not derived
alone or principally from the accounts of Spanish voyagers and
chroniclers, which agree substantially in the statements of their
observations, but much more from the well-preserved ruins of numerous
beautiful buildings, constructed of stone, many of them ornamented with
bas-reliefs and hieroglyphics. In Mexico, about which Spanish historians
of the time of Cortez and after, have written with more particularity,
the vestiges of the civilization of the 16th or previous centuries have,
in a great measure, been obliterated by the more complete and
destructive subjugation suffered at the hands of the conquerors, and by
the continuous occupation of the acquired provinces. Probably the early
constructions of the Mexicans were not generally composed of so durable
materials as those of the neighboring peninsula. Without discussing this
point, the fact remains that Yucatan, together with much of the
territory of Guatemala, Chiapas, and Tabasco, is strewn with ruins of a
character which command the admiration and challenge the investigation
of antiquaries. Waldeck, Stephens, Charnay, and Brasseur de Bourbourg,
have brought these wonders of an extinct civilization to the knowledge
of the world. Since their investigations have ceased, and until
recently, but little has been done in this field. In 1873, however, Dr.
Augustus Le Plongeon, a native of the island of Jersey, of French
parentage, together with his wife, Mrs. Alice Dixon Le Plongeon, an
English lady, attracted by the wealth of opportunity offered to them for
archaeological study in Yucatan, visited that country, and have been and
are still actively engaged in exploring its ruins, photographing and
taking plans of the buildings, and in making excavations, which have
resulted in securing to the scientific world, a masterpiece of antique
sculpture differing essentially from all specimens known to exist of
American aboriginal art.

Dr. Le Plongeon is an enthusiast in his chosen career, that of an
archaeologist and an explorer. Without the energy and strong imagination
he has displayed, he would not, alone and unassisted, have braved the
dangers and privations of a prolonged residence in the wilds, surrounded
by perils from exposure to a tropical climate, and from the dangerous
proximity of hostile savages. All that can be learned of the life of
this investigator is, that he was educated at Paris, and in 1849 went to
California as an engineer, and there laid out the