48 



THE COLLECTION OF OSTEOLOGICAL MATERIAL FROM MACHU PICCHU. 



to attribute this dearth of grave garniture to indifference on the part of surviving friends, 

 to poverty, to removal of the remains from another place of burial, or to the grave having 

 been previously plundered by treasure-hunters, I do not know. The cave was only about one 

 hundred yards from the hut of Alvarez, one of my Indian assistants, but until recently it 

 had been hidden from view by a thick jungle-growth, which our party burned. I am confident 



Figure 45. — View of the entrance to Cave 50. Photograph by the author. 



that none of the Indians living at Machu Picchu in 1912 knew of the cave until the day of 

 excavation. Alvarez, moreover, had a strong superstitious dread of incurring trouble 

 through his sacrilegious labors as my fellow grave-robber. This trait appeared in various 

 ways, and was so marked that on one occasion, when a latent malady manifested itself in 

 a severe and painful relapse, probably brought on by a rash excess in inno ct I'cncrc, he 

 insisted that the disease was visited upon him in retaliation by the malevolent spirits whose 



