196 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



center of this civilization. It is true that the monuments of Peru 

 are equally extensive and imposing as those already discovered 

 in Central America, but they are far better known ; and we have 

 reason to believe that, buried in the almost impenetrable forests 

 of Honduras and the Isthmus, there still remain more extensive 

 and interesting ruins than any yet brought to light. There is 

 little doubt that here we have the richest field for future explora- 

 tions, and a source from which we may hope for more light upon 

 the history of the peoples whose works we are considering. 



In regard to these peoples, however, there is no such mystery 

 as clings about the mound-builders. Though stripped of much 

 of its former power and glory, the civilization of the Incas and 

 the Aztecs was still in active life at the time of the invasions of 

 Cortes and Pizarro; though, under the hand of the oppressor, 

 the native population, with all its complicated systems of laws, 

 religion, customs, and literature, was rapidly destroyed or degraded 

 beyond recognition. As we know, the chronicles of the old Span- 

 ish historians are somewhat highly colored, and the wealth, mag- 

 nitude, and splendor of the cities they conquered were magnified 

 by the Spaniards to enhance the glory of their exploits. There 

 can be no doubt, however, that in both North and South America 

 there were found civilized and wealthy nations, far advanced in 

 all the arts then known in Europe, except the working of iron, 

 and with a perfection of political, social, and religious organiza- 

 tion that can not fail to excite our wonder and admiration. 



As proof of the reality of the advancement in the arts and the 

 solid achievements of the Peruvians, Mr. Squier tells me that the 

 great Incarial road, which reaches from Quito to Chili, is a work 

 of far greater magnitude than our Union Pacific Railroad ; that 

 some of the public buildings of the Peruvians were constructed 

 of masonry that in its perfection is not surpassed by the finest 

 monuments of ancient or modern architecture ; also, that a single 

 fortress guarding one of the passes through which the wild 

 hordes of the upper Amazon sometimes entered Peru, was a 

 mightier mass of masonry than would be formed by heaping to- 

 gether all the forts upon our coasts from Maine to Mexico. 



As an evidence of the wealth of the country, it is reported that 

 the gold and silver vessels brought for the ransom of Atahualpa, 

 and which, as we read, filled his prison as high as he could reach, 

 had a value of something like twenty-five hundred thousand dol- 

 lars ; and it is said further that the gold plates and ornaments 

 stripped from the Temple of the Sun at Cuzco were worth not 

 less than one million dollars. 



The essential unity of the civilization which covered all the 

 country containing the monuments referred to is attested by the 

 resemblances in religion for all was sun-worship in language, 



