HOLMES] ABORIGINAL AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES PART I 343 



The perfection of the mural masonry of the Incas is shown by the 

 examples illustrated in figure 199, a, h. This superb work, executed 

 by the crumbling process, supplemented by the abrading process, is 

 not confined to a few limited examples, but extends to great build- 

 ings, fortresses, embankments, aqueducts, and bridges of vast extent. 



This marvelous hewing of mural surfaces was not all. The build- 

 ers of the Cuzco Valley extended their passion for sculpture to the 

 elaborate carving of the massive rock in place, a good specimen of 

 this work being shown in figure 200, selected from numerous equally 

 noteworthy examples illustrated by Bingham. The purpose of the 

 carving of great rock masses and even the massive outcrops of the 

 mountain sides is not determined, but that it was the result of a most 

 serious purpose and executed with primitive tools and at the expense 

 of great labor is beyond dispute. 



Hardly less to be wondered at as products of primitive handicraft 

 than these strange traces of sculptural and architectural enterprise 

 are the multifarious products of the lapidarian art — the personal 

 ornaments, amulets, idols, and the like, made of jade, agate, turquoise, 

 emerald, and other precious and semiprecious stones recovered by 

 tens of thousands from dwelling sites and burial places throughout 

 America, all or nearly all of which had to pass through the crumbling 

 stage of elaboration before the abrading-polishing processes could 

 proceed with the work. 



