and children of the public schools. The streets
were filled with spectators, and addresses were made and poems were
recited. The following is a quotation from this article:--

"The Statue of Chac-Mool measures a little more than 9 feet in
length. Its beautiful head is turned to one side in a menacing
attitude, and it has a face of ferocious appearance. It is cut from
a stone almost as hard as granite. Seated upon a pedestal, with its
arms crossed upon the abdomen, it appears as if about to raise
itself in order to execute a cruel and bloody threat. This precious
object of antiquity is worthy of the study of thoughtful men.
History and archaeology in their grave and profound investigations
will certainly discover some day the secret which surrounds all the
precious monuments which occupy the expanse of our rich soil, an
evident proof of the ancient civilization of the Mayas, now
attracting the attention of the Old World. The entrance of the
Statue of Chac-Mool into the Capital will form an epoch in the
annals of Yucatan history, and its remembrance will be accompanied
by that of the worthy Governor under whose administration our
Museum has been enriched with so invaluable a gift."

The reception, judging from the article in the journal above quoted,
must have been imposing. It was the intention of the authorities to
place the statue in the Yucatan Museum, but this purpose was defeated by
its removal to Mexico, by a government steamer, in the month of April,
to enrich the National Museum of that city.

All the above proceedings took place without the consent, and contrary
to the wishes, of Dr. Le Plongeon, who at that time was absent from
Merida, in the Island of Cozumel, and was therefore unable to offer
opposition.

In order to furnish further testimony to the high estimation in which
the statue of Chac-Mool is held in Yucatan, the following notice,
offered to the writer for publication, by Sr. Dn. Juan Peon Contreras,
director of the museum referred to above, and which afterward appeared
in _El Pensamiento_, of Merida, of date Aug. 12, is inserted entire:--

OFFICIAL STATEMENT OF THE DIRECTOR OF THE MUSEO YUCATECO.

_To Sr. D. AUGUSTIN DEL RIO_,

_Provisional Governor of the State of Yucatan._

A short historical notice of the stone image "Chac-Mool,"
discovered in the celebrated ruins of Chichen-Itza, by th