MÉRIDA, January 27, 1876.
NOTE. The references to plates in this paper do not agree with the
numbers on the helioscopic illustrations.
Before leaving Chichen-Itza, at about the date of the above _Memorial_,
the statue, as has been already stated, was concealed in the forest near
the town of Pisté, carefully protected from the weather by Dr. and Mrs.
Le Plongeon, and an answer from the Mexican Government was eagerly
awaited. After long delay, a simple refusal to allow the statue to be
exported was the only reply. Dr. Le Plongeon then prepared his
photographs and a small collection of relics for shipment to the United
States, to be offered at the Centennial Exhibition of 1876. These
interesting offerings were accompanied by a letter to the President of
the Centennial Commission, recounting the great disappointment of not
being able to send the statue, but entreating a careful consideration of
the pictures. The letter was dated Mérida, August 30, 1876. By
unfortunate delays and misunderstandings, the articles above mentioned
never reached their destination, and in March of the present year were
purchased by the writer.
The relics are interesting specimens of pottery and of the ornaments or
weapons that were found with the statue, whose excavation has been
described by the discoverer himself. The Jade Points and Flints are very
carefully wrought, and suggest rather the idea of selection as symbols
than of ordinary warlike implements. A portion or all of the articles
mentioned, together with ashes, were found in a stone urn, and are shown
on the opposite page.[74-*]
[Illustration: _Relics found in the excavation with the Statue exhumed
by Dr. Augustus Le Plongeon at Chichen-Itza, Yucatan, together with
specimens of axes and spear heads from Cozumel._