260 



the perforated nostrils of which were moveable 

 rings of the same stone *. When I crossed the 

 Cordilleras by the Paramo of Assuay, and saw 

 the enormous masses of stone extracted from the 

 porphyry quarries of Pullal, employed in con- 

 structing the high roads of the Inca, I already 

 began to doubt, whether the Peruvians were not 

 acquainted with other tools beside hatchets of 

 flint ; I suspected, that grinding was not the 

 only method they had employed to smooth the 

 stones, or give them a regular and uniform con- 

 vexity ; and I then adopted an opinion contrary 

 to the ideas generally received ; I conjectured, 

 that the Peruvians had tools of copper, which 

 mixed with a certain proportion of tin acquires 

 considerable hardness. This conjecture has 

 been justified by the discovery of an ancient 

 Peruvian chisel, found at Vilcabamba, near 

 Cuzco, in a silver mine worked in the time of 

 the Incas. This valuable instrument, for which 

 I am indebted to the friendship of P. Narcissus 

 Gilbar, and which I have brought to Europe, is 

 twelve centimetres long and two broad. The 

 metal of which it is composed has been analyzed 

 by Mr. Vanquelin, who found in it 0*94 of cop- 

 per, and 0*06 of tin. This keen copper of the 

 Peruvians is almost identical with that of the 



* Menloires de l'Academie de Berlin, 1746, p. 452, lib. 7, 

 f. 4. 



