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 archaeologist, 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 debris, 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