CONTRTP.rTTONS OP AMERICAN ARP H F,( )|J »i i V I'o IITMAN ITI^^TORY, 555 



nitely to the maiiy-vaiiltiHl roof Kiii)ported by a wikloniess of liin(>stoiie 

 coliiinns; we see walls decorated within and without with symbolics 

 sculptures, single buildings presenting thousands of s(iuare yards of 

 embellished surface, and marvel at lofty false fronts and i-oof crests 

 ihat were added to alford space for the exercise of the native g.-uius 

 for decoration. 



These chaj)ters in the evolution of the building arts are not taught 

 with equal clearness and fullness in any other part of the world. 

 Besides the direct lessons which bear u])on the history of the ai't of 

 architecture, many side lights are thrown upon other branches of 

 primitive culture — nuiral decoi-ation, sculpture, and furnishing, as 

 well as the organization of society, religious beliefs, and systems or 

 writing. 



Sculpture. — Sculpture reached its highest development in Greece, 

 but the stages through which the art passed are but meagerly re- 

 corded in the extant art works of Hellas. The earlier steps are repre- 

 sented l)y isolated bits in man}^ places, but the primitive phases of 

 the art are by no means so fully exhibited as in America. We have 

 there a vast body of material covering every stage from the very 

 beginning of stone-shaping up to full relief and realistic portrayal 

 of the human subject. JSo people known to us has within the cul- 

 ture range of the Americans shown such versatility and i)ower with 

 the hannner and chisel ; none has embodied in stone a mythology so 

 rich in imager3% including as it does forms of men, beasts, mon- 

 sters, and cosmic phenomena in greatest variety. The arclieologist 

 has here spread out before him, with the work of the living peojdes 

 to guide him, as in au open book the wliole story of the I'volutiou of 

 sculptural phenomena within the horizon of barbai'ism. 



MetdJIuryy. — The working of metals is amoug the most impor- 

 tant activities of civilized man, and has been a chief agency in the 

 develo})ment of culture, as is especially manifest in gigantic forward 

 steps of recent years. Although the general course of metallurgic 

 development and the mutual relation of its successive stages of prog- 

 ress are Avell made out, much remains to be learned, and in this direc- 

 tion America is able to make the most valuable contributions. We 

 learn from histor}' something of the metal work of the Americi.n 

 aborigines. Tin, lead, and iron Avere little known, and the smelting 

 of ores was in its infancy, but gold, copper, and silver were extensively 

 employed when the Spaniards arrived, and these metals were forged, 

 fused, cast, alloyed, plated, and otherwise handled with a ■^kill that 

 astonished the conquerors. Archeology verifies the statements of his 

 torians and adds much to our knowledge of the manipulation of 

 metals and of the forms produced in the primitive stages of culture, 

 not only in regard to the Western Continent, but for the general his- 



