=3. Ancient Civilization in America.=--"That a civilization once flourished in these regions [Central America and Mexico] much higher than any the Spanish conquerors found upon their arrival, there can be no doubt. By far the most important work that has been done among the remains of the old Maya civilization has been carried on by the Peabody Museum of Harvard College, through a series of expeditions it has sent to the buried city now called Copan, in Spanish Honduras. In a beautiful valley near the borderland of Guatemala, surrounded by steep mountains and watered by a winding river, the hoary city lies wrapped in the sleep of ages. The ruins at Copan, although in a more advanced state of destruction than those of the Maya cities of Yucatan, have a general similarity to the latter in the design of the buildings, and in the sculptures, while the characters in the inscriptions are essentially the same. It would seem, therefore, that Copan was a city of the Mayas; but if so it must have been one of their most ancient settlements, fallen into decay long before the cities of Yucatan reached their prime. The Maya civilization was totally distinct from the Aztec or Mexican; it was an older and also a much higher civilization."--Henry C. Walsh, in article, _Copan--a City of the Dead_, Harper's Weekly, October, 1897. Baldwin in his valuable work "Ancient America" incorporates the conclusions announced by Bradford in regard to the ancient occupants of North America, as follows:-- "That they were all of the same origin, branches of the same race, and possessed of similar customs and institutions. "That they were populous, and occupied a great extent of territory. "That they had arrived at a considerable degree of civilization, were associated in large communities, and lived in extensive cities. "That they possessed the use of many of the metals, such as lead, copper, gold, and silver, and probably the art of working in them. "That they sculptured in stone, and sometimes used that material in the construction of their edifices. "That they had the knowledge of the arch of receding steps; of the art of pottery, producing urns and utensils formed with taste, and constructed upon the principles of chemical composition; and the art of brick-making. "That they worked the salt springs, and manufactured salt. "That they were an agricultural people, living under the influence and protection of regular forms of governments. "That they possessed a decided system of religion, and a mythology connected with astronomy, which, with its sister science, geometry, was in the hands of the priesthood. "That they were skilled in the art of fortification.