COLUMBIAN HISTORICAL EXPOSITION AT MADRID. 25 



It is well known that the greater part of the area of Michoacan was 

 inhabited at the time of the conquest by a nation of natives called 

 Tarascos. They were in a condition of civilization nearly if not quite 

 equal to that of their neighbors, the Nahuas or Aztecs, constructing 

 temples and houses of stone and brick, and making use of a calendar 

 in all respects allied to that employed by these. 



The study of the antiquities of Michoacan has been profitably con 

 ducted of late years by Dr. Nicolas Leon, who has published in refer 

 ence to them a number of valuable essays, and has made a collection of 

 numerous books and objects throwing light upon the culture of the 

 ancient inhabitants. His labors in this direction are admirably sup 

 plemented by the collection of Senor Plaucarte exhibited in this Expo 

 sition. Among these objects, 1,325 are assigned by their finder as with 

 out doubt representing the manufactures of the Tarascos. They 

 included objects representing domestic utensils, tools used in the arts, 

 ornaments, and decorations, and others supposed to have reference to 

 their religion, to their method of carrying on war, and to other pur 

 poses consistent with the culture of Mexico. 



Among the domestic utensils, there were many of clay, more or less 

 decorated and painted, and showing a great variety of forms. Some 

 of these have handles and feet, others are flat like a dish, some have 

 narrow necks with the edges flattened horizontally, others approxi 

 mating closely to the form of a bottle. The clay of which they are 

 formed is usually carefully worked and burnt. The character of the 

 decoration is various. In some instances we find a series of Greek pat 

 terns varied with lines, circles, and spirals; in others the decoration 

 has been formed by a series of impressions on the soft material, evi 

 dently made by a hollow tube or cone, these impressions being disposed 

 in symmetrical forms. There does not appear to have been any attempt 

 at representing objects by hieroglyphics, the figures shown being con 

 ventional or geometrical. 



Among such domestic objects are a number of corn mills, called 

 metates, with their grinders or pestles. Some have two or three feet, 

 and are similar to those found in many other parts of Mexico. The 

 roller or pestle employed for breaking the corn is usually of a cylindri 

 cal shape. They were intended to be used by pressing and crushing^ 

 rather than by grinding. 



It is interesting to find among this collection several examples of 

 very diminutive forms evidently intended to be used as playthings for 

 children, imitating in their games the labors of the r elders. . 



The industries which are represented by the utensils used in the arts 

 are principally those of the potter, the mat maker, the paper maker, and 

 the worker on stone and in metals. The smoothers, apparently used in 

 the potter s art, were of burnt clay, with rectangular form and a handle 

 on the upper surface; others of basaltic lava or of diorite or of black 

 porphyry. The under surface is sometimes smooth, sometimes marked 

 by longitudinal lines or flutings. 



