New-York tribune., 1895-02-10

that belonging to T Alexandra Santos. VINO was
recently appointed Consul from BOLIVIA 10 we"
York by President Baptista. Mr santos ~ II"
tive Of Ecuador although now naturaizeu amer
ican citizen and has travelled extehsVei! III SUI
America especially in Peru Bolivia and Ecuauor
and has gathered a large and interesting collec-
tion of ancient and modern Indian curiositles' MT
Santos is an interesting ana huent taihei " q
student of the archaeology and history ol oou'"
America The pride of his collection Is "o"ue'-
full specimen of reduced and preserved Ecuauo'-
ian Indians head.
The great portion of Central ana Eastern EV"a
dor is d. wild. mountainous and desert region a"u
&c inhabited bv tribes of Indians who are still In
more than semi barbarous and savage cohui''oi'
even worse than that of the American ihuiahs Low
wears ago These Indians great warriors ana
are constantly fighting among themselves WIZ"
little interference from the government au'horires
one among many Of their queer customs Is mat
instead of scalring their slain enemies and wearing
their scalps az trophies of their proves. as ala
the North American Indians. the Indians OF Ecua
dor cut the heads from their enemies shou'ei'
and after putting them through a process OF tan
ming and reduction wear them with great prue a'
their belts as ghastly ornaments
The head in the possession OF Mr santos pe
longed TO fulgrown man OF ordinary s'a'u.e
hut Is now about one-tenth It's original size the
features ana general contour ofthe face are "ohuer
fully preserved much so that 1t is said 'nose
who had known in life a man whose head had beeh
so preserved would have difficulty in Identifying
him The process of preparing the heads ~ Sc
cret among the Indians that has never peeh az
vuIeed but II is supposed that II is somewhat
similar TO that practscd by the ancient Egyptians
in preparing the mummies one part o. the
process is said be the f!ns OF the INTERIOR ai'er
the removal OF the bones. with red-hot grave
which reduces the size and tans and hardens The
skin
.o,l, &c hgrrl bN
facial and Uranium bones and the entire contents
OF the head leaving only the scalp and thicK SKID
The head described here is smaller In size imam an
ordinary baseball. and IS covered WIN the long
silken and beautiful black hair that was worn III
life II probably reached about the shoulders. ana
is banged in front. Just where the hair begins on
tho right temple is a large indentation which was
evidently made with battle-axe and was the
cause of the warriors death. The race II Some
what sunken where the eyes formerly were ana
the nose is thrown slightly upward The Indians
have little hair on their faces but the eyebrows
and few hairs on the lip chin and in the nesrils
are still in evidence. The ears are reduced IN pro o.
portion to the rest Of the face s 'hG n all the
face is most ferocous looking one ana the
u" i "',t ,he land of the living That ne great
warrior is amply borne out by the iact tna' ron
his lips hang thirty four strings, each string repre-
senting a human life which ne took In battle.
When in life the warrior wore the record else
victor sewed the strings through his dead enemy =
lips that it might be seen at glance "hat great
warrior he had killed. - ,.,
The reduced skin and cuticle is about one-siNth
OF an inch N thickness and hard ana uhpreah P .t
able as ronwood In color the face Is r.ch ma
hogany streaked with red war paint In the PACK
of The neck and head is IN" long cut through whcn
The contents were removed and which was afterward
sewn mn The head Is carried by means OF a thong
run through "A hole in the top BY this custom a
great warrior who had slain a number OF enemies
had nlentv Of brc-a -brac for the adornment Of his
person and his dwelling. .
Globe-trotters who have seen the curoslties OF
many countries. and who have examined MI san
tos Indian head. pronounce II one OF the finest
curiosit:es they have ever seen Mr.. santos says
that when the Indians realized what high com
mercal value the heads mad, they would murder
one another the p pose of preserving ana sell
ing the heads. until the Government or EQUATOR
was compelled to prohibit the raiilc by stringent
laws The heads have now become rare ana bring
a large price Only others are known to be In
this country: one owned by private Individual and
the other i'm the Smithsonian Institution
Mr. Santos also has a number OF curiositles which
he brought from the two buried cities OF Manabi.
One of these cities twenty feet below the sur
face I'd the other ten Among them are one OF
the walls of Troy seals. which have been so often
described stone battle axes and hatcheis pieces or
pottery of curious and quaint design besides specl-
mems OF pictures ard wOod-carvng done by the
modern Indian.