T. A. W.

CONTENTS

CHAPTERPAGE
I[Yucatan, the Land of the Mayas]3
II[The Church of San Isidro and Its Fragrant Legend]24
III[The First Americans]32
IV[Don Eduardo’s First View of the City of the Sacred Well]49
V[The Ancient City]58
VI[An Idle Day in the Jungle]88
VII[The Sacred Well]97
VIII[Sixty Feet Under Water]118
IX[Two Legends]150
X[The Conquest]166
XI[The Finding of the Date-Stone]179
XII[The Construction of Maya Buildings]198
XIII[Story-Tellers of Yucatan]198
XIV[Forgotten Michael Angelos]211
XV[The Tomb of the High Priest]236
XVI[The Legend of the Sacrificial Pilgrimage]261
XVII[Thirty Years of Digging]278
[Appendix]285

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

[A last forward swing and the bride of Yum Chac hurtles far out over the well]Frontispiece
FACING PAGE
[The Nunnery, the only three-storied structure in the Sacred City]64
[The second story of the Nunnery]65
[All that remains of the third story of the Nunnery. Several inscribed stones built hit or miss into the wall were doubtless taken from the older city]65
[El Castillo, the Temple of Kukul Can, on its great pyramid, is the center of the Sacred City and the largest edifice]112
[Looking down into the Sacred Well. Because of the size of the well and the fringe of trees about it, the whole scene cannot be photographed]113
[A sculpture in bas-relief showing a warrior-priest in ceremonial attire, representing the Maya hero-god Kukul Can, the plumed serpent]240
[A religious ceremony depicted in the Temple of Bas-Reliefs. This is but a small section from the interior walls, which contain more than eighty figures]241

THE CITY OF THE
SACRED WELL

CHAPTER I
YUCATAN, THE LAND OF THE MAYAS