The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-11-29
THE N~ATURALISTS SHOW.
SOME NEW WONDERS AT III
MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY.


An Assortment or Ancient Peruvi.n Art
works That IL tho Rest in tho World
Bones OF the Ancient Extlnct Animals
1.-THE Conunent-ObIee Lessons In the
ways or 1IAann,s aad OF "Onr Lit
tie Brothers OF the Air, the Birds."
Tho officials of tho American Museum of Nat
ural History will receive members and invited
guests at the museum. on the west side OF Cen
trail Park, tomorrow afternoon, for tho purpose
of showing what they have accomplished to-
ward making the museum the most interesting
exhibit of the kind in the world. And after
tomorrow any reader OF THE sun may 20 there
and without expense, save Mondays and Tues
DAYS, when an admission fec Is charged, and
see for himself VIVA. they have done. A good
many thousand people have awaited them
selves OF this privilege from time to time In
vast years, but all of those and everybody else
who In at all interested in the wonders of ma
ture, will hnd that a visit now is well worth
the trouble. II only to see the result of the last
years. work.
For instance. there is on tho TOP floor, COM
iortably reached by an elevator. n host of cases
showing what the Americans Of the days be-
fore Columbus had done In the way of civil.
izing themselves. No matter whether the Wis
itor believes that the original Americans were
Of tina lost tribes Of Israel or a people who
sprang from the monkeys whose bones are now
90 be found buried In the sandstone of the bad
lands on the east slope OF the Rockies. the i'm.
plements and fabrics Of the old-ttme Ameri-
cans will astonish him. For there are shirts
stripped from the mummies OF Peru, and san-
dais from the dead in the graves Of the cave
jewellers, and stone knives keen-edged and q
foot ~long-from California. and axes that
A--.-- .-.--t l.n,,l 49,, che rnriop 80
the mound builders. and pottery and play
things and some articles for ornament and 9TH
ers for worship. and terra Gotta images and
etatues-the whole a story of red aboriginal
life that is broken on Just where 1t becomes
most interesting, and there is no line below tho
end to say ITO he continued"
The most remarkable OF all the fabrics. and
the most beautiful as well are the shirts from
Peru. Just received. No other museum has
any such display as those now TO be seen
for the first time in this top-foor anthropoloGi-
cal department. The preservation OF colors as
we'll as of threads has been perfect, though the
goods were buried for hundreds OF years. The
old Peruvian had harbaric taste, and he worked
from SIX to eight bright colors-usually with O
background Of red-into his cloths, but the
artists who paint pictures, as well az those
who design modern prints and wall papers,
might well spend the time to examine tho con-
Lrasts as well as the figures developed.
The quality OF the fabrics is no less interest
ing. There are garments designed for men.
whose threads of cotton aud wool were ft to
stand the wear of strong muscles. and there is
one as delicate as silk lace aud as soft as fleece
that once covered but did not conceal tho
rounded form OF q Kings sweetheart.
1t may he that some of these fabrics have
stories to tell-thRt the pictures arc hieroglyph-
fcs-but tho sharps In such matters have not
worked that out yet. However that may DO
che figures are wonderful. And to help the
Nnlearned spectator to see how much better the
aborigines did their work in the old days be-
tore communicating white men came along, 4
modern shirt of native work is exhibited.
And then there are two ropes to see. One is
4 tigers hair rope made for ornamental use
made by securing the ends OF the hairs, fringe
fashion, between threads, and then winding
che fringe around a core. Unseemly haste
was unknown to such workers as these. The
other rope was made for use. 1t was a laria..
II had been used 10 strangle a woman. and she
was buried with the rope around her meek Just
as she died. The explorers did mot find any
evidence that men were killed for the reason
that prompted the killing of this woman.
! 1t was not a stone age in Peru when these
garments were made. for there are imple-
ments or plaits OF copper and ornaments OF
biNOf SoHh aioIk III III WIN iHcS
even wove threads OF gold and silver into the
better cloths. And there were Izaak Waltons,
II not iy-rod fshermen. among the race.
Very likely they fshed to get fish, and
not for sport. but one cannot be absolutely
sure OF this. for their fish hooks had no barbs.
and the impaled fighter could have been re-
turned to the water practically unIntured
after he had been CONQUERED. And then. too.
they had jiSs and harpoons OF copper for use
when the pot was TO be filed. The fish lines
remain. and are fine enough and fit for use at
this d~ay-Good long lines. with a tidy sinker
by which the bold fisherman might stand belly
deep in the surf of the Pacific and cast his
lure half q cables length away when the fish
were setting In along shore.
Tho old Peruvians carried bags instead Of
making pockets to distort the shape OF their
clothing, and they knew the influence OF what
Robert Louis Stevenson called 'deifying tobac-
CO." They made wooden combs like those
for sale in the market place at Guatemala in
these DAYS. and they made some that were dif-
ferent. They bound thorns OF equal length
along q straight stick. AID that was q comb
that was sure to reach home.
Just at present these things are arranged
70. a wonGer-excitibg exhibit. and they ara
:ust tfat for any one who has any interest in
the arts OF aboriginal races. But some time
they will be arranged in such a manner that
the spectator C IN go to one case and study the
lhiplcubuto INN pCl ldillcu " ODl anu ~ tA-
animation say that thus and so the people
cooked and ate their meals and drank natural
and brewsd drinks. In another case one will
DO able to see the knives that cut the wool
from the vicuna and the whorIs and splndleA
that spun the thread, and the pots where the
threads were dyed, and the looms where they
were woven. Then there will be u fishery ex-
hihit, and q war and hunting exhibit. and q
pious exhibit, and y toy exhibit. so that, stand
Ing over tho ancient works OF art. the modern
man can read the life history. in part, of this
o~xterm!natod people. Tho elf jewellers and
the mound builders, and all other pre- Column
mains OF a Village clan who lived In kentucky,
near the Ohio, have already been arranged in
tbis fashion. aud to one who is a beginner in
the sLgay Of such lore this IS Rt present the
most interesting exhibit on tho floor. oven
though IL be the least snowy.
Perhaps the patriotic citizens OF Greater New
York VIII lind IL special Interest In the aborigi-
nal remains from Van Cortlandt Park aud
from Staten Island, but he Will needs confess
that the ancient New Yorker was unable 10
make much of a show beside the people 1hO
Lived In western and southern centres OF red
civilization. Nevertheless. IL will be observed
that Lui pred cessors were right good fighters.