Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 41.djvu/209

 in customs, in style of building, and especially by a peculiar skill in the construction of works of masonry, in the manufacture of pottery, and in ornamental decoration. That there were marked local differences, and that this civilization was shared by independent nationalities, is certain; but it is no less true that it sprang from a common source, and was harmonized by constant intercourse through hundreds and it may be thousands of years.

Since a large population was found inhabiting the cities and embodying this civilization at the time of the conquest, it would seem that everything important could be easily learned about this peculiar phase of human development. But it should be remembered that the propagation of the Christian faith was a motive only less strong than the thirst for gold in the Spanish invaders, and a bigotry ferociously intolerant of all heresy made it a cardinal virtue to destroy every representative of pagan creeds and rites.

Hence from religious as well as political causes the conquest was followed by a destruction which soon swept away nearly all traces of the literature, customs, and government of the conquered people, and did all that was possible to bury their history in oblivion. Fortunately, among the numerous monks who attended the invading armies were a few possessed of scholarly tastes, who described what they saw, and, perhaps surreptitiously, translated some of the ancient hieroglyphic records, and preserved vocabularies of some of the dialects then in use. These have furnished a clew to the interpretation of some at least of the abundant inscriptions in Central America, and we can not doubt that by the earnest following of this clew, and the patient application of the methods which have revealed the secrets of the Egyptian hieroglyphics and the Assyrian cuneiform characters, we shall obtain from the Central American records much light upon the history of the civilization we are considering.

In Mexico and Peru few inscriptions are preserved, and yet we know that the art of writing on paper, or its equivalent, was practiced in both countries.

Unfortunately, it was not the habit of these peoples, any more than it is with us, to make enduring records on stone, and the loss of the ephemeral manuscripts which existed at the time of the conquest is an irreparable one. There is little doubt, however, that when the inscriptions of Palenque, Uxmal, Copan, Chichenitza, etc., shall be translated, the mystery which has so long hung over the origin and progress of all this phase of intellectual culture will be dissipated.

Those who believe—as some do—that the Peruvian civilization is distinct from and totally independent of that of Central America and Mexico, will not share the hopes I entertain from the