ARCHMOLOGICAL DISCOVERY IN CENTRAL AMERICA. 35 
form of sandal. Altogether, there is a resemblance in these little images to the 
character of Egyptian art which is very remarkable. 
Besides the larger objects enumerated were a number of fossil shells, selected 
quartz pebbles, an immense number of shell and pearl beads of various sizes 
and shapes, and small sea shells which had been perforated. These were found 
on the altars mixed with ashes, charcoal, bits of mica, and fragments of pottery. 
All these objects had been subjected to a high heat, of which they still bear marks. 
From the altar in the great mound more than two bushels of such material was 
removed, and from an altar in another mound about one bushel. 
There seems to be no other theory which will account for so much property 
having been given to the flames except that of sacrifice during important religious 
rites. — Boston Transcript. 
ARCH^OLOGICAL DISCOVERY IN CENTRAL AMERICA. 
Of the fact of there being ruins of ancient cities, hitherto shrouded in mystery, 
scattered over that large tract of country which separates North from South 
America most persons are now aware. But their nature, age, or relation to the 
early history of the world has remained till quite recently a matter of which com- 
paratively nothing has been known. It has, however, been for some time rec- 
ognized that among the most interesting of these archaeological remains are some 
in Yucatan — a peninsula dividing the Gulf of Mexico from that of Honduras, 
situated between 17° 30' and 21° 51' N. lat., and at no great distance from Cuba. 
Determined to explore these ruins and learn the lessons they might teach, 
a scientific investigator, Dr. Augustus Le Plongeon, accompanied by his wife, set 
out on a mission of discovery to Yucatan in August, 1873, from which he recently 
returned. Ten years previous to this* he had determined the task of writing an 
account of prehistoric America, and having dedicated himself to this work, had 
found, after having explored the ruins of antiquity found in Peru and Bolivia since 
1862, that in Yucatan were situated the most valuable materials for such work; 
and a residence of nine years constantly engaged in explorations both of a super- 
and subterranean nature, has made him familiar with many of the Yucatan ruins. 
Both he and his wife being skillful practical amateur photographers, they have 
secured numerous negatives of the ruins, embracing many detailed portions. 
They have also obtained by means of a plastic material similar to what is used in 
French stereotyping, upward of two hundred casts from the more important 
sculptures and mural decorations, several of which are being reproduced in plas- 
ter, thus showing the work in fac simile. 
Attention was concentrated upon the cities of Uxmal, Chichenitza, Ake and 
Mayapan. There are other cities as large as these, but they are in the possession 
of the hostile Indians. Still other cities exist which are fraught with interest in 
-an exceptional degree, for they have been inhabited by a race of dwarfs, com- 
pared with whom the dwarfs of popular exhibitions are almost giants The di- 
