Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-12-03
TO ExcAvATE IN YUcATAN
English Treasure Seekers After Buried
Cities.

Cities.
Yet another party of treasure hunt
ers sailed from England last month.
This time the search is for no paltry
hoard hidden by an old-t time pirate,
nor for mere million or two Of golden
doubloons sunk in some Spanish gal
leon, says the New York Sun. This
latest expedition is to go diving for a
lost continent. Atlantis perhaps, and
salvage Of countless millions worth Of
gold and gems and art treasures Of the
, sunken cities Of region as large as
all Europe.
At the head Of the expedition is
Bernard Meekham, an English explor-
er. His plans include the employment
Of huge floating dry dock, at least
a dozen submarines for work on the
sea bottom and a hundred or more ex-
pert divers.
For nearly hundred years, says
Meekham, Yucatan fishermen have
been bringing up from the waters along
the coast beautifully carved stones,
vases and small objects Of gold and sill
yer. These fishermen are Maya In
dians, who believe themselves to be the
descendants Of a once mighty race
They hold these treasures of the deep
as sacred and when asked where they
get them reply that they have been
given them by their forefathers.
The reports Of these finds led Meek
ham to explore the ruined cities of an
Client civilization scattered all along
the coast Of Yucatan. He thus be-
came convinced Of the existence Of a
once populous and rich country, swal-
lowed up by the sea long ago, but still
accessible. Meekhams discoveries and
conclusions were substantiated inde-
pendently by Prof. Monsonvi, a distin-
guished geologist and archeologist of
Budapest. AS the result Of a confer
ence and comparison Of notes with the
professor the present expedition was
organized.
First Of all, engineers and investiga-
tors were sent to Yucatan. Their re-
ports showed that the country marked
for exploitation had apparently sunk
over an immense irregular land sur
face stretching along the twentieth
parallel and breaking away from what
Is now the northern coast Of South
America and the eastern coast of Cen
trail America. Further observations
showed that the temples, palaces and
houses which formed the cities of this
lost country, were in far better condi-
ton than the land buried cities of Yu-
catan and Guatemala. Several valu-
able objects Of gold and silver, in
crusted with jewels and recovered by
the crude methods necessarily employ
ed by the searchers, made It practical
ly certain that the Inhabitants of the
doomed land had not had time to es-
cape with their wealth before the final
catastrophe.
These discoveries together with the
traces found in the buried cities of Yu-
catan Of once powerful and enlight-
ened race, indicate a wonderful civili-
zation that was in existence long be-
fore the days Of Egypt or Babylon.
Even when the Spanish conquistadores
invaded Yucatan these mysterious cit
les had been in ruins for centuries.
In some cases other cities have been
built upon the sites, and some were
considered holy, while others were
places to be Stunned. In the ruins Of
the ancient city Of Tikal, near the bor-
der Of Guatemala, has been found evil
dence that its long-forgotten people
used paper chemically prepared from
wood fiber, and that they had printed
books and libraries. They also had
telescopes, accurate astronomical in
struments and a perfect calendar, be-
sides theaters and hippodromes, while
their art was excellent. Gold and sill
yer were used lavishly, even in their
household utensils, and their carvings
reveal a higher state Of culture than
Egypt or Assyria.
Submarines and divers will be en-
ployed to explore and loot the sunken
cities. These submarines of the curl
GUS Pine type. fitted with steel arms
ending in immense claws controlled
from within the boat, will crawl about
the sunken cities and carry the treas
ures which the divers will bring them
to the under water platform of the huge
dry dock above. From the surface Of
the sea, steel tubes will also drop into
the depths of the Caribbean, and from
their ends will pour streams Of light,