The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1893-06-08
THU HIDDEN CITY.
By WALTER a. ED0UGALL
(Continued.l

ton. He stood by "A boat SO ancient
that beside it the pyramids were young.
IL was about thirty-seyen feat III
length and twelve feet wide. The bow
was high and terminated IN swan 5
head and neck, well carved and curving
gracefully. The bow was deeked over
for aiout fcrr feet, and the lines Of the
vessel. although somewhat clumsll* de-
signed, showed much nautical knowl-
edge. She had eight wide thwarts, aud
had evidently carried IA mast inserted IN
the center Of the boat, as there was
round aperture in one thwart. There
were deep. round notches in the outer
edge of the gunwale, evidently made
by the abrasion of paddles, for thus she
must have been propelled, as there was
no evidence of oars or any other appi-
ance for their use.
The wood Of which she was built was
as hard as iron and as black. Great
studs of pure gold occurred at intervals
lust under her gunwale, evidently form
ing at one time prominent features OF
painted decorative border which had
been obiiterated III the blackness OF
wears. On her bottom he found harna-
Giles, black and brittle, proving that she
had once voyaged at sea for Ii long pc
Rod.
1t was with creeping feeling-a
shudder of involuntary awe-that Eric
gaZed upon this wOndrous relic. and 1t
was several minutes before he Summoned
composure to examine it infinitely. In
the bottom of the boat lay several large
water urns and a bundle of spears, each
with its shaft split and flint spearhead
inserted in it. No vestige OF the lash
ings of gut remained. They had long
ago decayed. On the stern thwart rest
ed an oblong block. Eric pitched it up
and knew at once that it was metal.
"Can it be copper" he thought, and
taking his knife he sliced a small piece
from it. Lo, it was bronze, rudely en-
graved with characters slightly resem-
bling Phenician writing! A slab of
bronze! What was it doing here? Ikla-
pei did not know what it was, but he
said that there was once knife made
of the same metal in Atzlan, but it had
been lost for many years. 1t was stolen
from the temple ages ago by man who
went into the desert and never returned.
In At there were many such knives, he
said, but they were very precious, and
but one, which Quetzal had brought,
was ever seen in the west. He had
heard of arrows and spearheads and axes
of the same metal, but had never seen
them. The slab had been preserved
sacredly, yet he had thought more than
once of trying to convert it into axes,
but knew of no way to do it.
At this moment Eric glanced up and
beheld the evil face of Chalpa, his eyes
lighted with malice, peering down upon
them. AS Eric's eyes met his he drew
his head back and disappeared, but there
was an unpleasing suggestion in the sus-
picious, vindictive look in his face that
left feeling in Eric's mind that Chalpa
would be good man to make target
of before very long. Iklapel had seen
nothing, but when Eric explained the
| occurrence he angrily called to Chalpa,
but received no answer. The man had
slipped out stealthily, and this added to
Eric's unpleasant feeling. That Chalpa
hated as we'll as feared him he knew full
| well from the evil chances he cast upon
him, and there seemed something omi-
lous in his stealthy lowering and spying.
Still, as he had disappeared, neither
Eric nor Iklapel allowed it to rest long
upon their minds, and they continued
their examinations of the relics undis-
turbed.
Each Of the glazed tiles inserted in
the walls, Iklapel asserted, had been
brought in the very earliest times from
At. They were covered with rude pic.
ture writing. among which Eric found
representations of elephants, lions and
camels, distinctly and carefully drawn
animals of which Iklapel had no con
ception whatever beyond these rude out
lines. There were boats delineatei
there somewhat resembling the one be
fore them, and figures in costumes re
sembling those in the early Toltet
manuscripts. Temple fronts and houses
war chariots with prancing horses, and
most wonderful of all, a battle scene
in which clouds of rolling smoke ant
curiously carved tubes belching flames
moving down whole rows of men, wer,
depicted with rare skill. 1t would hav,
stood for rude picture of a modern
field of war.
1t was with wonder and amazemen
that Gilbert studied the strange pic
lures, undoubtedly relics of a long pas
age, for he was convinced that tn,
priest had no knowledge of their impor
and meaning; in fact the characters il
which the records were written upol
them were with few exceptions unfa
miliar to him, they having been super
seeded by more convenient if less pic
turesqe method in later times In thes
characters he found many resembling
those of the Maya alphabet, but more il
the nature of pictorial representation
These were similar to the character
upon the slab of bronze, and Their
flashed across his mind a memory O
Plato's statement-that the people O
Atlantis engraved their laws upon col
umns and plates of bronze and gold
Could 1t be that this was one of thos
tablets?
While he was occupied with thes
thoughts the old priest brought quaint
~ carved cedar box, and removing it
cover disclosed double handful O
roughly cut gems, the great value O
which Eric discerned at a glance. H
examined them with appreciative ewes
finding among them several diamonds O
the size of hazel nuts and MANY fin
rubies and emeralds.
These" said Iklapel, ''came from th
far south; they are the seeds of the ser
pent. Before he came and covered th
world with clay and stones and waite
there was none of these ON the earth
no man had seen them before. Such
, the tradition. The people of Atlanti
had no such shining stones, but they ha
stones such as this" handing Eric a
oval of carnelian, with fiattened sides.
, Carved on one face was an intagl;e
finely executed, representing a DIV,
amidal mountain, with a city surround
ing Its base, evidently picture of tn
fated city. Around the edge was
| border of small characters in the ancien
writing. On the reverse side was Gu
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