The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1901-02-24
Wonders of Old Mexico as
Seen From a Mules Back

south Buried in thickest copse. the
frowning figures Of Palenque. and the
pictured walls, are shut in from the
great noisy world. These m0nstr0us
ruins are located near the town Of the
same name, a small dead village Of
thousand souls. and the two large rivers
Michel and the Usumacinta, the latter
forming the frontier line with Guatemala
further west. rise az the ruins Uhemselv-
es, small rivulets coursing on either side
Of the ruins en- their way to the Atlantic
and the Pacific respectively. So deeply
are the ruins and totterlng temples bur-
led in the tropical depths. that it took
Mr. Yates twelve men fully eight days
to cut down enough brush and foliage to
enable aim to take twenty four views
Little wonder was it that though Cortes
passed quite near them on his march
to Honduras in 1924, neither he nor his
chronicier Diaz saw them, and it was
not until the year 1850 that they were
discovered In 1881 they were explored
by order Of the King Of Spain by Captain
Antonio del Rio, whose report was fin
ally published in London in 1892. Cap
tain Dujaix. at the instance Of King
Charles ". also published a voluminous
report thereon, in 1898. An American
Mr.. J. I. Stephens, published in 1910, one
Of the best descriptions Of these famous
relets Of a time-dlmmed past.
Mr.. Waite devoted some time TO the
work Of photographing the edidces, and
in his undertaking was ably aided by
Senior Benito La Croix. the gentleman
appointed by the government in charge
Of the famous ruins. There are five sets
Of buildings; the Ualacio. the temple Of
the Beau Relief the temple If the cross.
the temple Of the sun. while there are
other pyramidal structures. crumbling
into their native dust. a long and suu
distinguishable acGueduct, and numerous
ruins, all scattered over a territory Of
thirty miles. The mounds or terraced
hillocks upon which the buildings stand
are high and Of vast dimensions. and the
buildings themselves Mr. Waite describes
as pyramidal in shape, and so old that
trees with diameter of four feet are
growing out Of the roofs. His pictures
Of roof and tree and he also was able
to photograph some of the subterrauean
snow some of these curious combination
passages. Under the Palacio. the most
pretenuous Of the edifces. he had tn use
candles to focus the camera. and take
the pictures with flash light. process
that seemed to startle the natives as
much as though the old dead kings
themselves had broken some fiery crust
and thus reushered themselves upon the
scene Of their forgotten splendor.
The Palacfo or Palace must have been
in those remote and unrecorded ages q
grand structure. 1t stands even TODAY
dwarfed as It must be by the covering
and sinking Of ages. on a terrace Of OBJ
long shape forty feet high. 300 feet of
frontage and go feet Of depth, The build
ing itself is only twenty-five feet from
the surface Of the terrace, in height. but
it is 23S feet long by $50 in depth. 1t
was constructed of stone. and some fine
views were taken. Some of the pictures
viii need re-touching for the only water
available on the ground, was that obtain
ed from underground streams and it was
warm too warm to prevent the films
from peeling in places. The photographs
have been very successful in the deoic-
ton Of the slab showing the king mount
ed on a double headed tiger. a figure
three feet by four. on q slab ten feet
high and four feet square. che or the
many monoliths that abound I'm that
wonderful group Of structures. The So
called Assyrian figures elsewhere. and
which are life size were finely taken.
and the center slab between them which
Mr. Batres contends contains all The
characteristics of the Aztec calendar
stone The temple Of the Cross furnish
ed excellent photographs. but the cross
now there is by no means in the perfect
condition Of the one in the National
museum and the companion stone in the
Smithsonian institute The only bits Of
coloring which Mr. Waite found were in
the vicinity Of the key-hole windows.
where the slabs were painted red. color
still fast and brilliant. These old painted
slabs are covered however with moss ana
nchens and practically buried under veg
citation and have TO be scraped of to
catch the glimpse of color
The main object Of Nr Yates trip
was to take photographs Of these OH
ruins of temples built presumably "a the
eighth century, ana he succeeded even
better than he expected ne would There
was hardship, danger and disease To ne
r;skod in tho endeavor. but be did not
hesitate. and his pluck and perseverance