Show INDIANS ORACLE Bare and CosUy Genin Axe Kept Closely Guarded In a Cave Two Republics As is well known to all who have looked Into the matter carefullyfor instance such men as Lumboltz Starr and Sovillethere are In remote parts of Mexico today to be found portions of tribes of Indians who are practically as much given to idolatry idol-atry superstition and witehcralt as were their forebears Ia the vanished years when the gleaming banner of Castile and Aragon glanced amid the peaks and valleys of Mexico announc tug the advent of a stronger race and more victorious faith The other day while making a little trip over the Interoceanic that Luns through so many picturesque Indian towns I happened to meet In one c these villages a ery Intelligent Indlair who told me the following Whether it Is tree or not I do not knossI tell the tale as bras told tome to-me He said that on the northern slope of Popocatepeti near the foot there is a large cave almost unknown to the outside world In this iave lives an old whitehaired Indian ho Is the oracle of a small tribe of Indians in that vicinity whose language Is unlike that of any of the neighboring towns This little tribe has flever been conquered con-quered either by the Spaniards or by the church or by the modern govern meat of the republic The Indians have preserved all their old customs and traditions tra-ditions until this day and are oracti caily as they were 400 years ago One of the very curious Institutions among them is that of the oracle or seer who dwells in the above mentioned cave all alone WISE MAN OF TRIBE He Is always the oldest and wisest man of the tribe He is looked upon with the same superstitious revetunce as were the oracles of Dodona and Del phos in the boyhood of the world In that cave are preserved raregems of curiously carved emeralds such as the great Mailnche tent home to Spain t Idols of gold and silver and copper and stone liearl necklaces from the faroff Gulf of California and strange robes of feather work of which but very few examples are known today outside the pages of Sabagun Prescott Pres-cott and Clavigero There are also ranged in fitting or tier the ancient gods of this strange people of whom this old man It the high priest Once a month a commission commis-sion of the oldest men of the tribe visits the cave and takes with it in the name of the people offerings of fruit and flowers and eatables and incense in honor of the gods and their oracle Upon all affairs of importance to the tribe this old man is consulted and I his judgmnents are as those of the Medes anti the Porsians I asked whether it would be possible to visit him or not and was told that no one not even members of the same tribe outside the before mentioned commission had ever seen theinside of that strange and mysterious cave My informant told me that at a certain point all persons are stopped by a guard and told that they can proceed further upon pain of death And this is not a tale of 400 years ago but today to-day The tribe and It cave are at the north side of Popocatepeti and every Saturday In Atllxco members of this tribe are at the market to buy and sell their simple necessities of life It is enough to see them to realize at once the great difference between them amid the other Mexican Indians who are seen there at that time Not only Is their style of clothing very differ eat but also their language |