192 General Notes. [ March, 
scenes in which there are generally two actors, one of them being 
a mythological personage. Weare introduced into the very feel- 
ings and thoughts of the people, and learn much of their modes 
_of living. 
“ We are enabled to decide the progress of a people by the per- 
fection to which they had carried the oe arts, by the advance- 
ment which they had made in the fine and in scientific knowl- 
edge, by their religious conceptions, aa by their language, in- 
cluding the methods of representing it. A comparison of these 
also acquaints us with those things which different peoples have 
incommon. Let us therefore compare the sculptures of Santa 
Lucia with those of other parts of America in these four particu- 
lars, in order that we may perceive the resemblances between 
their fabricators, if any exist, and form some opinion of their com- 
parative status in culture 
“As regards the useful arts, when we consider the hardness of 
the material, a dark gray porphyry from the volcano of Acate- 
nango, we are convinced that the Santa Lucian sculptors used 
to ols of great perfection. The advancement of technical skill is 
further attested by the variety of manufactures represented in the 
sculptures, such as. wood-carving, textile fabrics, shell and metal 
work, leather work, carved stones, etc. The elevated character 
of these products of industry is attested by the uses hich 
they were put. With the exception of sculptures nine and four- 
teen, there is scarcely anything which indicates clothing merely. 
Nearly every article which is attached to the body is an orna- 
ment, although the drapery suspended from the girdle may have 
been introduced to hide the genital organs. The foot also may 
be said to derive some slight protection from its ornamented san- 
dal. The neck, arms, body, and legs, however, are adorned and 
not clothed. The ornaments of the head, and especially those of 
the hair, are extremely profuse, reaching often to the ground. It 
is worthy of notice that no part of the body is mutilated for ae 
sake of beauty, excepting the lobe of the ear, which even in ou 
enlightened age serves the ladies as a means of Debarati 
barbarism. 
“Again, the variety of forms in the same object i is an indication 
of progress. The headdresses are greatly varied. In one in- 
stance it is a crab, in another entwined serpents, and in others it 
is so complicated as to remind us of the fashions in highly enlight- 
ened nations. The most lavish care was bestowed on the hair, 
- which in very few cases indeed appears without ornament, even 
on the heads of immolated victims. The method of ornamenta- 
tion seems to have indicated the social position of the wearer. 
The hair is at times adjusted to resemble a wig, but is generally 
braided with ribbons, adorned with rings, etc., and reaches in cues 
to the shoulders and below them. Other r yet more complicated 
ornaments reach. oe the ankles, and even trail set the ground, 
