LOST CITIES

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 125, 29 May 1930, Page 20

LOST CITIES

(By Vincent Wilcox.) (Copyright.)

OLD MAYA EMPIRE

PERISHED UNDER SPAIN

SSCEETS OF- YUCATAN

The adventurers of this century are the archaeologists. Theirs is the thrill of finding the new, the strange, aud tho startling. Trekking through jungles skimming alligator-infested streams, ploughing .itorofigh sands, delving in old caves, the modern archaeologist can find more thrills than tho big game hunter of Africa or tho airman of Atlantic watery wastes.' His is variety. His are the adventures of tho body, tno Blind, and the spirit. _ ' Becently the expeditions of the Carjiesie Institution and the Mason-fcpin-den groups have demonstrated this in their zeal to uncover the lost worlds of the Maya people of Central America, the great aboriginal Indians oi America , who wore cultured, religious,. with a great learning .-■of ''. -the -.. arts and sciences, The, peninsula of Yucatan* contains, tho secrets of that great race and thus far is giving them up bit .by bit only, after adventurous scientists have wrested-it: in : arduous explorations. :';!. ":"'■«:' ''•' ;■ , '••■': '. . ■'-,■: V:'... There is Etzna, an important provincial centre of the Old Maya Empire, that has:recently,been discovered nine miles front. any: piqdern habitation in "the jungles; , A.;M>j£cari scientist found it a great Acropolis more than five hundred feet on a side, having on its summit-five'impressive.; temples ~ surrouiiding an'immense sunken court. ' Because the ancient,Maya : Indians • {worshipped! the ends iof time periods rather than their i beginnings, sunset iather thani sunrise was of importance; hence this.great temple faced west. INTEEUGKEiNCE AND CUKEUBE. A tortuous" jungle trip was necessary to find the ruins, and Dr. S. Gr. Morley, of the Carnegie Institution of "Washington, in company with three archaeologists, recently explored the Site. The old name Etz and now called by the old inhabitants-of the nearest village Etzna, means '?a. grimace," or "a face" in the sense' df:" making a face,"-so that ''the house that makes faces, " : or .'.'. the city of.'grimacing faces" is a good translation^ . '■ •'■ All about the foundation great pillars once stood. M,ost of them have been weather worn and smooth from "'the ravages; of :tiine and the jungle growths, but somjr haye:, fallen face downward, having been struck by the giant, stones crumbling from the top and rolling down the sides, The explorers of an ancient people turned over some ;6f the fallen pillars that had laid fbr : centuries and discovered beautifully carved figures of rulers, priests, and warriors. They, were shown ' gorgeously attired> having headdresses of sweeping plumes, and collars,nearrings, pendants, bracelets, and anklets of jade. The;.principal figures stand upon the backs, of naked, prostrated captives, to enhance as it were their own grandeur. '-The 'captives, serving as footstools as they do, and their stark nudity^; contrast painfully with the upi light, conquering, attitude of the .chiefs and ruler?, arrayed as they, are in -magnificent vestments and paraphernalia. The whole'of Yucatan aeeins .filled ■with these ruined cities of this ancient people. Some are unimportant to scientific explorers of to-day. Others have yielded priceless' treasures in jewels and art, and still others await the diligent searcher brave enough and healthy enough to withstand, the rigcurs. : .•.;:'■' :. That the Maya Indians were intelljg-, ent and cultured there is no doubt. The lordly -Spaniards that swooped down upon them ;from put of. the Abroad stretches of ..the Atlantic's waste were children in comparison.. ',-' .'■■ STRUGGLE WITH THE SPANISH. The Spaniards were afraid to eat the food that the Indians gave them. They suspected these honest people of being guilty of their own: species of-tr.eaeh-ery that they had practised when encountering a superior people. The Maya Indians brought to the Spanish cotton shirts and'jewels. This was the first evidence of the great, gift •of the New World to the Old, but went unre,CQgnised alongside, of visible wealth. The cotton was scorned while avarice w.hetted the treacherous daggers of the European exploiters. ■It was largely because Europe had gone ahead of America in mechanics tliat the Spaniards were able to win' tho bloody struggle that followed, provoked by the reckless!abandon of the newcomers in destroying the image's. Scientists now believe that the Mayas had no metal tools nor even so simple a .(mechanical contrivance as the wheel. They had no beasts of burden, and the limestone blocks of the great temples hati been cut with, stone tools and put in place by .manpower alone. It was because this power was unlimited and directed by intelligent rulers that the Mayas had been able to build the great white cities that astounded the Spaniards. "'■'■■•, ' ■ ■ ' , But the Indians had nothing so deadly;' in. battle as the guns of the Europeans. Spanish bullets pierced the tor-toise-shell shields of the natives while tho- fiint-headed arrors and spears of tho; Indians were turned by the steel mail of the Spaniards. . ;;It was years later before Europeans bjjgan to realise that the already crumbling civilisation given its death blow by the soldiers of Spain had possessed gieat cultural achievements that put th.c wise men of Europe to shame.