112 APPENDIX. 



of the town of Cayambe, where the plains are covered with them, for the reason 

 that formerly here was one of the principal temples of the ancient inhabitants, 

 which it was supposed communicated a sacred character to the surrounding 

 country, which was therefore chosen for the burial-place of the kings and caziques 

 of Quito ; and in imitation of them, all the chiefs of the villages were interred there. 

 The remarkable difference," continues this author, " in the magnitude of these 

 monuments, seems to indicate that the guacas were always suitable to the character, 

 dignity, or riches of the person interred, as indeed the vassals under some of the 

 most potent caziques concurred in raising a mound over his body." — (Ulloa, Vol. 

 I., p. 480.) It may be regarded as settled, that, as a general thing, none but the 

 bodies of deceased chieftains and other persons of consequence were deposited in 

 the huacas, and that those of the common people were buried in simple graves. 

 Within the huacas, upon the original surface of the ground, are found chambers 

 constructed of stone, brick, or timber ; sometimes there are several of them, with 

 connecting galleries, in which the dead were placed. The bodies are usually found 

 occupying a sitting posture. With them were placed a great variety of articles, 

 ornaments, and implements. Vast quantities of pottery, of every variety of form 

 and ornament ; articles of gold and silver, comprising ear-rings, pendants, bracelets, 

 and little images of men and animals ; axes of hardened copper and of stone, differ- 

 ing but slightly in shape from those in use at the present day ; spear-heads and 

 mirrors of obsidian (^gallinazo stone) ; cloth of cotton, of the wool of the lama, 

 and of other materials ; implements of palm-wood ; marine shells, and a thousand 

 articles of similar character. Vast numbers of these tombs have been opened for 

 the sake of the treasures they contain.* 



In Chili, sepulchral mounds of earth and stone are of frequent occurrence. In 

 them are found, besides the bones of the dead, earthenware, axes, and vessels of 

 stone, admirably worked, and occasionally edged tools of hardened copper. Molina 

 describes, with considerable minuteness, the funeral ceremonies of the Chilian 

 Indians ; which, from the light they may throw upon the customs of the mound- 

 builders, are worthy of notice. " As soon as one of their nation dies, his friends 

 and relations seat themselves on the ground round the body, and weep for a 

 long time I they afterwards expose it, donned in its best clothes, upon a high 

 bier, where it remains during the night, which they pass near it, weeping, or in 

 eating or drinking with those who come to console them. This is called the black 

 entertainment : black being with them, as with us, the sign of mourning. The 

 following day, or within two or three days, they carry the corpse to the burial- 



* The amount of treasure found in some of the huacas is very great. Stevenson states that in the 

 year 1576, a huacawas opened in which was found gold amounting to 46,810 golden ounces ; according to 

 Humboldt, 5,000,000 francs. We are not surprised at the great value of some of these deposites, in 

 view of the alrnost incredible quantities of gold and silver possessed by the ancient Peruvians. According 

 to Proctor {Peru in 1823-24), the excavation of the ancient tombs for their contents is still carried on, 

 though it seems that considerable quantities of the precious metals are seldom found. Mr. Proctor men- 

 tions that in some instances the spindles of the ancient inhabitants, with the cotton thread still perfect on 

 them, have been found in the huacas. 



