652 REroRT— 1880. 



the vast benefit it already owes, in another quarter, to his genius and indomitaUe 

 perseverance. 



One of the most interesting questions in the whole range of geography still 

 awaits positive proof or disproof in this region. I refer to the often asserted 

 existence of a native race in Central America which holds no communication with 

 Europeans, and preserves its ancient language, religion, and civilisation unchanged 

 from the time of the Spanish ("onquest. Antecedently so improbable as to be well- 

 nigh incredible, it found credit with Mr. Stephens and Mr. Catherwood and Mr. 

 Norman. A later traveller. Captain Carmichael, expressed, at this Association in 

 1870, his firm belief in it ; and 1 will, with your permission, read an extract from 

 a letter dated January last, which I received from that enthusiastic explorer. Dr. 

 Le Plongeon, who has been for several years engaged in investigating the ruins of 

 Central America. 



' I have been told that there are many tribes in the interior of the country that 

 have had but little contact with the Spaniards, and therefore have retained the 

 purity of their language. This causes me to tell you here that the report — which 

 many think hypothetical, of a vast extent of country, some assert 500 miles, 

 comprised between Tabasco, Gualtimala, Peten, and Yucatan, very mountainous, 

 well-nigh inaccessible, that is inhabited by the remnants of various warlike tribes, 

 the Chinamaces, the Laucaerones, the Itzaks, and others, who flying before the 

 Spaniards, have fortified themselves in very rich valleys, where they live to the 

 present day as their fathers, at the time of the arrival of the Spaniards, and speak 

 the pure unadulterated Maya — is not far irom being true. I have inquired from 

 parties who have lived in the neighbourhood of the Tierra de la Guerra, as they 

 call it, and learn that people coming from the unknown regions are sometimes seen 

 in the villages of the neighbourhood, where they barter tobacco, cocoa, and other 

 products of their industry, for whatever they want ; that of late some came to 

 hire on the farm as labourers, but will not "allow any white to penetrate their 

 stronghold.' 



Tierra de la Guerra is an old designation for the region in which the boundaries 

 of Honduras, Yucatan, and Guatemala meet, and wliich contains some twenty-five 

 or thirty thousand square miles, an area quite extensive enough for small aboriginal 

 communities to be hidden away in it; and, if as Dr. Le Plongeon thinks, the 

 long-sought key to the Mexican hieroglyphics should be preserved among them, 

 there is a brilliant reward for the first scientiKc traveller who, without shedding 

 blood, can penetrate into their fastnesses. We shall, 1 trust, hear more of this 

 region from a gallant and enterprir^ing traveller, the Colonial Secretary of British 

 Honduras, who has already penetrated its outskirts, and wants nothing more than 

 a little aid and encouragement to advance beyond them. In a recent letter to me, 

 Mr. Fowler saj's : — 



' On the east coast of Y^icatan, not far from the sea-coast, are the ruins of 

 three cities, and close to our own frontier is a ruin which, the Indians tell me, 

 contains plenty of mural paintings on the inside walls of the chambers. All these 

 ruins are under the control of the Santa Cruz Indians. The chiefs of these Indians 

 lately visited Belize and were shown much attention. I had them particularly 

 in my charge. They received a Martini-Henry rifle each and we swore mutual 

 confidence in each other. They invited me to their country, promising me a safe 

 conduct, and gave me leave to visit any ruin and take awaywhat I liked.' 



That such an opportunity should be lost for want of a very moderate sum to 

 defray the expenses of an expedition would be a matter of regret, which all pre- 

 sent will share ; and I am not without hopes that ways and means may be raised, 

 through the co-operation of those who are intei'ested in the subject from an 

 historical, as well as a geographical point of view, to enable Mr. Fowler to carry 

 out his project. 



Mr. Edward Whymper, whose recent mountain ascents in Ecuador have roused 

 the interest of geographers and Alpine climbers in so high a degree, and whose 

 presence to-day we had some reason to expect, is detained at Guayaquil. Fortune 

 has favoured him to the last. He made a second ascent of Chimborazo in July, 

 and after passing the night at an elevation of 15,000 feet, reached the summit ia 



