660 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 
modern red men it is possible to coast the shores of the Mexican Gulf and the 
Carribean Sea. Such a canoe was seen by Columbus off the coast of Yucatan, 
bound on a trading voyage, and having on board a cargo of aboriginal merchan- 
dise. Whether or not the Mound-builders now became navigators and sent 
colonies around from the mouth of the Mississippi to the sea-board of South 
America, and peopled regions where the Spaniards found so much to admire and 
destroy, it is certain that Mexico could have been, and was, entered through 
Texas. For here and there amongst palaces and temples once the abode of 
Aztec culture and devotion, now ruined and desolate, a constant feature intrudes 
itself; here are the unmistakable shrines of the Mound-builders' religion and the 
characteristic graves of their dead. 
The most remarkable monument of pre-Aztec culture in Mexico, the great 
pyramid of Cholula, reminds us of the temple-mounds of the north. In fact one of 
the most prominent features of American ruins, is the ever present pyramid. In 
Mexico and Central America they are common objects of the landscape, and the 
bewildering ruins of Gran Chimu in northern Peru, are remarkable for the num- 
ber of pyramidal structures scattered about. It may not be out of place to intro- 
duce here a few remarks as to the significance of these structures and their place 
in the discussion of anthropological questions. It is a trite saying that art is, up 
to a certain point of development almost identical in expression the world over. 
Upon this fact, which is not at all wonderful, the most extraordinary theories 
have been based as to the origin and development of American civilization. 
Thus it is said that the presence of pyramids in America attests an old-world ori- 
gin for their builders ; because there are pyramids in Egypt. But this architec- 
tural feature of primitive culture has been of universal use as an expression of 
devotion or as a memorial of some person or event. Pyramids have been found 
in Chaldea, India, China, Mexico, Central America, South America as well 
as Egypt. Genghis Khan is said to have reared a pyramid of human skulls to 
commemorate his victories; the pile heaped above Porsenna, " o'ertopped old 
Pelion " and "made Ossa like a wart"; Jacob and Laban heaped stones to- 
gether to keep their treaty in remembrance. All over the world cairns, or 
heaps of stones, and artificial mounds of earth, show, in its most primitive 
condition, a structural form which might easily develope into such marvelous 
monuments of power and industry as the pyramids of Cheops and Cholula — the 
most stupendous creations of human skill and industry extant. Indeed we have 
found the simple tumuli, like that of Cahokia, gradually assuming the pyramidal 
structure, in the southward progress of the Mound-builders, until it culminated at 
length in the edifices of Mississippi, Arkansas and Texas, in which adobe blocks, 
or even stone, were used as materials. 
As the pyramid of Cholula is so nearly related to the northern temple-mounds, 
and is so evidently a development from them, I will close this paper by briefly 
describing it. It derives its name from the pueblo near which it is situated; the 
ancient Aztec and pre-Aztec city so celebrated for its culture and devotion. The 
pyramid is now covered with trees and shrubs and its terraces are in ruins, but 
