26 THE INCAS AND OTHER RULERS OF PERU. 



display in many instances a fair appreciation and application of 

 artistic principles, not only in colour, but in material and in 

 general design. 



The group of pottery of which an illustration is here given 

 is from the northern part of Peru, for, though I have found 

 specimens of pottery in ancient graves in Tarapaca, none of it 

 was other than crude and valueless both in workmanship, 

 material, and design. 



All the old Peruvian pottery, now extant, has been taken 

 from burial places, affording another example of the once almost 

 - universal custom of providing the departed with the means of 

 subsistence and of proper display in the future state. Some of 

 the vases held maize and others grain, while some no doubt were 

 filled with water, and others again were added as the appropriate 

 ■ personal belongings of the deceased, who was also provided with 

 ■garments, bows and arrows, fishing gear, etc., and, in the case of 

 •nobles and chieftains, with their ceremonial attire, and even with 

 gold and silver in the shape of images and adornments. 



Again, the artistic instinct took another form with these 

 , ancient inhabitants of Peru, and their habit of depicting figures 

 on the hill-sides was as strikingly displayed as in the case of our 

 Saxon forefathers. 



: In Peru the llama took the place of the white horse in 

 Wiltshire, and we still find numberless representations of this 

 animal, as also of the kindred vicunas and guanacos, depicted on 

 the hill-sides, either singly or in groups, and occasionally in 

 conjunction with geometrical figures, and representations of 

 human beings. 



Whether these figures were the outcome of mere fancy, or 

 of superstition, or for astronomical purposes, I am unable to say. 

 In places I incline to think they are ancient landmarks, probably 

 sign posts to wayfarers. But whatever prompted their produc- 

 tion, these " painted hills," as the Spaniards called them, are a 

 curious and most interesting record of an almost forgotten past, 

 and I am glad to say they are in many cases so well preserved as 

 to promise interest and instruction to the traveller for many 

 generations to come. 



