[CHAPTER XXVIII.]
"THE MYSTERIOUS CITY;" STORIES AND RUMORS CONCERNING IT.—ACCOUNTS OF STEPHENS AND MORELET.—FATE OF TWO YOUNG AMERICANS.—DON PEDRO VELASQUEZ.—CARMEN AND CAMPEACHY.—UNDERGROUND CAVES.—HOW LOGWOOD IS GATHERED; ITS COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE.—THE QUEZAL AND ITS WONDERFUL PLUMAGE.—SNAKES AND SNAKE STORIES.—TRAVELLERS' TALES.—PROGRESO AND SISAL.—HOW THE YUCATAN RAILWAY WAS BUILT.—AGAVE SISALANA.—DISCOVERY AND CONQUEST OF YUCATAN.—A FEROCIOUS POPULATION.—REBELLIOUS INDIANS IN YUCATAN; HOW THEY TREAT VISITORS.—TOWNS AND VILLAGES DEPOPULATED.
While considering the accounts of the ruins of ancient cities in Mexico and the countries bordering it, our young friends came upon allusions to a "mysterious city," somewhere in the unexplored region of tropical forests lying to the southward. Their curiosity was excited, and they wondered if such a city really existed.
IN THE FOREST.
They found that two explorers, Stephens and Morelet, believed in its existence, and though they tried hard to reach it were unable to do so. Stephens learned of it from the cura of Quiche, a native town of Guatemala, who claimed to have looked upon the city from the wall of rock surrounding the valley where it stands. He had heard of it many years before at the village of Chajul. He was then young, and had climbed to the top of the ridge which the Indians indicated, and from his elevated stand-point looked down upon the plain and the white walls and towers of the city glistening in the sun. It covered a large area, and its people were advanced in the arts and capable of making a vigorous defence against all intruders.
JOHN L. STEPHENS.