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Article THE RUINED CITIES IN CENTRAL AMERICA. ← Page 2 of 7 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Ruined Cities In Central America.
and of men whom heroism and endurance hath rendered illustrious ; but the sites of those cities are disputed points with the antiquarian , and the heroes are veiled with a mythic halo which makes their reality more than doubtful . Ancient Jerusalem , like Pompeii and Herculaneum , lies many feet below the foundations of Jerusalem as it
existed in the time of our Lord ; and these in their turn are discovered to be far beneath the surface , as the builder is seeking a foundation for his erections in the city of to-day . Nineveh , the city of palaces and hanging gardens , the resort of nobles and warriors , the scene of sensual pleasures and enjoyment , according to the predictions of the
prophets fell into ruins , and the dust of centuries so far effaced all traces of her high standard of civilisation that the armies of Alexander tramped over her sepulture , ignorant of the fact that the Queen of Cities lay beneath their feet ; and in more modern times the armies of the First Napoleon encamped there , unconscious of what
lay beneath them . Of all these old cities—Troy , Babylon , Tyre , Sidon , etc . —Damascus alone remains . But in these reflections , tinged though they be with gloomy thought , there is a something to work upon , and the skill of a Layard or a Rawlinson suffices to bring to lig ht the hidden mysteries of the past , and to draw aside the veil which enables us to see the life and actions of those who then lived , and worked , and thought .
But in the New World , as we term it , across the Atlantic , we have no such system to work upon . For many centuries it was , to the inhabitants of the Old World , an undiscovered , an unknown land . Ancient legends , old and obscure even then , spoke of the hardy Norsemen , and the Vikings of Norway , Denmark , and Sweden , who had
been driven in their war ships , by adverse winds and stormy weather , across the great waste of waters to a fertile land , rich and luxuriant , fitted for the habitation of men , and they called this fairy land Weinland . Since the discovery of America , these legends have been divested of their fabulous surroundings , and it is now thought that
our Northern ancestors must have reached the river Hudson , and the site of the present city of New York . For , according to the story , they sailed up a river , along whose banks grew trees and vines , from which hung clusters of grapes ; but though a very paradise their hearts yearned for their Northern homes , with its keen biting frosts
and searching snows . It is evident that they returned , or these legends would never have been transmitted to us . But these accounts give us no account of any interview with the inhabitants of these fertile shores , though the legends are invested with a mist of cruelty and crime . It mig ht be that this part of the New World was unpeopled , or only visited occasionally by wandering tribes of Indians ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Ruined Cities In Central America.
and of men whom heroism and endurance hath rendered illustrious ; but the sites of those cities are disputed points with the antiquarian , and the heroes are veiled with a mythic halo which makes their reality more than doubtful . Ancient Jerusalem , like Pompeii and Herculaneum , lies many feet below the foundations of Jerusalem as it
existed in the time of our Lord ; and these in their turn are discovered to be far beneath the surface , as the builder is seeking a foundation for his erections in the city of to-day . Nineveh , the city of palaces and hanging gardens , the resort of nobles and warriors , the scene of sensual pleasures and enjoyment , according to the predictions of the
prophets fell into ruins , and the dust of centuries so far effaced all traces of her high standard of civilisation that the armies of Alexander tramped over her sepulture , ignorant of the fact that the Queen of Cities lay beneath their feet ; and in more modern times the armies of the First Napoleon encamped there , unconscious of what
lay beneath them . Of all these old cities—Troy , Babylon , Tyre , Sidon , etc . —Damascus alone remains . But in these reflections , tinged though they be with gloomy thought , there is a something to work upon , and the skill of a Layard or a Rawlinson suffices to bring to lig ht the hidden mysteries of the past , and to draw aside the veil which enables us to see the life and actions of those who then lived , and worked , and thought .
But in the New World , as we term it , across the Atlantic , we have no such system to work upon . For many centuries it was , to the inhabitants of the Old World , an undiscovered , an unknown land . Ancient legends , old and obscure even then , spoke of the hardy Norsemen , and the Vikings of Norway , Denmark , and Sweden , who had
been driven in their war ships , by adverse winds and stormy weather , across the great waste of waters to a fertile land , rich and luxuriant , fitted for the habitation of men , and they called this fairy land Weinland . Since the discovery of America , these legends have been divested of their fabulous surroundings , and it is now thought that
our Northern ancestors must have reached the river Hudson , and the site of the present city of New York . For , according to the story , they sailed up a river , along whose banks grew trees and vines , from which hung clusters of grapes ; but though a very paradise their hearts yearned for their Northern homes , with its keen biting frosts
and searching snows . It is evident that they returned , or these legends would never have been transmitted to us . But these accounts give us no account of any interview with the inhabitants of these fertile shores , though the legends are invested with a mist of cruelty and crime . It mig ht be that this part of the New World was unpeopled , or only visited occasionally by wandering tribes of Indians ,