During the time I was occupied in excavating I visited the ruins of twenty-two temples, with altars in the centre of all of them from five to twenty feet high and from ten to fifteen feet square." Mr. Niven, in giving his opinion about the destruction of the great city says: "Who were these people and how came they to disappear I cannot answer. My impression is that once upon a time the country was one vast plain. It was probably _submerged by a titanic convulsion of nature_, and with it disappeared its people and their primitive civilization. Later the _land was thrust up again_, as we see it now, a barren, desolate waste. As the nearest water supply is several miles distant, and that only a small spring, it is evident that some great transformation in nature has taken place since the land was populated." How the ruined city visited by Mr. Niven came to be located upon mountain ridges can be understood from what is {284} recorded in the Book of Mormon. The city of Moronihah is mentioned as one which was destroyed by being covered with earth and a mountain being raised in place of it. It is quite probable that this pre-historic city situated in the interior of Mexico met a similar fate to that of Moronihah, and was thrown up into its present position by some mighty upheaval of the earth's crust, for it is not at all likely that the city was originally built upon a mountain. Mr. Niven's impression that the country was once a vast plain is consistent with what may be inferred from the account given in the Book of Mormon; and his belief that the remarkable transformation of the country was caused by some great convulsion of nature is also in harmony with the statements made in the sacred book, and goes to confirm the truth of it. DESTROYED BY THE ACTION OF HEAT. Another testimony to the destruction that took place, evidences of which still remain, is given in the following extract from the _San Francisco Herald_: