The Portland daily press., 1893-05-17

| upon him. used reds to penetrate the
soil. and when unusual resistance to its
progress WaS encounJerea we generally
aug down and found . mummy. On this
occasion the native who was manipulating
the rod for me found himself unable to
push the instrument farther within the
sand. As this was an every day occurrence
/ thought nothing of it and would have
passed on had not the native called me
back and insisted there was somethinp ex.
traordinary buried underneath. We re-
| moved the surface sand and came upon a
bed of hard clay; then we knew we had
found something worth our attention, for
there is no clay within 900 miles of the
| Ancon. Under the bed of clay we found
| roof that had been made of bamboo splints
dashed together with willow withes I'm
| der this was the grave proper. 1t was
| circular hole ten fset deep and in the CEN
/ ter of it, sitting oi4his launches, was fHe.'
From two stakes, one on his right and the
other on his left, hung two gonfalons, the
one at his right being a, red flag and hav-
ing embroidered upon ii a perfect Greek
sigma.
''All around, )" continued Professor Dor.
sey, "were scattered articles of the finest
| pottery. Examine them carefully and you
will see that they are of superior design
and workmanship. As we found them
they contained grain and vegetables, some
what shrivelled, of course, but in q re-
markable state of preservation. It was
easy to determine the contents Of the jars
| to be corn, beans, potatoes, dried she'll
fish and other articles of food. One jar
| had evidently contained fluid, put there
| to quench the thirst Of the mummy. It
seemed almost pity to disturb such an
august parsonage after Thousand years
| of rest, but we wanted him at the Worlds
fair and here he ISL
| 1t would take pages instead Of columns
eve to mention the interesting exhibits
in this building which reach out into the
| dark past and throw light upon the con-
dition and the development of mankind
/ through the ages. In fact, one may trace
| the growth of his race from the rudest
savagery to its present high state of civil
cation. It is wonderful object lesson in
| the history of mankind. Here the eye OF
| the visitor is carried back to the days of
| the Assyrians, the Greeks, the Romans,
| the Egyptians. Their tombs, their ruins
have been ransacked that we may have
| the object lessons of what they were and
| of how they lived, ftheir religion, their
! sports, their battles, their agriculture,
| their domestic establishments, their arts
and their Industries. It would be difficult
| to imagine anything more interesting, and
| predict that this building, small beside
| its mammoth neighbors but mighty in
the ages of time and periods of human
change and progress which it covers, will
soon be crowded from early morning till
late at night.
The outdoor exhibit is quite as fascinat-
ing as that within the building. 1t is a
sort Of supplement to the interior display
Here are not only the tents, boats,
weapons, clothing and utensils Of primi-
tive peoples, but the people themselves.
On the shores of the pond near the Anthro-
biological building are grouped representa-
tives of various tribes of Indians from
North America. They live in their primi-
tive habitations, row their rude boats or
canoes, and engage in their customary oc-
equations, such as weaving, pottery, chip
ping flint, building canoes, dressing skins
and grinding corn. If one is interested in
| the American Indian-and who is not?-
| he may pass many an interested and we'll
spent hour in the Indian school which will
be in operation near by.
| New York contributes TO this ethno-
graphical display council house and long
bark lodge of the famous Iroquois, and
number of typical houses used by the va
| rious tribes which formed the powerful
Iroquois confederation. The Indians are
here, too, living in the houses, reproducing
| their ceremonies and padding about in
| their canoes. Never before was such
| good opportunity afforded for the study Of
| the habits of the aboriginal jewellers in
| our own land. IF one wishes to see the
more modern Indian in his war paint, rid
| ing his pony in battle or chase, he has but
to visit Buffalo Bills show without the ex-
| position grounds.
| One of the most picturesque displays
here is that of the ruins of Yucatan. The
structure which seems to show the queer
architecture and decorations of these an
cient people was skillfully built, and it's
facades and carvings are made
! from plaster casts taken by Consul
| Thompson amid the ruins of Labna
and Uxmal. The structures rep
resented are the Serpent house, the House
of Nuns, and the so-called Governors
house. There are also moulds, columns
and monoliths from the prehistoric city of
Capan. Tropical plants from Central
America have been brought here and clev-
erly arranged over and about the ruins. All
/ that is needed to complete the illusion is
the presence of a few snakes basking in
/ Uuo BULL OI IuAulAS W HUG til0IuSelV6S IN
the grass.
A few rods from the Yucatan ruins are
the picturesque homes of theclif -dwellers
| With consummate art the builders imi-
tated rocks with a framework covered DER
with sheet iron, tin and paper-mache, with
just enough natural rock scattered about
to perfect the illusion. There are habita-
tions within the mass of rock, and speci-
| mems of the ancient P11eb1os or ztecs IN
live in them. There are also mountain
sheep and the little burros used by the
cliff-dwellers as beasts of burden. From
the ruins of Yueatan and the cliff-dwell-
ings of Mexico and our own southwestern
borders to the ice-bound habitations Of the
Esquimaux is q long way, but they are all
here on the shores Of the pond. A sort of
halfway house is afforded by the village
of Vancouver islanders, with their boats
made by following out logs with fire and
primitive tools, and their hideous wooden
idols or totem poles, standing thirty or
forty feet high on the banks of the lagoon.