through an almost impenetrable thicket of underbrush, interlaced and bound together with strong tendrils and vines. I was finally enabled to effect a passage; and, in the course of a few hours, I found myself in the presence of the ruins. For five days did I wander up and down, among these crumbling monuments of a city which must have been one of the largest the world has ever seen.

2. I beheld before me, for a circuit of many miles in diameter, the walls of palaces, temples and pyramids, more or less dilapidated. The earth was strewed, as far as the eye could distinguish, with columns, some broken, and some nearly perfeet, which seem to have been planted there by the genius of desolation, which presided over this awful solitude.

3. Amid these solemn memorials of departed generations who have died and left no marks but these, there were no indications of animated existence save from the bats, the lizards, and other reptiles, which now and then emerged from the crevices of the tottering walls and crumbling stones, that were strewed upon the ground at their base. No marks of human footsteps, no signs of previous visitors, were discernible; nor is there good reason to believe that any person, whose testimony of the fact has been given to the world, had ever before broken the silence which reigns over these sacred tombs of a departed civilization.

4. As I looked about me, and indulged in these reflections, I felt awed into perfect silence. To speak then, had been profane. A revelation from Heaven could hardly have impressed me more profoundly with the solemnity of its communication, than I was now impressed on finding myself the first, probably, of the present generation of civilized men, walking the streets of this once mighty city, and amid

"Those temples. palaces, and piles stupendous,

Of which the very ruins are tremendous."

5. For a long time I was so distracted with the multitude of objects which crowded upon my mind, that I could take no note of them in detail. It was not until some hours had

elapsed, that my curiosity was sufficiently under control to enable me to examine them with any minuteness. The Indians, for many leagues around, hearing of my arrival, came to visit me daily, but the object of my toil was quite beyond their comprehension. They watched my every motion, occasionally looking up to each other with an air of unfeigned astonishment.

6. Of the builders or occupants of these edifices, which were in ruins about them, they had not the slightest idea; nor did the question seem ever to have occurred to them. After the most careful search, no traditions, nor superstitions, nor legends of any kind concerning these remains, could be discovered. Time and foreign oppression had paralyzed, among this unfortunate people, those faculties which have been ordained by the God of nations to transfer history into tradition. All communication with the past, here seems to have been cut off.

7. Nor did any allusion to their ancestry, or to the former occupants of these mighty palaces and monumental temples, produce the slightest thrill through the memories of even the oldest Indians in the vicinity. Defeated in my anticipations. from this quarter, I addressed myself at once to the only course of procedure, which was likely to give me any solution of the solemn mystery,-to the ruins themselves.

8. My first examination was made at what I conceived to be the ruins of the TEMPLE. These consist of four distinct walls, standing upon an elevated foundation of about sixteen feet. I entered at an opening at the western end, which I considered to be the main entrance; and presumed, from the broken walls, ceilings, and pillars still standing, that the opposite end had been the location of the shrine or altar. The distance between these two extremities, is four hundred and fifty feet.

9. Of the entrance, or western end, about one-half remains, -the interior showing broken rooms and ceilings, not entirely defaced. The exterior is composed of large stones, beautifully hewn, and laid in fillet and molding work. The opposite, or altar end, consists of similar walls, but has two sculptured pillars, much defaced by the falling ruins.

rank

The southern

10. The walls are surrounded with masses of sculptured and hewn stones, broken columns, and ornaments which had fallen from the walls themselves, and which are covered with a and luxuriant vegetation, and even with trees. wall is in the best state of preservation, the highest part of which, yet standing, is about fifty feet; where, also, the remains of rooms are still seen.

11. The inner surface of these walls is quite perfect, finely finished with smooth stone, cut uniformly in squares of about two feet. About the center of these walls, near the top on both sides, are stone rings, carved from immense blocks, and inserted in the wall by a long shaft, and projecting from it about four feet. They measure about four feet in diameter, and two in thickness,-the sides beautifully carved.

12. Of the exterior of these walls, a sufficient portion still exists to show the fine and elaborate workmanship of the cornices and entablatures, though the latter are much broken and defaced. They are composed of immense blocks of stone, laid with the greatest regularity and precision, the fronts of which are sculptured, representing flowers, borders, animals, and Indian figures adorned with feather head-dresses, and armed with bows and arrows.

13. A few rods south of this TEMPLE is the PYRAMID, a majestic pile, measuring at its base about five hundred and fifty feet. The angles and sides were beautifully laid with stones of an immense size, gradually lessening as the work approached the summit or platform. On the east and north sides are flights of small stone steps, thirty feet wide at the base, and narrowing as they ascend. The bases were piled up with ruins, and overgrown with rank grass and vines; and it was only after great labor that I was enabled to reach the side facing the east.

14. Here were found two square stones of enormous size, partly buried in the ruins. They were plainly carved, representing some monster with wide-extended jaws, with rows of teeth, and a protruding tongue. These stones were evidently the finish to the base of the steps. I ascended the fallen and

broken steps, through bushes and trees, with which they were partly covered, to the summit, one hundred feet. Here was a terrace or platform, in the center of which is a square building, one hundred and seventy feet at its base, and twenty feet high.

15. The exterior of the building had been built of fine hewn and uniform blocks of stone, with entablatures of superior order, and projecting cornices. I could find no access to the top but by the pillars, and by cutting steps in the stone and mortar of the broken edges, and by the aid of bushes, I reached the summit. I found it perfectly level, the whole covered with a deep soil, in which trees and grass were growing in profusion. From this hight was presented a magnificent view of all the ruins, and the vast plain around them.

16. Unlike most of the Egyptian pyramids, whose

"Primeval race had run, ere antiquity had begun."

this Pyramid does not culminate at the top. The solidity of its structure, the harmony and grandeur of its architecture, must impress every one with an exalted idea of the mechanical skill, and the numbers of those, by whom it was constructed; and like those in Egypt, so long as it stands, it must remain a monumental protest of an oppressed people,—againsť the ill-directed ambition and tyranny of those rulers, by whose command it was built.

LESSON CLVI.

EXPLANATORY NOTES.-1. ANTIOCH is a city of Syria, which early received Christianity, and was called on that account Theopolis, The Divine City. For many ages it was the royal seat of the kings of Syria. Though now almost depopulated, there are still remaining monuments of its ancient grandeur.

2. CARTHAGE, the ancient city of northern Africa, was founded about 1200 years before Christ. The remains of this ancient city are still visible. 3. MEMPHIS, which owed its foundation to a king in the first ages of Egypt, was situated on the western shore of the Nile. In the twelfth century, notwithstanding the attempts made by various nations to destroy even the vestiges, and to obliterate every trace of it, by removing the

stones and materials, of which it was built, yet there were in it works, wonderful beyond description.

4. CHEOPS was the king of Egypt, who built famous Pyramids, upon which, according to Herodotus, the historian, he employed a hundred thousand men, who were relieved every three months. He and his brother Chepheren were so inveterately hated by the Egyptians, that they publicly reported that the Pyramids were erected by a shepherd, instead of attributing the enterprise to them.

REFLECTIONS ON THE RUINS OF CHI-CHEN.

B. M. NORMAN.

1. Ir is the impression of some that three distinct races of men have occupied this country, previous to the arrival of the existing white population. Of these the first is considered as the most civilized, to whom are attributed those magnificent works, the ruins of which are seen in various parts of Central America. To the second race are attributed those vast mounds of earth, formed throughout the whole western region from Lake Erie to Florida and the Rocky Mountains. The third race are the Indians now existing in the western territories.

2. In the profound silence and solitude of these western regions, and above the bones of a buried world, how must a philosophic traveler meditate upon the transitory state of human existence, when the only traces of two races of men, are these strange memorials! On this very spot generation after generation has stood, has lived, has warred, grown old, and passed away; and not only their names, but their nation, their language, have perished; and utter oblivion has closed over their once populous abodes. We call this country the New World. It is old! Age after age, and one revolution after another, has passed over it, but who shall tell its history?

the

3. Whatever diversity of origin may have existed among races of Indians whose remains are the burden of our speculations, one thing is certain, that the builders of the city of ChiChen, excelled in the mechanic and fine arts. It is obvious that they were cultivated, and doubtless a very numerous people. It is difficult to suppose that those vast erections could have been made by the mere aggregation of men, unaided by science.