The Red Cloud chief., 1898-03-18

In the current number of the Century
Magazine. George Byron Gordon writes
II his discoveries on the site of an an
cient buried city in Honduras. From
this interesting article we quote:
From the valley of Mexico, the center
Of its power and influence. the Aztec
civilization at the time of the conquest
had spread itself to the Gulf OF Mexico
and to the Pacific ocean. to the river
Panuco on the north and to the Gulf
Of Tehuantepec on the south. with
spall outlying colonies still farther
south.
The broad plains of Iucatan and the
fertile valleys of Central America COM
prise the theatcr where the much Older
Maya civilization had It's rise, culmina-
tion and de~cline-thc unrecorded acts
in a very imposing drama played long
ago by actors whose names have been
forgotten. Yes; long before the dream
of western empire began to fill the
minds of Europeans, firing the ambi-
tion of kings, and melting the adventure
ous spirits of the time. full of the rO-
mantle daring of the age Of Chivalry.
and thirsting for conquest, to seek for
tune and fame at all hazards in the
golden regions Of the wcst-ccnturieS
before the kingdom of the MontCzu-
mas, whose evil destiny 1t was to fall
Il prey to these avaricious and unprin-
cipled men. had risen TO power aud
glory in the beautiful valley Of Mexico
the curtain had already fallen OF the
last sad scene that closed another en-
piro's career. On the arrival of The
Spaniards the scepter of the Mayas had
already passed away. and their ruined
cities were the conQucrur's spoil.
1t is true that at the time Of the con-
quest there was n emnan Of a pop
nlation on the peninsula of fucdtan -
a number of tribes who still hunted the
vicinity Of the deserted cities and
these are generally believed to have
been the descendants OF the builders.
though this is by no means certain,
They called themselves Maya people,
their language. they said, was Maya.
than, the Mayation means the Mays
capital.
Not only did traditions exist in tho
minds Of the people. but many OF the
old Indian families still preserved theil
books. the remnants of once extensive
libraries. in which the history. tradi.
tons n customs Of the people were
recorded. All these books that the
Spanish priests could lay their hand.
upon were burned. Four only have
come down to ,is-priceless relics tina
in some unknown manner found theii
way into European libraries. where
they lay hidden until unearthed b,
scholars Of recent years. The books
of the Mayas consisted Of long strips o
paper made from maguey fiber, ant
folded after the manner of a screen 81
as to form pages about nine by five
inches: these were covered with hero
glyphic characters. very neatly draw
by hand, in brilliant colors. Boards
were fastened on the outside pages, ant
the completed book looked like a nea,
volume Of large octave size. The char
acters in which they are written ar,
the same as those found upon the ston,
tablets and monuments in the ruined
cities Of Palenque and Copan. This sys
TEN OF writing, which is entirely dis
tinct from the picture writing of tn,
Aztecs, was the exclusive possession o
the Mayas. 1t was a highly developed
system, and, as Investigations have
shown. embraced a number Of phon
etic elements. Although nothing has
yet been found that will enable any liv'
ing man to d~eclpher a single inscription