151 



EEYIEWS. 



Antiquarian, Ethnological, and otlier Hesearches, in Neui Granada, Equa- 

 dor, Peru, and Chile. By William Bollaert, F.E.Gr.S. London : Triibner 

 and Co., 1860. 



What has an antiquarian and ethnological book to do with geology ? 

 Something, we reply, if it contain any geological facts. And geological 

 facts are spread about in antiquarian, and ethnological, and geographical, 

 and many other sorts of books that appear to have no particular connec- 

 tion whatever with the science of rocks and fossil remains. There is an 

 old adage referring to the futility of looking for a needle in a load of 

 hay ; and, although we should never attempt to search through the thou- 

 sands of volumes of travels, descriptions of races, of idols, and of the dug-up 

 relics of times gone by, for the few disseminated facts they contain, yet 

 there is no reason why we should not adopt Captain Cuttle's famous prin- 

 ciple of " when found make a note of," and record these accidental inci- 

 dents as they fall in our way. So it is that in noticing Mr. Bollaert's book 

 here, we shall offer an olla podrida of gleanings, rather than a systematic 

 review. We shall pay less attention to the fair of Turmeque than to the 

 emeralds which are brought there ; we shall dwell less on the exhortations 

 of Xue at Bosa than to the rib which the Spaniards found there venerated 

 by the Indians, and believed to have been brought thither by that person- 

 age. In a foot-note about emeralds, we are told the green varieties are 

 found at Muzo, north of Bogota, and that tantalic acid and columbium 

 occur in some varieties. Fine emeralds can be seen at Carthagena, ex- 

 tracted from the mines of Muzo by a French company. They are found 

 in attached and imbedded crystals in alluvium, but the finest are from 

 veins in a blue slate, of the age of our lower chalk, in the valley of Muzo. 

 One statue of the Virgin in the Cathedral of Bogota, besides 1358 dia- 

 monds and other precious stones, has 1205 emeralds. Not far from the 

 mountain of Itoco, in the country of the Muzos, were found, in a.d. 1555, 

 two emeralds weighing 24,000 castellanos.* Three leagues from Itoco is 

 Abissi, where emeralds are found. In the East Indies, medicinal and 

 talismanic virtues are ascribed to this gem. The Great Exhibition of 1851 

 contained the finest known emerald, two inches long, weighing 8 ozs. 

 18 dwts., which came from Muzo, and is supposed to have been brought to 

 England by Don Pedro, who sold it to the Duke of Devonshire. We are 

 not informed how the Chibchas worked emeralds and other hard stones ; 

 but the Mexicans, with tools made of copper and tin, fashioned emeralds 

 into flowers, fish, etc. Cortez sent an emerald to Spain, the base of which 

 was as broad as the palm of the hand. 



But to return to the bone of Nemterequetaba or Xue, the ancient pro- 

 phet of the Chibchas, who came from the East, wore a long beard, and had 

 his hair tied in a fillet, for it brings us to another to^oic of some interest. 

 Mr. Bollaert takes away all the romance of this religiously-preserved 

 relic — the Goth ! "It is probable," he hints, "this was the rib of a mas- 

 todon, for bones of that animal are foimdin the alluvium of Suacha, where 

 teeth and other fossil remains are also met with. Hoi ton says this place is 

 famous for the bones of carnivorous (?) elephants once exhumed here." 



Coal exists at Cirnaga de Oro, on the Biver Sinu ; on the banks of the 

 Carare ; at Conejo, below Hondu ; also near Bogota, and is used at Mr. 

 Wilson's iron- works. It also occurs in Veraguas, Chiriqui, and Costa 

 Bica, and on the Isle of Muerto, and at Tarraba. The coal is probably. 



* The castellano is 1415 grains. 



