The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1888-05-10

pie is an outer wall, apparently for
defence. The temple walls were con-
Structed by first setting up pickets five
or six inches in diameter and some
three feet apart along each side of the
proposed wall, which was made three
or four feet thick. TO these were lashed
Il kind Of cane for lathing, and the
pickets on opposite sides were we'll
lashed together to prevent spreading.
Then the tempered adobe clay was we'll
tampcd in and the inner and outer sur
faces of the wall were plastered by hand
with the same lateral over the lath-
ing. In some places the imprint of the
pluStcrer's fingers is as well preserved
as though his job had just been fin
ished. The priests cistern, like gra-
narics, were found one at each corner
of the temple. Most of the bones and
the skull had been secured by Mr..
Cushing, but there still remained in it
Il number ofbleached and shivered frag-
mentS. y number of other things
were found, which the limits of this
communication forbid me to describe.
The cause Of the exodus, Mr. Cushing,
thinks, was Il series Of earthquakes, the
last of which, although not overwhelm-
ing, was the most severe. He has found
in some of the buildings evidences of as
many as three reconstructions of the
walls He has found human skeletons
among the ruins in such positions, and
so covered by fallen walls, as to indicate
that their owners perished in such
catastrophe. He also believes that
the superstitious inhabitants left every
thing behind them, believing that ar
ticles carried away from the doomed
city would carry bad luck with them.
Hence the great number of relics found.
\ number Of skeletons were photo
graphed in the positions in which they
were found. Another reason for infer
ring earthquakes is that there is a slight
reversal in the grade of some of the
canals. He therefore sometimes speaks
of the ruined city as
THE "AMERICAN POMPEII."
AS to the canals and acequias, he has
surveyed on the plain $40 miles of them
and the end is not yet. One Of them IS
seventy-nine miles long and thirty
eight feet wide for a long distance from
its head. They, as well as the reser-
voirs, fire places (or basins) and the
granaries are all lined with a grayish
white cement resembling chalk, both in
appearance and in consistency. Wherev-
cr any one of these canals or bitches
traverses the plain-and they constitute
i perfect net-work-its presence and
course are readily detected by double
line of gravel and black cobbles, very
suggestive Of all old wagon road. The
surface of the ground, however, is as
flat as i floor. The gravel was in the
original soil, as dug out Of the bitches
to form the two embanknlents. When
these were leveled down by the rains Of
centuries the gravel remained on the
surface in two parallel lines. The black
cobblcs had been hroqg hit froam the
streams AND distributed along the en-
hankncnts Of all the bitches. These
| they called "watcr tanner" The larger
bitches and canals, like the reservoirs,
were tcrraced, apparently for the pur-
pose of avoiding broad and shallow ex-
pansions Of water when the water was
| low. Furthermore the reservoirs were
subdivided into compartments and each
| compartment was terraced, from its
outer rim above to its center rim below
like i henched amphitheatre. I'm
pounding reservoirs were also construct
! cd about the base Of the mountains and
! hills to catch rain-water coming down
the usually dry arroyos. But this
water, instead of being distributed over
the surface of the plain, through bitches,
WAS permitted to side underground
and reach the roots of the growing crops
by underground distribution. believe
Il similar method Of watering crops is
still in Use among some of the Indian
tribes. 1t seems, therefore, that the
agricultural capacity ofthis district was
reached by these people, the limit of
production being fixed by the water
supply, and the water supply having
been made available as far as they were
able to make j. so. At arious places
the earth, which has filled the bitches
and rcScrvoirsto a level, has been re-
moved, disclosing the terraces and ce-
mcnt lining.
Everything in life, with these people,
! had
RELIGIOUS SIGNIFICANCE.
| There was prescribed formula, and a
reason associated for it, associated with
! every act Hence the invariable distri-
! button of the "water tanners along the
canals and bitches. The pottery which
waS the work Of the women, always
had certain conventional decorations
when it had any at all. One of these
WAS L circle or a pair of collateral cir
clcS, either inside of the mouth of the
bowl or outside of the neck of the jar or
ola. These circles were never complete
when made by married women. The
ends of tie circles were never connected.
When drawing the circle with their
wooden brush and black pigment, and
about to complete it, the decorator
would turn her head away from her
work so that if, by any mishap, the
! ends Of tho circle ShOull CONNECT she