FIND OF IMPORTANCE
AN ANCIENT Gill Following an animal trail through thick jungle on a huge mesa in the State of Vera Cruz led Charles M. Drayton, pilot of the Mexican Aviation Company, and his companions, J. G. Phiien, jun., and F. 0. Willy, of Brownsville; to the discovery ot two pyramids about 80ft high, says the 1 Christian Science Monitor.’
The pyramids were six miles and connected with a broad highway naming straight across the mesa. Near by was the ruin of an edific; which might have been an ancient -Aztec temple or one oi' the first jungle churches constructed by the conquerors. Its state and the tact that the jungle had almost reclaimed it, as well as me pyramids and highway, kept the men From determining whether it was Aztec: or Spanish. The discoverers of the ruins » Ircvc they are the first white men evei to see them, inasmuch as none ol the Indians resident there had anv knowledge of them. The men stumbled upon the ruins by pure accident, as jungle growth hid them even within a yard or the base
They were chopping their way through the jungle when suddenly they came to a low stone wall, dust ahead they saw what appeared to be a small hill, but examination disclosed that Uwas a pyramid of seven terraces, about 200 ft along the base, and 80ft high. O i top were several sacrificial stones ami a shaft which had been filled with debris Leading from the pyramid they found a highway paved with cut stone which led ?or six miles across the mesa, at the other end of which they found another pyramid, almost identical. On the open spaces of the mesa, which is completely uninhabited, they discovered hundreds of burial mounds, some of which were 20ft high. There were also innumerable wells, faced with stone and still serviceable. The number of burial mounds and walls on the open surface of the mesa kept the men from landing their aeroplane on top of the table-land, and they bad to set up camp six hours instant by horseback. The ruins are 120 miles sontn-west of Tampico, about SO miles from the gulf, and only 100 miles in an aeroplane from Mexico City. . When the men told Indians living on lower plateaus of their find, the Indians recalled a legend ot how their predecessors had discovered an edifice on the pateau many years before, and had uncovered a golden image which had been lost when a terrific tropical storm and nightfall preyed on their superstitions, causing them to throw awav the treasure. The legendary edifice had never been discovered by the modern Indians. The story led the explorers to believe that perhaps more gold objects lie buried about the ruins or in the mounds. The men are planning an organised expedition to the ruins within a Few months.
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Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 3948, 20 May 1930, Page 2
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480FIND OF IMPORTANCE Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 3948, 20 May 1930, Page 2
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