The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-04-29


fable and mighty deeds. Portions of
it are as unknown as the widest Sec
tons OF South america 1t is an old
country, too; how old no man can say.
Among its people traditions reach back
more than two thousand years. Their
forefathers were a mighty race; and
they have to prove their words that
which the skeptic and scoffer must
gaze upon in awe and astoniahment-
the works, the towns, the temples of
an extinct civilization.
There were giants in those days"
and no mistake. The erected vast e1i-
| fees that mock the fury Of the ele-
meuts and defy the action ef Time.
There are tables of stone half an acre
in extent upon which the pioneers of
this wonderland offered incense and
sacrifices to their gods There were
engineers among them. There were
artists and architects. too: for these
built monuments TO let the future know
something of the past. That there
were followers Of every trade and pro-
fession known to the ancients may be
taken for granted for these left no
| monuments Of stone and bronze al
though they undoubtedly contributed
TO the erection of those which stand in
the forests and on the mesas of oldest
America.
The magnificent flight of their arches
and inconceivable stretch of their
aqueducts of stone and mortar strike
the modern dumb with awe Their
! buildings rise from the level, massive
as the pyramids but airy and artistic
as an Italian cathedral The interiors
are decorated with paintings put on
with irdeaible pigments the compost
ton Of which is lost art. The gate
ways are guarded with carven images
and the corridors are lined with horrid
visions in stone Their religion was
one Of terror. their civic customs cruel
but they were of the times and evil
IDENTIFY the peculiarities of a strong,
grand racA Little is actually known
Of them-nothing certain except that
they were and their works are yet
g g g
The ruins already discovered but
presage discoveries yet to come And
while the archaeologists of the east
are unearthing statuary and digging
ancient cities from the ashes of vol
canic devastation, why shouldn't the
young and vigorous students of the
west venture into the wilderness of
their own continent for scientific
treasures of untold and undreaned
richness?
1t is said to the credit of the earnest
student and man Of science that physi-
cal fear is DO part of his makeup. The
divine passion for the acquisition of
knowledge leaves no place for the
earthly habit of dread and fear.
Science ard adventure count sacrifices
lightly and dangers flee before them.
The expedition should find it's richest
mine of intererE in Central America
and southeastern Mexico. Every
vista is a romance, every relic treas
ure- Every stone is record of his
tory, every tree is a, temple of mys-
terry. Utahs exploring party will bring
back the bulk Of it's freightage from
NA-~-TC Ao5tAAiAAdlA NOAis(liGS. 1t IndH Ne
able to pry into a. secret of the ancient
civilization which flourished there. It
| may be able to throw some light on the
prehistoric connection between the
people Of the TWO hemispheres 1t may
learn whether or not the continent
once extended from Yucatan to Cape
Verde, whether or not there was
dusty road from Popocatapetl to
Vesuvius. 1t may find out whether the
people Of Hellas knew the West Indies
as the Islands of the Hesperides 1t
may bring back a theory as to how the
| Chinese inscriptions on ancient monu-
ments Of the isthmus came 10 be
placed there
For centuries the world has been
taught to look upon the Orient as the
scene of creation, the cradle of civili-
cation, the fountain of knowledge. This
may not be true. The question will
have to be settled first whether the
ancient jewellers of the western hemis-
phere knew their brethren of the east
or developed along independent lines;
whether the people of the weat went
east or those of the east came west;
whether the continents have been
changed by seismic contOrtions since
man made progress, or the ancients
| degenerated from navigators bold TO
J towards of the sea- If ever these
| questions are settled men who are
prepared to endure privations and risk
their lives will have to do it. And it
must be done before the way is made
so easy that the vandal and relic
hunter will be able to do their deadly.
sacrilegious work.