Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1912-11-17

E&&S3 tors of northern Europe
were living in huts, eating
with their fingers and sleeping on straw, it
was the most civilized place on the western
hemisphere. 1t had its pyramids and its
palaces, it's temples and its novels 1t had
men who understood fine masonry and art
lists who did wonderful carving. 1t was the
capital of great population, which filled
the valley in which am writing-a valley
which in its fertility is equal to that of the
Nile the Ganges, the Amazon or the Kongo.
The Valley of the Motagua.
Today this valley is covered with jungle.
Palm trees OF hundred varieties wave their
fanlike leaves over it, and lianas. from the
thickness of your finger to that of your leg,
bind the great trees together. Mixed with
the palms are mahoganies and other hard
woods, SO that the vegetation is almost inn
penetrable. The underground is dense and
it is good woodsman who can cut his way
for two miles through the Jungle inside OF
II hours. The soil and climate are such that
the clearing of today becomes a forest
within few years and plants will shoot up
to from dozen to 20 feet in the course of
six months.
III the Same lllIlC the uSSdy VI TIC VCSC-
tation is rapid. Cut it down and it rots so
quickly that within few months the small
err trees have disappeared, and by the aid OF
the vast armies of ants, the larger ones last
but few years. For this reason, all of the
woodwork of that ancient civilization has
long since passed away The stonework
remains, and within the past 80 or 40
months American Psychologists have been
digging it out OF the jungle and trying to
discover the character of the people who
lived here thousand and more years ago.
What they found and what they are doing
l shall tell you further on in this letter.
Where the Ruins Lie.
But first let me give the location. doubt
whether many of you have ever heard of
the Motagua river and of this great Garden
of Eden known as the Motagua valley. 1t
was we'll fitted for the home of great peo-
pie. If you remember your history you will
find that the first civilizations have sprung
up in valleys. The soil there is rich and the
river makes it easy to carry the products
from one place to another. The fight for
food is not hard, and the people have leisure
to cultivate the gentler arts Other peoples.
come to buy Of their abundance. Commerce
follows and in time civilization grows. So
the civilization of Egypt sprang up in the
valley of the Nile; so that of Babylon and
Nineveh in the delta of the Euphrates, and
so that of old India along the banks of the
Ganges.
It was somewhat the same in Central
America The continent here consists OF
backbone of mountains, with narrow strip
of lowlands along the coast. The Motagua
flows out of the mountains in Guatemala,
and it has valley about five miles wide
running from this backbone to the sea. The
mountains are SO situated that they catch
the water-laden winds of the Caribbean and
give it heavy rainfall At the same time
they shelter it from the winds and make it a
tropical paradise.
The Home Of the Mayans.
This paradise was the Garden of Eden of
this'nation thousand years ago. Its peo-
pie were the Mayans. They conquered the
jungle and lived here no one knows how
long, until in time they were conquered by
the wilder tribes, and the jungle again came
into its own.
The exact dates of these events are UNI
known. It was probably thousand years
ago when the jungle again resumed its
sway and from then until now nature has
reigned supreme. 1t is only during the past
century that any one has known that civ
ilization ever existed here. And it is only