structures, which seem
to have been temples; for their houses were all of timber, and
thatched." But they had the use of metals, and they had the art of
making some of them admirable for use in cutting stone and carving wood.

[Illustration: Fig. 48.--Watch-tower at Tuloom.]

Among the buildings of later date are some of those on the western
coast, which were still inhabited three hundred and fifty years ago. The
city of Tuloom was inhabited then. Figure 47 shows a ground plan of the
walls of this city, with the position of some of the ruined monuments.

Within the walls are remains of finely constructed buildings on elevated
foundations, none of them, however, very large. One of them had a wooden
roof, and timber seems to have been considerably used here. The walls
still standing were made of hewn stone. Remains of stone edifices exist
all along this coast, but the whole region is now covered by a dense
growth of trees and other vegetation. Tuloom was seen in 1518 by
Grijalva, who sailed along the coast. At that time the island of
Cozumel, where noteworthy ruins are found, was inhabited by many people.
Figure 48 shows one of the watch-towers on the walls of Tuloom.

VI.

ANTIQUITY OF THE RUINS.

The Mexican and Central American ruins make it certain that in ancient
times an important civilization existed in that part of the continent,
which must have begun at a remote period in the past. If they have any
significance, this must be accepted as an ascertained fact. A large
proportion of them had been forgotten in the forests, or become mythical
and mysterious, long before the arrival of the Spaniards.

In 1520, three hundred and fifty years ago, the forest which so largely
covers Yucatan, Guatemala, and Chiapa was growing as it grows now; yes,
four hundred and fifty years ago, for it was there a century previous to
this date, when, the Maya kingdom being broken up, one of its princes
fled into this forest with a portion of his people, the Itzas, and
settled at Lake Peten. It was the same then as now. How many additional
centuries it had existed no one can tell. If its age could be told, it
would still be necessary to consider that the ruins hidden in it are
much older than the forest, and that the period of civilization they
represent closed long before it was established.

In the ages previous to the beginning of this immense forest, the region
it covers was the seat of a civilization which grew up to a