ANOMALOUS CHARACTER OF THE RUINS. 439 



subjects are far more hideous, being in general repre- 

 sentations of human beings distorted, deformed, and 

 unnatural, very often many-headed, or with three or 

 four arms or legs thrown out from the same body. 



Lastly we come to the Egyptians. The point of re- 

 semblance upon which the great stress has been laid is 

 the pyramid. The pyramidal form is one which sug- 

 gests itself to human intelligence in every country as the 

 simplest and surest mode of erecting a high structure 

 upon a solid foundation. It cannot be regarded, as a 

 ground for assigning a common origin to all people 

 among whom structures of that character are found, un- 

 less the similarity is preserved in its most striking fea- 

 tures. The pyramids of Egypt are peculiar and uni- 

 form, and were invariably erected for the same uses 

 and purposes, so' far as those uses and purposes are 

 known. They are all square at the base, with steps 

 rising and diminishing until they come to a point. The 

 nearest approach to this is at Copan ; but even at that 

 place there is no entire pyramid standing alone and 

 disconnected, nor one with four sides complete, but only 

 two, or, at most, three sides, and intended to form 

 part of other structures. All the rest, without a single 

 exception, were high elevations, with sides so broken 

 that we could not make out their form, which, perhaps, 

 were merely walled around, and had ranges of steps in 

 front and rear, as at Uxmal, or terraces or raised plat- 

 forms of earth, at most of three or four ranges, not of 

 any precise form, but never square, and with small ran- 

 ges of steps in the centre. Besides, the pyramids of 

 Egypt are known to have interior chambers, and, what- 

 ever their other uses, to have been intended and used 

 as sepulchres. These, on the contrary, are of solid 

 earth and stone. No interior chambers have ever been 



