8 EXPEDITION TO THE 



cording to our devious route. We have occasionally met 

 with them very abundant, bearing evident signs of the 

 most consummate design, and yet we are as unable to form 

 a correct estimate of the authors of these extensive works, 

 of the period at which they were executed, and of the objects 

 for which they were erected, as any of the travellers who 

 have preceded us. If for the purpose of commemorating 

 the names and heroic deeds of warriors or statesmen, how 

 inadequate the means to the object proposed ! How infe- 

 rior in this respect to the splendid and permanent pyra- 

 mids of Cheops, of Cholula, of Teotihuacan ; yet the labour 

 which has been wasted upon these tumuli would, if con- 

 centrated, have more than sufficed to erect any one or per- 

 haps all those pyramids. In looking back to the numerous 

 tumuli which we have seen, we cannot help admitting in 

 the words of one of our fellow travellers, that " the splen- 

 did antiquities of the East minister to the pride of man ; 

 they are glorious trophies of victory, gained by human 

 genius and power over time. History tells us the interest- 

 ing circumstances connected with them; they, in turn, con- 

 firm her story. But here ferocious conquerors have torn 

 her pages, or they remain unfilled by a posterity forgetful 

 that it is a duty to cherish her, not only for instruction's 

 sake, but also that the benefactors of mankind may receive 

 their merited share of fame, and that the censure of after 

 ages may light upon those who have proved the tyrants of 

 their species. Here we find nothing to rescue " ab injuria 

 oblivionis." So rude and concise are the epitaphs, so faint 

 and time-worn the characters of these tombs, that we strain 

 our eyes in vain, we can read no further than the Hie 

 jacet — "* 



*Mr. Colhoun'sMS. 



