66 



stance, pieces have been procured of more than 

 eight feet in length. These pieces are so even 

 and smooth, that they are used by the painters 

 to grind their colours upon, without any prepa- 

 ration. It is not easy to account for the arrange- 

 ment and regular formation of this stone; the 

 earth in the environs is composed of sand, clay 

 or rnarle, and between the layers only is a 

 coarse sparry or quartzcous sand to be found. 



In the plains, and upon most of the mountains, 

 are to be seen a great number of flat circular 

 stones, of five or six inches in diameter, with a 

 hole through the middle. These stones which 

 are either granite or porphyry, have doubtless 

 received this form by artificial means, and I am 

 induced to believe that they were the clubs or 

 maces of the ancient Chilians, and that the holes 

 were perforated to receive the handles.* 



Sect. VIII. Sails. That part of the Andes 

 rorrcapoiuiing with the provinces of Copinpo 

 and Coqiiip-ibo, contains several mountains of 

 fo^-isil silt, di-:persed in strata or layers, crystal- 

 lized in transpdi-ent cubes, frequently coloured 



* The no.t'ion'! of the South Sea hiands, discovered hy Cap- 

 tain Cook, have auiong then in-ahons clubs of a similar far r- 

 to what our author sjipposfs these to have been. Fr. Trims. 



Aii\ ^ii;!j.'0 '.vouM be lu'tter Ua' t!ie Jiead of a mace than tlie 

 flat circle. Is it iiot more likely that lliis was a missile wea- 

 pea, i^oiihr to the chuckra of the Hindoos 1 E. E. 



