Page:Researches in the Central Portion of the Usumatsintla Valley.djvu/17



I.

LA REFORMA.

In the middle of January, 1898, after I had engaged four men in Tenosique and had finished other preparations for my journey, I left this starting-point of my expeditions, intending to explore the route from Chinikihá to Xupá, and to go to Palenque if circumstances allowed, and then to push on to the great Lake of Pethá and the settlements of the Lacantuns.

Accompanied by two of my men and our luggage, I travelled in a cayuco up to Pomoná, a small settlement two leagues above Tenosique (see map, Plate I), while the other two men brought the pack animals by land to the crossing-place at Pomoná, where they safely crossed the Usumatsintla, with the help of the cayucos and the men which I sent to their assistance after my arrival. Pomoná comprises only a few huts, inhabited by people belonging to the sugar rancho of San Antonio on the opposite shore.

We spent the night at Pomoná; on the next day we took the road through the forests to La Reforma, where we arrived after a two days' journey. La Reforma is a large settlement belonging to the firm of Romano, and lies close to the right shore of the Chacamax, perhaps ten leagues from Pomoná and Tenosique.

Not being acquainted with the managers who were in charge of this montería, I naturally had some difficulty in making them understand the object of my coming, and in obtaining their permission to unload my luggage and to shelter my men in some corner of one of their buildings. By degrees, however, friendly relations were established with these gentlemen. Gradually they began to take an interest in my not uninteresting expeditions, and also to render me some assistance. One of the managers was a Spaniard, Isidoro Mucha by name; the other was an engineer, Felippe Molina, from the city of Mexico. Both were agreeable and cultivated men.

A road — which is in a frightful condition during the greater part of the year — leads from La Reforma to the distant settlement, on the Lacantun River, belonging to the same firm of Romano, and called Los Tzendales. This forest road runs directly through the vast wilderness in which the scattered remnants of the Maya-Lacantuns live.