Sept. 14, 1912 
FOREST AND STREAM 
327 
or Chichen-Itzla; a city that was, in its day, 
more magnificent than was Tenochtitlan when 
Cortez demanded admittance to its portals. 
[the end.] 
PORTIONS OF SKULL, TEETH AND BODY ORNAMENTS FOUND IN GRAVE AT PATAMBO, ALONG WITH TAB¬ 
LETS OF LIFE AND DEATH, ILLUSTARTED ON PREVIOUS PAGES. 
of death, and there are no speech rays emanating 
from the face. Just under the neck and at the 
bottom of the tablet, may be seen two double 
faces each with mouth closed. Two ornamental 
borders on the lower portion of this slab are 
as puzzling as 'they are interesting. The left 
hand border appears to be entwined snakes, often 
seen in codices in the ruins of Mexico, and that 
of the right border appears to be a pattern often 
found in blankets made by the Navajo Indians 
of the United States. 
I may be asked here why I am so confident 
that this was a tomb? First of all I found frag¬ 
ments of a skull of an adult male human being; 
then there were the bones of the child, and in 
addition the general form of the structure, which 
while torn and practically wrecked by the slip¬ 
ping of the earth under the action of the water 
during past centuries was still the same as that 
of other tombs into which I looked in the same 
ruined city. This, however, was by far the 
richest of all the tombs found, and evidently 
belonged to a man of the rank of a Montezuma 
of the Aztecs, though it must be remembered 
that these people far antedated the Aztecs and 
were in no way kindred to the tribe of Monte¬ 
zuma 
The stone incense burner filled with human 
bones, and the general condition of the bones 
found would indicate that the body had been 
first cremated and then the fragments of the 
skeleton unconsumed had been placed in the 
tomb. If so, it would seem that these tribesmen 
were fully conversant with one of the most 
modern of practices—cremation. 
From the depth of the sepulchre and the 
depth of the channel of the Rio del Oro below 
the foundation of the mounds, more than twenty 
feet in solid formation, and the extent of the 
region over which the ruins are scattered, the 
race which inhabited them must have been of 
great antiquity and of considerable size. It could 
be only a conjecture to say who these mighty 
people were, when they lived, and when they 
passed away, leaving these silent witnesses of 
their knowledge and culture to puzzle us of the 
present day. 
My explorations in this ruin would fill a 
volume were they written down in detail, and 
though I was the first white man ever to gaze 
on this great ruined city, and the first of all 
scientists to bring to light any of its treasures, 
I barely scratched the surface. To-day it lies 
a ruin greater than ever was Palenque, or Mitla, 
ARMLET MADE FROM HUGE SEA SNAIL SHELL AND FINELY CARVED, FOUND IN TOMB. EVIDENTLY OF 
CHIEFTAIN IN RUINS OF PATAMBO, DESCRIBED ON PAGE PRECEDING. 
Down on the plains of Texas, north of Big 
Springs, is a Soash Ranch, owned by the C. C. 
Slaughter Company. R. L. (Bob) Slaughter, a 
merchant, clubman and all-around good fellow, 
of Dallas, Tex., is president and general man¬ 
ager of the ranch, and incidentally is interested 
in the automobile trade. His favorite sport, it 
seems, is hunting animals. 
Now, as a matter of fact, it is against the 
law to shoot antelope in Texas. Slaughter is a 
law-abiding citizen, so he wouldn’t shoot one for 
anything. He simply gets out his trusty motor, 
loads it with gasolene, and a lariat, and goes out 
after the game. He ties one end of the lariat 
to the steering post of the auto. He handles the 
rope with one hand and the steering wheel with 
the other. When he sights a bunch of antelope 
he simply throws the throttle wide open, goes 
down among them and deftly plants his noose 
over the best one in the herd. To prove that 
this isn’t a fish story, Bob has plenty of trophies 
and witnesses. 
In a recent letter to his brother, telling of 
a trip made in the early part of the month when 
he took his father out to Soash, he says: "My 
tires are giving wonderful satisfaction. I got 
two more antelope last week. This makes six 
we have caught without even a puncture, and 
you can imagine what a hardship that turf is on 
tires at the speed antelope generally force you 
to use. Anyway, I do not want any better tires 
than the 'New Republic Staggard Tread.' ” 
If skeptics think this is a Wild West story, 
drop in on Slaughter any time you are in Dallas. 
He is used to meeting people from Missouri. 
* * * 
They are laughing yet, in Houston, over a 
story told by William Breen, an enthusiastic 
hunter—even for a Texan. Bill was strolling 
over Big Thicket one day with his Winchester re¬ 
peater over his shoulder, every now and then 
adding to his bag. Coming over the clump of 
a hill, he met a fellow huntsman packing an old 
single shot rifle. 
“What yo’ all huntin,’ ” queried Bill. 
“Might pot a deer,” answered the other 
laconically. 
“Seen any?” said Bill. 
“Only three, so far,” returned the stranger. 
“Get a shot?” persisted the Houstonite. 
“Yas, they was two got pretty nigh—but I 
ain’t got but one load for my gun, and I want-a 
hunt all day,” was the startling explanation that 
still amuses Bill and his friends. 
Grizzly King. 
