﻿888 
  SOUTH 
  AMERICAN 
  INDIANS 
  [B. 
  A. 
  E. 
  Bull. 
  143 
  

  

  or 
  less 
  favorable 
  to 
  concentration 
  of 
  numbers 
  does 
  seem 
  a 
  necessary- 
  

   requisite 
  for 
  political 
  development 
  to 
  spring 
  up 
  spontaneously, 
  without 
  

   import. 
  The 
  Chibcha 
  habitat 
  is, 
  therefore, 
  of 
  significance 
  to 
  an 
  under- 
  

   standing 
  of 
  Chibcha 
  culture. 
  

  

  With 
  all 
  their 
  differentiation 
  from 
  their 
  nearer 
  tribal 
  neighbors 
  on 
  

   the 
  political 
  side, 
  the 
  Chibcha 
  were, 
  however, 
  surprisingly 
  on 
  their 
  level 
  

   in 
  other 
  ways. 
  This 
  is 
  true 
  of 
  success 
  in 
  warfare, 
  trade 
  relations 
  and 
  

   dependences, 
  religious 
  concepts 
  and 
  practices, 
  and 
  manual 
  industries. 
  

   They 
  evolved 
  no 
  calendar, 
  no 
  astronomy, 
  no 
  elaborate 
  system 
  of 
  cults 
  

   comparable 
  to 
  those 
  of 
  southern 
  Mexico 
  and 
  Guatemala. 
  It 
  was 
  

   organization 
  which 
  they 
  lacked 
  in 
  all 
  these 
  domains, 
  along 
  with 
  their 
  

   politically 
  unorganized 
  Colombian 
  neighbors. 
  They 
  failed 
  to 
  develop 
  

   cultural 
  forms 
  which 
  were 
  at 
  once 
  definite 
  and 
  interrelated 
  into 
  some- 
  

   thing 
  larger. 
  Take 
  away 
  from 
  the 
  Aztec 
  their 
  religious 
  system 
  and 
  all 
  

   that 
  adhered 
  to 
  it, 
  and 
  the 
  picture 
  would 
  be 
  not 
  so 
  very 
  different. 
  

  

  However, 
  the 
  Mexican 
  religion 
  also 
  rested 
  on 
  a 
  wealth 
  of 
  material 
  

   symbolic 
  expressions, 
  without 
  which 
  it 
  would 
  appear 
  to 
  us 
  far 
  less 
  

   choate 
  and 
  effectively 
  organized. 
  These 
  Mexican 
  expressions 
  are 
  

   largely 
  through 
  art 
  ; 
  and 
  the 
  art, 
  in 
  turn, 
  rests 
  upon 
  a 
  skilled, 
  advanced 
  

   technology 
  in 
  many 
  media. 
  Technology 
  of 
  this 
  proficiency 
  the 
  Chib- 
  

   cha 
  were 
  very 
  far 
  from 
  having 
  attained 
  ; 
  without 
  it, 
  their 
  art 
  remained 
  

   backward; 
  and 
  without 
  the 
  art, 
  their 
  religion, 
  with 
  which 
  in 
  native 
  

   America 
  intellectual 
  development 
  was 
  intimately 
  associated, 
  remained 
  

   on 
  an 
  essential 
  par 
  with 
  that 
  of 
  their 
  tribally 
  cultured 
  neighbors. 
  The 
  

   Chibcha 
  did 
  not 
  build 
  in 
  stone, 
  were 
  virtually 
  sculptureless, 
  some 
  of 
  

   their 
  best 
  cloth 
  was 
  painted 
  instead 
  of 
  patterned, 
  and 
  their 
  metalwork 
  

   and 
  ceramics 
  are 
  recognized 
  as 
  inferior 
  to 
  those 
  of 
  other 
  areas 
  of 
  Col- 
  

   ombia 
  whose 
  inhabitants 
  were 
  historically 
  so 
  obscure 
  as 
  to 
  be 
  hardly 
  

   remembered. 
  

  

  The 
  Peruvians 
  equaled 
  and 
  in 
  some 
  respects 
  surpassed 
  the 
  Mexicans 
  

   in 
  technology. 
  They 
  were 
  perceptibly 
  behind 
  them 
  in 
  esthetic 
  and 
  

   symbolic 
  expression, 
  and 
  still 
  more 
  so 
  in 
  religious 
  and 
  intellectual 
  ar- 
  

   ticulation. 
  They 
  had 
  moved 
  one 
  or 
  more 
  steps 
  beyond 
  them 
  in 
  polit- 
  

   ical 
  integration. 
  It 
  is 
  on 
  these 
  inequalities 
  that 
  the 
  often-made 
  com- 
  

   parison 
  rests, 
  of 
  Mexicans 
  to 
  Greeks 
  and 
  of 
  Peruvians 
  to 
  Romans; 
  

   and 
  in 
  part 
  the 
  other 
  saying, 
  that 
  the 
  Mexicans 
  achieved 
  best 
  with 
  

   their 
  minds, 
  the 
  Peruvians 
  with 
  their 
  hands. 
  Compared 
  with 
  both, 
  

   the 
  ancient 
  Colombians 
  were 
  well 
  behind 
  in 
  all 
  aspects; 
  and 
  from 
  the 
  

   general 
  mass 
  of 
  the 
  Colombians, 
  the 
  Chibcha 
  stood 
  out, 
  primarily, 
  in 
  

   sociopolitical 
  development 
  alone. 
  

  

  It 
  is 
  in 
  the 
  light 
  of 
  these 
  generic 
  characteristics 
  that 
  Chibcha 
  

   culture 
  will 
  now 
  be 
  examined 
  in 
  more 
  detail. 
  

  

  HABITAT 
  AND 
  POLITICAL 
  DIVISIONS 
  

   The^core 
  of 
  Chibcha 
  territory 
  is 
  the 
  upper 
  drainage 
  of 
  two 
  eastern 
  

   affluents 
  of 
  the 
  Magdalena, 
  the 
  Bogota 
  and 
  the 
  Sogamoso, 
  or 
  Chica- 
  

  

  