THE STONE AGE— PAST AND PRESENT. 205 



with a blade of meteoric iron^ and a knife, also of tusk, whicli 

 is edged by fixing in a row of chips of meteoric iron along a 

 groove. But these instruments do not appear old ; they are 

 just like those in which the Esquimaux at present mount 

 morsels of European iron, and there is no evidence that they 

 used their native meteoric iron, until their intercourse with 

 Europeans in modern times had taught them the nature and 

 use of the metal. It is indeed very strange that there should 

 be no traces found among them of knowledge of metal-work, 

 and of other arts, which one would expect a race so receptive 

 of foreign knowledge to have got from contact with the 

 Northmen, in the tenth and following centuries ; but I have 

 not succeeded in finding any distinct evidence of the kind. 



In the lower part of the Northern Continent, in Peru and 

 some other districts of the Southern, the Stone Age was not 

 extinct at the time of Columbus j it was indeed in a state of 

 development hardly surpassed anywhere in the world, but at 

 the same time several metals were in common use. Gold and 

 silver were worked with wonderful skill, but chiefly for orna- 

 mental purposes. Though almost all the gold and silver work 

 of Mexico has long ago gone to the melting-pot, there are still 

 a few specimens which show that the Spanish conquerors were 

 not romancing in the wonderful stories they told of the skill 

 of the native goldsmiths. I have seen a pair of gold eagle orna- 

 ments in the Berlin Museum, which will compare almost with 

 the Etruscan work for design and delicacy of finish. But what 

 is still more important is that bronze, made of well-judged pro- 

 portions of copper and tin, was in use on both continents. 

 The Peruvians used bronze, and perhaps copper also, for tools 

 and weapons. The Mexican bronze axe-blades are to be seen 

 in collections, and we know by the picture-writings that both 

 the Mexicans^ and the builders of the ruined cities of Central 

 America,^ mounted them by simply sticking them into a 

 wooden club, as the modern African mounts his iron axe-blade. 

 The little bronze bells of Mexico^ and South America are cored 

 castings, which are by no means novice^ s work, and other 



' Mendoza Codex, in Kingsborougli, vol. i. ^ Dresden Codex, id. 

 3 Tylor, ' Mexico ;' p, 236. 



