The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1891-02-08

There fascinating gltmournt the glmpse-
Of the ancient cultures and civilizations O.
our western world obtained through the ulr-
rttious oI inc carly explorers and Spans con-
Quorcls. Modern researches have shown
that the fal ga lirLt in which We have hlleit
the things oi those days is not, as has been
supposed, due TO cXaggerations ani fables on
the part Of the explorers ana conQuerers, VINO,
on the whole, We're straightforward DID, thelr
relations and as accurate as could DE expected
from Mcn Of their day and generation II ~
due TO the fact that they beheld things in the
same false light. Familiar with the pomp and
ceremony OF the courts IF Europe. they natu-
rally found close analJwc5 thcrctom the poinp
and ceremony of thc peoples whom they ell
c0mtcrcd in McXlco. Central and South
America. Therefore they saw here cmperois,
kings princes and pIiucc-sns mobiles, palaces,
aud the like ln "a limited way they were
right, IOr IN many respects the surroundings
OF MOntezuma and the lncas were but lew
degrees more barbarlc than the institutions OF
medieval Europe. Human nature IN itself is
very much the same everywhere. and the love
Of display and elaborate ceremonials that then
CHARACTERIZED European culture found CORE
spondence IN the 2oiteousness OF lhaidphcT-
MALTA and intricate fo ,ualitic- among tie more
savage peoples Oi tine Sew World. and elias ic
archWol0gists have hardly yet got over shud-
dcriug at the idea that the tribes, clans,
totcms. etc. Of the ID pissed North American
Indians are closely akin % what is revealed 10y
a scientific study OF the Had. The unola-
eliminating acceptance of these conceptions oil
the first invaders bias led historians far asiiay
and Prescott was uuWttugy responsible for
the enormously colored end distorted ideas
concerning those times winch nav, Deeh con-
Neyod to tine hosts Ot readers. These ideas
have mutually invited The attention ot writer's
i'm the domain of romantic fiction, and proba-
biythemOsi notable example IS the well -hnoEn
novel bv Gen. Low Wallace, The Ier Hod,'
which So far as Characterization d concerned,
might as well have been located IN Central ASIA
as IN MeXico. 10 may safely Dc wagered That
Rider llagcard, who has just gone o. Mexico
in search OF material, viii work the same ro-
mantle Vein and Hood his Aztec story with
light that never was on land or sea-. new
method Of making fiction serve as a .nlTrOr Tor
the past has, however, arisen of late years.
Professor George EbeIs, the eminent German
Psychologist, Is probably tie foremost expo
nent Of llis. This method carefully recon-
stucts the past 10y the aid of an accurate scl-
cntihc knowledge of ITS remains. Miss Alne-
ia Edwards, from popular novelist has b.
come "a celebrated tgyptologlsl, ana pa ne
light Of her studies she could undoubleuly
write q romance that would have all tie charm
of truthful atmosphere. lt is notable that
The first effort to enter the field for fiction pre-
scented by prehistoric America, according to
this modern method, should De made by the
man who IN Lis researches has most ruthlcs-lv
stripped the veil of romance from American
archaeology eminent scholar, Adolf p.
Bandelier, who knows the history OF Spanish
America better than ANY other man living; but
Just as The dissipation of the illusion Of Euro
pcan-like maguihcance surrounding the htc Of
the Az,ecs las revealed native gorgeousness,
even more interesting than repetition Of
elsewhere existing ulcndors could be. so the
substitution oi % trCtliul consideration ol
realities for the lGiae glare OF romance has
shown what room for imaginative work exists
in the American past as it was.-Boston Her
adj.