Teobert Maler

“ If the men had simply left the slab on the spot where they found it, it would have been an easy matter for me to have dug a little further and the missing portion would undoubtedly have come to light. Now, of course, no one can surmise in what part of the huge pyramid of ruins, overgrown with trees, this table stood. ”

“ From among the débris the woodcutters — who, I regret to say, seem to busy themselves, incidentally and in a manner quite uncalled for, with archaeology, but naturally only after the style of woodcutters — had taken out a slab bearing inscriptions, intending to carry it away with them, but finding it too heavy, they left it lying on the side of the pyramid and contented themselves with knocking off a corner to take with them as a "specimen"! ”

“ After crossing the river for the third time, the path improved. We might have travelled about an hour, when we heard the barking of dogs and the hollow sound of conch-shells, Strombus gigas, with which the Indians greeted our arrival. The forest opened. We entered a milpa of tall and luxuriant maize, and from its group of huts Chankin's brother-in-law, el suegro, named Māx (mās) came to meet us surrounded by other Indians, including women and children. ”

“ We crossed the Cháncala River about one league above the waterfall, where lie the crumbling huts of the abandoned montería, La Cuña. Hard by the waterfall — on the right bank — are also the huts of a former lumber-camp, El Chorro, and in the best of these we settled ourselves for the night. We were about seven leagues from La Reforma. ”

“ I had brought my little camera with me to take small views of the most beautiful spots, although convinced that it is impossible for photography alone to convey an adequate idea of the incomparable, ever-varying beauty of these sheets of water set in vegetation untouched by the hand of man. ”

“ I will only remark that in almost all cases where a sculptured stela is dashed down by the accidental fall of a forest giant, the picture facing upward is destroyed, but the one turned downward is marvellously well-preserved. ”

“ The ruins are situated on the right bank of the Xupá and are of considerable extent. Nearly all the buildings appear to have had great substructures built of good hewn stone. The superstructures are almost without exception in ruins, but in all directions there are massive substructures many of which are of considerable size. I have explored very nearly all the buildings and the ground in front of them for sculptured stones, but in vain. The principal temple, once a noble edifice crowning a large pyramidal substructure, alone still exhibits parts of rooms and remains of walls. ”

“ On the morning of the 29th of August we crossed the Chocolhá with the help of a large cayuco, loaded our pack animals, and from this point took the road to Tzendales, which was in a wretched state besides being very mountainous. Finally we took a forest trail on the right, and late in the afternoon we reached the montería of Las Tinieblas, which had been recently established on the right bank of the upper Chocolhá and — as I had learned — was at that time the most advanced post for those who wished to reach the Lake of Pethá. The distance from Culebra to Tinieblas I estimated at five leagues. ”

“ In various gourds which I examined I found tree-resin, wax, aromatic herbs, seed-corn, lime, points of flint for arrows, and even alligator teeth, which were probably intended for the necklaces of the women, etc. Small spindles with cotton threads, small wooden spoons, tufts of feathers, and skulls of peccaries, deer, and apes were also stuck between the poles. There were even some billets of pitch-pine, ocotl, which must have been brought from a distance, for there are no pine-trees in the neighborhood of Pethá. In one of the small open huts hung a large gourd, which served for a bee-hive. ”

“ Maler gives us vivid pictures of the wild beauty and tropical luxuriousness of the country through which he journeys; and in the relation of his dealings with the Lacantuns he gives us glimpses of the life and customs of these little-known denizens of the jungle about Lake Pethá.
Mr. Maler has spent many years in Mexico and Central America, and has examined and photographed many of the prehistoric ruins and sculptures of that region. ”

“ Southward from the cluster of buildings of La Reformaa, a small mountain range is visible, the crest of which forms an extensive plateau, on which the ruins of a little ancient city lie hidden among the high forest trees. Although the monteros had found nothing of importance there, as the ruins lay within easy reach I deemed it advisable to explore them. ”

“ This time taking the right hand, that is, following the northern shore, we came to a canal overhung by trees, through which we pushed our way as well as we could. It led to an extremely picturesque, large western basin, a long narrow arm of which branches off in a northwesterly direction (Plate V, 6) . This part of the lake is also surrounded on all sides by mountains. The most beautiful vegetation extends close to the water's edge, while in several places perpendicular cliffs rise to a height of twenty to thirty metres (Plate V, 3) . ”

“ The steeply sloping surfaces of the frieze were probably ornamented at the corners and at stated intervals with sitting figures in stucco, measuring about two-thirds of the height of the frieze (Fig. 3) . Only the stones forming the bases of these figures are preserved, while the greater portion of the stucco has fallen off. The upper cornice of the frieze is like the lower, but less heavy.
I am sorry to say that it was no longer possible to tell whether the temple had been formerly crowned by an ornamental coping or not. ”

“ We too followed the general practice, and when on the 27th of August I was able to start from La Reforma with my men and mules, after crossing the Chinikihá we took the narrow forest trail to the abandoned montería of El Clavo, about three leagues from La Reforma, where the forsaken huts afforded us sufficient shelter from the rain during the night. On the second day of our journey, in spite of the wretched, miry, and, at times, also mountainous paths, we reached the Chocolhá, where the neighboring monterías have a ferryman who carries the traveller over in a cayuco. ”

“ Māx's premises consisted of a large main hut, where he lived with his wives and children. This was surrounded by four smaller, half-open huts, some intended for cooking, and some for the accommodation of guests, and one was devoted exclusively to the incense vessels with faces of gods.
Here also was an abundance of cooking-vessels and implements of every sort, and the inmates had hammocks made of agave cord for sleeping at night and also for resting by day. The hammocks of the Lacantuns are very different from those which are used elsewhere in Mexico. ”

“ Without wishing further to blame the honest woodcutters — who apologized to me for having meddled in archaeological matters by saying that they could not have foreseen that some time I should penetrate into these hidden corners — I must mention, however, to complete the matter, that one of the mozos found among these ruins a small sculptured stone in perfect preservation which, it is said, still showed some traces of colors, and that he had carried it off with the intention of selling it to one of the managers of La Reforma. ”

“ As the façade of the temple proper, the right wing, and the middle part are almost entirely in ruins, I had great difficulty in understanding the ground plan of the temple, but I finally discovered that it was similar to that of the three well-known temples of Palenque, — the Temple of the Trophy and the first and second Temples of the Cross, — which proves beyond all doubt that Xupá was very intimately connected with Palenque. ”

“ The shells of the dead snails are soon covered with a thick calcareous crust, which continually increases as the years go by, forming cones of various sizes until the uninitiated would hardly suspect that the resultant mass had once been a snail-shell. A day was also devoted to photographing the magnificent waterfall (Plate IV) . In order to descend the steep walls of the ravine in front of this waterfall, we had to tie ropes to the trees. ”

“ The other larger group of buildings, which in past years had more particularly fallen a prey to the depredations of the woodcutters exploiting these woods, was especially difficult to rediscover, since, when the woodcutters abandoned this region, the forest had been set on fire and everything was now concealed by the dense vegetation.
Mr. Molina himself came to our assistance from La Reforma, bringing with him some of the most experienced of the elder monteros. And it was only with this help that we were successful in finding the ruins. ”

“ Chancala (tsánkalá) is the name of a plant with large leaves, the seedpods of which contain small black balls, which, when pierced with holes, are used by the Indian women for necklaces. It is the Heliconia of the botanists.
At the end of January, 1898, leaving the larger part of my baggage at La Reforma, I went with my men to the waterfall of the Cháncala River to investigate a ruined city in that locality. The road was extremely miry and occasioned us much trouble. ”

“ The temple with its façade faces the east. On this side were the flights of stairs, the terraces forming broad steps, and apartments, now in ruins, adjoining the temple at its base, which were reached from the place in front of the temple. ”

“ It invariably rained at night.
On the morning of September 3d, after crossing and recrossing the river three times, the passage over the Chocolhá was completed. The little Indian boat was now fastened as securely as possible to the left bank, so that it might serve us on our return. At a distance of only two hundred paces from our crossing-place, we saw a well-built open champa, and a smaller one near by for cooking. Several pottery cooking-utensils lay around, and at a short distance we saw the clearing where the caoba had been felled and the cayuco had been made. ”

“ The wooden implement with which the women weave the cotton cloth, la manta, is also interesting. An old woman was at work on a piece of material, and I wanted to buy the implement together with the partly finished web, but she obstinately refused to sell it. The women, however, gave me some of their seed necklaces as mementos, and I requested the men to bring a few of their beautifully made bows and arrows to my camp, promising to pay well for them. ”

“ The first part of the road, which has been built by the firm of Romano from La Reforma to Tzendales, running directly through the wilderness, is excessively bad, because the workmen found no firm, stony soil, but only black forest loam. ”

“ The arrows, which are intended for killing monkeys, have the forward piece of hard wood deeply barbed, so that the animal cannot shake off or pull out the arrow. Lastly, the arrows which are intended to stun a bird only for the time being, so that it can be caught unhurt, have a little conical piece of wood in place of a flint head.
The bow is bound up with the arrows, and the bundle is protected by a covering of bark (majahua, as it is called in Tabasco) which is usually stripped from young ceiba-trees. ”

“ Koller wished to return to his rancho on the same day. We succeeded in reaching this edifice, blazing the direction thither by cutting off branches, so that on the next day the thorough exploration might be carried on without interruption.
Our camp by that bubbling brook was very comfortable, but about midnight the piercing scream of a panther awoke us from our light slumbers. This animal is not directly dangerous to man, but its repeated shrill cry somewhat disconcerted my men, who were not exactly heroes. It seemed to have the same effect upon a troop of howling monkeys. ”

“ Tinieblas is occasionally visited by neighboring Lacantuns, who sell to the employees beautiful bows and arrows, rare birds and other articles; and yet none of the people here had the least idea where the Lake of Pethá was situated or how the Indian settlements could be reached. ”

“ After this I stepped into my cayuco, gave my hand to the man and asked him his name. Chankin, — chichan, abbreviated chan (tšitšan, tšan) = small; kin (k'in) = sun, priest, — he answered. Then I explained to him that we had come to see the lake and to visit his countrymen who were living in its vicinity, and also that we would like to purchase a few pretty things as well as food of them, for which purpose we had brought with us useful articles: knives, fish-hooks, handkerchiefs, mirrors, and salt, of which they never have a sufficient supply. ”

“ Probably the birds stay away during the rainy season, because the lake has no beach; but I think it probable that ducks, herons, and pelicans frequent the lake in the dry season when the water has fallen perhaps full five metres and large portions of the shore are above water. We found the water very deep everywhere, and therefore used only oars and never poles. ”