Perth Amboy evening news., 1919-10-24
BOTH new AND OLD
Mexico a Mixture of the Ancient
and Modern.
Prehistoric Remains Show That tho
Builders Had a High state Of Civ
HizatIon-Native Tribes and
Races still Exist.

What manner Of. folk are the Next
cans?
Whatever ones views on the wlsest
political course toward Mexico, II will
help In a thorough understanding of
that country to examine the rich his
tory, the ancient civilization, the pre-
historic remains to be found among
our southern nelghbors, says the Ma
tional Geographic society.
"Of the 100000 Inhabitants, two
ffths claim direct descent from an
Client tribes or families which are ac-
cepted as the basis of Mexican his
tory. two-lfths are of mixed native aud
foreign blood, the remainder being
classed under the common n|ppellatlon
OF foreign
Throughout much of the country,
n often within short distances of
railroads, are remnants of some of
the ancient native tribes or races, adj
herring to customs, methods and speech
of their ancestors. Thus In Oaxaca
are the Zapotecas and Mixtecas, the
estimate for the two races being a half
million, and a government publication
mentions q dozen other families In the
same state.
an Hldalgo and adjacent states, the
Otomis; In Puebla and Oaxaca, the
Mexicanos; the predominatlng Mayas
in Yucatan in A%lichOacan and Jalisco.
the Tafascans, and the Tlaxcalans. in
their native state, and other groups
elsewhere, still maintain the tribal In"
dividualities.
although Spanish is the language
of the country and much English is
spoken In the regions most visited, a
large number of the natives use oaly
the vernacular.
prescott refers to the Aztecs, Tax
calans and others as producers Of dell
cate fabrics, colored by vegetable dyes;
intricate designs In the precious met
ais, and beautiful decorations made of
feathers; numerous ruins also indi-
cate marvellous skill of ancient peo-
pies in stone.wOrk, especially as the
tools used were obsldlan or copper.
evidence that this dizziness In
handiwork has been retained appears
In the feather-work, wood-carvlng,
stone-cutting, etc, Of the present day.
The beautiful pottery and unique
weaves of serapes, made with the
crudest appliances, and excellent fab
rication In cast or wrought iron, 6li-
gree silver, ETC., also bear testimony
to the skill of the Mexican Indian.
Mexico has a wealth Of archaeolog-
ical relics, remnants Of an ancient civ
iilzaiion of which no well-def1ned trace
exists. Volumes have been written to
demonstrate that the builders Of what
ale now ruins were Of Monaghan,
Semitic, or Phoenician origin, but the
riddle cannot be admitted as solved.
All authorities, however, unite In
tsess ne magnitude and the per
lection Of workmanship shown at va
rlous ruins found throughout the Mex
lean territory. The region adjacent
to sor1o ~ these raises question as
to the source of s~ustenance for null
tItudes which must have then existed.
aid causes speculation upon changes
which may have occurred in the In
terval.
prominent dlhohs these iu'no oAe
Uxmal and ChiChen-ItZa, In the state
of Yucatan; Palenque, in the state OF
Chlpas: Militia, in the state Of Oaxaca,
and X~ochicalco, IN the state Of
Morelos.
"The pyramid of Cholula, in Puebls'
and those Of the Sun and Moon. In
the state OF Mexico. have also been
literally described, but distributed
over wide areas are many other ruins
which have had but little or no inves-