6i8 



NATURE 



[April 28, 1892 



ness in omitting to record the wonders of the Indian civilization 

 which they are supposed to have met with, and especially for 

 having failed to tell us about the towns and highly decorated 

 buildings the ruins of which have been frequently described by 

 modern travellers ; but this censure appears to be to a great 

 extent unmerited, for their writings, if carefully searched, do 

 reveal a considerable amount of information about the Indians 

 as they found them, and they failed to describe the ancient 

 buildings because, as I hope to prove later, in many cases these 

 buildings were even then as deeply buried in the recesses of the 

 forests as they are at the present day, 



"We naturally want to know more about this lost civilization, 

 and there are many ways of attacking the problem. First of 

 all, there is a large amount of correspondence, and a great 

 number of reports written by the soldiers, officials, ecclesiastics, 

 and other early settlers in the New World, which, not bearing 

 on • the main historical events of the conquest, have escaped 

 publication, but which, if carefully examined, may afford valu- 



well as some original stone carvings, are now exhibited in the 

 Architectural Court of the Museum. Maps, plans, photographs, 

 and drawings, are in course of publication in the archseologi a 

 section of the " Biologia Centrali- Americana." 



The Editor of this journal has asked me to give some general 

 account of the work on which I have been engaged, and its 

 results, and this I will now attempt to do ; but I must ask the 

 reader to bear in mind that I started on the work almost by 

 chance, and without any previous training or archaeological 

 knowledge, that I am but little acquainted with the literature 

 of the subject, and have almost entirely confined my efforts to 

 the collection of accurate copies of sculptures and inscrip- 

 tions, in hope that some students may be found willing to make 

 use of them. The following notes must therefore not be looked 

 on as anything more than an attempt to clear the ground before 

 an attack which I hope some day to see made on a difficult 

 problem. 



The remains of the more civilized races of North America 



able information regarding the native Indians. Then a study 

 of the customs, languages, and folk-lore of the living races, may 

 throw much light upon the condition and belief of their fore- 

 runners ; and, above all, a careful examination of the burial- 

 places and of the architectural and monumental retnains, and 

 their numerous hieroglyphic inscriptions, which lie hidden away 

 in the vast forests, may reveal something of the history of the 

 people who raised them. 



It has been my good fortune to be able to devote my time 

 during seven winters to the collection of materials which I 

 trust may enable the study of Central American archaeology to 

 be pursued with greater ease and success than has hitherto been 

 possible. 



All the moulds of inscriptions and other sculptures made 

 during my expeditions have been handed over by me to the 

 authorities of the South Kensington Museum, and casts have 

 already been taken from the greater number of them, which, as 



NO. 1 1 74, VOL. 45] 



can be traced from the Isthmus of Panama as far north as the 

 ruined Pueblos in the Cailons of Colorado. This great extent 

 of country can again be roughly divided into three portions — 

 one extending from Colorado to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, a 

 second from Tehuantepec to a line running nearly along the 

 western frontiers of Honduras and Salvador, which may 

 be called the Maya district, and a third from this line to the 

 Isthmus of Panama. 



So far as I know, no remains of stone buildings have been 

 found in this last district, but much pottery is found— some of 

 which is distinguished by great beauty of form, as well as 

 excellence of decoration. 



It is in the centre province, which includes Guatemala, 

 Chiapas, Tabasco, and Yucatan, that my collections have been 

 made, and the accompanying map shows the most important 

 ruins visited. 



It is impossible within the compass of an article, and 



