Proceedings, §c. xlvii 



which were occupied with great numbers of Indian artisans mak- 

 ing the moulds, melting the metals, and producing the castings, 

 are now covered with a deep vegetable soil, through which the roots 

 of gigantic forest trees now penetrate deep into the substrata of de- 

 composed rock, and on which, at that period, the early ingenuity 

 of man had prepared furnaces and other means for producing such 

 manufactures as for the most part served the purposes of luxury or 

 embellishment. The timber being cut down and burnt, water is gene- 

 rally brought to the spot, when washing-operations lay bare the rock, 

 and at the same time the remainder of the gold is gathered, the 

 implements, as those of gold and copper alloy being also collected. 

 Here is now seen the blocks which were used for grinding the clay, 

 consisting of granite and trachytic rocks, several feet in length and 

 from two to three feet wide, all these being found worn down by such 

 treatment to thin slabs. The grinders are also found, being oval- 

 shaped stones of granite, such as they were prepared by nature, found 

 in the fluvial depositions of mountain streams. " La piedra de moler," 

 the grinding-stone, and " la mano," the grinder, were also most 

 necessary implements for grinding the Indian corn, which was ex- 

 tensively used by the South American aboriginals ; and still, in the 

 present day, these two implements for preparing the clay and for 

 grinding the maize, the staple bread-food, are used all over the South 

 American continent. 



Women and children at the present time occupy themselves princi- 

 pally in making the earthenware ; and in the earlier periods when 

 these useful articles were introduced among the aboriginal families, 

 the same arrangement prevailed. 



While, therefore, the women and the weaker members of the family 

 were occupied in the new art, another branch of industry was at- 

 tended to by the men, who gradually improved their weapons for 

 procuring animal food. The simple spear, with some sharp stone, 

 fixed to the point, was the first ; but the bow and arrow were subse- 

 quently invented. The contrivance for sending missiles by means 

 of a tube purposely made, was the last improvement made among 

 the tribes of the Andes. This formidable weapon, with a poisoned dart, 

 is still in use among the Indians, termed "bodoquera." 



The valuable qualities possessed by clay are well known all over 

 the world. This matter in its plastic, or more or less ductile state, 

 though in itself not ranging among elementary substances, encloses 

 a metal possessing rare properties. To the question : is there in 

 nature any other matter that may answer the purposes of clay 1 — 

 to' this we have already hinted, if there exists one, it has not been 

 discovered; at least among the known mineral and metallic earths 

 we do not see a substance for making an ordinary vessel, as that of 

 earthenware, or for preparing a brick. In this state of things, if clay (the 

 ter-silicate of alumina) had been omitted from the stores of nature, 

 or even if this substance only existed at greater depths, as below 



