SPINDEN AND MASON IN YUCATAN REVEAL LURE OF WILDS IN LETTERS

Reports from the Mason-Spinden expedition in the Yucatan have recently been received at the Peabody Museum which tell in some detail of the territory which the expedition has covered so far and of the discoveries it has made. Dr. Herbert J. Spinden '06, Curator of the Peabody Museum left Cambridge in January with Mr. Gregory Mason to continue the explorations which archaeologists have begun in the jungles of Central America. Splendid stone cities, great temples, and imposing statues have been gradually revealed during the last half century. But as yet the language, customs, and origin of the people who built these cities remains a mystery. The secret of this vanished civilization has been one of the most baffling and yet intriguing acbaeological problems of the twentieth century.

Embarked From New Orieans

It was to carry on the work of unearthing facts which would throw light on this problem that Professor Spinden and Mr. Mason left on their present expedition.

The party embarked at New Orleans and arrived at Belize in British Honduras as the point of departure for their trip into the Yucatan. From Belize they took a smaller ship northward along the coast of the Yucatan peninsula, making excursions into the inland by means of the large rivers which flow out to the sea all along that coast. On one of these side trips Mr. Mason and another member of the party came down with malaria and were forced to return to Belize. The rest of the party went on without them and made a number of valuable discoveries, which are fully described in one of the letters Dr. Spinden sent to one of his colleagues in the University department of Archaeology. This letter has been given exclusively to the CRIMSON for publication.

Report New Discoveries

"To date we have found about 50 new buildings in Chenchomac, Muyel, or Chunyazehe, Xkarel-Chakalol, Paalmul, Ac, and Ocomal. At Muyel which is about 10 miles inland from Boca Pails above Ascension Bay we found a rather fine castillo 54 feet high with a round cupolo on the roof mask panels, door ways with columns and a fine stairway. Also at this site there was built over another temple. The two side doors of the lower temple were filled in but the middle one was left open and was entered by a long tunnel under the stairway.

Find Walled Cities

"Xkaret is a walled city like Gulsem which we have not fully examined. There are two terminal buildings where the walls hit the construction. Thus far 17 buildings in pretty good repair have been found here.

"At Chakolol there were three temples, one on the shore and the other two a mile or more inland. One of these has a frescoe with a serpent and a deer painted in a style like the Gro-Cortesian Codex and quite different from Tulum, Chichen Itza or Santa Rita. Paalmul had two temples on the shore and several more half a league inland. Two of them until recently had figures set on the altars. One of these is still in place but the hand is gone and the other has been taken away entirely. We found this evidence that the figures of terra cotta and stuco of the styule found in Talusco and also Yucatan were set up on table altars and in niches over the doors of shrines.

Pagan Temples interest

"Perhaps the most interesting temple at Paalmul was a round one with two stairways. There was probably a room on top but all that romains is a small chamber on third terrace.

"At Acomal two temples were decorated with little faces stuck into the wall. Also we found traces of incense burners with faces on the altars.

"Mason and one other of our party go to Belize with Malaria, I will go to a site on Cozumel and there visit Xharel again as well as Chaemaltun near Ascension Pay. There the boat will get Mason and he and I will go from Lab Cruz to a place called Tabi, southeast of Lba Cruz, and to Saban and possibly to Kabia oast of Valladolid. Large mounds and temples are said to exist here. It seems perfectly safe so far as the Indians are concerned, and we plan to carry on work here."

White Men Unwelcome

In another letter Dr. Spinden tells of the dangers to white men in the Yucatan from the native Indians and how they have succeeded in protecting themselves against this peril. Most of the country has never been conquered by the Mexican Government, and the hostility of the uncivilized natives has frustrated many former attempts to explore the inner portions of this region. Mr. Spinden and Mr. Mason by an agreement with the Mexican authorities have received the services of a band of Mexican soldiers and so far have experienced no difficulties with the native Mayas.

Mr. Mason wrote on the departure of the expedition concerning its purpose as follows:

"The expedition which Dr. Spinden and I are leading through Eastern Yucatan will diligently seek dates to piece out the dim record of those vanished builders. We cannot hope to find inscriptions before the first definite date in the history of the New World which is August 6, 613 B.C. This is historical zero, discovered in calculations, but the first dated monument comes a full five centuries later. But we should be almost equally pleased to throw light on the abrupt downfall of this lost people. For human interest, after all, is the fundamental appeal in this riddle, and one cannot stop wondering what became of the sailors who abandoned a full-rigged, sea-worthy ship in mid-journey.

Surface Still Only Scratched

"The information we have is subject to revision in the light of future discoveries, and even in its entirety is sufficient merely to whet the appetite to know more. There is no more fascinating hobby for the layman of a romantic and imaginative turn than to find a satisfactory answer to this conundrum. And if be has been lucky he has once seen a white temple rising through the green of tropical foliage, or has stood on an old pyramid awed by the silence of a whole city silver in the moonlight! What puzzle can compete for fascination with inscrutable hieroglyphs which contain now only secrets, although carved to proclaim facts?"