14 



USE OF GOLD AXD OTHER METALS 



I present the following- specimens with a reasonable degree of con- 

 fidence that all, or nearly all, are pnrely American products, and I 

 sincerely hope that at no distant day competent arcbseologists may 

 have the opportunity of making i)ersonal observations of similar relics 

 Id place. 



The objects consist to a great extent of representations of life forms, 

 iu many cases more fanciful than real and often extremely grotesque. 



They include the human figure and a great variety of birds and beasts 

 indigenous to the country, in styles resembling work of the same region 

 in clay and stone. My illustrations show the actual size of the objects. 



The human figure. — Statuettes of men and women and of a variety of 

 anthropomorphic figures of all degrees of elaboration abound. Fig. 2 



Fig. 2. HiiLuan figure, formed of copper-gold alloy. 



illustrates a plain, rude specimen belonging to the collection of J. B. 

 Stearns. It was obtained by Mr. McNiel from near the south base of 

 Mount Chiri<{ui. The body is solid and the surface is rough and pitted, 

 as if from decay. In many respects it resembles the stone sculi)tures 

 ot the Isthmus. The metal is neatly pure copper. A piece exhibiting 

 more elaborate workmanship, and published by Bollaert,^ is shown in 

 Fig. 3. Another remarkable specimen is illustrated by De Zeltner, but 

 the photograph published with his brochure is too indistinct to permit 

 of satisfactory reproduction. He describes it in the following language: 

 '•The most curious piece in my collection is a gold figure of a man, 7 

 centimeters in height. The head is ornamented with a diadem termi- 

 nated on each side with the head of a frog. The body is nude, except 

 a girdle, also in the form of a i)lait supporting a flat piex^e intended to 

 cover the privates, and two round ornaments on each side. The arms 

 are extended from the body; the well drawn hands hold, one of them, a 

 short, round club, the other a musical instrument, of which one end is 

 in the mouth and the other forms an enlargement like that of a flute, 

 made of human bone. It is not probable that this is a pipe. Both 



' BoHaert's Autuiuariiin Researches iu New Grauada, plate opp. p. 31. 



