Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-12-04

trackless forest seemed full of voices striy-
ing to tell US whittier, in infinite space,
their strange religion carried the souls OF
those who worshiped here centuries ago.
Long before daybreak we went out and sat
in silence under the solemn sky, striving
with every sense alert to analyze the myriad
tongues of nature But no secrets were
whispered-man, bird and beast has de-
serted the dead city and left it to eternal
solitude.
The ignorance and indifference of His
pano- Americans on the archaeology OF this
country surpasses belief, even taking into
account the natural incidence OF southern
races, and the fact that during the last few
hundred years their energies have been
mainly expended in uprisings against an
ever-changing Government. But since
Stevens, NJ. Charney DR.. lie Plongeon and
others have recently made important dis
coveries, the Mexicans have awakened to
lazy consciousness of valuable possessions.
With dog-in-the-manger spirit they have
enacted rigorous laws against the exporta-
ton of relics. idols. ETC., which would en-
rich the museums of the world, yet in
which they themselves are not sufficiently
interested to bring to light.
There are innumerable ruined cities, bur
led deep in the wildernesses of Mexico and
Central America, which still await in ST.
lence the coming of the explorer; there arc
hundreds of deserted temples and crum-
bling pyramids which were builded so far
back in the twilight of time that no tradi-
tions remain of the builders. In 1ucatan
alone no less than
SIXTY SEVEN PREHISTORIC CITIES
Have been discovered, despite the fact that
) s y,roSaptS q J.
most insurmountable obstacles to the trav-
eler, in the way of warlike savages and
trackless deserts whose hot sands outrlval
Sahara Even the all-conquering Span
iards never succeeded in making much i'm
preston upon the Mayas of Yucatan, and
to this day there are aboriginal tribes in
the interior, still f1ourishing as before the
conquest but so powerful ana blood
thirsty are they that no European who has
entered within their domain has returned
to tell the story.
The first to throw any light upon the
ruins of Mexico was Baron Alexander Won
Humboldt. He went to that wonderful
country when full of the vigor and enthus-
iasm of youth, and continued his researches
with undated vigor until bowed with age
and infirmity To him we are indebted
for information concerning the buried city
called San Juan Teotihuacan, with It's pyr-
amids and Path of the Dead :" of
Xoxichalco, the mountain hewed down
into terraces and named THE Hill of
Flowers )" and of the great pyramids of
Cholula and Papantla. But of many other
prehistoric cities and pyramids beyond the
valley of Mexico-hidden in painless for
ests ana untrodden deserts, ruined, desolate
and nameless-Humboldt never heard.
By the way, modern Mexican historian
has lately made new attempt to prove
that America was discovered in the fifth
century A. D. by a party of Buddhist
monks from Afghanistan, of whom one
Hwui Shan, by name-returned to Asia
after an absence of forty one years. A
short account of the land which he visited,
supposed to be Mexico, was included in II e
official history of China. There is proof
that Hwui Shan actually did visit some I'M
known Eastern region; and it is also true
that all the traditions of ancient Mexico
contain an account of the arrival of some
monks, who came from the westward in
the days of the Toltecs-the people who
preceded the Aztecs in this country.
FANNIE B. WARD.