El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-03-28

capital of Tenochtitlan there, and af-
terward changed its name to Mexico
after their war god
Although engaging in the practice OF
idol worship and being the greatest
practitioners of human sacrifice in
all history, the Aztecs were yet peo-
pie who recognized a lord of the uni
verse, ard addressed him in their pray
ers as the god by whom we live"
that knowest all thoughts and giveth
all gifts, the invisible, incorporeal
one god of perfection and purity I'M
der whose wings we find our sure
defence" They had a feast in which
they mixed blood with flour and baked
it into cakes, which they passed to
all the people. who ate it with evil
dences of repentance and humility,
declaring it to be the flesh of the del
ty. The head and lips OF their child
rem were touched with water as they
were given their names. Their exodus
from Atzlan finds a parallel in the ex-
odus OF the Israelites from Egypt.
They, as we'll as many other peoples
in Mexico. had their story of Eve and
the serpent, of Noah and the deluge.
of the Immaculate Conception. and
other Biblical beliefs. differing only
as much as one would expect them
to differ in a thousand years Of re-
telling.
The Conquistadors are response
Bile for the loss of the history of the
remarkable peoples who inhabited
Mexico in the centuries before Cor
tez came. His historian declares that
they found the Mayas possessed Of
many historical works, books relating
to such sciences as astronomy medi-
cine, geology. chronology and theolo-
gy, and Of a spoken and written Ian
guage which permitted them to express
the most delicate shades of thought.
What treasures may have persisted
when a bigot's torch burned the lit
erature Of Mayan civilization.
Where Ancnents ExcelIed.
One is ever and anon stumbling up
on reminders that some things were
done by the prehistoric Mexicans that
cannot be done in the boasted days of
enlightenment of the twentieth CEN
fury. Tempering copper was an art
that perished with them They made
filagree work without soldering to a
perfection not now = approached It
was the Mexican Indian who discOv-
cred that the female cochineaI could
be used in making indigo rivaIing the
Tyrian purple, and only the tar barrel
of the modern synthetic chemist has
produced a substitute for it. The IN
dams of central Mexico were able to
make wooden serapes that would turn
any tropical shower.
The quaintness of the country adds
much to its charm and It's romance
At Cuautla one alights at the oldest
railroad station in the world. It once
was a church. Jalapa he may set his
watch by the oldest clock in America
In Cuernavaca he may see a dynamite
tree, whose seeds burst with a loud re-
port and make it dangerous for the by
stander- At Lake Texcoco he finds
the natives catching and eating the re-
pulsive looking larva1 lizard known
as the ajolote. which becomes sexual
" mature, but never passes out of the
larval state-a condition existent no.
where else. and also a condition still
unexplained. AT other places he finds
the natives gather a species Of fly eggs
and make caviar from them The flies
themselves are caught. mashed UP. and
wrapped in corn husks and sold as a
sort Of chilli concarne-
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Research
in Mexico.