280 



PERU. 



A range of square brick pilasters projected from the uppermost 

 wall, facing the sea, evidently belonging originally to the interior of a 

 large apartment. These pilasters gave it the aspect of an Egyptian 

 structure. In no other Peruvian antiquities have pilasters been seen 

 by us. On one of the northern terraces were also remains of apart- 

 ments; here the brick appeared more friable, owing to a greater 

 proportion of sand ; where they retained their shape, their dimensions 

 were nine inches in width by six inches deep, varying in height from 

 nine inches to two feet; and they were laid so as to break joint, 

 though not always in a workmanlike manner. 



The remains of the town occupy some undulating ground, of less 

 elevation, a quarter of a mile to the northward. This also forms a 

 rectangle, one-fifth by one-third of a mile in size ; through the middle 

 runs lengthwise a straight street, twenty feet in width. The walls of 

 some of the ruins are thirty feet high, and cross each other at right 

 angles. The buildings were apparently connected together, except 

 where the streets intervened. The larger areas were, again divided 

 by thinner partitions, and one of them was observed to contain four 

 rectangular pits, the plastering of which appeared quite fresh. 



The annexed wood-cut will give a representation of the ground, 

 &c. ; both are from sketches made by Lieutenant Underwood. 



GROUND PLAN OF PACHACAMAC. 



No traces of doors or windows towards the streets could be dis- 

 covered, nor indeed any where else. The walls were exclusively of 

 sun-dried brick, and their direction, northeast and southwest, the same 

 as those of the temple, which fronted the sea. 



Some graves were observed to the southward of the temple, but the 

 principal burying-ground was between the temple and town. Some 

 of the graves were rectangular pits, lined with a dry wall of stone, 

 and covered with layers of reeds and canes, on which the earth was 

 filled in to the depth of a foot or more, so as to be even with the sur- 

 face. The skulls brought from this place were of various characters ; 

 the majority of them presented the vertical elevation, or raised occi- 

 Dut, the usual characteristic of the ancient Peruvians, while others 



