The Native Races [of the Pacific states], Volume 4, Antiquities: The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, Volume 4 — John Shaqi
The Native Races [of the Pacific states], Volume 4, Antiquities: The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, Volume 4Bancroft, Hubert Howe
History
The Native Races [of the Pacific states], Volume 4, Antiquities: The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, Volume 4
Bancroft, Hubert Howe
Indians -- Bibliography; Indians of Central America; Indians of Mexico; Indians of North America -- Pacific Coast of North America
seen; instance a rocking stone in the mountains of Veragua.[II-10]
I close my somewhat scanty information concerning the antiquities of
Chiriquí with the general remarks which their examination has elicited
from different writers. Whiting and Shuman speak of the sculptured
columns of Muerto Island as being similar to those in Yucatan
described by Stephens;[II-11] but it is hardly probable that this
opinion rests on an actual comparison of the hieroglyphics. Dr Merritt
deems the axe or chisel heads almost identical in form as well as
material with specimens dug up in Suffolk County, England; some of the
same implements resemble those seen by Mr Squier in actual use among
the natives of other parts of Central America; while the arrow-heads
and musical instruments are pronounced different in some respects from
any others known, either ancient or modern. The incised characters
represented in the cut on page 17, together with many others, if we
may believe Mr Seemann, have a striking resemblance to those of
Northumberland, England, as shown by Mr Tate.[II-12] In some of the
terra cottas, a likeness to vessels of Roman, Grecian, and Etruscan
origin has been noted; the golden figures, in the opinion of Messrs
Squier and May, being like those found further south in the country of
the ancient Muiscas.[II-13]
One point bearing on the antiquity of the Chiriquí relics is the
wearing away by the weather of the incised sculptures, which appear to
Mr Seemann to belong to a more ancient, less advanced civilization
than those in low relief.[II-14] Another is the disappearance as a
rule of human remains, which, however, as Dr Torrey remarks,[II-15]
cannot in this climate and soil be regarded as an indication of great
age; and, moreover, against the theory of a remote origin of these
relics, and in favor of the supposition that all may be the work of
the not distant ancestors of the people found by the Spaniards in
possession of the country, we have the fact that gold figures similar
to those found in the huacas were made, worn, and traded by the
natives of the Isthmus at the time of its discovery and
conquest;[II-16] that the animals so universally imitated in all
objects whether of gold, stone, or clay, are all native to the
country, with no trace of any effort to copy anything foreign; and
that similar clay is still employed in the manufacture of rude
pottery.[II-17]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: COSTA RICAN RELICS.]
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