146 INDIAN ANTIQUITIES. 



erroneous; for there certainly is something more jrazzling in the carvings in granite, porphyry, 

 and other hard rocks, by ancient Americans, than in the problems presented in articles and edge- 

 tools of metal. In figures I, L, M, M', page 138, we have cutting instruments. Of their 

 relative hardness I have already spoken. Now, were harder and sharper tools required in their 

 construction? or, if not, in what manner were they formed? 



When the tapered and heavy sceptre A 1, page 138, was placed in my hands, I at once 

 inferred a casting from a wooden pattern, which might retain marks of a turning-tool in 

 forming that iiattern, and possibly of another in finishing the metal itself on a lathe; but I 

 was mistaken — there is not a sign of either. I reasoned from modern methods with which 

 ancient practice did not and could not accord, in the absence of an agent which makes all the 

 difference between the arts of civilized and those of semi-civijized states. The instrument had 

 been but little labored after leaving the loam in which it was cast, and that little had been 

 confined to abrasion. In appearance the blade was quite straight; but, on looking along it 

 lengthwise, many waving deviations ajipeared. Grasping a part in one hand, and quickly 

 turning it to and fro with the other, also showed that its section, though seemingly round to the 

 eye, was not really so — a criterion, this, known to most artists as a severe one. The pattern 

 had not been turned, nor had its metallic fac-simile been finished in a lathe. 



In the articles A, D, H, page 138, and in the openings for handles in M, N, were no marks 

 of a filej nor of any cutting implement whatever, nor on any metallic article in the collection. 

 The conclusion was irresistible that no other dressing was given to them than what grinding 

 and polishing-stones could impart. Files, we know the ancient Mexicans and Peruvians had 

 not ; and, had we not been expressly told so by early historians, the fact would appear obvious in 

 the absence of the only metal of which they could have been made. If formed of copfier alloys, 

 of what use, since they could have been no harder than edge-tools of the same? For dressing 

 metals they would have been worthless, and for reducing wood of little avail. All goods, then, 

 of old American smiths, were solely produced by the crucible, hammer, and grindstone, to 

 which the blow-pipe in soldering and the process of chasing must be added. 



Let us see if we can reconcile this with the articles before us, by showing that no cutting- 

 tool was required in their fabrication. 



There is in the collection only one hollow-wrought specimen — figure 1, page 141 — but it rep- 

 resents a large class of American antiques. That tribes far less advanced than the old Peru- 

 vians spread gold, silver, and other metals into leaves or sheets, by hammers and anvils of 

 stone, is too commonly known to need corroboration. Existing examples abound in Africa, 

 Madagascar, Sumatra, Borneo, and other islands of the Indian Archijielago, and also in both 

 Americas. The small sheet, figure F, page 138, therefore presents no difficulty, if even bronze 

 hammers and stakes had been unknown to those who formed it; nor does the embossing of such, 

 or raising them into cups, &c. — results of convexity in the faces of hammers and anvils, and 

 more or less developed with sjireading every leaf of metal. But when the design could not be 

 perfected by bulging uji of a flat piece, as in figure 1, page 141, then the metal was folded, the 

 corresponding edges soldered, and the whole worked on stakes to a rude resemblance of the 

 object intended. Next, the interior was filled with a fluid composition of wax and resin. On 

 this, when cool and hardened, the metal was wrought, and, where required, sunk into it by 

 punchets, until the contour was perfected, and the details of ornament brought out; that is, 

 by the imiversal process of chasing — one common to enlightened and semi-barbarous artisans, 

 and which originated with the latter. For this process, punchets and hammers of bronze, 

 or even of stone, are all-sufficient. 



When the chasing was completed, the article was heated sufficiently to fuse and discharge 

 the resinous compounds, precisely as is the manner of modern jewellers and silversmiths. If 

 a base or any addition was required, it was annexed, as were the feet in figure 1, page 141, by 

 solder. 



That Peruvian workmen were very expert in soldering is abundantly verified by works extant. 



