Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1888-02-24
AZTECS AND T0LTECS.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE CITIES
OF A BYGONE CIVILIZATION.

Ancient Ruins in Mexico and Central
American People to Be Specialized
Over by Archeologists and And Anti
quarians-Discoveries of Travellers.
The light thrown on this ancient civiliza-
ton of the Toltecs in Mexico and Central
America by the recent discoveries in Arizona,
is OF value in establishing certain traditions
which have long been known and upon which
many theories have been based. Tradition
has always said that the Toltecs, who proba-
bly, arrived in the vale of Anahuac sometime
in the Fourth century, came from the north,
and this the present discoveries confirm.
That they took their civilization with them
instead of developing it in the valley of
Mexico is also certain Perhaps, too, the
destruction of these cities of the Salt River
valley may explain the more stable character
of the Toltec ruins in Mexico and Yucatan,
and some of the peculiarities in their con-
struction.
The ruins in the vale Of Anahuac and in
Yucatan and Honduras are all characterized
by the same general features, and it has been
supposed that for the most part they were
builded by the Toltecs, and that the Aztecs,
who drove out the Toltecs from Mexico, and
whose king, Montezuma, was conquered by
Coltez, added but little to the Toltec civiliza-
ton which they found and conquered. 1t is
interesting to note in this connection that
DR.. Daniel Wilson considers the mound
builders of the Ohio valley and the United
States the probable ancestors of the Aztecs,
and that modern discovery seems to reveal
many traits of the mound builders in the
Aztecs. If such were the case it is evident
that either great progress was made by the
mound builders before they could develop
the civilization which Cortez found in Mex
leo, or that that civilization was in large
part the work of a race whom the Aztecs
conquered and whose civilization they added
to their own. From the earth mounds of
the Ohio valley it is quite a step to the stone
palaces and temples and mounds banked with
stone with deliberately carved facades, which
are found in Mexico and Yucatan.
RUINS OF YUCATAN
The ruins of Yucatan are of particular in
terest. So early as 1889 and 1871 Stevens and
Catherwood visited these ruins and made
tine drawings of many of them Other ex-
plorers have followed, and though our knowl-
edge of them is still very incomplete, yet
enough is known to make it sure that at one
time wonderful civilization existed amid
the tropical forests of Yucatan. Today vast
pyramldal mounds or terraces are found, not
terminating in point, as did the Egyptian,
but having on their SUBMITS platforms that
support ponderous structures Of hewn stone,
which were unquestionably erected for pur-
poses of a sacred character. Many of these
teocalh were of earth, but the greater part
were built of brick or stone. Palaces were
also constructed on these mounds. At Palen-
que, in Chiapas, the most southern province
OF Mexico, are ruins of palace on the top of
vast mound, whose base was 80 by 260
feet, and height 40 feet, and the palace on
the summit 22S by $50 feet, and rs
feet high The palace is one story, with
fourteen doorways in front and rear, and
eleven at each end. The walls are decorated
with what Catherwood pronounces admir-
able stuccos, and the water colors on the
cement are much the same as the frescoes of
ancient Italy.
In Honduras the ruins of Copan, the city
of idols, are of interest. Great monolithic
statues of deities abound, the most remark
able being twelve feet high and four feet
square and carved deliberately with what are
supposed to be Toltec hieroglyphics, an alb
breviated and more complex form of the
Indian picture writing. The city is located
on the banks of a river and was surrounded
by vast walls, portions of which, from sixty
to ninety feet in height, remain standing
At Uxmal, in Yucatan, vast ruins also
exist. Catherwood says that Sin vast extent,
variety, and preservation they impressed
him at first glance with the same feelings of
wonder and admiration as did the ruins of
Thebes." The Casa de los Monjos or House
Nuns is a rectangular building 300 feet
square and incloses a large court. Each side
presents different designs, and no less than
sixteen different facades, all richly decorated
and painted, existed at the time of Gather
woods investigation. The Teocallis, at Tx
NAL, is on a vast pyramid 100 feet above the
level of the plain, and its front is most elabor-
ately carved.-"Max" in Cleveland Leader.