2 THE PRIMEVAL MONUMENTS OF PERU. 
monuments in other parts of the world, and who, if not the 
progenitors of the semi-civilized nations found in Peru at the 
time of the conquest, certainly preceded them in the occupa- 
tion of the country. If it should be found, nevertheless, that 
there has been a gradual development of any of these rude 
remains into elaborate and imposing monuments, corres- 
ponding with them in their purpose or design, or a gradual 
change from the rough burial chamber of uncut stones into the 
symmetrical sepulchral tower built of hewn blocks accurately 
fitted together, and in general workmanship coinciding with 
the other and most advanced and admirable structures of the 
country, then we may reasonably infer that the latter were 
constructed by the same people that built the first, and that, 
monumentally, at least, the civilization of Peru was in- 
digenous, gradually developed and not intruded. Leaving, 
however, the very few and obvious deductions I may feel 
justified in making, for the close of this brief paper, I wish 
to call attention to three groups of monuments, the culpas 
and other remains of Acora, Quellenata, and Sillustani, all 
in the great terrestrial basin of Lake Titicaca, near that 
lake, in that political subdivision of the ancient Peruvian 
Empire called the Collao, and now Department of Puno. 
'The arable portions of Peru, cireumscribed by mountains, 
cold and sterile punos or table-lands, and bare deserts, early 
forced the population of the country to a close economy of 
their eultivable lands, and led them to bury their dead and 
build their towns in waste places, on arid hillsides above the 
reach of irrigation, or on rocky eminences and promontories, 
which even their patient industry could not make productive. 
In such positions throughout the ancient Collao, we find 
numberless cemeteries, often in proximity to the ruins of 
towns and villages. Some of these cemeteries are marked 
by really imposing monuments, and form conspicuous fea- 
tures in the landscape. 
The first and simplest form of the burial monument, and 
which I shall assume, for the present, to be the oldest, con- 
