Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1891-12-31
Interesting Facts Concerning Civil
zatiOn Older Than That OF
Ancient History.
Temples and Idols of Prehistoric
Race Found on the Island
Of Nicaragua.
A Country Rich in Relics of Lost Arts
and Of Forgotten Re-
ligions.

| azlnes, and bulky voldmes rich In illustra-
ton; but very few have ever learned that
! Nicaragua is one of Of the richest fields
in the world for the antiquarian to toll in
| While more interested personally in the
geology, the fora and fauna OF the coun-
| try, it was impossible to ignore or fail to
become acquainted with the relics of for
gotten races. 1t is difficult to deliberately
hunt up the localities where ruined
temples and huge idols are buried under
| the tropical vegetation, as the inhabitants
| will give no cid whatever. The mestizos,
or half Indian half Spanish race, know
nothing and care nothing about such
things; and the Indian, partly from diff
uence and partly from awe, hesitates long
before leading one to the sacred grounds
of his ancestors, or repeating the tradi
tions that have been handed down to him.
There exists only the crude and brutal
chronicles of the ignorant Spanish sol
diery at the time Of the conquest, or the
bigoted accounts of the unenlightened
priests who accompanied Gonzalez d Avid
and Others of his stamp. Cortez merely
makes the memoranda that it took 100
men day to throw the idols Of the town
| into the ocean.
The british priests burned all records
that fell into their hands on the ground
that all those that differed from their
teachings were obnoxious. and those
agreeing superhuous. The preserS alton
of any records at all is due to the patience
Of the original native sculptor, Who work
ed only on the hardest stone; and to the
| luxurIance of the vegetation. which con-
ceaed his efforts from the iconoclasts.
For the benefit OF future travellers,
will give list Of some of the principal
and most accessible localities. The islands
Of Lake Nicaragua are rich in idols and
pottery, especially the southwest side of
the slopes of that most picturesque of vol
canoes, Omotepe. This island was evil
IDENTIFY the general cemetery for all the
region around, who worshiped the flaming
cone as the god of Ere. Burial urns Of all
shapes and sizes, still containing the ashes
and skull bones of the dead, are common,
the most common being the shoe shaped
variety, of terra Gotta ware, with scarlet
snakes painted around the toes. A few of
these, two feet long by fifteen inches high,
are to-day IN use as water Jars. At the
north end of the lake, in sight of Granada,
the fore: is covering the side of the volcano
| Momobacho conceal not only idols but tle
ruins of ancient cities; while the islands of
! Zapatero and Pensacola, close by, repeat
the story of Omotepe.
At the old Indian village Of Masaya, the
next station on the government railroad
west of Granada, there are curious paint
ings in the raGnes, and especially at
| the sepulcher cut III the face Of the preci-
pica, on the path to the lake, called 81
Banjo.
The carvings represents men, monkeys,
cows, snakes and leopards. On the east
! side Of the great lake extensive ruined
cities are half hid in the forests near the
towns Of Juigalpa and Libertad; and OF
the Bluefeld River over the range to the
northeast are the pictured cliffs. The
volcano, Momotombo, on Lake Managua,
and its baby companion, the cone islam DIS
Momotombita. are rich storehouses for the
antiquarian.
The lake filing the old charter of Nijapa
and affording fine bathing place for the
nobility of the capital, Managua. is fam,
GUS for the painting Of its pricipitous
walls Near the old capital, Leon. may be
seen the alter-niche in a large rock known
as the Capilla de la Piedra, or ''stone
chapel" A few leagues farther on, at the
Indian village OF Subtiava, is stone
mound, 200 by go feet, and ten feet high
where human beings we're sacrificed. Far
away from all the usual lines of travel,
in the province Of Segovia, are numerous
ruined cities as rich in carvings as famous
Copan, but rarely visited by white men.
The antiquities Of Nicaragua may bo
classified as ruined cities, sacrifcial
mounds, figures cut or painted on the face
of cliffs, IDOLS, stone implemnts, pottery
and metallic articles.
| In Nicaragua the statutes of their gods
were generally placed at the foot of their
pyramids; while the natives further north
| placed theirs at the summit or IN temples.
While hierogiyphics are common on Idols,
walls, and pottery, yet the patient le-
searches of our Archaeological have recov-
cred but little OF the manners and habits
| Of these aborigines.
We wonder at the strange characters on
| their pottery, as the New Zealander of the
millennium will wonder at our cups and
saucers bearing the notices: ''Love the
giver," Waste not, want not, etc.
In working on the symbols cut in the
stone in Central America, there is no
! Rosetta stone to act at once as key and
| criterion. No rude savage carved the idols
| or painted the bowls, and if we could dis
cover what he ment his labor and his
wisdom would not have been in vain.
| The art of those days of long ago was
superior to all efforts Of the descendants OF
the race. There are columns Of carved
| stone that are parallels of the obelisks of
Egg pit, and the paintings upon some of the
walls reveal state of art as high as that
Of Egypt, land the soul pture of the southern
isles is even superior to that OF Cbontales
| fart her north. Who inhabited the islands
of Lake Nicaragua? In The words of the
| Spaniards, "Qnien sabe, who knows! The
earliest Inhabitants were the Nahaus, an
| Azec race that preserved the same ian
guage and practiced the same religious
rites as the Aztec race 1000 miles north
of them; and wholly different from all the
races between. How they came there, SO
| far from the home plateaus of Anahuao, no
| one can tell whether it was an accidental
or intentional colonization OF the country.
| While the Cards, Mosquito, and Wool
wa Indians, In civilization, were far below
| the Clutches and K4chiquels, Of the re-
gions further north, who were proud of
their PROGRESS in science and art, and
| proud of their kings with unpronounce-
able nan es like the famous lxtllXuchltl,
| yet they conttol today the larger portion
of Nicaragua. Their descendants are
everywhere, while the last of the Nahuis.
tde superior of all, are fund In only two
villages. The Indians of today have, OF
! course been modified by three centuries OF
contact with the whites and an equally
| long tried subiectiCn to the Spanlards
They bear everywhere, the stealtby look
| which long centuries of oppression have
stamped indelibly in their eyes; yet in
L.