The shyness and humility of the Indians of the Peruvian High Plateau are such that it takes them hours to make the slightest purchase. This is why the markets lasted so long in these places where pre-Columbian civilisations flourished, and whose testimonies, after having defied the centuries in the peace of their tombs, attest to their high quality.
…Mummies whose trepanations demonstrate the existence of a highly precise surgical science made necessary by the terrible wounds caused by stone clubs. …Painted or engraved ceramics revealing a strange world of characters and animals, rites and beliefs whose meaning bears the mark of a perfectly organised society. …Cotton shawls, embroidered with wool, in which the characters seem to have acquired the qualities of the animal whose remains they have covered. Necessary protection against evil divinities, reminiscent of certain marine animals from the coasts of Peru, but derisory given that this world has disappeared without any satisfactory explanation having yet been given.