74 The First Technical Use of Gold 



ears of Indian corn have been found. In a niche cut out 

 of the end of the tomb, a vase of earthenware is sometimes 

 found, covered with a stone, and filled with pounded char- 

 coal, in which the remaining trinkets and gold-dust, left with 

 the occupant of the grave, had been deposited. Implements 

 for smelting gold, and some tools made of gold and copper, 

 are sometimes, though but rarely, found in the pot occupying 

 the niche. The Spaniards, who during three centuries have 

 gathered gold from the fluvial deposits, have found many of 

 these burial places very remunerative. 



Some localities show that systematically arranged ceme- 

 teries have formerly existed where two excavations in the 

 centre, of greater depth than the surrounding ones, were 

 found. The deep graves appear to have been appropriated 

 to the chiefs and their families, and the numerous others to 

 the inferior classes. These burying places are termed 

 " Pueblo de Indios," but these larger cemeteries are now 

 seldom found. Traditional accounts of certain localities are 

 still preserved, and eagerly sought after, where great trea- 

 sures are said to have been buried. In like manner reports 

 are often heard of rich fluvial deposits of a more recent date, 

 where the proprietor is said to have had a measure corre- 

 sponding to about twenty to twenty-five pounds weight, on 

 collecting his weekly produce. This may be regarded as 

 probable, if we consider that as many as from two to three 

 hundred African slaves were often employed in mining 

 pursuits by one proprietor. 



The foregoing narrative supplies a proof that the aborigi- 

 nal inhabitants of South America had some indefinite notion 

 of a future state ; they appear to have believed ' ' that their 

 deceased relative or friend had a long way before him," 

 and that he would require some refreshment in his long 

 journey to "reach the stars." This idea still extensively 

 prevails. 



The trinkets which are now submitted for the inspection 

 of the members of the Institute are of the most ancient date, 

 and form a collection from which a correct idea may be gained 

 of the most simple as well as the most elaborate workman- 

 ship of these people, and supply a good illustration of the 

 valuable influence the discovery of metals exerted in advanc- 

 ing early civilization. 



Figs. 1 to 37 in the plate illustrate the trinkets in half 

 size, and Figs. 38 to 41 the natural size. (See explanation 

 of Plate in the next page.) 



