The record-union., 1893-10-26
GIANTS OF oLDRN TIMES.
They Existed in South America to
Judge From skulls Found There.

They Existed III south America to
Judge From skulls Found There.
Phenomenally big men and women
have occasionally appeared in various
parts of the earth, and several nations
possess traditions of gigantic people hav-
ing at one time inhabited their lands, says
a writer in the New York tribune. The
American continent seems to have been
the place where big men abOunded. for
here are found many remains of human
beings much larger than any of its pres
ent inhabitants. AT Chanceal, thirty
miles north of Lima PERU, very large
human skulls were dug up only lew
years ago by DIR. lie Plongeon. Others
have been unearthed on the Island Of
Puma, in the Gulf of Guayaquil, at the
entrance OF the Guyaquil River. A Jesuit
father named Anilo Olivia wrote an
ancient history OF Peru. Olivia says that
Puma, as well as the opposite coast, was
formerly peOpled by giants who had come
from Central America. In the work Of
Zarete we read that they were as bad as
they were big, so that they became ter
ror to all the other inhabitants. Those
tall fellows had their strongholds par
ticularly at the Island of Puma and at
Point Santa Elena, Guayaquil. Some of
their works can yet be seen in those
places in the shape OF immense stone and
adobe walls, and more especially in the
great wells which they dug to supply
themselves with water. In the north
part Of Mexico few years ago human
remains were unearthed from Well-made
stone tombs. The skeletons were nearly
nine feet long. In Southern Mexico the
Yucatan Peninsula seems to have been at
one time a tavorite residence Of race of
people about nine feet high.
" hile on a recent visit to that country,
before we had been twelve hours on
shore, the inhabitants of Progreso men
toned to us that giants had once lived
there. Don Fermin Domingo, one of the
first settlers in that town, respected and
trustworthy, accompanied US to an an
cient cemetery whence he had procured
stones to fence in his property and build
his house. He pointed out veStiges of
mound which on its west side had had
stone steps leading to the summit. At
the foot of them, on each side, were four
sepulchers in 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 hole in the bottom
for the escape Of gases generated by de-
composition. Nothing, not even dust,
remained in them, which would show
that those stone collins were very an
cient. To the student their discovery is
deeply interesting, for the reason that
they were exactly like some found at
Mughicr in the lower plains of Chaldea,
the only difference being that at Mughier
the cofTins were made Of clay instead of
stone. By the position of those at Pro-
greso we infer that the bodies were in
TERED in a squatting posture, which was
| customary in many parts of America. If
| they were placed thus, and yet needed a
| hight OF six feet, they were certainly very
| big bodies. In various parts of the same
! cemetery Don Fermin and others dug up
/ a number of terra Gotta jars, containing
skulls, which the old gentleman assured
US were twice as big as his own head
The interesting ruins of AXE, twenty
seven miles east of Merida, might rea-
sOnably be regarded as the work of very
big and uncOuth people. Each step IN
on stairway is twenty inches high. by
no means convenient for persons OF ordi-
nary stature. The stairway is I56 feet
wide. In one part smaller stones have
been added, making two steps out of each,
total of thirty-six instead OF eighteen,
as if people of medium size had lived
there at the same time, or perhaps later,
and arranged the extra stones for their
own convenience. Round about the an
cient structures not only large skulls have
| been dug from the ground, but also tibia
and other bones, all exceedingly large
From the time of the Spanish conquest
such remains have now and then been
brought to light in the peninsula. One
OF the superstitions now existing
among the natives would seem to be
reminiscence of the big people that for
merly dwelt in Eucatan. Uauapachi is
phantom giant supposed to haunt the
highways at night TO intercept belated
pedestrians and trip them up by standing
astride, stretching out his feet from one
side OF the road to the other.