REVIEWS. 



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than we had ever felt it in the region of sugar-canes and bananas. About 

 here, some of the trachytic porphyry which forms the substance of the hills 

 had happened to have cooled, under suitable conditions, from the molten state 

 into a sort of slag or volcanic glass, which is the obsidian in question ; and, in 

 places, this vitreous lava — from one layer having flowed over another which 

 was already cool — was regularly stratified. 



" The mines were mere wells, not very deep ; with horizontal workings into 

 the obsidian, where it was very good and in thick layers. Round about were 

 heaps of fragments, hundreds of tons of them ; and it was clear, from the 

 shape of these, that some of the manufacturing was done on the spot. There 

 had been great numbers of pits worked; and it was from these " niinillas," 

 little mines, as they are called, that we first got an idea how important an ele- 

 ment this obsidian was in the old Aztec civilization. In excursions made since, 

 we travelled over whole districts in the plains, where fragments of these arrows 

 and knives were to be found, literally at every step, mixed with morsels of 

 pottery, and here and there a little clay idol. Among the heaps of fragments 

 were many that had become weathered on the upper side, and had a remarkable 

 lustre, like silver. Obsidian is called bizcli by the Indians, and the silvery sort 

 is known as bizcli platera. They often find bits of it in the fields ; and go 

 with great secrecy and mystery to Mr. Bell, or some other authority in mining 

 matters, and confide to him their discovery of a silver mine. They go away 

 angry and unconvinced when told what their silver really is ; ana generally 

 come to the conclusion that he is deceiving them, with a view of throwing them 

 off the scent, that he may find the place himself, and cheat them of their share 

 of the profits — just what their own miserable morbid canning would lead them 

 to do under such circumstances. 



" The family-likeness that exists among the stone tools and weapons found 

 in so many parts of the world is very remarkable. The flint-arrows of North 

 America, such as Mr. Longfellow's arrow-maker used to work at in the land of 

 the Dacotahs, and which, in the wild northern states of Mexico, the Apaches 

 and Comanches use to this day, might be easily mistaken for the weapons of 

 our British ancestors, dug up on the banks of the Thames. It is true that the 

 finish of the Mexican obsidian implements far exceeds that of the chipped flint 

 and agate weapons of Scandinavia, and still more those of England, Switzer- 

 land, and Italy, where they are dug up in such quantities, in deposits of allu- 

 vial soil, and in bone-caves in the limestone rocks. But this higher finish we 



may attribute partly to the superiority 

 of the material; for the Mexicans also 

 used flint to some extent, and their flint 

 weapons are as hard to distinguish by 

 inspection as those from other parts of 

 the world. We may reasonably suppose, 

 moreover, that the skill of the Mexican 

 artificer increased when he found a better 

 material than flint to work upon. Be 

 this as it may, an inspection of any good 

 collection of such articles shows the 

 much higher finish of the obsidian im- 

 plements than of those of flint, agate, 

 and rock-crystal. They say there is an 

 ingenious artist who makes flint arrow-heads and stone axes for the benefit 

 of English antiquarians, and earns good profits by it. I should like to 

 give him an order for ribbed obsidian razors and spear-heads ; I don't think he 

 would make much of them. 



" The wonderful similarity of character among the stone weapons found in 



Mexican arrow-heads of obsidian. 



