12 THE INCAS AIST) OTHER RULERS OF PERU. 



with tlie hauling power of several labourers, this curious relic of 

 the past was moved from its resting place of centuries, placed 

 carefully on a railway truck, carried to Iquique, and shipped for 

 what I trust will he its final abode. 



Some people think that the proper place for antiquities is the 

 country in which they are found ; but, without going into the 

 ethics or sentiment of the matter, I think you will agree that in 

 the case before us to-day a Cornish museum is a fitter home for 

 our curiosity than an unguarded valley in South America where 

 ruthless destroyers roam unchecked. 



So much for the stone itself. 



The hieroglyphics on the stone have awakened considerable 

 curiosity regarding their meaning and purpose, and have turned 

 the thoughts of many towards the people who were patient 

 enough to engrave them. 



Our late accomplished curator has offered a most ingenious 

 solution of the problem presented by the stone, but I do not suppose 

 that he intended to dogmatize infallibly on a subject with regai-d 

 to which I fear we must, in the present state of our knowledge, 

 be contented to retain an oj^en mind. And as I am not c^ualified 

 to enter the lists as an original decipherer of those extraordinary 

 figures, so neither am I justified in posing as the suj)porter of any 

 interpretation ah-eady suggested by others. 



The hieroglyphics of Egypt were, we know, mainly interpreted 

 through the discovery of the Eosetta stone (now in the British 

 Museum), which displayed a long and rather dull story in 

 hieroglyphs with its translation at foot into the Demotic and Greek 

 languages. This proved a real stepping stone to the complete 

 knowledge of the hieroglyphic language of that ancient country, 

 and served to establish the chronology ol Egypt. 



In Peru, however, we can hardly hope for any similar 

 discovery, for, though the early Peruvians were, relatively 

 speaking, highly civilised before the Christian era, they do not at 

 any time appear to have enjoyed the possession of an alphabet, 

 and in fact, they seem to have drifted from the irksome process 

 of carving their thoughts in stone to a less laborious though 

 possibly more complicated method of recording them by tying 



