FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84  
85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   >>  
image whose weight amounted to about 3,500 lbs. Its imposing and majestic attitude, and the insignia which adorned it, leads to the supposition that it was some notable leader of the time, a king, or perhaps a noble 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. 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 asserted 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
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84  
85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   >>  



Top keywords:

statue

 

discoverer

 

Plongeon

 

monument

 

supposed

 
traveller
 

Chichen

 

archaeological

 

noteworthy

 
treasure

Yucatan

 
discovered
 

Ignorant

 

trunks

 

providing

 

capstan

 

protection

 

Employing

 

presumed

 

surmounted


destruction

 

country

 

surface

 

learned

 

perseverance

 

grapevine

 

bringing

 

Leaving

 

opportunity

 

questions


nation

 
property
 

Government

 

asserted

 

general

 
relative
 

Cozumel

 

Mugeres

 

Island

 

occupied


visiting

 

busying

 

meantime

 

Merida

 

uninhabited

 

succeeded

 
thought
 

proprietor

 

informed

 

rights