. A larger history of the United States of America, to the close of President Jackson's administration . at was only tentative. In orderto make his theory appear consistent he had to ignore manydifficulties, and settle many points in an off-hand manner, andthere is something almost exasperating in the positiveness withwhich he sometimes assumes as proved that which is onlyprobable. Grant all his analogies of the gens and the com-munal dwelling, the fact still is that in studying the Central THE FIRST AMERICANS. 21 American remains we are dealing with a race who had gotbeyond mere household arc
. A larger history of the United States of America, to the close of President Jackson's administration . at was only tentative. In orderto make his theory appear consistent he had to ignore manydifficulties, and settle many points in an off-hand manner, andthere is something almost exasperating in the positiveness withwhich he sometimes assumes as proved that which is onlyprobable. Grant all his analogies of the gens and the com-munal dwelling, the fact still is that in studying the Central THE FIRST AMERICANS. 21 American remains we are dealing with a race who had gotbeyond mere household architecture, and were rising to thesphere of art, so that their attempts in this respect mustenter into our estimate. In studying them from this point ofview, we encounter new diflficulties which Mr. Morgan whollyignores. The tales of the Spanish conquerors are scarcelyharder to accept than the assumption that all the artistic dec-oration of the Yucatan edifices was lavished upon communalhouses, built only to be densely packed with Indians in theMiddle Status of Barbarism, as Morgan calls them. That a. SCULFTUKEl.) HEAD OF YUCATAN. Statue like that of Chaac-Mol, discovered by Dr. Le Plongeonat Chichen - Itza, should have been produced by a race notdiffering in descent or essential habits from the Northern Iro-quois, seems simply incredible. 22 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Consider the difference. In Central America we find theremains of a race which had begun to busy itself with the veryhighest department of art, the delineation of the human figure;and which had attained to grace and vigor, if not yet to beau-ty, in this direction. The stately stone heads of Yucatan; thearch and spirited features depicted on the Maya incense-burn-ers ; the fine face carved in sandstone, brought from Topila,and now in possession of the New York Historical Society—these indicate a sphere of development utterly beyond that ofthose Northern Indians whose utmost achievement consists insome graceful
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