The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-04-15

CHICAGO, April 14-Frederick A.
Starr. professor of a.nthropology in the
University of Chicago. has just return
ed from a three months trip through
unexplored portions Of Guatemala, and
Mexico.
Professor Starts object in making
the trip was to visit all the ruins in
the two countries which, in his trip
last summer he had heard so highly
praised and 90 6nd the pigmy tribe
which was supposed to live somewhere
about there. The professor spent ten
days among the Mixes. the fiercest
tribe known, who are supposed to re-
tain some eff the cannibalistic instincts
of their ancestors. The professor and
his companion, a German political re-
fugee, had no trouble in getting along
with them.
In speaking of his trip, Professor
Starr was very enthusiastic. The re-
suits, he said, had been so successful,
and the fields so promising, that he
expects to return there October 1. He
said:
1.-THE state Of Chiuapas is attracting
much attention at present, on account
OF its coffee. and American capital is
flowing in at a great rate. Every
plantation or piece of ground available
for coffee growing is being seized upon
by investors Professor Starr said
the country
OFFERED SPECIAL FACILITIES
for research in his line. In Oaxaca, 100
different languages are spoken, thirteen
in Chiuapas and twenty-one in Guate-
1nala This indicates as many different
tribes OF people, and the opportunity
&c study them is extraordinary. Con-
corning the pigunies, and whether the
small men of the country might not be
descended from the mountain idiots,
the professor said:
i found lots of idiots in the coun-
try. but in no case was there any con-
nection between them and the little
people. CTetins, as the idiots are
called, are descendants of goitrous
people. Goitre is a disease that is
caused by the water the people drink,
and the descendants of these goitrous
people are usually
DEAF, DUMB AND IDIOTIC.
The small people are not diseased
and retain all their faculties. There
are so many of them that it is impoS-
Eible to call them freaks, but / could
not find any pignly tribe from which
they descended, but 1 believe there is
such trible.''
Professor O. c. Harrington, curator
OF geology OF the Field Columbian
museum, has just returned from a
three months trip in Mexico. The OBJ
5ect of his trip was to study the mineral
resources Of the country and to collect
specimens of the same and others il
lz'strating volcano and glacial phe-
nonemon. The famous silver mines of
Guanajuato, Pachuca and Zacatecas
we're visited and valuable specimens
obtained from them. Professor Far
rington says:
THE MINES.
although many of these mines have
been worked for more than 300 years,
they still seem inexhaustible. The
hosting, crushing and sorting is still
done by hand, and the silver is ex-
tracted by what is called the patio pro
cess. In some of the mines controlled
by Americans or Englishmen, machin-
cry has been introduced but owing to
the cost has not always proved profit
able.
THE Mexicans impress me as a
shreWd. patient and mild hammered,
courteous people, who under the stable
government which they now enjoy and
with more widely disseminated means
of education. will become one of the
strong nations OF the Americas. They
are cordial to the Americans and ex-
pressed admiration for our country and
its institutions"