Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1880-08-12
Ruined Cities of America.

1t has heretofore been generally noted
by the press that an expedition to exam
| inc the remains of Aztec civilization in
Central America and Mexico has been
fitted out, the expense to be jointly de-
frayed by Mr.. Pierre Lorillard, the orig
inal prompter of the undertaking, and
the French government. The August
number of the North American Review,
just issued, gives an account of this ex-
pedition and its objects. 1t is in charge
of N. Desire Charnay, whe has made
American antiquities special study and
has twice visited Mexico to carry on in
vestigations in that field. Photographs
and casts are to be made of bas-reliefs
and hieroglyphic inscriptions, duplicate
copies of the casts to be presented to the
Smithsonian Institution at Washington,
and to the French government. The
earliest accounts of the progress of the
expedition are to be laid before the pub
lie through the pages of the North
American Review.
The results that will be obtained by
this carefully-equipped expedition will
be of great interest and value; but the
Review article concerning it, and of
which the editor, Mr.. Allen Thorndike
Rice, is the author, is, however, calcu-
lated to arouse expectations that cannot
be realized. In fact, the article is char
acterized by tone of vague, magnificent
exaggeration that will tend to greatly
mislead its readers. Singularly enough,
concurrent with its publication we have
two excellent correctives in Miss Susan
E. Wsllace's article on the pueblos of
New Mexico in the Atlantic Monthly
for August, and, to more drastic de-
gree, in the first annual report of the
Archaeological Institute of America,
which has just been issued from the
press. Mr.. Rice's article speaks of the an
cient ruins of Mexico and Yucatan in
romantic and awe-stricken way. We run
across such descriptive phrases as that
''innumerable splendid relics, which,
having defed the havoc of time =
speak to us so eloquently of a noble
culture, reaching back far beyond the
conquest" that "all marvel how nations
which have left such noble proofs of
their vigor, and which, without the inn
mediate, directing influence of any for
eign civilization, passed through every
stage of social economy, from that of
tribal savagery to golden age Of cul-
ture and wealth, should have finally per-
ished and vanished utterly from the
worlds knowledge as though by enchant-
ment." Mr.. Rice reaches the climax of
his eulogy when he speaks of "the lost
knowledge and strange arts of culti-
waited and vanished people, whose ruins
can be compared only with the ruins of
Rome in her glory" One result of the
expedition will doubtless be to show the
absurdity of this comparison.
The existence of great cities is in
AOliOO AAOh LILO hoouu pIlOu Gldt CiO
ruins now seen are those of the great
public buildings-the palaces, temples,
council halls and courts of Justice
which, having been constructed in a
massive and durable manner, remain,
while the more temporary habitations of
the mass of the people have completely
disappeared. Mr.. Lewis II. Morgan's
sober and critical essay upon 1.-THE
Houses of the American Aborigines,"
published in the report of the Archeo-
logical Institute, however, corrects all
these vague ideas, and presents view
of these ruins which is reasonable and
Ineligible. He traces the communal
plan of house building in the early
usages of many Indian tribes, decisively
establishes it as regards the Indians of
New Mexico, and shows that the as
sumption that the ruins of Yucatan and
Mexico are simply the remains of COM
communal buildings is the only reason
able theory in regard TO them. In other
words, the ruins are simply those Of