510 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1896. 



Mexico, Central and South America.— But going southward through 

 Mexico into Central and South America the affair becomes changed. 

 We all know, from the Spanish historian and discoverers, how the 

 Couquistadores, as soon as arrived on the shores of the Western Hemi- 

 sphere, began the mad search for gold. The Spanish adventurers who 

 landed within the territory now occupied by the United States, like 



Fig. 164. 



DETAILS OF THK ORNAMENTATION OF FIGS. 162, 163. 



Natural size. 



Ponce de Leon and T)e Soto, give frequent descriptions of gold and 

 copper: the latter appearing in great i^leuty, the former much less, 

 and the similarity of appearance being such that, in the paucity of 

 their communicating languages, they were unable to distinguish the 

 differences between the two metals- 

 Plate 04 represents certain gold objects in the United States National 

 Museum from Chiriqui, and plate 65 represents a similar set from Antio- 



