The Mayas, the Sources of Their History Part 4

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 coa.r.s.e 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 compet.i.tion with those of a.s.syria 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 ma.s.s 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 debris, 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 ?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 j.a.pan to observe the transit of Venus, will he permit, I ask, the greatest discovery ever made in American archaeology, 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 pa.s.s over the debris 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 Piste, four kilometers distant, much less to ?itas, distant from Piste 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 Piste, 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 Piste, 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 Piste toward ?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 Merida, 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 pet.i.tion.

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 pet.i.tion at your earliest convenience, which grace I doubt not to obtain from the ill.u.s.trious Chief Magistrate of the Nation to whom I have the honor of subscribing myself.

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

MeRIDA, January 27, 1876.

NOTE. The references to plates in this paper do not agree with the numbers on the helioscopic ill.u.s.trations.

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 Piste, 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 s.h.i.+pment 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 Merida, 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-*]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Relics found in the excavation with the Statue exhumed by Dr. Augustus Le Plongeon at Chichen-Itza, Yucatan, together with specimens of axes and spear heads from Cozumel._

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 sh.e.l.ls, 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_.]

Merida, the capital of the State of Yucatan, has an inst.i.tution 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, ma.n.u.scripts 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 inst.i.tution 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 Piste 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 Merida. 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 Merida, on March 1, is given in the _Periodico 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 att.i.tude, 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 b.l.o.o.d.y threat. This precious object of antiquity is worthy of the study of thoughtful men.

History and archaeology 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 Merida, 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 Merida, 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 Archaeologist, Mr. Le Plongeon, to be preserved in the National Museum of Mexico, for which place it is destined.

MeRIDA, 1877.

There exist, in the deserts of Yucatan, at about 36 leagues--108 miles--from Merida, 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 archaeologist 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 owners.h.i.+p. They did not limit themselves to this work. The ill.u.s.trious Doctor and his wife, worthy of admiration on many accounts, supported with patient heroism the sufferings and risks of that very forlorn neighborhood, and pa.s.sed 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 archaeological 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 att.i.tude, and the insignia which adorned it, leads to the supposition that it was some notable leader of the time, a king, or perhaps a n.o.ble 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 archaeological treasure which has been discovered to this day in Yucatan.