The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1869-04-21

HE SILVER CITIES OF CENTRAL AMERICA
E. g. Squier, writer in RfRd1l's Hdgdzi1te,
handles with much ability the evidence of
various imperfectly explored mysteries in
Central America, adding his own personal
observations to those of travellers like
Stephens, Morelet, Count Woldeck, etc. At
the close of his article he thus disposes Of
the priestly tales of hidden capital, lustrous
with precious metals, which has been sup
posed 10 exist east of Chiapa, in the strong
hold of the never conquered Lacandones:
1t was in the region of the Lacandones
that the cura Of Qulche affirmed to Mr..
Stephens he had seen, from the heights Of
QuesalteDango, the white walls of great
cities glistening like silver in the sun. The
notion of such living cities, rivaling Palen-
que and Nayapan, in the district referred to,
is not peculiar to one part Of the country,
but prevails also in Chiapa and Yucatan.
On the Sd of August, 1919, the Secretary of
State of Chiapa, addressed an official letter to
the project of the department of Chillon,
bordering on the district OF Lacandon, stat
ing that he had been Informed that in the viei-
nifty Of San Carlos Nacarlou, beyond the Sierra
de la Pimienta, great city had been dis
covered, in the distance with large edifces,
and many cattle in its pastures: and that al
though there appeared no road to it, yet it
was supposed that it could not be more than
two days distant. He therefore ordered the
project TO make all possible efforts TO reach
the city and to report the result to his Office
in San Cristobal But US nothing further
was ever heard of the discovery, il is TO be
presumed that the city could not be found by
the project.
Nor, in fact, is there any good reason for
supposing that such cities do exist. For
although the Lacandones and Itzaes spoke the
same language with the Mayas of Yucatan, and
probably the same with the builders of Palen-
n AZ Conan vaf F-tbipor cd
with their history and character proves them
TO have been considerably below the other
families of the same stock in the degree of
their civilization. Whether the Tzendals,
the Mayas, Clutches, Zutugils, and Kachi-
quels were families of the same origin, who
had reached higher stage of development;
or the Itzaes, Lacandones, Manches, and 9TH
ers, were the degenerate offshoots from these,
may be a question; but the presumption
strongly is, that, with the disruption of the
ancient Toltecan empire, of which Palangue
was probably, at one time, the capital, vari-
Gus fragments were thrown of, and driven
by force of circumstances into remote dis
triets, where, in the course of time, they de-
veloped peculiar characteristics of their own.
At any rate, the earliest accounts of the La
candones represent them as relatively bar
5arous if not a nomadic race, strongly con-
trasting with the more advanced and polished
nations above enumerated, although, so far
as language is concerned, betraying an init
mate relationship with them. In Peten, the
Itzaes built temples and other edifices, close
ly resembling those of Yucatan, but less in
size, and somewhat ruder in construction,
such as We might expect to find in the |
weaker efforts of a colony. But in Lacandon |
We have no account of such structures in the |
towns reduced by the Spaniards nor does it |
appear that the temples OF its people were |
more remarkable than their private houses,
or differed from them except in size.
We are compelled, therefore, TO resign the /
traditions of great cities with white walls of |
stone, covered over with mysterious symbols, /
and with steps crowded with the worship
pers of primitive religion, to the poet and |
romancer, or surrender them as the appro-
pirate property of enterprising exploiters of
Arctic children. The fact of |
the existence of frontier people, in the
heart of Central America, of the same stock
with its most advanced and powerful nations,
and with character, habits, religion, and gov
little, if at all, changed from what
they were at the period of the Discovery, is
one sufficiently interesting in ITSELF 1t re-
Iuires none of the "pomp and cireum-
':ance" of gorgeous speculation to draw it
70 the attention of the student and adven-
,urer, who may find here more interesting
ind important field of research and investi-
cation than among the desert-snows and ice
1ergs of the poles, or among the sables sava-
res of Ethiopia.