INDIAN ANTIQUITIES. 123 



bequeathing to us the noblest of earthly inheritances, their contributions to the great staples 

 of modern commerce have never been excelled. To say nothing of the fur-trade, nor of the 

 metals, from gold and mercury to copper and lead, in unprecedented profusion, of bread plants 

 they gave us the potato, Indian corn, and mandioca ; of poultry^ the turkey and other fowls ; 

 of raw materials for manufactures. India-rubber; of timber, mahogany, rose, satin, and at 

 least two hundred other varieties of wood used in ship-building, carpentry, and for dying, 

 furniture and ornamental wares ; in medicine, Peruvian bark^ jalap, and ipecacuanha. Then 

 there is a list of plants, including tobacco, which have become necessities to such a degree that 

 nations would stand aghast if threatened to be deprived of them. 



To a people to whom we owe so much, the least that we can do is to gather up for posterity 

 whatever memorials of them may fall in our way. 



A change in terrestrial occupancy on such a scale is an episode unparalleled in the history of 

 our globe ; and though we who live during its accomplishment are in a manner indifferent to 

 its magnitude, and to its bearings on the destinies of the species in coming times, it will be 

 discussed and referred to in the distant future as one of ever memorable significance. 



There are, moreover, ethnographical facts of marked interest to students of races and nations. 

 For example : it is universally conceded that civilization was first developed in the East, and on 

 the northern half of the planet, while it is uncertain whether it began here on the northern or 

 southern side of the equator. It arose in the interior of a vast continent in one case, and 

 apparently in the other on the shores of two oceans — Yucatan and Peru. The trojiics are the 

 base-lines of civilization. Between the parallels of 10° and 35° north arose all the historical 

 nations of old, and with them its tendency was not so much towards as from the equator, which 

 it never reached. It was the same with this Western world : the Mexicans and their predeces- 

 sors began and limited their efforts within the latitudes of 10° and 30.° But while no ancient 

 centre of civilization sprung up south of the line in the Eastern hemisphere, it was different 

 here ; for the earliest known southern efforts at human progress are those of the Inca dynasties, 

 though it is uncertain whether they preceded or followed the Central American nations, whose 

 architectural ruins yet abound. 



The further information respecting ancient American civilization and arts embodied in the 

 following pages is, from its ethnological importance^ submitted in connexion with the account of 

 kindred antiquities brought home by the Astronomical Expedition. 



General Alvares, the last Spanish political chief and commandant of the province of Cuzco, 

 made up during his administration a varied and very valuable collection of articles in terra 

 cotta, stone, bronze, silver, gold, &c., belonging to the times of the Incas. Arriving at Eio 

 de Janeiro (on his way to Spain), he disposed of them there. To the politeness of the pur- 

 chaser — Senor Barboza, a Brazilian gentleman of great learning and of antiquarian tastes — I 

 was indebted for opportunities fully to examine and report upon them, during a visit to Brazil 

 in 1846. No account of them has been published till now, and it is doubtful if any modern 

 volume contains a finer assemblage of antiquities of the kind. 



A copy of the catalogue furnished by General Alvares will serve to introduce a description 

 of the articles named in it. 



(Original.) 



Antiguidades DOS Incas do Peru. 



Esta collec9ao de antiguidades dos Incas do Peru pertenceo ao Brigadeiro D. Antonio Maria 

 de Alvares, chefe politico superior e commandante geral da provincia de Cuzco : 

 Em harro: 



1. Jarro, em que se acha a cabe9a do celebre Cacique Ruminhauy , que em classe de busto he a 



unica que se tene conservado desde aquella antiguide. 



2. Jarro, com forma de cabe^a de tigre. 



3. Catimplora, com desenhos de cobras, de mui boas cores e verniz. 



