22 



USE OF GOLD AND OTHER METALS 



view gives a good idea of the thickuess of the metal and of the relief 

 of the parts. Two riugs or loops of doubled wire are attached to the 

 extreme end of the nose and a heavy ring for suspending is fixed to the 

 under side of the head. 



MisceUaneous. — Gold, pure and in the usual alloys, was also used iu 

 the manufacture of other articles, such as bells, beads, disks, balls, 

 rings, whistles, thimble shaped objects, and amulets of varied shapes. 

 Bells are more generally made of bronze, because, perhaps, of its 

 greater degree of resonance. Thin plates, or rather circiilar sheets, of 

 gold leaf are numerous. One mentioned by Bollaert was 7+ inches in 

 diameter. They are plain or crimped about the margins, indented iu 

 various ways, and sometimes perforated, a^iparently for suspension or 

 attachment. Merritt mentions examples having holes which showed 

 evidences of wear upon one side only, indicating attachment in a fixed 

 position to some object or to some part of the costume. But one ex- 

 ample is at hand, a thin sheet, 3 inches in diameter, and crimped or 

 indented neatly about the margin. Its thickness is about that of ordi- 

 nary tinfoil. 



USE OF BRONZE. 



Bells. — Bells were in pretty general use by the more cultured Amer- 

 ican races previous to the conquest. The form best known is the hawk 

 bell, or common sleigh bell of the North. The globular body is sus- 

 pended by a loop at the top and is slit on the under side, so that the 

 tinkling of the small free pellets of metal may be audible. Such bells 

 are found in considerable numbers in the graves of Chiriqui, although 

 I have no positive assurance that any of the examples in my possession 

 were actually taken from graves which contained typical Chiriquian 

 relics of other classes. The specimens now in the National Museum, 

 Fig. 17, are iu most cases, if not in all, of bronze, as demonstrated by 



Fig. 17. Bronze bells, plated or washed with gold. 



Mr. K. B. Riggs, of the chemical laboratory of the United States Geo- 

 logical Survey. All have been cast iu molds. In most cases there are 

 traces of a plating of gold. The largest is 1 \ inches in height and three- 

 fourths of an inch in diameter. It is surmounted by the rude figure 



