Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1896-12-31
The Egypt of America.


came to America a great ard mighty
people lived in the New World, says
the Boston Transcript. 1t has gener-
ally been thought that the earliest CIV
ilization, Of which there was any mon
ument or vestige here, was the one
which the Spaniards found and spoiled,
and that was lacking in progressive
elements. Now it is known, however,
that long before the Spaniards thought
of coming, people of high degree Of
civilization had lived and passed away.
Nor could Palacio, in 1915, find even
an Indian tradition to account for the
old ruins which he saw in Honduras.
Natives told him that great lord had
come from Yucatan and built the splen-
did edifces, and had then abandoned
them and gone back to his native land,
but this story sounds like fabrication,
and the ruins at that time were COW
cred with the mould of centuries.
Similar ancient ruins are found all
over the country from Southern MeXi-
co south through Guatemala and Hon
duras. But the greatest and the most
magnificent are those Of a ruined city
in Honduras called Copan after a vii
lage near by, for even the original name
has been forgotten. The city extends
two miles along the Copan river, and
its ruins today tower $50 feet above
the water, although the weather has
worn them for countless centuries and
the river has washed against them.
Here, under the debris Of ages, lies the
evidence of a mighty people, ruins OF
great temples on terraced elevations,
dwellings and pyramids, some partly
fallen, some only heaps Of fragments
Of what were once magnificent build
ings.
These ancient people would not have
needed many points from modern arch,
fleets. They used the triangular arcL
and the vault. In some cases, where
they rooted a space with stone, it !.
impossible for modern investigators tC
see how the builders supported the
roof. They built their walls Of finely
cut stone. Staircases of public build
ings were deliberately and magnificent
ly carved; step faces were covered
with hieroglyphics. Interiors wer'
finished in plaster, which was theI
ornamented with paintings. Painted
stucco was used. Sculptures wer
everywhere.
The buildings of Copan have a Gu.
rious complexity, structures being bull
upon each other sometimes three deeI
old and massive buildings serving as
bed on which to lay new foundation.
Perhaps rulers glorifed themselves b.
building upon the dwellings OF thei
predecessors. But more likely thes
complex buildings resulted from cen
turtles of changing style in architecture
and the abandonment Of older part:
which were sometimes left empty
sometimes filled with clay and rubblt
Other evidences of successive period
of occupation is forthcoming. For o
the river front appears what seems t
be three great strata, divided b
floors or pavements Of mortar cement.
Between the three times Of occupancy
when the city was swarming with hi'
are long periods of silence who's
length can only be inferred from tn
thickness of the strata. These struc
ures have a style that is peculiar
the region, but at the same time tt
STYLE has similarity to that OF Soutt
ern Asia. 1t expresses the same idea
and the two may be said to come fro.
the same architectural root
The people who lived in this cit
knew how to make sculptures in fac
they were remarkably good at it. The
lived long before the time of Mieha
Angelo, vet in one respect they We
like him. Michael Angelo never e
pended his art on clay models to
copied in marble, as modern sculpto
do. He felt that his figures were IL
prisoned in the solid stone and that
must cut them out of it. Thus d
the ancient people of the New Wor
countless centuries before. They hi
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