Arizona republican., 1908-03-15
DR. fEWKES'
 RESEARCHES
Some of the Ruins of
 Eastern Mexico
A Preliminary Report to the Smithsonian Insti- tuition.

Although Tn tite eastern part or Mex leo lie ruins of massive structures rep resenting an advanced civilization at a time before Columbus. in recent years the region mas seldom been vis- ited by investigators and comparative ly little is now known of the culture of the prehistoric races that inhabited it. Several years ago, under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution. Dr. J. Walter Fewkes of the Bureau of American Ethnology was sent into this field to engage in some cOmpara- tive studies on these early peoples. He was to determine if possible whether or not they bore any relationship to the ancient tribes whose monuments are in some cases still standing north of the Rio Grande and within the area of the United States. Although the Investigations were not extensive enough to warrant definite conclu- sion, Dr. Fewkes has embodied in a preliminary report just published in connection with report of the Bureau to the Smithsonian Institution. many interesting and some original obser- Vations on what these advanced ab- origines knew and did. A half a dozen ruins were visited and large number of archaeological objects studied
 In regard to the early history of the region Dr. Fewkes says:
 When Hernando Cortes disembark- ed his little army of invasion in what is now the State of Vera Cruz he found it inhabited by aborigines of comparatively high culture. The in habitants called themselves Potomac, and their territory was known as To- tonOcapan. The conqueror was not long in discovering that the Potomac were subjects of AIOcteZuma. a great ruler in the mountains to whom they unwillingly paid tribute. and that they chafed under his yoke. Shortly after landing Cortes visited their settlements at Quianuistlan and Cempoalan. near the former of which he laid the found- ation of a city that he called Villa Rica da ia Vera Cruz. the Rich Town of the True Cross. He was well re- ceived by the inhabitants of these cit ies. making friends with those above mentioned and thirty other dependent pueblos. whose aid greatly facilitated his march to the interior of Mexico. But this friendship of the natives of CempOalan and their settlements for Cortes was not shared by all the ln- dians of the Mexican gulf coast. In the valleys of the Panuco and Tamesi rivers, that is. in what is now northern Vera Cruz and southern Tamaulipas. dwelt the so-called HuaXtec people. They had populous towns. having reached a high degree Of culture. and they had never been conquered by the Aztec At first they resisted the Spaniards. but subsequently were sub dued by Cortes and their main city called Chilla. situated on the Panuco river about 15 miles from its mouth. and certain other settlements on la- goons of the TameSi near the present pueblo Altamira. were destroyed. The survivors of these villages who escap- ed slavery or massacre fled to the mountains. where their descendants. bereft of ancestral arts. lost much of their culture and settled in new lOcali- ties"
 One of the most important of these forgotten cities was Cempoalan. At the time of the Spanish conquest early in the 18th century it was so striking a metropolis that it excited the admir- ation of the Europeans. and from it's many temples and large buildings was called Sevilla. Its streets and plaZas were said to have swarmed with peo- pie. one student estimating it's popu- lation at 3O,OO0. After the conquest it declined rapidly and the number of it's inhabitants so dwindled that in 1880 an authority says there were only thirty houses in which people liv
 
 remained on the old site. most of the survivors having been distributed into new congregations by the all-pOwerful Viceroy. The adjacent forests and eX uberant tropical vegetation rapidly grew over the deserted buildings of the once populous city. so that in a few generations it had become a place of the past
 Thus it remained until not a gener alton ago a Mexican lady. a collector of land shells. called attention to these ruins of a past civilization hidden in the forests. An investigator was sent out, and in 1891 the Mexican Govern ment had a survey made of the vast buildings and models constructed for exhibition, which are now in the Ma tiOnal Musuem in Mexico City. Since then. however, they have again been practically neglected so that pr. Few kes' party, in order to make study of the ancient abandoned city. was fore ed to cut its way through the forests with machetes. They found guarded by underbrush the fallen remains of a metropolis over a mile square, but the main buildings. and those best preserved were crowded into a limited area. On every side in this neighborhOod, if vegetation per- mitted, were encountered evidences of former human occupation. Not only did mounds and pyramids rise on all sides but plastered walls and frag- ments of c0ncreted road-beds lined l with rows of stones set in cement, not unlike curbs. were seen. Dr. FeWkes says: ''So far as can be determined. the | four buildings of old Cempoalan now l standing are pyramids. the bases of | former temples. They are constructed l of a concrete core made of water r-worn | stones laid in lines one above another | and faced with concrete. Wherever | this superficial covering has fallen, es- pecially on the stairways. rows of | stones are clearly seen. The surfaces of these buildings were originally | highly polished. so smoothly that it | was SlIunOSad hV oOa af fh.a SoIdiarS |