first been burned, a custom not usually prevalent with ANALYSIS. the Indians of the present day. The object of others is not certainly known, but probably some were designed for defence, and others for religious purposes.

29. "There were several extensive mounds on the site 1. Mounds at Cincinnati. of Cincinnati. One of these, first described in 1794, had then on its surface the stumps of oak trees several feet in diameter.* Beneath it were found the remains of a human body, and various ornaments and instruments of lead, copper, and of stone. 'Beneath an extensive mound in 2 Mound at Lancaster, Ohio, was found a furnace, eighteen feet long and six wide, and upon it was placed a rude vessel of earthenware, of the same dimensions, containing a number of human skeletons. Underneath the vessel was a thick layer of ashes and charcoal.†

Lancaster,

Ohio.

near Wheeling, Vir

ginia.

30. 'Near Wheeling, Virginia, was a mound seventy 3 Mounds feet in height, and sixty feet in diameter at the summit. Near it were three smaller mounds, one of which has been opened. It was found to contain two vaults, built of pillars of wood supporting roofs of stone; and within them were human bones, together with beads of bone or ivory, copper wristlets, plates of mica, marine shells, and in one a stone marked with unknown characters. opposite St. Louis, in Illinois, within a circuit of five or six miles, are upwards of one hundred and sixty mounds; and in the vicinity of St. Louis they are likewise numer

ous.

Nearly 4. Mounds

opposite St. Louis.

near Natches,

sippi.

31. About eleven miles from the city of Natches, in s Mounds Mississippi, is a group of mounds, one of which is thirty-in Missiafive feet high, embracing on its summit an area of four acres, encompassed by an embankment around the margin. Some, however, have supposed that this is a natural hill, to which art has given its present form. On the summit of this elevation are six mounds, one of which is still thirty feet high, and another fifteen.‡

Georgia.

32. Upon the north side of the Etowah River, in 6. Mound in Georgia, is a mound seventy-five feet high, and more than three hundred in diameter at its base, having an inclined plane ascending to its summit.§ "The mounds 7. Mounds of of Florida are numerous and extensive, many of them near the sea coast being composed of shells.

Florida.

8. Character and extent of

33. Such is the general character of the numerous the mounds ancient remains that have been found in so great num

• Transactions of the Amer. Philo. Soc. vol. iv., p. 178. ↑ Silliman's Journal, vol. i., p. 428.

in the United States.

Bradford's American Antiquities, p. 58. Silliman's Journal, vol. i., p. 322. It appears that some mounds of this description were ennstructed by the ancestors of the present Indians. See T. Irving's Florida, vol. i., pp. 148, 149.

of a numer

tially civil

known people.

ANALYSIS. bers throughout the United States. West of the Alleghanies, the number of the mural remains alone has been estimated at more than five thousand, and the mounds The work at a much greater number. That they were the work ous, and par- of multitudes of the human family, who were associated ized, but un- in large communities, who cultivated the soil, and who had arrived at a degree of civilization considerably beyond that of the present Indian tribes, cannot be doubted. But the names and the history of these people we shall probably never with certainty learn. Curtained by the hand of time, which has left no written records, if any ever existed, their all but a few earth-embosomed relics have passed into oblivion. At the period of the first discovery of the continent, not only had this unknown but numerous people passed away from their ancient dwelling places, but ages must have elapsed since their "altars and their fires" were deserted; for over all the monuments which alone perpetuate the knowledge of their existence, the forest had already extended its shades, and NATURE had triumphantly resumed her empire, cheating the wondering European with the belief that her solitudes had never before been broken but by the wild beasts that roamed here, or the stealthy footsteps of the rude Indian.

2. Evidence

of the anti

quity of the

ruins described.

3 Increasing evidences of

as we proceed

SECTION II.

ANTIQUITIES FOUND IN OTHER PORTIONS OF THE CONTINENT.

1. Although the deserted remains that have been civilization described, and others of a similar character-the work of farther south. a people apparently long extinct, were the only evidence of a former civilization within the limits of the United States; yet a far different spectacle was presented on entering the regions farther south, where, instead of the buried relics of a former greatness, its living reality was found.

2. When the Spanish invaders landed on the coast of Mexico and in Peru, they found there, instead of feeble wandering tribes, as at the north, populous and powerful agricultural nations, with regular forms of government, established systems of law and religion, immense cities, magnificent edifices and temples, extensive roads,* aqueducts, and other public works; all showing a high degree of advancement in many of the arts, and rivalling, in

"At the time when the Spaniards entered Peru, no kingdom in Europe could boast of any work of public utility that could be compared with the great roads formed by the Incas.' -Robertson's America

many respects, the regularly organized states of the Old ANALYSIS. World.

Pyramids and

great pyra

mid in the city Mer

ico.

3. 'The Mexicans constructed pyramids and mounds 1 Mexican far more extensive than those which have been discovered mounds:" in the United States. Within the city of Mexico alone, were more than two thousand pyramidal mounds, the largest of which, in the central square of the city, was constructed of clay, and had been erected but a short time before the landing of Cortes. It had five stories, with flights of stairs leading to its superior platform; its base was three hundred and eighteen feet in length; its height was one hundred and twenty-one feet, and it was surrounded by a wall of hewn stone. This pyramid was dedicated to one of the Mexican gods, and sacrifices were offered upon its summit.

2.

Pyramid,

and other

orks in

Texcuco.

Cholula

4. 'In Tezcuco was a pyramid constructed of enormous masses of basalt, regularly cut, and beautifully polished, and covered with sculptures. There are still seen the foundations of large edifices, and the remains of a fine aqueduct in a state of sufficient preservation for present use. Near the city of Cholula, was the largest pyramid 3. Pyramid of in Mexico. This also was designed for religious purposes, and was sacred to the "God of the Air." It was constructed of alternate layers of clay and unburnt brick, and was one thousand four hundred and twenty-three feet in length, and one hundred and seventy-seven feet in height.

5. Such was the character of some of the Mexican pyramids, the ruins of many of which, imposingly grand even in their desolation, still crown the hill-tops, and strew the plains of Mexico. The remains of extensive public edifices of a different character, devoted to the purposes of civil life, and many of them built of hewn and sculptured stone, are also numerous. "The soil of Mexico was under a rich state of cultivation, and the cities were not only numerous, but some of them are supposed to have contained one or two hundred thousand inhabitants. The city of Tezcuco, which was even larger than that of Mexico, was estimated by early writers to contain one hundred and forty thousand houses.

6. 'Extensive ruins of cities, containing the remains of 6. pyramids and the walls of massive buildings, broken columns, altars, statues, and sculptured fragments, showing that their authors had attained considerable knowledge of the arts, and were a numerous, although an idolatrous people, are likewise found in great numbers throughout Chiapas and Yucatan; and in the neighboring Central American provinces of Honduras and Guatimala. Only

4. General extent of the ind

character and

Mexico.

5. Agricul

ture, cities,

and popula

tion of Mex

ico.

Nature and ruins found and Central

extent of the

in Yucatan

America.

Yucatan, and the adjoining Provinces. a few of these structures, and

TABASCO

Cudad Real

CHIAPAS
Palenque

GUATIMALA

ANALYSIS.

1. Ruins of Palenque.

knowledge of them.

perhaps those not the most interesting or important, can be described here; but this Cosuma I. 20 brief notice of them will convey a knowledge of their general character.* The annexed map shows the localities of the ruins that are described, the most important of which are those of Palenque in Chiapas, of Copan in Honduras, and of Uxmal and Chichen in Northern Yucatan.

RUINS OF PALENQUE.

1. The ruins of Palenque, in the province of Chiapas, bordering upon Yucatan, are the first which awakened attention to the existence of ancient and unknown cities 2. Our first in America. "They were known to the Spaniards as early as 1750; and in 1787 they were explored by order of the King of Spain, under a commission from the government of Guatimala. The account of the exploration was however locked up in the archives of Guatimala until the time of the Mexican Revolution. In 1822 an English translation was published in London, which was the first notice in Europe of the discovery of these ruins.

PLAN

OF THE RUINS OF

PALENQUE.

+

a. See No. 1. 2. The The eleva described,

tion on which

principal of the structures that have been stands on an artificial elevation, forty feet

For the description of the Ruins of Palenque, Copan, Chichen, Uxmal, &c., we are mainly indebted to the valuable works of Mr. Stephens. The illustrative engravings are likewise taken, by permission, from the same works, to which the reader is referred for the fullest description which has yet been published of the Ruins in this portion of America. See Stephens'

"Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan," 2 vols. 1841; and Stephens' "Incidents of Travel in Yucatan," 2 vols. 1848.

the ruins of

high, three hundred and ten feet in length, and two hun- ANALYSIS. dred and sixty in width. This elevation was formerly stands the faced with stone, which has been thrown down by the principal growth of trees, and its form is now hardly distinguisha- Palenque. ble. The building itself, which is called by the natives 1. The build"The Palace," is about twenty-five feet high, and meas-The Pal ures two hundred and twenty-eight feet front, by one hundred and eighty feet deep. The front originally contained fourteen doorways, with intervening piers, of which all but six are now in ruins.

ing called

ace."

PLAN OF PALENQUE, NO. 1, CALLED THE PALACE. The dark parts represent the walls that are still standing. The other walls are in ruins.

the building.

3. Piers.

3. "The walls are of stone, laid with mortar and sand, 2 Walls of and the whole is covered by a fine plaster, or stucco, nearly as hard as stone, and painted. "The piers are covered with human figures, hieroglyphics, and ornaments. "The building has two parallel corridors, or gal- 4. Corridors. leries, running lengthwise on all four of its sides, the floors of which are covered with an exceedingly hard cement, and the walls ornamented. 'In the eastern part 5. Stone steps of the building, a range of stone steps, thirty feet long, and court leads from the inner corridor to a rectangular court yard, eighty feet long by seventy broad, now encumbered by trees, and strewed with ruins.

yard.

Sculptured

4. 'On each side of the steps are the forms of gigantic human figures, nine or ten feet high, carved on stone, with human rich head-dresses and necklaces; and on the farther side