New-York tribune., 1906-05-06
ARIZONA FOSSIL TREES.
Remarkable Relics of Bggone 4ges
Bones Found Among Them.

Bones Found Among Them.
The discovery Ot charred human bones among
the fossil tree trunks OF Arizona has added a
new mystery 20 that already mysterious region.
Just as the geologists have disagreed IN theIr
theories OF how such huge logs could be piled
in prOfusion In a land almost barren OF living
vegetation. so the ethnolOssts explain in various
ways the significance Of these bones.
They are ghastly relics OF cannibal feasts, |"
says one.
''They tell OF an ancient American MolOch 70
whom human bodies were sacrificed" says an
other.
They are the bones OF widows. who cast
themselves, as their sisters in India once dld, on
the funeral pyres Of their husbands" adds a
third.
II these bits OF skeletons were indeed the leav-
ings Of bygone banquets at which man ate man.
as Dr. Walter Hough. OF the Smithsonian Insti-
tuition. believes. the horror OF those scenes was
at least Nghtened by one touch OF beauty. The
victims ended their lives within chambers which
were like gigantic jewel boxes. The fires which
marked the end OF their existence made a YER
liable heaven OF the walls, ceiling and even the
floor. all OF which were built out OF the crys-
tallized wood that lay In heaps for miles around
and which sparkled as IL studded with a million
stars. These habitations have been unearthed
from the sand Of the desert: and what would
seem 70 support Dr. Hough's belief that their
inmates were cannibals is the fact that the half
burned bones were found for the most part
around the flreplaces where the family cooking
was done.
The opinion that these bones are an that Is Ieft
Of suicidal widows is held far more firmly by
the Hopi Indians than palefaced ethnOlogists
The Hopis, whose pueblos are situated about
eighty miles north OF the fossil forest, have a
tradition that when man died among the stone
trees his spirit Instantly was sucked into one
OF the great logs. There 1t was plniOned like
Ariel in the pine, until the widow came TO its
rescue and bore the body out under the stars.
which in that thin. dry cir seam 20 press
close 70 the earth. and laying the corpse on
q petrifled tree. covered Il over with dry corn
stalks and sasebrush stems Then setting
1t on IRE she sought death by plunging into the
flames. The bones OF man and wife were later
heaDed on the hearth Of their home. AS the
tourist Of to-day win see. most OF the petriaed
trunks are cracked into many transverse seq
ments, looking much as II they had been cut
up with a saw. According to the HOpiS, each
OF these cracks was caused by the soul OF a
husband breaking free from its stony prison
Yet whatever may have been the customs and
OF the people who lived among
the stone trees, they only show how ephemeraL
''fOrest cOrpses, as one geOlOgist has called the
great petrihed logs. human beings seem to exist
hardly longer than insects born In the morning
to die at night For more than a million years.
says DR.. Lester l. Ward, who made q special
study Of the forest few years ago for the
government. these trees have existed. They
once grew, IL is his belief, many feet above
where they now lie. their roots IN a fertile. well
watered soil They grew luxurlantly until. over
Whelmed by q cOnvulsi0n OF nature. they were
uproOted and hoated away on some body Of
water. Thus It was. he explains that such
great quantity OF logs were collected so closely
together. Ie was much like the way loss IA a
river get In Jam" In a vast heap they sank
In the sand. which finally became sandstone
and transformed the woody tissues into silicon.
Many Of the trees to-day are incrustsd with
sandstone, and some are stiN seen 70 be buried
IN It. proving. Dr. Ward says. that his theory
Is correct.
The wonders OF the petrifed forest are little
known 20 the average American. A few OF fts
specimens he may perchance have seen IN the
form OF table tops. clocks. vases. or bric-a-brac
but he has never walked over the ground where
these wood crystals lie ln abundance mile after
mile. He has never paced or the length OF
some Of the biggest forest cOFpses.~ 20 find that
they measure more than a New York City block
logs, 20 find they are as big around as the body
Of an elephant. He has never tested his nerve
BY walking over tho natural log bridge. which, /
still spared by time. spans a chasm sixty feet I
wide one end just hung on the brink OF the /
,anyOn. the other buried IN the sandstone on +
he opposite side.
The reasonis is that the average American when
no travels IS too frequently disposed 20 hurry.
He dislikes 20 stop on the way. The great petri-
led forests (there are really three OF them all
old lie only few miles from the railroad, and
nay be easily reached by wagon ride Of an
loUr and a half The chief deposits OF tho
ossilized wood are contained within a govern
nent park OF about two thousand acres, which
nay be reached from either Adamana or HOl-
'TOoz on the Santa Fe route. The government
'Ousht the land In 1908 TO preserve the treas
res from the raids OF souvenir hunters and
Tic-a-bTac makers. From Adamana which OBJ
aimed its name from the pioneer guide OF the
eelon' Adam Hanna, the first forest is about
even miles distant. The journey may be made
2 leisurely fashion. starting late IN the morn
rs and returning al dusk. With an hour ON the