BATTLE OF SEA AND LAND 173 



deserted, why great statues and enormous 

 buildings were left half finished, why there 

 is no key to the strange hieroglyphics that 

 cover the buildings and monuments with in- 

 scriptions. 



Perchance the same subterranean forces 

 which submerged the coasts, and caused the 

 sea to flow between the island and the main- 

 land, destroyed thousands of the inhabitants 

 and forced them to flee in terror from their 

 half-completed labours. 



Could we but visit that sunken land who 

 knows but we might discover a key — a sort of 

 Rosetta Stone — by which we could read the 

 story of the marvellous civilisation that held 

 sway in Central America countless ages before 

 any white man trod the shores of our conti- 

 nent. 



It would be interesting indeed to visit these 

 submerged cities, — if they exist, — and while 

 we cannot do this, yet in other places we may 

 look down through the water upon cities 

 which once stood, stately and populous, upon 

 the solid earth. 



At the island of Nevis is the sunken city of 



