Page:Rude Stone Monuments.djvu/545

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Chap. XIV.
PERU.
519

formed pilasters in walls constructed with Adobes, or imperfectly burned bricks, or smaller stones which have been removed.[1] The doorways which led into this enclosure are hewn out of a single block of stone, and are more carefully cut and polished than anything else to be found anywhere out of Egypt, and there only in the best days of her great Pharaohs.

The same remarks may apply to the circles and squares illustrated by Mr. Squior.[2] I may be mistaken, but my impression is that like Houel's Druidical circles in Gozo, above alluded to, they are only the foundation courses of square and circular buildings, the upper parts of which have perished. At all events, till they are excavated, or some traditional or real use is found for them, I should be very unwilling to base any argument on their accidental similarity with our stone circles.

There can be no doubt that these earthen mounds and primitive carved stones of the American continent form in themselves a most interesting group of monuments, well deserving more attention than has yet been bestowed upon them, and that, when properly investigated, they will throw more light on the origin and migrations of the various aboriginal races of that country than can be expected from any other source. They are not, however, of the class we are treating of, nor do they seem to have any direct connexion with those of the Old World. As, besides this, their examination does not promise to solve any of our difficulties, they do not necessarily occupy an extended space in a work devoted to the elucidation of the Use and Age of Rude-Stone Monuments.

  1. 'History of Architecture,' by the Author, vol. ii. pp. 774 et seqq.
  2. 'The American Naturalist,' iv., March, 1870, figures 1, 8, and 9.