158 Reviews, 



in tlic year 1545, the nortbern portion of Trhicli they called *' Ca- 

 patania de la Nueva Granada." This included the coast land be- 

 tween the Gulf of Darien and the Cape de la Hacha, reaching the 

 first degree north latitude. The interior part of this Spanish co- 

 lony occupied a considerable extent of the region of the Andes^ 

 the inhabitants of which were represented as a " timid and quiet 

 people." The gold trinkets we have alluded to were here, as 

 elsewhere, used for ornaments by the chief or cacique, as well as 

 the community in general, though a distinct class of ornaments 

 seems to have been reserved for the chiefs. The principal object 

 of the new visitors was gold, which was eagerly sought for in any 

 form. Glass beads, and articles made of iron or steel, which were 

 great novelties to the Indians, were readily bartered in exchange 

 for their gold ornaments. There were, however, some ornaments 

 they were very unwilling to part with ; such as images of the 

 chief and his wife in a sitting posture, made of gold, about ten 

 inches high, and 16 ounces weight, and some other imitations of 

 various animals, which were used as ornaments in the dwelUnors 

 of the chiefs, and were regarded as superior articles of art. These 

 ■were the cause of the first attack on the property of the inhabi- 

 tants. In revenge for the outrages they suffered from their op- 

 pressors, when gold ornaments became scarce, they refused to show 

 "where they obtained this metal in its natural state. 



The ornaments obtained by the first visitors being regarded 

 merely as articles of commerce, they were mostly melted into 

 ingots, so that very few of those specimens of early art remained ; 

 but as they were in the habit of burying some of their ornaments 

 in the tombs of the caciques, and as some of these burial-places 

 are occasionally discovered, samples of these ancient ornaments 

 have been secured, which furnish interesting illustrations of the 

 first attempt in this branch of industry. We shall, therefore pro- 

 ceed to describe 



THE INDIAN TOMBS. 



Burials were performed by the Peruvians in two different ways, 

 above and below ground. The still existing elevated mounds re- 

 mind us of the Egyptian catacombs, though those of the Peru- 

 vians are smaller, and constructed of stone and earth. These 

 monuments of the Incas are of a pyramidal form and different di- 

 mensions, some being more than one hundred and fifty feet high, 

 and are known by the name " Cucara." They are built in sub- 

 divisions formed of large slabs of slate. In one of these divisions 



