The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-08-02

CI ineSe. All except one stand there today.
 Near this platform is what Squier called the palace. I refer to Ephraim George Squier, who went to Peru more than 50 years ago as a special commissioner from the United States and described these ruins in his book entitled "Inci- dents of Travel in the Land of the Incas." When I was in Bolivia 15 years ago I went over Squiers discoveries with Prof. Adolfe Randolier, who was then working for the New York museum, and, he told me that Squier's deductions were in the main correct. Squier made some excavations under the temple. He heard from the Indians that there were large vaults beneath it, and that an underground passage led from there to Cuzco. He dug under the foundations, but found no vault nor passage. The discoveries recently made are the work of pr. Otto Buchtein, the director of the National museum of La Paz. He has made some wonderful finds in the earth not far from the temple. and in the country about. The museum here is full of them and the work is still going on I shall describe his discoveries fur ther on in this letter. giving a talk with Dr. Buchtein.
 But first let me tell you what is still left of Tiahuanacu. The ruins are ac- cessible to all. and some may be seen from the windows of the cars passing through on the way to La Paz. There l<1- ,iex nt ha vat way station and in the town that sur rounds it. The town consists of mud huts some of which have doorways made of stone brought from the ruins and set into the walls. I saw Aymara Indians sitting in these stone doorways and oth- CTS stopping as they went in and out The huts are often plastered with mud. and upon the thatchel roofs are wooden crosses, showing the religious nature of the people The town has Catholic church that has stones of the ancient city in it's walls, and in front of the church is a cross on . pedestal made of such stones. There are carved idols on each side of the gateway that leads into the church. They all came from Tiahua- nacu. whose people lived 5000 years ago and worshiped we know not what.
 The main ruins of Tiahuanacu lie on a broad and level plain, situated about a half mile south of the railroad. They are scattered over the plain, some of them half buried and others lying well up out of the tufts of grass and other low plants that cover it. The region
 
 are in clsin view but outside them there is nothing but the mud huts in the distance and the alpacas, llamas and sheep. watched by Aymara shepherds, spinning or knitting as they mind their flocks.
 One of the striking features of the ruins is a great doorway cut out of one solid block of stone. This is fitted into the walls of an old cemetery The block is broken at one corner, but 1t originally was a great stone slab IS inches thick, and twice as tall as a man. The door way that was cut through its center is four and a half feet high and almost three feet in width. The stone above the door is beautifully carved with figures ~that seem to be Egyptian, and over the doorway is a central figure in high re- lief. Some of the figures evidently rep resent kings, for each holds scepter and some have crowns on their heads. They have human bodies, feet and hands.
 Others of the stones are enormous. saw one 36 feet long and seven feet thick and another which is 26 feet in thickness Some of the blocks are of sandstone and others are trachyte. dark in color and exceedingly hard. The latter are beautifully carved and polished
 Among the most remarkable features of the ruins are the stone idols dug out since Squier's time and made to stand upright. Some of these idols are of gi- gantic size. Their bodies are as big around as flour barrel, and they are more than eight feet in height The faces have thick lips and the heads are so cut that they would be delight to
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