The Saint Paul globe., 1903-07-26

, pyramids did not sufficiently protect
! the entrances to the courts, immense
walls were erected to reinforce the
pyramids. These, walls were all very
| much wider at their bases than at their
SUBMITS, but still were wide enough at
| their SUBMITS to permit the largest We
hicles to be drawn along them, forming
veritable avenues for purposes of de-
fense and traffic. The SUBMITS of the
walls We're paved perfectly by great
squares of cut stone. At certain dis
| tanceS along the walls, converted in
| this way into thoroughfares. staircases,
| elevated platforms and slOping ramps
! were made. Nearly all of these struc-
| lures are now overturned.
The elevated road mentioned above
| trends directly down the mountain
sides without any curves. AS it ap-
proaches the valley it's height above
the mountaip side becomes aWe-inspir-
| ing. The grade of the road is very
| moderate
The Wonderful Elevated Roads.
| For the purpose of communication
all the pyramids were connected by
/ elevated avenues as well as by covered
! trenches. The latter are remarkable in
! that they are still in good state of
1 preservation and are very ample 1t is
! estimated that there We're in the pros
porous days of Cantona over 900 miles
| of elevated avenues of prime import
| ance and 500. miles of main trenches
| open to traffic in the city.
Upon the elevated platforms the
Mexican scientists who have explored
| the ruins, namely DR.. Leon and Engi-
neer Rodriguez, found many fragments
! of pottery indicative of a civilization
more advanced than that of the build
| ers of Cantona and yet entirely pre-
| Colombian. Around the pyramidal
bases the same scientists found orna-
| mental scupolas Of prehistoric times, as
| well as circles of sculpture of bas-
relief Of style hitherto unknown to
| science
There were also found figures of hu-
man beings and animals in stone, as
| we'll as domestic utensils of strange
! make. These were scattered in all di-
| rections through the ruins. There is a
! great abundance Of stone knives and
arroWheads in the ruins. In the sur
| rounding plain-Dr. Leon discovered an
| enormous deposit of human remains,
and at a short distance from this a still
greater deposit of the refuse of the an
! cient city.
Now, what is the meaning of these
great pyramids, platforms and Titanic
| columns? Of the most ancient ruins
found in Mexico, historians and eth
| biologists have said that they were in
! habited by a primitive people ante
| dating the Aztecs. and Toltees, and
4 eontemporaneous with the Mayas and
/ the lost Atlantis But this is mere
| gueSswork.
Other pyramids and other stone
| platforms have been found in Mexico,
| and Of these a learned historian says:
''There' was IAN ufadeniable lapse of
| $3.50 Xeaps -fRa4f-the time the first
| stones We're placed Until the platforms
| were abandohed.s
1 Whether Ft4riss be%so, or, as another
| erudite antiauaGiana queries, "They
| may have served as symbolical his
| tory set up as memorials of past an
4 tiquitg,"-ethey Sare' Still the work Of
giantswhuge menoliths of dead civ
! iliZation-immense stones ranged pile
on pile by deluded yet painstaking
| people,
By climbing to the top of one of
these pyramids one, can look down over
| the extensive plain for twenty miles.
Theories of the Scientists.
Who are the people who built these
| structures, who lavished the work of a
| liftime upon their adornment and who
| have passed away without leaving any
| memorial except in vague hieroglyphics
| of their eXiStence2s
Various are the theories propounded
dation. Writers seeking to find in the
! Bible the root of the tree of the human
family have even aserS5ed these build
| ings to the Jews, to the Phoenicians
and to the Egyptians. They crawl about
for some elew that shall lead to Shem,
| Ham and Japhet instead of taking into
! account the cumulative evidence of an
| original American civilization.
| SO far as can be learned from the
| strangely sculptured stones, the in
habitants of these bygone centuries
wore cotton tunics. without sleeves,
curiously worked and dyed in various
colors. Large mantles were thrown
| across their shoulders
They wore long swords with channels
on each side of the blade. which was
/ edged with sharp flints. They used
hatchets of copper for cutting wood.
Their provisions consisted of roots
and grain. They drank sort of wine
! made of maize. These were the peo-
pie whosbuilt the ruined cities of Mex
1 leo and Yucatan
On oneaof the ruined pillars a dance
is represented. A banner is spread in
the center~of a crowd. on which lis
painting the figure of the sun, with two
| men kneeling in alteration
At the foot of the banner staff
crouches an old man. with a drum made
by stretching a skin over one end of a
HolloW 10y. AL the SIDE OF the drum
ahngs a shell of the land tortoise The
old man leafs the drum and rattles the
she'll
A band of dancers run around the
| banner. In one hand each holds rat.
tie, and in the other a fan of feathers
Each wears wire mask over his head
and a, mantle embrafdered with figures
of animals and hung with small shells
Such was the costume of the lost
Atlantis. the costume of prehistoric
Yucatan, the costume of the people OF
1 the dead cities of Mexico, and, more
wonderful than all else. the costume OF
the ancient Egyptians.