22 
Authorities are generally agreed that this "highest tower" was the 
Castillo at Tulum. "The large city or town" to ay mind was the "resi- 
dential" part of Tulum. At Tancah undoubtedly was located one of the 
other three towns, mentioned in the quoted account, and the great bay, 
our Bahia de Ascension. 
Grijalva’s expedition was the second of two outfitted in those early 
days at Santiago de Cuba for a search to the westward for slaves and/or 
gold. To the first of these headed by Francisco Fernandez de Cordoba 
is to be credited the discovery of Isla Mujeres in 151?. 
Though the earliest beginnings of what was to become the great Maya 
civilization antedated the birth of Christ by several thousand years, the 
first Europeans to encounter the Mayas, were the survivors of the wreck 
of an ill-fated Spanish ship on its way from Darien to Santo Domingo that 
foundered on a reef off Jamaica in 1511. 
Of the 19 who escaped ? perished in the course of the 14 days they 
were at sea in an open boat at the mercy of the prevailing easterly trade 
winds that carried them to the coast of Yucatan. 
IN CONCLUSION 
Although Mr. Bred in intended to give the expedition a full week of 
collecting in the Cayman islands, an unforeseen change in airplane schedules 
between Cozumel and Merida disrupted our plans. In consequence, we were 
vouchsafed but two days in Georgetown, Grand Cayman, before our charter 
expired on May 5« These days were largely occupied in getting our collec- 
tions and collecting gear packed for shipment home. Due to leave for Miami 
