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iv which had passed away, under the assaults of barbarism, at a period prior to all traditions, leaving no name, and no trace of their existence save those monuments, which, neglected and forgotten by their successors, have become the riddle of later generations.”

The Illustrations are from photographs taken during tours of the country and engraved directly from those photographs, without redrawing. The tour of exploration was made for the express purpose of the publication of a guide and descriptive book, that should guide and describe for the traveler or reader of Mexico.

Every date and place of the story of Mexico, from the Grand River of the North to Tehauntepec. is noted compactly and with all the accuracy possible. Every city and town of note which has been written of elsewhere has its place here; there are same not found in other books which are in these pages, and none are more important or more interesting than the pre-historic Ruins of Mitla, visited first by my exploring expedition of 1894, and which are here written of for the first time since the earlier chronicles of the country.

To the courteous citizens of the country I traveled in, to the strangers of America, England, France, Spain and Germany abiding there, to the Railway officials especially, and to my co-travelers and explorers I am indebted; to the expert artists of the engravers’ craft, and of the art preservative, who have made a culmination so devoutly wished, I am deeply grateful.

REAU CAMPBELL.

Chicago, January 1, 1895.

POSTSCRIPT.

After a book is in print it is the cold type that shows so glaringly the faults of omission and commission, not more apparent to any one than to its author—especially if that author has continued the study of his subject.

Since the first edition of this work was printed I have not ceased to travel in the country it describes—and if I knew Mexico then, and a generous public has attested that, I should know it better now; and I have left out some things that ought to have been omitted before and added that which I should not have left out at all—till now the work is well nigh complete, as nearly so as any book of its kind may be, where an advancing civilization changes its pages almost ere they are written.

R. C.

January, 1909