Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 218, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 September 1917 — YUCATAN IS THE AMERICAN EGYPT [ARTICLE]

YUCATAN IS THE AMERICAN EGYPT

Scattered all over the Yucatan peninsula are monuments to a civilization that nourished thousands of years ago. Just how many thousand nobody knows and scientists differ very materially in their ideas on the subject. The prevailing belief, however, is that this civilization was in full swing as late as the beginning of the Christian era. Other scientists assert that the ruins antedate those of Egypt. Yucatan can well be called “The American Egypt.” The ruins of 172 cities, big and little, have been discovered and not a quarter of the territory has been explored, that is, carefully explored, for the tropical werdure makes the finding of them very difficult. You might pass within a hundred feet of a wonderful old temple or pyramid a hundred times and not discover it, so effectively does the jungle screen these crumbling monuments of the distant past and shield them from the prying eyes of thlis inquisitive and presumptuous age. Of the 172 clusters of ruins discovered, two sets represent what were once large and prosperous cities, of about half a million inhabitants each. Doubtless at different times each one of these two cities was the capital of the country. One of the cities is Uxmal, pronounced “Ushmul,” situated in the southwestern part of Yucatan, and the other is Chiehen Itza, in the eastern part of the state. One is six miles away from the railway’s end through thejungle and the other 18. In both cases the road leading out is little better than a trail and without question the roughest road that a wheeled vehicle was ever pounded to pieces on. '■ - To my mind the most interesting ruin of alPis “The House of the Dwarf” at Uxmal. It Is a pyramid, with a temple on top where the priests made human sacrifices. The steps on one side are fairly well preserved. A double chain is run down them so that it ip possible to reach the top if you have a cool head. Once there you crawl through a hole knocked in the temple wall and come out on a platform which was the sacrificial altar. On that platform the priests stood «»d with knives of-ftlnt cut out the hearts or living victims and held the gruesome objects aloft, still throbbing, for the populace below to gaze at. In the great quadrangle at the foot of that side of the

pyramid the inhabitants of the city gathered to watch these festal doings. Fifty thousand people could stand In it. Around this huge court runs a palace, two stories high and beautifully carved, which was the home of the nuns, for whose special delectation these sacrifices were made. The nuns were the aristocrats of ancient Maya society. On all four of the inner sides of this palace are carved two huge snakes, whose bodies are entwined as they twist around the structure. These snakes Ijaye human heads and tassels for tails. In I'iAf. the ruins the carvings are of the same peril! in r design. 'The patterns of The borders and - the general ornamentntion strongly suggest the Egptian. What is most wonderful of all Is how they were able to cut those huge blocks of stone and then carve them so beautifully without metal hammers or chisels. There is no iron or other metal in the country and so all they had to work with was flint. How they raised the blocks Into place none can explain. That remains as much of a mystery as the Pyramids of Egypt. This Is used , as an argument to prove that the same race of people did them both. I There are many more ruins .standing at Chiehen Itza than at Uxmal, but in both cities all the smaller structures and private houses have disappeared. The ages have worn them away or earth-Vpjijl-PB shaken them down and thejungle has covcred all- The natural accumulation of soil for cen-i luWffitoas also covered them many feet deep. The bases o£, the big buildings still in sight are, of course, below the present surface. Not much has been done in the way of excavating, for the government is only just turning its attention to these > wonderful relics of the past. —'-fr— The ruins have several feats in mason work that nre beyond our twentieth century architects, such as arches without keystones, leaning walls, round corners, hanging terraces, and so on. The walls are all enormously thick and the rooms rather small, even; tn the houses of the governors or kings, or whatever they Were called. Most of these rooms are now inhabited by bats and are not at all pleasant places. There are no flat, ceiling to be found. All are finished with pointed arches.— George Miner, in the Mexican Review.