The Mayas, the Sources of Their History / Dr. Le Plongeon in Yucatan, His Account of Discoveries

by Stephen Salisbury

In view of the dangers that awaited us, I thought proper to write to my good friend, General Don Guillermo Palomino, sub-inspector of the military posts of Yucatan; so that, without prejudice to the service, he should give orders to the commander of the post of Pisté, distant one league from the ruins of Chichen, to succor us in case we should need his aid.

General Palomino, understanding the importance of my undertaking, interested himself in the result. He wrote to Don Filipe Diaz, chief of the military line of the east, so that he should give orders to his subaltern, the commander of the advance-post of Pisté, that in case of necessity he should furnish my wife and myself the protection we might need while in Chichen.

After many delays, owing now to one thing, now to another, but more particularly to the alarming reports that the Indians, or at least their emissaries and spies, prowled about the neighborhood, we at last started on the march in the direction of Pisté on the 21st of September, 1875.

Colonel Diaz was about to visit the posts under his command. This gentleman, as much to respect the orders of his superior as to give me a proof of his appreciation of my person, resolved to accompany us to Chichen with part of his forces. He did so, leaving Valladolid protected by a company of his battalion, and another of the 18th regiment of the line which at the time was stationed in that city. Arrived at the village of Ɔitas, we learned that the old footpath, the only one that had ever existed between this point and Pisté, four leagues distant, was entirely closed up, impassable, consequently, for horsemen.

Colonel Don José Coronado, who, from esteem, had also wished to accompany us, offered to go forward with a part of the company, and some Indians, to re-open the road, and make it ready. His offer accepted, he departed, and a few days later we were able to continue our march to Pisté, not meeting in the transit other annoyance than the roughness of the road, the roots and tree trunks that had obstructed it having been removed.

So, on the 27th of September, after a tedious march of six hours in the thicket, we reached the advance-post of Pisté.

Pisté, ten years ago, was a pretty village, built amid forests, around a senote of thermal waters, surrounded by most fertile lands, which the industrious dwellers cultivated. Suddenly, on a certain Sunday (election day), when they were entertained at the polls, the ominous war-cry of the Indians of Chan-Santa-Cruz fell upon their ears. Few were the villagers that, taking refuge in the bush, escaped the terrible machete of their enemies. Of this village only the name remains. Its houses roofless, their walls crumbled, are scarcely seen beneath the thick green carpet of convolvulus, and cowage (mecuna). These overspread them with their leaves and beautiful petals, as if to hide the blood that once stained them, and cause to be forgotten the scenes of butchery they witnessed. The church alone, sad and melancholy, without doors, its sanctuaries silent, its floor paved with the burial slabs of the victims, surrounded by parapets, yet stands in the midst of the ruined abodes of those who used to gather under its roof; it is to-day converted into a fortress. The few soldiers of the post are the only human beings that inhabit these deserts for many leagues around; its old walls, its belfry, widowed of its bells, are all that indicates to the traveller that Pisté once was there.

After resting, we continued our march to Chichen, whose grand pyramid of 22 meters 50 centimeters high, with its nine andenes, could be seen from afar amidst the sea of vegetation that surrounded it, as a solitary lighthouse in the midst of the ocean. Night had already fallen when we reached the Casa principal of the hacienda of Chichen, that Colonel Coronado had had cleaned to receive us.

At dawn on the following day, 28th, Colonel Diaz caused parapets to be raised and the house to be fortified. He placed his advance sentinels and made all necessary arrangements to avoid a surprise from the Indians, and to resist them in case of attack. For my part I immediately commenced work. From the descriptions made by the travellers who had preceded me and that I had read, I believed fifteen days or three weeks would be sufficient for me to investigate all the ruins. But on the 12th of October, Colonel Diaz having received notice that the Indians were probably preparing an attack, sent to bring me from the ruins, to communicate to me the news that he had to march immediately. I had really scarcely commenced my studies, notwithstanding I had worked every day from sunrise to sunset, so many and so important were the monuments that, very superficially, my predecessors had visited.

I resolved to remain with my wife, and continue our investigations until they should be completed, in spite of the dangers that surrounded us. I made known my unalterable resolution to Colonel Diaz, asking him only to arm a few of the Indians that remained with me, for I did not wish even a single soldier of the post of Pisté to accompany me. Leaving my instruments of geodesy and photography at the ruins, I made the church of Pisté my head-quarters, where we went every night to sleep, returning always at daylight to Chichen, one league distant.