The Calendars and Chronological System of the Mexican and Central-American nations had reached an extraordinary degree of accuracy. It has even been said, with a fair show of truth, that the calendar of the Aztecs (which was almost the same as that of the Mayas) was more perfect than that of their European invaders. It was, however, somewhat complicated, and there are points in it, especially with reference to intercalation, which have not yet received a satisfactory explanation. In Mexico the maximum unit of time was 104 years, but in Yucatan the great cycle was 312 years (or, as some say, 260 years). In the latter country the year began on July 15th-in Mexico in February. The signs of the days, months, and other periods of time constantly recur in the manuscripts and on the mural sculptures of the ruins, and there is ample testimony to the constant attention to astronomical calculations paid by the native scientists. The so-called "Mexican Calendar-stone," one of the most striking monuments of American antiquity, was long supposed to be an instrument for use in chronological calculations; but the later writers on it have declared it to be " an astronomical and cosmogonical study of the sun" (Alfredo Chavero, Calendario Azteca, Ensayo Arqueológico, Mexico, 1876; La Piedra del Sol," in Anales del Museo Nacional, tom. i. and ii. ; The Mexican_Calendar-stone, by Ph. J. J. Valentini, 1879). It may briefly be said to have been a votive tablet and a sacrificial altar. Similar but less complicated circular stones have been exhumed in other parts of Mexico and in Yucatan. All evidently derive their form from the "wheel" (Spanish rueda, Nahuatl yoalli, Maya uazlazon) which was employed by the natives in their chronological calculations.

THE COLOMBIAN STATES.

Several tribes of considerable cultivation were found in the high table-lands and fertile valleys of New Granada or Colombia. The most important of these was that of the Chibchas or Muyscas, who inhabited the province of Cundinamarca. Their architectural remains are few, as their houses were of wood, but they were skilful goldsmiths; and, as gold is found in abundance in most of the mountain-streams of New Granada, they had unusual opportunities to develop this talent. Their figurines were usually hollow and cast, representing men, beasts, birds, and other objects. They also used gold coins for currency, of which a few specimens remain. They have no stamp, but were cast in a mould, and were of uniform thickness. Their value was not estimated by weight, as it is doubtful whether any means of exact weighing was known to the Chibchas, but by the measure of the circumference. This nation also possessed the art of cutting and working hard stones, and occasionally idols are discovered with features worked in high relief and marked with signs believed to be of a hieroglyphic character. They appear to have had a graphic system, probably of ideograms. Their signs for the first ten numerals have been preserved, and are a series of intricate curves quite remote from anything seen elsewhere.

The Chibchas were not a warlike nation, and were readily conquered by an insignificant band of Spaniards. Finding that their gold and precious stones were the objects that attracted their conquerors, they threw vast quantities of these into the deep lake Guatavita, not far from Bogotá. Several efforts have been made to drain this body of water, and a number of interesting antiques have been obtained from its shores in periods of drought; but the great mass of the treasure still remains beneath its waves. It is also asserted that metal relics discovered in the caves and around the ancient mines of this region prove that the natives knew of an alloy of gold, copper, and iron "to which they were able to give the temper and hardness of steel" (A. Codazzi, Antigüedades Indígenas, Bogotá, 1858). It is certain that their skill in fine gold-work impresses the best artists of to-day with astonishment

(E. Uricoechea, Memoria sobre las Antigüedades NeoGrenadinas, Berlin, 1854).

In the southern mountain-valley of Colombia some peculiar relics of the Andaquis deserve notice. They are stone images from 3 to 8 feet high, carved with unexpected precision from a hard ferruginous sandstone. The features are usually grotesque or terrible, but occasionally human and pleasing. The remains of the temples of this people show that they were built underground or in the centre of large artificial mounds, the heavy stone roofs being supported by pillars often elab

FIG. 4.-Underground Shrine, Colombia. orately and even tastefully carved of the same material (fig. 4). The principal locality of these curious remains is the valley of San Augustin, on one of the head-waters of the river Magdalena, a spot which was evidently devoted to the special culture of the rites of the ancient religion (Felipe Perez, Estados Unidos de Colombia, Bogotá, 1863).

PERU AND THE INCA EMPIRE.

In many respects the ancient empire of the Incas offers the most abundant harvest to the archæologist. The natural artistic inclinations of the people had been cultivated by a firm government and long periods of peace.

Architecture. The materials used in the Peruvian structures varied with the locality. On and near the coast beds of clay are found which served the ancient architects for the manufacture of bricks. These are found of all sizes, from a few inches to 3 or 4 feet square. They were sun-dried, and laid in rows, each size by itself, thus producing a pleasant effect to the eye. The larger ones were often polygonal, of varying angles, and the interstices left in the wall were filled with smaller bricks of the same material. In the interior stone was exclusively employed, and in many different styles. Cyclopean or megalithic walls of polygonal blocks 5 and 6 feet in diameter are not uncommon. These are laid without mortar, but the surfaces are so finely polished and so nicely adjusted that the blade of a knife cannot be inserted between them. Some of these walls have additional solidity by an arrangement on the principle of a mortise and tenon, by which a projecting part of one stone fits into a recess in that above or below it. Examples of this also occur in the northern continent in the ruins of Tula near Mexico. The stones used are often extremely hard granite, diorite, porphyry, and basalt. As the natives certainly possessed no metal tools hard enough to accomplish such work, their method has puzzled antiquaries and given rise to wild hypotheses. There is little doubt, however, that they accomplished these extraordinary tasks simply by the use of friction, rubbing one stone against another, with the aid of sharp sand. Another class of walls was strengthened with mortar, laid either between the stones or in a thick layer on the inner or outer surface. For these walls much smaller stones were selected, and they were often undressed. In their erection the square and plummet were probably not used. The eye and the practised hand were aided by long straight canes, forming a frame which was often built into the wall. Some of the walls are of immense

FIG. 5.-Gateway, Lake Titicaca.

This is supposed to have been owing to the light roofs and the employment of wood to support them. The true arch is nowhere found, although in the palace of the Inca at Caxamarca, and again on the island of the Sun at Lake Titicaca, there is a close approach to the "Maya arch;" that is, the doorway is finished above by overlapping stones approaching the centre. Niches are a prominent feature in Peruvian architecture, and have been supposed to serve for store-rooms, cupboards, sentryseats, etc. But they often occur where no conceivable purpose can be suggested.

The site of the edifices was not so constantly on mounds or pyramids as in the northern continent. They have been classified as-(1) surrounded with a row of large upright stones, somewhat similar to the Druidic remains at Stonehenge; (2) surrounded with closed walls; (3) elevated on a platform of one, two, or at most three, terraces; and (4) simply located in an open, level space. The size of the structures varies from the simple hut of stone about 12 feet square to the immense fortresses of Pisac and Ollantatambo, but which are in fact mountains transformed by encircling walls into immense pyramids with numerous terraces. The remains of large communal dwellings, three and four stories high, surrounding an interior court, are seen at various points. All buildings of any importance were laid out to conform to the cardinal points, and the principal entrances always faced the east. Steps and stairways in stone were laid with skill both to the outer doors and in the interior of the buildings. The construction of tombs was an important branch of domestic architecture. These were either below ground or in tumuli above the level of the soil. The general name for both is huaca. The sepulchral tumuli on the coast were of brick, which, as rain is rare in that region, offered a very permanent material. The tombs usually have several compartments, and were evidently destined for the different members of a family. As it was the universal custom to deposit with the dead a large number of articles which it was believed would be of use in the future life, and as the body was mummied with considerable skill, the huacas offer a rich field of archæological research. In the interior extensive caverns were cut into the sides of the vertical precipices of the Cordilleras, and the mummied bodies of the dead deposited therein. Many of these are wholly inaccessible, and can only be known by their walled doorways and other signs of man's handiwork. On the high plateaux of Vilque sepulchral towers of masonry from 15 to 40 feet in height, circular or polygonal in outline, often present forms of remarkable symmetry. They are known as chulpas (fig. 6). Sarcophagi of a single stone or of two large stones, hollowed out in an ovoid, cup-shaped interior, are also not unusual.

FIG. 6.-Stone Tomb, or Chulpa, Peru. Hydraulic Works.-Few of their remains reflect such credit on the ancient Peruvians as their aqueducts and other works for the preservation and distribution of water. Some of their most gigantic undertakings were for the peaceful purpose of irrigation. They dammed up the streams to form large lakes in the rainy season, that they might have sufficient for agricultural purposes during the dry months. Solid walls of stone and concrete were built for the dam-breasts and for the conveyance of the water. Vast subterranean cisterns, solid dykes along the rivers to prevent the meadows from being overflowed by freshets, tunnels to drain the excess of lakes, and artificial ponds and cascades, were other varieties of hydraulic works in which the native engineers excelled, and have left durable monuments of their ingenuity.

Roads and Bridges.-The "Inca roads" were famous for excellence, and in many places still offer by far the most convenient avenues of transit. They are from 15 to 25 feet in width, bedded with small stones often laid in concrete, and laid out to conform as much as possible to the advantages of the soil. As the use of beasts of burden was almost unknown, the roads did not ascend a steep inclination by zigzags, but by steps cut in the rock. At certain distances public houses were erected for the protection of travellers. Some of these still offer the best lodging-houses to be found along the routes. Bridges were of wood, of ropes of fibres of maguey, or of stone. Some of these latter are still in excellent condition, in spite of the violence of the mountain-torrents which they have spanned for four centuries.

Sculpture. The sculptures in stone are not equal to those in Central America. To a still greater degree the artist was fettered by the matter in which he worked. The limbs were rarely detached from the body, and the fortuitous contour of the block was what guided the sculptor in giving position and expression. Hence he never reached to any freedom of execution, and the canons of proportion remained a sealed book to him. Much of this was owing to his limitations from lack of tools hard enough to incise the block, but much of it also to want of fertility in imagination.

Metal-work. The first explorers recorded their astonishment at the perfection of the goldsmith's work, and the comparatively few specimens which have been preserved fully justify their praise. The skill of the natives with the hammer was such that it is impossible to discover the joints in their workmanship. Vases showing very well executed repoussage are not uncommon. They also understood the art of inlaying metals

-damasquinage, as it is called. Thus they would inlay gold upon copper or red upon yellow copper, producing a very agreeable effect. Occasionally this was carried to the extent of completely gilding objects of copper, the layer of gold being beaten out to extreme tenuity. Gold-beating had been prosecuted to remarkable delicacy, and the very thin layers of gold-leaf on many articles led the Spaniards at first to believe they were of the solid metal. These delicate layers were arranged into ornaments, birds, butterflies, and the like, with much skill. They were also acquainted with various alloys, as of gold and copper, copper and tin, and silver and lead, in the last mentioned of which some of the finest specimens of mould-work are found. Pottery. Their ceramic art deserves to rank with the finest on the continent, both in regard to variety of design and technical skill in preparing the material. Vases with pointed bottoms and painted sides, recalling those of ancient Greece and Etruria, are often disinterred along the coast. It has been suggested that

FIGS. 7, 8, 9.-Ancient Pottery.

in that sandy tract this form of a vase could readily be sunk into the soil to protect the contents from the rays of the sun. The primitive artist rarely drew on his imagination for his design. He imitated with servile fidelity the object he chose as a model, but he varied his models to a surprising degree, and it would be difficult to name any object in the range of his observation that he did not imitate in his earthenware. Fruits, fish, animals, birds, skulls, heads, persons in various positions, masks, monsters, members of the body, canoes, and whatever else could be simulated in clay, were reproduced. There was also developed with many ingenious combinations the art of manufacturing musical jars, such as have been before referred to as occurring in Nicaragua. Some of these would be selfacting, the percolation or motion of the contained liquid producing a musical note; others, in the form of certain animals, would give forth the peculiar cry of that animal upon being blown into; and it is even said that some imitated with singular fidelity the human voice. Other receptacles are so-called "magic vases," such as are still manufactured in India. Owing to a peculiar arrangement of tubes, the vessel when filled can be emptied only by holding it at a certain angle. In spite of the manifest skill displayed in these ceramic productions, no application of the art appears to have

fact that it was carried on largely by the women and children.

Painting and the allied arts of design were prosecuted The outlines of the figures in a conventional manner. are geometrical, and rarely convey the impression of life. The curve, which is so indispensable to the expression of grace or beauty, is generally replaced by an arc of a polygon of many sides. To compensate for this defect of technique they developed a surprising fertility in rectilinear patterns, many of which produce a pleasing impression. They had no notion whatever of light and shade, and were totally ignorant of perspective. On the other hand, they had an accurate eye for color, and displayed their resources in this respect with boldness and good taste. The vases are colored in soft and harmonious tones, and, although frequently polychromatic, do not offend by violent contrasts. Woven stuffs, on the other hand, often present strongly opposed tints, but the effect of the whole is rich and agreeable, resembling that of the product of Oriental looms.

Weapons. As a people essentially preferring peace to war, the Peruvians had made less progress in their weapons than in their utensils. They appear to have been entirely ignorant of the bow and arrow; even darts and lances were little known; hence the arrowheads and spear-points which form so large a portion of the archæological finds of the northern continent are not prominent in Peruvian collections. Their principal arm for action at a distance was the sling, and carefully worked sling-stones are frequently disinterred. For hand-to-hand fighting war-clubs and wooden swords were employed. The former usually terminated with a stone, into which the handle was inserted. stead of a stone a solid piece of metal, occasionally gold, several pounds in weight, was selected. Short lances, the haft of wood and the point of metal, either bronze or silver, are also preserved. Some of these are ornamented with care and tipped with gold, and probably served rather as ornamental appendages than as weapons in actual warfare.

In

Quipus.-In these various decorative designs there is little similarity to any connected graphic method. Even the simpler forms of picture-writing were little in use among the Peruvians. There is indeed a deceptive similarity to alphabetic characters in some of the designs in their woven stuff, but a close examination proves these to have been meaningless ornaments. The method by which they recorded facts was the quipu. This consisted of a base cord to which other cords, differing in color and knotted in various fashions, were attached. Each color, each knot, and the differing lengths of the cords, had so many fixed conventional significations, varying with the subject which the quipu was used to commemorate. It is easy to see that the quipu would be meaningless without a verbal commentary, but that, on the other hand, it would serve very well as an aid to the memory, and also as a check on the statements of the narrator. For estimating tributes, enumerating warriors, or recalling dates and events it would have many useful applications.

Inscriptions.-The nearest approach to inscriptions is found on the monoliths of Tiahuanaca, near Lake Titicaca. These remarkable monuments are by many