THE MUMMY OF PIZARRO.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXVIII, Issue 98, 28 April 1894, Page 4

THE MUMMY OF PIZARRO.

; AU readers of the fascinating volumeß of the American historian Prescott must have shuddered at the brutal and treacherous deeds by •which Pizarro exterminated the race ot the Incas, and consummated for Spain the conquest of I'eru. 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 green 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 in the cathedral of which his body was buried, The3sotb. anniversary of Pizarro's death waa recently celebrated in Lima. Under joint action by the ecclesiastical and municipal authorities a committee was appointed, by which was undertaken a close aud critioal examination of the mummified body ; one object being to set at rest all possible doubt as to the identity of the remains, while the other was to subject them to anthropometric examination. The interesting results have now been made known. ■ The removal of the lid of the wooden coffin, which was not materially decayed, revealed the body almost completely mummified. It was partially covered by remnants of clothing which seem to . have consisted of a short cassock of black silk and a linen shirt finely embroidered. The fully exposed cadaver was found to be quite desiccated, and of a light brown colour, similar to that of ordinary Peruvian mummies, At a glance it was observed that the hands, toes, and certain other parta had been cub oif and removed. Apart from the hands, it was evident that all the mutilations had been performed immediately after death ; the hands, however, had been removed comparatively recently, when no evidence could be found to tell with any certainty, although public rumour had it that thoy were excised, and secretly carried out of the country, not many years ago. The committee gave it as their conclusion that the ideotityof 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, which had not mummified, gave clear evidence of wounds and contusions which had indented the skull and which probably, at least in part,-had been inflicted after death. The socket of the left eye was empty, but the right one still contained the eye, dried -and reduced to a very small size. It was noticed that the knee joints were so abnormally large 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. Tho conformation of the cranium, the presence of fossa of Lombroso, and many other characteristics, gave it a marked resemblance in all important respects to that of thetypical criminal of to-day. The lower jaw was a striking feature, projecting fer 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 ipan who, as lieutenant of Nunez de Balboa, inflicted fell cruelties on the unfortunate Indians ; who seized the immortal discoverer of the Pacific, his own benefactor; who, as the leader of the famous 'thirteen,' so herocially maintained himself in the midst of disasters in the island of Galio. The body of Pizarro having been thus carefully examined, preservatives were applied to the remains, and they were placed in charge of 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 th^ee sides, the body reclining on a couch of crimson velvet. — ■Pall Mall Gazette. i