The Republican journal., 1903-10-22
MUMMY HUNTING.
An Aboriginal Cemetery on the Shore Of the
Southern Pacific Where Thousands Of
Mummies May be Had for the Digging.
Especial Correspondence of The Journal

sept. II, 1908. 10 my nina tnere
5 no more interesting region on
the western side of the continent
than this, which by right belongs
70 Peru, but was seized by Chill during
rptent war. Besides the nitrate and
guano fields, Iquiqui, ,Tarapaca, Atacama
and other places familiar to the world,
If includes the important city OF Tacna,
+ortv miles inland, and africa, its sea-
p5rt. Approached by steamer. the most
.onspicuous feature of the shore is an
enormous promontory just south OF
Nrca. called the Moro, which rises al
most perpendicularly out of the Pacific
-,a height of 1900 feet, and then slips
1T at steep grade to the sandy plain
Lind it, To the north of the MORO
low line of verdure. a cluster of
rliern built houses, a rather handsome
Hurch, and long mole-the latter
lied high with bags. bales and boxes,
.d crowded with merchants, carga-
.iules, soldiers and civilians. This is
\ica. the famous port; but III spite of
IS mole, steamers must cast anchor
AWAY out in the bay and passengers be
we'd ashore in canoes. However, they
longer have to be carried through
t-.p surf on the backs of cargadoreS, as
.. vore. but now Chamber up the slippery
.-alrs of the pier. africa has quite
tuged her complexion since the war
D.icn made her a Chilian instead of a
mvian city. That which attracted
lis 10 the place has nothing to do with
r iitful governments of this burlesque
.-.Wbic. and has remained unchanged
rough the wars of many centuries
l-and the town, sweeping back from
the Morro, is great windrow of yellow
,.d which forms a kind of amphit-
...rre unrelieved by tree or shrub or
ale of grass. All this barren ridge,
ud the desert for miles around it, is
.ae vast cemetery of the ancient lnhab-
-ants. crowded with the dried-up bodies
those who once tiShed from their
sas in the bay, or cultivated the
arrow valley on whose seaward border
.ty were buried. When workmen were
-glng up the sand to fill Arica's pier
were opening a track for the rail
asy that leads to Tacna, they found
JmmieS everyWhere-not only humble
rrmen wrapped in their nets, and
ers of the soil in ShrOuds of braided
>les. but now and then the body of
eI, or other great parsonage, enyelop-
. % a thin layer of beaten gold. These
-l worse than the humber cadavers,
while the latter were left compara-
-y undesturbed, los ricos now grim
CHASTITY as the poorest-were strip
M by rude hands of everything valu-
and their crumbling bones tossed,
.ogered by the waySide.
seems strange thing to deliberate
let out on a grave robbing expedition;
in this part of the world it is fashion,
r to 90 Misunderstanding, and to
.-l.rl the aboriginal cemeteries for the
) IONS articles they may contain, be-
dead Indians. The africa burylng
Qad must once have been of enor-
.., extent, for though large portion
LAS been washed away by the rest
sea during the last century or two,
N miles of it yet remain. The
4 AIDES of inquisitive people have dug
considerable area in places here and
-re: vet the great bulk of it is entire
4 ndisturbed, and will doubtless re-
,u so until, in the lapse of ages, the
lv encroachingPacitic shall swallow
tau.
We went out on horse back, about
miles from africa, accompanied by
'- American consul, who sent some
~3us ahead with shovels. 1t is not
HE safe for two or three persons to
by themselves, for highwaymen are
broad in the land, and even the work
lru might be tempted to mischief if
a 4nything valuable was unearthed
Iowever, people bent on such gruesome
-rlands as disturbing the dead, are not
sriy to hunt alone but prefer plenty
company to keep their spirits up.
arrived at the desert, you may dig
aaywhere without going amiss Of a
Taye In this rainless region, pro
,etted by the magnetic sand, nothing
Au decay and the contents OF the
.6mbs look as if they were put there
yesterday, instead of hundreds of years
ago. There is no consuming insect
and no moisture to produce decay
flesh dries without decomposition
wood and vegetable matter petrities
while fabrics and articles of stone and
ay will keep" for ever. The early
'eWyians preserved their dead some
alng after the manner of the Egyp
,ans, except that these are always in
4ttng posture, knees drawn up to thu
e.iu, and hands clasped about th'
aHees: head and all enveloped in fines
iyed cotton cloth, bound around will
NIaided ropes of llama wool, l,-mucl
6e the ropes made by the Andean In
uaus to-day; the whole uncanny bun
ae enclosed within another netting OF
ropes, or sometimes in a basket-like
4.