OF THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. IO9 



exclude any theory of the carriage being effected by floods or other 

 geological changes. 



Third : In addition to implements of war or agriculture, or the 

 material for their manufacture, we frequently find many articles of a 

 tender nature, such as shells and mica, which would from their 

 composition be destroyed by the rough usage they would naturally 

 be subjected to if transported by any other means than by man, and 

 even then the owner must have considered them of such value as to 

 induce him to carry them in as careful a manner as he possibly 

 could. 



Fourth : We frequently find metallic specimens in localities far 

 removed from their native rocks. These metals are often in pieces, 

 just as they had been dug out of the mine. Very frequently they 

 shew traces of having been hammered or subjected to fire, and often 

 worked into the shape of articles of jewelry or ornaments, some 

 showing in a high degree the artistic sklil of the ancient workmen. 



Fifth : In addition to specimens of simple metals, we frequently 

 find what may be considered the strongest proofs of commercial 

 relations between prehistoric peoples : — these are specimens of their 

 handiwork in compound metals or alloys. These articles are chiefly 

 of bronze. 



There are few traces of a Bronze Age in North America. This 

 metal is confined almost exclusively to Europe. The absence of 

 bronze among the North American tribes, or peoples, may be ac. 

 counted for by the scarcity of tin, none being then known on this 

 continent outside of Mexico and Peru, and an analysis of the 

 bronzes of these peoples shews them to have been more sparing of 

 their tin than were the Europeans. Although articles of copper are 

 frequent in the mounds of the Mississippi Valley, I have been 

 unable to find in any of the authorities consulted any reference to 

 the finding of a single article of bronze. Mr. Tylor, in his address 

 to Section H (the Anthropological section) of the British Associa- 

 tion, at Montreal, in 1884, says : " In connection with ideas 

 borrowed from Asia there arises the question. How did the Mexicans 

 and Peruvians become possessed of bronze ?" and answers it thus . 

 " Seeing how imperfectly it had estabUshed itself, not even dispos- 

 sessing the stone implements. I have long believed it to be an 



