The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1893-08-10
GIANTS IN THOSE DAYS.
Something More Than Tradition-Enor-
NOUS Skulls Found In M Ancient Yuc.
atom Cemetery md RIsovvbo,o

really dug up at Pitcairn Island by
officers Of the expedition under Captain
Beec4y, in the early part Of this cen
fury, The French traveller and writer,
Jean dc Despriaux, when residing in
the Canary Islands, was much pleased
at procuring some mummies OF the big
Guanches, q mar and two women. pre-
served as the Egyptions used to
preserve their dead, "The man
was OF gigantic stature" he says,
which is in perfect conformity with all
tradition relating to tho ancient At
lanteans. The women had long black
HAIR, plated with straps Of leather
painted red or green. The dress was
plated in front; their breast covered
with q kind OF short ~zaTape." The
straps OF their sandals were painted red
and ornamented with small pieces of
o5sidian beautifully wrought. The
dress OF the men consisted Of a tunic
and u mantle, tied up on the chest in a
knot NJ. Despriaux was delighted
further on to find that in the high
Andes OF Peru the women were alfred
Just as his mummies had been, and that,
their headgear and mode Of dressing the
hair were identical,
The American continent seems to
have been the place where big men
abounded, for here are found many re-
mains OF human beings much larger
than any OF its present Inhabitants. At
Chancal, thirty miles north OF Lima
Peru, very large human skulls were
dug up only u few years ago by DR.. lie
Plongeon. Others have been unearthed
on the Island of Puma, in tho Gulf OF
G~uayaquil, at the entrance OF the Guaya.
quill river. AJesuit father named Anilo
Olivia wrote an ancient history Of Peru,
dictated by an old archive keeper,
Quippi Camayoc, q Peruvian. Oliva's
work exists only in manuscript, and is
in the British Museum, London; but
the writer has a copy OF 1t. Olivia says
that Puma, us we'll as the opposite
coast, was formerly peopled by giants
who had come from Central America.
In the work OF Zarate we read that they
were as bad as they were big, so that
they became q terror to oil the other in
habitants. Those tall fellows had their
strongholds particularly at the Island
Puma and at Point Santa Elena, Guya-
quill. Some OF their works Gun yet be
seen in those places in the shape Of
Immense stone aud adobe walls and
more especiallyi in the great wells which
they dug to supply Themselves with
water. The career OF those bad big
people was probably brought to a close
by some electrical phenomena, for ira
dition says thae tho gods destroyed
them with fire from heaven.
In the north part OF Mexico a few
years ago human remains were unearth-
ed from well-made stone tombs. The
skeletons were nearly nino feet long.
In Southern Mexico tho Yucatan penin-
sula seems to have been at one time
quite a favorite residence of u race OF
people about nine feet high. On our
first visit to that country, before We had
habitants OF Progreso mentio ned to us
that giants had once lived there. Don
Fermin Domingo, one of the first set
tiers in that town, respected and trust
worthy, ACCOMPANIED US to an ancient
cemetery whence no had procured
stones to fence in his property
and build his home. lie pointed out
vestiges of q mound which on its west
side had had stone stops leading to the
summit. At the foot Of them, ON each
side, were four sepulchres in a line,
partly underground. They consisted Of
two hard limestone urns about three
feet square, placed mouth to mouth
and joined with cement. The lower
one had n hole in the bottom for the
escape OF gases generated by decompo.
sition. Nothing, not even dust, re-
manned in them, which would show
that those stone collins we're very an
cient. To the student their discovery
is deeply interesting, for tho
reason that they were exactly
like some found at Mughier, in
the lower plains of Chaldea, the only
difference being that ut Mughler the
collins were made Of clay instead of
stone. BY the position OF those at Pro-
greso we infer that the bodies we're in
TERED in a squatting posture, which
was customary in many parts OF Amer
lea. II they we're placed thus, and yet
needed u height OF six feet, they were
certainly very big bodies: In various
parts OF the same cemetery Don Fermin
and others dug up II considerable num-
Der Of terra Gotta jars, containing skulls
which the old gentleman assur cd us
were twice as big as his own head.
We regretted that no had not felt sufi-
ciently interested to keep ut least one
sample. We ourselves did q little delv-
ing, and found pieces OF large bones
but they crumbled in our fingers.
While travelling in tho interior Of the
country we Were frequently told of
places whore giants bones had been
disintcrred. The interesting ruins Of
| Axe, twenty-seven miles east OF Merida,
might reasonably DO regarded as the
work OF very big unCouth people. Each
step in one stairway is twenty inches
| high, by no means convenient for per-
sons Of ordinary stature. The stairway
is 1866 feet wide. In one part smaller
stones have been added, making two
stops out OF each, u total OF thirty.six
instead OF eighteen, US II people OF
medium size had lived there ut the
same time, or perhaps later, and ar
ranged the extra stones for their own
convenience. Round about theancient
structures not only largo skulls have
been dug from tho ground, but also
tibia and other bones, all OK
ceedingly large. From the time
OF tho Spanish conquest such 70.
mains have now aud then been
brought to light in tho Peninsula.
Father Cogolludo and Diego do Landa,
second bishop OF Yucatan, wrote works
upon that country and its people, and
both testify to the discovery Of gigantic
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