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Article THE RUINED CITIES IN CENTRAL AMERICA. ← Page 3 of 7 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Ruined Cities In Central America.
Years passed over , nay centuries , and these legends were forgotten or shelved , for stirring times were in store for the Old World , and the dim recollections of Weinland faded away . There was work of an important kind for the Northern warriors ; dynasties to found , conquests to be made ; and the Goths and Vandals made their influence
felt as they shook the highly ^ polished and sensitive Roman kingdom to its very foundations . But had they passed on to the South , instead of retracing their steps , they would have met with a nation of highly civilised people , who were not only supplied with the necessaries of life , but also
possessed no mean share of its luxuries , both as regarded the palate , the ear , the nose , and the eye ; palaces of a novel architecture , unknown to the Old World , surrounded by gardens filled with flowers of ravishing scent and gay with the most gorgeous hues ; the roofs of the buildings glittering with gold , and fountains of pure water which
cooled the air . Lofty trees bent their grateful shade to screen those who walked therein from the burning rays of a tropical sun . It remained for Christopher Columbus to rediscover this El Dorado on scientific principles ; for Amerigo Vespucci to perfect his discovery ; and for Pizarro , Cortez , and other Spanish warriors to lay waste and plunder these magnificent cities , to destroy their people , and to bring
war and desolation where formerly had reigned peace and plenty . But when the Spaniards found these people they did not pretend to any remote antiquity , Montezuma being the ninth sovereign or cacique who had governed them since their establishment as a nation . Their religion was of a strange character ; being sanguinary , human
victims were offered to propitiate a malevolent demon , or to obtain the favour of some more beneficent Deity . Their temples were built like a truncated pyramid , formed with five terraces , and ascended by broad flights of steps . The base of one dedicated to Tezcallopica was 318 feet , and its perpendicular height 121 feet . On the top were
placed the sacrificial stone and the statues of the gods , among which those of the sun and moon were of colossal dimensions , and covered with plates of gold . Around the main building was a wall of hewn stone , ornamented with knots of serpents in has relief . Everything belonging to the Mexican nation was of the most gigantic character ,
magnificent in structure and imposing in appearance . The building assigned as a residence to Cortez and his countrymen was a palace built by the father of Montezuma , and large enough to accommodate all the Spaniards and their Indian allies . But the history of Mexico and Peru , with the cruel devastating work of the Spaniards , are matters with which W . H . Prescott , in his histories , has made us more or less familiar . In fact , the deeds of the Spaniards , and the
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Ruined Cities In Central America.
Years passed over , nay centuries , and these legends were forgotten or shelved , for stirring times were in store for the Old World , and the dim recollections of Weinland faded away . There was work of an important kind for the Northern warriors ; dynasties to found , conquests to be made ; and the Goths and Vandals made their influence
felt as they shook the highly ^ polished and sensitive Roman kingdom to its very foundations . But had they passed on to the South , instead of retracing their steps , they would have met with a nation of highly civilised people , who were not only supplied with the necessaries of life , but also
possessed no mean share of its luxuries , both as regarded the palate , the ear , the nose , and the eye ; palaces of a novel architecture , unknown to the Old World , surrounded by gardens filled with flowers of ravishing scent and gay with the most gorgeous hues ; the roofs of the buildings glittering with gold , and fountains of pure water which
cooled the air . Lofty trees bent their grateful shade to screen those who walked therein from the burning rays of a tropical sun . It remained for Christopher Columbus to rediscover this El Dorado on scientific principles ; for Amerigo Vespucci to perfect his discovery ; and for Pizarro , Cortez , and other Spanish warriors to lay waste and plunder these magnificent cities , to destroy their people , and to bring
war and desolation where formerly had reigned peace and plenty . But when the Spaniards found these people they did not pretend to any remote antiquity , Montezuma being the ninth sovereign or cacique who had governed them since their establishment as a nation . Their religion was of a strange character ; being sanguinary , human
victims were offered to propitiate a malevolent demon , or to obtain the favour of some more beneficent Deity . Their temples were built like a truncated pyramid , formed with five terraces , and ascended by broad flights of steps . The base of one dedicated to Tezcallopica was 318 feet , and its perpendicular height 121 feet . On the top were
placed the sacrificial stone and the statues of the gods , among which those of the sun and moon were of colossal dimensions , and covered with plates of gold . Around the main building was a wall of hewn stone , ornamented with knots of serpents in has relief . Everything belonging to the Mexican nation was of the most gigantic character ,
magnificent in structure and imposing in appearance . The building assigned as a residence to Cortez and his countrymen was a palace built by the father of Montezuma , and large enough to accommodate all the Spaniards and their Indian allies . But the history of Mexico and Peru , with the cruel devastating work of the Spaniards , are matters with which W . H . Prescott , in his histories , has made us more or less familiar . In fact , the deeds of the Spaniards , and the