Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-09-08

many of their ideas. These Indians have many
small clay images in animal and human shape,
but they are not idols. They serve as proxies
for those who cannot be present in person, for
"good spirit creatures" and for kindly disposed
deitieS.
Judging from the portrait pottery, these peo-
pie were tall, well formed and muscular. Their
heads we're of the round type, rather broad,
with artificially fattened craniums in some
cases. Nowhere are found the heavy, beaklike
nose of the Aztec and Magyar carvings or the
strongly aquiline noses of the Incan and pre-
Incan races. The nose is always well bridged,
straight or slightly aquine, and the nostrils are
narrow. The eyes are full and straight the lips
rather full and thick, the chin receding, the
eyes set far apart. 1t is impossible to say
whether they are light or dark skinned, but
they wore their hair long braided or twisted
into a sort of queue at the back and either
braided into elaborate form upon the head or
covered with caplilze, close fitting, highly or
namental headdress.
What happened to this wonderful people
that caused them to disappear from the face
of the earth? Why is it that nothing was
known about them until our work began few
years ago. uncovering their monuments and
graves? In view of the state of the country
: the answer is very simple. There must have
been series of very severe earthquakes. accom-
panied by heavy volcanic eruptions which lit
orally buried these thousands of people under
tons of volcanic ash, tossing the stone columns
and images about like pebbles hurting frag-
ments of these monuments to considerable dis
tances. In many eases the largest stone monu-
ments are snapped of, the bases remaining
firmly fixed and upright, while the upper por-
lions are thrown to one side or the middle poT-
ton farther away from the base than the top.
In many instances the largest idols are found
turned end-for-end, with the base of the ped
estal uppermost, while others have been broken
and the heads of the figures are found hum
dred feet away from the bodies.
Another convincing proof of the terrific earth
commissions is the fact that the stratum of
hard, tenacious clay on which the idols have
been set up was lifted and moved so that 1t
presented wavelike surface.
TN several places the layer of volcanic ash
was more than feet in thickness; obvi-
ously hot when deposited, for it had burned
firmly onto the pottery.
It is, therefore reasonably certain that the
destruction of all this culture was the result
of an eruption of Guacamayo Volcano, which
Is barely 6 miles from the temple site This
eruption must have been accompanied by ire
mendous earth tremors and upheavals. It is
not difficult to imagine the terrorized people,
ing madly from their RACED homes to their tenn
pie. There they tried to placate their gods by
wholesale sacrifices and the mad destruction
of their most priced possessions at the feet Of
their idols. Then utter despair must have fol-
lowed as tremors shook the earth, the ground
rose and fell and the sacred monuments and
images were broken and hurled from their
bases
1t is quite remarkable and cannot be mere
coincidence, that the Aztecs' legend or myth
OF the Toltecs contains an account of violent
volcanic eruption near the City of Tollan,
which caused the Tollan rulers to order whole
sale sacrifices in order to placate their gods.
Although similar eruptions have occurred, no
doubt, and have destroyed prehistoric settle
ments in many places the ancient Nahua
legend and the actual occurrence at Cocle are
remarkably similar. 1t is not beyond the bounds
Of possibility or reason that the story was
actually based upon the eruption of Cocle. At
all events, it proves that devastating erup-
ton would have brought about. the wholesale
sacrifices which we know occurred at Cocle
Possibly every member of the race was de-
stroyed by the devastating heat the poisonous
gases and the binding dust emitted by the
volcano. II some, indeed, survived, they may
have fed in their canoes on the nearby rivers
to carry the tradition of the disaster to later
generations. Those who escaped may have
taken the memory of their culture with them,
to scatter 1t among other peoples and perpetil-
ate It under modified forms M distant places! "
Copyright. 1921