The Mummy of Pizarro.

Auckland Star, Volume XXV, Issue 95, 21 April 1894, Page 2 (Supplement)

The Mummy of Pizarro.

All readers of the fascinating "Volumes of the American historian Preacott must have shuddered at the brutal and treacherou a deeds by which Pizarro exterminated the race of the Incas, and consummated for Spain the conquest of Peru. His career was marked by almost every vice, and the stigma of avarice, treachery, cruelty, and rapine clings to his name, Yet the memory of the military hero—for that he unquestionably was—still remains screen on the western slopes of the Andes, and he is held in especial reverence in Lima, the chief city of Peru—a city which he founded, in which he met his death, and jn the cathedral of which his body was buried. The 350 th anniversary of Pizarro's death was recently celebrated in Lima. Under joint action by the ecclesiastical and municipal authorities a committee waa appointed, by which was undertaken a close and critical examination of the mummified body ; one object in view being to set at rest all possible doubt as to the identity of the remains, while the other was to subject thorn to anthropometric examination. The interesting results have now been made known.

The removal of the lid of the wooden coffin, which was nob materially decayed, revealed the body almosb complebely mummified. Ib was partially covered by remnants of clothing, which seem to have consisted of a short cassock of black Bilk and a linen shirt finely embroidered. The fully exposed cadaver was found to be quite desiccated, and of a liehb brown colour, similar to thab of ordinary Peruvian mummies. Aba glance ib was observed thab the hands, toes, and certain other parts had been cub off and removed. Apart from the hands, it was evidenb thab all the mutilations had been performed immediately after death ; the handa, however, had been removed comparatively recently. When no.evidence could be found to tell with any certainty, although public rumour had ib that they were excised, and secretly carried out of the country nob many years ago. The committee gave it as their conclusion thab the identity of the body was absolutely established, not alone by the general indication, but also by the clear evidence afforded by the wounds by which Pizarro was done to death, and which, after three and a half centuries, the mummified corpse still visibly disclosed. The scalp, whjch had not mummified, gave clear evidehce of wounds and contusions which had indented the skull and which probably, at leaßb in part, had been inflicted after death. The socke'b of the left eye was empty, but the right one still contained the eye, dried and reduced to a very small size. Ib was noted thab the knee joints were so abnormally largo as to amount to a deformity— the deformity probably of old age, for Pizarro was over 70 when he died, and his life had been extremely arduous. The skull was abnormally broad. The conformation of the cranium, the presence of the fossa of Lombroso, and many other characteristics, gave ib a marked resemblance in ail importanb respects to thab of the typical criminal of to-day. The lower jaw was a striking feature, projecting far beyond the upper, and indicating the indomitable will power and savage character of the man. The massiveness of the chin marked a ruthless determination, befitting the man who, as lieutenanb of Nunez de Balboa, inflicted fell cruelties on the unfortunate Indians ; who soized the immortal discoverer of the Pacific, his own benefactor ; who, a8 the leader of the famous 4 thirteen,' so heroically maintained himself in the midst of disasters in the island of Uallo.

The body of Pizarro having been thus carefully examined, preservatives were applied bo the remains, and they were placed in charge of the Venerable Metropolitan Chapter, which in the future will care for them in the chapel of the kings in the Cathedral of Lima. All that is mortal of the Conquistador now rests in a tomb of white marble with glass on three sideß, the body reclining on a couch of crimson, velvets —'Pall Mall Gazette.'