Chapter II: Part 2

In the morning, about the break of day, the infernal yells of a pack of blood-hounds suddenly rang through the cavern, and the party could scarcely seize their rifles before many of the dogs, who had driven in the affrighted Indians on guard, were springing at their throats. Mr. Huertis, however, the American leader of the expedition, with that presence of mind which seems always to have distinguished him, told the men that rifles were useless in such a contest, and that the hounds must be dispatched with their long knives as fast as they came in, while the fire-arms were to be reserved for their masters. This canine butchery was accomplished with but little difficulty; none of the party received any serious injury from their fangs; and the Indians were exhilarated with a victory which was chiefly a conquest of their fears. These unfortunate dogs, it appears, were the advanced van of a pack, or perhaps merely a few unleashed as scouts to others held in reserve; for no more were seen or heard for sometime. Meanwhile, Mr. Huertis seems to have struck out a brilliant scheme. He collected his whole party into that obscure branch of the cavern, near its entrance, which has been described as a depository of animal bones, and ordering them to sling their rifles at their backs, bade them stand ready with their knives. Almost instantly, they observed a party of ten dismounted natives, in scarlet tunics, and armed with spears, enter the cavern in single file; and, it would seem, from seeing the dogs slain and no enemy in sight, they rushed out again, without venturing on farther search. In a few minutes, however, they returned with forty or fifty more, in the same uniform, headed by the younger of the two personages whom they had seen in command the previous evening. As soon as they were well advanced into the cavern, and heard disturbing the tired mules, Mr. Huertis and his party marched quietly out and seized their horses, which were picketed close by, in charge of two or three men, whom they disarmed. At a short distance, however, drawn up in good order, was another squadron of horses, which Mr. Huertis determined instantly to charge. Ordering his whole party to mount the noble stallions they had captured, and reserve their fire until he gave the word, he, Velasquez, and Hammond, drew the short sabres they had worn on their march, and led the attack. The uniformed natives, however, did not wait the encounter, but scattered in wonderment and consternation; doubtless under the impression that all their comrades had been slain. But the rapid approach of a much larger force--which is found, eventually, to have consisted of two detachments of fifty each, being just twice their number--speedily reassured them, and falling in line with this powerful reinforcement, the whole hundred and fifty charged upon our comparative handful of travellers, at a rapid pace. Huertis promptly ordered his little party to halt, and form in line, two deep, with presented arms; and doubtless feeling that, notwithstanding the disparity of numbers, the enemy, armed only with spears and small side-hatchets, held but a slender chance of victory over a party of thirty-eight--most of them old campaigners in the sanguinary expeditions of the terrible Carrera--armed with new "six-shooting" rifles and long knives, generously commanded them to keep aim upon the horses only, until further orders. In the meantime, most of their plumed opponents, instead of using their long spears as in lance practice, threw them through the air from so great a distance that nearly all fell short of the mark--an infallible indication both of timidity and inexperience in action. The unfortunate Mr. Hammond, however, was pierced through the right breast, and another of the party was killed by being transfixed through the bowels. At this instant Huertis gave the word to fire; and, at the next, no small number of the enemy were rolling upon the sod, amid their plunging horses. A second rapid, but well delivered volley, brought down as many more, when the rest, in attitudes of frantic wonder and terror, unconsciously dropped their weapons and fled like affrighted fowls under the sudden swoop of the kite. Their dispersion was so outrageously wild and complete that no two of them could be seen together as they radiated over the plain. The men and horses seemed impelled alike by a preternatural panic; and neither Cortez in Mexico, nor Pizarro in Peru, ever witnessed greater consternation at fire-arms among a people, who, for the first time, beheld their phenomena and effects--when mere hundreds of invaders easily subjugated millions of natives chiefly by this appalling influence--than was manifested by these Iximayans on this occasion. Indeed, it appears that these primitive and isolated people, holding no intercourse whatever with the rest of mankind, were as ignorant as their ancestors even of the existence of this kind of weapons; and although their modern hieroglyphical annals were found to contain vague allusions to the use of them in the conquest of the surrounding country, by means of a peculiar kind of thunder and lightning, and several old Spanish muskets and pistols were found in their scant collection of foreign curiosities, yet, not even the most learned of their priests had retained the slightest notion of the uses for which they were designed.

While this summary conflict was enacted on the open lawn of the forest, the dismounted company in the cavern having completed their fruitless search for the fugitives, emerged from its portal with all the mules and baggage, just in time to see and hear the fiery explosions of the rifles and their effect upon the whole body of scarlet cavalry. The entire scene, including the mounted possession of their horses by uncouthly attired strangers, previously invisible, must have appeared to these terror-stricken natives an achievement of supernatural beings. And when Mr. Huertis wheeled his obstreperously laughing party to recover his mules, he found most of the astounded men prostrated upon their faces, while others, more self-possessed, knelt upon the bended knee, and, with drooping heads, crossed their hands behind them to receive the bonds of captives. Their gallant and gaily accoutred young chieftain, however, though equally astonished and dismayed, merely surrendered his javelin as an officer would his sword, under the like circumstances, in civilized warfare. But, with admirable tact and forethought, Huertis declined to accept it, immediately returning it with the most profound and deferential cordiality of manner. He at the same time informed him, through Velasquez, that, though strangers, his party were not enemies but friendly visitors, who, after a long and painful journey, again to be pursued, desired the temporary hospitality of his countrymen in their magnificent city.

The young chief replied, with evident discomposure and concern, that his countrymen showed no hospitality to strangers, it being interdicted by their laws and punishable with death; that the inhabitants of their city held intercourse only with the population of the surrounding valley, who were restricted alike by law and by patriotism from ever leaving its confines; he and his fellow soldiers alone being privileged to visit the neighboring regions for the purpose of arresting intruders, (_cowana_,) and escorting certain kind of merchandize which they exchanged with a people of their own race in an adjoining district. He added, with much eloquence of manner, and as Velasquez believed, of language, which he but partially understood, that the independence and peace of his nation, who were a peaceful and happy people, depended upon these severe restrictions, which indeed had been the only means of preserving it, while all the country besides, from sea to sea, had bowed to a foreign yoke, and seen their ancient cities, once the seats and centres of mighty empires, overgrown with forest, and the temples of their gods demolished.

He further added, says Velasquez, in a very subdued but significant tone, that some few strangers, it was true, had been taken to the city by its guards in the course of many generations, but that none of them had been allowed an opportunity of betraying its existence and locality to the cruel rapacity of the foreign race. He concluded by earnestly entreating them, since he could not compel them as prisoners, to enter the city as friends, with the view of residing there for life; promising them wives, and dwellings, and honors; for even now, if they attempted to retreat, they would be overtaken by thousands of armed men on fleet horses, that would overpower them by their numbers and subject them to a very different fate.

Mr. Huertis rejoined, through the same interpreter, that he could destroy any number of armed men, on the swiftest horses, before they could approach him, as the chief had already seen; and since he could enforce his exit from the city whenever he thought proper, he would enter it upon his own terms, either as a conqueror, or as a friend, according to the reception he met with; that there was now no race of conquerors to whom the city could be betrayed, even if he were disposed to do so, as the people of the whole country, of all races, were now living in a state of perfect freedom and equality; and that, therefore, there was no necessity for those unsocial and sanguinary laws which secluded the Iximayans from friendly intercourse with their fellow-men. Saying which, and without waiting for further colloquy, he ordered his party to dismount, restore the horses to their owners, and march with the train of mules toward the city, in the usual style of travel. With this order, his Indians complied very reluctantly, but on assuring them that it was a matter of the highest policy, they evinced their wonted confidence in his judgment and ability. To the young chief he restored his own richly caparisoned steed, which had fallen to the lot of the unfortunate Mr. Hammond, who was now lying desperately wounded, in the care of the faithful Antonio. For himself and Senor Velasquez, Mr. Huertis retained the horses they had first seized, and placing themselves on each side of the Iximayan commander, with their friend Hammond borne immediately behind them, in one of the cane couches of the cavern, on the backs of two mules yoked together, they advanced to the head of their party, while the red troopers, followed by the surviving bloodhounds leashed in couples, brought up the rear. Huertis, however, had taken the precaution to add the spears and hatchets of these men to the burdens of the forward mules, to abide the event of his reception at the city gates. The appearance of the whole cavalcade must have been unique and picturesque; for Velasquez informs us, that while he wore the uniform of a military company to which he belonged in San Salvador, much enhanced in effect by some brilliant additions, and crowned with a broad sombrero and plume, Huertis wore that of an American naval commander, with gold epaulettes; his riflemen and muleteers generally were clothed in blue cotton and grass hats, while the native cavalry, in the brilliant tunics and feathered coronals, already described, must have completed the diversity of the variegated cortege. Had poor Hammond been mounted among them, his costume would have been as equivocal as his new complexion, for he had attired himself in the scarlet coat of a British officer of rank, with several blazing stars of glass jewels, surmounted by a white Panama hat, in which clustered an airy profusion of ladies' ostrich feathers, dyed blue at the edges.

In passing the spot of the recent skirmish, they found that nine horses and two men had been killed, the latter unintentionally, besides the rifleman of their own party. Many other horses were lying wounded, in the struggles of death, and several of their riders were seated on the ground, disabled by bruises or dislocations. Huertis' men buried their comrades in a grave hastily dug with the spears which lay around him, while the Iximayans laid their dead and wounded upon horses, to be conveyed to a village on the plain. The former, it was found, were consumed there the next day, in funereal fires, with idolatrous rites; and it was observed by the travellers that the native soldiers regarded their dead with emotions of extreme sensibility, and almost feminine grief, like men wholly unaccustomed to scenes of violent death. But Velasquez remarks, that the strongest emotion evinced by the young chief, throughout their intercourse, was when he heard the word "Iximaya," in interpreting for Huertis. He then seemed to be smitten and subdued, by blank despair, as if he felt that the city and its location were already familiarly known to the foreign world.

As already intimated, the distance to the city was about six miles. The expedition found the road to it bordered, on either side, as far as the eye could reach, with a profuse and valuable vegetation, the result of evidently assiduous and skilful culture. Indigo, corn, oats, a curious five-eared wheat, gourds, pine-apples, esculent roots, pulse, flax, and hemp, the white as well as the crimson cotton, vineyards, and fruit orchards, grew luxuriantly in large, regularly divided fields, which were now ripe for the harvest. The villages, large and populous, were mostly composed of flat-roofed dwellings with broad overhanging eaves or architraves, supported by heavy columns, often filletted over spiral flutings, in the Egyptian style, and generally terminating in foliaged capitals, of the same character. None of the houses were mean, while many were superb; and of the mosque-like larger buildings, which occasionally appeared, and which were supposed to be rural temples, some were grand and imposing. A profusion of bold sculpture, was the prevailing characteristic, and perhaps defect, of all. The inhabitants, who thronged the wayside in great numbers, appeared excited with surprise and exultation, on beholding the large company of strangers apparently in the custody of their military, while the disarmed condition of the latter, and the bodies of the slain, were a mystery they could not explain. Many of the husbandmen were observed to be in possession of bows and arrows, and some of the women held rusty spears. The predominant costume of both sexes was a pale blue tunic, gathered in at the breast and descending to the knee, with reticulated buskins, of red cord, covering the calf of the leg. The women, with few exceptions, were of fine form, and the highest order of Indian beauty, with an extraordinary affluence of black hair, tastefully disposed, and decorated with plumes and flowers. At the village where the dead and wounded were left, with their relatives and friends, doleful lamentations were heard, until the expedition approached the city.

The walls of this metropolis were sixty feet high, sloping inward from the foundation, surmounted by a parapet which overhung in a concave curve and rested upon a plain moulding. They were evidently a massive work of a remote period, for although constructed of large blocks of granitic stone, white and glittering in the sun, passing ages had corroded rough crevices between the layers, and the once perfect cornices had become indented by the tooth of time. The sculptured annals of the city recorded them an antiquity of four thousand years. They formed a parallelogram four miles long and three in width, thus inclosing an area of nearly twelve square miles, and they breasted the cardinal points of the horizon with a single gate, or propylon, midway on every side. On approaching the eastern gate, the travellers discovered that the foundations of the walls were laid in a deep foss or moat a hundred feet wide, nearly full to its brink and abounding with water-fowl. It was replenished from the mountains, and discharged its surplus waters into the lakes of the valley. It was to be crossed by a draw-bridge now raised over the gate, and the parapet was thronged with the populace to behold the entrance of so large a number of strangers for whom there was no return.

At a signal from the young chief, the bridge slowly descended and the cavalcade passed over; but the folding gates, which were composed of blocks of stone curiously dovetailed together, and which revolved upon hinges of the same material by a ball and socket contrivance above and below, were not yet opened, and the party were detained on the bridge. A small oval orifice only appeared, less than a human face, and an ear was applied there to receive an expected word in a whisper. This complied with, the ponderous gates unfolded, and a vista of solemn magnificence was presented to the view. It was a vista at once of colossal statues and trees, interminable in perspective and extending, as it was found, the whole length of the city to its western gate. Incredible as it may be, until we reflect upon the ancient statuary of the eastern world, Velasquez reports each and all of these monuments as being exactly of the height of the city wall, that is, sixty feet, and all possessing the proportions of the human figure. He adds, what is equally marvelous, that no two of them were precisely alike in countenance, and very few in their sculptural costume. There was some distinctive emblem upon each, and he was informed that they were statues of the ancient kings of Assyria, from before the foundation of Babylon, and of their descendants in the Aztec empires of this continent. They stood sixty feet apart, with a smaller monument of some mythological animal between each, and were said to number one hundred and fifteen, on each side of the avenue they formed, which was one hundred and twenty feet in width. A similar but shorter avenue, it appears, crossed the city from north to south, having a proportional number of such monuments through its entire extent; and these two grand avenues ran through wide areas of green sward richly grouped with lofty trees. But the translator finds himself trespassing upon forbidden ground and must forbear.

As the cavalcade advanced through this highway to the centre of the city, they found it crowded on each side with the masses of the population assembled to behold a spectacle so unprecedented and mysterious; but the utmost order prevailed and even the silence was profound. The news of the slaughter and dispersion of their military guardians, by an army of strangers, wielding deadly weapons of fire and smoke, had already run through every quarter of the city with increasing exaggeration and terror; but the people wisely left its investigation to their constituted authorities, and were rendered comparatively tranquil by their personal observation of its actual results. Arrived at the quadrated point, where the two great avenues we have described intersect, Mr. Huertis boldly demanded of his guide the further course and character of his destination. He was answered by his dignified companion, that he would be conducted to the building immediately before him, which is described as one of majestic dimensions and style, where the monarch of the nation daily assembled with his councillors, at the hour of noon, to administer justice and listen to complaints. In the meantime, his wounded friend could be placed in a state of greater ease and repose, in one of the apartments of the edifice, while the mules and baggage could be disposed of in its basement vaults. When this was accomplished the hours of audience had arrived.

The entire party of strangers, with the young chief and several of his subordinates, were then led into a large and lofty hall, surrounded by columns, and displaying three raised seats covered with canopies of rich drapery and design. On the one of these, which stood at the eastern end, sat the monarch himself, a personage of grave but benignant aspect, about sixty years of age, arrayed in scarlet and gold, and having a golden image of the rising sun, of extraordinary splendor, displayed on the back of his throne. On the seat on the southern side, sat a venerable man of advanced age, not less gorgeously attired; and the seat at the western end was occupied by a functionary of similar years and costume. Around the apartment, and especially around the steps of the throne, sat other grave looking men, in scarlet robes. Huertis, Velasquez, and their Indians, still carrying their loaded rifles, of which he had not suffered them to be deprived, stood on the left side of the monarch, and the young chief and his soldiers on the right. The latter gave his statement with truth and manly candour, although the facts which he averred seemed to fill the whole council with amazement, and left a settled gloom upon the imperial brow. The whole proceeding possesses great interest in Velasquez's narrative, but we can only briefly state that it resulted in the decision, which was concurred in by the associate councillors, that the strangers having magnanimously released and restored the company of guards, after they had surrendered themselves prisoners; and having voluntarily entered the city in a peaceable manner, when they might possibly have effected their escape, were entitled to their personal freedom, within the limits of the city, and might eventually, under voluntary but indispensable obligations, become eligible to all the privileges of citizenship, within the same limits. In the mean time, they were to be maintained as pensioners of state, on condition that they made no use of their dangerous weapons, nor exhibited them to terrify the people. With this decision, Huertis and his companions were perfectly satisfied, for the latter had undiminished confidence in his ability and determination to achieve their escape, as soon as he should have accomplished the scientific objects of his expedition. On leaving the hall of justice, they observed the elder military chief, of whom a slight mention has been made, brought in with two others of inferior rank; and it was afterwards currently reported that they had been sentenced to close imprisonment. It was, also, ascertained by Velasquez, that the four companies of rangers, already noticed, composing a regiment of two hundred men, constituted the whole military force of this timid and peaceful people.

From this point, our abstract of the narrative must be chiefly a brief catalogue of the most important of the concluding events. The place of residence assigned to our travellers, was the vacant wing of a spacious and sumptuous structure, at the western extremity of the city, which had been appropriated, from time immemorial, to the surviving remnant of an ancient and singular order of priesthood called Kaanas, which, it was distinctly asserted in their annals and traditions, had accompanied the first migration of this people from the Assyrian plains. Their peculiar and strongly distinctive lineaments, it is now perfectly well ascertained are to be traced in many of the sculptured monuments of the central American ruins, and were found still more abundantly on those of Iximaya. Forbidden, by inviolably sacred laws, from intermarrying with any persons but those of their own caste, they had here dwindled down, in the course of many centuries, to a few insignificant individuals, diminutive in stature, and imbecile in intellect. They were, nevertheless, held in high veneration and affection by the whole Iximayan community, probably as living specimens of an antique race so nearly extinct. Their position, as an order of priesthood, it is now known, had not been higher, for many ages, if ever, than that of religious mimes and bacchanals, in a certain class of pagan ceremonies, highly popular with the multitude. This, indeed, is evident from their characteristics in the sculptures. Their ancient college, or hospital, otherwise vacant and forlorn, was now chiefly occupied by a much higher order of priests, called Mahaboons, who were their legal and sacerdotal guardians. With a Yachin, one of the junior brethren of this order, named Vaalpeor, a young man of superior intellect and attainments, Velasquez soon cultivated a friendly and confidential acquaintance, which proved reciprocal and faithful. And while Huertis was devoting all his time and energies to the antiquities, hieroglyphics, ethnology, science, pantheism, theogony, arts, manufactures, and social institutions of this unknown city and people, the ear of this young pagan priest was as eagerly imbibing, from the wiley lips of Velasquez, a similar knowledge of the world at large, to him equally new and enchanting. If Huertis had toiled so severely, and hazarded so much, both as to himself and companions, to acquire a knowledge of this one city and people, it soon became clear to the penetrating mind of Velasquez, that Vaalpeor possessed enough both of mental ambition and personal energy to incur equal toil and risk to learn the wonders of the cities and races of the greater nations of mankind. Indeed, this desire evidently glowed in his breast with a consuming fervor, and when Velasquez, after due observation proposed the liberation of the whole expedition, with Vaalpeor himself, as its protected companion, the now consciously imprisoned pagan, horror-stricken at first, regarded the proposition with complacency, and finally, with a degree of delight, regardless of consequences. It was, however, mutually agreed that the design should be kept secret from Huertis, until ripe for success. A serious obstacle existed in his plighted guardianship of the Kaana children, whom he could abandon only with his life; but even this was not deemed insurmountable.

In the meantime, Huertis, to facilitate his own objects, had prevailed upon his entire party to conform in dress and habits with the community in which they lived. The city was surrounded on all sides by a lofty colonade, sustaining the upper esplanade of the city walls, and forming a broad covered walk beneath, in which the population could promenade, sheltered from sun and shower. In these places of general resort, the new citizens appeared daily, until they had become familiarly known to the greater part of the eighty-five thousand inhabitants of the city. Huertis, moreover, had formed domestic and social connexions; was the welcome guest of families of the highest rank, who were fascinated with the information he afforded them of the external world; had made tacit converts to liberty of many influential persons; had visited each of the four grand temples which stood in the centre of the several quadrangular divisions of the city, and externally conformed to their idolatrous worship. He had even been admitted into some of the most sacred mysteries of these temples, while Velasquez, more retired, and avowedly more scrupulous, was content to receive the knowledge thus acquired, in long conversations by the sick couch of poor Hammond, now rapidly declining to the grave.

Mr. Hammond's dreadful wound had but partially healed in the course of several months; his constitution was exhausted, and he was dying of remittent fever and debility. His chief regret was that he could not assist his friend Huertis in his researches and drawings, and determine the place of the city by astronomical observations which his friends were unable to take. The day before he died, he was visited by some of the medical priesthood, who, on seeing numerous light spots upon his skin, where the preparation with which he had stained it had disappeared, they pronounced him _a leper_, and ordered that all intercourse with the building should be suspended. No explanation would convince them to the contrary, and his death confirmed them in their opinion. Availing himself of this opportunity, and under the plea that it was important to their safety, Vaalpeor removed the two orphan children in his charge to one of the country temples in the plain, and the idle mules of the strangers were employed to carry tents, couches, and other bulky requisites for an unprovided rural residence. It may be added that he included among them much of the baggage of his new friends, with the greater part of their rifles and ammunition. In the mean time Huertis, Velasquez, and about half of their party, were closely confined to the part of the edifice assigned for their occupation. Their friend Hammond had been interred without the walls, in a field appropriated to lepers by the civic authorities. Huertis, was now informed of the plan of escape, but was not ready; he had more daguerreotype views to take, and many curiosities to collect. The interdicted period of nine days having expired, the young priest, who had free access to the city at all times, again appeared at their abode and urged an early retreat, as the return of the orphan children would soon be required. But Huertis was abroad in the city and could not be consulted. He remained absent all the day, and did not return to his apartments at night. It was so all the next day and night, and Velasquez was deeply alarmed. On searching his rooms for his papers, drawings and instruments, for secret transmittal into the country, he found them all removed, including those of Mr. Hammond which were among them. It was then vainly hoped that he had effected his escape with all his treasures, but his Indians knew nothing of the matter.

Shortly after this discovery, Vaalpeor arrived with its explanation. Huertis had made a confidant of his intended flight whom he idly hoped would accompany it, and she had betrayed him. His offence, after his voluntary vows, and his initiation into the sacred mysteries, was unpardonable, and his fate could not be doubted. Indeed, the trembling priest at length admitted that he had been sacrificed in due form upon the high altar of the sun, and that he himself had beheld the fatal ceremony. Huertis, however, had implicated none of his associates, and there was yet a chance of escape. To pass the gates was impossible; but the wall might be descended in the night by ropes, and to swim the moat was easy. This was effected by Velasquez and fifteen of his party the same night; the rest either did not make the attempt or failed, and the faithful Antonio was among them. The fugitives had scarcely reached the secluded retreat of Vaalpeor, and mounted their mules, before the low yelp of blood-hounds was heard upon their trail and soon burst into full cry. But the dogs were somewhat confused by the scent of so many footsteps on the spot at which the party mounted, and did not follow the mules until the horsemen led the way. This afforded time for the fugitives, racing their swift mules at full speed, to reach the opening of the valley, when Velasquez wheeled and halted, for the pursuers were close at hand. A conflict ensued in which many of the horsemen were slain, and the young kaana received an accidental wound of which he retains the scar. It must suffice to say, that the party eventually secured their retreat without loss of life; and by break of day they were on a mountainous ridge many leagues from Iximaya. In about fourteen days, they reached Ocosingo, after great suffering. Here Velasquez reluctantly parted with most of his faithful Indians, and here also died Vaalpeor, from the unaccustomed toil and deprivations of the journey. Velasquez, with the two Aztec children, did not reach San Salvador until the middle of February, when they became objects of the highest interest to the most intellectual classes of that city. As the greatest ethnological curiosities in living form, that ever appeared among civilised men, he was advised to send them to Europe for exhibition.

With this view they were taken to Grenada where they remained the objects of much local curiosity, until it was deemed proper and advisable first to exhibit them to the people of the United States. The parties whom Senor Velasquez first appointed as their temporary guardians brought them to New York via Jamaica, and they will no doubt attract and reward universal attention. They are supposed to be eight and ten years of age, and both are lively, playful and affectionate. But it is as specimens of an _absolutely unique_ and nearly extinct race of mankind that they claim the attention of Physiologists and all men of science.

Transcriber's Note

The following errors were corrected.

Page Error
4 Vaalpeor, in changed to Vaalpeor, an
4 Diocess changed to Diocese
5 scirra changed to sierra
6 attemped changed to attempted
6 Gautamala changed to Guatimala
6 seirra changed to sierra
6 rasing changed to raising
7 seirra changed to sierra
7 Balize changed to Belize
8 way changed to way.
8 Hammand changed to Hammond
8 attestors changed to attesters
9 proceded changed to proceeded
9 regreted changed to regretted
9 repecting changed to respecting
9 experince changed to experience
10 idolitrous changed to idolatrous
10 invaluble changed to invaluable
11 joval changed to jovial
11 mentined changed to mentioned
13 realitily changed to reality
13 rediculous changed to ridiculous
14 guilded changed to gilded
14 pinacle changed to pinnacle
15 mountians changed to mountains
15 Chiapas. changed to Chiapas."
16 limbstone changed to limestone
16 parapetted changed to parapeted
16 Aarchbishop changed to Archbishop
17 amunition changed to ammunition
17 orign changed to origin
18 Mayua changed to Maya
18 interpeters changed to interpreters
18 provinical changed to provincial
19 pewerful changed to powerful
19 I changed to "I
19 solemly changed to solemnly
21 mocassins changed to moccasins
21 States changed to States.
24 defferential changed to deferential
27 pine-apples changed to pine-apples,
29 a ear changed to an ear
29 disperson changed to dispersion
29 ran through changed to run through
30 appartments changed to apartments
30 indispensible changed to indispensable
31 destinctive changed to distinctive
33 amunition changed to ammunition
33 apropriated changed to appropriated
33 appartments changed to apartments
34 Valasquez changed to Velasquez
34 transmital changed to transmittal

The following words were inconsistently spelled or hyphenated.

blood-hounds / bloodhounds
land-marks / landmarks
Meztitzos / Mestitzos
re-assured / reassured