A LADLE OR DISH WITH ONL HANDLE, USED BY THE INCAS AS A SOUP PLATE 



It is painted in three colors, inside. the dish and on the handle, in a very attractive 

 pattern, reminding one of the decoration used on Greek pottery. The two incised nubbins 

 opposite the handle are evidently an echo of the time when the dishes had two handles. One 

 handle got broken off, and it was discovered that the dish was even more convenient than 

 when it had two handles. In hundreds of examples of this type of dish in the Machu Picchu 

 collections and in the great museums containing collections of Peruvian pottery we have 

 found a very few cases in which these nubbins were not incised, but cases in which the 

 incision goes all the way through and becomes a perforation. The dish may very con- 

 veniently be held in the hand, the thumbs going through the loop of the handle. Y^ natural 

 size. 



and soldiers, the Incas, and their prede- 

 cessors, the "Megalithic Folk." 



When one considers the many attrac- 

 tive features of this ancient civilization — 

 the picturesque location of the towns, the 

 beautiful stonework, the symmetry of the 

 buildings, the difficult engineering feats 

 that are frequently in evidence, the at- 

 tractive designs on pottery and textiles, 

 the skillful metallurg)^, and above all the 

 stories of remarkable governmental or- 

 ganization made familiar by the fasci- 

 nating volumes of Prescott — our zest for 

 exploration and discovery in this region 

 may readily be understood. 



UNDESCRIRED ANIMALS 



There is the appeal of geology and phy- 

 siography. It is believed that southern 

 Peru contains the key to the structural 

 growth, erosion epochs, and stratigraphic 

 history of the Andes, and to climatic 

 fluctuations of great range. The re- 

 ported presence of irrigation ditches at 

 high elevations suggests interesting stud- 

 ies relating to the shifting of population 

 due to climatic and other changes. 



Furthermore, this area is so little 

 known to geologists and paleontologists 

 that the chance of making interesting and 



important discoveries is considerable. 

 Many unexplored and even unlocated ex- 

 tinct lakes of Pliocene and Pleistocene 

 times probably exist on this plateau, 

 which, like the Ayusbamba, visited in 

 1912 (see the National Geographic 

 Magazine, April, 1913, page 501), may 

 be expected to yield vertebrate fossils. 



From the point of view of zoology, re- 

 markably little is known of the animal 

 life of this region, considering the length 

 of time that it has been opened. In the 

 great museum collections there are very 

 few specimens of the fauna of the Andes 

 of Peru and Bolivia. It is believed that 

 there are many new species of mammals 

 yet to be described. The Andean bear, 

 the so-called "spectacled" bear, which is 

 so very shy, and of which no specimens 

 have been brought home from southern 

 Peru, is fairly common in this region. 



On the botanical side the region is par- 

 ticularly interesting as being the original 

 home, it is believed, of some varieties of 

 our more common articles of food, such 

 as the potato and Indian corn. Further- 

 more, we find here several edible roots 

 and vegetables that are unknown in the 

 United States, and which may be worth 

 transplanting. 



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