Incidents of Travel in Yucatan

"Perhaps the most interesting book of travel ever published."-- Edgar Allen Poe Yucatan jungles were little known in the 1840s & they were dangerous. John Lloyd Stephens 1st visited the area in 1839 & wrote a book that went thru 12 printings, making it one of America's 1st bestsellers. In 1843 he published a 2nd, more focused book, Incidents of Travel in Yucatan. In it he recounts a search into the jungles of Central America, where he found 43 separate Mayan cities. Thru his eyes, readers see Yucatan villages of 150 years ago, when Indians used cacao beans instead of money; a hybrid Catholic/indigenous funeral; & above all, the revelation of ruins covered for centuries by dense vegetation. A century after publication it was still the inspiration for ongoing work in Central American archaeology & Frederick Catherwood's elegant drawings of Mayan scenes have long since been a touchstone for archaeological illustration. The journey was difficult. Stephens & Catherwood battled malaria, snakebites, a jaguar attack, dense jungle & difficult rivers. But they opened up an unknown & fascinating past. They were 1st to recognize that the ruins belonged to one people. They were 1st to understand they were the remains of a single civilization, the Maya, rivaling the Aztec for artistic skill--perhaps for bloodiness. A great read, this book is a worthwhile addition to the Adventure Classic series.