The Mysterious City of Honduras

This book deals with an ancient history of the Maya tribes and a mysterious
city of Honduras.

The exploits of Cortez and the conquest of Mexico, rendered into popular
literature by Prescott, are chiefly responsible for the common belief that
north of the Isthmus of Panama the high-water mark of pre-Columbian
civilization on the American continent was that reached by the Aztecs. It is
true that at the time of the conquest the Aztecs were the dominant race; they
were then at the height of their power and glory, and their influence was more
extended than that of any other nation. It is not intended to detract from the
brilliancy of the Aztec civilization as set forth in the testimony of eye-
witnesses at the time of the conquest; but, compared with that of another
civilization that had already passed away, it was as the brightness of the
full meridian moon to the splendor of the sun that has already set. Nor is it
claimed that the Aztec culture was a borrowed culture. That is a matter
involving vast differences of opinion; and it is characteristic that, while so
much ingenuity has been wasted in vain speculation, so little has been
accomplished by actual investigation that it is still a matter of dispute
whether the Maya culture was developed on the soil where its remains are
found, or brought with the people from parts unknown; whether the Aztecs
borrowed from the Maya, or the Mayas from the Aztecs; or whether both these
great nations derived their culture from the Toltecs. And again, it is claimed
that the Toltecs themselves are nothing more than the figures of a sun-myth.