Page:An Elementary History of Art.djvu/56

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VI. — Early Ameri .RCHITECTURE. Before commencing our review of architecture in th( different countries of Europe, we must turn for a moment to the New World, and inquire what monuments have come down to us of the civilisation of the early inhabit- ants of the two great American continents. 1. North America. — The architectural remains of North America scarcely come within the scope of our subject, as they are all of the rudest description : mere mounds, varying from five to thirty feet in height, enclosed within colossal walls of earth and stone. Their origin, and the purpose for which they were erected, are alike involved in obscurity. 2. South America. — The principal architectural remains, sculptures, etc., in South America, are in Peru, and the most remarkable of them appear to date from pre-Incarial times, and to have formed part of buildings erected by the predecessors of the ancient Peruvians — a race whose very name is unknown. The ruins of Tita-Huanca, on the shores of Lake Titi- caca, are of this class, and consist of monolithic doorways, one of which is 10 feet high by 13 wide ; of pillars 21 feet high, and of immense cyclopean masses of masonry. The monuments of the times of the Incas are inferior in every respect to those of the earlier inhabitants of Peru. The ancient Peruvians appear to have constructed their earliest buildings of mud, which was supplanted by