432 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1919. 
of their application to the buildings confirm the impression. In the 
pose of figures the parallelism is truly remarkable, and that this 
parallelism could arise in two centers of culture (and two only) 
among totally isolated peoples occupying opposite sides of the globe 
challenges belief. It is further observed that in these ambitious 
structures there are suggestions of underlying crudeness as if the 
ideals of an advanced culture had been abruptly imposed upon the 
crude beginnings of a comparativel}^ primitive people. 
It is objected that in Maya art there are found no sculptured ani- 
mal forms absolutely identical with those of the Old World. The 
elephant, for example, so important a sculptural subject in India, 
does not appear in these ruins, although there are snout-like features 
that suggest the trunk. On this point it should be noted that even 
if visits of Buddhistic priests are allowed, full identity in the sculp- 
tured forms of animals could hardly be expected, since the priests, 
devoted to the preaching of their doctrine, would hardly be archi- 
tects, sculptors, or draftsmen, and the concepts introduced by them 
by word of mouth would from necessity be worked out by native 
sculptors, using life forms with which they were familiar or mon- 
sters drawn from their Pantheon of deities. 
With respect to the manner in which elements of Asiatic culture 
could reach middle America in the early Christian centuries — the 
period of Buddhistic propagandism — it may be said that the sea- 
going capacity of the ships of that period was very considerable, and 
it is thus not impossible that by design or by accident Buddhistic 
devotees should have landed on the shores of America. Neither is 
it impossible that these devotees of a creed, determined to carry their 
doctrines to the ends of the earth, should have coasted eastern 
Asia, reaching the continent of North America by way of the Aleu- 
tian Islands. The journey from Alaska to middle America would 
be a long one, but not beyond the range of possible achievement for 
the fanatical devotees of Buddhism. The suggestion that the hypo- 
thetical sunken continent of the Pacific may have served as a bridge 
is deserving of but slight attention. 
The writer of this sketch of a fascinating subject wishes to say in 
conclusion that he appreciates its shortcomings, for it is intended to 
be suggestive merely rather than final; but he finds gratification in 
the thought engendered by the study that whereas but a few genera- 
tions ago our world outlook was exceedingly limited and our positive 
laiowledge but a hint of the whole truth, the time is fast approaching 
as a result of the ever- widening scope of scientific research when we 
shall comprehend at a glance the world and its inhabitants, present 
and past, with the ease with which we now contemplate our local 
environment or with which we view a story thrown upon the screen. 
