Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1897-08-12
In Oldest America.


the city of Mexico an exploration -
ciety. organized in Philadelphia for
archaeological research, viii give
special attention to the Isthmus of
Yuratan The Mexican government, it
IL added viii give ala to the work. as II
s the policy of the present government
to stimulate researches into the early
history Of the country. That policy is
the policy OF Foriirio Diaz, and is IN
line with his many deeds for the benefit
If science and in the cause of huma n
lily. Those who know him best do not
hesitate 20 say That Diaz II the great
Cs$ man Of the last 80 years. Undoubt-
oily ne is one Of the greatest. OF In
dian extraction, he joins TO the subtletH
ana intellect Of the SpInard the
stuicism and fixity of purpose of race
that knows how 10 play a waiting
game. What Iiaz has sought To ac-
,.nrnpHsh he has accomplished, or Is
accomplishing, sometimes by force,
sometimes 10y stra1agetn. but most
often by persistency. His reformation
If the Mexican people is in politics
what the dropping Of water upon 4
stone is in physics. he has worn him
a hole al last. From the western edge
Of Sinaloa to the Rio Grande, and from
The gulf To our territories he is looked
upon as little less than a god. His aid
10 any man or company of nen is yalu-
able. The Philadelphia society could
net have a more potent friend.
That is a strange land into which
they journey-a land of fable and OF
mighty deeds. Portions of it are as
~ hn. f1,, Of
South America. IL has not been for
gotten by archaeologists. but the diff
culties Of reaching it have been too
great The explorer has been opposed
by nature and she dwelers in the vas.
Businesses. Under former regimes in
Mexico a visitor could not have reached
the point of attack. The natives were
hostile. being governed by priests who
saw in every stranger an enemy Of
Mother Church. Bandits ruled the
land. Murder was 600 common TO ex-
cite more than passing comment
There were no railways southwest Of
the capital. Only mule paths traversc,.
the gorges. Bold would have been the
American 10 venture beyond sound of
The challenge of the Mexican sentries
Ii would have been novel and ex-
tremely effective mode of suicide
Yet it was an old land-old and hoar
how old no man can say Among its
people tradition reached back for more
than thousand years. Like all ma
lions, they had giants in their earlier
days and told tales of them Unlike
other nations. however. they have the
works 10 prove the existence of their
mighty forefathers. The Mexican In
dian of today, unless he be a high
mountain Indian, is mild. shiftless aud
INDECENT. He is no trouble except to IL.
fed Even the Aztecs whom Corts,z
found were unwarlike. His handful %
mailed buccaneers moved them down is 4
II they were grain. Their swords We're
81 grass and splintered against shield
ard headpiece. They deemed a man IN
horseback a part of the animal and
fled from him. Possibly they had som,,
indistinct transmitted recollection OF
the Centaur beuueathed them by the
men who hved upon Atlantis. Who
knows?
but the beings who lived in Mexico
III the anterior days We're warriors and
men OF might. They built vast edifices
ina, gaze into the face of Time with an
frown. They offered rcek-
ihS hoiocausts To their gods upon tables
OF stone half an acre in extent. They
shed blood in rivers. They were engi- !
heers. They were architects Tho
magnificent flight of their arches |
strikes the modern dumb with envy
Ihey spring through space massive as |
the pyramids, airy in seeming as tho
sossamer tilament which presa-es tho
hofther- but they do not fall. They
were sculptorS who left horrid visions
IN stone. They painted with inde,ib,a
p'sihents whose composition is n Ins,
~ lhey mad pantheic religion that |
"as u rciiSlon of terror. They worshin
~ poth static and dynamic force ,rhev
"eie hafd and cruel but grand race
i'''le Is Known of them, but the world
"ouid Ike to know more. The ruins of
a'i.id are but presage of discoveries
- come. While the archaeologists Of
lhe east are unearthing cities whosa
very names are lost in the mists If an
l'iu''s. there awaits them in the west
! treasure Of an undreamad r;,,..
y rarely that white man ventures
VI, mysteries of southwestern
mat ne does not bring back ac-
y some ruined town that has
prey TO the clements for aeons
80 relics of dead generations are
IN profusion through terr;-
.os ,iiat Is vast in extent ana Of ~.
', ~, difficulties.
rnele : danger. of course. in sucb
'ations. but to the credit Of TIA
~. man of science it should be said
30. physieal fear does not seem to he
). $50 a.. ~ his makeup. The divine
,.,s u lor the acquisition Of knowI~
] Al, uoes not permit it. 1t counts au
.a.,s lices hghtly-the sacrifices NJ ,,ra