New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-03-28


5snssoiss :y& a5d S.
hsorf at the he uRi Keadon OF Wh
seventy.four Illustrations PIP IS8. Philadelphia:
j. Il. Lippincott Company.
No one could wish anything shortened about
this book except the title-page. The record OF
investigations is as compact as possible ana
though the results are negative, they seem at
the same time to be conclusive. Evidences OF
the high antiquity Of man in America have oeen
found, as alleged. at various places. In the hgh'
Of these discoveries it was desirable 10 learn
whether region Of caverns like northwestern
Yucatan had been inhabited by race Of pre-
historic troglodytes. The question was relieved
by the controversy that ragged over all the pre-
vious discoveries in North and South America
The controversy was fundamental, for 1t re-
lated to matters Of fact. and could have been
obviated by the simplest regard to system IN eX-
ploration. 1t was asserted and denied that human
remains had been found with Pleistocene FOSSILS
in certain famous caverns of Brazil. or that
arrowheads had been found with the skeleton
OF a mastodon In the Missouri mud. There are
those who associate the EsQumau with the
French Cave Man. and imagine an isthmus In the
North Atlantic order to get him to America
The fable Of Atlantis is appealed to In the case
Of the Mayas unknown Asatic commerce Is
suggested to account for the presence or Jaoe
ornaments in Central America The landfalls OF
Pacific islanders and their canoes on the western
coast Of the continent are noted by way OF
showing how Peru could have been settled But
even If all these theories proved to be true still
man might have existed in America prior 10 all
these migrations. Investigations in caverns OF
the Ohio and Tennessee river valleys have mar
rowed the prehistoric problem somewhat The
deposits in the cave at Port Kennedy, PENN
showed that the bodies Of animals similar TO the
tapir, the sloth. the horse and the mastodon mad
been swept into it, probably by flood But no
traces of early mans bones or weapons or uten-
eis found.
In such condition Of affairs the plan or more
extended search urged by Dr. S. Weir Mitchell
and rendered possible by the practical assistance
Of ]. W. Corwith. was eagerly accepted in behalf
of the University Of Pennsylvania. That was
the way the Corwith expedition organized. at
first without specific objective. but with de-
cided aim as soon as it learned that curious
caves existed In Yucatan. The district visited
by the explorers is mountain region. stretching
diagonally from northwest to southeast across
the rectangle bounded by the eighty-ninth and
ninetieth meridians ard the twentieth and TWEEN
ty-frst degrees of latitude. The hillsides appear
10 be honeycombed with subterranean chasms.
and these cavities where they could be reached.
proved interesting apart from all thought OF
archaeology tropi al profusion In vegetable
life invaded their dank GOODNESS. Wherever the
sun got a glimpse Of the interior. there plants
sprang I'D. The roots Of alamo trees pene-
trated the roof and dropped like cables to the
floor A wide roof-opening was an invitation to
forest trees which sprang up in the depths and
waved their leafy tops above ground. When
the surface Of the earth was parched and dry
under tho rays Of the tropical sum- there was 10
be found in the interior Of many caverns
spring or pool Of clear cold water. The caverns
are resorted to by the natives at the present day
for water, as they have been for ages and among
the most significant relics found in them are
water-d dishes. followed from blocks Of stone. In
one or two instances. rude steps cut In the rock
lead down to the pool In others the natives
make use Of ladders There are caves to which
access can be gained only by an explorer willing
to be hauled up and down by a rope.
While there were many human relics in these
places all went TO show that they we're left by
occasional visitors. rather than by real cave
dwelers There were signs Of cannibal feasts
such as were said TO be common when the coun-
try was first discovered by Europeans. AS
trench after trench was opened In one, and then
In another 1t became more and more evident to
the explorers that the advent Of humanity In
Yucatan had been comparatively recent. The
last cave examined was Actun Sabaka. the cave
Of coal-black water. 1t was difficult TO find the
entrance hidden as 1t was in a forest, and the
opening was so wide and SO gentle in Its slope
that the travellers entered the cavern before they
were aware of 1t. Within. there was first
series OF chambers, then dark chasm, at the
bottom Of which, sixty feet below was the en-
trance TO the true cave. vast chamber was
hung with stalacttes. and beyond this there was
q passage leading to a pool Of tepid water There
were many water-dishes one Of which was n
followed log. Broken fragments OF pottery
strewed the floor A trench opened with care
down to the solid floor Of the cavern revealed
thirty-seven layers of charcoal and ashes. each
about an inch thick. These presented In a sum-
mary the history Of man in Yucatan
"If this were the whole culture-layer as we sup
posed" remarks Mr.. Mercer. here was the oppor-
tunity to settle the question Of its subdivisions II
It had any, though we had disposed Of all notion
of an earlier man. or a Palaeolithic visitor ante
dating the Mayas by thousands Of years. These
hearth Aims evidently represented the rubbish
heap Of the same people that we had encountered
in the other caves but the deposit was so neatly
arranged and so conveniently presented that II
there were any signs Of cultural development or
race change in 1t we might expect to find them
without much trouble" An undisturbed film OF
ashes is an absolute test Of antiquity. Nothing
can be found below 1t. If excavation IL properly
done, which does not antedate it. II there had
been any change in the modes Of life or In the
tools and pottery of the people who visited the
cave then successive layers of ashes would show
It, A gradual approach to civilization would be
shown by the superiority OF relics in the upper
layers and the inferiority OF those below. The
only startling result at Sabaka was the almost
total absence of fragments OF pottery from lower
LAYERS OF ashes The author however. resists
the inference that the knowledge of pottery was
acquired BY the Mayas in the interval. His
on;r,or t that thev brought IL with them into the