26 Shells CIS evidence of the Migrations. 



artists obtained this colour from some now unknown 

 mineral or vegetal dye, it may be assumed that they also 

 used the purpura dye in preparing their paint and in 

 depicting personages with body paint and garments dyed 

 by means of the same shell-fish."*' 



The employment of purple paint in ancient Mexican 

 manuscripts is decidedly interesting and recalls the use 

 made of this famous colour for dyeing the ecclesiastical 

 parchments in Europe during early times. In like manner 

 the purple facial-painting of the Aztecs, as demonstrated 

 by their manuscripts, is a curious parallel to the em- 

 ployment of purple for the cheeks and lips in Roman 

 times. 



Some further important evidence of the use of shell- 

 fish in dyeing in precolumbian times has lately been 

 furnished by the discovery of broken Purpura shells in 

 Inca graves in North Chile. L. E. Adams, in his " Con- 

 chological Notes from Chile and Brazil,'"* mentions the 

 occurrence of broken shells of Purpura in a " kitchen 

 midden " on the steep mountain-side at Pisagua. These 

 were discovered, along with other marine shells, in the 

 course of road improvements, the road in question being 

 found to traverse an Inca burying ground. Adams states : 

 " Several human skeletons were lying on or just below 

 the surface, all in the characteristic doubied-up attitude ; 

 they had been buried wrapped up in a coarse grass 

 matting. None of the skulls were perfect, the upper and 

 lower jaws were all missing, as if the excavators had taken 

 them to study the dentition." 



" In addition to human remains, were skulls (jf some 

 large species of dolphin, skulls of sea-lions (? Otaria 

 jnbata), the rib of a small whale, and dogs both large and 



"' Xuttall, op. ci/., p. 381. 



^^ J&ttrii. of ConcJiohgy^ xi\. , J9IS, p. 349. 



