Annotated and Abridged Artifact

Abridged Text

Memoir of Eventful Expedition in Central America; Resulting in the Discovery of the Idolatrous City of Iximaya, in an Unexplored Region; and the Possession of Two Remarkable Aztec Children, Descendants and Specimens of the Sacerdotal Caste, (now nearly extinct,) of the Ancient Aztec Founders of the Ruined Temples of that Country, Described by John L. Stevens, Esq., and Other Travellers. Translated from the Spanish of Pedro Velasquez, of San Salvador.

It is now known that two intrepid young men, incited probably by this identical passage in Mr. Stevens's popular work -- one Mr. Huertis, of Baltimore, an American of Spanish parents, from Cuba, possessing an ample fortune, and who had travelled much in Egypt, Persia, and Syria, for the personal inspection of ancient monuments, and the other, a Mr. Hammond, a civil-engineer from Canada, who had been engaged for some years on surveys in the United Stales, agreed to undertake the perilous and romantic enterprise thus cautiously suggested and chivalrously portrayed.

Amply equipped with every desirable appointment, including daguerreotype apparatuses, mathematical instruments, and withal fifty repeating rifles, lest it should become necessary to resort to an armed expedition, these gentlemen sailed from New-Orleans and arrived at Balize, in the fall of 1848. Here they procured horses, mules, and a party of ten experienced Indians and Mestitzos; and after pursuing a route, through a wild, broken, and heavily wooded region, for about 150 miles, on the Gulf of Amatique, they struck off more to the south-west, for Coban, where they arrived on the morning of Christmas day, in time to partake of the substantial enjoyments, as well as to observe the peculiar religious ceremonies, of the great Catholic festival, in that intensely interior city.

At 2 o'clock P. M., he says "All doubt is at an end! We have all seen it through the glass, as distinctly as though it were but a few leagues off, and it is now clear and bright to the unaided eye. It is unquestionably a richly monumented city, of vast dimensions, within lofty parapetted walls, three or four miles square, inclined inward in the Egyptian style, [1 »] and its interior domes and turrets have an emphatically oriental aspect. I should judge it to be not more than twenty-five leagues from Ocosingo, to the eastward, and nearly in the same latitude; and this would probably be the best point from which to reach it, travelling due east, although the course of the river Legartos seems to lead directly to it. That it is still an inhabited place, is evident from the domes of its temples, or churches. Christian churches they cannot be, for such a city would have an Archbishop and be well known to the civilized world. It must be a Pagan strong-hold that escaped the conquest by its remote position, and the general retreat, retirement, and centralizing seclusion of its surrounding population. It may now be opened to the light of the true faith."

Page 6:

Shortly after this discovery, Vaalpeor arrived with its explanation. Huertis had made a confidant of his intended flight whom he idly hoped would accompany it, and she had betrayed him. His offence, after his voluntary vows, and his initiation into the sacred mysteries, was unpardonable, and his fate could not be doubted. Indeed, the trembling priest at length admitted that he had been sacrificed in due form upon the high altar of the sun, and that he himself had beheld the fatal ceremony. Huertis, however, had implicated none of his associates, and there was yet a chance of escape. To pass the gates was impossible; but the wall might be descended in the night by ropes, and to swim the moat was easy. This was effected by Velasquez and fifteen of his party the same night; the rest either did not make the attempt or failed, and the faithful Antonio was among them. The fugitives had scarcely reached the secluded retreat of Vaalpeor, and mounted their mules, before the low yelp of blood-hounds was heard upon their trail and soon burst into full cry. But the dogs were somewhat confused by the scent of so many footsteps on the spot at which the party mounted, and did not follow the mules until the horsemen led the way. This afforded time for the fugitives, racing their swift mules at full speed, to reach the opening of the valley, when Velasquez wheeled and halted, for the pursuers were close at hand. A conflict ensued in which many of the horsemen were slain, and the young kaana received an accidental wound of which he retains the scar. It must suffice to say, that the party eventually secured their retreat without loss of life; and by break of day they were on a mountainous ridge many leagues from Iximaya. In about fourteen days, they reached Ocosingo, after great suffering. Here Velasquez reluctantly parted with most of his faithful Indians, and here also died Vaalpeor, from the unaccustomed toil and deprivations of the journey. Velasquez, with the two Aztec children, did not reach San Salvador until the middle of February, when they became objects of the highest interest to the most intellectual classes of that city. As the greatest ethnological curiosities [2 »] in living form that ever appeared among civilized men, he was advised to send them to Europe for exhibition.

Page 13:

With this view they were taken to Granada, where they remained the objects of much local curiosity, until it was deemed proper and advisable first to exhibit them to the people of the United States. The parties whom Senior Velasquez first appointed as their temporary guardians brought them to New York via Jamaica, and they will no doubt attract and reward universal attention. They are supposed to be eight and ten years of age, and both are lively, playful and affectionate. But it is as specimens of an absolutely unique and nearly extinct race of mankind, that they claim the attention of physiologists and all men of science.