The Manners, Customs, and Antiquities of the Indians of North and South America

Portada
Bradbury, Soden and Company, 1844 - 336 páginas
 

Otras ediciones - Ver todas

Términos y frases comunes

Pasajes populares

Página 65 - ... the face of a monument, and then to dig around and bring to light a fragment, a sculptured corner of which protruded from the earth. I leaned over with breathless anxiety while the Indians worked, and an eye, an ear, a foot, or a hand was disentombed; and when the machete rang against the chiselled stone, I pushed the Indians away, and cleared out the loose earth with my hands. The beauty of the sculpture, the solemn stillness of the woods, disturbed only by the scrambling of monkeys and the...
Página 28 - The lips and bosom of the infant were sprinkled with water, and "the Lord was implored to permit the holy drops to wash away the sin that was given to it before the foundation of the world; so that the child might be born anew.
Página 27 - ... certain, that, after they had driven us from Mexico, and slain above 850 of our soldiers and of the men of Narvaez, these beasts and snakes, who had been offered to their cruel idol to be in his company, were supported upon their flesh for many days. When these lions and tygers roared, and the jackals and foxes howled, and the snakes hissed, it was a grim thing to hear them, and it seemed like hell.
Página 52 - The hair is divided, and falls down behind in two long plaits, fastened at the top by a bow of ribbon and a flower. In this dress there is no alteration from what they wore in former days; saving that the women of a higher class wore a dress of finer cotton with more embroidery, and a loose garment over all, resembling a priest's surplice, when the weather was cold. Among the men, the introduction of trousers is Spanish — but they still wear the...
Página 62 - Egyptians ; one displaced from its pedestal by enormous roots ; another locked in the close embrace of branches of trees, and almost lifted out of the earth ; another hurled to the ground, and bound down by huge vines and creepers; and one standing, with its altar before it, in a grove of trees which grew around it, seemingly to shade and shroud it as a sacred thing ; in the solemn stillness of the woods, it seemed a divinity mourning over a fallen people.
Página 69 - There is no rudeness or barbarity in the design or proportions ; on the contrary, the whole wears an air of architectural symmetry and grandeur ; and as the stranger ascends the steps and casts a bewildered eye along its open and desolate doors, it is hard to believe that he sees before him the work of a race in whose epitaph, as written by historians, they are called ignorant of art, and said to have perished in the rudeness of savage life.
Página 62 - ... like wandering spirits of the departed race guarding the ruins of their former habitations. We returned to the base of the pyramidal structure, and ascended by regular stone steps, in some places forced apart by bushes and saplings, and in others thrown down by the growth of large trees, while some remained entire. In parts they were ornamented with sculptured figures and rows of death's heads. Climbing over the ruined top, we reached a terrace overgrown with trees, and, crossing it, descended...
Página 3 - His hair, which was black and straight, was not very long ; to wear it short was considered unbecoming persons of rank. His beard was thin ; his complexion somewhat paler than is often found in his dusky, or rather copper-colored race.
Página 61 - ... with more elegant designs, and some in workmanship equal to the finest monuments of the Egyptians; one displaced from its pedestals by enormous roots; another locked in the close embrace of branches of trees, and almost lifted out of the earth ; another hurled to the ground and bound down by huge vines and creepers ; and one...
Página 61 - The sight of this unexpected monument put at rest at once and forever, in our minds, all uncertainty in regard to the character of American antiquities, and gave us the assurance that the objects we were in search of were interesting, not only as the remains of an unknown people, but as works of art, proving, like newly-discovered historical records, that the people who once occupied the Continent of America were not savages.

Información bibliográfica