GOLDEN VASE FOUND IN A TOMB.
"It was the custom of the ancient Peruvians to bury with their dead the implements to which they were accustomed in life, and this may be taken to indicate their belief in a resurrection. Household utensils, combs, needles, wallets, spindles for spinning, knives, fishing-hooks and lines, spools of thread, knitting-needles, toilet articles, spoons, pottery, and many other things are found here, and the same is the case in excavations in other parts of Peru. We discovered only a few pieces of pottery and two knives of copper, and then we left the grave to be re-filled, or treated according to the taste of the inhabitants of the place.
"The character of the wrappings, and the articles found in the graves, indicate the condition in life of the occupants of this Peruvian cemetery. Mr. Squier says the burial-place at Pachacamac contains three series of graves one above the other, indicating that the spot was for a very long while dedicated to sepulture. He opened one of the second series of tombs, which evidently belonged to a family in middle circumstances, neither rich nor poor.
"The bodies were all wrapped as I have described, but underneath the covering of coarse rushes were many yards of fine cloth, similar to that which the Egyptians placed around their mummies. The tomb contained the bodies of a man, his wife, and two children; the play-things of the children were buried with them, and between the feet of the girl was a dried parrot, which was doubtless her pet. Near the bodies were several pieces of pottery, and every pot contained something. One was filled with maize or corn, another with ground-nuts, and the rest with edibles of different kinds. The collection of pots and pans was quite interesting, and revealed some of the domestic ways of the people.
SILVER VASE.
"You will naturally ask how long these bodies have been lying here where we find them.