50 THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 



loud shout to warn the next courier of their approach, so that he 

 might be ready to take the message or parcel without delay. In 

 this manner it is said that dispatches were sent at the rate of 150 

 miles a day, a speed uuequaled until within our own times, when 

 the rail way and the telegraph have brought the ends of the world 

 almost together. 



WONDERS Or THREE DEAD CITIES. 



THE only parts of America which, before the arrival of 

 Europeans, were in some degree civilized, were Mexico and Peru ; 

 to which may probably be added that long and narrow tract 

 which stretches from the south of Mexico to the Isthmus 

 of Panama. In this latter country, which is now known as 

 Central America, the inhabitants, aided by the fertility of the 

 soil, seem to have worked out for themselves a certain amount of 

 knowledge, since the ruins still extant prove the possession of a 

 mechanical and architectural skill too considerable to be acquired 

 by any nation entirely barbarous. Beyond this nothing is 

 known of their history ; but the accounts we have of such build- 

 ings as Copan, Palenque and Uxmal, make it highly probable 

 that Central America was the ancient seat of a civilization in all 

 essential points similar to those of India and Egypt ; that is to 

 say, similar to them in respect to the unequal distribution 

 of wealth and power, and the thraldom in which the great body 

 of the people consequently remained. 



Mr. Squier, who explored Nicaragua, says of the statues which 

 he saw in large numbers about the ruins of old palaces : " The 

 material, in every case, is a black basalt, of great hardness, 

 which, with the best of modern tools, can only be cut with diffi- 

 culty." Mr. Stephens, another explorer of Central America, 

 says he found at Palenque "elegant specimens of art and models 

 for study," and of the paintings he found at Chichen he writes : 

 "They exhibit a freedom of touch which could only be the 

 result of discipline and training under masters." At Copan 

 the same writer declares that " it would be impossible, with the 

 best instruments of modern times, to cut stones more per- 

 fectly." These evidences unmistakably confirm the impression 



