TO RELATIVE CAPACITY OF RACES. 22 3~ 



are fottnd in the legendary history of Peru to a pigmy race. Pedro 

 de Cieza de Leon, whose travels have been translated by Mr. 

 Markham, refers to the first emigration of the Indians of Chincha 

 to that valley, " where they found many inhabitants, but all of such 

 small stature, that the tallest was barely two cubits high " (p. 260). 

 Garcilasso de la Yega repeats another tradition heard by himself in 

 Peru, of a race of giants who came by sea to the country, and were 

 so tall that the natives reached no higher than their knees. They 

 lived by rapine, and wasted the whole country till they were de- 

 stroyed by fire from heaven. Traditions of this class may possibly 

 point to the existence of an aboriginal race of small stature. The 

 aborigines of Guatemala, Salvador, and l^icaragua, are described as 

 below the middle size (Bancroft, Yol. I., p. 688); and Yon Tchudi 

 divides the wild Indians of Peru into the Iscuchanos, the natives of 

 the highlands, a tall, slim, vigorous race, with the head proportion- 

 ally large and the forehead low ; and those of the hot lowlands, a 

 smaller race, lank, but broad shouldered, with a broad face and small 

 round chin. There appear, therefore, to be traces of one or more 

 aboriginal races of small stature. But Dr. Morton says expressly 

 of the Peruvians : " Our knowledge of their physical appearance is 

 derived solely from their tombs. In stature they appear not to havs 

 been in any respect remarkable, nor to have diifered from the 

 cognate nations except in the conformation of the head, which 

 is small, greatly elongated, narrow its whole length, with a very 

 retreating forehead, and possessing more symmetry than is usual in 

 skulls of the American race." Some of the characteristics here 

 referred to are, in part at least, the result of artificial modifications ; 

 but the small head appears to be an indisputable characteristic of 

 the most numerous ancient people of Peru. 



It may not unreasonably excite surprise that Dr. Morton should have 

 adduced results apparently pointing to the conclusion that civilization 

 had progressed among the native races of the American continent 

 in an inverse ratio to the volume of brain; and yet passed it over 

 with such slight comment. The only hint at a solution of the diffi- 

 culty is where, as he draws his work to a close, he indicates the 

 recognition of a greater anterior and coronal development in the 

 smaller Peruvian brain. " It is curious," he says, " to observe that 

 the barbarous nations possess a larger brain by five and a half cubic 

 inches, than the Toltecans ; whUe, on the other hand, the Toltecan» 



