The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-07-19
WON0ROUS, SHINING CITY.
Az ALMOST IMPASs ABLE FOREST
SURROUNDS IT.

Carried a WeII-FuIed BOTTLE aud
Asserted That lie saw II. aud the
MAN Who said He DYveIt In Ia
briefly aud Mourncd the Terrible
Fate Of His Companion.
Correspondents OF Philadelphia Record
Campeachy. Mex. June 5.-Evcrybody
has heard Of the Mysterious City" which
tradition places somewhere in this region.
The uneNplored tropical forest, which be-
gins Few miles from the sea coast and
covers two-third= OF Campeachy. Tohasco.
Nucatau and Guatemala. IS coniecturauy
pictured on the map as containing mount
aims. lakes. and rivers but in reality is as
little known as The heart of Africa. Deep
i'm this wilderness. on some far-on. un-
named tributary OF the Rio Usumasinta. is
hidden "a splendid city. whose white walls
shine like silver in the sun. inhabited by
unconquered aboriginal Indians, who yet
worship the hideous idols OF their ances-
tors-at least so the story goes. and many
sane and sensible people have believed it.
The cure OF Quche declared that he saw
Il with his own eyes from the tops OF the
mountains OF Quetzaltenango. In which he
found himself lost" according To his
somewhat ambiguous statement The good
padre wrote a very interesting account OF
his adventures. but De admitted that he
had his knapsack along and in It was
bottle OF something potent to relieve snake
bites, etc. which may. perhaps have as
sisted his vision We are more Interested
in knowing that some OF our own adven-
turous countrymen. who have made this
region the study of years. believed Do the
mysterious city. Stephens, MOrelOt Squier
and lie Plougeou tried hard TO find II, and
Ober being on the border. OF the wilder
ness, was strongly tempted 10 venture
alone In search of IL, but was dissuaded
from undertaking what, under the circum-
stances, would have been madness.
only one person in the world claims to
have actually sO1Ourned within the abO-
riginal city and lived TO tell the tale. This
is Senior Don Pedro Nalasquez, a Guate-
malan. from Suchitepequezalto. How
ever, one may DE excused from any state
ment, however wild, who halls from such
place as SuchitepeQueZaltO, on the
ground that the name thereof got into
his head" He says that he accompanied
two young gentlemen from Baltimore
Nd, who, with several Campeachy In
dams. We're prospecting I'm the wilderness
I'm search Of mines and India rubber, and
who, after many hardships and hair
breadth escapes from monstrous serpents,
ferocious animals and skulldng savages, at
last reached the Shining city. According
to his account. the wonder is that they
were allowed TO enter at ali; but, once
inside the city. they were safe enough,
so long as they showed no desire TO de-
part. At the first attempt 10 20 away
they We're bound hand and foot and cor
rallied in a pen adjoining the temple That
same evening one Of the Baltimoreans
was sacrificed on the great, blOod-stained
Altar Of the SUM- having the heart torn
from his living body and placed before
the idol just as the sun sunk below the
hgr a faH Z ufr1,
fate but during the night they managed
to effect an almost miraculous escape.
only Don Pedro, however, and one Of the
Indians returned to civilization, for the
rest persisted in the fight through the
wilderness. Wild beasts and hostile In
dams are not the greatest perils I'm that
tropic forest. Terrible tales are told of
enormous serpents, which hurl themselves
| from the trees upon their prey with the
force of a catapult, by one twist of their
s.nuOus coils crushing the life out of a
man on horseback and swallowing small
animals in the tWinkhng OF an eye. Even
worse than the giant boa are the small
Viboras de sangre, whose bite causes the
blood of man or beast to Ooze through the
skin until the veins are empty and the
victim dies, and tiny Vipers, the exact
color Of the leaves under which they Turk
whose sting Is certain death in the most
terrible form.
In fact, travelling in Campeachy presents
few pleasures, however you may take H.,
even in the neighborhood of the cities.
In the Maya language the word of Cam
lpeachy Is the name of that demon among
insects which the Spaniards call gnrra-
pOta-tn plain. unVarnished English a
"tick" or wood louise They are not UNI
known in the north where they are com
pardtively harmless, but, ike ali other
pesuferous creatures, their size and vi
ciousness increases by neaTness TO the
equator. One may defend himself from
mountain lions jaguars, boa constructors.
and tarantulas, but to be totally vanquish-
ed and put to rout by ticks Is defeat too
inglOriOus for Christian resignation They
enter boldly where angels fear to tread"
and bury their whole disgusting bodies
under the cults before the victim can
say Jack Robinson. And then there is no
remedy but to cut them out or TO nut
on a poultice and wait for the invaders
to be drawn out. Then there is a small
innocent-looking fly Tor rather, millions
upon millions of them), called the xin-xin,
which comes softly singing along in the
most absent minded manner and departs
without causing you to suspect that he
had as much as noticed your existence.
But the little wretch has not neglected
his work, you may be surei He Drobes
you unaware, with long lance, so sIen-
der as to be almost invisible to the naked
eye, but which has on its point an in
finitesimal egg that remains under the
skin. No pain is produced or other ex-
ternal sign of injury; but the egg devel-
ops with astonishing rapidity into a tinv
worm, which in turn becomes a hale and
hearty grandmother in a few days time
and the whole industrious family continue
to multiply in equal ratio and to wrig-
gle in your tortured flesh until your cour-
age rises to the sticking point of amputa-
ton to get rid of them.
l saw a company Of soldiers the other
day, just from a long march across the
country, and all looked like tattooed men.
from insect bites, while a few were seri-
ousy disabled from the same cause. one
poor fellow, who had evidently been care
less of precautions till too late to save
himself had undergone so many carvings
to get rid of garrapotas and xin-xins.
that his human form devine." reminded
US of the Abyssianian COW, which Stanley
says is kept alive as long as possible bv
a company of wandering Abyssianians-
sort Of perambulating meat market
having slices cut from her quivering side
whenever fresh steak is required An
then the heas. The earth is infested with
them--so large that l dare not describe
them lest you doubt my veracity~and so
numerous that donkeys wading through
the hot sands that compose all the road
ways become literally black with them.
Gnats and mosquitoes, also. and unnum-
bered other varieties of singing, crawling
or buZzing creatures make both night and
day we'll nigh uncomfortable. Travellers
in campeachy are compelled TO wear thick
ofrrrFf n nd fnU int haa