24 USE OF GOLD AND OTHER METALS 



ornamented bells are mounted upon a circular plate, to which a short 

 handle is attached. It was evidentl}- not intended for suspension, but 

 rather to be held in the hand as a rattle. 



A question as to the authenticity of these bells as aboriginal works 

 very naturally arises, and it may be difficult to show to the satisfaction 

 of the skeptical mind that any particular specimen is not of European 

 origin or inspiration. At the same time we are not without strong 

 proofs that such bells were in use by the Americans before the advent 

 of the whites. Historical accounts are not wanting, but I shall only 

 stop to i^oiut out some of the internal evidences of the native art. The 

 strongest argument is to be found in the presence of analogous features 

 in other branches of the art and in other arts. The eyes of the golden 

 figures of reptiles are in many cases minute hawk bells, and in works 

 of clay, the i)urely aboriginal character of which has not been called 

 in question, similar features are* discovered. The American origin of 

 the bell is not, therefore, to be questioned. The form originated, no 



Fig. 20. Example of ancient Mexican bell. 



doubt, in the rattle, at first a nut-shell or a gourd; later it was modeled 

 in clay, and in time the same idea was worked out in the legs and orna- 

 ments of vessels and in the heads and other parts of life forms, which 

 were made hollow and supplied with tinkling pellets. With the ac- 

 knowledged skill of these people in the working of metals, there is no 

 reason why the bells described should not have been manufactured in- 

 dependently of European aid and influence. 



It should be observed that if these early American bells were copied 

 from or based upon Spanish originals they would not probably vary 

 greatly in type with the various sections from which they are recovered, 

 but it is observed that marked and persistent diflerences do occur. The 

 well known Mexican bell, an example of which is outlined in Fig. 20, 

 although of bronze, is generically distinct in form and construction. 



