426 REPORT OF EXPLORATIONS IN CENTRAL AMERICA 



corregidor, "wlio, witli their assistance, lias found a new route tlirougli tlic iniknown 

 •\viltlerness to Verapaz and Guatemala, whicli was long in vain searched for, and 

 which reduces the distance to less than one-half of that usually travelled. 



In the nronth of October, 18G6, I was planning my departure from Peten fur- 

 ther west, and had ordered the required remittances from Belize, my base of sup- 

 plies, when troubles among the Indians in the British colony arose and changed 

 all my plans. One of the many blunders of the unhappy Emperor Maximilian, 

 who, with the best intentions, knew too little of the country which he thought so 

 easy to reform, and who was especially unlucky in the choice of his employes, 

 was a proclamation to the Cruzes, inviting them to a full amnestj', but threatening 

 to destroy the ver}^ last of them if they would not submit to his fatherly entreaty. 

 The Cruzes were at that time in greater part tired of the war, and, undisturbed 

 by the whites, had commenced to remain quietly in their districts. The menace 

 stirred them up again, and they armed themselves for resistance with the war 

 im[)lements and supplies which they could readily obtain from the English tra- 

 ders. Maximilian's troops finally did not succeed in their operations against them, 

 but had to retreat after a fruitless campaign, much reduced in numl>ers, though 

 consoling themselves with boastful reports of sham victories. The Pacific Indians, 

 seeing the Cruzes again on the war-path, and fearing a long-tJireatcned attack 

 of their old enemies, armed also. One of their military chiefs got into difficul- 

 ties with the Belize wood-cutters, on account of abuses committed by the English 

 against the Pacilic Indians in the colony, and also within the territory of the inde- 

 pendent Indians. An insurrectic^n of the Belize Indians followed, in consequence 

 of which all wood-cutting establishments in the colony were abandoned, and all 

 communication between Belize and Peten cut ofi'. The English, after two result- 

 less cahipaigns, succeeded in setting the Cruzes against their enemies, and a gen- 

 eral stampede of the Indians of the montaua was the consequence. These move- 

 ments caused a frightful panic among the people of Peten, who are not much 

 given to fighting and always afraid of one or the other invasion of their country, 

 which they imagine to be superior to anj^, and coveted by all other nations. Fugi- 

 tives from the colony and immigrants from the montaua kept us posted on all 

 occurring events. 1 learned that part of my supplies, despatched from Belize 

 before the outbreak, had been stored in some hut on the Belize river and had disap- 

 peared. Month after month I waited in vain for an opportunity to communicate 

 with Belize, and ail efforts to establish a correspondence with the Gulf coast were 

 fruitless. I resolved to go myself to Tabasco and to put myself again in com- 

 munication with the United States and Europe. In the excited state of the coun- 

 tr}', where every day an invasion by the much-feared Indians was expected, I 

 could find neither carriers, mules, nor drivers to move my baggage and collections. 

 I considered myself happy to get away Avitli my manuscripts and with the indis- 

 pensable provisions for a travel through the wilderness, and left Sacluk in April, 

 18G7, for Tenosiquo and San Juan Bautista, the capital of Tabasco. From this 

 place I despatched my correspondence. A return to Peten during the rain}'' sea- 

 son being out of question, I used the time which was to pass before answers could 

 an-ive for a revision and completion of my former surveys of the Usumacinta, 

 its branches and tributaries, and followed its course upwards 16j miles above 

 Tenosiqne, to the so-called "Large cataract," Avhich, however, at that time, with 

 high water, appeared only as a rapid with about three feet fall within a distance of 

 some 20 yards. Above this place the course of the river is entirely unknown in 

 a distance which I estimate between 50 and 70 miles. On my return I visited 

 the ruins of Palenqne, and during the trip was enal)led to complete a map of the 

 department, and to collect vocabularies of the Putum and Tzental languages, both 

 spoken in Chiapas, and of the Chontal of Tabasco. 



I was thus occupied when jjiivate business rendered a visit to the United 

 States of importance to my })ersonal interests ; but, having concluded it, I am 

 now about to return to the same field to finish my interrupted explorations, and 

 to brin<r home the collections from Peten. 



