The Warner weekly sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1885, 1884-11-14
RUINED PALACES.
The Ruins of the Incas-The NativS Popu.
larion of Central America.

@G~ @NNe@A8 - eAG
larion of Central America.
From the Pittsburg Dispatch.
A full bearded gentleman, whose face
was slightly bronzed by exposure, was
standing on the steps of the postoffice,
pm Fifth avenue, yesterday, with .
packet of foreign letters in his hand,
when a Dispatch reporter secosted him.
The person was Mr, Francis r. Fast,
formerly Of this city, bit now
Secretary of the Central Amer
lean Syndicate. Company, with head
quarters in New York. Mr.. Fast
is in the city on a brief business visit,
but is fresh from a five months tour in
the States of Central America, having
arrived in New York only last week.
A keen observer and thorough linguist,
Mr.. Fast has a wealth of experiences
stored away regarding those odd little
Republics down in the tropics.
''Most, or | might say all of my tray-
cling was done on the back of a mule
with only q servant. / would travel all
day and at night, after swinging my
hammock under a tree in the public
square of the little village where / in
tended to rest, a crowd of the principal
men of the village would gather around
and ask innumerable questions about
my country in a queer, innocent fashion.
After / had told them all, they in
turn would relate the traditions oil
their ancestors; of the fabulous mines
of gold and silver; of the Spanish con
quest, and the glory Of their departed
g~eatness. travelled from the British
Colony Of Belize to the Incas' ruins in
;he Province of Copan, In the Repub-
lie of Honduras"
"What do you know of the reported
discovery by a priest of a key to the
Mexican and Central American hero,
%glyphics2"
II know nothing beyond what / have
read since my return to New York.
heard nothing of it down there. In fact
there is very little in it. / don't see
how any key can be obtained that would
unlock the Incas' mysteries. There il
no vestige of the old language left, and
there " as no contemporaneous language
that was reduced to writing that
/ know or ever heard. of.
But of these Incas' ruins, they
are wonderful. You come upon them
In the midst of morass and swamp.
Miles of magnificent columns, the wreck
of the palaces of emperors who ruled.
before Cortez came. Next to the beau
ty of their ruins the beauty oil
their pottery, remains of which are tc
be fonnd Within the walls of. every
temple and palace"
"What was the most striking thing
in the way of ruins that you encoun-
tered"
"a wonderful road. The Applan
way has been the boast of ~antiquarians
for ages, but what do you think Of a
road sixty miles long in the heart Of
Central America, constructed over
mountain and through morass and
Jungle, and exquisitely paved with
square blocks of stone as compactly set
as our Belgian blocks Of to-day? One
Of the Inca Emperors had that road
built expressly for his bride. SO hat
when she came en- her bridal trip to his i
palace her mule train would have a fit
read upon which to travel. The ira
dition says that this ruler, whose name
has been forgotten, had 1000 men for
nearly a year working on this enter-
prise. The ruins are there to show for
the work yet, and i have travelled ON
that strange thorcughfare over whose
stones, still firmly set, the tangled vines
and branches of the giant trees formed
a canopy that almost excluded the sun
shine"
"And the people lazy and dishonest. I
presume?" suggested the reporter.
Lazy? Yes" replied the gentle
man. ebut not dishonest. On the other
hand, they are strictly honest. Once O
month a peon is sent from the names
down to the colony for coin to pay the
hands. He has no guard and 2ceives
go cents a day for his services. He re-
turns regularly with ffrem a Gee To
Sc, 900 in gold in the net on the mules
back. The village is sixty miles from
the mine. The native women are the
trettiest on the continent, but they
are the most slovenly, too, / may add
Mr.. Fast will return to Central
America, the coming fall In all proba-
bility.