Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-03-21

NARY RELICS OF THE YUcArANs.
From the Philadelphia Times.
Americans take no interest in American his
tory"-so say some of our leading publishers.
If there be any truth in the assertion and COM
ing from so good an authority there must be
| some, its amount depends. perhaps, on what is
meant by American history" Some would
have it begin with the Declaration of Indepen-
! dence, others would carry it back to the Roman
| conquest of Britain, others again would date it
from the days of Columbus, or to the Aztecs,
or the Totecs, but DIR. LIE Plongeon, of Brook
lyn, would begin it 10000 or 1000 years ago,
| and he has accumulated vast mass of evidence
IN proof of his assertion that the history of our
country began ITO centuries ago.
The doctor and his wife have spent many
years and much money in careful iuyestiga-
| ton OF the evidences of a high and ancient
civilization in Yucatan, relates the New York
Commercial Advertiser. and the light they have
thrown upon some questions shows testimony
that is certainly startling to the merely super
fetal student of the history of this continent.
| All the world has long recognized the fact that
state OF high civilization existed here before
the inroads of the Spaniards. The Aztec domi-
nation in Mexico is dated back to the twelfth
or thirteenth century, and that of the Toltecs
to about the period of the Christian era both
races having migrated. it is supposed from
the north Before that all is doubtful Mon
golian traces have been detected in the people
and indications of Egyptian resemblance have
been noticed, but no definite ideas on the SUBJ
iect further than those that have been formu-
lated until now.
THE OLDEST LIVING LANGUAGE.
In the Mayas of Yucatan, DIR. LIE Plongeon
finds all that remains of the early inhabitants
of the continent and the evidence through
traditions, history and language that Central
America was in truth the Land of the West"
where the ancient Egyptians believed that the
souls OF good men were transported to dwell and
rule among the blessed According to this the
Maya language is the oldest living language in
the world, and the one to which must be traced
many forms that hitherto lost themselves in
ASIA. When the Spaniards invaded the con-
tinent they studiously destroyed as far as they
could all vestiges of native literature, but some
Maya manuscripts escaped their notice and
from these important historic data have been
obtained.
The history of the creation, the allegory of
| the tree OF knowledge the account of the
deluge and the subsequent recreation are inst
! before us in form more beautiful even than
that of the Bible. The writing, meme, meme teIel
uphdrsi,a, is explained in the Maya tongue ex-
actly according to the Interpretation of the
prophet. The roots of local names in India are
found in the same language and in the names
of the Greek alphabet. DIR. lie Plongeon finds
psalm in Maya which equals anything that
has come to us from the Sanscrit or Hmdo-
stance. Here, too, we find the original
description of the destruction of Atlantis,
given by Plato a tradition among the priests
of Egypt. Thus at this late day we seem to
bridge over that 5000 years which the learned
Greek recorded as the period during which, in
consequence of great cataclysms, there had
been an interruption between Egypt and the
Glands of the west"
THE BIRTHPLACE OF CIVILIZATION.
DIR. lie Plongeon's position is this: That in
Central America we have the site of the ear
lest historic civilization, and that to the land
of the Mayas must be traced back the civiiza-
ton, legends, tradition, and. to great extent
the languages of India, of the Chaldeans, the
Egyptians and Others. He regards this as a
fact, not as theory; fact proved by abund-
ant evidence which he has in his possession
and which he declares to be irrefragable.
Much of the evidence was extremely valuable,
and all OF 1t is full of interest-so full that the
wonder is that it has not long ago been gath
cred into one of the great museums, and put
before the world as discoveries in the line of
true American history. 1t comprises seventy
seven microscopic plates from Chichen-Itza,
nlnety-hve from UXlnal, seven from AXE, sixty
from Iucatan and twenty plates of terra Gotta
work. These photographs illustrate houses.
RUNS, royal residences, tennis courts, funeral
chambers, astronomical obseryatorics and other
buildings of the far-distant period mentioned
The archaologist will note many points of
interest in them all. The ornamentation is
suggestive of the Greek as well as the Indian
and the general style Of architecture points to
the type from which the Egyptians derived
| their characteristic features, except perhaps
the outside walls, which appear to have been
always perpendicular. 1t would seem that al
though the keystone arch was unknown. the
principle OF the dome was understood. In
| places where the arch was needed the walls
were found to be invariably ten feet high and
ten feet again from the top of that to the apex
In some instances the walls met; in others there
was short space, covered by a fiat stone. The
material was the fine lime stone in which Yucca
tan abounds. The carvings are fine and some
times very beautiful, and they were in all in
stances covered with an extremely thin coating
of fine cement, supposed to consist of lime and
the juice of some plant. 1t was not glaze, al
though IT would appear that glass was not I'M
known. small but interesting specimen of a
| blue glass tube having been found in one place
among the debris.
! Many frescoes were discovered and Mrs. lie
| Plongeon has number of valuable outlines
from them which show a much higher artistic
| excellence than anything of the kind that has
come to us from ancient Egypt. From there it
| Is evident that human bodies were cremated
and funeral urns, with portions of the body
partially cremated or embalmed. have been
| found. Axes similar to those used in the
Pacific islands and a sort of javelin and shield
appear to have been the chief weapons of war;
Arrow heads are found, but no evidence of the
! DOW. ana III seems likely that the heads were
intended for the javelin short spear. which
can not have been more than four feet in
| length.
| Scuiptured figures sometimes tinted but
the colors although tinted when first exhumed
faded when subjected to the rough treatment
of the Mexican authorities. In this collection
there are nearly 300 molds and casts of inscrip-
! tons and ornamental carvings taken by pro-
! cess which insures durability as we'll as aecu-
racy, and DR.. lie Plongeon has besides care
| fully prepared plans of the most important
| buildings, including the observatory. castle,
mausoleum, and palace at Chichen-Itza, the
palace. governors home, and sanctuary or Ma
sonic temple at UXmal, some buildings at Axe
and mounds and ancient gnomons at Mayapan
/ One of the royal residences contained no less
/ than 100 rooms. By means OF these plans
aided Sy photographs and the numerous
castings. it would not be difficult to
reproduce any of the principal structures
/ which thus would illustrate the earlier era of
/ American history and the place which our con-
tinent once held i'll the race of civilization The
! reproduction of an ancient Maya temple of
royal residence at Paris in connection with the
! exposition would be of almost unique interest
! to psychologists and others in Europe and
might possibly prove stronger attraction to
many than anything else could offer
! 1t is not necessary to accept unreservedly all
the deductions which DR.. Plongeon has arrived
at during his investigations in order to appre-
! ciate the Importance to Americans of the dis
/ coveries he has made and of the large accumu-
lation of antiquities that he has brought to
! Epb