BY ANCIENT INHABITANTS OF CHIRIQUI. 11 



afterwards poured in. As a matter of course, Ixjtli the mold and the 

 model are destroyed in each case, and exact dui>licatioijs are not to be 

 expected. Mr. George F. Kunz, of New York, with whom I have dis- 

 cussed this matter, states that he has seen live objects, such as insects, 

 used as models in this way. Being coated with washes of clay or like 

 substance until well protected and then heavily covered, they were 

 placed in the furnace. The animal matter was thus reduced to ashes 

 and extracted through small openings made for the purpose. As bear- 

 ing uj)on this subject it should be mentioned that occasionally small 

 tigures in a fine reddish resin are obtained from the graves of Ghiriqui. 

 They are identical in style of modeling with the objects of gold and 

 copper obtained from the same source. 



In discussing possible processes, Mr. William Hallock, of the division 

 of chemistry and physics of th^ United States Geological Survey, sug- 

 gested that, if the various sections of a metal ornament were imbedded 

 in the surface of a mass of fire clay in their proper relations and con- 

 tacts, they could then be completely inclosed in the mass, and subjected 

 to heat until the metal melted and ran together; after cooling, the 

 complete figure could be removed by breaking up the clay matrix. I 

 imagine that in such work much difficulty would be exi)erienced in se- 

 curing proper contact and adjustment of parts of complex figures. It 

 will likewise be observed that evidences of plasticity in the modeling 

 material would not exist. I must not pass a suggestion of Xadaillac^ 

 which offers a possible solution of the problem of manipulation. Re- 

 ferring to a statement of the early Spanish explorers that smelting was 

 unknowni to the inhabitants of Peru, he states that it would be possible 

 for a people in a low state of culture to discover that an amalgam of 

 gold with mercury is quite plastic, and that after a figure is modeled in 

 this composite metal the mercury may be dissipated by heat, leaving 

 the form in gold, which then needs only to be polished. There is, how- 

 ever, no evidence whatever that these people had any knowledge of 

 mercury. 



There is no indication of carving or engraving in the Chiriquian 

 work. In finishing, some of the extremities seem to have been shaped 

 by hammering. This is a mere flattening out of the feet or parts of 

 the accessories, which required ^lo particular skill and could have been 

 accomplished with comparatively rude stone hammers. It is a remark- 

 able fact that many, if not most, of the objects appear to be either i)lated 

 or washed with pure gold, the body or foundation being of base gold 

 or of nearly pure copper. This fact, coupled with that of the associa- 

 tion of objects of bronze with the relics, leads us to inquire carefully 

 into the possibilities of European influence or agency. I observe that 

 iccent writers do not seem to have (piestioued the genuineness of the 

 objects described by them but that at the same time no mention is made 

 ot the plating or washing. This latter circumstance leads to the infer- 



' Nadaillac, Prehistoric America, p. 450. 



