Page:Atlantis - The Antediluvian World (1882).djvu/160

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
142
ATLANTIS: THE ANTEDILUVIAN WORLD.

similar to mile-stones were placed along the roads in Peru. (See Prescott's "Peru.")

Navigation.—Sailing vessels were known to the Peruvians and the Central Americans. Columbus met, in 1502, at an island near Honduras, a party of the Mayas in a large vessel, equipped with sails, and loaded with a variety of textile fabrics of divers colors.

Manufactures.—The American nations manufactured woollen and cotton goods; they made pottery as beautiful as the

ancient irish vase of the bronze age.

wares of Egypt; they manufactured glass; they engraved gems and precious stones. The Peruvians had such immense numbers of vessels and ornaments of gold that the Inca paid with them a ransom for himself to Pizarro of the value of fifteen million dollars.

Music.—It has been pointed out that there is great resemblance between the five-toned music of the Highland Scotch