The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-07-09
MEXTCO'6 ANCIENT
 CIVILIZATIONS.
Remarkable Ruins of Chichen Itza, the Holy City, of
 the Mayas.

For centuries Mexico has been been the home of many races. Most of ,1s are won't to regard it as the home of only the Aztecs,, with whose civfIization Prescc14 and the early Spanish chronicles have made us more or less familiar. The archae- oIopist and studerre of preAColum bian and prehistoric times, however, knows that there were races espec- iallyi in southern Mexico and parts of Central America, whose ancient civ ilfzation had no connection with the empire of the Montezumas, and whose wonderful works, long ago fallen into decay and ruin, are now the subjects of scientific research and study. To Amerfcans at least these should be as interesting as the ruins of ancient Egypt or the buried cities of Asia and the Far East
 Under the tfAIe Ancient Temples and Cities of the New World's the Monthly Bulletin of the Pan Ameri- can. Union Washington, D. C. has been publishing series of articles dealing with these relics of a splen- did bllt lonR-forgotten people. One of the most interesting of the ruined cities bore the name of Chichen Itzas once the t'TIoly City, of the Mayas, a people of whom sylvanus G. Morley writes:
 Long before the discovery of Am erica there f1ourished in southern Mexico, Guatemala, and parts of Hon. di1ras a great civf1fzati on, which has been called the Hayas It may be said without exaggeration that rnls civ iIization had reached a height equall-s ed by no other people of the Western Herni sphere prior to the corning of the white man. Tn architecture sculpture, and in painting the Mayas exceI1ed. Their priests were astron- obers of no mean ability, having ob-' aT7 a7s wit of instruments of precision such as are known to us, the lengths of the Solar and Venus years, and probably the lengths of the Mercury and Mars years Tn addition to this they had developed a calendar system and per- fected a. chronology which in some of It's characteristics was equal to our own.
 'sBut the ancient glory of this peo- pie had long since departed when fernando Cortez first came in con- tact with them on the coast of Yuca- tan in 1519. Their star had set Their greatest cities had been aban- doned and lay in ruins. Even the memory of the older cities of their culture, such as Pafenque, Copans and I Quirigua, for example. seems to have l passed from the minds of men, their former existence forgotten. Prob ably the largest, and certainly the most magnificent. of the ruined cit ies which the Spanish conquerors l found on their arrival in Tucatan I was Chichen Itza, around which ev- en In it's desoIation there still clus- 1 ter a thousand traditions of former sanctiry and splendor. The name Is Maya, and means ssThe Mouth of the I Wells of the Itzas-
 gro visit the ancient city now, one 1 io1ts for Is long and weary miles in a two-wheeled cart drawn by three mules over the toughest kind of a highway imaginable. Finally. when 1t seems that the limit of physical endurance has been reached, the cart suddenly lurches around a sharp turn in the road and as if by magic the l lofty Castillo flashes into view, tow ering high above the plain and the l rest of the city.
 Al A This imposing structures the highest in Yucatan. rises 7s feet
 above the plain. The pyramid on l which the temple stands is 195 feet l long and covers about an acre of l ground It is made of g terraces of rately paneled to relieve the monot- tony of effect Up the center of each of it's four sides rises stairway 37 feet wide. These stairways have massive stone balustrades, carved to lrepresent serpents, the heads being at I the bases of the stai1ways and flank ing them.
 tsThe Castillo would seem to have Ibeen the center of the ancient city
 and probably it's chief sanctuary. To I the north lies the Sacred Cenote 6well) and the causeway leading tc
 it. On the east is a vast group ot buildings, colonnades, courts. and
 pyramids, 'tThe City of a Thousand
 Columns.7 as some one has pictur-
 esquely described 1t. Due west is
 the group of structures known as the
 Ball Court. To the south for half 2
 mile or more, scattered through the Jungle, are pyramids, courts, tenn
 pies. and palaces. The central loca-
 ton of the Castillo with reference te all of these, as well as it's great ssize
 and commanding height, argue
 strongly that 1t was the chief sane
 tuary of the Holy. City. In another
 structure. the House of the Tigers
 are found the remnants of severn
 beautiful mural paintings. One o1
 these represents an attack by an en
 erny on a large city, splendidly ex secuted, and presents perhaps tns
 most remarkable piece of aborigina. painting known to be in existence The total area, covered by the ruin.
 has been estimated at 10 square
 miles.
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