sustain the ruins of a temple or other building.* In all essential features, by which these pre-historic American structures are characterised, the difference of their architecture is manifest. The ancient Egyptian temples were excavations from the rock, and the structures erected by them on the earth's surface were constructed on the same model. The ancient American buildings are invariably raised on artificial elevations, and, what is particularly remarkable, are entirely without columns.t This peculiarity is the more striking when we remember that the writers who have made the history of architecture a study invariably assume the idea of the column to be derived from the trunk of a tree, or the log post which sustained the wooden hut. Now, Egypt is a comparatively treeless region -wood seems rarely to have entered into the composition of its buildings. Yet, in Egyptian architecture, no feature is more conspicuous than the mighty columns which line every temple, and are, in some cases, its only remains; although the tree had so little to do with furnishing the model, that the shaft in most instances represents a bundle of reeds or lotosstems tied together. In Guatemala, on the other hand, whose ruins stand in the heart of primeval forests, and must at all times have been in the midst of a wooded country, not a single column has been found.§ The office of columns may possibly have been fulfilled by the gigantic idols, as they are commonly called, which flanked the sides of the quadrangular platform or terrace. These so-called idols are usually oblong blocks of stone, generally monolithic, and varying from thirteen to twenty feet in height; in front, carved in alto-relievo, was a human figure, or in some instances only the head and arms-the lower part of the block, and also the back and sides were covered with sculptured designs which have been improperly styled hieroglyphics. The character of the faces was extremely varied. It will be seen from inspecting the engravings made from Catherwood's draw+ Ib., p. 441. *Stephens, vol. ii., § Stephens, vol. ii., p. 441. # ings and published in Stephens' work that the features in some of them are of a purely Caucasian, in fact almost Grecian, type; others present the long eye, flat face, and high cheekbone of the Mongol, while a few are characterised by the unmistakable features of the North American Indian. § Whoever were the architects of these remarkable cities, their effect must have been singularly picturesque and beautiful. Rising on artificial terraces above the surrounding country, their lofty pyramidal gateways, their vast quadrangular temples, over the walls of which towered the heads of their colossal idols at that time not only richly sculptured but painted in the brightest colors, their ranges of steps with pyramidal elevations in like manner brilliantly painted,¶ their large square palaces raised also on elevations with stuccoed fronts adorned with paintings and bas-reliefs,** the whole necessarily conspicuous from its elevation throughout the neighboring region, they must, notwithstanding their comparatively barbarous architecture, have presented an effect with which that of few modern cities can be compared. The extraordinary conquests of the Saracens under Omar the Second, in the seventh century, established them in the occupation of most of the hitherto Christian cities in the Eastern empire, and thence originated the arabesque or moresque style of architecture, of which the Alhambra is the most distinguished specimen. †† At first they do not appear to have possessed an extensive knowledge of architecture; for on the mosques which they at first constructed they are * Stephens' Central America, vol. i., + Ib., pp. 138-150. pp. 132-159. Tb., pp. 156-159 and frontispiece. § The engraving in vol. i. of Stephens' work, facing p. 158, represents an idol whose face is distinctly of the American Indian type, while in the region of his belt is carved a small face with Grecian features and of remarkable beauty. | Stephens, vol. i., p. 137. ** Ib., vol. ii., pp. 309–320. ¶ Ib., vol. i., p. 139. The first mosque erected beyond the limits of Arabia is said to be that constructed by the Caliph Omar II., on the site of the Temple of Jerusalem.-Gwilt, p. 50. said to have employed Christian architects, imported for the purpose from Constantinople.* As their knowledge of the art increased, they appear to have been principally influenced by the models with which they were familiar, adapting in their palaces the Byzantine style, which they found in the conquered cities, to the ground-plan to which they had been accustomed in the East. The vast, open courts, the marble fountains, the latticed corridors, and pavilion-like towers which characterised the Oriental palaces were retained; but around these courts arose solid walls, supported on arches carried from column to column, as in the basilica; enclosing them were peristyles or colonnades, not unfrequently taken from Grecian or Roman ruins, which sustained broad galleries; and Byzantine domes surmounted their mosques and towers. The principal deviation from the Byzantine type was in the form of the arch, which in their doorways springs di rectly from the ground in the shape of a horse-shoe,† and in the galleries and arcades is often of the trefoil or quatrefoil pattern; while the only real novelty introduced into their structures was the minaret, which first appeared on the mosque erected by Alwali II. at Damascus, and which became almost universal on their places of worship. But, while the Saracenic buildings retained externally the heavy gloom of the Byzantine style, the interior was characterised by the utmost lightness and elegance. In the light relievos, and the rich and fanciful designs which cover the walls of their palaces, it would seem as if their artists had transferred to the works on which they were engaged the profusion of ornament *Parker, p. 32. This is the style of the great gateway of the Alhambra. Gwilt. § When one looks upon the fairy tracery of the peristyle, and the apparently fragile fretwork of the walls, it is difficult to believe that so much has survived the wear and tear of centuries, the shocks of earthquakes, the violence of war, and the quiet though no less baneful pilferings of the tasteful traveller; it is almost sufficient to excuse the popular tradition that the whole is protected by a magic charm.—The Alhambra, by Washington Irving, ch. 2. visible in the stuffs and especially the carpets of India. These elaborate and beautiful patterns were, of course, too intricate to be usually carved in stone, but the effect was produced by covering the walls with plates of stucco; these were divided into sections by lines crossing at right angles, over which were drawn innumerable intersecting segments of circles. In the disposition and coloring of these an endless variety of patterns was obtained; the plates themselves, being also of divers shapes, produced interminable combinations by the mere variety of their adjustment,* the whole resulting in the beautiful varieties of patterns known as arabesque. In the pavements and the lower walls glazed or porcelain tiles were usually substituted for plates of stuccowork, producing the same effect from their variety of coloring and combination. These tiles, called az-zulij by the Arabs, and azulejos by the Spaniards, were introduced into the Netherlands when they came under Spanish dominion, and thence were derived the Dutch tiles which form so prominent a feature in Belgian architecture. It is a question how far these arabesque tiles may not have suggested the tesselated marble pavements of the Roman palaces and cathedrals.† The vaulted roofs of the Saracenic palaces were wrought like honeycombs or frostwork, with pendant stalactites in brilliant but harmonious colors; and the star-shaped openings by which light was introduced produced an effect like enchantment. In all this architecture we recognize the same luxuriant imagination which characterises the Oriental poetry; the mementoes of "a brave, intelligent, and graceful people, who conquered, flourished, and passed away.” ‡ * Urquhart's Pillars of Hercules, Book iii., ch. 8. + That tesselated pavements were of great antiquity is evident from the description of the palace of Shushan, in which the couches stood on pavements of red, and blue, and black and white marble.-Esther i., 6. Irving's Alhambra, ch. 5. The deserted halls and empty courts of the Alhambra and other Moorish ruins in Spain recall the sad commentary of Volney on visiting a similar scene: "En ces murs ou règne un morne silence, retentissait sans cesse le The architecture of the ancient cities in Southern Asia, though differing in points of detail from that of Egypt, yet bore to it sufficient resemblance to indicate the same original type, namely, the monolith or structure excavated from the rock. * But, when we come to the Semitic nations, the type is entirely changed. In viewing their cities we recognize the work of descendants of Nomadic tribes, whose ideas of architecture were developed from one primitive type-the tent. From this model is derived the principle of construction of their dwellings, in which the roofs rest on timber framing, and are as altogether unconnected with the walls " as though they had surrounded tents with enclosures of masonry."† In their concave, sloping sides, and still. more concave roofs, we see once more the idea of the leather or canvas covering of the tent. For these reasons a Chinese or Tartar City may be compared to a vast camp. The lightness of the material, the concave roof blazing with all the colors of the rainbow, the porticoes diapered with variegated tints, the walls decorated with grotesque designs, and the columns and beams displayed like the bruit des arts, et les cris d'allégresse et de fête: ces marbres amoncelés formaient des palais reguliers: ces colonnes abattues ornaient la majesté des temples: ces galeries écroulées dessinaient les places publiques. Là. pour les devoirs respectables de son culte, pour les soins touchants de sa subsistance, affluait un peuple nombreux: là, une industrie créatrice de jonissances appelait les richesses de tous les climats, et l'on voyait s'échanger la pourpre de Tyr pour le fil précieux de la Serique; le tissu moelleux de Kachemire pour les tapis fastueux de la Lydie; l'ambre de la Baltique pour les perles et les parfums Arabes; l'or de l'Ophir pour l'étain de Thulé. "Et maintenant voilà ce qui subsiste de cette Ville puissante, un lugu bre squelette! voilà ce qui reste d'une vaste domination, un souvenir obscur et vain! Au concours bruyant qui se pressait sous ces portiques, a succédé une solitude de mort. Le silence du tombeau s'est substitué au murmure des places publiques. L'opulence d'une cité de commerce s'est changée en une pauvreté hideuse. Les palais des rois sont devenus le repaire des fauves; les troupeaux parquent au seuil des temples; et les reptiles immondes habitent les sanctuaires des dieux."-Volney, Les Ruines, ch. ii. *Gwilt, pp. 19–29. + Ib., p. 43. |