Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-19

parts of the world in Mesopotamia. for en-
ample. and in Egypt. But Mr.. Collins points
out that in America the mound-building Gus
tom would reasonably appear to have had
single origin and to have spread from that
In Middle America the Mayas and perhaps
their primitive ancestors began building great
stone mounds or pyramids and on these high
places they put their stone affairs and Later
their impressive temples.
great cone of earth covered With lava
blocks is one of the notable features of Mex
lean antiquity. This mound, on which once
stood an altar. was recognized for what it is
only within the past decade for it was hidden
beneath grass and brush. Study of the fig
urines and pottery buried about the base and
in the layers of soil and lava that had accumu-
lated have led to an estimate that the mound
is several thousand years older than the Chris
tian era. In other words, it appears that the
Indians of Mexico were building great places
as far back as that.
In the Southwest, contact with the people
farther south brought ornaments to the Pueblo
settlements and that most important innova-
ton. corn. 1t is supposed that corn was first
domesticated in the highlands of Mexico. by
crossing of the plant teocentli with some
unknown wild plant. With this important
event. several thousand years before Christ
America became a cereal-growing country
18th standard crop to be planted, guarded
and harvested.
Perhaps that early start with corn gave
Mexico the opportunity to progress and par
TALLY explains its remarkable early achieve
ments. The seed corn spread from tribe to
tribe. and in the course of time reached the
Northern limits suitable to its growth-again
the northward swing of progress.
WHEN the white men reached America, they
found the Mayas a broken race and the
mound builders only remnant. The Eskimos
in the Far North had had their day of being
fine artists and ambitious workers and had set
tied down to a lower level. Was the Indian
world burnt out?
Mr.. Collins suggests that the Iroquois in the
Northeast were likely candidates to have car
ried on the heritage. The Iroquois appear to
have worked their way northward from South
eastern United States, for they show many
smiarities to Southern customs and until
recent times were represented in the South by
the Cherokee, who spoke a related olanguage F..
Like the Mayas and Aztecs, the Iroquois had
advanced conceptions of government, and they
could provide leaders; for, too late, they or
ganized the Iroquois League of Nations. They
might. if given time have become the bar
barians on the Northern fringe who would
have taken up the Southern culture and built
on it,
But perhaps the time for the Northern bar
barians to become important was a good way
off in America when the white discoveries
abruptly ended the drama. Before the Iroquois
could become powerful the Aztecs might
have been expected to salvage more of the
Magyar culture and to organize their subject
tribes for more ambitious conquest. And in
South America the IncaS of Peru meanwhile !.
nf
many tribes which might have become a con-
tinental force il time and circumstances had
allowed.
AztecS, Incas. Iroquois! II they had met in
friendly trade In battle there would have
been stirring events In America!