SCULPTUEES OF SANTA LUCIA COZUMAHUALI'A. f^M 



sphere, which may be an India rubber ball used in ])layino- ball. The 

 game of ball is, in the picture writings, the sign of H(>aven, and the 

 flying- ball denotes the sun in its motions. The head of the bearded 

 man agrees with that which the lower right-hand assistant of No. 1 

 carries. He would thus represent a race hostile to the inhabitants of 

 Santa Lucia. From this representation, of which there is a replica, 

 wliich, I believe, has been preserved, it seems to follow that thei-e was 

 a leading worship of the sun, and that human sacrifices Avere offered 

 to it. 



The material described is small in number, but in scientific interest 

 it is an important enrichment to the still limited exhibit of our Museum 

 in old American civilization. The sculptures of Santa Lucia ai-e. at 

 any rate, well adapted to bring wider recognition to a proposition long 

 established in science that America, before it was plundered, was in 

 part inhabited by peoples well entitled to be called civilized. It must 

 be remembered that every people follows its own course of develop- 

 ment, and that the forms of expression of the resulting civilization 

 are not only the product of the peculiar genius of the race, but are also 

 influenced in the most diverse ways by the conditions of life and the 

 events of history. Science undertakes the task of exploring th(» con- 

 ditions of these phenomena, so that, having arrived at a complete 

 imderstanding of the nature of a civilization and its significance for 

 the people studied, it may attain the only correct standard for its 

 appreciation. In the present case science has not reached that degree 

 of knowledge. Only here and there can it lift the veil which peculiar 

 thoughts and ideas have woven around the productions of the Santa 

 Lucia civilization. Yet even these few glimpses suffice to enable us 

 to say that we have here to do with performances which rise far al)o\e 

 the common level. Both conception and execution testify to extraor- 

 dinary endow-ments, especially when we reflect that a niatei-ial as 

 hard as stone allows expression to the idea only after immense t(>ch- 

 nical difficulties have been overcome. All those races, so far as we 

 know, lacked the chief means that we possess, since the use of iron 

 was unknown, and consequently the working of the ston(> ui such 

 fashion as we here see it worked must have been a fearfully wearisome 

 and prolonged labor. 

 SM 99 36 



