THE ANCIENT PERUVIANS. 99 



rounded form common to the American Indians, and especially to the existing 

 Peruvians, it is difficult to imagine by what complex contrivances the present 

 shape could have been produced. 



It would be natural to suppose, that a people with heads so small and badly 

 formed would occupy the lowest place in the scale of human intelligence. Such, 

 however, was not the case ; and it remains to show, that civilisation existed in 

 Peru anterior to the advent of the Incas, and that those anciently civilised people 

 constituted the identical nation whose extraordinary skulls are the subject of our 

 present inquiry. 



Among the first travellers in Peru, and perhaps the very first who recorded 

 what he saw, was Pedro de Cieca, an officer in the army of Pizarro. Although 

 an unlettered man, he describes with simplicity and clearness whatever came 

 under his observation ; and the following passage from his work, although of some 

 length, is so interesting and so connected with the present inquiry, that I shall 

 venture to give it entire. 



" Tiaguanico," says he, " is not a very large town, but it is deserving of notice 

 on account of the great edifices which are still to be seen in it ; near the principal 

 of these is an artificial hill raised on a groundwork of stone. Beyond this hill are 

 two stone idols, resembling the human figure, and apparently formed by skilful 

 artificers. They are of somewhat gigantic size, and appear clothed in long vest- 

 ments diffi^ring from those now worn by the natives of these provinces ; and their 

 heads are also ornamented. Near these statues is an edifice which, on account of 

 its antiquity and the absence of letters, leaves us in ignorance of the people who 

 constructed it : and such indeed has been the lapse of time since its erection, that 

 little remains but a well built wall, which must have been there for ages, for the 

 stones are very much worn and crumbled. In this place, also, there are stones so 

 large and so overgrown that our wonder is excited to comprehend how the power 

 of man could have placed them where we see them. Many of these stones are 

 variously wrought, and some having the form of men, must have been their idols. 

 Near the wall are many caves and excavations under the earth ; but in another 

 place more to the west are other and greater monuments, consisting of large gate- 

 ways and their hinges, platforms and porches, each of a single stone. 



'^ What most surprised me while engaged in examining and recording these 

 things, was that the above enormous gateways were formed on other great masses 

 of stone, some of which were thirty feet long, fifteen feet wide, and six feet thick. 

 Nor can I conceive with what tools or instruments these stones were hewn out ; 

 for it is obvious that before they were. wrought and brought to perfection, they 



