BURIED CITIES.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXXIX, Issue 112, 15 May 1906, Page 1

BURIED CITIES.

MYSTERIES OF CENTRAL

AMERICA

The report that Count Maurice De Porcguy, a French archaeologist, has found, in the Peten district of Guatemala, traces of " an immense ancient city of Mayos " may prove to be the first intimation of an interesting and notable discovery. We may perhaps assume that the ruins which the traveller has been exploring are those of one .of the cities of the Mayos, the mysterious people who, when the Spaniards arrived on the scene, shared with the Aztecs the dominion over a considerable portion of Central America.

Of the civilisation and traditions of the Mayas of Yucatan, Honduras, and Gautemala history knoAvs very little; and until the hieroglyphics on the monuments of Petonqne and Copan can bo deciphered, the clue to their origin -will probably evade all research, though evidence is not wanting to give color to the theory that they were in some way connected with Mongol tribes in North-eastern Asia. There are marked differences, as*well as resemblances, betewen the Mayas and Nahuas, the race to which the Aztecs belonged. Both worshipped huge stone idols; but these, with the Nahunas, were deocrated in a way that proves snake worship to have been part of their national religion, whereas the Mayan dieties were of a more benevolent type, and were often represented in a sitting posture, with their feet tucked under them, very like the statues of Buddha in contemplation.

The Mayas of Yucatan excelled in the construction of underground tunnels for irrigation, worked in much the same manner as the karez adopted for the same purpose in Persia and Afghanistan. Fernando Cortes, when on his way to Honduras, passed thruogh Peten, the district in which Count Maurice De Pereguy is sojourning, and he relates his experiences in the famous fifth letter to the Emperor Charles. An immigrant Maya tribe then had its stronghold on an island in Lake Peten, and the people were so impressed with the preaching of the Franciscan friars who accompanied the Spanish expedition that they consented to the destruction of their idols and the erection of a cross on the ruins. Cortes left a disabled horse, which they carefully tended till it died, after which they set up its stone image in a temple. Nearly ninety years later some missionaries found the Mayas worshipping the stone horse as the god of thunder and lightning. Temple and horse fell into the lake a long time ago, during an earthquake, but the Indians declare that the image may yet be, geen whe,n the waters of the lake are calm.

But whether Count Maurice De Pereguy has been exploring one of the ruined cities seen by former travellers, or whether he has broken fresh ground, cannot be decided till a detailed narrative of his travels is published. Some of the antiquities of this part of Guatemala have been visited by Eng-lish travellers. Mi' A. P. Maudslay has given an interesting account of ,the ruined city of Tikal, twenty miles to the north-east of Lake Peten. Here he saw five imposing temples, built on pyramid-shaped platforms. An earlier traveller, Dr. Bernouilli, brought home some, carvings' from Tikal which are now preserved in a Swiss museum. A legend is current in Central . America that an ancient city, still inhabited by Indians, and stiil flourishing, is hidden away in the forests, and preserves the civilisation destroyed elsewhere by the Spanish conquerors. This, however, cannot be the city whose marvels have to be recounted by the French trayellexv — "Standard.".""' " " ' •