CHAPTER III. 



RUINS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 



N all parts of Central America are found numerous 

 signs that the country was, in bygone days, inha- 

 bited by a numerous population far more advanced 

 in civilization than the tribes which peopled it when first 

 discovered by Columbus and his companions. In Yucatan 

 and Chiapas, especially, ruins of numerous houses exist, with 

 elaborately carved monuments and large buildings, bearing 

 a remarkable resemblance to those of Egypt and Babylon. 

 Throughout Nicaragua and other districts many remains — 

 such as tombs, monuments, and edifices — are found, as well as 

 carved rocks, which were probably the work of a people of 

 still greater antiquity than those who inhabited the first men- 

 tioned reo'ion. 



Dr. Seeman describes some rocks near the town of David, 

 in Chiriqui, on which characters are engraved similar, or in- 

 deed absolutely identical, with inscriptions which have been 

 found in the northern parts of the British Islands. The rock 

 is fifteen feet high, nearly fifty feet in circumference, and 

 rather flat on the top. Every part — especially the eastern 

 i)ortion — is covered with incised characters about an inch or 



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