CHAPTER XXXVII.
DEPARTURE FROM THE RUINS—BAD ROAD—AN ACCIDENT—ARRIVAL AT THE VILLAGE—A FUNERAL PROCESSION—NEGOTIATIONS FOR PURCHASING PALENQUE—MAKING CASTS—FINAL DEPARTURE FROM PALENQUE—BEAUTIFUL PLAIN—HANGING BIRDS'-NESTS—A SITIO—ADVENTURE WITH A MONSTRUOUS APE—HOSPITALITY OF PADRES—LAS PLAYAS—A TEMPEST—MOSQUITOES—A YOUTHFUL MERCHANT—ALLIGATORS—ANOTHER FUNERAL—DISGUSTING CEREMONIALS.
Among the Indians who came out to escort us to the village was one whom we had not seen before, and whose face bore a striking resemblance to those delineated on the walls of the buildings. In general the faces of the Indians were of an entirely different character, but he might have been taken for a lineal descendant of the perished race. The resemblance was perhaps purely accidental, but we were anxious to procure his portrait. He was, however, very shy, and unwilling to be drawn. Mr. Catherwood, too, was worn out, and in the confusion of removing, we postponed it upon his promising to come to us at the village, but we could not get hold of him again.[1]
We left behind our kitchen furniture, consisting of the three stones which Juan put together the first day of our residence, vessels of pottery and calabashes, and also our beds, for the benefit of the next comer. Everything susceptible of injury from damp was rusty or mouldy, and in a ruinous condition; we ourselves were not much better; and with the clothes on our backs far from dry, we bade farewell to the ruins. We were happy when we reached them, but our joy at leaving them burst the bounds of discretion, and broke out into
- ↑ There have lately been exhibited in the United States, and in England, two little Indian children, called by these who have the charge of them, Aztec Lilliputians, and said to have been brought from the mysterious city mentioned to Mr. Stephens and myself, by the Padre of Santa Cruz del Quiché, as related in the first part of this book. The story told of their capture, in the published account of them, it is scarcely worth while to refute, and I will only say, that in my opinion, it has not even the semblance of truth. In the case of the children, however, (after many times examining their countenances with great attention,) I am strongly of opinion, that they are descendants of the race who built the Palace at Palenque, and erected the various extensive and costly buildings which I afterwards made drawings of in Yucatan. If they be not descendants of these ancient builders, the profiles of their faces bear the most extraordinary likeness to the sculptured figures, and to the Indian whose portrait I was so anxious to obtain on the last day of my stay at Palenque. I afterwards saw some others of the same race, both men and women, exceedingly well-proportioned, but different from the tribes usually met with, very shy and taciturn, and said to follow in secret the pagan rites of their ancestors.
I have every reason to believe that the mysterious city mentioned by the Padre is a reality, and that it lies buried in the recesses of the mountainous country inhabited by the Lacandones, or unbaptized Indians, but I have no reason for believing that any one has yet penetrated to it.— F.C.
