26 USE OF GOLD AND OTHER METALS 



in stone and clay, the art products of tlie province thus constituting a 

 fairly homogeneous whole, and being entirely free from traces of Euro- 

 pean influence. 



Metals do- not come into use early in the history of a race, as they are 

 not found in shapes or conditions suitable for immediate use, nor are 

 they when found sufficiently showy to be especially desirable for orna- 

 ments. A long period must have elapsed before the use of metals was 

 discovered at all and a longer period passed by before they were worked, 

 and, in the light of our knowledge of the ancient tribes of the United 

 States, it would seem that a considerable degree of culture may be 

 achieved before the casting of metals is understood; but in the ordinary 

 course of progress the discovery of methods of alloying rare metals 

 would be far separated from that of the simple fusing and casting of 

 a single metal, such as gold. The Chiriquian peoples not only had a 

 knowledge of the methods of alloying gold with copper and api:>arently 

 copper with tin, but, if our data are correct, they were able to plate the 

 baser metals and alloys with sheet gold, and, what is far more wonder- 

 ful, to wash them with gold, producing an effect identical with that of 

 our galvanic processes. 



The character of the conceptions embodied in the art unite with 

 evidences of technical skill to prove to us that American culture, as 

 represented by the ornaments of Chiriqui, was not the product of a day, 

 but of long periods of experiment and progress. 



The sum of the art achievements of these peoples indicates perhaps a 

 somewhat lower degree of culture than that attained by the Mexicans 

 and the Peruvians, the ceramic art alone challenging the world in 

 respect to refinement of form and simplicity and delicacy of treatment. 



