The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1913-01-14
CRUELTY I'M PERU WORSE THAN
THAT FOUND ALONG THE CONGO
American Investigator taS Shocking Report
ties Another Exped iton Brings Fifty Skulls

men and women and setting them
afre was a pastime, Many were burn
ed at the stake.
Professor Hiram Bingham, who had
been on an exploring expedition for six
months in Peru, searching for pre-Inca
remains in the region of the Andes, re-
turned, accompanied by Professor Her
bert T. Gregory and DR.. George f.
Eaton, both also Of Yale. The expedi-
ton originally had eleven members,
and all but two have now returned.
Professor Bingham, who looked as
pale as a yellow fever immune, said
that the interior Of southern Peru was
being desolated by succession of
plaques, including smallpox and ty-
plus fever, and that the government
was taking few steps to check the
ravages of the scourges. DR. Eaton
was ill with camp fever, and PROBES
sor Gregory was also incapacitated
from work for several weeks.
Professor Bingham brought back
with him fifty human skulls Of pre-
Incan period and many skeletons, as
well as thirty cases of curiOusly
wrought bronze tablets and pieces Of
pottery, and DIR. Eaton collected fifty
cases of bones to be sent on later, and
the fossiized skeleton of a prehistoric
horse Professor Bingham nearly lost
his life on one occasion when his mules
stampeded and the Indians forsook
him. He was for two days and nights
roaming about on the slopes of the
snow clad mountain. Palcoi, with bare
ly any food and the chance of being
devoured by wild animals if he lay
down and went to sleep.
Was Third Expedition.
This was Professor Binghams third
expedition to Peru, and its object, he
said, was to intensity the work that
had been left incomplete. This time
be was able to devote considerable
time to the examination Of the remains
of the 100 one story stone dwellings,
temples and city walls of the ancient
city OF the Peruvian trbesmen, known
as Machu picchu, constructed of carved
white stone. and $1,000 was expended
in eXcavating parts of the ruins Of the
CITY which had become covered with
heavy underground.
at Machu Picchu were found the fos-
>ilized bones of prehistoric man, skulls
and skeletons worn down to dust and
hardly diStinguishable from the gravel
in which they were found. Professor
Bingham has brought back with him
several bronze tablets to see whether
the quality and shape of them and the
characters on them may lead to more
being learned about the original in
habitants of this continent.
Opposition by the government OF
Peru was so continuous and so severe
and uncalled for. Professor Bingham
said. that it was improbable that the
scientific work they had begun would
be continued.
I'VE had great difficulty" the pro.
fessor said. Tin getting our cases OF
specimens out of the country and were
delayed seven weeks by the tedious OBJ
tections of the Peruvian government.
At first the officials would not allow
us to take anything at all; then they
said that we could take half of what
we had: then they permitted us to
take what they did not want. At last
they were persuaded TO let US take all
the bones and fossils which we had
collected. but the decree of the gov
eminent was as insulting as it possibly
could be-"