House and Garden 
and a grandeur that had never been 
reached in the finest of the basilicas, and 
has never been surpassed since. Dur¬ 
ing all the centuries which have elapsed 
since its erection, it has maintained its 
supremacy as the masterpiece of Byzan¬ 
tine architecture and construction, and 
it fixed generally the type on which most 
of the later churches in the East were 
based, but it has never been surpassed 
by any of them .—Scottish Review. 
CHINESE INSCRIPTIONS IN MEXICO 
ONG-sought and eagerly awaited 
^ light on the ancient civilization 
of Mexico and Central America may 
dawn from the recent discovery in the 
State of Sonora of stones of great age 
bearing Chinese inscriptions. Archaeolo¬ 
gists have been inclined for many years 
to believe that the Aztecs were of Asiatic 
origin, but the hints on which this theory 
was based were vague and unsatisfac¬ 
tory. Now something substantial has 
been found, and Oriental scholars will 
probably be able soon to solve at least a 
part of the old mystery. The Mexican 
Government is showing an intelligent 
interest and activity in the matter, and 
its commissioners have made careful 
copies of at least one of the inscrip¬ 
tions. 
A dispatch from Hermosillo, the capi¬ 
tal of Sonora, was published yesterday 
and says that there is no doubt about 
the genuineness of the characters on the 
stone examined, and that they must have 
been engraved many centuries ago. 
One might infer from this dispatch that 
there is only one inscription, but this is 
probably not true. To the north of 
Magdalena, where the stone recently 
examined was found, there are many 
tombs and monuments, now believed to 
be of Chinese construction, which have 
never been studied by experts, and it is 
probable that thorough exploration of 
the region will be productive of import¬ 
ant results. Among those who have 
seen the hieroglyphics already made 
known is a well-educated Chinese mer¬ 
chant of Guayamas. 1 here are ten 
lines of characters on the part of the 
stone now in view, and there may be 
more on that still buried in tbe ground. 
This merchant has been able to translate 
enough of them, he says, to convince him¬ 
self that they were cut at least 2,000 
years ago. There is an old Chinese 
tradition that some eighteen centuries 
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