Forest and Stream 
$3 a Year, 10 Cts. a Copy, 
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NEW YORK, SATURDAY, AUGUST 17 , 1912 . 
VOL. LXX1X.—No. 7. 
127 Franklin St., Nevr York. 
Through Unexplored Guerrero 
By PROF. WILLIAM NIVEN 
Chapter II.—The City of the Dead 
H AVING located the largest ruin, in point of 
area, at least, in the New World, on my 
first trip, I must now beg the reader's per¬ 
mission to carry him with me on the third trip 
into Guerrero. On the first trip I had not the 
time to make thorough explorations of the great 
discovery. On my second trip I went as a min¬ 
ing expert and paid little or no attention to archae¬ 
ology; in fact, my business on this occasion did 
not lead me in the direction of the ruined city. 
But on my third trip into the land of mystery 
I started from New York as the representative 
of Morris K. Jesup, now dead, who was at that 
time president of the American Museum of Natu¬ 
ral History. To-day, the most valuable of my 
finds are in the Jesup collection of Mexican an¬ 
tiquities in that museum, together with a large 
number in the Peabody Museum at Harvard 
University, Cambridge, Mass. Others are in the 
Archaeological Museum of the Canadian Institute, 
Toronto. 
Hastening to Mexico from New York, I se¬ 
cured a concession to explore 7,000 square miles 
of the State of Guerrero for archaeological and 
ethnological remains. Thus prepared and pro¬ 
vided with a first-class camping outfit, as well 
as cameras and 500 photographic plates—from 
which most of the photographs illustrating this 
article were made—I again entered Guerrero, 
bound for Yerbabuena, ghost-haunted and filled 
with evil spirits if the natives of the surround¬ 
ing region were to be believed. 
July 29, 1893, I began the journey which 
lasted four months, and which resulted in what 
I believe to have been the greatest and most im¬ 
portant archaeological discoveries since white men 
for the first time gazed on Mitla and Pa'enque. 
We—myself, a faithful Indian servant, who had 
been in my employ for five years, and a mule¬ 
teer, mounted on three good mules and with four 
pack animals, made the start from Cuautla, in 
the State of Morelos, arriving in Iguala the sec¬ 
ond day and reaching Tepecoacuilco as our next 
stop. This town lies in a rich sugar district and 
has a population of about 2,000 souls. The fam¬ 
ous patriot and priest, Morelos, was imprisoned 
here just before his execution. The town boasts 
of an imposing church, a relic of its one-time 
grandeur, for Tepecoacuilco was a thriving city 
200 years ago. 
Two days’ ride further brought us to the 
town of Oapan, where we crossed the swiftly- 
flowing Balsas River on balsas, or rafts. These 
fragile looking craft are made of flat floors of 
cane or bamboo, lashed to hollow, sealed cala¬ 
bashes. After the pack has been deposited in 
the center of the raft, and the whole affair bal¬ 
anced in the water, the passenger takes his seat, 
finding that the water reaches to within an inch 
of himself and his pack. The place for crossing 
is chosen near a bend in the river, and when 
clear of the current, the Indian ferrymen swim 
behind and push the raft with its load across the 
stream. The mules are forced to swim, each 
being guided by an Indian, who sometimes rides 
the swimming animal and sometimes swims be¬ 
side it. If the river is not in flood, and no drift¬ 
wood is passing, there is little if any danger, but 
if a log strikes the frail raft, the pack is almost 
certain to be lost, and the passenger is lucky if 
he escapes without a good wetting at least. 
Our next camp was at Ahuehuepan, and the 
reader who follows us on the map of Guerrero 
must by this time Have noticed that on this third 
trip I went into the ruins from a different direc¬ 
tion from that followed on the first trip. Ahue¬ 
huepan is a small town, situated near the summit 
of a rugged hill of considerable size. We pitched 
our tent near the plaza, and at night the 
Indian natives, men, women and children, to 
the number of about 200 formed in one of 
the strangest processions I ever gazed upon. 
Each carried a lighted candle and the pro¬ 
cession was led by eight stalwart peons bear¬ 
ing shoulder high a life-size figure of the 
Virgin Mary. Round and round the plaza they 
marched, until nearly midnight, singing and shout¬ 
ing out their prayers, wildly imploring the One 
God, and whatever other gods may have been 
left in their imagination, to save their famishing 
crops by sending rain. The clanging of bells, 
beating of drums, shrieks of the marchers and the 
repeated firing of guns and glare of rockets com¬ 
bined to make a scene of excitement and pande¬ 
monium for which it would be difficult to find a 
fitting simile. 
On the following morning I learned from 
my servant that our visit had not been regarded 
favorably by the chief of the village. This 
worthy had declared that the idols and other 
FIRST TRACE OF RUINS WHICH LED TO DISCOVERY OF THE BURIED CITIES OF GUERRERO. 
