46 COLUMBIAN HISTORICAL EXPOSITION AT MADRID. 



The means for studying through material objects the degree of cul 

 ture of this nation have always been limited, and much of the celebrity 

 which it has enjoyed has been owing to the literary studies of Duquesne 

 and Humboldt, and rests on insecure foundations. Indeed, all the known 

 objects previous to the present exhibition, which were at the command 

 of the students, were not over a hundred as represented in the various 

 works on this field. At Madrid, on the other hand, there were rep 

 resented 237 specimens and 167 hitherto unpublished drawings and 

 paintings of specimens in other collections not heretofore represented 

 in any public work. The character of these objects and the variety they 

 presented, illustrating ancient workmanship, may be judged from the 

 following list: 



In objects of gold there were 69 human figures, 6 masks, 23 figures 

 of animals, 19 instruments, and 38 bones for ornament, making in 

 all 155 articles in this metal of more or less pure alloy. In copper 

 there were 24 figures of animals and of the human subject $ in pottery, 

 38 vases and figures; and 20 utensils of stone. The illustrations offered 

 of other objects not on exhibition number 167; making in all 404 

 new specimens, serving to illustrate not only the technical culture of 

 the Chibcha nation, but also throwing light upon its mythology and 

 symbolism. 



But no doubt the most unexpected result of Mr. Restrepo s studies, 

 one abundantly proved by the unequalled collection which he pre 

 sented to view, was that the Chibcha Nation was not the leader in 

 general culture or in artistic workmanship among those who inhabited 

 the soil of Colombia at the time of the discovery. This distinguished 

 place was taken from them to be assigned to a nation or tribe hitherto 

 wholly unknown to historians or antiquarians, and whose affiliations 

 remain in complete obscurity. This tribe is that of the Quimbaya, who 

 occupied a territory on the right bank of the Eiver Cauca, between 

 the fourth and sixth parallel of north latitude. The area they con 

 trolled does not appear to have been more than 50 miles long and 30 

 wide, and from the very little that can be learned about their tradi 

 tions, they had entered this district at no remote period before the 

 Conquest. 



Concerning their language, we have no other information than a few 

 proper names and two or three words, which offer no affinity with 

 neighboring tongues. In this locality, guided by a native artistic 

 instinct, and favored by the abundance of gold, usually impure, found 

 in the streams, they developed probably the highest workmanship of 

 any people on the American continent. They appear to have been 

 peaceful, given to the enjoyment of life, and limited in other respects 

 in their cultivation. 



These characteristics combined to insure their early extinction on 

 the arrival of the Spaniards. Those avaricious strangers remorse 

 lessly pursued the Quimbaya to extort from them their hoards of the 



