polished  and  painted  in  design,  or  again  rough.  The  exam-
ples which  are  known  as  portrait  vases  were  doubtless  excel-
lent likenesses  and  would  be  creditable  if  they  were  done  by
modern  artists.  A  keen  and  premeditated  wit  is  shown  in
some  of  these  designs,  which  is  not  merely  the  grotesque  of  in-
experience. Many  of  the  vases  are  modeled  as  caricatures,
possibly  depicting,  in  political  satire,  some  local  personage;
others  again  represent  various  diseased  conditions,  as  the
small-pox,  which  has  always  been  prevalent  throughout  Peru.
There  are  others  which  are  marked  with  syphilitic  lesions,
and  some  represent  the  swollen  cheek  and  the  agonized  ex-
pression of  suffering  from  a  possibly
ulcerated  tooth,  while  others  depict
various  ceremonies.
A  curious  vase  in  the  private  col-
lection I  inspected  represents  a  rock,
upon  the  top  of  which  rests  another
rock,  which  seems  to  be  capable  of  a
lever  movement,  a  possible  instrument
used  in  beheading  victims,  for  .a  head
and  the  headless  body  of  a  man  are
shown  at  the  base,  while  another  fig-
ure in  a  kneeling  posture  has  his  head
bowed,  as  though  awaiting  decapita-
tion from  the  fall  of  the  small  rock,
"which  is  apparently  being  worked  by
a  figure  standing  at  the  side.  This  may  illustrate  some  early
form  of  capital  punishment,  though  no  mention  of  it  is  made
in  any  of  the  works  which  I  have  consulted.  Another  form  of
punishment  is  shown  by  a  vase  representing  an  immense  cac-
tus of  a  species  having  digestive  qualities  of  a  phenomenal
nature.  Criminals  placed  in  this  gigantic  plant  were  sup-
posed to  be  literally  digested  and  absorbed.
