Page:Researches in the Central Portion of the Usumatsintla Valley.djvu/22

14 while pressing sugar-cane. We crossed the Cháncala River about one league above the waterfall, where lie the crumbling huts of the abandoned montería, La Cuña. Hard by the waterfall — on the right bank — are also the huts of a former lumber-camp, El Chorro, and in the best of these we settled ourselves for the night. We were about seven leagues from La Reforma.

The ruined city is perhaps three kilometres to the south of these huts, but owing to the extremely dense vegetation, it was impossible to reach it by a direct route. Therefore, when we were ready the next morning, the guide whom we had obtained at La Reforma, preferred to follow the path leading down stream for a considerable distance and then, turning to the right, to go up hill by a very much overgrown wood-road. On our journey we passed several streams of water, clear as crystal, whose banks were gay with interesting flowers. Finally we came to some masonry which enclosed an artificial mound of earth, from which, however, the structures which had once surmounted it had entirely disappeared. In spite of the fact that we had successfully reached the ruined city we were seeking, the guide who had been sent with us became so discouraged, owing to the rank vegetation which obstructed all the former paths, that with all sorts of prevarications and lying pretexts he cowardly forsook us and returned to La Reforma. I quietly let the rascal go, as I had very capable men with me. We at once began to explore the forest in which the ruins lay in all directions. We found a considerable number of substructures, both large and small, heaps of ruins, etc. In the southwestern part of the town we climbed a high natural hill in the hope of finding the principal temple on its top. Indeed near the summit there were remains of terrace walls, and at the very top a small ruined pyramid indicated that a temple had formerly stood there. From this hill we were able to overlook, in a measure, the surrounding country, without however gaining an advantage thereby, on account of the exceedingly tall growth of the trees. The trunks of many of the trees were of extraordinary thickness and height. An especial object of wonder to me was a ceiba — yāxché (yās-tse = green stem) as the Mayas call it — of giant proportions.

In the northwestern part of the town we were first successful in discovering a temple, in a fairly good state of preservation, which crowned a small pyramid of six terraces. To make the satisfaction of my men complete, they shot a slender variety of monkey, a mico, so that we had no lack of meat. The front of the temple faced the west, and my men began carefully to cut down the vegetation on that side, while I drew the plan (Fig. 2).

A broad flight of steps, now of course partially in ruins, leads up to the platform of the pyramid. The latter, which is about nine metres high, is composed of six terraces, some of which are still distinctly visible. The entrance to the interior of the temple is two hundred and fifty centimetres