Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1891-12-31

In spite OF the numerous assortments of
ugly saints offered by the priests the old
gods come In still for more than their
share of attention in time of trouble.
The broken idol that stands at the cor
ner of the plaza at Granada to-day, known
as tie Piedra de Ia Boca, or the stone with
the mouth, always has its mouth stuffed
with flowers whenever revolution is
pending; and during earthquakes people
have been caught worshiping it. Yet
the priests are too lazy, Indifferent, Or
t1mid to remove the stone. Animals were
woTshlpet here as well as along the banks
OF the Nile. and the alligator is a frequent
ornament to their pottery. One of the sand
stone idols found on the Island of Pensa-
cola represents an alligator swallowing a
man.
The ancient pottery from the islands al
ready mentioned is far superior in quality
to that made by the natives to-day. The
bowls are made of yellow clay. and are
covered with thick glaze, on which are
red and brown black paintings of appro-
pirate notices, odd figures, twisted forms.
and curious arrangements of dots aud
lines. In the terra Gotta burial urns were
placed first the ashes of the dead, then
beads OF lava, basalt, or cbalcodony, next
ceits and fakes of flint, and in the mouth
were laid basins of black earthen-
ware. The beads taken from the
urns are delicate works of art.
About one inch long, no greater diameter
than twine,ye5 piercel for threading, and
hinged all over, the question comes, how
did they make them? They possessed no
metals except gold and little copper. 1t
Is another lost art. How did they come to
practice cremation and use burial urns I?
Was it suggested by their practice of Of
ferlng human sacrifices by fire in their
worship OF the rising sun? AS late as the
time Of Gonzales d'Avila, 1926, the great
sacrlhcial mound still stood at the city of
Rlvas. Here sacrifices were made at the
beginning Of winter and summer, gener-
ally using children from 6 to IL years of
age. tearing out the quivering heart and
sprlnkllng the blood to the four points of
the compass. Prisoners were sacrificed,
as matter Of course, to celebrate the
victory. 1t Is 10 be expected, therefore,
that many OF their paintings are repulSive,
as the principal history they had to record
was that Of war and bIoodshed. At Mia
pa, that dread pool Of mystery and horror,
an ideal pool of artistic beauty of cheer
ing sunshine, OF flowers and ferns, of
cry stall waters turned by superstition into
bloody inferno; the crimson stains on the
cliff were painted by terror to commemor-
ate murder.
For ages the winged serpent, protected
from fading by the foliage, has :shone in
crimson red upon the waters that ill the
crater of the old volcano
Below. and On every hand the symbol, in
red, of the bloody hand, Long ages ago
that spot was filed with the fury of vol
canic fires, then it filed with crystal
waters, only to become a scene Of torture
and death to the victims of superstition
Today it is the natatorium of the elite, the
400 of Managua, ths capital of the repub-
lie whose modern houses only half conceal
the remains of the still more ancient civil
lizatlon.
At the foot of these cliffs ages ago chill
dren shrank in terror from the stroke of
the sacriicial knife, here to- day black-eyed
maidens, hampered by neither modesty nor
rainment, splash in the crystal water and
mock the Americana who stares up at the
paintings on the cliffs. The barbaric
beauty of the scene, the innocence of the
brown skinned bathers, all Is such a con-
trast with the civilization of to-day that it
seems like dream. not reality. To lock
at some things In Nical aqua IS to go back
IN the history of civilization two hundred
years; but yet that is but as ali hour ago to
the history OF the natives whose idols are
buried in the tropical jungles of people
who call themselves republic
G. E. BAILEY,