438 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



pean, and do not resemble the works of Greek or Ro- 

 man ; there is nothing in Europe like them. We must 

 look, then, to Asia and Africa. 



It has been supposed that at different periods of time 

 vessels from Japan and China have been thrown upon 

 the western coast of America. The civilization, culti- 

 vation, and science of those countries are known to 

 date back from a very early antiquity. Of Japan I be- 

 lieve some accounts and drawings have been published, 

 but they are not within my reach ; of China, during the 

 whole of her long history, the interior has been so com- 

 pletely shut against strangers that we know nothing of 

 her ancient architecture. Perhaps, however, that time 

 is close at hand. At present we know only that they 

 have been a people not given to change ; and if their 

 ancient architecture is the same with their modern, it 

 bears no resemblance whatever to these unknown ruins. 



The monuments of India have been made familiar to 

 us. The remains of Hindu architecture exhibit im- 

 mense excavations in the rock, either entirely artificial 

 or made by enlarging natural caverns, supported in front 

 by large columns cut out of the rock, with a dark and 

 gloomy interior. 



' Among all these American ruins there is not a sin- 

 gle excavation. The surface of country, abounding in 

 mountain sides, seems to invite it ; but, instead of being 

 under ground, the striking feature of these ruins is, that 

 the buildings stand on lofty artificial elevations ; and it 

 can hardly be supposed that a people emigrating to a 

 new country, with that strong natural impulse to per- 

 petuate and retain under their eyes memorials of home, 

 would have gone so directly counter to national and re- 

 ligious associations. 



In sculpture, too, the Hindus differ entirely. Their 



