284 THE INDIAN GRAVES OF PERU. 



THE INDIAN GRAVES OF PERU. 

 (^From the Panama Star and Herald.) 



The graves and monuments of the New World hitherto examined, unlike 

 those of the Old, have thrown but little light on the ancient history of man. 

 Along with the mummies of Egypt have lately been found a new roll of kings 

 of Egyptian dynasties ; while in a mound occupying the site of ancient Baby- 

 lonia, an inscription has been iaterpreted relating to the Tower of Babel or 

 Confusion of Tongues, in both cases affecting man's spiritual dignity and 

 religious belief. The graves of the " untutored American Indians " when 

 opened up to the sun show the past generations of living Indians to have 

 been cunning workers in gold, silver, and precious stones, and finely woven 

 textures of cotton cloth, dyed with brilliant hues. But as every Indian des- 

 cended into the grave with the most precious of his worldly goods around 

 him, we get an insight into his ideas regarding a future state. His favourite 

 chieha and provisions suitable for the journey before him, were piously put 

 within reach of his hand, together with various curiously shaped water jugs 

 and coolers ; in fact, everything befitting the same rank he must inscrutably 

 occupy in the spirit world — the slaves with nothing, and the women along with 

 the tools of her kitchen drudgery. Among other things of adornment or 

 utility found upon or around the mummy in the graves opened in Arica, were 

 some lenticular bodies, considered to be petrified human eyes, of brownish 

 colour and pearl-like refliections. It is afSrmed that they were to be found in 

 the sockets of the eyes, and sometimes on the ground within the trunk. They 

 have been eagerly sought for by all travellers who have visited that locality, 

 and looked on as the curious results of the process of mummification used by 

 these ancient Indians. They are formed of concentric cup-like lamina, peeling 

 off like the coats of an onion on its convex side. While viewed in front, these 

 lamina form concentric circles, diminishing to a round minute ball in the 

 centre, while numerous fine lines run like radii from the centre to the circum- 

 ference. The form is that of a plano-convex lens, with a diameter of 13-16 of 

 an inch, and a vertical axis of 11-16 ; its substance is evidently organic, but in 

 no other way has it any affinity to the human eye ; with the difference that the 

 striated lines run transverse instead of radial, it exactly resembles the lens of 

 the eye of the shark. Having lately made a dissection of the eye of one of 

 those animals, and hardened the lens in ascetic acid, it assumed almost exactly 

 the appearance of one of those so-called " petrified eyes " which was shown me 

 the other day. My notes made at the time leave no doubt on my mind that 

 they are the lenses of some similar animal, either fossil or modern ; any way, 

 it is a question to be decided by the microscope and comparative anatomy. 

 Such being the case, it is useless to discuss how or why it is that Peruvian 

 mummies sometimes have their eyes in their heads and sometimes at their feet. 



The following is an extract of a letter from a highly respectable and well 

 known gentleman of Iquique, Wm. C. Billinghurst, Esq., which we have just 

 received, with some very perfect specimens : — 



" On ray part I have to state that when I was residing in Arica, I was a daily 



