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ENTERPRISE AND ADVENTURE.

MR. SQUIER'S RESEARCHES IN CENTRAL AMERICA.




The Hon. E. G. Squier, an American antiquary and ethnologist, has for some time past devoted himself to travels and explorations in the land of the Incas, chiefly in connection with the original monuments of ancient civilization in that country. His travels have extended over three thousand miles, into Bolivia, across the great basin of Lake Titicaca, to Cuzco, the capital of the ancient Inca Empire, and across the Andes to the frontiers of the savage tribes in the valley of the Amazon. Of these researches he promises a full account; but some narratives of similar explorations, undertaken by him in Nicaragua, in Central America, have already been given to the world, which possess a singular interest.

One day, after a long sojourn in this region, Mr. Squier prevailed upon six stout sailors, whom he had occasionally hired to assist him in his explorations, to take him and his party of men of science over to the small uninhabited island of Pensacola, situate in the midst of a great lake. A young man in the service of the Doctor, who accompanied the expedition, had declared that on this mysterious isle, still held sacred in the traditions of the country, were ancient carved stones of great size, but almost entirely buried in the earthy and hidden in the luxuriant growth of trees and shrubs and creeping plants. It seemed strange that in all their inquiries among the most learned in the country they