Part 2

"The Cura, nevertheless, on finding that his supercilious scepticism had not proved so infectious among us as he expected and that we were rather vexed than vacillating, offered to procure us guides in the course of a day or two, who were familiar with many parts of the sierra, and who, for good pay, he doubted not, would flatter our expectations to the utmost extent we could desire. He advised us, however, in the same style of caustic dissuasion, to take with us both a barometer and a telescope, if we were provided with those instruments, because the latter, especially, might be found useful in discovering the unknown city, and the former would not only inform us of the height of the mountain, but of the weather in prospect most favorable to a distant view. Senor Huertis replied that such precautions would be adopted, as a matter of course, and would, moreover, furnish him, on our return to Gueguetenango, with the exact latitude and longitude of the spot from which the discovery might be made. He laughed very heartily and rejoined that he thought this operation would be much easier than to furnish the same interesting particulars concerning the location of the spots at which the discovery might fail to be made; and saying this he robed himself for mass, which we all, rather sullenly, attended.

"Next morning, two good looking Meztitzos, brothers, waited on us with a strong letter of recommendation from the Cura, as guides to that region of the sierra which the Padre's letter had so particularly described, and which description, the Cura added, he had taken much pains to make them understand. On being questioned concerning it, they startled and somewhat disconcerted us by calm assurances, in very fair Spanish, that they were not only familiar with all the land-marks, great and small, which the Cura had read to them, but had several times seen the very city of which we were in search, although none but full-blooded Indians had ever ventured on a journey to it. This was rather too much, even for us, sanguine and confiding as we were. We shared a common suspicion that the Cura had changed his tactics, and resolved to play a practical joke upon our credulity--to send us on a fool's errand and laugh at us for our pains. That he had been tampering with the two guides for this purpose, struck us forcibly; for while he professed never to have known any man who had seen the distant city, he recommended these Meztitzos, as brothers, whom he had known from their boyhood, they declared they had beheld it from the sierra on various occasions. Nevertheless, Senor Huertis believed that the young men spoke the truth, while the Cura, probably, did not; and hoping to catch him in his own snare, if such had been laid, asked the guides their terms, which, though high, he agreed to at once, without cavil. They said it would take us eight days to reach the part of the sierra described in the letter, and that we might have to wait on the summit several days more, before the weather would afford a clear view. They would be ready in two days; they had just returned across the mountains from San Antonia de Guista, and needed rest and repairs. There was a frankness and simplicity about these fine fellows which would bear the severest scrutiny, and we could only admit the bare possibility of our being mistaken.

"It took us three days, however, to procure a full supply of the proper kind of provisions for a fortnight's abode in the sky, and on the fourth, (May 5th,) we paid our formal respects to the Cura, and started for the ascent--he not forgetting to remind us of the promise to report to him the precise geographical locality of our discovery."

The journal is again blank until May 9th, when the writer says, "Our altitude, by barometer, this morning, is over 6000 feet above the valley which we crossed three days ago; the view of it and its surrounding mountains, sublime with chasms, yet grotesque in outline, and all heavily gilded with the setting sun, is one of the most oppressively gorgeous I ever beheld. The guides inform us that we have but 3000 feet more to ascend, and point to the gigantic pinnacle before us, at the apparent distance of seven or eight leagues; but that, before we can reach it, we have to descend and ascend an immense barranca, (ravine,) nearly a thousand feet deep from our present level, and of so difficult a passage that it will cost us several days. The side of the mountain towards the north-west, is perfectly flat and perpendicular for more than half its entire height, as if the prodigious section had been riven down by the sword of the San Miguel, and hurled with his foot among the struggling multitude of summits below. So far, the old Padre is accurate in every particular." In a note opposite this extract, written perpendicularly on the margin of the manuscript, the writer says, "The average breadth of the plain on this ridge of the sierra, (that is the ridge on which they were then encamped for the night,) is nearly half a mile, and exhibits before us a fine rolling track as far as we can see. Neither birds, beasts, nor insects--I would there were no such barranca!" On the tenth he says, "on the brink of the abyss--the heaviest crags we can hurl down, return no sound from the bottom."

The next entry in the journal is dated May 15th.--"Recovered the body of Sebastiano and the load of his mule; his brother is building a cross for his grave, and will not leave it until famished with thirst and hunger. All too exhausted to think of leaving this our first encampment since we descended. Present elevation but little above that of the opposite ridge which we left on the 11th, still, at least 3000 feet to climb." On the 19th, 4 o'clock, P. M., he records, "Myself, Sr. Hammond and Antonio, on the highest summit, an inclined plain of bare rock, of about fifteen acres. The Padre again right. Sr. Huertis and others just discernable, but bravely coming on. Elevation, 9,500 feet. Completely in the clouds, and all the country below invisible. Senor Hammond already bleeding at the nose, and no cigar to stop it." At 10 o'clock, the same night, he writes, "All comfortably asleep but myself and Sr. Hammond, who is going to take the latitude." Then follows, "He finds the latitude 15 degrees and 48 minutes _north_." Opposite this, in the margin is written, "the mean result of three observations of different stars. Intend to take the longitude to-morrow." Next day, the 20th, he says, "A bright and most auspicious morning, and all, but poor Antonio, in fine health and feeling. The wind by compass, N. E., and rolling away a billowy ocean of mist, toward, I suppose, the Bay of Honduras. Antonio says the Pacific will be visible within an hour; (present time not given) more and more of the lower mountains becoming clear every moment. Fancy we already see the Pacific, a faint yellow plain, almost as elevated as ourselves. Can see part of the State of Chiapas pretty distinctly." At 12 o'clock, meridian, he says, "Sr. Hammond is taking the longitude, but finds a difference of several minutes between his excellent watch and chronometer, and fears the latter has been shaken. Both the watch and its owner, however, have been a great deal more shaken, for the chronometer has been all the time in the midst of a thick blanket, and has had no falls. Sr. Huertis, with the glass, sees whole lines and groups of pyramids, in Chiapas." At 1 o'clock, P. M. he records, "Sr. Hammond reports the longitude, 92 degrees 15 minutes _west_. Brave Huertis is in ecstacy with some discovery, but will not part with the glass for a moment. No doubt it is the Padre's city, for it is precisely in the direction he indicated. Antonio says he can see it with his naked eye, although less distinctly than heretofore. I can only see a white straight line, like a ledge of limestone rock, on an elevated plain, at least twenty leagues distant, in the midst of a vast amphitheatre of hills, to the north east of our position, toward the State of Yucatan. Still, it is no doubt the place the Padre saw, and it may be a great city."

At 2 o'clock P. M., he says "All doubt is at an end! We have all seen it through the glass, as distinctly as though it were but a few leagues off, and it is now clear and bright to the unaided eye. It is unquestionably a richly monumented city, of vast dimensions, within lofty parapeted walls, three or four miles square, inclined inward in the Egyptian style, and its interior domes and turrets have an emphatically oriental aspect. I should judge it to be not more than twenty-five leagues from Ocosingo, to the eastward, and nearly in the same latitude; and this would probably be the best point from which to reach it, travelling due east, although the course of the river Legartos seems to lead directly to it. That it is still an inhabited place, is evident from the domes of its temples, or churches. Christian churches they cannot be, for such a city would have an Archbishop and be well known to the civilized world. It must be a Pagan strong-hold that escaped the conquest by its remote position, and the general retreat, retirement, and centralizing seclusion of its surrounding population. It may now be opened to the light of the true faith."

They commenced their descent the same day, and rested at night on the place of their previous encampment, a narrow shelf of the sierra. Here, on the brink of the terrible ravine, which they had again to encounter, they consulted upon a plan for their future operations; and it was finally agreed that Messrs. Huertis and Hammond, with Antonio, and such of the Indian muleteers as could be induced to proceed with the expedition, should follow the bottom of the ravine, in its north-east course, in which, according to Antonio, the river Legartos took its principal supply of water, and remain at a large village, adjacent to its banks, which they had seen, about five leagues distant; while Senor Velasquez was to trace their late route, by way of Gueguetenango, to Quezaltenango, where all the surplus arms and ammunition had been deposited, and recruit a strong party of Indians, to serve as a guard, in the event of an attack from the people of the unexplored region, whither they were resolutely bound. In the meantime, Antonio was to return home to Gueguetenango, await the return of Velasquez, with his armed party, from Quezaltenango, and conduct them over the mountains to the village on the plains, where Messrs. Huertis and Hammond were to remain until they should arrive. It appears that Senor Velasquez was abundantly supplied with solid funds for the recruiting service, and that Mr. Huertis also furnished Antonio with a liberal sum, in addition to his stipulated pay, wherewith to procure masses for the repose of his unfortunate brother.

Of the adventures of Messrs. Huertis and Hammond, in the long interval prior to the return of Velasquez, we have no account whatever; nor does the journal of the latter contain any remarks relative to his own operations, during the same period. The next date is July the 8th, when we find him safely arrived with "nearly all the men he had engaged," at an Indian village called Aguamasinta, where his anxious companions were overjoyed to receive him, and where "they had obtained inestimable information regarding the proper arrangement of the final purpose." After this we trace them, by brief memoranda, for a few days, on the devious course of the Legartos, when the journal abruptly and finally closes. The remaining narrative of the expedition was written by Senor Velasquez from memory, after his return to San Salvador, while all the exciting events and scenes which it describes were vividly sustained by the feelings which they originally inspired. As this excessively interesting document will be translated for the public press as soon as the necessary consent of its present proprietor can be obtained, the writer of this pamphlet the less regrets the very limited use of it to which he is now restricted--which is but little more than that of making a mere abridgement and connexion of such incidents as may serve to explain the origin and possession of those _sui generis_ specimens of humanity, the Aztec brother and sister, now exhibiting to the public, in the United States. From the introductory paragraphs, we take the liberty to quote the following without abridgement:--

"Our latitude and longitude were now 16° 42' N. and 91° 35' W; so that the grand amphitheatre of hills, forming three fourths of an oval outline of jagged summits, a few leagues before us, most probably inclosed the mysterious object of our anxious and uncertain labors. The small groups of Indians through which we had passed, in the course of the day, had evidently been startled by sheer astonishment, into a sort of passive and involuntary hospitality, but maintained a stark apprehensive reserve in most of their answers to our questions. They spoke a peculiar dialect of the Maya, which I had never heard before, and had great difficulty in comprehending, although several of the Maya Indians of our party understood it familiarly and spoke it fluently. From them we learned that they had never seen men of our race before, but that a man of the same race as Senor Hammond, who was of a bright-florid complexion, with light hair and red whiskers, had been sacrificed and eaten by the Macbenachs, or priests of Iximaya, the great city among the hills, about thirty moons ago. Our interpreters stated that the word "Iximaya" meant the "Great Centre," and that "Macbenach" meant the "Great Son of the Sun." I at once resolved to make the most of my time in learning as much as possible of this dialect from these men, because they said it was the tongue spoken by the people of Iximaya and the surrounding region. It appeared to me to be merely a provincial corruption, or local peculiarism, of the great body of the Maya language, with which I was already acquainted; and, in the course of the next day's conversation, I found that I could acquire it with much facility."

To this circumstance the writer is probably indebted for his life. In another day, the determined explorers had come within the circuit of the alpine district in which Iximaya is situated, and found it reposing, in massive grandeur, in the centre of a perfectly level plain, about five leagues in diameter, at a distance of scarcely two from the spot they had reached. At the base of all the mountains, rising upon their sides, and extending nearly a mile inward upon the plain, was a dark green forest of colossal trees and florid shrubbery, girding it around; while the even valley itself exhibited large tracts of uncultivated fields, fenced in with palisades, and regular, even to monotony, both in size and form. "Large herds of deer, cattle, and horses, were seen in the openings of the forest, and dispersed over the plain, which was also studded with low flat-roofed dwellings of stone, in small detached clusters, or hamlets. Rich patches of forest, of irregular forms, bordered with gigantic aloes, diversified the landscape in effective contrast with bright lakes of water which glowed among them."

While the whole party, with their cavalcade of mules and baggage were gazing upon the scene, two horsemen, in bright blue and yellow tunics, and wearing turbans decorated with three large plumes of the quezal, dashed by them from the forest, at the distance of about two hundred yards, on steeds of the highest Spanish mould, followed by a long retinue of athletic Indians, equally well mounted, clothed in brilliant red tunics, with coronals of gay feathers, closely arranged within a band of blue cloth. Each horseman carried a long spear, pointed with a polished metal; and each held, in a leash, a brace of powerful blood-hounds, which were also of the purest Spanish breed. The two leaders of this troop, who were Indians of commanding air and stature, suddenly wheeled their horses and glared upon the large party of intruders with fixed amazement. Their followers evinced equal surprise, but forgot not to draw up in good military array, while the blood-hounds leapt and raged in their thongs.

"While the leaders," says Senor Velasquez, "seemed to be intently scrutinizing every individual of our company, as if silently debating the policy of an immediate attack, one of the Maya Indians, of whom I had been learning the dialect, stepped forward and informed us that they were a detachment of rural guards, a very numerous military force, which had been appointed from time immemorial, or, at least from the time of the Spanish invasion, to hunt down and capture all strangers of a foreign race that should be found within a circle of twelve leagues of the city; and he repeated the statement made to us from the beginning, that no white man had hitherto eluded their vigilance or left their city alive. He said there was a tradition that many of the pioneers of Alvarado's army had been cut off in this manner, and never heard of more, while their skulls and weapons are to this day suspended round the altars of the pagan gods. He added, finally, that if we wished to escape the same fate, now was our only chance; that as we numbered thirty-five, all armed with repeating rifles, we could easily destroy the present detachment, which amounted to but fifty, and secure our retreat before another could come up; but that, in order to do this, it was necessary first to shoot the dogs, which all our Indians regarded with the utmost dread and horror.

"I instantly felt the force of this advice, in which, also, I was sustained by Senor Hammond; but Senor Huertis, whom, as the leader of the expedition, we were all bound and solemnly pledged to obey; utterly rejected the proposition. He had come so far to see the city and see it he would, whether taken thither as a captive or not, and whether he ever returned from it or not, that this was the contract originally proposed, and to which I had assented; that the fine troop before us was evidently not a gang of savages, but a body of civilized men and good soldiers; and as to the dogs, they were noble animals of the highest blood he ever saw. If, however, I and his friend Hammond, who seemed afraid of being eaten, in preference to the fine beef and venison which we had seen in such profusion on the plain, really felt alarmed at the bugbear legends of our vagabond Indians, before any demonstration of hostility had been made, we were welcome to take two-thirds of the men and mules and make our retreat as best we could, while he would advance with Antonio and the remainder of the party, to the gates of the city, and demand a peaceable admission. I could not but admire the romantic intrepidity of this resolve, though I doubted its discretion; and assured him I was ready to follow his example and share his fate.

"While this conversation was passing among us, the Indian commanders held a conference apparently as grave and important. But just as Senor Huertis and myself had agreed to advance towards them for a parley, they separated without deigning a reply to our salutation--the elder and more highly decorated, galloped off towards the city with a small escort, while the other briskly crossed our front at the head of his squadron and entered the forest nearer the entrance of the valley. This opening in the hills, was scarcely a quarter of a mile wide, and but a few minutes elapsed before we saw a single horseman cross it toward the wood on the opposite side. Presently, another troop of horse of the same uniform appearance as the first, were seen passing a glade of the wood which the single horseman had penetrated, and it thus became evident that a manoeuvre had already been effected to cut off our retreat. The mountains surrounding the whole area of the plain, were absolutely perpendicular for three-fourths of their altitude, which was no where less than a thousand feet; and from many parts of their wildly piled outline, huge crags projected in monstrous mammoth forms, as if to plunge to the billows of forest beneath. At no point of this vast impassible boundary was there a chasm or declivity discernable by which we could make our exit, except the one thus formidably intercepted.

"To retire into the forest and water our mules at a copious stream which rushed forth from its recesses, and recruit our own exhausted strength with food and rest, was our first necessary resource. In tracing the rocky course of the current for a convenient watering place, Antonio discovered that it issued from a cavern, which, though a mere fissure exteriorly, was, within, of cathedral dimensions and solemnity; we all entered it and drank eagerly from a foaming basin, which it immediately presented to our fevered lips. Our first sensations were those of freedom and independence, and of that perfect security which is the basis of both. It was long since we had slept under a roof of any kind, while here a few men could defend our repose against an assault from thousands; but it was horribly evident, to my mind, that a few watchful assailants would suffice to reduce us to starvation, or destroy us in detail. Our security was that of a prison, and our freedom was limited to its walls. Happily, however, for the present hour, this reflection seemed to trouble no one. Objects of wonder and veneration grew numerous to our gaze. Gigantic statues of ancient warriors, with round shields, arched helmets, and square breast-plates, curiously latticed and adorned, stood sculptured in high relief, with grave faces and massive limbs, and in the regular order of columns around the walls of this grand mausoleum. Many of them stood arrayed in the crimson of the setting sun, which then flamed through the tall fissure into the cavern; and the deep gloom into which long rows of others utterly retired from our view, presented a scene at once of mingled mystery and splendor. It was evidently a place of great and recent resort, both for men and horses, for plentiful supplies of fresh fodder for the latter were heaped in stone recesses; while the ashes of numerous fires, mingled with discarded moccasins and broken pipes and pottery, attested a domiciliary occupation by the former. Farther into the interior, were found seats and sleeping-couches of fine cane work; and in a spacious recess, near the entrance, a large collection of the bones, both of the ox and the deer, with hides, also, of both, but newly flayed and suspended on pegs by the horns. These last evidences of good living had more effect upon our hungry Indians than all the rest, and within an hour after dark, while we were seeking our first sleep, four fine deer were brought in by about a dozen of our party, whom we supposed to have been faithfully guarding our citadel. It is unnecessary to say that we gladly arose to the rich repast that ensued, for we had eaten nothing but our scant allowance of tortillas for many days, and were in the lassitude of famine."