EEYIEWS. 



153 



out ? The beryl, with sky-blue and green emeralds, is found too in the 

 Cordillera of Cubellan. It is often said that Peru is rich in emeralds, but 

 Mr. Bollaert says that this should rather be said of Equador, as he has never 

 known that gem to have been found in the former country. As the eleventh 

 Inca, who died about a.d. 1475, commenced inroads on Quito, his son 

 Huagna Capac conquering the country, Mr. Bollaert thinks this was the 

 period at which the Peruvians became acquainted with the emerald. Paris- 

 ite, a brownish-yellow crystal, composed of carbonate of lanthanium and 

 didymium, with fluoride of calcium, is also found in the emerald-mines of 

 Muzo. 



We know nothing as to the process the natives of Quito or Peru have for 

 cutting, boring, or polishing precious stones ; they may have had hardened 

 copper or brass instruments, and something approaching the drill, for the 

 regal emerald had holes drilled through it to keep it fast on the head. 

 Wallace, in his ' Travels on the Amazon ' (1853, p. 278), in his account of 

 the Uaupes Indians, speaks of seeing '*' several men with the most peculiar 

 and valued ornament — a cylindrical, opaque, white stone, which is quartz 

 imperfectly crystaUized. These stones are from four to eight inches long, 

 and about an inch in diameter. They are ground round, and flat at the 

 ends, — a work of great labour, — and are each pierced with a hole at one 

 end, through which a string is placed to suspend it round the neck. It 

 appears almost incredible that they should make this hole in so hard a sub- 

 stance without any iron instrument for the purpose. What they are said 

 to use is the pointed flexible leaf-shoot of the large wild plaintain, tri- 

 turating (twirling with the hands) with fine sand and a little water ; and 

 thus no doubt it is, as it is said to be, a labour of years. Yet it must take 

 a much longer time to pierce that which the Tushua (chief) wears as the 

 symbol of his authority, for it is generally of the largest size, and is worn 

 transversely across the breast, for which purpose the hole is bored length- 

 ways from one end to the other, an operation which it is said sometimes 

 occupies two lives. The stones themselves are procured from a great 

 distance up the river, probably from near its source at the base of the 

 Andes ; they are therefore highly valued, and it is seldom the owners can 

 be induced to part with them, the chiefs scarcely ever." 



In Wilkes's 'American Exploring Expedition,' it is stated that, "on 

 Bowditch Island, in the Pacific, the hand-drill is used, pointed with hard 

 stone, for drilling shells." "Could such an adaptation," Mr. Bollaert asks, 

 " have been employed by the emerald-drillers of Mexico, Bogota, and 

 Quito?" 



When Mr. Bollaert gossips about the Incas and the old Peruvians, 

 it is hard not to digress, the subject is so enchanting ; but we draw 

 the bonds of our speciality closer and resolutely resist. And that we may 

 not be allured, we bridge over this part with a string of the Captain Cuttle 

 sort of extracts. 



" There was some quillay or iron-ore particularly at Cuancha; but it 

 was not smelted by the Indians, that being too serious an operation for 

 them. Gold and silver were merely melted, but the chloride and sulphuret 

 of silver, by the aid of fire and air, could be reduced by them." 



"In vol. i. 'Mercurio Peruano,' p. 201, a.d. 1791, the following mines 

 are mentioned as having been worked by the Incas : — Escamera, Chilleo, 

 and Abatantis, of gold ; Choquinina and Porco, of silver ; Curahato, of 

 copper ; Carabuco, of lead (probably the vicinity of Oruro yielded tin) ; 

 and the magnificent iron-works (!) of Ancoriames, on the east margin of 

 Lake Titicaca, are particularized." 



" Cope, a mineral pitch, is found near Point S. Elena, and Amotape, 



TOL. V. X 



