Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1895-04-22

Europe to-day. The word probably
is advisedly used in this connection,
for aside from the statements of the
Spanish explorers, little or nothing is
known as to the number of the nations
that once Inhabited Central America.
The only ancient structures whose
use can positively be stated are the
huge pueblas, or communal towns, in
which all the inhabitants resided under
common roof and in q sort of fortress
of their own construction. Best known
to us from their presence in parts of
New Mexico and Arizona, these curious
con- nmunity towns are found in great
numbers in Mexico. and to some extent
also in Guatemaia and other parts of
Central America. That they are not
so numerous in the Central American
States Is explained by the fact that they
were originally built for defense, and
that the Central American Indians,
having no hostile neighbors, did not
need them, and so gradually abandoned
their use.
More imposing than the ruined pu-
eblas are the remains of the gigantic
pyramids that abound in Guatemala,
Mexico, particularly in the Yucatan
peninsula and almost everywhere in
Central America. They are often enor-
nous In extent, some covering as much
as ten or twelve acres, thus almost
equaling in area of base that of the
great pyramid of Cheops, in Egypt,
which is thirteen, but they are by no
means so high, rarely exceeding 200
feet. That they We're erected for the
purposes Of worship is clear from the
testimony of the Spaniards, but there
is nothing to indicate the character of
that worship save the ghastly fact that
the human sacrifices formed q part,
and, perhaps, the most conspicuous and
important part. 1t is impossible to con.
template without emotion these gigan.
tic monuments of n people whose arts,
civilization and letters have complete
ly vanished. The scenes of blood, the
gorgeous parades of painted and be-
feathered chieftains and their retain.
ers, the magnificent assemblies, and,
finally, the carnage that made their
steps and pavements slippery with
blood in the last great struggle with the
merciless invaders, are all called up
by the crumbling walls and terraces of
the pyramids that were already old
when Columbus landed.
The Spanish Invasion.
In the general destruction that fol-
lowed the Spanish invasion the Cen
trail Americans Jared no better than
the people of Mexico. The worst butch
cries by the Turks, the Saracens, the
Huns, were surpassed by The cruelties
that the Christian Spaniards inflicted
on helpless and 'noffensive people.
The acts of the Spaniards were foolish
as well as BRUTAL, for In destroying the
Indians they destroyed the only means
Of making a paying investment of the
country. The early conqucrors, how
ever, were, for the most part men who
had no idea of settling permanently
in America, but who were desirous of
making fortune as soon as possible
and then returning to their native
country, to spend their blood money
In the bazars Of Madrid and Barcelona
and Cordova. The greed of gold burned
out of their sordid hearts all considera-
tions of humanity, and in wanton
cruelty they butchered the natives in
discriminatory until finally only few
stragglers In the remote recesses of
the forests remained of all the popu-
lation that filed the cities and cult
waited the fields. Central America has
never recovered, and may never recov-
er from that deadly blow. In country