f life
and health"; and again, "the emblem of fire, indeed an ornamental
fire-drill."

Students of architecture find a rudimentary form of the arch occurring
in some of the ruins, notably at Palenque. Two walls are built parallel
to each other, at some distance apart, then at the beginning of the arch
the layers on both sides have the inner stones slightly projecting, each
layer projecting a little more than the previous one, till at a certain
height the stones of one wall are almost touching those of the wall
opposite. Finally, a single flat stone closes in the space between and
completes the arch.

In Honduras, on the banks of the Copan, the Spaniards found a
prehistoric capital in ruins, on an elevated area, surrounded by
substantial walls built of dressed stones, and enclosing large groups of
buildings. One structure is mainly composed of huge blocks of polished
stone. In several houses the whole of the external surface is covered
with elaborate carved designs:

The adjacent soil is covered with sculptured obelisks, pillars, and
idols, with finely dressed stones, and with blocks ornamented with
skilfully carved figures of the characteristic Maya hieroglyphs,
which, could they be deciphered, would doubtless reveal the story
of this strange and solitary city.

In western Guatemala, at Utatla, the ancient capital of the Quiches, a
tribe allied to the Mayas, several pyramids still remain. One is 120
feet high, surmounted by a stone wall, and another is ascended by a
staircase of nineteen steps, each nineteen inches in height.

The literary remains (such as Alphabets, Hieroglyphs, Manuscripts, etc.)
of the Maya and Aztec races are in some respects as vivid a proof of the
extinct civilizations as any of the architectural monuments already
discussed. Both Aztecs and Mayans of Yucatan and Central America used
picture-writing, and sometimes an imperfect form of hieroglyphics. The
most elementary kind was simply a rough sketch of a scene or historical
group which they wished to record. When, for example, Cortes had his
first interview with some messengers sent by Montezuma, one of the
Aztecs was observed sketching the dress and appearance of the Spaniards,
and then completing his picture by using colors. Even in recent times
Indians have recorded facts by pictographs: in Harper's Magazine
(August, 1902) we read that "pictographs and painted rocks to the number
of over 3,000 are scattered all ove