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NE of the problems that confronted the conquistadors inChiapas was that of a year-round route into the highlands. Today, after 400 years of occupation, this is still a grave problem. The series of limestone ridges that make the highlands are roughly orientated northwest-southeast.They form lofty barriers to entrance on all sides. The native milpa type of agriculture has greatly increased the runoff of water from their steep slopes, and denudation of the soil has resulted. The long, narrow, silt-choked valleys cannot discharge the rains and are generally impassable in the flood season.Until recently there were only three avenues of approach to the highlands of Chiapas. One fairly good trail connected the former capital, San Cristobal, with Tehuantepec and thus with Oaxaca and Mexico City. A second good trail entered from Guatemala through the valley of the Rio Cuilco and from there passed to Comit'an, whence connection with San Cristobal via Teopixca was easy, for there are no rivers between Comit'an and the old capital of the state. The third avenue to the highlands was by way of the lowlands of Tabasco. A very bad trail led up the steep slopes where the Cordillera meets the wet plains of Tabasco and made its tortuous way higher and higher through villages, most of which today are but mere names. This was the path over which came the first padres, following close on the footsteps of the hardy conquistadors. This route is very little used today.There were no means of entrance from the northeast and east, though there seems to be good reason for believing that in pre-Cortesian days the natives communicated with Campeche and eastern Tabasco via Ocosingo, Lago Catazaj'a, and the Rio Usumacinta. There are no records of early routes through the vast Desierto to the east, though the presence of ruins indicates habitation in remote times. Legends regarding the supposedly fierce and bloodthirsty Lacandon Indians kept the natives from penetrating that region. However, from my own knowledge of the Lacandones, I am inclined to doubt the ancient tales. Nevertheless, the Tzeltal Indians who live nearest the Desierto keep the old legends alive, even today.The present status of road communication is shown on the map, Figure i, which is offered as a preliminary effort toward making known an undeservedly neglected region. Through the courtesy of the American Geographical Society I had the use of a Brunton compass and a Paulin altimeter as aids in making the map. In the highlands I was able to do some triangulation, but in the vast forests of I9