io Field Columbian Museum Botany, Vol. 2. 



to get under way at 4 a. m., at which hour we were suddenly 

 awakened by a violent shock. In attempting to leave the shallows 

 we had struck a coral head and were now thumping and grinding into 

 its yielding crown with every wave of the sea. For four long 

 hours every means was tried without avail to extricate the ship 

 from its position, until just as we had about decided that the beau- 

 tiful fabric was destined to remain aground until totally wrecked by 

 a "norther," a roller considerably higher than any of its predeces- 

 sors came over the sea and upon its crest we quietly slid into deep 

 water. 



These repeated dangers convinced us that our vessel was too 

 large to safely lie about such shores; we therefore abandoned our 

 intention of stopping at harborless Mugeres and passed on to the 

 eastward. 



Progreso, the seaport of Yucatan, was reached about noon on 

 the 23d, whence we proceeded by train to Merida 25 miles inland, 

 where we were entertained at the pretty Quinta of the American 

 Consul, Mr. Edward H. Thompson. The objective point in Yuca- 

 tan to be visited by the party was the ruins of the ancient Maya 

 city, Chichen Itza, about sixty miles farther inland by rail and 

 native wagon. In order that I might visit Dr. Geo. F. Gaumer 

 who for the past four years had been collecting botanical material 

 for this Museum, I started from Merida a day in advance of the 

 party. From Izamal I was obliged to travel seven leagues in a volan 

 that I might reach Tunkas and join the others who were to arrive 

 direct from Merida by rail. The distance was covered in the unusually 

 quick time of three hours, over a road so dry and hot that the 

 cochero was compelled to drench the wheels at each watering-place 

 to keep the tires from dropping off the felloes. 



The night at Tunkas was spent in the only accommodations of 

 the village two bare rooms, whose sole furniture consisted of wooden 

 pegs from which we hung the hammocks providently carried with us. 



Our breakfast the next morning consisted solely of chocolate and 

 bread, a poor fortification for the five-league ride over the most rocky 

 of roads in that most "rocky" of vehicles the volan coche. 



At Chichen Itza we spent four days at the hacienda of Mr. 

 Thompson, visiting the ruins and incidentally collecting such plants 

 as I had not secured there on my previous trips (1616-1648), and on 

 Friday, March 3d, we returned to Tunkas. The night train from 

 here proceeded only two leagues to Temax, a village so des- 

 titute of accommodations for travelers that we sought the privilege 

 of hanging our hammocks in the railroad freight house. Here we 



