Below are axes and flint spears from the Island of Cozumel. Next follow fossil shells, collected by Mrs. Alice Le Plongeon from an excavation at Chichen-Itza, which may be useful in a scientific point of view.
The Jade Points are beautiful specimens, and may have been used for ceremonial purposes. The arrow-heads are of flint, very carefully finished, and have minute grooves at the base. These also apparently were not intended for practical uses. A portion, or all of the above articles, except the Cozumel flints, were enclosed in the stone urn spoken of by Dr. Le Plongeon in his _Mexican Memorial_.]
Mérida, the capital of the State of Yucatan, has an institution called _El Museo Yucateco_, founded in 1871, under the direction of Sr. Dn. Crecencio Carillo Ancona, and it is now managed by Sr. Dn. Juan Peon Contreras. In its collections are pieces of antique sculpture in stone, plaster casts and pottery taken from ancient graves, manuscripts in the Maya language and in the Spanish, rare imprints and works relating to the peninsula. These, together with objects of natural history and samples of the various woods of the country, and a cabinet of curiosities, form a museum that promises to create and encourage a love of antiquarian research among the people, a labor which has been the province of the Museo Nacional in the city of Mexico. But it does not appear that explorations have as yet been attempted. The connection which this institution has with the statue discovered by Dr. Le Plongeon arises from the fact that in February, 1877, a commission was despatched to the neighborhood of the town of Pisté by the Governor of Yucatan, under the orders of Sr. Dn. Juan Peon Contreras, Director of the Museo Yucateco, and after an absence of a month, returned, bringing the statue concealed there by Dr. Le Plongeon, in triumph to Mérida. The commission was accompanied by a military force for protection, and the progress of the returning expedition was the occasion of a grand reception in the town of Izamal, where poems and addresses were made, which are preserved in a pamphlet of 27 pages. An account of its arrival at Mérida, on March 1, is given in the _Periödico Oficial_ of the day following. The entrance of the statue was greeted by a procession composed of officials, societies, 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:--
