New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-12-04
ANCIENT AMERICAN CITY
French Explorer Tells of Discov-
cries in Maya's Capital.
FLOURISHED BEFORE AZTECS
Lectures of DR.. John II. Finley at
the Sorbonne Attract
Great Crowds.
rev Cable to Tn rr.bune.1

icy Cable to The Tr1bune.1
Paris, Dec. 9.-Great interest has beer
aroused among French scientists by the
| accounts given last night at the French
Geographical Society by Count Maurice
de Perigny Of his travels in Central
America in 1905 and 1905 and his discov.
cry OF the ruins Of Nacun. the capital OF
Maya. an empire which f1ourished four
centuries previous to the rule of the
Aztecs.
| A curious feature of the ancient city
| Of Nacun. where important excavations
have been made. is that its streets were
| exactly like the cities in the United
States OF the present day,
Among those present at the lecture
were Ambassador Bacon, Salamon Rel
| mach, Due de Loubat, Henry vignaux and
Baron Hulot Emmanuel de Margerie,
president Of the French Geographical So
ciety.
The lectures at the Sorbonne by DR..
John H. Finley, president Of the College
| Of the City Of New York, the second of
| which he delivered this afternoon, deal
ing with regions in the United States
where French explorers were pioneers,
are fully up to the high standard main
tained during the last seven years by
the American university lecturers at the
Sorbonne and which are the result Of the
generous initiative Of James Hazen
Hyde, Of Harvard.
Dr. Finley's course is so popular that
only one-third Of those wishing to hear
him can find places in Richeleu Hall.
In the wild, tropical forests Of Central
America and Yucatan. overgrown with
trees and tangled vines, psychologists
found the ruins Of forty ancient towns.
| remnants of a standardization which, like
that of the relics Of the Aztecs and Pc
ruvians to the north and south of them,
tells of civilization that was old when
the American continent was discovered.
They were the dwelling places of the
Mayas. aherigines Of that region and at
one tln1e the most advanced of American
Indian races. These towns were connect
ed by roads paved with stone, over which
courters ran with mail. traders bore their
wares or insuFgent armies advanced and
Tetreated.
Ing dhsieht MdSdS had written Ian
suage and left numerous examples of MS.
They made wooden covers for their books
and manufactured paper from leaves or
vegetable fibre, joined edge to edge and
folded like a fan. The characters were
pictorial, painted IN varied colors
The Mayas and Aztecs had much In COM
mon. They wofshipped the same deities.
Including the sun, and sometimes offered
human sacrifices. Their temples contained
idols of wood and stone. Their govern
nlent was more monarchical than that of
the Aztecs. but with them, too, the real
power lay In an elected council. The peo-
pie dressed in cotton, with ornaments of
gold, greensboro and feathers They sur
passed all other American tribes in their
architecture and carving in stone They
managed. without iron tools, to erect beau
hful buildings of stone, carved with re-
markable designs
One of the most famous Magyar works Of
art is in the temple at Palenoue, where
there is a remarkable tablet on which is
represented a sacrif1ctal scene. Conan is
one Of the most interesting Mayan towns