J58 



formerly toward the banks of the Amazon. 

 Orellana was struck with the painted orna- 

 ments on the ware of the Omaguas, who in 

 his time were a numerous and commercial 

 nation. 



Before we quit these traces of infant industry 

 among nations, which we indistinctly compre- 

 hend under the denomination of savages, I shall 

 add one remark, which may throw some light 

 on the history of American civilization. In the 

 United States, west of the Alleghany mountains^ 

 particularly between the Ohio and the great 

 lakes of Canada, on digging the earth fragments 

 of painted pottery, mingled with brass tools, 

 are pretty constantly found. This mixture may 

 well surprise us in a country, where the natives 

 at the first arrival of the Europeans were igno- 

 rant of the use of metals. In the forests of 

 South America, which extend from the equator 

 as far as the parallel of eight degrees of north 

 latitude, from the foot of the Andes to the At- 

 lantic, this painted pottery is discovered in the 

 most desert places, but it is found accompanied 

 by hatchets of jade and other hard stones only, 

 skilfully perforated. No metallic tools or orna- 

 ments have ever been discovered in digging the 

 earth, though in the mountains on the shore*, 

 and at the back of the Cordilleras, the art of 



* See vol. iii, p. 525. 



