d dangerous
visit to Chichen-Itza. While there, the discovery of the statue,
Chac-Mool, was made, and it was excavated in the manner described by the
discoverer in the last pages of the _Mexican Memorial_. Dr. Le Plongeon
had formed a design of sending the statue and certain bas-reliefs,
together with plans and photographs, to the Centennial Exhibition, and
had prepared these articles for removal, when a sudden revolution
occasioned the disarming of his Indian laborers, who for some time had
served for a protection, and all further operations were suspended, as
longer residence in that exposed region without arms was sheer madness.
It was at that time that Dr. Le Plongeon wrote the following Memorial to
the Mexican President, Senor Don Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada, which is
given nearly entire, as it makes a statement of his claims and wishes,
and contains very important information concerning the discovery of the
statue, and gives an idea of his method of exploration.

The account here given of experiences resulting in a discovery so
surprising, must interest even those sceptical in regard to the progress
in art of the American aborigines; and it must also be remembered that,
almost without exception, late as well as early travellers in this
region have become enthusiastic and imaginative when brought into
contact with these monuments of a measureless past,[63-*]--none of them
more so, perhaps, than Brasseur de Bourbourg, whose works nevertheless
contain a mine of most valuable information aside from hypotheses.

Accompanying the Memorial, a set of photographs, some of them similar to
those copied in heliotype, was sent to Mexico for the information of the
President, but the numbers in the last pages of that paper, referring to
the special set of photographs, do not correspond to the pictures
presented here, as there were no means of verifying the subjects, except
from the descriptions.

NOTE.--It will be observed that Dr. Le Plongeon's spelling of the
word _Chac-Mool_, differs from that adopted by the writer in
deference to prevailing usage in Yucatan. The discoverer always
spells the word _Chaacmol_, although in the long letter to the
writer, on the subject of Maya antiquities, introduced at the close
of this paper, the more usual spelling has been adopted by the
printer, contrary to the text of Dr. Le Plongeon.

MEMORIAL PRESENTED TO THE MEXICAN GOVERNMENT, AND AFTERWARDS