1 1 8 ELLIOT SMITH, Distribution of Mummification. 



the Pacific slope of the Rocky Mountains, and in Mexico 

 rather than in Peru. It seems more probable that the main 

 stream of the later wave of culture, of which cremation is 

 the most distinctive practice, took the northern route 

 skirting the eastern Asiatic littoral and then following the 

 line of the Aleutian Islands. 



In the account of the method of mummification 

 adopted by the Virginian Indians {supra) it was seen that 

 the whole skin was removed and afterwards fitted on to 

 the skeleton again. Great care and skill had to be used 

 to prevent the skin shrinking. Apparently the difficulties 

 of this procedure led certain Indian tribes to give up the 

 attempt to prevent the skin shrinking. Thus the Jivaro 

 Indians of Ecuador, as well as certain tribes in the western 

 Amazon area, make a practice of preserving the head 

 only, and, after removing the skull, allowing the softer 

 tissues to shrink to a size not much bigger than a cricket 

 ball (44; 52, p. 252, and 61, p. 288). 



According to Page (52), who has described one of the 

 two Jivaro specimens now in the Manchester Museum, 

 desiccation by heat was the method of preservation. He 

 adds, " ' Momea ' and ' Chancha ' are the names commonly 

 given to such specimens by the natives." Surely the 

 former must be a Spanish importation ! 



A comparison of this variety in the methods of pre- 

 serving the body in America with the series of similar 

 practices which I have been following from the African 

 shore, makes it abundantly plain that there can be no 

 doubt as to the source of the American inspiration to do 

 such extraordinary things. The remarkable burial ritual 

 and all the associated procedures afford strong corrobora- 

 tive evidence. 



But the proof of the influence of the civilizations of 

 the Old World on pre-Columbian America does not 



