Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1910-04-22
The Mystery of Yucatan,

Nearly nine years before the opening
OF the Civil War there died at New York
great American traveller, John L..
stephens lie was not only Il traveller
hut man OF affairs He made no prc-
tensions TO scientific protundlty, but he
drought To notice treasures OF arthaeuin-
~ MhtCh ever since ms time have inter-
cSted and puzzled students OF that
science III every part OF the civilized
world.
Stephens was a business man. His
travels were undertaken On account vi
poor health, ami toy what seems like n
peryerslty of fate that portion of them
Which gave HIM IL place III the temple
OF fame took hm into Il climate which
undermined his constI,Uuou and contrib
u'eC To cause his death at the early age
of forty lie was Il director of the
American Ocean steamship Navigation
Company, which established the first
American line of transatlantic steam
ships. lie was conspicuous III the pro-
lection and construction of the railway
across the isthmus OF Panama \ law
Yer by profession, an author by acct
dent. he is remembered by his books of
travel, the first OF which dealt with
Egypt, Arabia, Petrea and the Holy
Land, the next with Greece. Turkey
Russia and Poland, and the others. pub
hshed respectively in 1871 and 1S43,
with Central America. He is especially
remembered for his volumes on the arch
aeuIugy of 1ucNtan. There it was thaU
he came upon monuments bespeaking an
ancient civilization suggesting that of
EGYPT Their degree of antiquity and
their fun significance have never been
explained, His books describing them
have gone through more than dozen
editions, and have stimulated other cN-
plorcrS ever since his time including the
rrenchman, lie Plongeon who, With his
wife, half century after the death of
stephens. spent years in search for
further archaeological remains in the
vicinity where Stephens had found SO
many Today the field is regarded by
experts as only scratched, and not as cut
waited for the bumper harvest which it is
looked upon as likely to yield.
Who were the people that bull Pa
lenQuc and the other cities IN Iucatan
whose ruins stephens discovered aud de
ScrlbedE There are Indications that the
people of Palcnque We're learned in the
wisdom of the Egyptians Did they
come after the builders of the Great
Pyramid of CheopS, or before Their his
tory autedate,l that OF the AZtecs What
was It's meaning from the standpoint OF
the general history of early man.
An expedition OF English and German
archaeologists is now on its way 10 Pa
lcnque TO make "A thorough examination
OF the relies which il contains. Heading
the party is Sir Martin Conway. whose
reSear, hes among the monuments of an
cient races in the Andes produced inter
eSting results.
One of the especial objects of the eN-
petition will he 10 cndcavor TO learn
more than is now known OF the mean
ingS hidden in the symbolism OH the re
markablC monument discovered at Pa
lenque known ms the tablet or altar of
the cross From Aztec legends il is I'M
derSto0d that this stone has reeked with
the blood of human sacrifice, yet in the
central design of the curious sculpture
which enriches it's surface students pros
fes; to discover the figure OF the cross,
with Il bird lowering above It, Tie bird
is not dove, but a composite or con
Yeutonalized creature, with long,
plumclike tail and the tal0ns OF an
eagle, The upper section of the Toll,
ated cross is finished like "A human
head. and the whole figure might bc thnt
of a man or idol standing with arms out
stretched One of the slabs of this tab
let or altar is in the United States Ma
tional Museum at Washington. The Con
way expedition will he provided with
drawings of the carving on this stab.
In the character Of the buildings al
paeHque and elsewhere in Nucalnu and
in the hieroglypliics on their welIpre-
served monuments, as well MS In the re
currcuce Of the serpent symbol there are
powerful reminders Of the ancient Egyp-
tons. There is n similarity to ancient
Egyptian edigics in the features
and costumes of the scuptured dg
ures which Is very strange. Could there
have been commuuicn ton between Cen
tral America and Egypt in the remote
pasty This question suggests the legend
of the lost Atlantis, that tabled island
which sank beneath the waves OF the
ocean.
RuI speculation has ranged widely re-
garding the ancient people of Iucutan
and their mysterious cyclOpean rrpan~,
What is needed is fuller and more exact
information. and this the Conway rXpe-
dtiou viii endcavor Ia procure.