Chapter III: Part 3

Returning however to civilization with the hope of making known to
the scientific world the fruit of our labors, I am sorry to find
myself detained by prohibitive laws that I was ignorant of, and
which prevent me from presenting the unmistakable proofs of the
high civilization and the grandeur, of ancient America; of this old
Continent of Professor Agassiz and other modern geologists and
archæologists.

These laws, sanctioned by an exclusive and retrogressive
government, have not been revoked up to the present time by the
enlightened, progressive and wise government that rules the
destinies of the Mexican Republic, and they are a barrier that
henceforth will impede the investigation of scientific men, among
the ruins of Yucatan and Mexico. It is in effect a strange fact,
that while autocratic governments, like those of Turkey, Greece,
and Persia, do not interpose difficulties--that of Turkey to Dr.
Henry Schliemann, after discovering the site of the celebrated Troy
and the treasures of King Priam, to his carrying his _findings_ and
presenting them to the civilized world; that of Greece to General
Cesnola's disposing in New York of his collection of Phoenician
antiquities (the only one in the world), found in the tombs of the
Island of Cyprus. Nor did even that of Persia think of preventing
Mr. George Smith, after he had disinterred from among the ruins of
Nineveh, the year before last, the libraries of the kings of
Assyria, from carrying the precious volumes to the British Museum,
where they are to be found to-day. I alone, a free citizen of a
Republic, the friend of Mexico, after spending my fortune and time,
see myself obliged to abandon, in the midst of the forests, the
best and most perfect works of art of the sculptor, up to the
present time known in America, because the government of this
Nation reclaims as its own, objects found in the midst of forests,
at great depths below the surface of the earth, and of whose
existence it was not only ignorant, but was even unsuspicious.

The photographs of these objects, and of the places where they were
found, are all that, with plans, and tracings of most interesting
mural paintings, I can now present: and that after so many
expenses, cares, and dangers, unless you, Mr. President,
considering the historical importance of my discoveries and works,
as an illustrious man, a lover of progress, and the glory of his
country, in the name of the nation authorize me to carry my
_findings_ and photographs, plans and tracings, to that great
concourse of all nations to which America has just invited every
people of the earth, and which will be opened shortly in
Philadelphia; and with them the material proofs of my assertion
that America is the cradle of the actual civilization of the world.

Leaving New York on the 29th of July, 1873, we, Mrs. Le Plongeon
and myself, arrived, on the 6th of August, at Progreso. We remained
in Mérida from that date, studying the customs of the country,
acquiring friends, and preparing to fulfil the mission that had
brought us to Yucatan, (viz: the study of its ruins), until the 6th
of November, 1874. At that epoch the epidemic of small-pox, that
has made such ravages in Mérida, and is yet active in the interior
villages of the Peninsula, began to develop itself. Senor D.
Liborio Irigoyen, then Governor, knowing that I was about to visit
the towns of the east, to seek among their inhabitants the
traditions of the past, if they yet existed, or at least among
their customs some of those of the primitive dwellers of those
lands, begged me to scatter among them the vaccine, to ward off, as
much as possible, the terrible scourge that threatened them. I
accepted the commission, and to the best of my power I have
complied with it, without any remuneration whatever. After
examining the principal cities of the east of the State--Tunkas,
Cenotillo, Espita and Tizimin--gathering notes upon their commerce,
the occupations of their inhabitants, the productions of the
places, etc., etc., remaining in them more or less time, we finally
arrived at Valladolid on the 20th of May, 1875. This city, that
was at one time among the most important of the State, is seen
to-day almost reduced to ruins by the invasions of the Indians of
Chan-Santa-Cruz. It is situated on the frontier of the enemy's
country, some twelve leagues from the celebrated ruins of
Chichen-Itza--the objective point of my journey to these regions.
During my perigrinations through the east, I had, more than once,
opportunity to observe the profound terror that the inhabitants, as
well _meztizos_ and Indians as the whites, have, not without
reason, of their fierce neighbors.

In view of the dangers that awaited us, I thought proper to write
to my good friend, General Don Guillermo Palomino, sub-inspector of
the military posts of Yucatan; so that, without prejudice to the
service, he should give orders to the commander of the post of
Pisté, distant one league from the ruins of Chichen, to succor us
in case we should need his aid.

General Palomino, understanding the importance of my undertaking,
interested himself in the result. He wrote to Don Filipe Diaz,
chief of the military line of the east, so that he should give
orders to his subaltern, the commander of the advance-post of
Pisté, that in case of necessity he should furnish my wife and
myself the protection we might need while in Chichen.

After many delays, owing now to one thing, now to another, but more
particularly to the alarming reports that the Indians, or at least
their emissaries and spies, prowled about the neighborhood, we at
last started on the march in the direction of Pisté on the 21st of
September, 1875.

Colonel Diaz was about to visit the posts under his command. This
gentleman, as much to respect the orders of his superior as to give
me a proof of his appreciation of my person, resolved to accompany
us to Chichen with part of his forces. He did so, leaving
Valladolid protected by a company of his battalion, and another of
the 18th regiment of the line which at the time was stationed in
that city. Arrived at the village of [C]itas, we learned that the
old footpath, the only one that had ever existed between this point
and Pisté, four leagues distant, was entirely closed up,
impassable, consequently, for horsemen.

Colonel Don José Coronado, who, from esteem, had also wished to
accompany us, offered to go forward with a part of the company, and
some Indians, to re-open the road, and make it ready. His offer
accepted, he departed, and a few days later we were able to
continue our march to Pisté, not meeting in the transit other
annoyance than the roughness of the road, the roots and tree trunks
that had obstructed it having been removed.

So, on the 27th of September, after a tedious march of six hours in
the thicket, we reached the advance-post of Pisté.

Pisté, ten years ago, was a pretty village, built amid forests,
around a senote of thermal waters, surrounded by most fertile
lands, which the industrious dwellers cultivated. Suddenly, on a
certain Sunday (election day), when they were entertained at the
polls, the ominous war-cry of the Indians of Chan-Santa-Cruz fell
upon their ears. Few were the villagers that, taking refuge in the
bush, escaped the terrible _machete_ of their enemies. Of this
village only the name remains. Its houses roofless, their walls
crumbled, are scarcely seen beneath the thick green carpet of
convolvulus, and cowage (mecuna). These overspread them with their
leaves and beautiful petals, as if to hide the blood that once
stained them, and cause to be forgotten the scenes of butchery they
witnessed. The church alone, sad and melancholy, without doors, its
sanctuaries silent, its floor paved with the burial slabs of the
victims, surrounded by parapets, yet stands in the midst of the
ruined abodes of those who used to gather under its roof; it is
to-day converted into a fortress. The few soldiers of the post are
the only human beings that inhabit these deserts for many leagues
around; its old walls, its belfry, widowed of its bells, are all
that indicates to the traveller that Pisté once was there.

After resting, we continued our march to Chichen, whose grand
pyramid of 22 meters 50 centimeters high, with its nine _andenes_,
could be seen from afar amidst the sea of vegetation that
surrounded it, as a solitary lighthouse in the midst of the ocean.
Night had already fallen when we reached the _Casa principal_ of
the _hacienda of Chichen_, that Colonel Coronado had had cleaned to
receive us.

At dawn on the following day, 28th, Colonel Diaz caused parapets to
be raised and the house to be fortified. He placed his advance
sentinels and made all necessary arrangements to avoid a surprise
from the Indians, and to resist them in case of attack. For my part
I immediately commenced work. From the descriptions made by the
travellers who had preceded me and that I had read, I believed
fifteen days or three weeks would be sufficient for me to
investigate all the ruins. But on the 12th of October, Colonel Diaz
having received notice that the Indians were probably preparing an
attack, sent to bring me from the ruins, to communicate to me the
news that he had to march immediately. I had really scarcely
commenced my studies, notwithstanding I had worked every day from
sunrise to sunset, so many and so important were the monuments
that, very superficially, my predecessors had visited.

I resolved to remain with my wife, and continue our investigations
until they should be completed, in spite of the dangers that
surrounded us. I made known my unalterable resolution to Colonel
Diaz, asking him only to arm a few of the Indians that remained
with me, for I did not wish even a single soldier of the post of
Pisté to accompany me. Leaving my instruments of geodesy and
photography at the ruins, I made the church of Pisté my
head-quarters, where we went every night to sleep, returning always
at daylight to Chichen, one league distant.

It would be too long to give here the details of my work and
investigations. Enough to say, that from the 28th of September,
1875, when I began to study the monuments, up to the 5th of
January, 1876, when, learning of the prohibitive laws I have
already mentioned, and that on account of the better requirements
of the service I was to disarm my men, I interrupted my works; that
is to say, in one hundred days I have made scrupulously exact plans
of the principal edifices, discovering that their architects made
use, in those remote times, of the metrical measure with its
divisions. I have made five hundred stereoscopic views, from which
I have selected eighty, equal to those that accompany this writing;
I have discovered hieroglyphics which I have caused to reappear
intact, and taken photographs of some that are said to be a
prophecy of the establishment of the electric telegraph between
_Saci_ (Valladolid of to-day), and _Ho_ (Mérida); I have restored
mural paintings of great merit for the drawing, and for the history
they reveal; I have taken exact tracings of the same which form a
collection of twenty plates, some nearly one meter long; I have
discovered bas-reliefs which have nothing to envy in the
bas-reliefs of Assyria and Babylon; and, guided by my
interpretations of the ornaments, paintings, &c., &c., of the most
interesting building in Chichen (historically speaking), I have
found amidst the forest, eight meters under the soil, a statue of
Chaacmol, of calcareous stone, one meter, fifty-five centimeters
long, one meter, fifteen centimeters in height, and eighty
centimeters wide, weighing fifty kilos, or more; and this I
extracted without other machine than that invented by me, and
manufactured from trunks of trees with the _machete_ of my Indians.
I have opened two leagues of carriage road to carry my findings to
civilization; and finally I have built a rustic cart in which to
bring the statue to the high road that leads from [C]itas to
Mérida. This statue, Mr. President, the only one of its kind in the
world, shows positively that the ancient inhabitants of America
have made, in the arts of drawing and sculpture, advances, equal at
least to those made by the Assyrian, Chaldean and Egyptian artists.

I will pause a moment to give you an idea of my works that concern
said statue, and soon bring to an end this writing. Guided, as I
have just said, by my interpretations of the mural paintings,
bas-reliefs, and other signs that I found in the monument raised to
the memory of the Chief Chaacmol, by his wife, the Queen of
Chichen, by which the stones speak to those who can understand
them, I directed my steps, inspired perhaps also by the instinct of
the archæologist, to a dense part of the thicket. Only one Indian,
Desiderio Kansal, from the neighborhood of Sisal-Valladolid,
accompanied me. With his _machete_ he opened a path among the
weeds, vines and bushes, and I reached the place I sought. It was a
shapeless heap of rough stones. Around it were sculptured pieces
and bas-reliefs delicately executed. After cutting down the bush,
and clearing the spot, it presented the aspect which the plates No.
1 and 2 represent. A long stone, half interred among the others,
attracted my attention. Scraping away the earth from around it,
with the _machete_ and the hand, the effigy of a reclining tiger
soon appeared; plate No. 3 represents it. But the head was wanting.
This, of human form, I had the happiness to find, some meters
distant, among a pile of other carved stones.

My interpretations had been correct; everything I saw proved it to
me. I at once concentrated all my attention at this spot. Hunting
among the débris, I came across the bas-reliefs seen in plates 4,
2, and 5, which confirmed my conclusions. This pile of stones had
been in times past the pedestal that supported the effigy of the
dying tiger with a human head, which the Toltecs had thrown down
when they invaded Chichen, at the beginning of the Christian era.

With great exertion, aided by levers, my ten men again put these
bas-reliefs in the place they anciently occupied, and which plate
No. 1 shows.

Resolved to make an excavation at this spot, I commenced my work at
the upper part of the heap. I was not long in comprehending the
difficulty of the task. The pedestal, as in all the later monuments
which were raised in Chichen, was of loose stones, without mortar,
without cement of any kind. For one stone that was removed, a
hundred fell. The work was hence extremely dangerous. I possessed
no tools, nor machines of any description. I resorted to the
_machete_ of my Indians, the trees of the forest, and the vines
that entwine their trunks. I formed a frame-work to prevent the
falling of the stones.

This frame-work appears in plates 6, 7 and 8. It is composed of
trunks of trees of two to two-and-a-half inches in diameter,
secured with vines. In this way I was able to make an excavation
two meters, fifty centimeters square, to a depth of seven meters. I
then found a rough sort of urn of calcareous stone; it contained a
little dust, and upon it the cover of a coarse earthen pot, painted
with yellow ochre. (This cover has since been broken). It was
placed near the head of the statue, and the upper part, with the
three feathers that adorn it, appeared among loose stones, placed
around it with great care. Colonel D. Daniel Traconis, who had that
day come to visit, and bring me a few very welcome provisions, was
present when it was discovered. I continued the work with
precaution, and had the satisfaction, after excavating
one-and-a-half meters more, to see the entire statue appear.

Contemplating this admirable specimen of ancient art, seeing the
beauty of the carving of its expressive face, I was filled with
admiration! Henceforth the American artists could enter into
competition with those of Assyria and Egypt! But, on considering
its enormous weight, its colossal form (it is half as large again
as the natural size), I felt myself overwhelmed with dismay. How to
raise it from the profound bed where it had been deposited, five
thousand years ago, by its friends and the artificers, who with
excessive care raised the pedestal around it! I had no machines,
not even ropes. Only ten Indians accompanied me. The enterprise
was difficult; but when man wishes, he conquers difficulties, and
smooths all obstacles.

After some sleepless nights (the idea of being unable to present my
discoveries to the world did not let me rest), I resolved to open
the pedestal on the east side, form an inclined plane, construct a
capstan, make ropes with the bark of the _habin_ (a tree that grows
in these woods), and extract, by these means, my gem from the place
where it lay.

Plate 6 represents the opening made, and the inclined plane, the
lower part of which only reaches to the shoulder of the statue,
which is seen in the bottom of the excavation. Its depth is known
by comparing the height of the Indian standing near the statue, and
the one who is placed at a third part of the inclined plane.

Plate No. 7 represents the statue of Chaacmol at the moment of its
arrival at the upper part of the plane on the surface of the earth;
the cables of the _habin_ bark which served to extract it; the
construction of the capstan; and the profundity of the excavation.

Plate No. 8 represents the capstan that served me to raise the
statue, the size of which you may know, Sr. President, comparing it
with your servant and the Indians who aided at the work. The trunk
of a tree, with two hollowed stones, were the fundamental pieces of
the machine. These rings of stone were secured to the trunk with
vines. Two forked poles, whose extremities rest at each side of the
excavation, and the forked sticks tied up to the superior ring
embracing it, served as _arc-boutant_ in the direction where the
greatest force was to be applied. A tree-trunk, with its fork,
served as a fulcrum around which was wound the cable of bark. A
pole placed in the fork served as lever. It is with the aid of this
rustic capstan that my ten men were able to raise the heavy mass to
the surface in half an hour.

But my works were not to end there. True, the statue was on the
surface of the earth, but it was surrounded by débris, by ponderous
stones, and trunks of trees. Its weight was enormous compared with
the strength of my few men. These on the other hand worked by
halves. They always had the ear attentive to catch the least sound
that was perceived in the bush. The people of Crecencio Poot might
fall upon us at any moment, and exterminate us. True, we had
sentinels, but the forest is thick and immense, and those of
Chan-Santa-Cruz make their way through it with great facility.

Open roads there were none, not even to carry the statue of
Chaacmol to civilization if I had the means of transport.

Well, then, I had resolved that, cost what it might, the world
should know my statue--my statue, that was to establish my fame
forever among the scientific circles of the civilized world. I had
to carry it, but, alas! I calculated without the prohibitive
laws.... Sr. President, to-day, with grief I write it, it is buried
in the forests, where my wife and myself have concealed it. Perhaps
the world will only know it by my photographs, for I have yet to
open three long leagues of road to conduct it to [C]itas, and the
moment is already approaching when the doors of the American
Exhibition will open.

With all that, I have faith in the justice, intelligence, and
patriotism of the men who rule the destinies of the Mexican
Republic.

Will the man who, to place his country at the height of other
civilized nations, has known how to improvise, in less than three
months, an astronomical commission, and send it to Japan to observe
the transit of Venus, will he permit, I ask, the greatest discovery
ever made in American archæology, to remain lost and unknown to the
scientific men, to the artists, to the travellers, to the choicest
of the nations that are soon to gather at Philadelphia? No! I do
not believe it! I do not wish to, I cannot believe it!

These difficulties, I had conquered! Plate No. 9 proves how, having
found the means of raising the statue from the depth of its
pedestal, I knew also how to make it pass over the débris that
impeded its progress. My few men armed with levers were able to
carry it where there was a rustic cart made by me with a _machete_.

With rollers and levers I was able to carry it over the sculptured
stones, its companions, that seemed to oppose its departure. But
with rollers and levers alone I could not take it to Pisté, four
kilometers distant, much less to [C]itas, distant from Pisté
sixteen kilometers; it needed a cart and that cart a road.

Sr. President, the cart has been made, the road has been opened
without any expense to the State. In fifteen days the statue
arrived at Pisté, as proved by plate 11. Senor D. Daniel Traconis,
his wife and their young son, who had come to visit us, witnessed
the triumphal entrance of the Itza Chieftain Chaacmol, at Pisté,
the first resting place on the road that leads from Chichen to
Philadelphia. I have opened more than three kilometers of good cart
road of five to six meters in width, from Pisté toward [C]itas; but
for reasons that it is out of place to refer to here, and which I
have not been able up to the present time to alter, for they do not
depend on me, I have seen myself compelled to hurriedly abandon my
works on the 6th of the present month of January.

I have come with all speed to Mérida, from which place I direct to
you the present writing; but until now, having to contend against
inertia, I have obtained nothing.

In view of the preceding relation, and finding myself in
disposition to make, before the scientific world, all the
explanations, amplifications and reports, that may be desired, upon
the grand discoveries that I have made in my investigations in the
ruins of Chichen;--among others, the existence of long-bearded men
among the inhabitants of the Peninsula 12,000 years ago, plate
12;--I conclude, asking you, Sr. President, to be pleased to
concede to me:--

1st. To carry the statues of Chaacmol, and some bas-reliefs that
have relation to the story of that Chieftain, and are represented
in the plates 4 and 5, together with my mural tracings, plans and
photographs, to the approaching Exposition of Philadelphia.

2nd. To name me one of the members of the Mexican Commission to
that Exposition, for I am the only person who can give the
information and explanations that may make known the celebrated
monuments of Chichen-Itza, and the importance that they have in the
prehistoric history of the human race in America.

3rd. To authorize my work and investigations in the ruins of
Yucatan, where I hope to make other discoveries equally and even,
perhaps, more important, than those made by me up to the present
date, ordering that the aid of armed force be afforded me for my
protection and that of my wife, whenever our investigations are
made in places where life is endangered by hostile Indians.

4th. That among the objects which the Mexican nation have to send
to the Exposition of Philadelphia, a place be reserved to me,
sufficient for the statues, bas-reliefs, drawings, photographs and
plans that have caused this petition.

5th. That in consequence of the short time that remains before the
opening of said Exposition, and the amount that yet remains for me
to do, particularly the opening of a cart road of 13 kilometers in
a thick forest in a country where all resources are wanting, you
may have the goodness to consider this petition at your earliest
convenience, which grace I doubt not to obtain from the illustrious
Chief Magistrate of the Nation to whom I have the honor of
subscribing myself.

AUG^{TUS} LE PLONGEON, M. D.

MÉRIDA, January 27, 1876.

NOTE. The references to plates in this paper do not agree with the
numbers on the helioscopic illustrations.

Before leaving Chichen-Itza, at about the date of the above _Memorial_, the statue, as has been already stated, was concealed in the forest near the town of Pisté, carefully protected from the weather by Dr. and Mrs. Le Plongeon, and an answer from the Mexican Government was eagerly awaited. After long delay, a simple refusal to allow the statue to be exported was the only reply. Dr. Le Plongeon then prepared his photographs and a small collection of relics for shipment to the United States, to be offered at the Centennial Exhibition of 1876. These interesting offerings were accompanied by a letter to the President of the Centennial Commission, recounting the great disappointment of not being able to send the statue, but entreating a careful consideration of the pictures. The letter was dated Mérida, August 30, 1876. By unfortunate delays and misunderstandings, the articles above mentioned never reached their destination, and in March of the present year were purchased by the writer.

The relics are interesting specimens of pottery and of the ornaments or weapons that were found with the statue, whose excavation has been described by the discoverer himself. The Jade Points and Flints are very carefully wrought, and suggest rather the idea of selection as symbols than of ordinary warlike implements. A portion or all of the articles mentioned, together with ashes, were found in a stone urn, and are shown on the opposite page.[74-*]

DESCRIPTION OF PLATE.

A picture of the relics found by Dr. Le Plongeon with the statue which he exhumed at Chichen-Itza. They were intended for exhibition at Philadelphia, together with the photographs which have been mentioned, but failed in reaching their destination. It is not supposed that the above were the only or the most valuable of the curiosities found in connection with the statue.

The three pieces of pottery bear the original labels, "_From the Mausoleum of the chieftain Chaac-mol (tiger,) Chichen-Itza. At least 5000 years old. Augustus Le Plongeon, M. D._" They were found near the head of the statue. The dish on the left stands on three short legs, perforated so that an object might be suspended from it, and the larger dish has similar legs, without perforation. The bowl at the right is decorated with tracings and other embellishments.

Below are axes and flint spears from the Island of Cozumel. Next follow fossil shells, collected by Mrs. Alice Le Plongeon from an excavation at Chichen-Itza, which may be useful in a scientific point of view.

The Jade Points are beautiful specimens, and may have been used for ceremonial purposes. The arrow-heads are of flint, very carefully finished, and have minute grooves at the base. These also apparently were not intended for practical uses. A portion, or all of the above articles, except the Cozumel flints, were enclosed in the stone urn spoken of by Dr. Le Plongeon in his _Mexican Memorial_.]

Mérida, the capital of the State of Yucatan, has an institution called _El Museo Yucateco_, founded in 1871, under the direction of Sr. Dn. Crecencio Carillo Ancona, and it is now managed by Sr. Dn. Juan Peon Contreras. In its collections are pieces of antique sculpture in stone, plaster casts and pottery taken from ancient graves, manuscripts in the Maya language and in the Spanish, rare imprints and works relating to the peninsula. These, together with objects of natural history and samples of the various woods of the country, and a cabinet of curiosities, form a museum that promises to create and encourage a love of antiquarian research among the people, a labor which has been the province of the Museo Nacional in the city of Mexico. But it does not appear that explorations have as yet been attempted. The connection which this institution has with the statue discovered by Dr. Le Plongeon arises from the fact that in February, 1877, a commission was despatched to the neighborhood of the town of Pisté by the Governor of Yucatan, under the orders of Sr. Dn. Juan Peon Contreras, Director of the Museo Yucateco, and after an absence of a month, returned, bringing the statue concealed there by Dr. Le Plongeon, in triumph to Mérida. The commission was accompanied by a military force for protection, and the progress of the returning expedition was the occasion of a grand reception in the town of Izamal, where poems and addresses were made, which are preserved in a pamphlet of 27 pages. An account of its arrival at Mérida, on March 1, is given in the _Periödico Oficial_ of the day following. The entrance of the statue was greeted by a procession composed of officials, societies, and children of the public schools. The streets were filled with spectators, and addresses were made and poems were recited. The following is a quotation from this article:--

"The Statue of Chac-Mool measures a little more than 9 feet in
length. Its beautiful head is turned to one side in a menacing
attitude, and it has a face of ferocious appearance. It is cut from
a stone almost as hard as granite. Seated upon a pedestal, with its
arms crossed upon the abdomen, it appears as if about to raise
itself in order to execute a cruel and bloody threat. This precious
object of antiquity is worthy of the study of thoughtful men.
History and archæology in their grave and profound investigations
will certainly discover some day the secret which surrounds all the
precious monuments which occupy the expanse of our rich soil, an
evident proof of the ancient civilization of the Mayas, now
attracting the attention of the Old World. The entrance of the
Statue of Chac-Mool into the Capital will form an epoch in the
annals of Yucatan history, and its remembrance will be accompanied
by that of the worthy Governor under whose administration our
Museum has been enriched with so invaluable a gift."

The reception, judging from the article in the journal above quoted, must have been imposing. It was the intention of the authorities to place the statue in the Yucatan Museum, but this purpose was defeated by its removal to Mexico, by a government steamer, in the month of April, to enrich the National Museum of that city.

All the above proceedings took place without the consent, and contrary to the wishes, of Dr. Le Plongeon, who at that time was absent from Mérida, in the Island of Cozumel, and was therefore unable to offer opposition.

In order to furnish further testimony to the high estimation in which the statue of Chac-Mool is held in Yucatan, the following notice, offered to the writer for publication, by Sr. Dn. Juan Peon Contreras, director of the museum referred to above, and which afterward appeared in _El Pensamiento_, of Mérida, of date Aug. 12, is inserted entire:--

OFFICIAL STATEMENT OF THE DIRECTOR OF THE MUSEO YUCATECO.

_To Sr. D. AUGUSTIN DEL RIO_,

_Provisional Governor of the State of Yucatan._

A short historical notice of the stone image "Chac-Mool,"
discovered in the celebrated ruins of Chichen-Itza, by the learned
Archæologist, Mr. Le Plongeon, to be preserved in the National
Museum of Mexico, for which place it is destined.

MÉRIDA, 1877.

There exist, in the deserts of Yucatan, at about 36 leagues--108
miles--from Mérida, some very notable monumental ruins, known by
the name of Chichen-Itza, whose origin is lost in the night of
time. Their situation, in the hostile section of revolutionary
Indians (_Sublivados_), caused them to be very little visited
until, to the general astonishment, an American traveller, the wise
archæologist and Doctor, Mr. Augustus Le Plongeon, in company with
his young and most intelligent wife, fixed his residence among them
for some months towards the end of 1874. They both gave themselves
up with eagerness to making excellent photographic views of what
was there worthy of notice, to be sent to the ministry of
protection, the depository which the law provides in order to
obtain the rights of ownership. They did not limit themselves to
this work. The illustrious Doctor and his wife, worthy of
admiration on many accounts, supported with patient heroism the
sufferings and risks of that very forlorn neighborhood, and passed
their days in producing exact plans, and transferring to paper the
wall paintings that are still preserved upon some of the edifices,
such as _Akabsib_--(dark writings).

There came a day on which one, endowed like the visitor, had by
abstruse archæological reasoning, and by his meditation, determined
the place, and, striking the spot with his foot, he said, "Here it
is, here it will be found." The language of this man--better said,
of this genius--will appear exaggerated. It can be decided when he
has succeeded in bringing to light the interesting work which he is
writing about his scientific investigations in the ruins of
Yucatan. Let us finish this short preamble, and occupy ourselves
with the excavation of the statue.

Chac-Mool is a Maya word which means tiger. So the discoverer
desired to name it, who reserved to himself the reasons for which
he gave it this name. He discovered a stone base, oblong, somewhat
imperfect, that measured 9 Spanish inches in thickness, by 5 feet
3-1/2 inches in length, and 2 feet 10 inches in width. Above it
reposed in a single piece of stone the colossal image whose weight
amounted to about 3,500 lbs. Its imposing and majestic attitude,
and the insignia which adorned it, leads to the supposition that it
was some notable leader of the time, a king, or perhaps a noble of
those regions. Such deductions were hazarded as suppositions. The
discoverer supposed it buried by its kindred and subjects more than
12,000 years ago. The reasons shall I attempt to give? It was
reached at 8 meters in depth, not far from the manorial castle of
Chichen, to which the approach is by a staircase of 90 steps, which
are visible from the four cardinal points. According to the above
discoverer there existed a kind of mausoleum or monument--erected
to the memory of the ruler, Chac-Mool, by the queen, his
wife--until it was destroyed at the time of the invasion of
Chichen-Itza by the Nahuas or Toltecs, at the end of the second
century of the Christian era. Even now is preserved at a short
distance from the place where was exhumed the statue of Chac-Mool,
a statue of stone representing a tiger, also above a quadrilateral
base, which once had a human head, and which it is presumed
surmounted the monument before the time of its destruction.

Employing a protection of limbs and trunks of trees, and providing
a capstan with ropes made from the bark of the grapevine, by force
of perseverance the learned Le Plongeon was able to land upon the
surface of the soil the most noteworthy archæological treasure
which has been discovered to this day in Yucatan.

Ignorant of the laws of the country, this American traveller
thought that he might at once call himself the proprietor of the
statue, and succeeded in bringing it, in 15 days, as far as the
uninhabited town of Pisté, two miles from the ruins, upon a wagon
constructed for the purpose, hiding it in the neighborhood of the
above town, while he informed himself about his supposed rights.
The indefatigable traveller came to Mérida, where, in the meantime
the Government of the State asserted that the statue was the
general property of the nation and not that of the discoverer.

Leaving for a better opportunity the questions relative to it, Dr.
Le Plongeon occupied himself in visiting other ruins, busying
himself between the Island of Cozumel and that of Mugeres, until
peace should be established in the State, and the Sr. General
Guerra should be nominated Provisional Governor.

At the suggestion of the subscriber the Governor allowed the
transportation of this statue to the Museo Yucateco, and the
Director of the Museo, in compliance with his duty, counting upon
the assistance of an armed force necessary for an expedition of
such a dangerous character, left this capital February 1, 1877, to
the end of securing the preservation of an object so important to
the ancient history of the country. Overcoming the thousand
difficulties that presented themselves in opening a road of 6
leagues that was known to the birds alone, over a surface covered
with mounds and inequalities, he constructed a new wagon on which
the colossal statue was dragged along by more than 150 Indians, in
turn, who, in their fanatical superstition, asserted that, during
the late hours of the night there came from the mouth of the figure
the words "_Conex! Conex!_" which signifies in their language, "Let
us go! Let us go!"

Upon the 26th of the same month and year, the historical and
monumental city of Izamal received with enthusiastic demonstrations
the statue of the king Chac-Mool. Brilliant compositions referring
to it were read, which, in a printed form, will accompany it for
the archives of the Museo National. When it arrived at Mérida it
had a no less lively reception on the morning of the 1st of March,
1877.

A little later it was received into the Museo Yucateco upon the
same rustic wagon on which it had traversed the 6 leagues of almost
inaccessible country from Pisté to [C]itas, from where begins the
broad road. It was intended to surround it with a wooden fence
upon which should be engraved this inscription in golden letters:--

"CHAC-MOOL

The discovery of the wise archæologist, Mr. Le Plongeon, in the
ruins of Chichen-Itza.

General Protasio Guerra being Governor of the State of Yucatan. It
was brought to the Museo Yucateco on the 1st of March, 1877, by
Juan Peon Contreras, Director of the Museum."

Still later, at the decision of the Governor of the State, Sr. D.
Augustin del Rio, its transfer to the National Museum of Mexico was
permitted, where so notable an archæological monument will show to
better advantage, leaving in its place a copy in plaster, made by a
skilful Yucatan artist.

The Director of the Museo Yucateco,
JUAN PEON CONTRERAS.

MÉRIDA, 1877.

NOTE. The unexpected arrival and early return to Vera Cruz of the
national war steamer Libertad, which conducted the recovered statue
to the Department of State, gave no time in which a copy of it
could be taken in this capital, the Government of the State
reserving the right to ask of the President of the Republic, who
resides in Mexico, to send such a copy to the Museo Yucateco, as a
just compensation.

PEON CONTRERAS.

_April_ 6, 1877.

After the defeat of Dr. Le Plongeon's cherished hopes of exhibiting his statue at Philadelphia, this traveller passed his time in investigations among the islands of the east coast of the Peninsula, particularly those of Mugeres and Cozumel. His observations there--as well as much additional information regarding the architecture of Chichen-Itza and Uxmal, and his deductions therefrom--are contained in a communication to the Minister of the United States at Mexico, and are here given in abstract, as throwing light upon the discoveries that have been made, and the inferences which have been drawn from them.

This appeal contains a statement of the wrongs suffered by Dr. Le Plongeon in being prevented from removing his statue and other discoveries from the country; and also a demand for redress and compensation, as an American citizen, for the seizure and appropriation, in the first instance by the government of Yucatan, and afterwards by the supreme government at Mexico, of the work of art which he had brought to light. This statement, with the correspondence which accompanies it, is intended also to be offered to the consideration of the President of the United States for such action as may be considered proper in the premises.

The extracts made are those only which relate to the investigations of Dr. Le Plongeon in the course of his travels; for although great sympathy is due him for his misfortunes and disappointments, a legal statement of his wrongs cannot be discussed in this paper.

EXTRACTS FROM A COMMUNICATION OF DR. LE PLONGEON TO THE HONORABLE
JOHN W. FOSTER, MINISTER OF THE UNITED STATES AT MEXICO, DATED
ISLAND OF COZUMEL, MAY 1, 1877.

Chichen-Itza is situated in the territories occupied by subjects of
Don Crecencio Poot, Chief of Chan-Santa-Cruz. In 1847, this chief
and others refused to acknowledge any longer their allegiance to
the Mexican Government, and seceded, declaring war to the knife to
the white inhabitants of Yucatan. Since that time they have
conquered a portion of that State, and hold peaceful possession of
the best towns. They have destroyed the principal cities of the
east and south. These are now reduced to mere villages with few
inhabitants. The churches in ruins, mostly converted into
fortresses, the houses abandoned by their dwellers, invaded by rank
vegetation, a refuge for bats, owls, and other prowling animals,
are crumbling to the ground every day more and more, no one daring
to make repairs, lest the Indians should burn and destroy them
again. For leagues around the country is deserted. Only a few
venturesome spirits have plucked up heart to establish farms where
the soil is the richest. They cultivate them with armed servants,
so great is their dread of their fierce enemies.

Three miles from Pisté, one of the most advanced posts on the
eastern frontier, and beyond the military lines, stand the ruins of
Chichen Itza. There lay buried, since probably 5000 years, that
superb statue, together with other most precious relics, at eight
meters under ground, amidst thick forests, unknown to the whole
world, not only to the modern, but also to the comparatively
ancient, for it has escaped destruction from the hands of the
natives. A people, starting from the vicinity of Palenque, invaded
all the regions west and south of what, in our days, is called the
Yucatan Peninsula, arriving at Bacalar. From that place, following
the coast, they ravaged the eastern part of the country, and at or
about the beginning of the Christian era laid siege to the _cities
of the holy and wise men_ (Itzaes), the seat of a very advanced
civilization, where arts, sciences and religion flourished. After a
weary and protracted defence, and many hard-fought battles, the
beautiful capital fell at last into the power of the invaders.
There, in the impulse of their ignorance, in the heat of their
wrath, they destroyed many objects of art. They vented their rage
most particularly on the effigies and portraits of the ancient
kings and rulers of the vanquished, when and where they could find
them, decapitating most and breaking a great many of the beautiful
statues wrought by their subjects in their honor, as mementoes by
which they remembered and venerated their memories. Chaacmol, whose
hiding place they ignored, as they did that of his elder brother,
_Huuncay_, whose statue is still where his friends deposited it, 12
meters under the surface of the ground, escaped the fury of the
enraged iconoclasts. Not so, however, the effigies and emblems that
adorned and surmounted the monuments raised to perpetuate the
remembrance of their most beneficent government, and the love they
professed for their people. Even these monuments themselves were
afterwards disgraced, being used as places for histrionic
performances.

The places of concealment of these and other most precious relics,
amongst them probably the libraries of the _H-Menes_ or learned and
wise men, yet to be excavated, were revealed to my wife and myself
on deciphering some hieroglyphics, mural paintings and bas-reliefs.

On the 5th of January, 1876, I conducted the statue of Chaacmol on
the road to [C]itas, and at about a quarter of a mile from Pisté,
that is to say, far enough to put it out of the reach of mischief
from the soldiers of the post, I placed it in a thicket about 50
yards from the road. There, with the help of Mrs. Le Plongeon, I
wrapped it in oil-cloth, and carefully built over it a thatched
roof, in order to protect it from the inclemencies of the
atmosphere. Leaving it surrounded by a brush fence, we carefully
closed the boughs on the passage that led from the road to the
place of concealment, so that a casual traveller, ignorant of the
existence of such an object, would not even suspect it. Many a day
our only meal has consisted of a hard Indian cake and a bit of
garlic and water.

The queen of Itza is represented under the effigy of an _ara_,
eating a human heart, on several bas-reliefs that adorned the
monuments she raised to the beloved of her own heart, Chaacmol. The
scene of his death is impressively portrayed on the walls which the
queen caused to be raised to the memory of her husband, in the two
exquisite rooms, the ruins of which are yet to be seen upon the
south end of the east wall of the gymnasium. Those rooms were a
shrine indeed, but a shrine where the conjugal love of the queen
alone worshipped the memory of her departed lover. She adorned the
outer walls with his effigies, his totem-tiger, and his shield and
coat of arms between tiger and tiger. Whilst on an admirably
polished stucco that covers the stones in the interior of the rooms
she had his deeds, his and her own life in fact, with the customs
of the time, painted in beautiful life-like designs, superbly drawn
and sweetly colored. The history of the twin brothers is there
faithfully portrayed. There is also a life-like likeness, painted
in brilliant colors, of Chaacmol. Unhappily such precious works of
art have been much defaced, more than by time, by the impious hands
of ignorant and vain fools, who have thought their names of greater
interest to the world than the most remarkable drawings on which
they have inscribed them.

Chaacmol is there represented full of wrath, the hand clinched in
an altercation with his younger brother, _Aac_. This latter, after
cowardly murdering the friend of his infancy with thrusts of his
lance--one under his right shoulder blade, another in his left
lung, near the region of the heart, and the third in the lumbar
region--fled to Uxmal in order to escape the vengeance of the
queen, who cherished their young chieftain who had led them so many
times to victory. At their head he had conquered all the
surrounding nations. Their kings and rulers had come from afar to
lay their sceptres and their hearts at the feet of their pretty and
charming queen. Even white and long bearded men had made her
presents and offered her their tributes and homage. He had raised
the fame of their beautiful capital far above that of any other
cities in Mayapan and Xibalba. He had opened the country to the
commerce of the whole world, and merchants of Asia and Africa would
bring their wares and receive in exchange the produce of their
factories and of their lands. In a word, he had made Chichen a
great metropolis in whose temples pilgrims from all parts came to
worship and even offer their own persons as a sacrifice to the
Almighty. There also came the wise men of the world to consult the
_H-Menes_, whose convent, together with their astronomical
observatory, may be seen at a short distance from the government
palace and museum. This curious story, yet unknown to the world,
was revealed to my wife and myself, as the work of restoring the
paintings advanced step by step, and also from the careful study of
the bas-reliefs which adorn the room at the base of the monument.
You can see photographs of these bas-reliefs in the album I
forwarded to the Ministry of Public Instruction. We have also in
our possession the whole collection of tracings of the paintings in
the funeral chamber.

Motul is a pretty town of 4000 inhabitants, situated about 10
leagues from Mérida. Having never suffered from the Indians it
presents quite a thriving appearance. Its productions consist
principally in the making henequen bags and the raising of cattle.
At the time of the Spanish conquest it was the site of an important
settlement, if we may judge from the number of mounds and other
edifices scattered in its vicinity. All are in a very ruinous
condition, having been demolished to obtain materials for the
buildings of the modern village and the construction of fences. It
was among these ruins that, for the first time in Yucatan, I gazed
upon the incontestable proofs that the worship of the phallus had
once been in vogue among some of the inhabitants of the Peninsula.
I discovered emblems of that worship, so common with the natives of
Hindostan and Egypt and other parts of the world, on the Eastern
side of a very ruinous pyramid, raised on a plot of ground, in the
outskirts of this village. Since then, I have often met with these
emblems of the religious rites of the Nahuas and Caras, and whilst
as at Uxmal, they stare at the traveller from every ornament of the
buildings and are to be found in every court-yard and public place,
it is a remarkable fact that they are to be met with nowhere in the
edifices of Chichen-Itza.

There can be no possible doubt that different races or rather
nations practicing distinct religious rites inhabited the country
at different epochs and destroyed each other by war. So at the time
of the arrival of the Spaniards the monuments of Chichen-Itza were
in ruins and were looked upon with awe, wonder and respect, by the
inhabitants of the country, when the city of Uxmal was thickly
peopled. There cannot be any reasonable doubt that the Nahuas, the
invaders and destroyers of the Itza metropolis, introduced the
phallic worship into Yucatan. The monuments of Uxmal do not date
from so remote an antiquity as those of Chichen, notwithstanding
that Uxmal was a large city when Chichen was at the height of its
glory. Some of its most ancient edifices have been enclosed with
new walls and ornamentation to suit the taste and fancy of the
conquerors. These inner edifices belong to a very ancient period,
and among the débris I have found the head of a bear exquisitely
sculptured out of a block of marble. It is in an unfinished state.
When did bears inhabit the peninsula? Strange to say, the Maya does
not furnish the name for the bear. Yet one-third of this tongue is
pure Greek. Who brought the dialect of Homer to America? Or who
took to Greece that of the Mayas? Greek is the offspring of
Sanscrit. Is Maya? or are they coeval? A clue for ethnologists to
follow the migrations of the human family on this old continent.
Did the bearded men whose portraits are carved on the massive
pillars of the fortress at Chichen-Itza, belong to the Mayan
nations? The Maya language is not devoid of words from the
Assyrian.