With regard to the purpose of these ruins, I can add little to the suggestions which have already been made during the progress of my narrative. They were, without a doubt, built primarily for the honor and glory of the rulers of the country. They are, as Pliny very justly says, when speaking of the similar achievements of the Eastern tyrants, “_Regum pecuniœ otiosa ac stulta ostentatio_.” Their secondary purposes, doubtless, were to be used as palatial residences, imperishable sepulchres for the dead, and temples for religious worship. It is impossible to suppose that any of the ruined buildings of which I have given a description could have been intended for private abodes, or could have been constructed by private enterprise. On the contrary, not a vestige of the ordinary houses in which the masses might have been supposed to reside, remain. Every memorial of the people is gone, save the splendid structures which they erected to gratify the pride of their kings and their priests. In this connexion it may not be impertinent to allude to some of the religious opinions and ceremonies of the South American nations, which may throw light upon the topic under consideration. Almost all the Indian tribes, even to the Charibs, have a traditionary account of the deluge and of the creation; and, what is more singular, relate it as occurring in or near their present locations upon this continent—leading to the supposition of an antediluvian existence in America. They also have their great supernatural benefactors. The Brazilians have the Payzome, the Tamanac race their Amalivaca, the Chileans their Them, the Muyscas their Bochica, the Peruvians their Manco Capac, the Mexicans their Quetzalcoatl, and the Chiapasans their Votan. This latter people represent Noah under the name of Coxox. The art of embalming seems to have been perfectly well known to the people who once inhabited the west, which shows that they were not the same with the roving Indians of later date.[12] The practice of burning the dead, which prevailed to a great extent in Asia and other parts of the world, was customary among all the more civilized tribes. Their usual method of burial was in the sitting posture.[13] Dr. Morton says, that “no offence excites greater exasperation in the breast of the Indian than the violation of the graves of his people; and he has been known to disinter the bones of his ancestors, and bear them with him to a great distance, when circumstances have compelled him to make a permanent change of residence. The practice of inhumation is so different from that practised by the rest of mankind, and at the same time so prevalent among the American natives, as to constitute another means of identifying them as parts of a single and peculiar race. This practice consists in burying the dead in a sitting posture; the legs being flexed against the abdomen, the arms also bent, and the chin supported on the palms of the hands.”