Part 5 (1/2)
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 Piste, 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 Merida, where, in the meantime the Government of the State a.s.serted 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 a.s.sistance 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 superst.i.tion, a.s.serted 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 Merida 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 Piste to ?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 archaeologist, 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 archaeological 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.
MeRIDA, 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 pa.s.sed 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 princ.i.p.al 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 Piste, 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 ?itas, and at about a quarter of a mile from Piste, 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 pa.s.sage 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 wors.h.i.+pped the memory of her departed lover. She adorned the outer walls with his effigies, his totem-tiger, and his s.h.i.+eld 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 wors.h.i.+p 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 alb.u.m 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 Merida. Having never suffered from the Indians it presents quite a thriving appearance. Its productions consist princ.i.p.ally 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 wors.h.i.+p of the phallus had once been in vogue among some of the inhabitants of the Peninsula.