42 liUINS OF MENCHfi. 



the night on the right bank of the river; the next morning an hour's paddle with the 

 very rapid current brought us in sight of a mound of stones piled up on the left bank 

 of the river (see Plate LXXVIIL, a), which we had been told marked the site of 

 the ruins. 



On the 18th March, the day of my arrival, the water in the river was so low that 

 the mound stood high and dry ; but from the colour and marks on the stones it 

 appears as though the average height of the water was two or three feet from the top 

 of the mound. We soon scrambled up the rough river-bank and began to cut our way 

 through the undergrowth in search of the ancient buildings, which we found on 

 a succession of terraces rising in all about 250 feet from the river. After clearing 

 away some of the vegetation which enshrouded it. I took up my quarters in the 

 Temple marked K on the plan, and remained in the ruins until the 26th March. 



On the morning of the 20th three of my men were sent in a canoe up-stream to the 

 " caribal " to get the supply of totoposte I had ordered from the Lacandones ; they 

 returned the next day without much food, but handed me something they had brought 

 with them carefully wrapped up in paper, which, much to my surprise, proved to be a 

 card from M. Desire Charnay, the head of a Franco- American scientific exploring 

 expedition, who for two years had been at work examining the antiquities of Mexico 

 and Yucatan. M. Charnay had come up the Usumacinta from Frontera to the head 

 of the navigable water at Tenosique, and had thence ridden through the forest to a 

 spot on the river-bank within a short distance of the " caribal " already described, 

 known to the canoemen as the Paso de Yalchilan. Having no canoes in which 

 to convey his party down the river, he had been brought to a halt and was making 

 arrangements for the passage of himself and his secretary in two small cayucos 

 borrowed from the Lacandones when, to his great surprise, my canoe appeared 

 on the scene. The next day I sent my canoes back for him, and, leaving his 

 men camped at Yalchilan, he arrived at the ruins with his secretary, and occupied 

 a house, H, which we had cleared for him, and he very kindly added his ample 

 supply of provisions to my somewhat meagre stock. 



M. Charnay has published an interesting account of his journeys in a book entitled 

 ' Les Anciennes Villes du Nouveau Monde,' and the collection of casts made from 

 moulds taken during his two years' wanderings, which is now exhibited at the 

 Trocadero Museum in Paris, and in other museums in Europe and America, has 

 formed the basis of much modern research. 



In one of the half-ruined buildings we found a beautifully-carved lintel fallen from 

 its place and resting face downwards against the side of the doorway. This excellent 

 example of Maya art I determined to carry home with me, and at once set my men to 

 work to reduce the weight of the stone, which must have exceeded half a ton, by 

 cutting off the undecorated ends of the slab and reducing it in thickness. This was 



