The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-07-17
ONE WoMAN'S ADVENTURES.
SISIE. LIE PLONGEON's EXPLORA-
TIONs IN YUCATAN.

a
From the New York sun.
! Archaeology is the last thing one would
think Of in connection with Nine. lie Plon-
| geon. There is no flavor of ruins and
antiquities about her; on the contrary, she
is modern to her finger tips; yet she has
/ endured untold discomforts and dared a
! host Of dangers in the interests Of science,
and she talks of prehistoric peoples and
of Yucatan bas reliefs as Familiarity as
most women talk Of clothes.
She was not born 10 archaeology; but
married il, in the person OF DR.. lie Plon-
| geon, when she was a girl of 10. DR.. LIE
! Plongeon had spent many years in the
! study of American antiquities, and his
stories of the life and work made his
bride look upon archaeology as a most
fascinating pursuit Later, she cultiva-
ted the serious zeal of the antiquarian;
but, when one hears her tell of her years
in Yueatan and Honduras, with their diff
culties and dangers, their discomforts and
delights, one cannot help thinking that 1t
was the poetic, picturesque side of the
experience that appealed most strongly TO
her, though she made reverent obeisance to
the ugly gods which her husband unearth-
ed.
At the time of his marriage DR.. LIE Plon-
! geon was planning an examination of the
ancient ruins of Yucatan but the honey
moon was spent in New York in order that
Nine. lie Plongeon might learn Spanish.
Yucatan is only two hours sail from Gu
ba, and has recently made long strides in
progress; but when the LIE Plongeons ar
rived in Merida in 1873 the town was far
from imposing, and the smaller places were
painfully primitive. The first use Nine
lie Plongeon made of her opportunity for
acquiring new experience was to fall Ill
with yellow fever. The natives cheer
| fully insisted that she could not live, and
made preparations for her burial on the
sixth day; but, thanks to the fact that
her husband was a physician as well as
an achaeologist, she pulled through, and
enjoyed the proud distinction of being the
only White victim of that particular cpl
demic who escaped the undertaken. When
she had recovered from her illness, the
delayed expedition started; and for eleven
years the husband and wife worked ear
nestly, undauntedly toward a solution of
|. the problems hidden in the ruins of AXE
Ishtul, and Chichen.
The life was hard said Nine. lie Plon-
geon, There were fatiguing journeys,
uncomfortable quarters, troublesome in
sects, omnipresent dirt, frequent dangers,
ana often gnawing hunger. Sometimes we
would be where we could not get sup
plies, not even the mouldy tortillas and
/ black beans, which were our usual re-
source. We would hunt for deer or other
game, but somehow or other game al
ways eludes a starving man. I've seen
the time when I was so hungry that
was in abject despair because a rattle
snake escaped me-"
I'D call that a cause for THANKSGIVING.
said the reporter.
Nine LIE Plongeon smiled and her smile
! is very pleasant one, though it comes
and goes suddenly, and lies in her great
| gray eyes rather than on her lips.
| Bat ! wanted a rattlesnake stew. Oh
/ you needn't look disguised It's very
| good, assure you; and a rattlesnake Is
| much handsomer than an eel, if you are
/ looking at the aesthetic side of the ques-
! ton. Then, a rattlesnakes escape would
be no special cause for thanksgiving, any
! way. They are amiable creatures
/ The reporter looked dubious and remark
ed: I've always understood that they
! had few little peculiarities that were
| annoying"
Not at ALL Nine. lie Plongeon insist
! ed. "A rattlesnake never bothers any one
/ If he isn't insulted. There were hun
dreds of them down in Yucatan, and I
never had a moments disagreement with
! one except I wanted it for stew. l renem-
Der we were once going through the for
/ est In search of deer. DR.. lie Plongeon
was ahead, I came next, and an Indian
| lad followed I stopped to examine a gil
! gantic toadstool, and was hungrily wish
| ing ii was q self-respecting mushroom
when the Indian shouted Go awayr I
supposed he thought the toadstool was
! poisonous and I would touch 1t; SO l re-
assured him on that point, but he kept
on saying Go awayr and looked so fright
! ened that l hurried on to join my husband.
When 1 stopped to look back, saw, just
| beside the toadstool, a huge rattlesnake,
! coiled. 1 must have been touching him
where l stood. He was moving his head
back and forth and darling out his tongue
in a peevish way, as though he meant
to say, Now, get out of this. You're both
ering me- / apologiZed to him and went
away. You see he wasn't vicious. For
that matter l never saw a snake that
| was, and yet the country down there
| abounds in poisonous varieties. I still
| feel rather creepy over an angleworm, but
I got so that 1 didn't fear snakes at all.
| Some of them were very beautiful. One
! day among the ruins, l was Just stepping
down from q big stone when out from I'M
| der it came superb snake about five feet
long and marked with alternate rings of
| jet black and bright coral. He had his
| head in the air, and we looked at one
| another with mutual respect. I bowed
and said, after your and he politely
and curves, 1 fancied because he knew
was, watching him. The venom of the
little coral snakes is deadly; but I've
sometimes had to chase three or four of
the pretty things out of my room before
1 could go TO bed.
"Oh, no. I didn't mind the snakes nor
the scorpions nor the tarantulas, but de-
tested the insects. The miserable
things tumbled on one from every direc-
ton. There was no escaping them and
they worried me a great deal more than
| the panthers and wild creatures that
could shoot. OF course, our greatest dan
ger was from the hostile Indians. They
had been on the war path since 1877, and
when We started for the ruins of Chichen,
which are beyond the last military outpost
| every one told us we would never come
back alive. For twelve years no one had
ventured into the forest there; but DR.
lie Plongeon said the Indians would prob
ably never know we were there: and that
the ruins were the most interesting in Yu.
catan, and he intended to study them. Sc
we went The government gave us a mill.
tary escort TO help us force our way