ILLUSTRATIONS (51). SCHOMBTTBGK's ^RESEARCHES. 151 



north-west, empties itself into the Essequibo in 2 1 6' nortb 

 lat. ; and I subsequently found similar figures on the Esse- 

 quibo itself in 1 40' north lat. These figures, therefore, as 

 appears from actual observations, extend from 7 10 ; to 1 40* 

 north lat., and from 57 30' to 66 30* west long. The zone 

 (or belt) of the sculptured rocks (as far as it has yet been inves- 

 tigated) thus extends over an area of 192,000 square miles, 

 and includes within its circuit the basins of the Corentyn, 

 Essequibo, and Orinoco a circumstance that enables us 

 to judge of the former population of this portion of the con- 

 tinent." 



Remarkable relics of a former culture, consisting of granitic 

 vessels ornamented with beautiful representations of laby- 

 rinths, and the earthenware forms resembling the Roman 

 masks, have been discovered among the wild Indians on the 

 Mosquito coast.* I had them engraved in the picturesque 

 Atlas appended to the historical portion of my travels. 

 Antiquarians are astonished at the resemblance of these al- 

 greco vessels to those which embellish the Palace of Mitla 

 (near Oaxaca, in New Spain). The large-nosed race, who 

 are so frequently sculptured in relief on the Palenque of 

 Guatimala and in Aztec pictures, I have never observed in 

 Peruvian carvings. Klaproth recollects having noticed that 

 the Chalkas, a horde of Northern Mongolia, had similar large 

 noses. It is universally known, that many races of the 

 North American, Canadian, and copper-coloured Indians, have 

 fine aquiline noses, which constitute an essential physiognomical 

 mark of distinction between them and the present inhabitants 

 of New Granada, Quito, and Peru. Are the large-eyed, fair- 

 skinned natives of the north-west coast of America, of whom 

 Marchand speaks as living in 54 and 58 north lat., descended 

 from the Usuns, an Alano-Gothic race of Central Asia? 



(52) p. 20. " Deal certain death with a poisoned thumb-nail" 



The Otomacs frequently poison their thumb-nails with 

 curare. The mere impress of the nail proves fatal, should the 

 curare become mixed with the blood. We have in our pos- 

 session the creeping plant, from the juice of which the curare is 

 prepared, in the Esmeralda Mission, on the Upper Orinoco, 



* Archceologia Britannica, TO!. T. 1779, pp. 318-324; and vol. vl 

 1782, p. 107. 



