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

Outoiuc Tic great SHAFTS is turtle winch
weighs about 20 tons and is at least eight
feet in height. 1t is entirely covered with
hieroglyphics and is one great mass of
carving.
How the Monuments Were Built.
These monuments which surround the
ancient city Of Quirigua are said to be the
largest OF their kind upon the American con-
tinent, and the wonder is how the people of
those ancient times could have lifted such
enormous weights. We have no record that
they had beasts Of burden, and machinery
was as yet uninvented. They probably used
levers, pulleys and cables and rolled the
stones into place upon inclined planes.
There are evidences that the great stones
were brought down upon RATS at the time
of the floods, and the remains of an ancient
canal is shown. The stone itself is such that
it hardens with age, being comparatively
soft when it comes from the quarry, and the
carving may have been done with stone
axes and stone chisels, aided by knives of
obsidian.
In Quirigua City.
So much for the monuments about Ouiri-
qua. Now let us look at the main part of the
city. | found the men working there when
| visited it yesterday. They were laboring
in the heart of the jungle. Palms and ma
hogany trees, some of the latter $50 feet
high, shaded them, and the trunks of great
trees lay among the debris of the temple
mounds which they were cutting out They
have already cleared space of six or eight
acres which is filled with great mounds, un-
der which lie some mighty temples of the
past. The mounds are 20 or 80 feet high,
and you can see the stones of temples show
ing out. On the tops of some of them grew
trees many feet thick and in mound No.
| saw negroes cutting out the stumps Of
mahogany trees. They were taking away
the earth in one corner and there under the
supervision of Mr.. Morley the ancient walls
were being relaid. The temple on which he
was working was about 80 feet wide and
100 feet long. The stones taken out were
covered with carvings and upon them were
the faces of men and women. There were
also glyphs or characters cut in the stone.
The stones / first saw were part Of
frieze and Mr.. Morley showed me that the
wall of the temple was nine feet thick, and
carving. One door has been excavated and
the slabs over this are seven feet long. l
saw one piece of sandstone which had hole
cut through it, and it seemed to me as
though it might have been the top Of let
ter box.
The Grand Plaza. u,
From this temple went to others climb
ipr tho etapc until could lob douv,, ,,,
the great court in which the mounds. of tenn
Piles lay. The whole made me think of the
stadium at Athens and can see that when
the earth is all cleared away the site will be
very imposing. Much OF the buildings has
already been uncovered, and you can walk
about through the ancient structures and
wonder what kind of people put them into
shape.
There is no doubt but that the stone all
came from some distance. The soil of the
court is sandy loan, and there are no rocks
OF any kind within three miles of it except
ing those in the temples. The chief quarries
are three miles away, and it is believed that
the heaviest monuments were brought here
by turning the course of the Quirigua river
SO that it ran past the temples.
The city seems to have been laid with
grand plaza or court, with smaller court
adjoining for the temples or main buildings.
The main buildings surround a court They
had terraced walls from 80 to so feet high,
and in some of them are rooms with walls
of square stones and doorways arched with
flat stones. To the north of the plaza is a
pyramid, which is $50 feet square at the base
and 40 feet high. Near this pyramid is a
round, carved stone SO big that it would take
40 horses to haul if it was put upon wagon.