there by those who were once its owners, I gave the signal and was laboriously drawn up to the surface and daylight once more. The reservoir is in such a state of preservation that all injury caused by time could be easily and quickly repaired.

I find in these edifices proofs conclusive to my mind that they are not the finished product of one architectural mind, but that the different portions were built at periods of time widely separated. In following out their plans the builders of one period seem to have had but little regard for those who preceded them, and when the two plans conflicted the later builders did not hesitate to convert a portion of a richly ornamented façade into an unimportant wall or else to bury it altogether beneath cement and other material. That the periods of construction were widely separated seems to me proved by the fact that various portions of plinths and ornaments which I found imbedded in the masonry were weather-worn in a marked degree. More than this, I do not believe the building was fully completed when for some unknown cause the inhabitants were presumably forced to abandon their labors and perhaps in fact to lay down their lives in its defence. From the form of that portion of the building which is completed, and the appearance of the adjoining terraces, I am of the opinion that the intention was to continue the edifice as a facing to the terraced mound until by its junction with the portion now standing a finished edifice would result bearing in its outline a close resemblance to the tau.

The most interesting part of Mr. Thompson's narrative is that in which he describes his visit to a collection of ruins hitherto unmentioned.

I have found the ruined city of Chun Cat in. After long and tedious labor cutting our way through forest and jungle we found ourselves among ruins which have never before been seen by white men, or if seen no record was made of the visit. In naming these ruins I have followed

the idea of my native guide, and have chosen to designate them by the term Chun Cat in; a free translation being "By the trunk of the great Cat in tree."

The ruins are about a league's distance from Labna, in a north-east direction. The country around seemed to be covered with mounds, confused heaps of carved stones and pillars, evidence of long continued and populous occupa tion. The building of which I have taken photographs and measurements, is, however, in a comparatively good state of preservation, and a description of its general appearance may be of interest. The façade faces north-west and has a length of ninety-two feet. The edifice was built upon the platform of a low double-terraced mound, the dimensions of which I should judge to have been when perfect one hundred and thirty feet long by forty-five wide. The building has now four apartments and appearances indicate the former existence of a fifth. The first of these rooms has a length of nineteen feet, a width of nine feet seven inches, and a height from floor to apex of arched ceiling of fifteen feet. The next two rooms closely resemble the first. The fourth being formed by a retaining wall has the appearance of a vertical bi-section of an arched chamber, placed at right angles to the adjoining chamber. This building

differs from many in having its rear wall ornamented less elaborately than the front, the pilastered ornaments being arranged very simply but in a manner very pleasing to the eye.

Directly in the rear and almost touching this building rises a terraced mound densely overgrown and covered with débris. Time did not allow me to seek for the edifice which I believe must have once surmounted it, but from the outcroppings of stone I am inclined to believe that this was once a natural elevation formed by artificial means into a terraced mound.

I never left a collection of ruins with more reluctance than I did those of Chun Cat in. Appearances warranted

me in believing that this was once a place of some magnitude, and that within the savanna around me or close to the base of the surrounding hills I should find other buildings belonging to this group, of greater importance than the one I photographed upon this visit. A due regard for the

interests of the object for which the expedition was undertaken compelled me to return to Labna in order to hasten my work. Besides, this toiling through a league or more of dense and thorn-covered growth had nearly deprived me of all clothing save my tigerskin leggings. My deerskin. shoes had given out under the effect of sharp stones and sharper spines and my feet were bleeding in many places. For these reasons I had to content myself with being able simply to record the discovery of these ruins and the beginning of my work there. I hope to return this same season, if possible, and finish the exploration and investigation of a region which I am convinced contains so much of interest and value to the archæologist and scholar.

INDEX.

Accessions to the Library, number of, Arnold, Dr. Thomas, 302.
40. 136, 137, 232, 333.
Adams, Charles Francis, 310.
Adams, President John, 219,375. His
Letter to Dr. Belknap on Slavery in
Massachusetts, in the Collections of
the Mass. Historical Society, cited,
217.

Assientists, the, 200.

Astley, Thomas, his "Collection of
Voyages," cited, 199.
Augustus Cæsar, Emperor, 274.