xlvi Proceedings, fyc. 



quently found in Indian tombs, and is now actually in use among 

 the civilised Indians of South America. Having discovered that 

 gold and copper would become liquified by the aid of heat, smelting 

 pots, or crucibles, were made from clay, as the only substance suit- 

 able for this important purpose, just as we find this substance em- 

 ployed at present. 



The several imitations of animals and many other fancy trinkets 

 for ornaments and embellishments, which had been shaped out of the 

 wild bees' wax, became now the patterns for reproducing the same in 

 gold, or an alloy of gold and copper. For this object, clay offered 

 itself as the only substance in which the mould could be produced, 

 and having embedded the wax model in clay, and drying the mould 

 gradually so as to prepare it for a stronger heat, the wax model in 

 melting, left the pattern for the liquified gold. Without clay such 

 castings could not have been produced ! 



Natural fluxes, for facilitating the liquifaction of the metals, were 

 found in the nitrates of potash and soda, abundantly provided in 

 Chili, Peru, and other parts of South America ; but where these 

 were not available, the ashes of ferns were, by the aboriginals, used 

 as a substitute. 



Clay was further and most extensively employed for making dif- 

 ferent kinds of pitchers of varied shapes, some of which were very 

 large, being everywhere used for preparing a fermented drink from 

 Indian corn (maize) and honey, the only intoxicating liquid then known 

 in that part of South America. Cooking utensils were prepared from 

 clay, as also a great variety of fancy-shaped vessels, some of which 

 represented the human form. These manufactures were at the con- 

 quest seen in general use, and have been found in all the tombs. 

 These burial-pits, or perpendicular excavations, have in some districts 

 retained their original name, but the Spaniards distinguish with the 

 term " huaca" those which contain gold and gold trinkets.'"" 



The method in which the women and the grown children prepared 

 the clay for making earthenware was the same as that we find 

 the aboriginal tribes using at the present moment. The clay 

 in a moist state is ground on a large flat stone by a smaller one. 

 In many localities these implements are dug out from the sites 

 termed "lavaderos de Indio," where the aboriginal workshops 

 existed, and where gold and copper were melted and castings made, 

 such as are found in the tombs, and also got among the leavings 

 of gold and gold and copper in alloy.t These sites in former days, 



*. In one of my later papers, presented to the Society, I have given a 

 detailed description of these tombs and their golden contents. 



t These lavaderos, "washing places," were discovered about four years 

 ago on the Andes, between the 5° and 8° north latitude. Some of these have 

 been found very rich in spoils of the early Indian goldsmiths, who seem to 

 have been very careless about their materials which are found scattered about. 

 Gold in its natural state is also found here. 



