Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-05-29
A WOMAN EXPLORER.
A BRIDE OF 1e PENETRATEs THE
 FORESTS OF YucATAN.

A BRIDE OF 19 PENETRATEs THE
 FORESTS OF YucATAN. Wonderful Story of an Ancient Civilix,-
 tion as Related by Mme. Alice Le
 Plonseon-..Asaantis'' Not 3 Fable-Re-
 markable Discoveries.
 A wonderful career has been that of Mime Alice Le Plongeon, who, as a bride of 10 went from her home in England to share the dangers of life in the forests of Central America with her husband, Dr. Augustus Le Plongeon, the savant and explorer. Full of enthusiasm, she came to New York and sailed away to the little known country of Yucatan, where her husband had been pre- vious to his journey to London and his dis covery of her exploring the ruins of Umal She went there for few months stay, and remained for fourteen years In those years, separated from home and friends and from the society of white people, Mime. Le Plongeon studied constantly, learned to speak the Spanish and the old Maya lan- guages, and pondered the ruins of cities, temples and statues until she became a deeply learned woman. Prehistoric life was her theme, and she commenced her study with the mystic beginnings of Isis and Osiris and the kingly career of Cav, the first ruler of the Mayas, whose reign, many, many years ago, over Mayas (ancient Yucatan) is chronicled in sculpture, hieroglyphics and bas reliefs innumerable.
 ''No one can imagine" said Mme Plon- geon, speaking of her life in Yucatan, s'the dangers that appalled, us as we threaded our way through jungles and forests almost in- ,af hto 4~1L fortable."
 Mime. Le Plongeon picked up a series of photographs of bas relief, which she said were taken from building unearthed at Uxmal, which had 12O rooms, arranged in pairs, each pair communicating with one another by a doorway. She described the buildings as having been erected on artificial terraces, composed of stones laid on the top of each other, one of them being similar in style to the famous hanging gardensn of Babylon
 Il think tho most interesting thing to tell you is of the proof we found that Free Ma sorry existed in prehistoric times," and she gathered up from large collection of pho tographs number that represented the same Masonic symbols are now in use. They were exact counterparts of those familiar to the order today.
 "Will you tell what you purpose doing with these treasures you have collectedp
 Certainly, we are back from Central America to interest Americans in their own country and to invite them to examine the proofs we bring that the oldest civilization on earth existed in that part of the conti- nent. My husband is writing a book which, when published, will give succinct and complete account of the result of our four teen years stay in Yucatan and the great value of the discoveries made by him. We have fac similes of the ancient palaces of the Mayas, as you see here, with their peculiar architecture, their bas reliefs and curious sculpture representing the portraits of their great men, priests and warriors, their inter- esting mural paintings and mysterious in scriptions. The old stones, buried these many centuries in the depths of forests only five or six days distance from New York, have wondrous story to tell to the world Whenever the people of the United States are ready for the @ lnfogmatiqp p waiHARn waAn GIT 5f hd h. man civilization will be drawn aside and the world will bless this country for unraveling the mystery of the beginnings of the race on this planet" @
 Mime. Le Plongeon spoke earnestly and with much feeling. Holding up large view of great marble building, she said: "Look at the carvtls on that tenpls. Is it not gloriousg Adsthe 1sonunents f Yucatan,n n she continued, 'swere made by powerful races, highly civilized, since they made use of written language and alphabetical characters that have preceded us thousands of years. Not only is their own history in- scribed oil the faces of their public buildings, but also their cosmogonical traditions. Of course, it is with shock that people hear us say that we bear with US proofs that America l1. oE4 4l,a Lr. the countries forming Central America were the scene of the events described as having taken place in the Garden of Eden. Pro- lessor Agassiz, you know, founded his belief that America was the old world, and not tn new, upon the geological formation of this continent"
 "Then you give credence to the theory that there was such 8 catastrophe as the sink ing of AtlantiS!'
 "Certainly That continent existed between America and the western coast of Africa and Europe. In Maya manuscript still in existence there is an account of that awful cataclysm, and these interesting monuments, with their inscriptions so full of historical revelations, with the key of their decipher- ment known, are able to give us the entire the human family. What makes it more de lightful, too, is that this history is free from the myths and fables, creations of untutored and credulous imaginations or work of crafty philosophers, which we find in the sacred books of the Asiatic countries. We have inherited myths bequeathed to us as revela- tions from on high, and the origin of which we did not know until they stood revealed in the excavated cities of Yucatan and the crumbled walls of the temples of Maya"
 "Shal you ever go back, madame, to pros ecute further explorationsp'
 "That depends entirely upon your people. If there is an interest in the work we will gladly carry it on during our lifetime. We left hidden many a trophy, because we were unwilling to have our pains for nothing. My husband lives in the hope of being per- mitted to present to the scientific world Q series of manuscripts written by the found CTS of the buried cities of Uxmal and Maya pan. The ruins of the former city are owned by gentleman who will not allow one stone to be moved by explorers, but he is con stantly destroying monuments to use tho stones in the building of farmhouses. Thinl of thisi We have in our possession now g writing done by these ancient people which we believe to be older than all the Bibles o1 the world, and antedates the submerging o1 l Atlantis. which once existed between Florida and the Azores, off the coast of Spain."-
 Laura c. Holloway in New York Graphic.