THE RUINS OF TULOOM, YUCATAN 



193 



hieroglyphic inonunient 

 discovered by Stephens in 

 Temple 7. This he de- 

 ciphered as "9.6.10.0.0 8 

 Ahau 13 Pax," of the Maya 

 chronological era, which in 

 the writer's correlation of 

 Maya and Christian chro- 

 nology corresponds to 390 

 A.D. Unfortunately his 

 photographs of this impor- 

 tant monument were very 

 indistinct, and his reading 

 for this reason remained 

 open to considerable doubt. 

 The results of his visit to 

 Tuloom were published in 

 the American Anthropolo- 

 gist for December, 1911.^ 



In 1913 the writer and 

 Mr. J. L. Xusbaum paid a 

 very brief visit (five hours) 

 to the ruins in behalf of 

 the School of American 

 Archaeology. The journey 

 was made in the same way 

 as that of Dr. Howe two 

 years earlier, and its results 

 were even more unsatisfac- 

 tory. The dory in which 

 the writer's party landed 

 was capsized in the heavy 

 surf which always pounds 

 the Tuloom beach, and all 

 but five of the photo- 

 graphic plates were ruined. 

 Happily, however, every 

 one of these resulted in a 

 brilliant, clear negative. 



A more serious matter 

 was the failure to locate 

 the hieroglyphic monu- 

 ment first reported by 

 Stephens and later by 

 Howe, which had been the 



1 The Ruins of Tuloom. Ami^rican 

 gist, N. S., Vol. XIII, No. 4, Oct.- 

 Pl). 539-550. 



mmBmift m&i^ ' .j^ ' U -a? 



The east coast of Yucatan from Tuloom to Cape Catoche is 

 dotted with ruins of small temples. Some of these doubtless cor- 

 re.spond with "tlie three large villages distant some two miles one 

 from the other," consisting of "a great number of stone houses, 

 some towers very high, and many houses covered with thatch," 

 mentioned by the chronicler of the Grijalva expedition of 1518 



Off the coast at Tuloom a reef, about a quarter of a mile out, 

 extends for a long distance north and south. Over this in rough 

 weather booms the sea, making itself heard for some distance 

 inland. Within the reef the water is comparatively calm, and 

 here the "Corozal" lay at anchor with her fires out while the 

 cxi^edition was exploring the ruin 



primary 



Anthropolo- 

 Dec, 1911, 



object of the visit. Not until many 

 months later, after he had returned to 

 the United States, did he learn that 



