MUMMIES FROM PERU. 



283 



Mr. Blake visited many other cemeteries between 

 the Andes and the Pacific Ocean as far south as 

 Chih, all of which possess the same general featm*es 

 with those found in the elevated valleys of the Pe- 

 ruvian Andes. No record or tradition exists in re- 

 gard to these cemeteries, but woollen cloths similar 

 to those found by Mr. Blake are woven at this day, 

 and probably in the same manner, by the Indians 

 of Peru ; and in the eastern part of Bolivia, to the 

 southward of the place where these mummies were 

 discovered, he found, on the most barren portion of 

 the Desert of Atacama, a few Indians, who, proba- 

 bly from the difficulty of access to their place of 

 abode, have been less influenced by the Spaniards, 

 and for this reason retain more of their primitive 

 customs, and their dress at this day resembles closely 

 that which envelops the bodies in his possession, 

 both in the texture and the form. 



Doctor Morton says that these mummies from 

 Peru have the same peculiarities in the form of the 

 skull, 'the same delicacy of the bones, and the same 

 remarkable smallness of the hands and feet, with 

 that found in the sepulchre at San Francisco. He 

 say^, too, from an examination of nearly four hun- 

 dred skulls of individuals belonging to older nations 

 of Mexico and Peru, and of skulls dug from the 

 mounds of our western country, that he finds them 

 all formed on the same model, and conforming in a 

 remarkable manner to that brought from San Fran- 

 cisco ; and that this cranium has the same ty^e of 



