66 / 1060
,
Royal
.Cfimmentaries.
BooK
It
" troduced ; which to confideriUg men would appear as idle as any of thofe prac–
,, tices which have been
in ufo
among{t the
Mexican
or
the
Pcrstvian
Common..
cc
wealths. But we who entred by the Sword, and afforded not time to thefe mi–
" ferable
Indian.r
to give
us
proofS of their rationality, but hunted them as
wild
'' Beafis
through the Mountains, and drew them as brutiili creatures
co bear the
'' burthens of our flavi01 fervimde could not entertain any great opinion of
their
" Wifedom : Howfoever, fome obferving men,
ho have been fo curious,
as
to
tc
penetrate into the fecrecs of their ancient Governq1ent, and into the methods
c<
of their proceedings, have found that the
Order
and Rules they followed,
were
cc
worthy of admiration. Thus
far
are the words of
[o,feph
Aco.fta,
who alfo
adds,
that
they
had
certain compendious Syfrems of Morality, digefied into Verfe by
way of Poetry ; in
which
alfo many of their Laws, and the great Atlions of their
Kings were rehearfed, and kept
in
a kind of tradition
for
better infiruCtion of
their pofiericy ; which favouring rather of Truth, than Romance, the
Spaniards
efl:eem
thetn
to be true and particular paffitges of their Hiftory
:
But many other
things afford them matter
of
laughter, ·being ill·compofed
Fables, fuperftitious
and
vain,
and fuch alfo
as are
contrary co common
honefty.
CH AP.
XVI.
Of thofe
few
lnflruments
which
the
Indians
attained to,
and
made
ufe
of in alt their Work..s and Handicraft–
Trades.
H
Aving already declared how
far
they were proceeded
in
their Moral and
Na–
tural Philofophy, and in their Poetry
~
it
follmvs
now that we fhould
de·
dare fomething of their Mechanicks, and how much they failed
in
the
Art
of
making tbofe Infiruments, which are neceifary for iliaping and framing thofe
U–
tenfils which are required for convenient living and well-being. And
firft
to be–
gin
with their Sil erfiniths; of which, though there
wer~ .~reat
numbers, and
confiantly laboured a
their Trade, yet they were not
fo
skilfull
as
to
make
an
Anvil of Iron, or any other Metal ; caufed, perhaps, for want of knowledge
in
what manner
to
dig their Iron, and feparace it from its Ore; of which they
had
feveral Mines, and called it
~llA-y;
and therefore infl:ead thereof they made
ufe
of a certain hard Stone, of
a
yellowHh colour; which being planed, and made
frnooth, was rare, and of great value amongfr them: They knew not the inven–
tion of putting a handle of Wood to their Hammers ,
but
worked with certain
Infl:rumentsthey
had
made of Copper, mixed with a fort of fine
Brafs.
Neither
did they know how to make Files or Graving-tool , or Bellows
for
Melting down
Metals; but infl:ead thereof ufed
Pipes
made of Copper, of about
a
Yard long,
the end of \\
1
hich was narrow, that the Breath might pafS more forcibly by means
of the contrachon: And as the Fire"
as
to be more or lefs,
fo
accordingly they
ufed eight, ten or twelve of thefe Pi es at once ,
as
the quantity of Metal did
.
require: And
fiill
they continue this way, though our Invention of Bellows
is
much more eafie, and forcible to rai[e the Fire. Nor had they the
ufe
of Tongs
to
take their heated Metal
Out
of the Fire' but rather drew
it
thence by
a
piece
of Wood, or fome Bar of Copper; with which they call: it into a heap of wet
Earth,
which they kept purpofely by them to cool their Metal, untill fuch time
as
they could take it into
their
hands: Notwithfianding thi
\Yant
of divers In–
firuments, they made many things with great curiofity, efpeciaHy
in
Boaring
Metals,
as
we
{hall
hereafter difcourfe more
at
large. And not\vithll:anding
their fimplicicy,
expetience
had
taught them, that
the
Steam and
Effiuviurns
from
Metals,