Telegram-herald., 1889-10-01

fore the white man arrived TINS great cont
nent WAS inhabited only oy nude savages
taar dauoei themselves with paint and suck
featlers IN their Aatr-a no.t erroneous DO
i-ef
That the ancisut Americans we're mathe-
ilatleians astrano me.s l.rcal .ects. artists, Is
proved By What s.lll remains u their re-
nlarkabi- work Nor are 10 justified IN
Gsserting that they wer- ignorant of sciences
which We of iats years investigate. Should
Eny Il our cities bs abandoned today, after
few centuries only parts of the strongest
structures would remain - mark that site Il
civilization. ArcnseOlogisrs u those coming
times mi ght then say. YES. those people left
big buildings. but they we're, Of course, half
savage and knew nothing about the things
We understand How mistaken those future
wisescreS would De in their opinion OF usi
H0w mistaken may bc in Judging OF those
who have preceded Us, History teaches thar
nations are Ike individuals. gradually All
vancing % maturity, and then falling into
decay.
The people os Central America we're nn-
dOubtedly on their downward course when
the Spanarois commenced war against them
nearly 100 years ago, but III 10 respect were
they savages, les 50, indeed, II many things
than. the ruthless invaders.
Palenque, Quirigua, Guatemala, Mexico
and other places were ell once thickly inhab-
itcd by people about whom verv little IS
known. the ruins Of their long deserted cities
are hidden In dense forests. aud an army Of
earnest workers Is needed to explore and
study them.
There is no richer field Of antiquities than
! Tgcatan. that sunny peninsula whose shores
are careSsed by the warm waves Of tho Mexi-
can gulf and the Caribbean sea. The Span
ish conquerors found that the people there
had books OF their own. In 10 other part OK
America had they found such marked eri-
dence OF culture. and their astonishtnent was
great. Nevertheless. the European prizes IS
burned all the volumes they could lay hands
on maintaining that as they contained moth
ing concerning the holy Catholic religion
they ought 70 be done away with Such de-
struction Of works containing an account Of
historical events and scientific knowledge-
ns the Spanish historians themselves tell us
they did-was n terrible aud irrcpGrable loss
Milton has Well said: He who ILLS man,
kills a reasonable creature; bur ne who de-
stroys a good book, kills reason itself"
L is not known how, OF BY whom, bur four
OF those American books were preserved
I from the flames and found their way to Eu
rope these still exist, and As DR.. Il Plon-
geon has found key % the hierOglyphs in
I which they are written. their contents VIII
sOne day b. male known to the public.
T Yucatal was the great center Of the Maya
nation, though is people spread over the face
o. the earth. which Il the reason why we iind
that word Maya in al parts Of the world,
and always siynifying power in one form or
another The peninsula, with an area OF
nearly > 600 square miles is streTn with old
cities At the time Of the conquest these
were rs profound a mystery 70 the natives,
whose well appointed villages wore under tho
shadow Of these walls and pyramids, as they
are t. Us now Within some II the doors
they occasionally ventured e bese ech the IA
vor Il the Deity
Temple anl palaces, great public eiifces.
ere the structures which have withstood the
haud If time They were bull. in a way that
made them almost indestructibla Upon a
rocky soil. into which nothing could possibly
sink. the architects rearei massive uiles %
dry stone. terraces and pyramids. generally
about seventy feet high. faced With toauti-
fully hewu stones On these most solid
f1unlatious taev built thci- eliices IF white
marble Most ~ Tho walls ara three. iit
-or1e are nine feet thick. TIE facing stones
are So .ossiF lft-e,l that nothing can be intro
fl-ed het vaon. she inner part of each =
tewn .n urramii1l form c1d tina filing #
tae wall i exceedingly bard concrete Tie
1rrameutal sronce we're Skilfllv carved COW
srei pith stlcco and PAINTED in bright coiors.
rr,l preslqu mating and sgufsin- power
licturrs alone caD convey n correct ilea q
Che intricate sculpture Tre height of ths
rpcms IS generally twenty feot