Phoenix weekly herald., 1898-09-22
ONCE A PLACE OF GRANDEUR.
Ruins of the Deserted City of Uxmal,
Mexico, Shrouded in Mystery.

Professor William II. Holmes, cura-
| for of the National Museum at Wash
| ington. has recently explored the ruins
of the deserted city of UXmal, in Mex
| leo. Countless centuries ago it was the
| abode of a highly civilized race, but
now the once massive buildings are
| fast crumbling into dust and this form
er metropolis of a people wing long ago
ceased to exist will soon have faded
| into nothingness. Uxmal lies amid
dense swamps, the will and unre-
strained forest growth Of ages. The
ancient city was a pit of ruins when
Columbus discovered the Esnew world, y
and it is shrouded in the deepest mys-
terry. A few hardy explorers have pen
etrated the wilderness and caught a
glimpse of it, but it remained for Pro
fessor Holmes to give a detailed de-
scription of the wonders of the desert
ed city. Over UXmal hangs the spell
of death. Here, as Professor Holmes
SAYS. may be seen the walls of enor-
nous palaces slowly rotting away un-
der the unrelenting hand of time. A
mighty pyramid with a base 240 feet
long by 160 feet wide, rises to a height
of eighty feet, and upon its summit are
the ruins of what was once a gorgeous
temple. A broad stairway leads from
the base of the pyramid TO the struc-
ture which rests upon its top. The ia
cade of the temple is a most ornate
piece of composite architecture. Among
the Communications are a colossal face
twelve feet square. a pair of tigers
placed together with heads turned
outward. and groups of devices resem-
bling glyphs This mammoth pile of
stone. pyramid and temple. was eX-
quisitely hewed. a piece of workman
ship of which the most skilled modern
artisans might be proud.
An immense structure. fairly well
preserved as ruins go. is the COVER
nors palace, of which Professor
Holmes gives n most Interesting des-
cription. Nowhere on the American
continent can such another ruin be
found The building rises majesti-
cally upon the summit of broad.
triple terrace Court upon court, rows
of mighty pillars space upon space of
empty chambers present themselves to
the view All are lettering before the
Irresistible forces of decay, but they
bear eloquent testimony to the bold |
ness and originality of the ancient |
architects and builders. From the top |
of a pyramid. grander even than that |
which was surrounded by a temple, |
Professor Holmes and his party We're |
enabled to get view of the entire |
CITY as it lay before them in swamp |
and plain. This pyramid is 300 feet
long by 200 feet wide at its base. Its
height is 20 feet, and at the top is
summit platform 10 feet square. From
this point the explorer could see
ruined temples and palaces. enormous
stone buildings once the residences of
Il %I,n h0II Of |
hose who were less powerful, many
If the buildings being roofless and
lalf buried in the deep forest growth
hat has sprung up around them. The
walls of all the larger structures bore
evidences of elaborate architectural
ornamental ton. indicating that in its
rhine numbarleSs centuries ago, UXmal
vas an art-Ioving as well as wealthy
md important city.
A sight so majestic and supreme,
Professor Holmes says he has never
1t was beautiful but dreary
or ON all sides We're deSolatlon, de
ay and death But it does not re-
11ire a vivid Imagination to people :
he ancient city again with busting,
leasure loving and cultivated inhabi-
ants The market places in which
he merchants traded are now desert
d, and the only sound which is heard
the roar of the Mexican lion. The
4mples and the nunneries, the palaces
the nobility and the gymnasium,
here the pOpulace cOngregated to I
illness the sports of their athletes,
ave been in ruins so long that even '
addition does not say when they were
copied. But there the city stands,
rowing that centuries before Column
us landed i'll the "new world there q
listed here Il civilization so old it o
as in the last stages of decay 1t is
1t necessary for US to go to the far
lst in search of ruins, for, according {
Professor Holmes, there are mystic L
es on this continent which battle us s.
1e Nineveh and Babylon. UXmal "
as once a mighty city, but how long Il
has been since it was in the height z
its glory no man can tell, and we n
rst reckon by centuries to form even II
faint conception of the time which III
IS elapsed since it was the habita- 81
IN of the iving.-Baltimore Sun.