4 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 6 1 



in the future, as they should be, and four or five years hence, except 

 in the mountains and the more sheltered localities, but little will be 

 found in Peru for the anthropologist without costly and time con- 

 suming excavation. 



II. EXPLORATIONS IN THE SIERRAS: REGION 

 OF HUAROCHIRI 



The rugged, high, mountainous district southeast of Lima, known 

 as the province of Huarochiri, is entered either from the line of the 

 Central Peruvian Railroad, or by a detour from the coast. The 

 former route involves the passing through localities infected with 

 dangerous diseases peculiar to certain parts of Peru, the uta and 

 especially the verruga, as well as some long and steep ascents. The 

 other route passes through a healthier territory, but means two to 

 three days arduous journeying, devoid for the most part of all accom- 

 modations for man and beast. 



The Huarochiri region has no special historical importance, and, 

 although so near to Lima, it has never been well studied archeologi- 

 cally or anthropologically ; but it has long been known to be relatively 

 rich in ruins and in trephined crania. Some of the trephined skulls 

 found their way into the remarkable collection described 15 years 

 ago by Muniz and AIcGee, 1 and two years ago the Harvard Medical 

 School purchased a large number of similar specimens from Dr. 

 Julio C. Tello, a native of the town of Huarochiri. The latter col- 

 lection, as yet undescribed, was made by Dr. Tello. with the assist- 

 ance of Dr. Clemente Palma and some of the natives, entirely in 

 the district of Huarochiri, and when seen by the writer was found 

 not merely to present highly interesting conditions from surgical 

 and pathological standpoints, but also to show crania of a remark- 

 ably uniform type such as occurs only exceptionally in the coast 

 regions. These facts and the problems they offered made a personal 

 investigation of the burial places of this district very desirable. After 

 duly obtaining permission from the Peruvian authorities, the writer 

 therefore started at once toward Huarochiri. 



Preceded by a brief visit to the ruins of Cajamarquilla, the route 

 chosen was that by way of Matucana, whence a perilous and long 

 day's journey took the writer, with a soldier-companion and a 

 native, to San Damian, the center of a difficult but archeologically 



1 Muniz, M, A., and AIcGee, W J: Primitive Trephining in Peru, 16th Ann. 

 Rep. Bur. Amer. Ethnol., Washington, 1897. 



