LAND OF THE DEAD.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 422, 3 February 1909, Page 7

LAND OF THE DEAD.

ARCBAEOMJGICAI RESEARCH IN PERU PEOPLES OF THE PAST. .VISITING SCIENTIST'S INTERESTING STORY. Visiting Wellington at present is Dr. F. W. Vojlmann, Bisc., who off and on for the past five j ears has been engaged in archaeological research in Peru. This is hia " off " season. Owing to the climate in which his researches are conducted, it becomes imperative for him to take a trip abroad occasionally. There was an extra reason for quitting work two months ago, in that he had been bitten m tne arm by a poisonous spider, when 172 miles across a barren desert from the nearest railway station. This was in Southern Peru, where there is not a tree or a vestige of herbage to cheer the view, and where none of tho streams from the snow-topped Andes are permitted to reach the sea, so precious is the water and absolutely needful for irrigation purposes. At the time of this mishap tho doctor imagined that something much l worse than a poisonous insect had attacked him. I There is a particularly repulsjve disease nal tivo to -the country called viruga, by its description a form of leprosy, and- it was in deadly fear that ho had fallen a victim to this.dread affliction that spurred him to cover ' tho J72 mijes on horseback in 19 hours to lea, and thence "by train to (Lima, where his arm was attended to and his fears of a worßfl fato allayed Peru is favoured among archaeologists because what it known of its fascinating history opens up illimitable fields for scientific speculation, and jno man can do_ research work there for five years on end without becoming known to the world of serious thought." Some of tho evidences of Dr. Vollmann's arduous toil aro to be found to-day in tho Peabody Museum, ,Bosten, in Munich, Germany, the Carnegie Museum at Pittsburg, and the Field Museum, at Chicago, and not a few of the Peruvian contributions made through Dr. Gaffron to tho Natural History' Museum of New-York -wore discovered by the Visitor. In reply to a request, Dr Vollmann told how ,Ji6, set about his research work in the strange 'country he. has made lus homo for five year? past.

Down Among the Dead Men. "From what I have learned by resoarol and inquiry, L know pretty well where th< I ancient cities of the Incas were located, ana after a -thorough survey of the country by I riding oyor it Then I organise mj party of Indian diggers and attendants, and rai stituto a water-service between tho spot and .the nearest "source of suppl\. This is imperative—or you die On the great western slope tho land is s absolutely barron rock and sand. It never rains, and there is not a single tree for hundreds of miles at a stretch. Having located my city, I probe for the cemetery, for it is m the graves of the Incas ithat tho best evidences of their advanced civilisation 's found I can toll with a 12-ft probe (a pointed iron bar) whethei the ground is virgin soil, that is to say, whether it has ever been jdisturbed or not lnij might take somo time, but every city had its burial ground, and it is only a mattei of hunting for it. Having found it. I sod tho Indians probing all about, and wherever the" point .strikes wh-vt appears to be something foreign to tho soil, I sot them to dig. "Tho Incas were a wry fine peopjo, living in a very advanced state of civilisation—as .advanced, far mßtanco, as the> Egyptians, 'who mummified their dead. Thoy buried their dead, not in a dignified sarcophagus, i but in great earthenware jars, in which tho oorpso sat with his knees up to his chin, uound round and round with brilliantly coloured and wonderfully-wovon cloth. "When I find ono of these pottorv coffins, tho Indians will never descend into tho grave until I havo touched the, body and sb frightI ened tho evil spirits awiyf } A Close Acquaintance with Mummies.

"I have handled many of these mummies, and, it is wonderful how well preserved they are. This is owing to the fact that it never Tains," and everything is perfectly, dry. lho bkin, an ugly brown colour, is shriveUed into the bones, but tho strange wrappings retain their 'brilliant colours marvellously. It was customary to bury the weapons and household gods with the deceased, and it is by the evidence of tho jars and' drinking cups that one can form an estimate of the advonccd state of .oivilisation these people enjoyed away back about tho time of Christ. Tho pottery is beautifully modelled, and the designs traoed upon and burnt into tbera are most artistic, so much so that when mv lot„was .exhibited at Munich the artists used to come and copy tho designs. _ They wore so very old, that they were quite now. I havo found-cups of gold, orowns, armlets, etc , beaten Snte 'all manner of designs, somo very beautiful, and others most obscenp, and I have come to the conclusion that tho , figures were first cut out in reh*t on a solid piece of hard wood, and the gold was beaten round them, and then burnt out L " Did you havo to dig deep to reach the coffins? , , "It all depends, sometimes only a yard) and sometimes 20 yards if the encouragement was there "

Before the Incas. "It was in difrcinß deeti that I came across trace? of n vet older civilisation, but of this I hive ■said" little so far These wcro ovidoneel? of tho N<w»s, who are said to have livfd m Peru 3000 n,c Their pottery and the desicns on 'them indicate sji entirely different 'trati of civilisation to that of the Iwns There aeain tho lnndiwork was exqmßiWv, beautiful, and quite different from anvthmr modern "The fhimua, a coastal people, who wero conquered bj the Incas, are mother dead race of Peru, hut.more is known of the Incas than any of tho race"! that havo disappeared in that cnuntrv They v.ere a wonderful people To show von what road-huilders they worn it is stated tint thov could travel from CaTlao to Omto in seven davs; i journev which now occuniei three weeks, Thov had nn moani of wntinu mossaeos—w> caligranhin method but uS"d to communicate one , with another with knotted strings, callce f the 'quipon ' and it is that th& nlncinß of tho knots and thoir design meant Wters or word?, but no on« has ever been •jWe to read the 'atironu ' I lost one,of mv last specimens th-o"ffh a monk in T<irpr> t*lt,mg me that he could rod the 'quinmi.' He' pat possession of jt end I have never seen him since lam qoir.ee back alwnt- June to tnkn ivn mv worV I left it, "but 1 don't think I Will undertake any further expeditions, as it is numnq my health."