The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-04-18


| Il was cheeCEnl thing to lock at, ana hung
to tae granite and shouted, but 70 10 eject.
| Then saw q broken place in the wall a little
| further down, and les rhe raj drift along 70
| ths bSSs of broad tBo2gh mGcn worn a1d
broken Sight of stems winding NJ the Gill.
! That brought ne NJ last 70 the place OF the
| light. E aolaed hall overlooking ths river,
/ heun out Of 1hs rock sad having in is cenrTs
/ metal basin vita q Jet Of natural gas l
| have had TO cut of tart Of this zaesal basin
| since, but have Rss hsrRed the Inscriptions
| There are many gas Jets, but IN tbs other
chambers hsEe had TO ligat them
l have lived here 1or mouths, sid / have
/ explored ali the Chambers Of tas place. There
/ is no escape, SO far rs ! can Sc The river,
| twenty miles below, piungss down vaS5er de-
scents, and the yss.teT gets 50 hot that should
/ DO boiled alive II l tried ths voyage. I have
/ discovered q ;os OF tropic wood like palm
| and q geode IN which l can send message 10
| the world OF Sunlight, Perhaps this viii get
| through the fires azd Goat 70 the sIrface
/ somewhere. l an coaEineed that the river
which brought me hereGows on into the Gulf
/ of Mexico, and tk41 sooner or later my log
/ VIII be picked up. Perhaps this river IS really
! the source of the Gulf stream.
viii now write down my disc0ve cries, not
| in their order, bit as a whole. Ny story
/ must be brief, or this scant means Of record
/ will fail me,
/ This place seems TO have been approached
| only by the river Il consists Of SIX Largo
| doned halls, connected with a seventh, in
| which the light burns. There are swords Of
/ bronze, spearheads and other weapons stored
/ in one chamber. There have been costly fab-
/ RIGS also, but they have persisted, and only
/ few fragments are LETT. La another hall are
! many treasures accumulated.
/ One hail is especially the hall OF pictures
/ and OF writing. I spend many hours there.
/ l see the history Of this rEce-their wars,
/ their heroes, their mythology.
! The most wonderful chamber Of al Is the
/ hall to the north. That Is the chamber OF
| death and silence. When first Ieatered tins
/ hall I lighted all tsae gas jets. Around the
/ walls we-e high cases OF drawers and on tins
/ front Of each was a portrait. l examined
! them fer hours before I felt any desire TO do
/ more. Among them / observed very bean
/ tiful faee-that Of "a young girl just entering
( womauhooi. This wa1derful race possessed
/ the highest artistic skill and dehcacy u ex-
/ preston. The face OF this girl, except that
| the colors had faded, might have been the sd-
mired masterpiece OF the Paris Salon. felt
]
| drawer handles and pulled it out. In the
/ wide, deep space into waich / looked lay,
/ robed in white, her hands folded, the form Of
/ the girl whose picture was outside How
beautiful she was! She lay as if only asleep.
! Then slowly, Is l hooked, the whole figure
melted down and faded away 10 Pile Of dust.
I closed the shrine and touched no more OF
/ them, but l often go and lock at the faded
Iva
The paintings on the walls OF this mural
chamber show that the people hal two sys-
tens Of disposiag of their dead. Tho great
mass were consigned TO the river, but the bod
/ les of all those who were famous for beauty,
wisdom or any good quality were preserved
| by process Of embslning, which they evt-
IDENTIFY though5 would make them endure for
/ ages. There are probably 1900 separate
bodies here, and they represent more than
twenty successive generations, If / rightly
understand the system Of family grouping. II
people lived Is long as they do now, there was
an average Of about fifteen additions each
/ year to this great v estnliHstar Abbey Of the
past. From a sort Of a map painted on one
/ of the walls l obtain tins idea II many and
thcklv populated communities which used
/ thia place as the sepuicncr Of their chosen
/ few.
/ Evidently that was before volcanic gut
bursts made tie channel of the river Ike
caldron boiling over endless fires. An along
! the course are towns marked, groups Of rock
/ hewn rooms On the cliffs, populated lands on
! the river, prcuontorieSfFem whose sides foun-
/ tairss of Il -4t seem to spring. Did thousands
Of people once live and ind happiness in thsss
vast vaults Of deaths Things must have been
very different then from now. They must
/ have had many reservoirs OF natural gas.
| The animal lie IN tie river must hGVe been
much moro varied. Indeed, there are pict-
ures in the Hall of War, as have named it,
that show two things plaiRly-th&t there were
thousands Of caverns, extending over hun
| dreds Of miles, and peOpled b. animals With
watch the heroes fought, and that the rivaT
| was swzTzning vita exlstrncs.
! Moreover, End everywhere, chief Of the
! symbols OF LIE, IN The most sacred places, =
| food root Like water nU1, from which grew
/ white leaves and seeds. There must have
been some electric principle evolved here, by
the vast warm lakes Of inc river, lit with saft
/ hight everywhere at certain Seasons For
row l come 70 the sFTaBgesS fact OF ali that 1
gather frean the records q tAs racsT thess
| peoBis bad two kfnGs Of Rghs; oae they found
/ and kt-thss they Knew as tie lesser God OF
/ Life: the okaer, Coming from north TO Eoazh,
/ twice each year, Gllsd fer HzzEzT Veeks tie
| whole channel Of TEe river, fTom depth to
( dome, making ms very water translucent
/ The wafer root and its gram rtPaned and
/ were harvested Ia TIRE last DAYS CT tse Hight.
/ Two crops q year tsey gatEered, GDss Eeld
I Their days Of tRe fsasts Of the greater Goa Of
/ Lie.
/ hzve trssd to put together al EN- oS
/ thar picture writings and taet- paintings, 50
/ as 30 understand vsaaI so-tof R4sn and wesasn
/ they were. l coAfsSs tRar EEVs sATBea to
/ admire tEgrn greatly They were s5r0zg,
/ brave living AID taazldH psopls- I sn
( sorry they a<e al ECEa / never cared half
/ 50 much ehsS-t TIE dad F-1ruscans CT CaTths-
/ gtaiana. TIE earliest cRagzsr n tasIE history,
/ 50 far rs discover, ia a picture Of 4 hEs o.
B Enea ssa uUzrTen descending iBSs g cave ana
/ dragon rysFzzriryg ttrezn. Tb;s ss-Tus % paint
/ 70 = foransr resA3enee On the face q RE eGrtn.
and . sozs dhzsssr-%ST, feed. psstllsElOs or
/ some Egrcp Eloilstsr~-ErflBca drove the sur
Vivars into Sts e25Es % llzs saIth Yer shelter
! But al tarps tsouz utz ara van s5d foolish
[ I have sxul5rgd tbs ellis 81 tie river snd TIE
! walls O. tus ElsZaty kslls which saaltsT Eae.
! l Java ar1s-sarz- u ca a CEz4Rei uYEsza Fszt
I tEa vga,e-fa.. u-az rzs ancies-F wszPcus
1 which - "A Each auzGcsrS On 10 soeT- as
1 bronze wears cur Is, bEz j. ! live lcuE
/ e-oE-h Eorrg-Asug aszT Is cc-a. 4 WI c.oEe
/ uzv rs-or5 sgr,5 iET-.--a = GoEn ss@ T1ve--
Teezl vii Try 70 cat ny way cSzs x tAs s]-ii-
/ light
Es-a ire s-arv-cFsxsd- Seu7s day, p<-Eapz,
81 Oh HurEs, waits azl-sa sad lals IS cae
/ tr,za TIA lowest ouEEsC1- q a b@sti4e, p -
climb s.asT.y cut If sszEfe canyon Of L. tsoc@-
1es 70 TAI tlss wnrsd H70-s- az Il iss clsrJvs~y
/ Ct Eoss rzcs.--G1zzrizs Blsgs<rs S'A-za -