Primitive Architecture in America. 319 



The civilized races were found in Italy, Grreece and a part of 

 Spain. They were all Indo-Europeans and had a common origin. 

 In fact, they all belonged to the White race. The American 

 aborigines all belonged to the red race. Some were civilized and 

 some uncivilized. 



; The works of the Britons and of the Iroquois may be com- 

 pared. The Grauls or Celts may be considered the Mound Build- 

 ers, or what is better, perhaps, the Iberians. The Grerman tribes 

 may be compared to the Pueblos, and the Eomans to the Mex- 

 icans. There was a great difference between the Cis- Alpine and 

 Trans- Alpine races. Civilization prevailed at Rome, and much 

 of it was borrowed from the far east. Barbarism prevailed north 

 of the Alps, and the races came from another stock. So the 

 civilization of Mexico and Central America may have been de- 

 rived from across the water, in one direction or the other. The 

 Aztec, Toltec, and the Chicrinec races may have come from a dif- 

 ferent stock from the uncivilized races, situated north of Mexico; 

 the grades of society and the stages of architecture were very 

 different, not so different as those which prevailed in Earope, yet 

 different enough to be recognized now in the ruins and monu- 

 ments. We present a cut with this article which represents one 

 of the palaces which were common in Central America. 



Mr. H. H. Bancroft has, in his Native Races of the Pacific 

 Coast, referred to a large number of just such structures. The 

 ruins of Uxmal and Palenque are often described, but these are 

 only types of many which were common. The elaborate carving 

 on the facades of these palaces, the many and complicated halls 

 and chambers which were within, the magnificent corridors and 

 courts which were without, and the whole style of architecture 

 peculiar to the region, show that the people had reached a high 

 stage of development. There must have been a barbaric magnifi- 

 cence which was impressive and strange, and we do not wonder 

 that the Spanish historians represented them in such glowing 

 colors as they did. 



Whether evidence will be presented, in the course of time, that 

 this skill and culture were trained by those who had known 

 something of the civilization [of other continents or not, we can 



