118 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 64 



colony, were constructed. According to recent researches the latest 

 date recorded by an initial series on the monohths of Quirigua, in 

 Guatemala, is within about 70 years of the earliest date recorded by 

 any of the initial series found up to the present among the ruins 

 of Yucatan.^ As the tide of Maya migration was undoubtedly from 

 south to north, and as British Honduras stands midway between 

 Guatemala and Yucatan, it is only reasonable to suppose that the 

 colonization of the greater part of it by the Maya took place at 

 some period between the abandonment of the cities of Quhigua and 

 Cohan, and the rise of Chichen Itza, Uxmal, and other Yucatan 

 cities. This theory is borne out by the fact that the hieroglyphic 

 inscriptions and pictographs found in the colony are closely allied 

 to those found both in the northern and southern cities; moreover, 

 the painted stucco and wooden lintels so common in Yucatan, but 

 not found in the south, are present here, while the sculptured stelse 

 found in the south, but of extreme rarity in northern Yucatan, are 

 (though not very numerous and poorly executed) found in British 

 Honduras, (e) Large quantities of fragments of rough pottery vases 

 and bowls; some of these evidently belonged to hourglass-shaped 

 incense burners, 2 to 3 feet high, decorated with incised lines and 

 glyphs, raised bands, and studs, but without human figures on their 

 exterior surfaces. A number of these fragments were taken down to 

 the camp of some chicle bleeders in the vicinity; unfortunately in 

 the night the palm-leaf shelters caught fire and the whole camp was 

 burned to the ground, most of the potsherds being lost or destroyed. 

 Among these were probably the missing parts of the clay figures 

 and of the hieroglyphic-covered pot. The whole of the mound was 

 dug down, but with the exception of traces of a wall built of squared 

 stones on the ground level, nothing worthy of note was found in it. 

 It is almost certain that this mound had never been visited from 

 the time of its erection till its discovery last year by chicle bleeders 

 looking for sapodilla trees in this very remote corner of Yucatan. 

 The clay images were lying on the top of the mound, partially 

 uncovered, and had anyone, even an Indian, visited the place, they 

 would almost certainly have removed these, as there is always a 

 ready market for idolos, as the Indians call every relic of then* ances- 

 tors, among curio collectors who visit Belize. 



Mound No. 24 



Mound No. 24 was situated near the coast, at the northern extrem- 

 ity of Chetumal Bay, in Yucatan. Tliis mound was 10 feet high 

 by about 10 yards in diameter. Upon the summit, which was 

 flattened, were found a great number of rough potsherds, partially 

 buried in a layer of humus from 6 to 12 inches deep. These were evi- 



1 MoKLEY, An Introduction to the Study of the Maya Hieroglyphs, p. 15. 



