854 Mr. Ranking on the Origin 



same purposes as the Mexican. This gave rise to the first 

 discoverers having supposed that they had seen cities with 

 numerous steeples. The four great cities in Mexico contained 

 2000 of these Teocalh. These platforms were the places to 

 which the inhabitants fled when opposing Cortez, when, as 

 De Solis describes, they appeared like a living hill. These 

 works answered the three purposes of temples, tombs, and for- 

 tresses. Pieces of obsidian, or flint, are found in great quanti- 

 ties near them, as is the case with the Teocalli. Some may 

 be startled, says Mr. B., if I should say that the mound of 

 Cohokia is as old as those of Egypt. The Mexicans attribute 

 theirs to the Toltecs or Olmecks, who probably migrated from 

 the Mississippi. I question whether, before the invention of the 

 compass, gunpowder, and printing, there existed or could exist 

 nations more civilised than the Mexicans and Peruvians. Was 

 any thing in the old world superior to two roads from Quito to 

 Cuzco * ? — (Letter to Mr. Jefferson, from H. H. Bracken ridge, 

 Esq., Baton Rouge, 1813, in the Trans, of the American 

 Phil. Soc. Philadelphia, 1818, vol. i. New Series.) There is 

 nothing in the above extract to show any difference in the 

 origin of these mounds, &c. from those of Asia and Mexico, 

 .nor to prove a greater antiquity than the Toltecs. The wan- 

 dering hunting pursuits of these tribes would require them, 

 in numerous places, to secure themselves from surprise by 

 stockades, and to erect a place of worship during their residence, 

 till the game was exhausted, and this would require years. 

 But it is probable that there may have been more towns in 

 this quarter besides Talomeco, which certainly proves a good 

 degree of civilisation. The JYatches, who appear to have 

 accompanied the Mexicans and Peruvians, as they also arrived 

 by sea, and were nearly perishing when they discovered land f , 

 were, in habits and customs, similar to the Mexicans J, Of 



* These immense works, or roads, were executed in the reign of Huayna Capac, 

 who died A. D. 1527. — Garcilasso de la Vega, b. ix. ch. xiii. The road through the 

 plains was exactly such as were made in Kublai's reign in China. — See Marco 

 Polo, b. ii. ch. xxii. 



f Conquest by Mongols, ch. vi. 



\ These remarks being chiefly regarding North America, the reader, who desires 

 more information on the subject of tombs and pyramids of the Mongols, Calmucs, 

 and Americans, is referred to Humboldt's Researches, vol. i. Conquest of Peru, 

 Mexico, &c. by the Mongols; ch. v. viii. Wars and Sports, ch, v, Abul 



