breast. In the graves at Pachacamac, south of Lima, there were 

 found sticking in the top of these bundles figures to imitate the 

 human head, the face being carved rudely in wood, with shell 

 eyes, and a shock of fibre of some kind being used for hair. At 

 the feet of these bundles were generally found a number of pots, 

 often six or eight, or more, covered with dishes made from 

 gourds or squashes, and filled with peanuts, beans, Indian corn, 

 roots of cassava, and in one case, of the skeletons of a small 

 animal, probably a guinea pig. Cotton is also often found. 

 The pots found, "filled with food, have been used in many cases, 



