INDIAN ANTIQUITIES. 137 



excited surprise, but whicli ought not, since it is unavoidable, being due not less to the earth 

 herself and the laws impressed on her materials, than to man's organic structure. There are 

 no mechanical, chemical, or other principles provided for one part of the globe, or for one race 

 of men, to the exclusion of others ; and hence, wherever invoked, feebly or with power, their 

 manifestations must be more or less alike. To smooth the interior surfaces of the walls of 

 dwellings with a coating of plaster or clay was an instinctive suggestion, and coeval with it was 

 the idea of the plasterer's trowel, in one or more of its forms. From the remains of smooth and 

 polished walls in Peru, Central America, and Mexico, it is probable that a finer finishing instru- 

 ment than this stone one was employed — most likely one of copper or silver : modern plasterers 

 use trowels of wood, and polish with blades of steel. 



Figure Gr, a black, hard, and smoothly polished stone, resembling an egg in shape, used for 

 working their sheet-metal. H is another "hollowing hammer" of iron-stone, and one that 

 might be employed with advantage by our tin, copper, and silver smiths. The groove worked 

 round the middle was the universal device by which handles were secured to primeval stone 

 axes, hammers, and chisels, viz : by bending a hazel or other pliable rod twice round the 

 indentation, and then twisting or lashing the two ends together, to serve as a handle. Black- 

 smiths to this day everywhere thus handle their punches and chisels. They have discovered 

 no mode superior to one which was in vogue before edge-tools of metal were known. To have 

 inserted the handle into G or H, would have rendered it exceedingly liable to fracture at the 

 opening, whereas its durability is all but unlimited when hafted as H was. 



Figw-e I, a box two inches long, one deep, and seven-eighths wide, cut out of a soft, 

 greenish tinted stone. A Peruvian Indian in Rio, from Ouzco, says it was a salt-box. 



Figure J, an axe, or hatchet, two inches deep, and .two wide at the blade, which is brought to 

 a fine edge. The stone, though well polished, is not hard. It is only two inches deep, and the 

 same across the edge. 



K. A box or chest, divided into eight equal compartments. It is two and three quarter 

 inches long, two and a half deep, and six and a quarter wide. The material is a stone known 

 as " Aza de Mosca," Fly's Wing. At the ends serpents are figured, and at the sides a man and 

 woman in high relief in a sitting posture. At their feet the liquid contents were drawn out at 

 two orifices, to which plugs or faucets were adapted. On each side a couple of tigers are sculp- 

 tured, whose heads and protruded tongues stand out full an inch — their bodies being in low 

 relief. For the sake of the head-dresses, the human figures — supposed to represent an Inca and 

 his wife — are enlarged and figured separately at L M. 



The object of this vessel is not obvious, except that it was for mixing liquids, but whether for 

 innocent or deceptive purposes does not appear. A plan of it is below at K', showing channels 

 of communication between the partitions at the bottom and along the sides. These do not 

 exceed one fourth of an inch bore. They have been cut too large in the engraving. From a 

 slight examination it will be perceived that the contents of cells 1, 6, 8, 3, were discharged at 

 one orifice, while those of 2, 5, 4, T, ran out at the other. The material of this vessel is of a 

 uniform grayish-black color, and not very hard — almost as easily cut as soapstone. The corner 

 and two side channels of communication are formed in plaster or cement, with a species of 

 covered-way on those parts of the bottom. 



Works in Bronze. 



Next in interest to a personal interview with half a dozen ancient Peruvian founders — could 

 they be called up from the dead to hold communion with us — would be a daguerreotype picture 

 of them in the midst of their implements and processes ; and next to that are opportunities of 

 examining articles produced by them, with more or less of the tools they employed. The inform- 

 ation thus obtained is reliable, as far as it goes ; and as metallic antiques accumulate, so will 

 our knowledge of their authors, until we shall be in possession of details of their fabrication. 

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