BRONZE BEI 



51 



of analogous features in other branches of tlie 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 purely aboriginal character of 

 which has not been called in ciuestion, similar features are disctjv- 



Fiu. r.i. Ti-ijile lieli 



ered. The American origin of the liell, therefore, is not to be ques- 

 tioned. The form originated, no 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 the ornaments of vessels and in the 

 heads and other parts of animal forms, which were made hollow and 

 supplied with tinkling pellets. With the acknowledged skill of these 

 people in the working of metals, there is no reason why the bells de- 



FiG. 14. Aiiuiei 



scribed sliould not have been maniifactured independently of Euro- 

 pean aid and influence, provided the requisite metal was at hand. 



