"The same explorer dug up a statue here in the summer of 1881, and describes it as the finest ever discovered in Central America. He and his wife were working alone when the treasure was unearthed, and with the recollections of the Chac-Mool experience before them, they immediately covered up the precious discovery, and removed all trace of their work.
"Learning wisdom by their experience, I would advise against any serious expenditure of time and money in exploring the remains of Uxmal or any other of the sixty or more ruined cities of Yucatan. If you find anything of value it will go into the hands of the Mexican Government and adorn the museum at the national capital. Antiquities of no value can be taken to New York or elsewhere after paying certain duties upon them for exportation."
Frank and Fred thought the advice excellent, and thanked Mr. Burbank for it. They confined their investigations to making sketches and photographs of the sculptures, and measuring the buildings and the apartments in them. They did not undertake any digging operations, and listened calmly to the stories of the natives concerning the vast amount of treasures supposed to be concealed in the ruins of the buildings.
It may be remarked here that the natives were very unwilling to remain around the ruins at night, and all of them who could do so hurried to the hacienda of Uxmal immediately after sunset. They believe that the ghosts of the former occupants revisit the ruins at night, and treat with great severity any one whom they find there.
In support of their belief they told several stories of how Indians who had ventured to spend the night in the ruins had disappeared and no trace of them had ever been found. In other cases their dead bodies were found in some of the rooms of the old buildings, and in each instance the marks on their throats showed that they had been strangled at the hands of the ghosts. A dead Indian was found in a tree-top, where it was impossible to have climbed, or been placed by human hands; the inference was that the ghosts had killed the rash man, and then carried his body into the tree-top as a warning to future intruders.
For cooking and drinking purposes our friends obtained water from a small pond, or aguada, which is supposed to have been the watering-place of Uxmal in the days of its glory. It is now partly overgrown with aquatic plants, and is a favorite haunt of the birds, or, rather, one of their haunts, as there are several ponds in the neighborhood of the ruins.
By skilful use of a shot-gun, which formed part of their outfit, the youths obtained several ornithological specimens, which they carefully skinned and preserved. Like the majority of tropical birds, their plumage was brilliant, that of the crimson flycatcher being especially so. Coots were numerous, and formed an agreeable addition to the bill of fare of Uxmal, though our friends were unanimous in the belief that the coots of Yucatan were far behind their namesakes of the Northern States in the matter of edibility.