Tombstone epitaph., 1888-03-17

iOAu ohC SohiPiCA Oi uutt. AhS "hoiS valley is furthermore traversed by num- erous canals which were laid out so that each of them ran through or by city; each city contains one large temple and one common crematory Tn which the bodies of the dead were burned; in each complex or unit, there are six cities which are all alike, while the seventh possesses much larger temple.
 It is believed that the repetition of the number seven has religious meaning, the more so, as the tribe of Tunis, who now inhabit that region, manifes, a simi- lar tendency in their religion. The Tunis have six deities, but these six form in themselves the seventh, regarded as chief or supreme diety, and it is therefore reasonable to suppose that the inhabi. tants build smaller temple in each of the SIX cities and large one in the seventh for their supreme deity.
 The cities contained each space for about one thousand inhabitants, and we may calculate that in this valley alone there were no less than 200, 900 souls while their probable decendlnts, the Zunis, have been reduced to about fifteen hundred. How it was possible that this race should have been reduced to such small numbers cannot be known at present with any degree of certainty; later on, when the ruins will have been explored with care, this riddle will pro- bably be solved together with great many others. It IS quite possible that the empire of the seven cities met with its almost complete destruction in like manner as Herculaneum and Pompeii, near Naples, for, according to existing reports, the covering of the runs as far as pierced consists of volcanic ashes and lava.
 The most astonishing circumstance of those discoveries is, that according to the statements of the geologists this catastro- phe If such it was must have occurred about six thousand years age, and cer- tain strong indications, geologic and eth nologic, go to prove that the prehistoric people were al thelr best during period not less than ten thousand years previous to our time. The different utensils, in- struments, drawings and statuary excava' ted so far, show conclusively, that if the geological estimates are correct, the h. dians ot the valley de Los Muertos, had attained very high degree of civilizatlor ten thousand years ago, and it may there tore be imagined with what feverish ex- citement our savants are awaiting flu. ther developments.
 Messrs. Adolph Bandalier and Sylves ter Baxter, who have achieved grea reputations as experts in antiquities, ar, now at the runs in order to make dilligenl researches, and we will soon be further enlightened upon theis recently discover. ed world of wonders.
 There can be no doubt that this dis covery will awaken an unusual interes in the whole scientific world, the more SC if we call to mind that more than once the theory has been advanced that tn, cradle of the human race stood on the Western continent. 1.-the fact can bs established that there lived in Americ: ten thousand years ago race that hae already then attained high degree o civilization, the above theory wil unquestlonably gain such ground, and Il we might then call America the old Europe, Asia and Africa the new world