Peruvian antiquities / by Mariano Edward Rivero and John James von Tschudi ; translated by Francis L. Hawks.

  • Mariano Eduardo de Rivero y Ustariz
Date:
1854
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Peruvian antiquities / by Mariano Edward Rivero and John James von Tschudi ; translated by Francis L. Hawks. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    doors, are found certain holes and conduits, which lead from the surface outside to vases within ; into these they empty the chicha on those feast days which they solemnize in honor of their mallquis. The corpses, as they appear in the sepulchres, are found enveloped with much cloth, and as it were bundled up. We will describe them as we found them in more than fifty mummies which we have uncovered. At first sight we dis- tiuguished nothing more than what seems a coarse statue, seated, in which nothing is visible but a round head, two knees, and two feet of large appearance ; a strong net of coarse thread, with meshes sufficiently wide, is bound closely over a coarse mat of rushes, in which the corpse is wrapped. In the sepulchres of higher Peru, are found mummies in mats of totora^ [a particular species of rush on Lake Titicaca] in shape very similar to beehives, with a square aperture at the side of the face. Upon removing the mat you discover a large roll of cotton, which envelops the whole body from end to end, and secures two canes or reeds to the sides, and sometimes also a stick across the shoulders : after removing this roll is seen a cloth of wool, red or parti-colored, which completely envelops the mummy, at the lower part of which are one or two cloths of cotton, like sheets, fastened firmly, as the cloth is around the corpse; under these we find some small vases, ornaments, the hualqui with the coca, and in the greater part of the mummies a conopa of stone, clay, silver or gold, hanging from the neck. The internal covering is a cotton cloth, quite fine, probably white originally, but tinged with a reddish yellow by time, and sewed like the other coverings; this being removed, the corpse is seen naked, only the head enveloped in two or three rolls, the upper one of which is of a fine web, and almost always with threads of divers colors: the under one is narrower and thicker, some-
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