The Flute of the Gods (Illustrated Edition)

In romances of the aborigines of the so-called New World there is
usually presented savage man or woman modified as may be by the
influence of European mythologies in various authorized forms. But,
certain people of this New World possessed at least a semicivilization
centuries before the coming of white conquerors.
When man ceases to be nomadic, builds houses of stone and mortar,
terrace upon terrace,––walled and fortressed against the enemy,––
when he has fields of growing grain, textile fabrics, decorated
pottery, a government that is a republic, a priesthood trained in
complex ritual, a well stocked pantheon, a certain understanding of
astronomy and psychic phenomena, he may withal be called
barbarian, even as was Abraham on Moriah barbaric when the altar
of his god called for sacrifice of his only son. But a people of such
culture could not with truth be called savage.