As it would be highly improbable that any nation would migrate from lands abounding with means of food, comfort and warmth to what must have been, at that period, the comparatively inhospitable regions of North America, the tribes that constructed these mounds must have originally migrated from the valley of the Mississippi. I was employed for several days in making a rough survey of this Indian settlement and took measurements of the inclosure. The ground plan was made in the form of an extensive and irregular parallelogram about twelve hundred yards long and five hundred yards wide. The mounds upon the sides of the greatest length vary in their dimensions. Some of them are very large and exceed forty-five feet in height. The most important are those platform earthworks at each end of the inclosure upon which may have been placed the principal communal buildings, or the houses of the Caciques. There was also a mound of an exceptional shape, situated in the interior which, from its position, may have been intended for purposes similar to those that existed within the embankments of Fort Ancient in Ohio. When Carrera was President of Guatemala he wished to know for what object these mounds were built, and he therefore gave orders that one of the largest of them should be thoroughly examined. It was ascertained, contrary to expectation, that it was not a burial place. The only thing found in it was a large and well carved granite grindstone of the same shape as those at present used by the Indians for grinding maize. The results of Carrera’s excavations appeared to establish the conclusion that the mounds were chiefly raised for the purpose of placing dwellings upon them; and this is also, I was informed, the opinion of the natives living in the neighbourhood. [Illustration: ANCIENT INDIAN MOUNDS NEAR GUATEMALA.] In the meanwhile from day to day the capital had been disturbed by rumours of the movements of the advancing insurgents, and it was difficult to make any decided plans with regard to my journey in the interior. It was considered by the Government authorities that it would be highly imprudent for me to attempt to pass through the disturbed provinces, as the natives were known to have become unsettled and excited. It was therefore with great satisfaction that I heard that the Indians were coming near and that a decisive battle was imminent. The President Don Vincente Cerna had taken all proper precautions, and had placed the troops under the command of his most able officer, General Solares.