158 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [Vol. IX 
roads of the Incas, the ancient cities of Yucatan, and the halls 
of the Montezumas. None of these accounts excited greater or 
more persistent interest than those of the ruins of Yucatan, and 
a long line of archeologists and explorers followed in the foot- 
steps of the Spanish pioneers and have gradually corrected the 
early distortion and eliminated the early extravagance, and dif- 
fused definite knowledge concerning the ancient cities of Pa- 
lenque and Chichen-Itza, Uxmal and Izamal, Tikul and Tuloom. 
The latest in this line of archeologists was Professor Holmes, 
who, under the auspices of the Field Columbian Museum and 
through the courtesy of Mr A. V. Armour, a patron of the Mu- 
seum, examined several of the cities early in 1895. Many of 
the results of this examination are set forth in the elaborately 
illustrated monograph forming the first of the anthropological 
series of the Museum publications. The detailed descriptions 
are of special value by reason of the author’s familiarity with 
aboriginal art and architecture and his training in perception 
and delineation, and the conclusions of special weight by reason 
of his experience in cognate researches and his clear recognition 
of genetic development among things artificial as among things 
natural. 
Beginning with asummary of the expedition, Professor Holmes 
points out that a thousand years ago or more Yucatan was peo- 
pled by a peaceful and priest-led race, who built temples and 
palaces, rich in unique though barbarous sculptures, about the 
great cenotes or natural wells, but that the strength and unity of 
the people waned, so that many of their cities were ruined before 
the Spaniards appeared. Amid the ruins the conquerors found 
the Maya Indians, some 2,000,000 strong; they were of advanced 
culture, leading the North American tribes in language as in 
architecture, and havinga fairly well developed system of hiero- 
glyphics—indeed “an age of literature was actually though 
slowly dawning . . . when the shock of conquest came” 
(page 20); they possessed an elaborate calendar system of sur- 
prising accuracy, one of the notable products of their priest- 
craft; they were agricultural, and had mastered the textile and 
ceramic arts; and they engaged in commerce, navigating the 
seas as far at least as Cuba. Their most striking accomplish- 
ments were in the direction of architecture, and the author’s 
summary of the architectural features of the ancient cities 
