People's Pilot, Volume 3, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 July 1893 — RELICS OF OLD MEXICO. [ARTICLE]

RELICS OF OLD MEXICO.

Wonderful Exhibit Opened in the Anthropological Section. Rich in relics and ruins of a civilization that long antedated the coming of Columbus, and which runs back beyond the ken into the., prehistoric period of the world, Mexico is the first to open a display in the Anthropological building. The event occurred a few days ago, but was unattended by any ceremonies, though hundreds gained admission to see the wonders that have been exhumed, and ancient utensils and weapons which the Indians of Mexico use. As Prescott says in his “Conquest of Mexico,” the Spaniards encountered > civilization in Mexico superior to their own in all save the art of destruction, and in the Mexican anthropological collection there are numerous remnants of this superior civilization in antique pieces of architecture, pottery and war weapons, while other evidences have been accurately reproduced from details written in descriptions given by Cortez and his scriveners. Among the reproductions in miniature are the temples of Xochicalco and Xicotenatl, which were great pyramidal structures after the Egyptian style of architecture. Besides the war shields of the Caciques of the army of Guatomatzin, who fought Cortez, other weapons and such antiques as sacrificial stones, there are among the collections articles of wear, palm leaf capotes, gaudy colored cotton cloth rebases, straw sandals and other parts of the costumes of the different kinds of Indians still inhabiting Mexico, together with the old-fashioned utensils they used to grind corn, the simple loom and wooden plow. Home life in the tropical part .of the country is illustrated in a thatched aad grassmade cottage, while a farmhouse is built of adqbe to keep out the cold. The collection is large, varied and interestiog, and is exhibited at Prof. Putnam's solicitation by Col. George M. Greene, a Pennsylvanian, who has become thoroughly Mexicani zed % thirty or more years’ residence In the City of Mtxicu He has been assisted by his wife in making the selections, and she helps in presenting and explaining them to the public. “That air is very familiar,” said the musician us a gust of wind took hu hataway.-f-Harvard Lampoon.