The Kansas herald of freedom., 1855-05-26

The freeman's hope is left withyou, -
oh. struggle on and save
The State to freedom must be true,
And never know slave.
Let this your motto ever be:
"We consecrate our soil
To freedom, truth, and liberty
Not uHrequited toll.
st. Louis, Aayls. 1855.
WisceiIaQeops.
America-its Age and its Antiquities.
The only knowledge which the PRES
ENT can obtain of the PAST, anterior to
written history, must be1gathered from
the lessons taught by the monuments that
have survived the devastating wars of
ignorant and infuriated man, the crash
of the elements, and the slow corroding
power of untold time. The two CONT
nents of this western hemisphere abound
with these mute enduring records. The
labors of the antiquarians in Asia, Africa
and Europe, have disclosed monuments
ofart, now in ruins, that were reared by
a people whose history has passed down
to us in written records. With the
general history of the Assyrians, the Is
raelites, the Egyptians, the Carthageni-
ans, the Greeks and the Romans, we are
already acquainted, and all the discover
les made by antiquarians in their re-
searches in those countries, among the
ruins of ancient palces, temples and cit
les, serve but to illumine some portions
of written history that are now dark, or
illustrate others that are imperfectly de-
tailed. But, such is not the case in
America.
The antiquities of America extend
from the shores of the Atlantic to the
Pacific ocean, and from the great lakes
and British Provinces to Peru and Bra
iii, in South America. These ruins are
not illustrated, nor even alluded to- BY
any written history. Their origin is lost
to view behind the impenetrable veil i'm
posed by unnumbered cycles of unchron-
icled centuries. Immense forests grow
ing over the ruins of large cities, and the
gigantic size of the trees, with indica-
tons that other generations of trees
sprung up and grew and decayed before
them, prove that these ruins preceded
the Christian Era. Neither history OF
tradition indicate the origin or the rise
of those vast mounds that are scattered
over the North American continent
They stand in silent grandeur, monu-
ments of race of people that have long
since passed away, leaving no other ira
ces of their existence.
It's fashionable to speak of the eastern
continent as the Old World, yet it is not
known to be entitled to this appellation
Who can say that the Andes and the ST.
ezra Nevada are not the senior of the
Alps and the Himalaya? Who is prepa-
red to prove that the ruins of Uxmul and
Palenque, and the pyramids of Cholula,
in Mexico, do not take precedence in age
of the sphynxes and pyramids of Egypt,
or the winged lions Of Assyria? History
traces the rise and fall of Nineveh, OF
Babylon, and of Thebes; but we have no
record of the rise, progress or fall OF
those great cities. in Central America,
which the laborious researches of Ste
yens and Catherwood brought to light.
There the human-faced bulls and the
winged lions of Nineveh find their equiv
alents in the grotesque carving in stone
of hideous forms of men and ami
mails. Who can say that these rude
sculptures of America do not precede
those of Asia?
But We will not speculate on a subject
that offers no basis on which even a
plausible argument can be erected. The
existence of numerous and immense ruins
In America Of what were once large cit
les is a fixed fact, and we must be con-
tent to remain in utter ignoance of the
epoch in which they flourished. The
most extensive of these ruins are to be
found at Mxmul andPalenque, in the
southeastern part of Mexico. At Uxmul
are immense pyramids, coated with stone,
and quagrangular stone edifices and ter
races. The highest of these pyramids is
one hundred and thirty feet, and on the
summit it supports temple; on one Of
the facades of the temple are four human
figures cut in stone with great exactness
and elegance. The hands-are crossed
upon the breast, the head is covered ii
something like helmet, about the nex
is garment of the skin of an alligator
and over each body is figure of Deaths
head and bones.
At Palenque are immense ruins
city of great extent, with the remains o
a royal palace. One temple, that of Co.
pan, was $50 feet by $50, and is sup
posed to have been as large as st. Peter
at Rome. Another temple of great di
monsions is here, having an entrance BY
a portieo 100 feet long and 10 feet broad
it stands on an elevation 60 feet. Tht
pillars of the portico are adorned with hi
eroglyphics and other devices. Differ
ent objects of worship have been found
representations of the gods who wer'
worshipped in this country. These tenn
pies. with fourteen large buildings, AMI
many other objectso curiosity, stand her
as monuments of ancient greatness, to re
mind US of the remote origin Of a might,
empire. This city has been describes
as the Thebes of America, and traveller,
have supposed that it must have been six
ty miles in circumference, and contained
a population of s, 600, 600 souls.
1 Il in Mexico that we must seek tn,
). largest pyramids in the world. TIL
tourists, the historians and the geograph
ers have made us familiar with the pyr
amids of Egypt. among which that 0
Cheops looms ups wonder among won
! ders. But Cheops is pigmy compare,
! with that of Cholulu, in Mexico.
/ The pyramid of Cholulu is describe,
as covering forty-four acres of ground
On It's summit was a temple, and il
/ the interior has been discovered a vault
/ rooted with beams of wood, containin:
i skeletons and idols. Several smaller pyF
i amids surround this large one. 1t appear
| 70 have been formed by cutting hill in
-; 6 <s;a3 eI,ar.a It's d;r.onSiifus ar.