Cotminay {tar og 15 1916 
BACK FROM EXPLORING 
~ ANCIENT MAYAS CITES 
Prof. W. H. me Tells of Vast 
' Temples in Tropical Jungles of 
Central America. 
Prof. W. H. Holmes, head curator of | 
| the National Museum, has just return- | 
‘ed from an exploring trip into Yucatan 
and Guatemala. During this expedi- 
tion, in which he was accompanied by 
S. G. Morley of the Carnegie Institute, 
he visited Copan in Honduras and Qui- 
rigua in Guatemala, both dead cities of 
great interest. 
‘The, object of this journey was to 
study the remnants of this prehistoric 
civilization, which exist now in ruins 
‘in this part of America, a country ence 
inhabited and highly cultivated hun- | 
‘dreds of years before the Christian era 
| began. 
. The ancient inhabitants were called | 
Mayas, and their descendants. today 
hy 
live in the same lands——in Yucatan, 
Honduras and Guatemala—owning the 
same name, but having entirely for- 
gotten the olden glory of their race and | 
‘the ancient learning which formed the 
shieroglyphies or, designed the lofty | 
_tenaples. whose ruins toe ey | tower to ae 
Suman: Skies, ego aaa dae boas 
\ Many ‘Structures ‘Erected to. Gods. 
Probably. half a million people now |: 
| speak the Maya . language, says Prof. 
Holmes, who spent days traveling on 
horseback through the tropical forests 
to visit the dead cities. These people 
were in a state of civilization far sur- 
passing the other American tribes 
hundreds of years before Columbus set }. 
foot in the new world, . But their cul- 
ture was entirely:.a religious one and 
the whole trend of the people’s life was 
to erect structures to the gods. 
Now about in this Jand, where ‘the 
present-day Mayas live in peasantlike i. 
simplicity, great cities exist in silence, 
vast temples rise in’ stony grandeur, 
overgrown by tropical jungle. Huge 
stones, carved in quaint characters, rise |: 
from the sands or weeds, and so far 
they have baffled the efforts of the sci- 
entists to read them. 
“Mr. Morley intends. to remain some 
time in that COREY 
| 
i 
other; material or remains relating to 
le Jul, 3/916 
‘OFF TO SOUTH AMERICA | 
TO EXPLORE OLD CITIES 
| Prof. William H. Holmes of the Na- 
tional Museum to Study 
Mayan Ruins, 
Prof, William 4. Holmes, head cura- 
tor of the department of anthropology, 
Jnited States National Museum, has 
left on an exploration trip. in Central 
America, where he expects ‘to, remain 
about a month, visiting several of the 
ancient Mayan cities, whose ruins date 
back to.pre-Cokumbian times. \ 
Besides studying the ancient art and 
architecture left by this race’ of peo- 
ple who evidently were the progenitors; 
of America, he will investigate. any 
NaS Ei ral NL aS ee 
the people’ themselves, their .customs, | 
religion, domestic life and their com- 
plicated and baffling written records. 
Using the city of Porto Barrios, on 
| 
{the coast of Guatemala, on the Gulf of 
Honduras, as a base, he will make sev- 
eral’ side trips to some of the. ancien: 
cities such as Quirigua, Copan, Anti- 
sua,, and Guatemala City. At) Ports 
Baryios Mr. Holmes expects to Join Dr, 
Svivanus G. Morjey, a. linguist “OF the | 
Carnegie Institution of Washington) 
who is conducting extensive ronen nena 
ain Central AMEVIC ‘hs 
PAVetie tc nub e618 a 
Sta APA KerlMecme | Mc 2 Gomi Y fea S| SR 
