40 ANCIENT ART OF THE PROVINCE OF CHIRIQUI. 



It will be seen from this hasty review that, although we may con- 

 clude that casting and plating were certainly practiced by these peo- 

 ples, we must remain in ignorance of the precise methods employed. 



Referring to the question of the authenticity of the specimens them- 

 selves. I may note that observations bearing upon the actual discov- 

 ery of particular specimens in the tombs are unfortunately lacking. 

 Mr. McNiel acknowledges that with all his experience in the work of 

 excavation no single piece has been taken from the ground with his 

 own hands, and he cannot say that he ever witnessed the exhumation 

 by others, although he has been present when they were brought up 

 from the pits. Generally the wurkincii si'cn-tc tliciii and affci-wards 

 off er them for sale. »■ has. 1m.\vc\ .'i', n., shadow ..r a .Imil.t ihaf all 

 the pieces procured by liim came I'miii the gi-avcs as reported hy his 

 collectors. The question of the authenticity of the gilding will not be 

 satisfactorily or finally settled until some responsible collector shall 

 have taken the gilded dbjects with his own hands from their undis- 

 turbed places in tonihs known to be of pre-t'ohniilnan construction. 



There are many proofs, however, of the authentieity of the objects 

 themselves. It is asserted by a number of early writers that the 

 American natives were, on the arrival of the Spaniards, highly ac- 

 complished in metallurgy; that they worked with blowpipes and 

 cast in molds; that the objects produced exhibited a high order of 

 skill; and that the native talent was directed with unusual force and 

 uniformity toward the imitation of life forms. It is said that the 

 conquerors were •'struck with wonder" at their skill in this last 

 respect. And a strong argument in favor of the genuineness of 

 these objects is found in the fact that it is not at all probable that 

 rich alloys of gold would have been used by Europeans for the base 

 or foundation when copper or bronze, or even lead, would have served 

 as well. We also observe that there is absolutely no trace of pecu- 

 liarly European material or methods of maniijulation, a condition 

 hardly possible if the extensive reproductions were made by the 

 whites. Neither are there traces of European ideas embodied in the 

 shapes or in the decoration of the objects — a cirru instance that argues 

 strongly in favor of native origin. An equally eon\iiicin^' argument 

 is foimd in the fart that all the alloys liable to coi'rosiun exhibit 

 marked evidences of decay, as if for a long period subject to the de- 

 structive agents of the soil. In many cases the copper alloy base 

 crumbles into black powder, leaving only the flakes of the plating. 

 Lastly and most important, the stiaiii;e creatures represented are in 

 many cases identical with those emhodied in clay and in stone, and 

 for these latter works no one will f(ji' a moment claim a foreign 

 derivation. 



Considering all these arguments, I arrive at the conclusion that 

 the ornaments are, in the main, genuine antiquities, and that, if any 

 deception at all has been practiced, it is to be laid at the door of modern 



