The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1903-08-29
VANISHED RELIGION
INTERESTING RELICS FOUND IN
SOUTHERN MEXICO.
Show Artistic Excellence That Is su.
perior to the Work of the, Egyptians
-HierogIyphics That Can Not Be
Deciphered.

Among the reliefs photographed by
Herr Toeber Mailer during his trips up
the Usumatsintha river, in Southern
Mexico and Northern Guatemala, are
carvings of gods or priests holding in
the right hand short staff which ends
below in a snakes head and seems to
support a small idol with peculiar
snout, or it may be merely monkey.
II monkey, certainly it is convention"
allied enough. The attitude is gener-
ally one of offering something to de-
ity, but, not always. The manikins
usually have miniature head dresses
with bushy plumes like the gods and
priests and warriors; perhaps they
wear MASKS having long noses or
shouts.
A Intel found at Yaschilan appears
to represent an interview between the
cod Quetzalcoatl and his priest. In the
right hand of the god there is the
curved stick or support ending in
snakes head, and this stick seems to
connect with belt round the waist
OF the small figure. The latter has
anklets, wristlets, tight-f1tting, pat
termed clothes, or perhaps merely
decorations like tatooing on the limbs.
The oldest thing of all is the fact that
the priest has a mani]kin almost ldentl'
cal which he holds up to the gods
manikin, so that they seem to be
shaking hands or boxing with each
other with raised hands. The effect
is that of two pigmies or monkeys
wearing masks held by broad girdles,
and these supported by curving staves
In this sculpture Quetzalcoatl has q
helmet and plumes nearly as high as
himself, composed Of the convention
allied head of serpent and the gor
geous feathers of the quetzal. He has
what seems a transverse nose Orna'
ment, necklaces, a shoulder decoration
or cape with medallions having faces
a. broad breast ornament, a still broad
er girdle with three large mask deco
rations,. skirt of sea shells and long
flamboyant girdle pendant falling al
most to the ground between his feet
About opposite his thighs, which are
partly bare, this pendant takes the
shape of a ford cross. All the spaces
not occupied by the two large and two
small figures are filled with hero
glyphs no one has yet deciphered
Purely as decorations these glyphs
surpass anything known in other parts
of the world. Those carved by the
Egyptians, for example, are certainly
handsome, and are technically more
polished work, but in artistic effective
ness they must yield the palm to these
mysterious records Of by-gone civiliza
lions, owing to the symmetrical round
ed forms of the latter and the sole
ranks which are massed in varie(
squares. These afford a most pleasing
contrast to the sweeping plumes o:
the headdresses and the ornaments
suspended from the collars and girdie:
Of the figures.
When one imagines these extraordf
nary clever carvings, brilliant with COZ
ors, and the priests performing thej;
solemn dances around the affairs, witt
the idol standing or squatted in the
dim niche behind, one can understand
the power of this race of warriors anl
artists must have exercised over the
population that once animated one OF
the most fertile regions of Mexico aEc
Guatemala.-New York Times.