center of this civilization. It is true that the monuments of Peru are equally extensive and imposing as those already discovered in Central America, but they are far better known; and we have reason to believe that, buried in the almost impenetrable forests of Honduras and the Isthmus, there still remain more extensive and interesting ruins than any yet brought to light. There is little doubt that here we have the richest field for future explorations, and a source from which we may hope for more light upon the history of the peoples whose works we are considering.
In regard to these peoples, however, there is no such mystery as clings about the mound-builders. Though stripped of much of its former power and glory, the civilization of the Incas and the Aztecs was still in active life at the time of the invasions of Cortes and Pizarro; though, under the hand of the oppressor, the native population, with all its complicated systems of laws, religion, customs, and literature, was rapidly destroyed or degraded beyond recognition. As we know, the chronicles of the old Spanish historians are somewhat highly colored, and the wealth, magnitude, and splendor of the cities they conquered were magnified by the Spaniards to enhance the glory of their exploits. There can be no doubt, however, that in both North and South America there were found civilized and wealthy nations, far advanced in all the arts then known in Europe, except the working of iron, and with a perfection of political, social, and religious organization that can not fail to excite our wonder and admiration.
As proof of the reality of the advancement in the arts and the solid achievements of the Peruvians, Mr. Squier tells me that the great Incarial road, which reaches from Quito to Chili, is a work of far greater magnitude than our Union Pacific Railroad; that some of the public buildings of the Peruvians were constructed of masonry that in its perfection is not surpassed by the finest monuments of ancient or modern architecture; also, that a single fortress guarding one of the passes through which the wild hordes of the upper Amazon sometimes entered Peru, was a mightier mass of masonry than would be formed by heaping together all the forts upon our coasts from Maine to Mexico.
As an evidence of the wealth of the country, it is reported that the gold and silver vessels brought for the ransom of Atahualpa, and which, as we read, filled his prison as high as he could reach, had a value of something like twenty-five hundred thousand dollars; and it is said further that the gold plates and ornaments stripped from the Temple of the Sun at Cuzco were worth not less than one million dollars.
The essential unity of the civilization which covered all the country containing the monuments referred to is attested by the resemblances in religion—for all was sun-worship—in language,
