408 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



the exploration of these American rains. There is 

 no account of the existence of iron or steel among 

 the aborigines on this continent. The general and 

 well-grounded belief is, that the inhabitants had no 

 knowledge whatever of these metals. How, then, 

 could they carve wood, and that of the hardest kind 1 

 In that large canoe which first made known to 

 Columbus the existence of this great continent, 

 among other fabrics of the country from which they 

 came, the Spaniards remarked hatchets of copper, 

 as it is expressed, for " hewing wood." Bernal Dias, 

 in his account of the first voyage of the Spaniards 

 along the coast of Guacaulco, in the Empire of Mex- 

 ico, says, " It was a Custom of the Indians of this 

 Province invariably to carry small Hatchets of Cop- 

 per, very bright, and the wooden Handles of which 

 were highly painted, as intended both for Defence 

 and Ornament. These were supposed by us to be 

 Gold, and were, of Course, eagerly purchased, inso- 

 much that within three days we had amongst us pro- 

 cured above six hundred, and were, while under the 

 Mistake, as well pleased with our Bargain as the 

 Indians with their green Beads." And in that col- 

 lection of interesting relics from Peru before referred 

 to, in the possession of Mr. Blake of Boston — the ex- 

 istence of which, by-the-way, from the unobtrusive 

 character of its owner, is hardly known to his neigh- 

 bours in his own city— in that collection are several 

 copper knives, one of which is alloyed with a small 

 portion of tin, and sufficiently hard to cut wood. 



