This book is primarily an attempt to recount the many thrilling experiences of Edward Herbert Thompson in his lifelong quest for archæological treasures in the ancient and abandoned city of Chi-chen Itza, for centuries buried beneath the jungle of Yucatan. As a boy Mr. Thompson—or Don Eduardo, as he is affectionately known to the natives about the Sacred City—sat in his snug New England home and read of the adventures of Stephens in Yucatan, descriptions of the old Maya civilization, and the leg

The author is indebted, for information and assistance, to many good friends in Yucatan, but chiefly to Señor Juan Martinez H., to the late Teoberto Maler, and to Mr. and Mrs. William James for their timely hospitality. The books and writings of the old priests, as well as current books on the Maya era, also have been of much aid....

IMAGINE yourself the sole owner of a plantation within which lies a city more than twelve square miles in area; a city of palaces and temples and mausoleums; a city of untold treasures, rich in sculptures and paintings. Would you not feel shamefully wealthy? And does it not seem strange that Don Eduardo, the master of such a plantation, takes the fact of his ownership with apparent calmness? But, before your fancy carries you too far, let me tell you a little more about this remarkable city, whi

“ONE particularly lovely Sunday morning, some time after taking up my abode at Chi-chen Itza,” says Don Eduardo, “I was awakened, as on other occasions, by the softly melodious chiming of the bells in my little church on the hill. As I lay in my hammock, idly listening to the pleasant sound, I could distinguish the different tones of the several bells and it was a pleasant thought to me to know that I had equipped the little church with bells having a superior quality of tone. The sound of them

IT has been said that civilization is but a layer-cake of eras—a building up of strata, with the brute state at the bottom. Layer upon layer, each succeeding generation adds its small bit of culture or knowledge, until a golden age is finally reached. And, sadly enough, from that age of enlightenment, the hope of the world, there has always been a rapid decline, until centuries later, perhaps, again begins the tedious gradual uplift. And the story of man’s rise and fall, in the passing of the ag

DON EDUARDO has described to me his first trip to Chi-chen Itza, and his impressions, which are somewhat as follows if my notes and memory do not err: “I had traveled all of a hot and dusty day, on horseback, through the jungle and over animal trails. In many places my Indian guide, who went afoot, had to lead my horse over or around the huge stones that blocked our path. After the first few miles I was painfully aware that running blithely from my city into Mérida, for forgotten trifles or even

“I AROSE cautiously, expecting to find an ache in every bone and muscle, and was agreeably surprised to discover myself without an ache or a pain, though a little stiff. Apparently the hot sun had baked all pains away. In a shady place near by sat my Indian, not sleeping, apparently not even thinking, but just doing nothing at all, an art in which he was an adept. “I was conscious of an earnest desire for two things,—a bath and breakfast,—and I wanted a great deal of both. Without much difficult

SEVERAL thousands of years before that sturdy Scotch engineer John MacAdam gave to the world the broken-rock road surface known as “macadam,” which has done so much to make communication easier, roads were built in Yucatan that embodied all of his sound principles of road-making. And MacAdam lived and died without ever having heard of them. In fact, he had been sleeping beneath the green sod of his native kirk for at least a decade before Europe or North America knew that these old roads of Yuca

YUCATAN has a peculiar geological structure. The soil is usually very thin, and beneath it is porous limestone rock. Owing to the thinness of the soil, vegetation, prolific as it is, does not grow high and the few large trees grow only where the bed-rock has in some way been broken, thus providing depth of soil for the roots. The limestone foundation is of minute sea-shells, for it was all once sea-bottom; and this porous rock is very subject to erosion, so that the whole peninsula is honeycombe

WE had reached the stage where it was very slow work for the dredge to get even a mouthful of the stiff, almost shale-like bottom of the well, but, while we brought up fewer treasures than previously, I was not ready to discard the derrick and dredge as long as the bucket brought up any finds whatever. “To facilitate the work at this stage, a plan which I had long considered was put into effect. We built a big flat-bottomed scow, crude but serviceable, and capable of holding ten scoopfuls of muc

My grandfather told me this, as his grandfather related it to him, and so on back through many grandfathers; and before that—who knows? There was in the north of this great land a city, and this city existed a thousand years before the coming of the white man. The dwellers in the land were called the children of Kukul Can. Afterward the Itzas, who were a mighty people, discovered this city and dwelt about the edge of its Sacred Well for many katuns . [6] But before the time of the Itzas, the fir

There was a time when the wrath of the Rain God was over the land. He had sent the dry wind to work his will and all the country of the Mayas lay parching and dying. The leaves of vines and shrubs and trees first twisted and contorted in their agony of thirst and then crumbled away. The black earth turned to dust, blown about by the winds, and the red earth was baked as hard as the tiles in the roadway. The old men, wise with the knowledge of years and many famines, and whose ears knew the inner

IN “The Fair God” General Lew Wallace has given a somewhat fanciful but in the main faithful description of the conquest of Montezuma and the Aztecs by Cortes and his Spanish knights and men-at-arms. The conquest of the Mayas is a similar story of blood and plunder in which the Mayas, although far outnumbering the Spaniards, were no match for the superior knowledge and weapons of the white men. And, as always, where the flag of Spain went the church followed close behind and consolidated and hel

“ALWAYS in my earlier days in my City of the Sacred Well,” says Don Eduardo, “the question was in my mind as to the age of the city. Every carved stone I found, I scanned eagerly for some clue and I should say, perhaps, right here, that while we can often gain only an inkling of the meaning of the Maya hieroglyphs and in some cases no understanding at all, the date-glyphs are plain sailing. We can read them, I think, as readily as we would read dates written in English. With but a little trainin

WHOEVER views the pyramids along the Nile is inevitably intrigued as to how they were built—how the massive stones were transported and placed in their elevated positions. And likewise at Chi-chen Itza one is bound to speculate as to how the heavy stone-work was transported from its quarries, how it was so intricately carved, and by what predetermined plans it was erected into buildings which have stood for centuries, defying tropical nature. I have found the Sacred City an absorbing topic upon

IN wet weather the archæologist may take either a well-earned rest or he may busy himself with cataloguing and packing the trophies of his trusty pick and shovel. “One day when the rain and the Evil Wind conspired to keep us indoors,” says Don Eduardo, “I found it much more interesting to listen to the yarns of the Indians than to work at routine tasks. All I can say in self-defense is that in Yucatan the subtle contagion of ‘mañana’ does get into one’s blood. “My Indians are all very superstiti

AS I have said, the art of the Mayas, and of Chi-chen Itza particularly, represents several periods of culture. Some of the oldest examples of architecture, stone point-work, carvings, and murals, as well as temple ornaments and personal trinkets display the greatest artistry of design and craftsmanship. Evidently art progressed until a golden age dawned, comparable in its way to the golden age of Greece. Just as Pericles and Praxiteles chiseled into stone a marvelous grace and beauty which late

JOSÉ ALVARADO, once a common mine laborer, an ordinary peon, became the Silver King of Mexico, so fabulously rich that he offered to pay off the whole national debt of Mexico. His offer was declined by Porfirio Diaz, then President of Mexico. Alvarado inherited from a hard-working father a meager silver-mine and he took up the arduous working of this mine upon the decease of his parent, gaining from his toil scarcely enough to pay for his scant frijoles, chiles, and tortillas, until chance led h

WITHIN the province of Mani the water-holes, the satenejas , were dry. For many weeks no rain had fallen and the growing corn had withered and died. The people were perishing of hunger and thirst and Ah Pula Xia, overlord of the province, saw that something must be done and swiftly or the tribe of Mani would be no more. And so he caused the great summons to be sounded, the command to every man, women, and child in the whole province to appear before him—the command that had not been heard for tw

RIGHT here in America, only a short journey from the United States and closer to them than our Panama Canal, are the remains of at least sixty ancient ruined cities—marvelous places about which we know almost nothing, nor of the people who built them. We know infinitely more of the ancient Egyptians—of their buildings, their customs, their beliefs, their history, and their writings. Virtually every hieroglyphed surface left by them which has been uncovered has been pored over by many archæologis

One basin of fine gold, twelve inches in diameter with shallow rounding bottom. About a pound in weight. Four other basins, bowls or cups, smaller in size, uncarved, but of massive material and very artistic in contour. None of the above basins were twisted, cut or broken. Seven gold disks, embossed or beaten, about ten inches in diameter. Eight gold disks, embossed or beaten, about eight inches in diameter. Seventeen gold disks, embossed or beaten, about six inches in diameter. Ten gold disks,