WE had reached the stage where it was very slow work for the dredge to get even a mouthful of the stiff, almost shale-like bottom of the well, but, while we brought up fewer treasures than previously, I was not ready to discard the derrick and dredge as long as the bucket brought up any finds whatever.

“To facilitate the work at this stage, a plan which I had long considered was put into effect. We built a big flat-bottomed scow, crude but serviceable, and capable of holding ten scoopfuls of muck from the dredge. The scow was constructed, right on the brink of the well, of logs and such other materials as we had at hand. Then we lowered it, by means of the derrick, until it floated easily seventy feet below, on the still surface of the water.

“I fancy if the grim old Rain God, Noh-och Yum Chac, the Indra of the Mayas, was enraged when the dredge first began to rob him of his long-held treasures, the presence of this clumsy craft, as it tipped and yawed on its slow seventy-foot descent to the water, must surely have excited him to frenzy. Yet inexorably we continued our quest, undaunted by the thought of the god’s wrath and determined to strip him of every secret. We moored the craft, by a long rope, to a projecting stone knob on the sheer wall of the well, so that it was directly over the area where the dredge had been working. Our system was to lower the bucket, raise it, and pour its dripping contents upon the scow, and this we continued to do until we had heaped upon the boat ten buckets of bottom mud. Loaded to its capacity, the scow was drawn to a narrow sandy shelf or beach which had formed at one side of the well. Then we transferred and examined the load, handling ten buckets from the dredge in about the same length of time it had taken us previously to dispose of one. And thus, for a while, the dredge was made to work profitably even under the increasing scarcity of ‘pay dirt.’

“During this phase of our labor we accumulated a great quantity of potsherds, copal, and rubber nodules. Each time the filled scow came to the little beach, the big toads retreated into their rocky cavities amidst the roots and the myriad eyes that usually shone in these twilight depths became invisible. Only the iguanas and the lizards in the branches of the cork-trees that shadowed the tiny beach remained sleepily undisturbed, while the little painted tortoises on the half-submerged logs or branches floating near by became so accustomed to the sight of the scow that they stayed brazenly in their places and eyed the proceedings without fear.

“As the work went on, the tailing or discard from our dredge began to spread out and extend our little beach until it became a solid peninsula jutting out into the well and making our labors easier by providing much-needed footing and elbow-room.

“Long hours I spent gazing over the side of the scow, waiting for the dredge to come up with its load, and while I waited I glimpsed fascinating highlights of a hitherto unknown world—a world with its tragedies, grotesqueries, and surprises; a world in which humans took no part; one unseen until then by human eyes. Drifting past on the turgid waters were curious jelly-like formless creatures and tiny water-insects, some moving slowly as with effort, others like an arrow in shape and speed. Here was a plethora of twisting, darting, gyrating forms of life, all intent on the one object of preserving life—that bitter jest of Nature who instils in us each, great or small, the belief that our own particular and individual existence is of amazing import when she herself values it so lightly.

“Floating on the water were many small red worms no larger round than a pin and perhaps a quarter of an inch long. As one floated lazily by, a small red ant, blown or fallen from the land above, struck the water and instantly was attacked by the worm. The struggle was titanic but brief and the worm, which was more slender than its victim, simply swallowed the ant—body, struggling legs, and all. As the swallowing continued the body of the worm became almost transparent and I could easily follow the journey of his dinner inside, until diner and dinner drifted out of sight.

“Close by the cliff-like wall of the pool was a school of tiny jet-black catfish—pouts, we used to call them in New England when I was a lad. They were but a few days beyond the egg state and were carefully herded by a portly, motherly old catfish. Her inclination evidently was toward dignified, unhurried movement, well tempered with complete repose, but the erratic and swift excursions of her hundred or more infants kept her on the qui vive to head off their ceaseless turnings and dashes, for they seemed possessed to venture into the outer and unknown world, even as other infants since time began. To add to her trials, the whole school was more or less surrounded by tadpoles just as black and even more lively than the baby fishes. They seemed not to have nor to require any motherly care and, like impudent street gamins, they delighted in teasing and leading astray the more tenderly nurtured youngsters. Slyly they tried to swallow the little fishes, tail first, in their sucker-like mouths, and were dissuaded only by the wrathful dash of Mother Catfish.

“It was during this time, which I call the intermediate stage of the work, that many of our specimens of lighter weight were obtained. Among them are pieces of gourds, copal fragments, parts of wooden objects, and bones, all wonderfully preserved in this colossal silo—for the Sacred Well is in many respects like a silo. Some of the potsherds and wooden objects, and even a few of the gourds, had been covered with a thick white paint, almost as hard as enamel, and upon the surface of this the artists of old had worked and drawn figures and hieroglyphs similar to those found in the Codices. Some of the finest pieces of ancient fabrics were recovered at this time. The gradual caving in of the mud about the cavity we had scooped out permitted these fabrics to slip gently into the hole and to be brought up unharmed by the steel lips of our dredge. They are all carefully preserved and are the only authentic specimens of their kind known to archÆological science. I deem them among the most important of my treasures from the well.

“There came up ropes and cords, both of bark and fiber, and curiously knotted masses of copal; images carved from light wood and covered with rubber and copal; and always bones and more bones, of maidens and warriors.

“At last the dredge bit only on rock and boulders, against which the steel jaws made no headway. Again and again the bucket came up empty and with its jaws twisted and bent.

“If the first stage—the beginning of the work, when the steel bucket first plunged into the still water of the pit—was exciting, I found myself now laboring under a still greater emotion, for the time had come which I had long foreseen, when the dredge unaided by human hands could accomplish nothing more. There must be hands at the bottom of the well—not the dead hands of pitiful maidens, but live hands of sturdy men to explore every inch of the uneven rocky bottom. From dredging with windlass and bucket, we must pass to a season of deep-sea diving with all the paraphernalia of diving-suits and hose and air-pumps.

“What could be more interesting, more romantic than to go down under sixty feet of water to the very bottom of this grim pit?—to tread the corridors of the most sacred and abysmal abode of the Rain God? I might possibly remain at the bottom, myself, a modern sacrifice to the ancient deity, but I was willing to take that chance; for nothing could now keep from the world the treasures already recovered from the well and if I perished in the attempt at further discoveries, my effort would be, as a whole, not in vain. It was almost like trying to push aside the veil that separates living man from the nether world. Who might say but that the ancient people spoke the truth when they said that the entrance to the habitation of the Rain God was guarded by huge serpents and that none might pass but those expressly summoned by the god, to carry out his mandates? Or might there not live in that deep ooze slimy-bodied monsters of the antediluvian era, to which the passing of the centuries was but as the passing of hours? This was no time for speculation. I did not crave to serve as a brontosaurian breakfast, yet I must know the bottom of this well.

“Long hours and many days must be spent down on the bed-rock, under high water-pressure, in total darkness and in a temperature but little above freezing. My hands must explore the cracks and crevices and corners and pits where the dredge could not enter, and each find must be carried to the bucket and placed carefully within it, to be raised later.

“I went over every detail of the plan with great care, for not only my own life but the lives of others depended upon its practicability. A hitch, an unforeseen obstacle, a piece of bungling, and one or more of us would never return alive to the sunlight. I was prepared for this part of the business, having become an experienced deep-sea diver back in the United States. But diving under bright skies in open water spaces bathed to some depth by clear sunlight reflected from the sandy sea-bottom is not at all the same as descending into turgid, green, almost opaque water confined by high-cliffed walls overgrown with mighty trees and festooned with huge vines twisting and turning like giant serpents. I knew it to be very different from and far more dangerous than clearing off the barnacles and seaweed from the clean-lined bodies of United States cruisers and lighthouse tenders.

“Early one bright morning my crew who worked the windlass and managed the bucket stood grouped about the derrick. The winch which had so long rattled and clanged as the steel jaws of the dredge opened and plunged down to their task, was silent and motionless; but its silence, like that of the men grouped about, seemed to be a sort of watchful waiting rather than the lazy inertia that comes with a holiday hiatus. The cogged wheels were hooked introspectively, as it were, but the jaws of the bucket hung loosely open like those of a school-boy, agape with interest and wonder. On the refuse-built level space between the derrick and the examination platforms were strewn strange-looking suits of armor, canvas-lined and metal-covered, piles of rope and rubber hose, canvas-covered rope ladders, a small but powerful air-pump, and divers other things. Yes, even the divers themselves, for he who was to be my aide in this undertaking had come under contract from the sponge-banks of Florida with his striker, or pump attendant, and all the necessary equipment. Both men were Greeks, young, lithe, handsome as Apollo himself. All that day we spent assembling, testing, and getting everything ready for actual diving operations early the next morning. As fast as the apparatus was put in order we placed it on the scow, which had been scoured and cleaned and was now transformed into an ideal diver’s craft. Before nightfall the air-pump was securely fixed on the scow, the air-tubes and life-lines were in place, and the rope ladder dangled over the side and disappeared into the green water. From its bottom rung I should, on the morrow, step off into the unknown.

“The morning of the next day was heavy with clouds that soon broke in a deluge—a three-day norther that kept us all under cover except for a diurnal excursion when the Greeks and I and my native striker went to the edge of the well and from there carefully scanned the scow to make sure our equipment was weathering the storm. Luckily, the entire apparatus, pump and all, was almost amphibious by nature and habit, and so far as the eye could see the wetting was doing no damage.

“Dawn of the fourth day was clear and bright and the leaves and grass, even the sky, seemed to have been washed clean by the long rain. After a hasty breakfast we hurried to the well and descended via the air route, in the dredge bucket, to the rain-soaked, water-covered deck of the scow. We bailed out the water and sponged off the deck, on which we then laid out with minute care the two rubber-lined canvas diving-suits, making sure that there were no holes through which the compressed air could issue in lines of silver bubbles into the surrounding water. Our wrists were carefully soaped and we stepped into the clumsy uniforms, forcing our hands through the tight-fitting rubber wristlets. The neck-bands were adjusted and the copper helmets, cloth-lined and with glassed goggle eyes, were put over our heads and securely fastened. Then came a necklace of lead plates and finally heavy metal-soled boots.

“A trial puff of air from the pump, a touch of the valves in the helmets, and we were ready to call on Noh-och Yum Chac at the bottom of the Sacred Well. With a final hand-clasp all around and with my Indians looking very awed and solemn, I waddled to the edge of the craft and clambered down the rope ladder about as gracefully as a turtle falling off a log.

“I must confess that as I loosed my hold of the last rung and went swirling down into the watery darkness my heart beat far faster than could be reasonably accounted for by the increasing water-pressure; and my mind, like that of a drowning person, reviewed at lightning speed all the errors of commission and omission of my whole life. But almost automatically I took the precautions of every experienced diver, making sure that the air-line and life-line were free and clear of obstacles. Almost at once the weak, greenish light faded into utter blackness. Once or twice during the descent my lines brushed against some sunken tree roots or branches and I was instantly alert, for in such encounters there is always an element of real danger. These woody projections were, however, quite rotten and with no more strength than soaked punk, and fortunately always broke off at the mere touch of the stout rope.

“Meanwhile, as I went down and down, at a distance of every ten feet or so I felt acute pains in my ears, as though sharp objects were being thrust into them. By adjusting the valves in the helmet and opening wide my mouth, I succeeded in equalizing the air-pressure on the ears, causing a sound like the exhaust of a motorcycle on the ear-drums but relieving the pain. Once I was at the bottom, the helmet valves alone required attention; for only by opening them frequently is fresh air forced down from the pump and the vitiated air expelled.

“I had reached the bottom but a moment before I sensed that the Greek diver had also descended and was close beside me. He had waited only long enough, before joining me, to make sure my native pump attendant was handling my air-supply properly. The darkness was complete, a perfect blindfold, but I reached out and touched the Greek so that we might be sure of our relative locations and not get our lines entangled.

“Standing upon the uneven, rocky bottom of the well, I was thrilled with the knowledge that I stood where no living man had stood since time began. I think I felt much the same high elation that must have filled Peary and Shackleton at the end of their respective dashes to the polar caps.

“I had foreseen the need of light and had provided myself with the very latest and best submarine electric light obtainable. What any illuminant could do, this light would do. But what light can force its beams through a lake of chocolate-colored porridge? Our lights were of not the slightest use in this grim old water-pit and we had to depend entirely upon the sense of touch. And this sense served us well, for under constant use our finger-tips grew highly sensitive. The palpi in the skin whorls and curves became so responsive that we were frequently able to distinguish the form and texture of the objects we touched and even got so far as to guess at colors, although we made many wrong hazards.

“Another modern invention which we carried at the bottom of the well was the submarine telephone. It operated satisfactorily, but we found little use for it, as it was less bothersome merely to give the required number of tugs on the signal rope when we wanted to communicate with those above. The Greek and I found also that by touching the metal fronts of our helmets we could converse easily with each other. The voice tones were muffled, but with a little practice we had no trouble in understanding each other. I even recollect hearing the chattering of the strong white teeth of my Hellenic companion. The water was very cold and every time we came to the surface after our daily two hours of immersion our lips were blue and our bodies covered with goose-flesh and trembling with chill. Coffee, very hot and very strong, was our first requisite.

“The water-pressure at a depth of sixty feet is considerable, and both the air-tubes and life-lines were buoyed in several places by tightly corked quart bottles. When drawn up after the day’s work, the lower ones were always half full of water, in spite of the fact that the empty bottles had been corked as tightly as possible before being lowered into the water. This will give some idea of the tremendous pressure.

“This pressure, offset by a corresponding pressure of air in the diving-suit, affects in a peculiar manner the movements of the diver. In spite of my necklace of leaden plates and my two-inch lead soles, I seemed to weigh nothing at all. A slight stamp of my foot upon the bottom would take me soaring upward perhaps ten feet in the water, and I would then come slowly down to rest two yards from my original position. It took good judgment to land in any precise spot, because it was so very easy to overshoot the mark. It seemed as though one real leap would carry me clear to the surface of the well and perhaps entirely up the cliff-like sides.

“On one occasion I became so interested in the finds on the bottom of the well that I quite forgot to let out the accumulated air by means of the helmet valves. I had been working diligently, feeling along the silt-filled cracks of the rocky bottom; then, satisfied with my examination, I gave a stamp of my foot and started upward. But my diving-suit was so filled with compressed air that I turned in the water topsyturvy and finally hit the bottom of the scow feet up, with a resounding thump of my metal soles which almost caused a panic among the natives on the deck of the craft. Meanwhile I swung around turtle-wise from under the boat, found the rope ladder, and started to climb over the side. My henchmen, pallid with fear, were pumping for dear life, while I, at the side of the boat but below their line of vision, opened wide the helmet valves to prevent them from blowing me up like a toy balloon. When I appeared over the side they all crowded around me and Juan Mis, my faithful old servant, took my helmet-encased head in both his hands and peered eagerly through the thick glass insets. ‘God be praised, he is laughing!’ shouted Juan, and they all chuckled with happy relief, while I sat on the gunwale and was divested of my cumbersome habiliments.

“Our first task was to discover the nature of the stone objects that had so often cramped the jaws of our dredge and strained its chains, costing us hours of hard work in repairs. The fact that the dredge had never secured a sufficient purchase on any of these stones to bring them to the surface led me to surmise that the majority were smooth-faced and probably hieroglyphed. Mere rocks or boulders rarely were so smooth that the steel bucket could not grip them and bring them up after a trial or two.

“By feeling over the bottom of the well with my hands, I located the stones one after another and found my surmise correct. We managed to fasten chains about them and by means of the derrick raised them from their watery bed. One by one the heavy, wondrously carved stones were hauled up through sixty feet of water and up another seventy feet until they rested upon the brink of the well. One great stone was a perfectly sculptured statue of a seated god or priest which reminded me of ‘The Thinker,’ by Rodin.

“The next day we again descended into the well, this time not in search of large objects such as carved stones, but rather in quest of small things lying in the silt between the humps and in the crevices at the bottom.

“I remember distinctly my sensations as my fingers touched upon curious small objects like coins, small nuts, and rings. I could hardly contain my curiosity as I tucked them into my pouch, and my eagerness to get up to light and air to examine them was almost irresistible. When I had collected perhaps twenty or thirty I gave the signal and started upward. Before my diving-dress had been more than half removed I plunged my chilled fingers into the dripping pouch and drew out beautiful embossed rings, small bells of copper, and several bells of pure gold. There were bells and ornaments and medallions of gold repoussÉ and gold filagree, of exquisite design and craftmanship. There were lovely carved jade beads and other objects of jade. Just as truly as any mining prospector, I had struck gold, but gold tremendously more valuable than his raw nuggets; for, whatever might be the mere intrinsic value of my golden finds, each bit was in reality beyond price.

“This was but the beginning. We now had at our command two means of bringing up the treasure. The big carved stones having been removed from the well, the dredge could again be used, or we could don the diving-suits. In many instances the Greek and I directed from the bottom the work of the dredge. The golden objects brought up, if simply thrown into the goldsmith’s melting-pot, would net several hundreds of thousands of dollars in bullion—dividend enough, if one were sufficiently sordid of mind, to justify all my investment of time, effort, and money in the undertaking.

“One particularly wet and dreary day the dredge had worked all morning long, in a monotonous round in which nothing of value was brought up. Toward lunch-time I had about decided to send the men to their quarters for the rest of the day, to let them recover from their half-drowned state. Just then the men at the receiving-platform gave a shout that brought me running. For several blissful minutes we were busy picking lovely little copper bells from the black ooze. The rain was forgotten. Bearers were sent to bring our lunch, and eagerly we sent the steel bucket down again. And again it came up with a pudding of mud plentifully plummed with copper bells. All afternoon we plied the dredge, and nearly every load contained more copper bells, of all sizes and shapes, none larger than our old-fashioned sleigh-bells and many much smaller. In fact, they so resembled sleigh-bells that I could not rid my mind of the idea that they were modern bells used for barter and exchange, like the hawks’ bells of Spain. At the end of the day we had piled up over two hundred of these curious specimens of Maya workmanship, and even the most cursory examination showed them to be of genuine ancient origin.

“We carried the bells to the plantation house, where all the servants looked with awe and wonder at los cascabeles de los antiguos, the bells of the ancient people. From that time on hardly a day passed that we did not add a handful of copper bells to our growing collection. The bells are mainly capsule-shaped or spherical. Some still have a carbon core within, showing clearly the method by which they were molded. Very rarely did the bells contain clappers or rattles, and this fact supports the tradition that the ancient people believed that all things had life and souls. By removal of the clappers the bells were ‘killed,’ made mute forever, and their souls, thus released, entered the realm of Ah Puch, the God of Death. Incidentally, the portraits of Ah Puch show him with anklets of bells.

“Certain of the larger copper bells have rope-like designs embossed on them, while others are fashioned like animals and birds and the grinning heads of Cheshire cats. Some represent the heads of foxes or of the anteater, showing unmistakably the long, tapering snout.

“Intermingled with the bells were copper circlets like finger rings, and curious flat copper ferrules, from a fourth to three quarters of an inch thick and about an inch long.

“One day we brought up a handful of small masks, about an inch long and half an inch wide, made of thin, well-worked copper. By a strange coincidence they came to us on the very day of a modern native carnival when every one wears a mask. My Indians commented upon the fact and seriously debated whether Yum Chac had not sent them up to us in remembrance of the day. And it is a fact that no other masks of the kind were found previously, nor have any been found since.

“Specimens of well-modeled hard copper chisels were recovered at various times. Some are small, others of the customary size and shape of modern chisels, but with the heads burred, showing much use. All of the copper chisels, rings, and masks have the reddish color of pure copper, but many of the bells, particularly the smaller ones of round sleigh-bell shape, are of a color indicating copper alloyed with silver or tin. Some of the other bells contain a considerable percentage of gold, which may be either a natural admixture from the ore itself or an alloy added by the ancient artisans.

“One of the most prized treasures was brought up one day while visitors were present—Mr. and Mrs. James of MÉrida and Dr. Marston Tozzer, now professor of American archÆology at Harvard University, who knows the Mayas intimately and has lived among them and shared their huts and hammocks. We were all standing at the edge of the Great Well when the dredge bucket heaved itself from the roiling swells of green water. As it came up toward the level of our eyes we saw dangling precariously from one of its fangs a gray, nondescript article which some one in the party facetiously remarked must be a cast-off overshoe of the Rain God. We all laughed at the witticism and then stopped short as the bucket swung around, bringing the object into plainer view, and we discovered it be a large copper disk covered with figures in repoussÉ and representing the Sun God. My heart was in my mouth for fear it would drop off and sink back into the well before my eager hands could reach it, but grasp it I did after what seemed an age of waiting. It is so beautifully and intricately worked, so fine in artistry that I deem it one of the most priceless of all these antiques. What it loses by not being pure gold is more than compensated for by its mass of exquisite ornamentation.

“From copper to gold, so John Hays Hammond once told me, is but a short step and one likely to be bridged at any unexpected moment, and this I found to be the case in the Sacred Well.

“One fine day I discovered, among the several copper bells brought up by the dredge, one small round bell of pure gold, shining as bright and clear as if newly molded. After that every day was literally a golden day with finds of yellow gold—golden bells of all shapes and sizes, some as small as a pea, others large and heavy. And these gold bells were all more or less flattened, as though they had been struck with a hammer or even mauled with a sledge. Some were so flattened that the shape of the clapper within was outlined on the outer side of the bell. The clappers were, like the bells themselves, made of pure gold, but most of the smaller bells, like our previous finds of copper ones, had been ‘killed’ by having the clapper removed.

“Many disks of gold were brought up, which are covered with finely worked figures in repoussÉ, while around the outer edges are characters and symbols and sometimes hieroglyphs. Some of these disks were originally flat and others have curving surfaces like breastplates. A few are plain or nearly so, but the majority are completely covered with incised work. One disk, a mask, is two thirds the actual size of a human face and represents a face with the eyes closed. Upon the closed eyelid is engraved a symbol of unknown meaning. Another disk of solid gold is eleven inches in diameter and weighs nearly a pound. It contains no carving or design and I judge it to have been some sort of temple basin or standard.

“Among the golden objects are two very handsome tiaras representing entwined feathered serpents, worked partly in repoussÉ and partly in filagree. There are also a number of emblematic figures, dancing frogs and monkeys, and several queer objects like brooches. They are from one to three inches high and very thick. There are objects like sandals and objects similar to candlesticks. Some of the latter are of copper, gold-plated. I found, too, a considerable amount of gold-leaf nearly as fine and pure as that of to-day.

“Also among the golden treasures are several specimens that look like the heads of canes. These I believe to have been the tops of the official wands or emblems of authority—the caluac pictured many times upon the walls of the temples.

“I found virtually no silver and no metals other than those mentioned, except iron pyrites. This substance, backed with hard-baked clay or stone, was used for mirrors, and I found large fragments of several such mirrors with the mirror surface of iron pyrites still bright and shiny. One metal object about three inches in diameter is white like silver, absolutely uncorroded, and seemingly as hard and refractory as tin alloy or hard steel. I do not know yet what the metal is, but shall know as soon as it can be examined by metallurgists. Can it be that rare, indestructible metal, platinum?

“And with all the precious objects I have taken by force from the Rain God I am very sure that I have wrested from him not a tenth of his jealously held treasure. There are many, many more golden ornaments hid away in the recesses of the uneven floor of the pit, and many, many things even more priceless than gold to the antiquarian.

“All this I leave to the engineer of a future day—and I say engineer advisedly, for it is going to be an engineering task to strip the old well of all it holds. It will first have to be dredged over its whole area, not with the crude hand-operated device which I have used, but with more powerful and modern, mechanically operated equipment. Then a huge, specially designed diving-bell will be required, so that men may work under it quite protected from the water and with ample illumination.

“Among the treasures we found are three sacrificial knives. One is perfect, while the flint blades of the other two are broken close to the hilt. I am inclined to think that the two broken ones were purposely broken or ‘killed’ before being thrown into the well and that the perfect one was not cast into the pit but fell in by accident. These knives have intricately worked and fluted handles of gold. The one which is unbroken is especially lovely—a bit of perfect artistry worthy of a Cellini.

“One golden bowl is nine inches in diameter, and we obtained several smaller ones about three inches in diameter. These, I think, were temple dishes used by the high priests. The several gold disks of the Sun God vary from seven to eleven inches in diameter. And we recovered forty flat gold washers about an inch and a fourth in diameter, each with a hole in the center. Regarding the use to which they were put I have no clue and can only surmise that they were fastened to the garments of priests or of sacrificial victims.

“The several brooches, as indicated by the designs upon them, were used for personal adornment. The finger rings are peculiar in that they have an enlarged face like a signet-ring, but the enlarged portion is designed to fit at the side of the finger, rather than on top, and this enlarged part always contains a pictured face.

“There are many golden figures of animals and insects, the most interesting being frogs with exaggerated flat feet, such as are found in the graves of Puerto Rico. Among the great quantity of other articles, too numerous to describe here, are twelve plain disks of gold which I imagine are blanks, originally intended by the goldsmith for some craftsman to ornament with designs, but for some reason or other thrown into the Sacred Well in their uncompleted state.

“Many of the larger golden objects, apparently, were not ‘killed’ before being offered to the Rain God, but nearly all the smaller articles of gold were crushed. Most of these have since been painstakingly straightened into their original shapes.

“Of the pottery vessels, very few were recovered unbroken. Some, as I have said, were containers for copal and rubber incense. Others, I am led to believe, contained the ancient libation of bal-che or sacred mead which was thrown into the pool together with the captive warrior victims. This fermented drink made of rainwater, wild honey, and the bark of the yax tree, according to tradition, was for men only. Women were never permitted to taste it nor to be present at the ceremonies where it was used as a libation to the gods. The narrow-necked vessel in which it was contained was called a pool and had a flat clay stopper fastened to the neck with cords of bark. We brought up several of the necks of such containers with the stoppers still held in the orifices by the bark binding.

“Several of the open vessels with tripod legs are glazed with red inside and out; others have a blue lining, and many were red on the outer surface but left the natural clay color upon the inside. The legs were either rounded and hollow, containing rattle pellets, or thin and solid. They are often fashioned as the heads of alligators or as human grotesques. Many large flat vessels and shallow circular dishes, some nine inches in diameter, were found, of the same design and finish as those I have unearthed in ancient graves in Labna and other old Maya cities.

“The ancient devotees seem to have been especially partial to a certain cylindrical vessel about six inches in diameter and nine inches high. These were often of thin structure and covered with designs and hieroglyphs or bearing the outlined figures of some deity surrounded with the conventional symbols of his attributes.

“A large circular earthenware pan, seven inches in diameter and with a long, thick handle which frequently ended in a carved head, was in common use as an incense-burner. It was rarely made of well-kilned ware and was evidently intended only for brief service. We found many broken utensils of this sort, but only one perfect specimen, which is exceptional in that it is of better-kilned material and of most artistic workmanship. Its pleasing outline is ornamented with openwork spaces intended to give needed draft to the burning copal in its basin. Nearly all the incense-burners of this type have hollow legs containing burned clay pellets evidently designed to produce a rattling sound at religious dances and rituals.

“The mortuary urns are large vessels ornamented with the likeness of a human figure surrounded with a conventional design. The figure usually bears upon its back a vase-like receptacle doubtless designed to receive and preserve the ashes of the dead. I do not know whether these urns were empty when thrown into the well or actually contained human ashes. I hope this point may be settled by laboratory examination.

“The finding of copal and the intimate association of the copal masses with the potsherds and unbroken earthenware vessels, leaves no doubt as to the use and purpose of both. The employment of copal resin as a medicament and as a sacred offering seems to have occurred almost simultaneously with the appearance of man upon the peninsula of Yucatan. In the primitive rock sculptures in the famous cave of Loltum is shown the burning of copal as a religious rite, while the earthen vessels found in the cave contain the blackened residue of burnt copal—a residue that, despite its antiquity and long inhumation, gives forth, when burned, the characteristic odor of copal resin, a fragrance not to be mistaken for any other. The copal tree, anciently known as psom, still grows sparsely in nearly every part of Yucatan and in ancient times it was carefully cultivated, while the gathering of the resin partook of the nature of a religious ceremony. One of the early Spanish chroniclers says:

Psom is the name of a tree from which the natives take out a certain kind of resin-like incense which they burn before their idols and in their houses. We Spaniards took advantage of this resin to cure many diseases and we called it copal, which is a Mexican word.

“The first piece of copal we found was nearly round and about the size of a baseball. The resin when fresh is light in weight and almost transparent, but time and the pressure of water at the bottom of the well have given our copal specimens the general lack-luster appearance of the bog-butter found in the lacustrine deposits of Switzerland. Several hundreds of these copal masses were brought up in round or oval form and many with the marks on them of wicker containers or baskets. One of the largest of these copal specimens, weighing several pounds, was thus incased, some portions of the basket fabric still clinging to the copal. Evidently the copal was still plastic when placed in the baskets. A number of the copal nodules had been wrapped in leaves, the veined imprint of which upon the copal surface is so clear that I doubt not that any good botanist would be able to identify the tree or vine from which they were plucked.

“Quantities of bark were brought up which have upon the inner surface pellets of copal arranged in the conventional symbol or prayer for rain. Several of the copal masses are molded in the semblance of human figures or faces, many of them fantastic or grotesque. Many are in the form of frogs and some of these frogs hold a small ball of rubber in their mouths.

“Gourds of all kinds we brought up—small tree gourds which broke even under the most careful handling and which were preserved with the utmost difficulty; leks or big gourds, some measuring a foot across and with a two-gallon capacity; gourds cracked and mended with bark lacing, just as they are still mended and used by the Mayas of to-day; gourds coated with the same whitish enamel used on terra-cotta vessels and painted or hieroglyphed. The gourds were undoubtedly used not only as containers for liquids but for other things such as corn and beans, as they are used by the modern Mayas. None of these gourds was found with a top or stopper in it, but we brought up separately many of the top sections which had been removed to permit the hollowing out of the gourd. Some still had an inch or two of stem left on them purposely to provide a handle and were undoubtedly used as covers or stoppers. Possibly some of these gourds with their contents of food or drink were originally sealed before being cast into the well.

“Among the wooden objects, the hul-che, which I have previously described, is the most interesting, and our finds in the well represent the whole history of the development of this weapon, from its most primitive bill-hook appearance to its most finished and ornamented ceremonial form.

“The highest stage in the development of the hul-che is represented by two specimens from the well. One represents an entwined serpent, its fangs at the hook; in its now hollow eye-sockets probably were once glittering eyeballs of jade. The shaft of the second specimen is formed of human figures and is fronted with a fine mosaic or mask of burnished gold. The whole weapon is as elaborately and minutely carved and inlaid as the finest example of Japanese wood-carving. And we found the stone-headed darts which were used with the hul-che. They are pictured clearly on the walls of the temples, but an actual dart or any part of one had never been found before we raised our specimens from the well. Any one may now view them in the Peabody Museum at Harvard University—some without the stone heads but showing the cleft in the wooden shaft into which the head was fitted. There are also several of the sharp stone dart-heads, made of common chert and flint. A few are beautifully formed and fashioned of translucent chalcedony, jasper, and even jade. These specimens represent the highest known development of ancient stone point-work of the American continents and probably of the whole world.

“Portions of lance-poles were found, and stone lance-points. Some of these, like the beautiful dart-points, still carry traces of the hard black bitumen—possibly hardened copal—that once fastened the stone point to its wooden shaft.

“Wooden objects shaped like the incisors of a jaguar and bearing fragments of handsome mosaics encrusted on them are probably parts of what were once jaguar head-masks. Other similar objects are plated with gold—portions of golden jaguar-masks. Parts of large trough-shaped wooden objects are doubtless the remnants of shields. The wood is Yucatan cedar, light and easily worked, yet resistant to the destroying effect of weather and insects. All of the wooden objects required quick and skilful application of preservatives, for, while they had about the consistency of wet punk when they came from the water, even a few moments’ exposure to the air would have been sufficient to crumble them into dust. Happily, I was fully prepared for this contingency, and not a single important wooden find was lost or injured for lack of proper treatment.

“Next to the hul-che, the most important of the wooden treasures is the caluac, the wand, scepter, or symbolic badge of high priesthood or nobility. Many times upon the temple walls are pictured dignitaries holding this device, as a king might hold a scepter or a bishop his crook. The general form is that of a forked rabbit-stick. It may be significant that the figure portrayed carrying the caluac is never depicted as carrying also the hul-che, and perhaps the caluac may be a ceremonial weapon, symbolic substitute for the hul-che. Whatever its purpose, we have several specimens. Some are nearly perfect and there are several sizes. The most common of these finds is about half an inch thick by three inches wide and twenty-four inches long.

“In addition to the wooden dolls and figures I have previously mentioned, I obtained a curious ritual rattle inlaid with mosaics, and several spatulas somewhat like Japanese praying-sticks. The spatulas are thin and about three inches wide by seven in length. Both faces show traces of the same hard white enamel found on several of the gourds and potsherds. The faint characters on these spatulate wooden objects are so precisely like those in the Dresden Codex that one might readily believe them the work of the same artist.

“That phallic rites were practised in some, if not all, sections of the peninsula is indicated by a phallus, well carved from hardwood, which we brought up from the well. It was recovered from the deeper layers of the well-bottom, and this fact precludes any chance that it is a later intrusive artifact. Some distance to the south of El Castillo lies a straggling line of large stone phalli, evidently taken from some portion of the ruined city by early Spanish settlers and then abandoned by the roadside. The House of the Phalli in old Chi-chen Itza further emphasizes the fact that the cult here existed and there are unmistakable evidences in the ancient ruins of Uxmal.

“The several wooden labrets, or lip- or cheek-plugs, are of some dark, hard wood, possibly circicote or ebony. The frontal surface is a sunken panel on which is usually carved in relief the figure of a plumed warrior. The carving in many cases is as fine as that on the best cameos and is brought out by red pigment. Slight traces of green are indicated, also, following the same general scheme as the large carvings on the temple walls, where green and yellow pigments are used to indicate respectively jade and golden objects or ornaments. That these colors have withstood centuries of immersion is truly remarkable; I doubt much if any of our modern colorings would have the same lasting qualities.

“Now I come to the last and perhaps most important of our finds—various objects of jade. We brought up from the very lowest part of the well seven jade plaques or tablets, broken but later fitted together with almost no parts missing. They measure, approximately, three by four inches, and are well carved with cameo-like designs of Maya deities. Of similar design and length, but only two inches wide, are nine additional plaques.

“Of jade personal ornaments we recovered a hundred and sixty large, handsome carved beads and pendants of varying sizes. These are nearly all perfect. There are seventy carved jade ear, nose, and labret ornaments, from two inches in diameter down to half an inch. They are all well cut and polished. Among the loveliest specimens are fourteen jade globes or balls, an inch and a half in diameter. These are beautifully polished and several of them are finely carved with human figures and other designs.

“The most prized of all the jade objects is a figurine four inches wide and of like height. It represents a seated figure of the Palenquin type, with an elaborate head-dress, and is probably the finest figurine of the Maya era which has ever been found. It is of flawless jade, perfectly carved and polished, and absolutely unharmed by its centuries at the bottom of the well. It alone is worth, a thousand times over, the hard years of my life spent in solving the mysteries of the great green water-pit whence it came.

“I have purposely left the mention of the jade finds to the very last, for they are the culmination of our discoveries, treasures which, instead of enlightening our ignorance, only add another unanswerable riddle, another intriguing enigma.

“These plaques and ornaments, green, gray, or black; this wonderful figurine—all are of genuine jade, and jade is simply not indigenous in America. Despite all seeking and all investigation, not one single outcropping vein of jade has been found on the American continents, not even an elementary nodule or crystal. Nephrite, or near-jade, and soft serpentine are common to both North and South America, but the jade of the ancient Maya cities is real jade, as easily distinguishable from nephrite as a real diamond from ordinary glass. Furthermore, I have never found, nor have I seen, any similar objects taken from the ancient Maya cities which are of nephrite, though the present-day Indians, particularly in northern Mexico, file out objects of soft serpentine and sell them to the gullible tourist as chalchuitl. The Nahuatl word chalchuitl originally meant nephrite or American jade—near-jade—but even before the coming of the Spaniards the word had become prostituted to mean almost any greenish stone.

“To the ancient Mayas jade was very precious—immeasurably more valuable than gold (sun metal), of which they had great store—even as in China to-day one may pay thousands of dollars for a string of perfect jade beads. The following authentic tale concerning Cortes and Montezuma illustrates the point. The story was recorded by one of Montezuma’s followers and has the ring of truth:

“Although Montezuma was, toward the last, virtually the prisoner of Cortes, he was for a long time treated not as a prisoner but as an honored guest. Cortes and Montezuma were accustomed to play each day a native game which in many ways resembles chess, and both became much interested. It was their further custom at the close of each day’s game to present each other with some gift.

“At the close of one day’s game the Aztec monarch presented Cortes with several large disks of gold and silver handsomely worked. Cortes was greatly pleased and so expressed himself. Montezuma smiled and said: ‘The gift of to-morrow shall be such that to-day’s gift will seem in value and preciousness, when compared with it, as no more than a single stone tile of the roadway.’

“As may be supposed, the mighty Cortes spent a sleepless night in anticipation of the priceless gift he was to receive. At length the morrow came and the game was played to a long-drawn finish. The gift of Cortes to Montezuma does not matter, but the royal treasurer of Montezuma brought in on a golden salver the royal gift, four small carved jade beads. The bitter disappointment of Cortes was so great that he could scarcely conceal it, but Montezuma had acted in good faith, for jade had throughout the Aztec ages possessed an intrinsic value far above that of gold and silver.

“So far as I can learn, the ancient Mayas considered silver of slight value, and they esteemed gold or sun metal more for its adaptability and malleability and its supposedly sacred origin than for its monetary value. It was an object of barter simply because of its utility in adornment and as a temple metal. Possibly copper may have had nearly as great a value in the eyes of these ancient people.

“Of all the jade objects we recovered, not more than a fifth are unbroken, and the broken jade ornaments were broken not by chance or accident but deliberately and by a practised hand. The fractures are not the result of a casual crushing blow, but of the splitting or cleaving impact from a sharp-edged instrument guided by a deft hand, so that the jade was broken but not pulverized or marred. Like so many of the relics from the well, they had been killed, just as the bottoms of terra-cotta vessels were punctured and weapons were broken so that the departing soul of him who died might be accompanied by the souls of the material objects he had most loved or used during his earthly life. And when the departed souls completed the long journey and at last stood before the almighty Hunal Ku, the supreme god in the heavens, each would wear the souls of his earthly jewels and have at hand the souls of his earthly implements.

“Although virtually all of the ancient rites and beliefs are unknown to the modern Mayas, this one belief has persisted in an esoteric fashion. Many years ago I attended the funeral of a young Maya woman whose husband had been devoted to her. Her burial attire was of the richest the family could possibly afford, the huipile and pic wonderfully embroidered of xoc-bui-chui (embroidery of the counted threads). Her slippers of pink silk also were elaborately embroidered. Long slits had been cut in both pic and huipile where they would not be noticed, and the soles of the slippers each had three longitudinal slits cut in them. When I asked the old grandfather why this had been done, he professed ignorance and would only reply that it was the custom among his people. But when I told the old H’men of Ebtun what I had seen, and of my conviction regarding it, he admitted that I was right and that the ancient belief and custom have been handed down through the generations, although the subject is never discussed with the Catholic clergy.

“Always since that time and the finding of the jade in the great well I have thought of these lovely stones as ‘soul jewels,’ although, according to the Maya belief, their souls are departed.

“Unfortunately, some of the finds from the well were stolen. How many I do not know—not a great many, I think. But these things are priceless and it is cause for grief that even the least of them should fail to reach a safe place of exhibition. One of my natives abstracted some gold from the finds and had it melted up and made into a chain before we detected him. Later I found, also, that one of my straw bosses had been bribed by another archÆologist to secrete and hand over for a price whatever of the finds he could. While I shall never know just what the sum of these losses was, it could not have been great, because no finds were brought up except in my presence, and every find that came under my eye was catalogued and accounted for.”