V. ANTIQUITIES OF YUCATAN

V. ANTIQUITIES OF YUCATAN

YUCATAN, THE COUNTRY AND THE PEOPLE -- ABUNDANCE OF RUINED CITIES -- ANTIQUARIAN EXPLORATION OF THE STATE -- CENTRAL GROUP -- UXMAL -- HISTORY AND BIBLIOGRAPHY -- WALDECK, STEPHENS, CATHERWOOD, NORMAN, FRIEDERICHSTHAL, AND CHARNAY -- CASA DEL GOBERNADOR, LAS MONJAS, EL ADIVINO, PYRAMID, AND GYMNASIUM -- KABAH, NOHPAT, LABNÁ, AND NINETEEN OTHER RUINED CITIES -- EASTERN GROUP; CHICHEN ITZA AND VICINITY -- NORTHERN GROUP; MAYAPAN, MÉRIDA, AND IZAMAL -- SOUTHERN GROUP; LABPHAK, ITURBIDE, AND MACOBA -- EASTERN COAST; TULOOM AND COZUMEL -- WESTERN COAST; MAXCANÚ, JAÏNA, AND CAMPECHE -- GENERAL FEATURES OF THE YUCATAN RELICS -- PYRAMIDS AND STONE BUILDINGS -- LIMESTONE, MORTAR, STUCCO, AND WOOD -- THE TRIANGULAR ARCH -- SCULPTURE, PAINTING, AND HIEROGLYPHICS -- ROADS AND WELLS -- COMPARISONS -- ANTIQUITY OF THE MONUMENTS -- CONCLUSIONS.

[Sidenote: PHYSICAL FEATURES OF YUCATAN.]

North of the bay of Chetumal on the Atlantic, the Laguna de Terminos on the gulf of Mexico, and latitude 17° 50´ in the interior, lies the peninsula of Yucatan, one of the few exceptions to the general direction of the world's peninsulas, projecting north-eastwardly from the continent, its form approximately a parallelogram whose sides measure two hundred and fifty miles from north to south and two hundred from east to west. Its whole surface, so far as known to geographers, may be termed practically a level plain only slightly elevated above the level of the sea. The coast for the most part, and especially in the north, is low, sandy, and barren, with few indentations affording harbors, and correspondingly few towns and cities of any importance. Crossing the narrow coast region, however, we find the interior fertile and heavily wooded. While there are no mountains that deserve the name, yet there are not entirely wanting ranges of hills to break up and diversify by their elevation of from two hundred to five hundred feet the monotony of a dead level. Chief among these is the Sierra de Yucatan, so called, an offshoot of the southern Peten heights, branching out from the great central Cordillera. It stretches north-eastward nearly parallel with the eastern coast to within some twenty-five miles of Cape Catoche. Another line of hills on the opposite gulf coast extends from the mouth of the River Champoton, also north-eastward, toward Mérida, the capital of the state, about thirty miles south-west of which place it deflects abruptly at right angles from its former direction, and with one or two parallel minor ranges extends south-eastward at least half-way across the state. At some period geologically recent the waves of ocean and gulf doubtless beat against this elbow-shaped sierra, then the coast barrier of the peninsula; since the country lying to the north and west presents everywhere in its limestone formation traces of its comparatively late emergence from beneath the sea. The lack of water on the surface is a remarkable feature in the physical geography of Yucatan. There are no rivers, and the few small streams along the coast extend but few miles inland and disappear as a rule in the dry season. One small lake, whose waters are strongly impregnated with salt, is the only body of water in the broad interior, which is absolutely destitute of streams. From June to October of each year rain falls in torrents, and the sandy, calcareous soil seems to possess a wonderful property of retaining the stored-up moisture, since the ardent rays of the tropical sun beating down through the long rainless summer months, rarely succeed in parching any portion of the surface into any approach to the sterility of a desert. The summer temperature, although high, is modified by sea-breezes from the east and west; consequently the heat is less oppressive and the climate on the whole more healthful than in any other state of the American tierra caliente. The inhabitants, something over half a million in number, of whom a very large proportion are full-blooded natives of the Maya race, are a quiet and peaceful though brave people, living simply on the products of the soil and of the forest, and each community taking but little interest in the affairs of the world away from their own immediate neighborhood. They made a brave but vain resistance to the progress of foreign conquerors, and have since lived for the most part in quiet subjection to the power of a dominant race and the priests of a foreign faith, having lost almost completely the ambitious and haughty spirit for which they were once noted, and forgotten practically the greatness of their civilized ancestors. Since throwing off the power of Spain, they have passed through four or five revolutions,--a noteworthy record when compared with that of other Spanish American states--by which Yucatan has passed successively to and fro from the condition of an independent republic to that of a state in the Mexican Republic, to which it now belongs. Except the northern central portion, which contains the capital and principal towns, and which itself, outside of Mérida and the route to the coast, is only comparatively well known through the writings of a few travelers, and except also some of the ports along the coast visited occasionally by trading vessels of various nations, Yucatan is still essentially a terra incognita. It was more thoroughly explored by the Spanish soldiers and priests in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries than at any subsequent time. The eastern interior and the southern bordering on the Guatemalan province of Peten are especially unexplored, little or nothing being known of the latter district away from the trails that lead southward, one to Bacalar, the other to Lake Peten, trodden by the feet of few but natives during the last two centuries.

[Sidenote: A RICH ANTIQUARIAN FIELD.]

Yucatan presents a rich field for antiquarian exploration, furnishing perhaps finer, and certainly more numerous, specimens of ancient aboriginal architecture, sculpture, and painting than have been discovered in any other section of America. The state is literally dotted, at least in the northern central, or best known, portions with ruined edifices and cities. I shall have occasion to mention, and describe more or less fully, in this chapter, such ruins in between fifty and sixty different localities.[V-1] While these monuments, however, are the most extensive and among the best preserved within the limits of the Pacific States, they were yet among the last to be brought to the knowledge of the modern world. In the voyages, made early in the sixteenth century, which immediately preceded the conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards, Córdova, Grijalva, and Cortés touched at various points along the Yucatan coast, and were amazed to find there on the borders of a new world which they had supposed to be occupied exclusively by barbarians, a civilized people who served their gods and kept their idols in lofty stone temples. But their stay was brief and they pursued their way northward, bent on the conquest of the richer realms of Montezuma. The excitement of the conquest and the new wonders beheld in Anáhuac blotted practically from the popular mind all memory of the southern tower-temples, although their discovery was recorded in the diaries of the expeditions, from which and from verbal descriptions accounts were inserted in the works of the standard historians of the Indies. Later, in the middle of the century, when the turn came for Yucatan to be overrun with soldiers, stone temples had become too familiar sights to excite much attention; yet the chroniclers of the time included in their annals some brief descriptions of the heathen temples destroyed by the Spanish invaders; and the Yucatan historians of the following century, Landa, Cogolludo, and Villagutierre Soto-Mayor, described and personally visited some of the ruins. These earlier accounts have been utilized in delineating the state of architectural art among the Mayas in a preceding volume, and they will also be used somewhat extensively as illustrative material in the following pages. Since these early times the ruins, shrouded by a dense tropical vegetation, have lain untenanted and unknown, save to the peaceful inhabitants of the northern and more thickly settled portions of the state, who have from time to time become aware of their existence accidentally while in search of water or a favorable locality for a milpa, or cornfield. Only a few of the forty-four ruined towns explored by Mr Stephens were known to exist by the people of Mérida, the state capital.

[Sidenote: EXPLORATION OF MAYA RUINS.]

[Sidenote: STEPHENS AND CATHERWOOD.]

Since 1830 the veil has been lifted from the principal ruins of ancient Maya works by the researches of Zavala, Waldeck, Stephens, Catherwood, Norman, Friederichsthal, and Charnay. A general account of the antiquarian explorations and writings of these gentlemen is given in the appended note,[V-2] details and notices of additional visitors to particular localities being reserved until I come to speak of those localities. It will be noticed that all the authors mentioned who write from actual observation, have confined their observations to from one to four of the principal ruins, whose existence was known previous to their visits, excepting Messrs Stephens and Catherwood. These gentlemen boldly left the beaten track and brought to the knowledge of the world about forty ruined cities whose very existence had been previously unknown even to the residents of the larger cities of the very state in whose territory they lie. With a force of natives to aid in clearing away the forest, Mr Stephens spent ten months in surveying, and Mr Catherwood in sketching with the aid of a daguerrean camera, the various groups of ruined structures. The accuracy of both survey and drawings is unquestioned. The visit of these explorers was the first, and has thus far proved in most cases the last. The wrecks of Maya architecture have been left to slumber undisturbed in their forest winding-sheet. "For a brief space the stillness that reigned around them was broken, and they were again left to solitude and silence. Time and the elements are hastening them to utter destruction. It has been the fortune of the author to step between them and the entire destruction to which they are destined; and it is his hope to snatch from oblivion these perishing, but still gigantic memorials of a mysterious people." His hope has been fully realized, and his book may be regarded as a model, both as a journal of travel and personal adventure and as a record of antiquarian research. Mr Stephens is one of the very few travelers who have been able to gaze upon the noble monuments of a past civilization without being drawn into a maze of absurd reasoning and conjecture respecting their builders. His conclusions, if sometimes incorrect in the opinion of other antiquarians entitled to a hearing in the matter, are never groundless or rashly formed.

Notwithstanding the extent of Mr Stephens' explorations, a very large part of Yucatan remains yet untrodden by the antiquary's foot. This is especially true in the east, except on the immediate coast, and in the south toward Guatemala. That extensive ruins yet lie hidden in these unexplored regions, can hardly be doubted; indeed, it is by no means certain that the grandest cities, even in the settled and partially explored part of the peninsula, have yet been described; but the uniformity of such as have been brought to our knowledge does not lead us to expect new developments with respect to the nature, whatever may be proved of the extent, of the Maya antiquities.

By reason of the level surface of the peninsula, uncut by rivers, and unbroken by mountain ranges, the determination of the geographical position of its ruins is reduced to a statement of distances and bearings. The location of the chief cities is moreover indicated on the map which accompanies this volume.[V-3] With respect to the order in which they are to be described there would be little ground for preference in favor of any particular arrangement, were they all equally well known. But this is not the case. Two or three of the principal cities have been carefully examined, described, and sketched, and as for the rest, only their points of contrast with the preceding have been pointed out. All that is known of most of the ruins would be wholly unintelligible at the commencement of my description, but will be found comparatively satisfactory further on. Thus I am not only obliged to describe the best-known ruins first, but fortunately these are also among the grandest and most typical of the whole, being, in fact, the very ones that would be selected for the purpose. To fully describe a few and point out contrasts in the rest is the only method of avoiding a very tiresome monotony in attempting to make known some hundreds of structures very like one to another in most of their details as well as in their general features. The similarity observed among the different monuments is a very great advantage to the antiquarian student, since it will enable me, if I mistake not, to give the reader in this chapter as clear an idea of the antiquities of Yucatan, notwithstanding their great number, as of any portion of the Pacific States.

[Sidenote: GROUPS OF RUINS.]

For convenience in description, then, I divide the ruins in the interior of the state into four groups; the central group,--placed first that I may begin my account with Uxmal--which, besides the extensive ruins of Uxmal, Kabah, and Labná, embraces relics of the past in at least nineteen other localities; the eastern group, including little besides the famous ruins at Chichen Itza; the northern group, in which I mention Izamal, Aké, Mérida, and Mayapan; and the southern group, comprising five or six ruined towns in the region of Iturbide. I shall finally treat of the antiquities discovered at various points on the eastern and western coasts.

The parallel ranges of hills already spoken of as extending half-way across the peninsula from north-west to south-east contain within their enclosed valleys the ruins of the first group, more numerous than in any other section of the state, and all comprised within a parallelogram whose sides would measure about thirty and forty miles respectively.

[Sidenote: RUINS OF UXMAL.]

Uxmal is the most north-western of the group, in latitude 20° 27´ 30´´, thirty-five miles south of Mérida, on a hacienda belonging, by a deed running back one hundred and forty years, thirty-five years ago,--and very likely still, as real estate rarely changes hands in Spanish American countries,--to the Peon family, and at one time cultivated by its owners as a cornfield.[V-4] The derivation and meaning of the name Uxmal,[V-5] like that of so many American cities of the past, is unknown; it is even uncertain whether this was the name of the city at all in the days of its original greatness, or only an appellation derived from that of the hacienda on which it stands, in comparatively modern times. Waldeck and some other writers take the latter view, identifying the ruins themselves with the city of Itzalane, ancient capital of the Itzas, although the authorities indicate only very vaguely that a city named Itzalane ever existed. Brasseur de Bourbourg, on the contrary, believes it to have been, under its present name of Uxmal, the capital of the Tutul Xius in the ninth century; Mr Stephens also believes that Uxmal was an inhabited city down to the days of the conquest.[V-6] The ruins are situated in the foothills of one of the ranges mentioned, notwithstanding which fact the locality seems to be one of the most unhealthy in the state. Fever and ague, especially during the rainy season, and ravenous mosquitos have ever been the chief obstacles encountered by travelers. The vegetation, although dense and of the usual rapid growth, has been a lesser hindrance here than in many other localities, by reason of the ruins' proximity to a hacienda and the frequent clearings made.[V-7]

The exact extent of the ruins it is of course impossible to determine, since the whole region abounds with mounds and heaps of débris scattered in every direction through the adjoining forest,[V-8] and belonging originally to Uxmal or to some city in its immediate vicinity. A rectangular space, however, measuring in general terms something over one third of a mile from north to south and one fourth of a mile from east to west would include all the principal structures. The annexed plan will show their arrangement within the rectangle, as well as their ground forms and dimensions more clearly than many pages of descriptive text. Except in a few instances I have not attempted on the plan to represent the grades of the various terraces, which will be made clear in the text, but have indicated the extent of their bases by dotted lines and by the omission of the foliage which covers their sides and platforms as well as the surrounding country.[V-9] It will be seen at a glance by the reader that none of the structures face exactly the cardinal points, and that no two of them face exactly in the same direction. It is customary for writers on American antiquities to speak of all the principal ruined palaces and temples as exactly oriented, and all the visitors to Uxmal, except Stephens, make the same statement respecting its structures, or so represent them on their plans. But in this case we are left in no uncertainty in the matter, for a photographic view of the southern ruins from the courtyard of the building C, agrees exactly with Stephens' plan, and proves beyond question that the structures A and C, at least, cannot lie in the same direction.[V-10] To prove that any of them face the cardinal points will require more careful examination than has yet been made.

[Sidenote: PLAN OF UXMAL]

[Sidenote: UXMAL--CASA DEL GOBERNADOR.]

In the southern central portion of the space comprised in the plan is the edifice at A, known as the Casa del Gobernador, or Governor's House. It may be remarked here that the names by which the different structures are known have been given them, generally by the natives, but sometimes by visitors, in accordance with what they have fancied to have been their original use. There is only a very slight probability that in a few cases they may have hit upon a correct designation, although many of the names, like that of this building, are certainly sufficiently appropriate.[V-11] The terraced mound that supports the Governor's house demands our first attention. Its base, with its irregularities in form on the west and south, is shown on the plan by the dotted lines a, b, c, d: and measures on its perfect sides, ab, and bc, about six hundred feet. At a height of three feet from the ground a terrace, or promenade, mostly destroyed at the time of observation and not indicated on the plan, extends round the mound. From this rises the second terrace to a height of twenty feet, supporting a platform whose sides measure five hundred and forty-five feet. Somewhat west of the centre of this platform rises the third terrace, nineteen feet high and supporting the summit platform e, f, g, h, whose dimensions are about one hundred by three hundred and sixty feet, and whose height above the original surface of the ground is something over forty feet.[V-12] The material of the body of this mound is rough fragments of limestone thrown together without any order; the terraces are supported, however, at the sides by solid walls built of regular blocks of hewn limestone carefully laid in mortar nearly as hard as the rock. So far as can be determined from the drawings, these walls are not perpendicular, but incline slightly inward towards the top, and the corners are not square but carefully rounded. It is not improbable that the platforms were also paved originally with square blocks, as M. Charnay believes, although now covered with soil and vegetation. By means of an excavation, solid stone was found in the interior above the surface level, showing that the builders had taken advantage of a natural elevation as a labor-saving expedient in heaping up this massive artificial stone mound. There are no traces of stairways by which access was had to the second platform,[V-13] but a long inclined plane without steps, one hundred feet wide, on the southern side, apparently furnished the only means of ascent. From the second platform, however, a regular stairway of thirty-five steps, one hundred and thirty feet wide, leads up to the summit at i, being in the centre of the eastern side, or front.

The upper platform supports, and forms a promenade thirty feet wide round the Casa del Gobernador, which is a building three hundred and twenty-two feet long, thirty-nine feet wide, and twenty-six feet high,[V-14] built of stone and mortar. A central wall divides the interior longitudinally into two nearly equal corridors, which, divided again by transverse partition walls, form two parallel rows of rooms extending the whole length of the building. The arrangement of these rooms will be best understood by a reference to the accompanying ground plan from Mr Stephens.[V-15] The two central apartments are about sixty feet long and twelve feet wide; the others, except the two in the recesses, are twelve by twenty-five feet. Those of the front corridor are twenty-three feet high, while in the rear they are only twenty-two, authorities differing somewhat, however, on this point. There are two doorways in the rear, one on each end, and thirteen on the front; with nine interior doorways exactly opposite the same number on the exterior. The rear, or western wall, except for a short distance at each end, is nine feet thick and perfectly solid, as was proved by an excavation; the transverse walls corresponding with the two recesses are of about the same thickness; and all the other walls are between two and three feet thick. The stone for the facings of the whole building is cut in smooth blocks nearly cubic in form and of varying but nowhere exactly stated dimensions; but the mass of the structure, as is proven by M. Charnay's photograph, is an agglomeration of rough, irregular fragments of stone in mortar. The construction of the whole will be understood by a glance at the cut, which represents a section of the building at the central doorway in very nearly its true proportions, although the proper size and cubical form of the blocks are not observed.[V-16] At about mid-height of each room the side walls begin to approach each other, one layer of stones overlapping the one below it, until they are only one foot apart, when a number of blocks, longer than usual, are laid across the top, serving by means of the mortar which holds them in place and the weight of the superimposed masonry, as key-stones to this arch of the true American type. The projecting corners of the overlapping blocks are beveled off so that the ceiling presents two plane stone surfaces nearly forming an acute angle at the top. Above and between these arches all is solid masonry to the flat roof, giving to the apartments the air of galleries excavated in the solid mass, rather than enclosed by walls. The top of each doorway is formed by a stout beam of zapote-wood which has to bear the weight of the stone-work above. One of these lintels in the southern apartment, ten feet long, twenty-one inches wide, and ten inches thick, is elaborately carved; the rest, not only in this building, but in all at Uxmal, are plain.[V-17] Many of them are broken and fallen. It is to the breaking of these wooden lintels that is to be attributed nearly all the dilapidation observable about this ruin, especially over the outer doorways. Some special motive must have influenced the builders to use wood in preference to the more durable stone, and this motive may be supposed to have been the rarity and value of the zapote, which is said not to grow in this part of the state. The only traces preserved of the means by which these doorways were originally closed are the remains, on the inside of some of them near the top, of rings, or hooks, which may have served as hinges, or more probably for the support of a bar from which to suspend curtains. The dimensions of the doorways are not stated, but they are about ten feet high and seven feet wide. They are the only openings into or between the apartments, there being absolutely no windows, chimneys, or air-holes. Across the ceilings from side to side at about mid-height stretch small wooden beams, whose ends are built into the stone-work. The only suggestions respecting their use are that they served to support the ceilings while in process of construction, and that they served for the suspension of hammocks.[V-18] The inner surface of the rooms is that of the plain smooth stone blocks, except in one or two of them where a very thin coating of fine white plaster is noticed. There is no trace of painting, sculpture, or other attempt at decoration. The floors and roof are covered with a hard cement. Nothing further worthy of particular notice demands our attention in the interior of the Governor's House, except the small apartments corresponding with the recesses near each end of the building. In these the sides of the ceiling instead of beginning to approach each other by means of overlapping blocks at mid-height of the room, begin at or near the floor, thus leaving no perpendicular walls whatever. The explanation of this seems to be, so far as can be judged from Catherwood's drawing and Charnay's photograph, that originally an open passage about twenty feet wide at the bottom, narrowing to two or three feet at the top, and twenty-four feet high, extended completely through the building from front to rear at each of the recesses, and that afterwards this passage was divided into two small apartments by three partition walls, a small door being left in the front and rear.[V-19]

It now only remains to notice the exterior of the walls. A cornice just above the doorway, at something over one third of the height of the building, surrounds the entire structure, and another cornice is found near the top. Below the lower cornice the walls present the plain surface of the smoothly cut cubes of limestone, no traces of plaster or paint appearing. Above the cornice the walls are covered with elegant and complicated sculpture. The preceding cut[V-20] presents a view of the south end, and gives an idea of the sculptured portion of the wall, although it must be remembered that both the ends and rear are much less elaborately decorated than the front. The whole surface is divided into squares, or panels, filled alternately with frets, or grecques, and diamond lattice-work, with specially elaborate ornaments over each doorway, in connection with some of which are characters presumably hieroglyphic. The three cuts[V-21] show the ornamentation over the central front doorway. The first represents what seems to have been a human figure seated and surmounted by a lofty plumed head-dress. These human statues occurred in several places along the front, probably over each door, but few fragments remained to be seen by Europeans, and most of these have long since entirely disappeared. The second cut represents that part of the decoration extending above that before pictured to the upper cornice along the top of the wall. The central portion of this ornament is a curved projection, supposed, by more than one traveler, to be modeled after the trunk of an elephant, of which a profile view is shown in the third cut. It projects nineteen inches from the surface of the wall. This protruding curve occurs more frequently on this and other buildings at Uxmal than any other decoration, and usually with the same or similar accompaniments, which may be fancied to represent the features of a monster, of which this forms the nose. It occurs especially on the ornamented and rounded corners; being sometimes reversed in its position, and having, with few exceptions, the point broken off, probably by the natives, from superstitious motives, to prevent the long-nosed monster from walking abroad at night.[V-22] The ornaments are cut on square blocks, which are inserted in the wall, one block containing only a part of the ornamental design. Of course, a verbal description fails utterly in conveying any proper idea of this front, whose sculptured decorations, if less elaborate and complicated than some others in Yucatan, are surpassed by none in elegant grandeur. I append however, in a note, some quotations respecting this façade, and take leave of the Casa del Gobernador with a mention of the 'red hand,' whose imprint is found on stones in all parts of the building. Mr Stephens believes that it was made by the pressure of a small human hand, smeared with red paint, upon the surface of the wall.[V-23]

This magnificent palace, whose description I have given, may be regarded as a representative, in its general features and many of its details, of the ancient Maya structures, very few of which, however, are so well preserved as this. Consequently, over this type of ruins--long, low, narrow buildings, with flat roofs, divided into a double line of small rooms, with triangular-arched ceilings, plain interior walls, and cement floors; the whole supported by a stone mound, ascended by a broad stairway--I shall be able in future to pass more briefly, simply noting such points of contrast with the Casa del Gobernador as may occur. Still some of the other buildings of Uxmal have received more attention from visitors, and consequently will afford better illustrations of some of the common features than the one already described.

[Sidenote: UXMAL--CASA DE TORTUGAS.]

On the north-west corner of the second platform of the same mound that supports the Governor's House, and lying in a direction perpendicular to that building, is the small structure marked B on the plan, and known as the Casa de Tortugas, or Turtle House. It is ninety-four feet long, thirty-four feet wide, and, as nearly as can be estimated by Charnay's photograph, about twenty feet high. The roof, in an insecure condition at the time of Mr Stephens' first visit, had fallen in before the second, filling up the interior, concerning which consequently nothing is known. The central portion of the southern wall, corresponding with the three doorways on that side, had also fallen, and on the northern side was ready to fall, the wooden lintel of the only doorway being broken. At the time of Charnay's visit neither the centre nor western end of the northern wall remained standing. The exterior walls below the lower cornice are plain, as in the Casa del Gobernador, but between the cornices, instead of the complicated sculpture of the former building, there appears a simple and elegant line of round columns standing close together and encircling the whole edifice. Each of these columns is composed of two or three pieces of stone one upon another, and although presenting outwardly a half-round surface, they are undoubtedly square on the side that is built into the wall. Above the upper cornice is a row of turtles, occurring at regular intervals, sculptured each on a square block which projects from the wall; hence the name of the building. It is noted as a remarkable circumstance that no stairway leads up the terrace to this building from the surface below, or from it to the Governor's House above.[V-23]

At different points on the second, or grand, platform of the mound supporting the Casa del Gobernador are traces of structures which once stood there, but insufficient in every case, except in that of the Tortugas, to give any idea of their original nature. Standing at the foot of one of these old foundation walls three hundred feet long, fifteen feet wide, and three feet high, on the south side of the platform, at j, is a range of broken round columns, each five feet high and eighteen inches in diameter.[V-24]

On the same platform, about eighty feet eastward of the central stairway, at k, is a round stone standing eight feet above the ground in a leaning position. It is rudely formed, has no sculpture on its surface, and is surrounded by a small square enclosure two stones high. The natives call it picote, 'stone of punishment,' or 'whipping-post.' Its prominent and central position in front of the magnificent palace, indicates its great importance in the eyes of the ancient Mayas, and Mr Stephens thinks it may be a phallus, not without reason, since apparent traces of an ancient phallic worship will be found not unfrequently among the Yucatan ruins.[V-25]

[Sidenote: UXMAL--PICOTE AND IDOL.]

Sixty feet further eastward, at l, was a circular mound of earth and stones about sixty feet in height, opened by Mr Stephens, who brought to light a double-headed stone animal, three feet long and two feet high, which had been buried there, very probably for the purpose of concealment. Being too heavy for convenient removal, it was left standing in the same position as when buried, and has there been noticed by several subsequent observers. Its sculpture is rude, and but slightly damaged by time. It is shown in the cut on the next page, with the picote, the stairway, and the front of the Governor's House in the distance.[V-26] One hundred and thirty feet from this two-headed idol, in a direction not stated, Mr Stephens found a structure twenty feet square at the base, from which were dug out two sculptured heads, apparently portraits. The only objects of interest which remain to be noticed in connection with this platform, or the mound-structure of which it forms a part, are two excavations, supposed to have been originally cisterns. The entrance, or mouth, to each is a circular opening, eighteen inches in diameter, lined with regular blocks of cut stone, and descending three feet, vertically, from the surface of the platform, before it begins to widen into a dome-shaped chamber. The dimensions of the chambers could not be ascertained because they were nearly filled with rubbish, but similar chambers are of frequent occurrence throughout the city of Uxmal and vicinity, several of which were found unencumbered with débris, and in perfect preservation. They were all dome-shaped, or rather of the shape of a well-formed hay-stack, as Mr Stevens expresses it, the bottoms being somewhat contracted. The walls and floor were carefully plastered. One of these cisterns measured ten and a half feet deep and seventeen and a half feet in diameter.[V-27]

[Sidenote: UXMAL--CISTERNS AND PYRAMID.]

At the south-west corner of the Casa del Gobernador, and even intrenching on the terraces that support it, is the pyramid E, to which strangely enough no name has been given. It has in fact received but very slight attention; one short visit by Mr Stephens, during which he mounted to the summit with a force of Indians, being the only one recorded, although it is barely mentioned by others. This pyramid measures two hundred by three hundred feet at the base, and its height is sixty-five feet. At the top is a square platform, whose sides are each seventy-five feet. The area of this platform is flat, composed of rough stones, and has no traces whatever of ever having supported any building. Its sides, however, three feet high perpendicularly, are of hewn blocks of stone, and smooth with ornamented corners. Below this summit platform, for a distance of ten or twelve feet, the sides of the pyramid are faced with sculptured stone, the ornaments being chiefly grecques, like those on the Governor's House, having one of the immense faces with projecting teeth at the centre of the western side. At this point Mr Stephens attempted an excavation in the hope of discovering interior apartments, but the only result was to prostrate himself with an attack of fever, which obliged him to quit Uxmal. Just below this sculptured upper border, some fifteen feet below the top, a narrow terrace extends round the four sides of the pyramid. Concerning the surface below this terrace, we only know that it is encased in stone, and would very probably reveal additional ornamentation if subjected to a more minute examination.[V-28] The pyramid F, still farther south-west, is two hundred feet long and one hundred and twenty feet wide at the base, being about fifty feet high. These particulars, together with the fact that a stairway leads up the northern slope, to one of the typical Yucatan buildings, twenty by one hundred feet and divided into three apartments, are absolutely all that has been recorded of this structure, which, like its more imposing companion pyramid, has not been thought worthy of a name. The reader will be able to form a more consistent conjecture respecting its original appearance after reading a description in the following pages of the structure at D, which presents some points of apparent similarity to its more modest southern neighbor.[V-29]

[Sidenote: UXMAL--CASA DE PALOMAS.]

Northward from the last pyramid, and connected with it by a courtyard one hundred feet long and eighty-five feet wide, with ranges of undescribed ruins on the east and west, are the buildings at G, built round and enclosing a courtyard one hundred and eighty feet long and one hundred and fifty feet wide, entered through an archway in the centre of the northern and southern buildings. This courtyard has a picote in the centre, like that before the Governor's House, but fallen. These buildings are in an advanced state of ruin and no details are given respecting any of them except the northern one, which presents one remarkable feature. Along the centre of the roof from east to west throughout the whole length of two hundred and forty feet, is a peculiar wall rising in peaks like saw-teeth. These are nine in number, each about twenty-seven feet long at the base, between fifteen and twenty feet high, and three feet thick. Each is pierced with many oblong openings arranged in five or six horizontal rows, one above another like the windows in the successive stories of a modern building, or like those of a pigeon house, or Casa de Palomas, by which name it is known. Traces yet remain which show that originally these strange elevations were covered with stucco ornaments, the only instance of stucco decorations in Uxmal. Of this group of structures, including the two courtyards and the pyramid beyond, notwithstanding their ruined condition, Mr Stephens remarks that "they give a stronger impression of departed greatness than anything else in this desolate city."[V-30]

Respecting the remains marked 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15, on the plan, north of the Pyramid and Casa de Palomas, and west of the Casa del Gobernador, all that can be said is embodied in the following quotation: "A vast range of high, ruined terraces, facing east and west, nearly eight hundred feet long at the base, and called the Campo Santo. On one of these is a building of two stories, with some remains of sculpture, and in a deep and overgrown valley at the foot, the Indians say, was the burial-place of this ancient city; but, though searching for it ourselves, and offering a reward to them for the discovery, we never found in it a sepulchre."[V-31]

Crossing over now to the eastward of the Governor's House, we find a small group of ruins in the south-eastern corner of the rectangle. The one marked 6 on the plan is known as the Casa de la Vieja, or Old Woman's House, so named from a statue that was found lying near its front. The building stands on the summit of a small pyramid and its walls were just ready to fall at the time of the survey. Of the other structures of the group, 5 and 7, no further information is given than that which may be gathered from the plan. Along the line marked 4, 4, 4, are slight traces of a continuous wall, indicating that Uxmal may have been a walled city, since no careful search has ever been made for such traces in other portions of the city's circumference.[V-32]

[Sidenote: UXMAL GYMNASIUM.]

To go from the Casa del Gobernador northward to the buildings at C and D, yet to be described, we pass between two parallel walls at H. These two parallel structures are solid masses of rough stones faced on all four sides with smoothly cut blocks, and were, so far as can be determined in their present condition, exactly alike. Each measures thirty by one hundred and twenty-eight feet on the ground, and they are seventy feet apart, their height not being given. The fronts which face each other were covered with sculptured decorations, now mostly fallen, including two entwined serpents; while from the centre of each of these façades projected originally a stone ring about four feet in diameter, fixed in the wall by means of a tenon. Both are broken, and the fragments for the most part lost. A similar building in a better state of preservation will be noticed among the ruins of Chichen Itza, in describing which a cut of one of the stone rings will be given. It is easy to imagine that the grand promenade between the northern and southern palaces, or temples, was along a line that passed between these walls, and that these sculptured fronts and rings were important in connection with religious rites and processions of priests. The chief entrance to the northern buildings is in a line with this passage, and it seems strange that we find no corresponding stairway leading up the southern terrace to the front of the Casa de Tortugas.[V-33]

[Sidenote: UXMAL--CASA DE MONJAS.]

Between two and three hundred yards north from the Casa del Gobernador, is the Casa de Monjas, or Nunnery, marked C on the plan. This is perhaps the most wonderful edifice, or collection of edifices, in Yucatan, if not the finest specimen of aboriginal architecture and sculpture in America. The supporting mound, whose base is indicated by the dotted lines m, n, o, p is in general terms three hundred and fifty feet square, and nineteen feet high, its sides very nearly facing the cardinal points. The southern, or front, slope of the mound, about seventy feet wide, rises in three grades, or terraces, three, twelve, and four feet high, and twenty, forty-five, and five feet wide, respectively, from the base. There are some traces of a wide central stairway leading up to the second terrace on this side, but none of the steps remain in place.

On this platform stand four of the typical Yucatan edifices built round a courtyard, with unequal intervals between them at the corners. The southern building is two hundred and seventy-nine feet long, twenty-eight feet wide, and eighteen feet high; the northern building, two hundred and sixty-four feet long, twenty-eight feet wide, and twenty-five feet high; the eastern, one hundred and fifty-eight by thirty-five feet, and twenty-two feet high; the western, one hundred and seventy-three by thirty-five feet, and twenty feet high.[V-34] The northern building stands on a terrace of its own, which rises about twenty feet above the general level of the main platform on which the others stand. The court formed by the four edifices measures two hundred and fifty-eight by two hundred and fourteen feet. It is two feet and a half lower than the foundations of the eastern, western, and southern buildings, and traces of low steps may yet be seen running the whole length of the sides. Its area is paved with stone, much worn by long usage. M. Waldeck, by diligent research or by an effort of his imagination, found that each of the forty-three thousand six hundred and sixty blocks composing the pavement was six inches square, and had the figure of a turtle sculptured on its upper surface. Stephens could find no traces of the turtles, and believes that the pavement was originally covered with cement.[V-35] In the centre are the fragments of a rude column, picote, or phallus, like those found in connection with the Casa del Gobernador and Casa de Palomas. M. Charnay also found traces of a straight path with raised borders leading north and south across the centre, and also two of the dome-shaped cisterns already described.[V-36]

| SOUTH || NORTH || EAST +----+----+----++----+----+----++----+----+---- |Long|Wide|High||Long|Wide|High||Long|Wide|High +----+----+----++----+----+----++----+----+---- Stephens, Text |279 | | ||264 | | 25 ||158 | | Stephens, 1st Plan |300 | 30 | ||300 | 25 | ||162 | 35 | Stephens, 2d Plan |279 | 25 | ||260 | 25 | ||160 | 35 | Waldeck, Text |227 | 27 | ||227 | 27 | ||176 | 34 | Waldeck, 1st Plan |235 | 27 | ||235 | 25 | ||210 | 40 | Waldeck, 2d Plan |264 | 28 | ||225 | 27 | ||174 | 34 | Charnay, Text | | | ||351 | | ||210 | | Charnay, Plan |360 | 33 | ||393 | 33 | ||262 | 33 | Norman |200 | 25 | 16 ||246 | 25 | 26 ||140 | 34 | 25 Heller | | | ||260 | 24 | 25 ||150 | |

| WEST || COURT || TERRACE +----+----+----++----+-----++----+------ |Long|Wide|High||Long| Wide||High|Circum +----+----+----++----+-----++----+------ Stephens, Text |173 | | ||258 | 214 || 19 | Stephens, 1st Plan |165 | 35 | ||240 | 185 || | 1520 Stephens, 2d Plan |165 | 35 | ||220 | 195 || | 1430 Waldeck, Text |176 | 34 | ||227 | 172 || 15 | 1116 Waldeck, 1st Plan |210 | 40 | ||222 | 205 || | 1360 Waldeck, 2d Plan |174 | 34 | ||234 | 180 || | Charnay, Text | | | ||262 | 262 || | Charnay, Plan |262 | 33 | ||262 | 265 || | Norman |140 | 34 | 25 || | || 15 | 1100 Heller |170 | 34 | 25 || | || 18 | 1000

The situation of the four structures forming the quadrangle, and the division of each into apartments, are shown in the accompanying ground plan.[V-37]

It will be noticed that the northern building of the Nunnery does not stand exactly in the same direction as the sides of the platform or of the other edifices, an arrangement which detracts somewhat from the symmetry of the group. Each of the four buildings is divided longitudinally into two parallel ranges of apartments, arranged very much like those of the Governor's House, with doorways opening on the interior court. The only exterior doorways are on the front of the southern building and on the ends of the northern; these, however, only afford access to the outer range of rooms, which do not communicate with the interior. In only one instance do more than two rooms communicate with each other, and that is in the centre of the eastern building, where are two communicating apartments, the largest in the Nunnery, each thirteen by thirty-three feet, with an ante-room at each end measuring nine by thirteen feet. All the doorways of this suite are decorated with sculpture, the only instance of interior stone-carving in Uxmal. The cut on the next page shows the inside of one of the larger rooms of this suite, and also gives an excellent idea of the interior of all the structures of Yucatan.[V-38] The rooms of the Casa de Monjas, eighty-eight in number, like some in the Casa del Gobernador, are plastered with a thin coat of hard white material like plaster of Paris. Those of the southern building average twenty-four feet long, ten feet wide, and seventeen feet high. They all present the same general features of construction--angular-arched ceilings, wooden lintels, stone rings, or hinges, on the inside of the doorways, holes in the sloping ceilings for hammock-timbers, entire absence of any openings except the doors--that have been previously described.[V-39] The platform on which the buildings stand forms a narrow promenade, only five or six feet in width, round each, both on the exterior and on the court. The entrance to the court is by a gateway, at v on the general plan, in the centre of the southern building. It is ten feet and eight inches wide and about fourteen feet high, the top being formed by the usual triangular arch, and the whole being similar to the passages through the Casa del Gobernador before the latter were walled up. Opposite this gateway, at w, a stairway ninety-five feet wide leads up to the upper terrace which supports the northern building. On each side of this stairway, at x, y, on the slope of the terrace, is a ruin of the usual construction, in which six small apartments may be traced. The dilapidation of these buildings is so great that it is impossible to ascertain whether they were independent structures or formed a part of the terrace itself, a mode of construction of which we shall find some specimens in Yucatan, and even at Uxmal. A noticeable peculiarity in the northern building is that, wherever the outer walls are fallen, the sculptured surface of an inner wall is disclosed, showing that the edifice in its present form was built over an older structure.

Nothing remains to be said respecting the general plan and construction of the Nunnery, or of the interior of the apartments which compose it: and I now come to the exterior walls. The sides and ends of each building are, like those already described, plain and unplastered below the cornice, which extends round the whole circumference just above the doorways. Above this cornice the whole surface, over twenty-four thousand square feet for the four buildings, is covered with elegant and elaborate sculptured decorations. The four interior façades fronting on the court are pronounced by all beholders the chef-d'œuvres of aboriginal decorative art in America, being more chaste and artistic, and at the same time less complicated and grotesque, than any other fronts in Yucatan. All have been carefully studied, sketched, or photographed. No two of them are alike, or even similar. The outer fronts received somewhat less care at the hands of the native builders, and consequently less attention from modern visitors, being moreover much more seriously affected by the ravages of time and the elements.

I begin with the southern building, showing in the accompanying engraving the eastern third of its court façade, the other portions being precisely like that which is represented. Except over the doorways the space between the cornices is occupied by diamond lattice-work and vertical columns, small portions being left, however, entirely plain. Some of the columns have central moldings corresponding nearly in form to the cornices.[V-40] The central gateway is not shown in the engraving, but there is no special ornamentation in connection with it, its border being of lattice-work, according to Waldeck, or of plain blocks, according to Charnay, contrary to what might be expected over the only entrance to so grand a court. The next engraving shows a portion of the same façade on a larger scale, including the ornament which is repeated over each door. This ornament seems to represent a small house with a roof of thatch or tiles, having a human figure seated in a niche in the wall, which corresponds with the doorway of the house. This seated statue had disappeared before the visits of later explorers. That a statue once occupied the niche there can be no doubt. Whether M. Waldeck sketched it from actual observation or from the report of the natives, is not quite so clear. The last-named writer advances two original and somewhat remarkable theories respecting these small houses; first, that they may be taken as a representation of the houses actually occupied by the common people at the time Uxmal was built; and second, that they are identical with the Aztec sign calli, 'house,' from which he derives an argument respecting the probable age of the building, which will be noticed in its place. M. Charnay calls this front the Façade des Abeilles, or Bee front, while M. Waldeck terms the building the Temple of the Asterisms. The exterior, or southern, front of this building is similar to the northern, but somewhat plainer, having, however, the same houses and niches over the doorways.[V-41]

The court façade of the eastern building, which has been called the Sun front, and also the Egyptian front, is perhaps more tasteful in its sculptured ornaments than either of the other three. The southern half of this façade is represented in the engraving. The ornaments over the central doorway and at the corners consist of the immense grotesque masks, with the curved projecting tusks noticed on the Casa del Gobernador; but the remaining surface is covered with regular diamond lattice-work, while in connection with each of the cornices is a line of stone blocks with rounded faces, resembling short columns. Over this lattice-work, but not entirely concealing it, are six peculiar and graceful ornaments, placed at regular intervals, four of them surmounting doorways. One of these, precisely like all the rest, is shown on an enlarged scale in the engraving. It consists of eight parallel horizontal bars, increasing in length as they approach the upper cornice, and each terminating at either end in a serpent's or monster's head with open jaws. A human face with a peculiar head-dress, large ear-pendants, and tongue hanging from the mouth, looks down from the centre of the upper bars. This face is fancied by Waldeck to represent the sun, and something in its surroundings strikes Charnay as partaking of the Egyptian style; hence the names that have been applied to this façade. M. Viollet-le-Duc attempts to prove the development of the architectural ideas embodied in the Maya edifices from an original structure of wood. His use of this claimed peculiarity will be more appropriately spoken of hereafter, but his illustration of the idea in connection with this eastern front, is certainly striking as shown in the annexed cut.[V-42] The southern end of this building is shown in one of Charnay's photographs, and, together with a small portion of the western front, in a drawing by Catherwood. These views show that the ends, and probably all of the rear, are made up of plain wall and lattice-work, with elaborate ornaments at each of the corners.[V-43]

I now pass on to the opposite, or western building, known as the Serpent Temple, whose court façade is shown in the engraving. At the time of the visits of Catherwood and Charnay a large portion of this front had fallen, and the standing portions only were represented in their drawings and photographs, no attempt being made in the former at restoration. In 1835, however, according to the testimony of both M. Waldeck and Sr Peon, proprietor of Uxmal, it was standing nearly intact; I have consequently preferred to reproduce Waldeck's drawing of a portion of this façade, especially as the portions shown by Catherwood and Charnay agree almost exactly with this drawing and prove its accuracy. But slight justice can be done to this, the most magnificent and beautiful front in America, by an engraving on so small a scale as I am obliged to employ. Two serpents, each with a monster's head between the open jaws of which a human face appears, and the tail of a rattlesnake placed near and above the head at either end of the building, almost entirely surround the front above the lower cornice, dividing the surface by the folds and interlacing of their bodies into square panels. That is, it seems to have been the aim of the builders to form these panels by the folds of these two mighty serpents, and the work is so described by all visitors, but it appears from an examination of the folds, as shown in the engraving, that the serpent whose head and tail are shown on the right only encloses really the first panel, and that each other panel is surrounded by the endless body of a serpent without head or tail. The scales or feathers on the serpent's body are somewhat more clearly defined than is indicated in the engraving, as is proved by Charnay's photograph. The surface of this wall is filled with grecques and lattice-work similar to those of the Governor's House, but much more complicated; and each panel has one or more human faces among its decorations, while several of them have full-sized standing human figures. Over each doorway and on the rounded corners of the building, are the usual grotesque decorations, bearing some likeness to three distorted faces or masks placed one above another, and all furnished with the projecting curves, or hooks, previously compared to elephants' trunks.[V-44] Respecting the ends and rear of this building nothing whatever has been recorded.

The northern building, standing on a terrace twenty feet above the platform which supports the other structures, and consequently overlooking them all, was very probably intended by the builders as the crowning feature of the Casa de Monjas. Its court façade was crowded with sculptured designs, grander, perhaps, and more imposing, but at the same time much less elegant and refined than those of the fronts already described. Apparently from no other motive than to obtain more space on which to exercise their talent for decorative art, and thus to render this front more striking, the builders extended the front wall at regular intervals above the upper cornice, forming thirteen turrets seventeen feet high and ten feet wide, placed generally above the doorways. These turrets, towering about eighty feet above the site of the city, and loaded with elaborate sculpture, must have been a prominent feature of the aboriginal Uxmal. Only four of the turrets remained standing at the time of Stephens' visit, and the wall was otherwise much dilapidated. The only view is that given in Charnay's photographs, none of the turrets being complete at the time of his visit. The background of the sculpture is divided into panels filled with grecques and ornamented lattice-work very similar to that of the Serpent front. Half the doorways are surmounted by niches like those in the southern façade; while over the alternate doorways and on all the corners are seen the immense mask ornaments with the elephant-trunk projection.[V-45] A peculiarity of this building not noticed by any authority, but clearly shown in Charnay's photograph, is that not only are the corners rounded as in the other buildings, but the walls at the corners are not perpendicular either above or below the cornice, inclining inward toward the top at an angle of about seven degrees. Several human figures are noted among the decorations, of ruder execution than others at Uxmal, two of which seem to be playing on musical instruments resembling somewhat a guitar and harp; while a third is sitting with his hands crossed on his breast, and bound by cords.[V-46] All that is known of the exterior front of this northern building is that among its decorations, which are comparatively plain and simple, are two naked male figures, the condition of whose genital organs indicates the existence of the same phallic rites of which traces have been already noted. With the additional remark that traces of bright-colored paint are still visible in sheltered portions of the sculptured façades, I conclude my description of the so-called Nunnery.[V-47]

[Sidenote: UXMAL ARCH.]

Immediately eastward of the Casa de Monjas are several ruined structures shown in the plan, standing on terraces somewhat lower than those last mentioned. Only one of these, and which one of the four or five shown on the plan is not stated, has been more than mentioned by any visitor. This one exception is the House of Birds. A portion of its front is shown in the preceding cut, which sufficiently explains the origin of the appellation. The interior is remarkable for containing two rooms which are larger than any others at Uxmal, measuring fourteen by fifty-two feet, and about twenty feet in height. One of these apartments has well-preserved traces of the paint which formerly covered walls and ceiling; and the other has an arch which differs somewhat from all others in this ancient city. Its peculiarity is that the overlapping blocks of stone, instead of lying horizontally as in other cases, are slightly inclined, as is shown in the cut, forming a nearer approach to the principle of the true arch with a key-stone than has been found elsewhere in Yucatan. It will also be noticed in the cut that the blocks, instead of being all in regular cubical form, are some of them cut elbow-shaped. This is a feature, which, if it exists in other buildings, has not been particularly noticed.[V-48]

[Sidenote: UXMAL--CASA DEL ADIVINO.]

Still further eastward are the pyramid and building at D, on the plan, which have been called the Casa del Adivino, or Prophet's House; the Casa del Enano, or Dwarf's House; Tolokh-eis, or Holy Mountain, and Kingsborough's Pyramid; the first three names originating from traditions among the natives respecting the former occupants of the buildings: the latter having been applied by M. Waldeck in honor of the Irish lord who aided in his explorations. Connecting the Casa del Adivino with the Nunnery are lines of low mounds, or terraces, possibly occupied in former times by buildings, forming a courtyard which measures eighty-five by one hundred and thirty-five feet, and in the centre of which, at z, is the usual rude column, or picote.

The supporting mound, or pyramid, in this case, from a base of one hundred and fifty-five by two hundred and thirty-five feet, rounded at the corners so as to form an oval rather than a rectangular figure,[V-49] rises with very steep sides to a height of eighty-eight feet, forming at the summit a platform twenty-two by eighty-two feet. The surface of this pyramid is faced with blocks of hewn stone laid in mortar. The interior is presumably of rough stones in mortar, although little or nothing is said on this point.[V-50] Excavations prove that the structure is solid without interior galleries. The surface blocks are cubical, about two feet in dimensions at the base, if we may trust M. Waldeck's drawing, but diminishing toward the top. They are not laid so as to break joints, yet so solid is the structure that the powerful leverage of growing roots has caused comparatively little damage. The eastern front is shown on the following page. A stairway one hundred and two feet on the slope, seventy feet wide at the base, but narrowing toward the summit, composed of ninety steps, each step being about a foot high and five or six inches wide, leads up this side. The slope of this stairway is so steep, being inclined at an angle of about eighty degrees, that visitors have found it very difficult to ascend and descend. Padre Cogolludo was the first to complain of the steep grade. He says: 'I once did go up that of Uxumual, and when I would come down, I did repent me; because so narrow are the steps, and so many in number, that the edifice goes up exceeding straight, and being of no small height, the head swims, and there is even some peril in its descent.'[V-51]

In the centre of the western slope of the Prophets Pyramid, toward the Nunnery, are certain structures, which M. Waldeck represents as projecting portions of the pyramid, or piers, the lower one forming a platform fifteen by forty feet, sixty feet up the slope; and the upper rising from this platform and forming a second, twenty by twenty-five feet, continuous with the main summit platform of the pyramid. The upper projection, or pier, has since proved to be a distinct building, with richly sculptured front,[V-52] one central door, and two plain rooms in the interior; the outer one seven by fifteen feet, and nineteen feet high; the inner, four by twelve feet, and eleven feet high. The lower pier may have been a similar structure, but it is completely in ruins below the central platform, except a few slight traces of rooms near the base. Mr Stephens is disposed to believe that a broad staircase of peculiar construction, supported by a triangular arch-like stairways that will be mentioned later in a few instances in connection with other Yucatan ruins--originally led up to the front of the building on the slope; otherwise it is difficult to imagine by what means these apartments could have been reached. The stones of these projecting portions are longer than elsewhere, and laid so as to break joints. On the summit platform stands a small building, twelve feet wide, seventy-two feet long, and about sixteen feet high, leaving a promenade five feet wide at its base. This building presents no feature with which the reader is not already perfectly familiar, except that it contains only one range of rooms, having no dividing interior wall. The interior is divided into three rooms, which do not communicate with each other, and are not plastered. The central room is seven by twenty-four feet, and its door is on the west, just opposite the platform formed by the projecting pier. The end rooms are seven by nineteen feet, and open on the promenade at either side of the eastern stairway.[V-53]

Cut on the interior walls of the end rooms, seventy-two circular figures, two or three inches in diameter, have been observed. M. Waldeck, as usual, has a theory respecting these circles, or rather he has two in case one should prove unsatisfactory. He thinks they may have been made by prisoners to kill time, or they may have been a record of sacrifices consummated in this cu. The sculptured decorations of the exterior walls are described as elegant but simple. We have here the back-ground of ornamental lattice-work, and besides this the prominent feature is four full-length human figures standing on the west front, two on each side of the doorway, and overlooking the courtyard of the Casa de Monjas. They are the figures of males, and are naked, except a sort of helmet on the head, a scarf round the shoulders, and a belt round the waist. The arms are crossed high on the breast, and each hand holds something resembling a hammer. The genital organs are represented in their proper proportions, and were evidently intended by the sculptor as the prominent feature of the statues. All four had fallen from their places, even at the time of M. Waldeck's visit, but this explorer by careful search collected sufficient fragments of the four, which are precisely alike, to reconstruct one. He intended to bring these fragments away with him, but his intentions being thwarted by the emissaries of the Mexican government, he buried the statue in a locality only known to himself.[V-54] It remains to be stated that the decorations of this Prophet's House, like that of the Nunnery, were originally painted in bright colors. Blue, red, yellow, and white, were found by M. Waldeck on the least exposed portions. There can be but little doubt that this pyramid was a temple where the sacrifices described in a preceding volume were celebrated. It has been customary with many writers to speak of it, as of all similar structures in America, as a Teocalli, the name of such temples in Anáhuac; but thus to apply an Aztec name to monuments in regions inhabited by people whose relation to the Aztecs or their ancestors is yet far from proved, is at least injudicious, since it tends to cause confusion when we come to consider the subject of aboriginal history.[V-55]

[Sidenote: UXMAL--MISCELLANEOUS RELICS.]

All the principal structures of Uxmal have now been fully described, and as all conclusions and general remarks respecting this city will be deferred until I can include in such remarks all the ruins of the state, I take leave of Uxmal with a mention of a very few miscellaneous relics spoken of by different travelers.

No water has been found in the immediate vicinity of the city, the dependence having probably been on artificial reservoirs and aguadas, possibly also on subterranean springs, or senotes, whose locality is not known. There are several of these aguadas within a radius of a few miles of Uxmal. They resemble, in their present abandoned condition, small natural ponds, and their stagnant waters are thought to have much to do with the unhealthiness of the locality. They have no appearance of being artificial, but the inhabitants universally believe them to be so, and Mr Stephens, from his observations in other parts of the country, is inclined to agree with the general belief. I have already noticed the dome-shaped underground apartments which occur frequently among the ruins, and were probably used as cisterns, or reservoirs, for the storing up of water for the use of the city. Mr Norman states also that one of the numerous mounds, that occur in all directions, westward of the Nunnery, "is found to be an immense reservoir or cistern, having a double curb; the interior of which was beautifully finished with stucco, and in good preservation." He further states that some of these mounds have been opened and "seemed to have been intended originally for sepulchres," although Mr Stephens could find no traces of sepulchral relics.

M. Waldeck barely mentions the discovery of small fragments of flint artificially shaped, but beyond this there is no record of relics in the shape of implements. Traces of pottery are nearly as rare. Mr Norman says he found fragments of broken vases on the pyramid E of the plan; and Mr Stephens found similar fragments in one of the reservoirs on the platform of the Governor's House, together with a nearly complete tripod vase, one foot in diameter, with enameled surface.

Mr Friederichsthal found on a low mound five stones lying, as he states, from north-west to south-west (?), the middle one of which was over twelve feet long and covered with carved figures.

A native reported to Sr Zavala that he had seen a stone table, painted red, located in a cellar, and indicating a place of sacrifice. This report would not be worth recording were it not for the fact that similar tables are of frequent occurrence in Chiapas, as will be seen in the following chapter.

The Abbé Domenech has something to say of Uxmal antiquities; he says that "carved figures representing Boudha of Java, seated on a Siva's head, were found at Uxmal, in Yucatan."[V-54]

One and a half hour's ride westward from Uxmal a mound surmounted with ruins, called Senuisacal, was seen at a distance; and about the same distance north-westward, not far from Muna, was found one of the typical buildings on a mound. This building was nearly entire, except that the outer walls above the cornice had fallen. Between this place and Uxmal, about five miles from the latter, is a mound with two buildings, to which the same description will apply. These ruins were seen by Mr Stephens during a hasty trip from Uxmal, unaccompanied by his artist companion. Ruins observed still further westward will be included in another group.[V-55]

In describing the ruins outside of Uxmal which compose the central group, and which may for the most part be passed over rapidly from their similarity to each other and to those already described, I shall locate each by bearing and distance as accurately as possible, and all the principal localities are also laid down on the map. This matter of location is not, however, very important. The whole central region is strewn with mounds bearing ruined buildings; some of these have received particular attention from the natives and from travelers, and have consequently been named. I shall describe them by the names that have been so applied, but it must be noted that very few of these names are in any way connected with the aboriginal cities; they were mostly applied at first to particular structures, and later to the ruins in their immediate vicinity; consequently several of the small groups which have been honored with distinct names, may, in many instances, have formed a part of the same city.

At Sacbé,--meaning a 'paved road of white stone,' a name derived from such a paved way in the vicinity, which will be mentioned later,--four or five miles south-east of Uxmal, besides other 'old walls' is a group of three buildings. One of them is twelve and a half by fifty-three feet; none, however, present any peculiar feature, save that in one of the doorways two columns appear.[V-56]

[Sidenote: THE PYRAMID OF XCOCH.]

[Sidenote: SKULLS AND CROSSBONES AT NOHPAT.]

Somewhat less than ten miles eastward of Uxmal is the town of Nohcacab, 'the great place of good land,' preserving the name of an aboriginal town which formerly existed somewhere in this vicinity. In this village are several mounds; and a sculptured head, with specimens of pottery, has been dug up in the plaza. The surrounding country within a radius of a few miles abounds in ruins, two of which are particularly mentioned. The first is known as Xcoch, and consists of the pyramid shown in the cut. It is between eighty and ninety feet high, plainly visible from the Prophet's House at Uxmal, but the buildings on its summit, like its sides, are almost completely in ruins, although traces of steps yet remain. Great and marvelous stories were told by the natives concerning a senote, or well, in this vicinity; and it proved indeed to be a most wonderful cavern with branching subterranean galleries, worn by the feet of ancient carriers of water; but it was entirely of natural formation, a single block of sculptured stone, with the worn paths being the only traces of man's presence. The second of the ruins is that of Nohpat, 'great lord,' three miles from Nohcacab toward Uxmal, whose buildings are plainly visible from it, and of which it may, not improbably, have been a continuation or dependency. A mound, or pyramid, two hundred and fifty feet long at the base, and one hundred and fifty feet high on the slope, with a nearly perfect stairway on the southern side, supports a portion of a dilapidated building, which overlooks the numerous ruins scattered over the plain at its foot. A single corridor, or room, is left intact, and is only three feet and five inches wide. At the foot of the stairway is a platform with a picote, as at Uxmal, in its centre. There was also lying at the foot of the steps, the flat stone represented in the cut, measuring eleven and one third feet in length by three feet ten inches in width. The human figure in low relief on its surface is very rudely carved, and was moreover much defaced by the rains to which for many years it had been exposed. Near the pyramid another platform, two hundred feet square, and raised about twenty feet, supports buildings at right angles with each other, one of which has two stories built after a method which will be made clear in describing other ruins. The only others of the many monuments of Nohpat which throw any additional light on Yucatan antiquities, are those found on a level spot, whose shape is that of a right-angled triangle with a mound at each angle. Here are many scattered blocks and fragments, two of which united formed the statue shown in the cut on the next page. It is four and a quarter feet high and a foot and a half in diameter. The face seems to be represented as looking sideways or backward over the shoulder, and is surmounted by a head-dress in which the head of a wild beast may be made out, recalling slightly the idols which we have already seen in Nicaragua. Other statues might doubtless be reconstructed by means of a thorough search, but only the stone blocks shown in the cut are particularly mentioned. They are twenty-seven inches high and from sixteen to twenty-two inches wide, bearing alternately sculptured on their fronts the skull and cross-bones, symbols in later times--perhaps also when these carvings were made--of death. In its original condition Nohpat may not unlikely have been as grand a city as Uxmal, but it is almost completely in ruins.[V-57]

[Sidenote: RUINS OF KABAH.]

In the same region, some five or six miles southward from Nohcacab, and perhaps ten or twelve miles south-eastward from Uxmal, is a most extensive group of ruins, probably the remains of an ancient city, known as Kabah. Sixteen different structures are located in a space about two thousand by three thousand feet, on Mr Stephens' plan, which, however, was not formed by measurements, but by observation from the top of a pyramid. Norman is the only visitor, except Stephens and Catherwood, and his description amounts to nothing. I proceed to describe such of Kabah monuments as differ in construction and sculpture from those we have previously examined, and consequently throw additional light on Maya architecture.

A mound forms a summit platform, raised twenty feet, and measuring one hundred and forty-two by two hundred feet. Ascending the terrace from its south-western side, buildings of the ordinary type appear on the right and left; the former resting on the slope instead of on the summit of the terrace,--that is, the rear wall, of great thickness, rises perpendicularly from the base. In the centre of the platform is an enclosure seven feet high and twenty-seven feet square, formed of hewn stones, the lower tier of which was sculptured with a continuous line of hieroglyphics extending round the circumference. No picote, however, was found within the enclosure. Directly in front, or on the north-east side of the platform, a stairway of twenty steps, forty feet wide, leads up to a higher terrace, the arrangement being much like that of the northern building of the Casa de Monjas at Uxmal. But in this case the upper platform, instead of being long and narrow as usual, is nearly square, and supports a building of the same shape, whose front at the top of the stairway measures one hundred and fifty-one feet. The advanced state of ruin in which the whole structure was found, made it difficult to form an idea of its original plan, and Mr Stephens' description in this case fails to present clearly the idea which he formed on the subject. The front portion of the edifice, however, which is the best preserved of all, has two double ranges of apartments, separated by a very thick wall, and all under the same roof. Two peculiarities were noted in these rooms. The inner rooms of the front range have their floors two feet and eight inches higher than the outer, and are entered from the latter by two stone steps; while in one case at least these steps are cut from a single block of stone, the lower step taking the form of a scroll, and the walls at the sides are covered with carvings, as shown in the cut. Over the rear wall of the front range rises a structure of hewn stone four feet thick and fifteen feet high, which, like the turrets over the northern building of the Nunnery and the Casa de Palomas at Uxmal, could only have been intended as an ornament, but which from the ground beneath presents every appearance of a second story. The exterior sculpture of this front, except a small portion at the northern end, has fallen, but enough remains to indicate that the decorations were most rich and elaborate, though uniform; and, unlike those of any structure yet met with, they covered the whole surface of the front, both above and below the central cornice. The cut shows the general appearance of these decorations.[V-58] This building is called by the natives Xco=c=poop, or 'straw hat doubled up.'

At a short distance from the ruin just described, in a north-easterly direction, is another group, the details of whose arrangement, in the absence of a carefully prepared plan, it is useless to attempt to describe, but three new features presented by these ruins require notice. First, one of them, from a base of one hundred and six by one hundred and forty-seven feet, is built in three receding stories. That is, the roof of each story, or range, forms a platform, or promenade, before the doors of the one above; or, in other words, the stories are built one above another on the slope of a pyramid. Second, an exterior staircase leads up from story to story. These staircases are supported by half of one of the regular triangular arches resting against the top of the wall of the buildings. The accompanying cut, although not representing this or any other particular building, is intended as a half section to illustrate the construction of the Maya structures in several stories, and that of the stairways which afford access to the upper stories; a being the solid mound, or terrace; bb, the apartments or corridors; d, the staircase; and c, an open passage under the half arch of overlapping stones that supports the stairway. In this Kabah building the stairway leading to the foot of the third story is not immediately over the lower one, but in another part of the edifice. The third peculiarity is a double one, and is noticed in some of the doorways; since here for the first time we find lintels of stone, supported each by a central column, about six feet high, of rude workmanship, with square blocks serving as pedestal and capital.[V-59]

The Casa de Justicia, or Court House, is one hundred and thirteen feet long, divided into five rooms, each nine by twenty feet. The outer wall of this building is plain, except groups of three pillars each between the doorways, and four rows of short pilasters that surround it above the cornice, standing close together like the similar ornaments on the Casa de Tortugas at Uxmal.

The solitary arch shown in the cut stands on a mound by itself. Its span is fourteen feet, and its top fallen. "Darkness rests upon its history, but in that desolation and solitude, among the ruins around, it stood like the proud memorial of a Roman triumph."[V-60] Kabah is not without its pyramid, which is one hundred and eighty feet square at the base, and eighty feet high, with traces of ruined apartments at the foot. In one of the buildings the two principal doorways are under the stairway which leads up to the second story, and over one of them was a wooden lintel ten feet long, composed of two beams and covered with carving that seemed to represent a human figure standing on a serpent. Mr Stephens carried these carved beams, which were in almost a perfect state of preservation, to New York, where they were burned. He considered them the most important relics in the country, although his drawing does not indicate them to be anything very remarkable, except as bearing a clearly cut and complicated carving, executed on exceedingly hard wood without implements of iron or steel. The building with the sculptured lintel, and another, stand on an immense terrace, measuring one hundred by eight hundred feet. One of the apartments has the red hand in bright colors imprinted in many places on its walls. A stucco ornament, painted in bright colors, much dilapidated, but apparently having represented two large birds facing each other, was found in a room of another building. In still another edifice, a room is described as constructed on a new and curious plan, having "a raised platform about four feet high, and in each of the inner corners was a rounded vacant place, about large enough for a man to stand in." Another new feature was a doorway--the only one in the building to which it belonged--with sculptured stone jambs, each five feet eleven inches high, two feet three inches wide, and composed of two blocks one above the other. The sculptured designs are similar one to the other, each consisting of a standing and kneeling figure over a line of hieroglyphics. One of these decorated jambs is shown in the cut given on the following page. The weapon in the hands of the kneeling figure corresponds almost exactly with the flint-edged swords used by the natives of the country at the time of the conquest. This group of ruins, representing an aboriginal city probably larger and more magnificent even than Uxmal, was discovered by the workmen who made the road, or camino real, on which the ruins stand; but so little interest did the discovery excite in the minds of travelers over the road, that the knowledge of it did not reach Mérida.[V-61]

In this immediate vicinity, located on the road to Equelchacan, a place not to be found on any map that I have seen, some artificial caverns are reported, probably without any sufficient authority.[V-62]

[Sidenote: RUINS OF SANACTÉ.]

Southward and south-eastward of Kabah, all included within a radius of eight or ten miles, are ruins at Sanacté, Xampon, Chack, Sabacché, Zayi, and Labná, the last two being extensive and important. At Sanacté are two buildings, which stand in a milpa, or cornfield. One has a high ornamental wall on its top, and the front of another appears as represented in the cut. It will be noticed that in this, as in most of the structures in this region, the doorways have stone jambs, or posts, each of two pieces, instead of being formed simply by the blocks that compose the walls; the lintels are also generally of stone. At Xampon are the remains of a building that was built continuously round a rectangle eighty by one hundred and five feet; it is mostly fallen. In the immediate vicinity ruins of the ordinary type are mentioned under the names of Hiokowitz, Kuepak, and Zekilna. At Chack a two-storied building stands on a terrace, which is itself built on the summit of a natural stony hill. A very remarkable feature at Chack is the natural senote which supplies water to the modern as it did undoubtedly to the ancient inhabitants. It is a narrow passage, or succession of passages and small caverns, penetrating the earth for over fifteen hundred feet, much of the distance the descent being nearly vertical. At Sabacché is a building of a single apartment, whose front presents the peculiarity of four cornices, dividing the surface into four nearly equal portions, the lower cornice being as usual at the height of the top of the doorway. The first space above the doorway is plain, like that below; but the two upper spaces are divided by pilasters into panels, which are filled with diamond lattice-work. Three other buildings were visited, and one of them sketched by Catherwood, but they present no new features except that the red hand, common here as elsewhere, is larger than usual.[V-63]

[Sidenote: RUINS OF ZAYI.]

At Zayi, situated in the midst of a beautiful landscape of rolling hills, the principal edifice, called the Casa Grande, is built in three receding stories, as already explained, extending round the four sides of the supporting mound, which rests on a slight natural elevation. The lower story is one hundred and twenty by two hundred and sixty-five feet; the second, sixty by two hundred and twenty feet; and the third, standing on the summit of the mound, is eighteen by one hundred and fifty feet. The cut shows the ground plan of the Casa Grande, much of which is fallen. A stairway thirty-two feet wide leads up to the third story on the front, and a narrower stairway to the second platform on the rear. Ten of the northern rooms in the second story are completely filled with stone and mortar, which for some unimaginable reason must have been put in while the structure was being built. This part of the building is known among the natives as the Casa Cerrada, or closed house. It will be noticed from the plan that the front and rear platforms are not exactly of the same width. With respect to the exterior walls, those of the lower range are nearly all fallen. The western portion of the front of the second range is shown in the cut on the following page. Ranges of pillars, or pilasters, compose the bulk of the ornamentation, both above and below the cornice. A strange if not very artistic and delicate decoration found elsewhere on this building, is the figure of a man standing on his hands with his legs spread apart. The lintels are of stone, and many of the doorways are of triple width, in which cases the lintel is supported by two rudely-formed columns, about six and a half-feet high, with square capitals, as shown in the following cut. The front of the third range appears to have been entirely plain. In another building near by "a high projection running along the wall" in the interior of an apartment is mentioned. Some five hundred yards directly south of the Casa Grande is a low, small, flat-roofed building, with a wide archway extending completely through it. It is much dilapidated, and hardly noticeable in itself, but from the centre of its flat roof rises the extraordinary structure shown in the cut, which is a perpendicular wall, two feet thick and thirty feet high, pierced with ranges of openings, or windows, which give it, as the discoverer remarks, the appearance of a New England factory. The stone of which it is constructed is rough, and it was originally covered with ornaments in stucco, a few of which still remain on the rear. The only other Zayi monument mentioned is an immense terrace about fifteen hundred feet square. Most of its surface was not explored, but one building was noticed and sketched in which the floor of the inner range of rooms is raised two feet and a half above that of the front range, being reached by steps, as was the case in the building at Kabah, already described. The interior wall was also decorated with a row of pilasters. The superstitious natives, like those I have spoken of at Utatlan in Guatemala, hear mysterious music every Good Friday, proceeding from among the ruins.[V-64]

[Sidenote: RUINS OF LABNÁ.]

The ruins of Labná comprise some buildings equal in extent and magnificence to any in Yucatan, but all far gone in decay. In one case a mound forty-five feet in height supports a building twenty by forty-three feet, of the ordinary type, except that its southern front is a perpendicular wall, thirty feet high above the cornice over the doorways. This front has no openings like other similar walls already noticed, but was originally covered throughout its whole surface with colossal ornaments in stucco, of which but a few small fragments remained, the whole structure being, when examined, on the point of falling. Among the figures of which sufficient portions remain to identify their original form, are: a row of death's heads, two lines of human figures in high relief, an immense seated human figure, a ball, or globe, supported by a man kneeling on one knee and by another standing at its side. All the figures were painted in bright colors still visible, and the whole structure appeared to its only visitors "the most curious and extraordinary" seen in the country. Another building, surrounding a courtyard, which was entered through a gateway, differed in its plan from those seen elsewhere, but the plan unfortunately is not given. Over each of the interior, or court, doorways, on one side at least, is a niche occupied by a painted stucco ornament supposed to represent the sun. Near by, a terrace four hundred feet long and one hundred and fifty feet wide supports a building of two receding stories with a front of two hundred and eighty-two feet. The upper story consists of a single line of apartments and its walls are perfectly plain. The lower story has a double line of rooms, and its front is elaborately sculptured, the chief peculiarity in this front being that it presents three distinct styles in as many portions of the wall. The opposite cut shows a corner of this wall in which the open mouth of an alligator or monster, from which looks out a human face, is a new and remarkable feature in Maya decoration. On the roof of the lower range is a narrow opening which leads vertically to a chamber like those found so frequently at Uxmal, except that this, instead of being dome-shaped, is like the ordinary rooms, with triangular-arched ceiling, being seven by eleven feet and ten feet high. Both sides and bottom are covered with cement, and there is nothing but its position in the mass of masonry, between the arches and over the interior apartments, to indicate that it was not originally used as a cistern for storing water. There is also in connection with the ruins of Labná an entrance to what may well be supposed to have been a subterranean senote like those noticed at Xcoch and Chack, but it could not be explored. It was noted that the natives about Labná, had much less superstitious fear respecting the spirits of the antiguos haunting the ruins than those of most other localities, although even they had no desire to explore the various apartments.

At Tabi, a few leagues distant, is a heap of ruins, from which material had been taken for the construction of a modern church, and many sculptured fragments had been inserted in the walls of the hacienda buildings. A stream of water was pouring from the open mouth of a stone idol, possibly worshiped by the ancient inhabitants; "to such base uses," etc. A cave near by was the subject of much marvelous report, but its exploration led to nothing in an antiquarian point of view.[V-65]

At Kewick, seven or eight miles southward of Labná, a large space is strewn with the remains of a ruined city, the casa real itself being built on the terrace of an ancient mound. One single stone, however, among these ruins demands the attention of the reader, familiar as he now is with the general features of ancient Maya art. This stone is one of those which compose the top layer, joining the sides of the ceiling in one of the apartments. Singled out for some inexplicable reason from its fellows, it bore a painting in bright colors, chiefly red and green, representing a grotesquely adorned human form surrounded by a line of hieroglyphics. The painting measured eighteen by thirty inches and was taken out from its place by Mr Stephens for the purpose of removal, but proved too heavy for that purpose. Two fronts were sketched by Mr Catherwood at Kewick; one had a line of pillars separated by diamond-shaped ornaments on each side of the doorway; the other was decorated also with a line of pillars, or pilasters, standing close together, as on the Casa de Tortugas at Uxmal.[V-66]

[Sidenote: XUL, SACACAL, AND CHACCHOB.]

Xul, a modern village near by, stands also on the site of an aboriginal town, and the cura's residence is built of material from an ancient mound, many sculptured stones occupying prominent places in the walls; the church moreover contains sixteen columns from the neighboring ruins of Nohcacab. Two leagues from Xul where some ruins were seen, two apartments had red paintings on the plastered walls and ceilings. A row of legs, suggesting a procession, heads decorated with plumes, and human figures standing on their hands, all well-drawn and natural to the life, were still visible, and interesting even in their mutilated state. The rancho buildings at Nohcacab--a second place of the same name as the one already mentioned towards Uxmal--are also decorated with relics from the 'old walls,' but nothing of interest was seen in connection with the ruins themselves, except one room in which the ceiling formed an acute angle at the top instead of being united by a layer of horizontal stones as in other places.[V-67]

Some leagues further eastward, in the neighborhood of the town of Tekax, ruins are mentioned at Sacacal, Ticum, Santa María, and Chacchob. At Sacacal is a chamber with an opening at the top, as at Labná, only much larger; and this one has also three recesses, about two feet deep, in the sides. An apartment here has a painted stone in the top layer as at Kewick; and one building has its wall rounded instead of straight, although this is only on the exterior, the inner surface being straight as usual. The remains at Ticum were only reported to exist by the Cura of San José. At Santa María a high mound only was seen.[V-68] At Chacchob ruins of the usual type are represented, by a Spanish writer in a Yucatan magazine, to be enclosed within a wall, straight from north to south, the rest of the circumference of over six thousand feet being semi-circular. The only entrance is in the centre of the straight side. A well occupies the centre of the enclosure, the chief pyramid is on the summit of a natural elevation, and in one room a door was noticed which was much wider at the top than at the bottom. On the edge of a wall eight hundred varas distant, grooves worn by the ropes formerly used in drawing water are still to be seen.[V-69]

Further north, in the north-eastern corner of the rectangle which contains our central group of ruins, are Akil and Mani, the relics of the former locality, so far as known, being chiefly built into the walls of modern buildings. Mani was a prominent city at the time of the conquest, and the modern village stands on the remains of the aboriginal town, mounds and other relics not described being yet visible. Mr Stephens here found some documents, dating back to the coming of the Spaniards, which are of great importance in connection with the question of the antiquity of the Yucatan ruins, and will be noticed when I come to speak of that point. The only monuments of the central group remaining to be mentioned are those of Chunhuhu, in the extreme south-western corner of the rectangle. These are very extensive, evidently the remains of a large city, and several of the buildings were sketched by Mr Catherwood, being of one story, and having grotesque human figures as a prominent feature in their exterior decoration. One is plastered on the outside, as Mr Stephens thinks all the Yucatan buildings may have been originally--that is, on the plain portions of their walls. One front has the frequently noticed line of close-standing pilasters, with full-length human figures at intervals, which stand with uplifted hands, as if supporting the weight of the upper cornice.[V-70]

* * * * *

[Sidenote: RUINS OF CHICHEN ITZA.]

The next, or eastern, group of Yucatan antiquities includes little beside the ruined city of Chichen Itza,[V-71] a city which was famous in the ancient traditionary annals of the Mayas, whose structures served both natives and Spaniards as fortifications at the time of the conquest, and whose ruins have been more or less known to the inhabitants of the country since that epoch. The ruins lie twenty miles west of Valladolid, the chief town of the eastern portion of the state, on a public road in plain view of all travelers by that route. In this case the original Maya name has been retained, Chichen meaning 'mouth of wells,' and Itza being the name of a branch of the Maya people, or of a royal family, which played a most prominent part in Yucatan history. The name Chichen comes probably from two great senotes which supplied the ancient city with water, and which differ from the complicated underground passages noted in other parts of the state, being immense natural pits of great depth, with nearly perpendicular sides, the only traces of artificial improvement being in the winding steps that lead down to the water's surface, and slight remains of a wall about the edge of the precipice. So far as explored, the remains may be included in a rectangle measuring two thousand by three thousand feet, and their arrangement is shown in the plan on the next page, made by Mr Catherwood.[V-72]

[Sidenote: CHICHEN--NUNNERY.]

Perhaps the most remarkable of the Chichen edifices is that known as the Nunnery, marked H on the plan.[V-73] Of course in this and other buildings I shall confine my description chiefly to points of contrast with ruins already mentioned, and well known to the reader. Supporting the Nunnery, instead of a pyramid, we have for the first time a solid mass of masonry one hundred and twelve by one hundred and sixty feet rising with perpendicular sides to a height of about thirty-two feet. On the summit, with a base one hundred and four feet long, is a building in two receding stories, of which the upper, whose summit was sixty-five feet above the ground, is almost entirely in ruins. The first story is better preserved, and its front was decorated with sculpture of which no drawings have been made. In the centre of the northern side a stairway fifty-six feet wide leads up, with thirty-nine steps, to the top of the solid basement, which forms a broad promenade round the superimposed building, and continues with fifteen additional steps to the roof of the first story. One room in this first story is forty-seven feet long; several contain niches in their walls, extending from floor to ceiling and bearing traces of having been covered with painted figures, some of them human with plumed heads; and some of the apparent doorways are false, or walled up, evidently from the date of their first construction. Attached to the eastern end of the solid structure is a projecting wing, shown in the plan, sixty feet long, thirty-five feet wide, and twenty-five feet high, consisting of only a single story, and divided into nine apartments, several of which are filled up with solid masonry. The lintels throughout the Nunnery are of stone, and the interior walls of the rooms are plastered. The exterior walls of this eastern wing are covered with rich sculpture, both above and below the cornice, but this sculpture presents no contrasts with that of Uxmal, or other cities, sufficiently striking to be verbally described. Only a few feet from the eastern end of the Nunnery, and indeed described by Charnay as wings of that edifice, are the two small buildings a and b of the plan. The former is thirteen by thirty-eight feet, and twenty feet high; the latter, sometimes known as the Iglesia, or Church, is fourteen by twenty-six feet, and thirty-one feet high, containing only one room. These structures present a most imposing appearance by reason of their great height in proportion to their ground dimensions.[V-74]

[Sidenote: CHICHEN--AKAB-TZIB.]

The building G of the plan, instead of standing on an artificial mound, rests on the level plain, but the usual effect is produced by excavating the surface about it, thus giving it the appearance of resting on a raised foundation. It measures forty-eight by one hundred and forty-nine feet, and its outer walls are perfectly plain. The roof is reached by a stairway forty-five feet wide in the centre of the eastern front, while, corresponding with the stairway, on the western front is a solid projection thirty-four by forty-four feet, of unknown use. The floor of the inner range of rooms is one foot higher than that of the outer, and on the under surface of a lintel in one of the interior doorways is the sculptured design shown in the cut on the following page, surrounded by a row of hieroglyphics, of which only a small portion are included in the cut, but which are of the same type as those we have seen at Copan. The subject seems to be some mysterious incantation or other sacrificial rite, and the hieroglyphics, known as the 'writing in the dark,' in Maya akab-tzib, have given their name to the building.[V-75]

[Sidenote: CHICHEN--THE CASTLE.]

In the northern part of the city, at B, is the Pyramid, or Castle, of Chichen. Its base is one hundred and ninety-seven by two hundred and two feet; its height about seventy-five feet; and its summit platform sixty-one by sixty-four feet. A stairway thirty-seven feet wide leads up the western slope to the platform, and on the north is another stairway of ninety steps forty-four feet wide, having solid balustrades which terminate at the bottom in two immense serpent's heads ten feet long, with open mouths and protruding tongues as in the opposite cut. On the platform stands a building forty-three by forty-nine feet, and about twenty feet high, having only a single doorway in the centre of each front. These doorways have all wooden lintels elaborately carved, and the jambs,--probably of stone, although Norman says they are of wood--are also covered with sculpture. The upper portion of one of these sculptured jambs is represented in the cut, and the designs on the others are of a similar general character. The northern doorway, which seems to have been the principal entrance, is twenty feet wide and its lintel is supported by two columns, each eight feet and eight inches high, with projecting bases, and having their entire surface decorated, like the jambs at the sides, with sculptured figures. The interior plan of this building differs materially from any we have met; since the doorways on the east, west, and south open into a corridor six feet wide, which extends without partition walls round the three corresponding sides of the edifice; while the northern doorway gives access also to a corridor forty feet long and six and a third feet wide. Through the centre of the rear wall of this corridor a doorway leads into a room twelve feet nine inches by nineteen feet eight inches, and seventeen feet high. This room also differs widely from any before described, for its ceiling, instead of being formed by a single triangular arch running lengthways, has two transverse arches supported by immense carved zapote-beams stretched across the room, and which rest, each at its centre, on two square pillars whose dimensions are twenty-two inches on each side and nine feet in height. The cut shows the ground plan of this remarkable structure, the squares at a representing the feet of the interior pillars, and the circles at b, the pillars that support the lintel of the northern doorway.[V-76]

[Sidenote: CHICHEN--THE GYMNASIUM.]

The building at A of the plan is called by the natives the Iglesia, by Norman the Temple, by Charnay the Cirque, and by Stephens the Gymnasium. The latter names were applied from the supposition that the structure served for a peculiar game of ball to which the Aztec kings, at least, if not the Mayas, were much addicted. Landa seems, however, entitled to the honor of having invented this theory, since he speaks of buildings in this part of Chichen devoted to amusements.[V-77] This structure is very similar to the one marked H on the plan of Uxmal. It consists of two parallel walls, thirty by two hundred and seventy-four feet, twenty-six feet high, and one hundred and twenty feet apart. The inner walls facing each other present a plain undecorated surface, but in the centre of each, about twenty feet from the ground, is fixed by means of a tenon, a stone ring four feet in diameter and thirteen inches thick, with a hole nineteen inches in diameter through the centre, surrounded by two sculptured serpents intertwined as in the following cut. M. Charnay found only one of these rings in place at the time of his visit. The south end of the eastern wall served as a base to superimposed buildings or ranges of apartments erected on it after the manner of all the Yucatan structures of more than one story. The upper range has a part of its exterior wall still standing, covered with sculpture, which includes, among other devices, a procession of tigers or lynxes. In the interior, massive sculptured pillars and door-posts, with carved zapote lintels appear, but what seemed to Mr Stephens "the greatest gem of aboriginal art which on the whole Continent of America now survives," was the series of paintings in bright colors which cover the wall and ceiling of one of the chambers. The paintings are so much damaged and the plaster so scratched and fallen, that the connection of the whole cannot be made out, but detached subjects were copied, one of which is the boat represented in the cut, inserted here because of the rarity of all species of watercraft in our surviving relics of aboriginal decoration. The other paintings represent human figures in various postures and occupations, battles, processions, houses, trees, and other objects. Blue, red, yellow, and green are the colors employed, all the human figures moreover being tinted a reddish brown. It is, however, the supposed resemblance of these figures to some of the Aztec sculpture and picture-writings that gave this room and the one below it in the same building their great importance in Mr. Stephens' eyes. We shall be better qualified to appreciate this resemblance after our study of Mexican antiquities in a future chapter. The lower room referred to has its inner surface exposed to the open air, the outer wall having fallen. It is covered with figures sculptured in bas-relief, also originally painted, of which a specimen is shown in the cut, consisting of human forms, each with plumed head-dress, and bearing in his hand what seems to be a bunch of spears or arrows, marching in a procession, or as the natives say, engaged in a dance. One hundred feet from the northern and southern ends of the parallel walls, and very probably connected with them in the uses to which they were by their builders applied, are the two small buildings at c and d of the plan. The southern building is eighty-one feet long, the northern only thirty-five, containing a single apartment. Both are much ruined, but each presents the remains of two sculptured columns, and one of them has carvings on the walls and ceilings of its chamber besides. A horizontal row of circular holes in the exterior walls are conjectured by M. Viollet-le-Duc to have held timbers which supported a kind of outer balcony or sun-shade.[V-78]

The building at E on the plan is called by the natives Chichanchob, or Red House; Charnay terms it the Prison. It's front is shown in the cut, the whole being in an excellent state of preservation. The three doorways lead into a corridor extending the whole length of the building, forty-three feet, through which three corresponding doorways give access to three small apartments in the rear. Over these doorways, and running the whole length of the corridor, is a narrow stone tablet on which is sculptured a row of hieroglyphics, of which the first and best preserved portion is shown in the cut. Their similarity to, if not identity with, the characters at Copan, will be seen at a glance. There are traces of painting on the walls of the three rear rooms.[V-79] The building D presents nothing of particular interest.

[Sidenote: CHICHEN--THE CARACOL.]

At F is the Caracol, or winding staircase, called also by Norman the Dome, a building entirely different in form and plan from any we have seen. Of the two supporting rectangular terraces, the lower is one hundred and fifty by two hundred and twenty-three feet, and the upper is fifty-five by eighty feet. A stairway of twenty steps, forty-five feet wide, leads up to the former, and another of sixteen steps, forty-two feet wide, to the latter. The lower stairway had a balustrade formed of two intertwined serpents. On the upper platform is the Caracol, a circular building twenty-two feet in diameter and about twenty-four feet high, its roof being dome-shaped instead of flat. The annexed section and ground plan illustrate its peculiar construction. Two narrow corridors, with plastered and painted walls, extend entirely round the circumference, and the centre is apparently a solid mass of masonry.[V-80]

The only remaining monument at Chichen which demands particular mention is that at C on the plan. Here occur large numbers, three hundred and eighty having been counted, of small square columns from three to six feet high, each composed of several separate pieces, one placed on another, standing in rows of from three to five abreast, round an open space some four hundred feet square, and also extending irregularly in other directions in connection with various mounds. The use of these columns is entirely unknown; but any structure which they may have supported must have been of wood, since absolutely no vestiges remain.[V-81] Besides the monuments described, there are the usual heaps of ruins, mounds, fallen walls, and sculptured blocks, scattered over the plain for miles in every direction. Chichen was evidently a great capital and religious centre, and its ruins present, as the reader has doubtless noticed, very many points of contrast with those of the central or Uxmal group.[V-82]

Ruins are mentioned by Mr Wappäus as existing at Tinum, a short distance north-west of Chichen; and are also indicated, on Malte-Brun's map already referred to, at Espita, still farther north, and at Xocen, a few miles south of Valladolid. At Sitax, near Tinum, a vase, 'something of the Etruscan shape,' from some of the ruined cities, was seen by Mr Norman. At Coba, eastward from Valladolid, the curate of Chemax, in a report of his district prepared for the government, described slightly ranges of buildings in two stories. They are said to be built of stones, each of which measures six square yards; this is very likely an error, and no other peculiarities were spoken of worthy of mention. The same cura discovered on the hacienda of Kantunile far north-eastward toward the coast several mounds, and in one of them three skeletons, at whose head were two earthen vases. One of these was filled with the relics shown in the cuts on the following page, consisting of implements, ornaments, and two carved shells. The shell carvings are in low relief, and the arrow-heads, with which the other vase was nearly filled, were of obsidian, a material not known to exist in Yucatan, and which must consequently be supposed to have been brought from more northern volcanic states of Mexico, where it formed the usual material of knives and many other aboriginal implements and weapons. Besides these different articles, was a horn-handled penknife in the same vase, proving that this burial deposit was made subsequently to the coming of Europeans.[V-83]

* * * * *

[Sidenote: NORTHERN GROUP.]

[Sidenote: RELICS AT TICUL.]

I now come to the northern group of Yucatan Antiquities, which is separated from the Uxmal group by the low sierra before mentioned as running from north-west to south-east across this portion of the state. First in this group are the ruins of the ancient Ticul, on the hacienda of San Francisco close to the modern town of Ticul, and just across the sierra from Nohcacab. Here are thirty-six mounds, or pyramids, all visible from one of the highest when the trees are free from foliage. Most of the elevations support buildings, but these are so completely ruined that nothing can be known of the original city, save that it must have been of great extent. These ruined piles have served as quarries to supply building material at Ticul, which is almost entirely built of stone. Many relics are preserved in the town, but the only one particularly noticed is the earthen vase shown in the cut. It is five inches in diameter and four and a half inches high, and the reader will notice a similarity of style between the figures on its front and those carved on the burial relics of Kantunile previously shown. Between two of the mounds of San Francisco, a square stone wall filled with earth and stones was opened, and in it, under a large flat stone, was found a skeleton sitting with knees against the stomach and hands clasping the neck, facing the west. In connection with this skeleton were found a large earthen vase, or water-jar, empty, and a deer's-horn needle, sharp at one end and having an eye at the other. Mr Norman calls this group of mounds Ichmul, supposes them all to be sepulchres, and says that several have been opened and disclosed sitting skeletons, with pots at their feet, and even interior rooms. M. Waldeck briefly mentions in many parts of his work the ruins of Tixualajtun, which may possibly be identical with Ticul, and which bear carved stones, indicating by their number and position in the walls an age of at least three thousand years.[V-84]

[Sidenote: RUINS OF MAYAPAN]

About ten miles northward of Ticul, and twenty-five miles southward of Mérida is the rancho of San Joaquin, included in the hacienda of Xcanchakan, on which are the remains of Mayapan, the ancient Maya capital. According to the traditional annals of the country Mayapan was destroyed by an enemy, in one of the many civil conflicts that desolated Yucatan, not much more than a century before the Spanish conquest. Numerous mounds, scattered blocks, and a few ruined buildings are all that remain to recall the city's ancient splendor. The best preserved mound is that shown in the preceding cut, one hundred feet square at the base, and sixty feet high, with a stairway twenty-five feet wide in the centre of each side. The top is a plain stone platform, with no signs of its ever having supported any building. Most of the sculptured fragments contain only parts of ornamental designs and are fitted with tenons by which they were probably secured on the front walls, as at Uxmal. One building of the ordinary type was sufficiently entire to show the triangular ceiling. A circular building similar to that described at Chichen was also noticed. It is twenty-five feet in diameter, and twenty-four feet high, with only a single doorway facing the west. A single corridor only three feet wide runs entirely round the edifice, the outer wall being five feet thick, and the inner wall is a solid circular mass of stone and mortar nine feet in thickness. The interior walls of the corridor are plastered with several coats of stucco, and yet retain vestiges of yellow, blue, red, and white paint. The preceding cut shows the exterior of this structure, and also gives a good idea of the similar one at Chichen. On a terrace of the mound which supports this dome, are eight round columns, two and a half feet in diameter, and each composed of five stones placed one upon another. Among the sculptured blocks with which the country for miles around is strewn, are some which differ from those mentioned as parts of façade decorations. They are rudely carved, and each represents a subject complete in itself. Two of these, one four and the other three feet high, together with some of the decorative fragments alluded to, are shown in the cut on the opposite page. An idol was also found in one of the subterranean passages of a senote. The inhabitants of the locality report that the ruins extend over the plain within a circumference of three miles, and that the foundations yet remain of a wall that once surrounded the city.[V-85]

[Sidenote: RELICS OF TIHOO AT MÉRIDA.]

Mérida, the capital of Yucatan, was built by the Spanish conquerors on the ruins of the aboriginal city of Tihoo, the ancient mounds furnishing material to the builders of the modern town. Only very slight vestiges of Tihoo remain; yet in the lower cloisters of the Franciscan convent, which is known to have been erected over an ancient mound and building, the Spanish architects left one of the peculiar aboriginal arches intact, unless we suppose that they imitated such an arch in their own work, which is most unlikely. Bishop Landa describes and illustrates with a ground plan one of the largest and finest of the Tihoo structures, as it was in the sixteenth century. In most respects his description agrees exactly with the ruins of the grander class already mentioned. The supporting mound has two retreating terraces on all sides except the western, which side seems to have been perpendicular to its full height. Stairways running the whole length of the mound lead up to the eastern slopes, and on the summit platform is a courtyard surrounded by four buildings, like the Casa de Monjas at Uxmal. A gateway leads through the centre of both eastern and western buildings, and one of these gateways is represented by Landa as having a round arch, the other being of the ordinary form. The buildings are divided into a single range of small apartments opening on the court, except the southern, which has two large rooms, and in front of which was a gallery supported by a row of square pillars. A round building or room is also mentioned in connection with the western range. Landa also mentions several other structures, including the one over whose ruins the Franciscan convent was built. M. Waldeck mentions an excavation in a garden of the city, which is twenty-three by thirty feet, and fifteen feet deep, with double walls three and six feet thick, where the bones of a tapir and other bones were dug up. He also saw here several idols collected from different parts.[V-86]

[Sidenote: PYRAMID AND COLUMNS OF AKÉ.]

Some twenty-five miles east of Mérida, at a place called Aké, barely mentioned in the annals of the conquest as the locality where a battle was fought between the Spaniards and Mayas, are the ruins of an aboriginal city; ruins which, according to Mr Stephens, their only visitor, have a ruder, older, and more cyclopean air than any others seen. Some of the stones here employed are seven feet long. One remarkable feature is a pyramid, whose summit platform is fifty by two hundred and twenty-five feet, and supports thirty-six columns, each four feet square, and from fourteen to sixteen feet high. These columns are arranged in three parallel rows, ten feet apart from north to south, and fifteen feet from east to west. Each column is composed of several square stones. A stairway one hundred and thirty-seven feet wide, with steps seventeen inches high, and four feet five inches deep, leads up the southern slope. Of this mound Mr Stephens says: "It was a new and extraordinary feature, entirely different from any we had seen, and at the very end of our journey, when we supposed ourselves familiar with the character of American ruins, threw over them a new air of mystery." Between Mérida and Mayapan is mentioned a stone wall, which crosses the road and extends far on either side into the forest. Near by is also an aguada, said by the inhabitants to be of artificial formation.[V-87]

[Sidenote: RUINS OF IZAMAL.]

Izamal, something more than twenty miles further eastward, was a city of great importance in aboriginal times, as we shall see in the following volume. Two or three immense pyramids are all the vestiges that remain of its former greatness. The largest mound is between seven and eight hundred feet long, and between fifty and sixty feet high, and Mr Stephens "ascertained beyond all doubt" that it has interior chambers, concerning which he very strangely gives no further information. M. Charnay's photograph shows that this mound was in two receding stages, on the slopes of the upper of which steps are still to be seen. The modern town is built on the site of the ancient city, and the mounds as elsewhere have furnished the material of the later structures. The upper portion of a pyramid facing the one already mentioned was leveled down, and on the lower platform was erected the Franciscan church and convent. Another smaller mound is in the courtyards of two private houses, and on its side near the base is the cara gigantesca, or gigantic face, shown in the cut. It is seven feet wide and seven feet eight inches high. The features were first rudely formed by small rough stones, fixed in the side of the mound by means of mortar, and afterward perfected with a stucco so hard that it has successfully resisted for centuries the action of air and water. There were signs of a row of similar stucco ornaments extending along the side of the mound; and either on this mound or another near by, M. Charnay photographed a similarly formed face, which is twelve feet high. These colossal stucco faces are the distinctive features of the ruins of Izamal, nothing of the kind appearing elsewhere in Yucatan, although a slight resemblance may be traced to the gigantic faces in stone at Copan. Bishop Landa describes one of the Izamal structures as it appeared in his time, and adds a plan to his description. He represents the supporting pyramid as being over one hundred feet high, with a very steep stairway and very high steps, being built in a semi-circular form on one side. According to his statement the edifices were eleven or twelve in number, standing near together. Lizana, another of the early writers on Yucatan, mentions five of the sacred mounds supporting buildings which were already in ruins in his time, and he also gives the Maya name of each temple with its meaning. It should be noted, moreover, that Izamal is, according to the annals of Yucatan, the burial place of Zamná, the great semi-divine founder of the ancient Maya power.[V-88]

[Sidenote: SENOTE OF BOLONCHEN.]

I now come to the southern group of Maya antiquities, over which I may pass rapidly, beginning with the ruins of Ytsimpte near the village of Bolonchen, some fifteen miles south of Chunhuhu, the most south-western ruin of the central group. By the kindness of the cura and the industry of the natives this ruined city was cleared of all obstacles in the shape of vegetation, and its thorough exploration was thus rendered easy; but unfortunately no corresponding results followed, since no new features whatever were discovered. Here are undoubtedly the remains of a great city, but most of the walls, and all of the sculptured decorations have fallen. Bolonchen means 'nine wells,' so named from a group of natural wells in the plaza. These fail for several months in the dry season, and then the inhabitants resort to a senote in the neighborhood, which, as one of the most wonderful in the peninsula, is shown, or rather one of its several passages is shown, in the cut. By a series of rude ladders water is brought from springs over fifteen hundred feet from the opening at the surface, and at a perpendicular depth of over four hundred feet.

[Sidenote: RUINS OF LABPHAK.]

Labphak is about twenty miles further south, and is one of the grandest of the Maya ruins, although the single brief exploration by Mr Stephens, its only visitor, is barely sufficient to excite our curiosity respecting its unknown wonders. Only one building was examined with care; this has three receding stories. The western front was carefully cleared, and, sketched by Mr Catherwood, resembling very closely the other three-storied structures before described. But at the last moment it was discovered that this was only the rear wall, and that the eastern front "presented the tottering remains of the grandest structure that now rears its ruined head in the forests of Yucatan." The dimensions and arrangement of rooms of the lower story, differing from any that have been met further north, are shown in the accompanying ground plan, together with the stairways that lead up to the second story. Besides the grand central eastern staircase, there are two interior stairways, each in two flights, leading up to the platform of the second and third stories from the rooms of the western range. This is the first instance of interior stairs, but the method of their construction is not explained. The western wall of the third story has no doorways. On the platform of the second story stand two high buildings like towers, ornamented with stucco, and on the third platform two similar structures at the head of the stairway before the central entrance. These upper rooms have plain walls and ceilings. The lower ones present numerous imprints of the ever-present red hand, and one of them has a painted stone in the tier over the arch, as at Kewick. At the points marked a in the plan, are sculptured tablets of stone fixed in the exterior walls, one of which is shown in the cut. Each tablet is composed of several pieces of stone, and the sculptured figures are naturally much worn by exposure to the air and rain. Two circular openings to chultunes, or cisterns, like those at Uxmal and elsewhere, were found near by. Another Labphak structure formed a parallelogram, surrounding a courtyard, and presenting two peculiarities; the entrance to the court was by stairways leading over the flat roof of one of the ranges of buildings; and the ornamentation of the court façades was in stucco instead of sculptured stone. With this slight description I am obliged to leave this most interesting city, whose solitude, so far as I know, has remained undisturbed for thirty years and more since Messrs Stephens and Catherwood spent two days in the halls of its departed greatness. Now as then, "it remains a rich and almost unbroken field for the future explorer."

At Iturbide, the south-western frontier town of modern Yucatan, there is a mound of ruins in the plaza, and also a well some four feet in diameter, and twenty-five feet deep, stoned with hewn blocks without mortar; its sides polished by long usage, and grooved by the ropes employed in drawing water. This well is considered the work of the antiguos, and another similar one was seen near by. In the outskirts of Iturbide the plain is dotted with the mounds and stone buildings of the ancient town of Zibilnocac. Thirty-three mounds were counted, but the walls of the buildings had all fallen except one, which presented the peculiarity of square elevations, or towers, with sculptured façades, at each end and in the middle. Its rooms also preserved traces of interesting paintings, representing processions of human figures whose flesh was colored red.

[Sidenote: AGUADAS OF THE SOUTH.]

At the rancho of Noyaxche, a few miles distant, is a seemingly natural pond, which, being explored by the proprietor during a very dry season, proved to have an artificial bottom of flat stones many layers thick, pierced in the centre with four wells, and round the circumference with over four hundred small pits, or cisterns. At Macoba, twelve or fifteen miles eastward is another similar aguada, and ruined buildings are also found, actually occupied by the natives as dwellings. Mankeesh is another locality in this region where extensive ruins are reported to exist. At the rancho of Jalal is an aguada similar to the one mentioned at Noyaxche, the forms of the wells and cisterns, pierced in its paved bottom being illustrated by the cut. Upwards of forty deep wells were discovered by the natives in the immediate neighborhood. Yakatzib is another place near by, where ruined buildings were seen. Becanchen is a town of six thousand inhabitants, and owes its existence to the discovery of a group of ancient wells, partially artificial, and a stream of running water. Fragments of ancient structures are built into the walls of the town.[V-89]

* * * * *

Only the monuments found on or near the coast of the peninsula remain to be noticed, and in describing them I shall begin in the south-east and follow the coast northward, then westward, and again southward to Lake Terminos. For a description of Maya structures, as found by the earliest Spanish voyagers on the eastern coast, I refer the reader to the chapter on Central American buildings in volume II. of this work.[V-90] M. Waldeck, giving no authority for his statement, mentions the existence of ruined buildings at Espíritu Santo Bay, and at Soliman Point, but no description is given.[V-91]

[Sidenote: RUINS OF TULOOM.]

Tuloom is the most important city of antiquity on the eastern coast, standing in about 20° 10´. It is undoubtedly one of the many aboriginal towns whose 'towers' excited so much wonder in the minds of the first European voyagers along this coast. It presents several marked contrasts with the other monuments that have been described, not only in the construction and arrangement of its edifices, but in its site, since it is built on a high bluff on the very border of the sea, commanding a view of wild and diversified natural scenery, differing widely from the somewhat monotonous plain that constitutes for the most part the surface of the peninsula. Tuloom has only been visited by Mr Stephens, and his exploration was nearly at the end of his long journey, when the keen edge of his antiquarian zeal was naturally somewhat blunted by fatigue, sickness, and a desire to return home. Moreover, countless hordes of mosquitos, with a persistent malignity unsurpassed in the annals of their race, scorning the aid even of their natural allies in the defense of Central American ruins, the garrapatas and fleas, proved victorious over antiquarian heroism, and drove the foreign invaders from their stronghold. The annexed cut is a ground plan of the ruins so far as explored, and we notice at once a novel feature in the wall A, A, that bounds them on three sides--the first well-authenticated instance which we have met of a walled Maya town. A precipitous cliff rising from the waters of the ocean makes a wall unnecessary on the eastern side, but on the other sides the wall is in excellent preservation, stretching six hundred and fifty feet from east to west, and fifteen hundred feet from north to south, from eight to thirteen feet thick, and built of rough flat stones without mortar. The height is not stated. On each of the inland corners at C, C, is a small structure, twelve feet square, with two doors, which may be considered a watch-tower, and which is shown in the cut on the next page. Five gateways, each five feet wide, at B, B, B, give access to the city. Within the walls the largest and most imposing structure is that at D, known as the Castle, which stands on the cliff overlooking the sea. A solid mass of masonry thirty feet square and about thirty feet in height, ascended on the western side by a massive stairway of the same width with solid balustrades, supports on its summit a building of the same size as the foundation, and about fifteen feet high. The doorway at the head of the stairway is wide, and its lintel is supported by two pillars. Over the doorway are niches in the wall, one of which contains fragments of a statue. The interior is divided into two corridors connected by a single doorway, the front one having what are described as 'stone benches' at the ends, and the rear range having a similar bench along one of its sides. The rear, or sea, wall is very thick and has no doorways, but several small openings of oblong shape form the nearest approach to windows found in Yucatan. The corridors have ceilings of the usual type, the doorways are furnished with stone rings for the support of doors, and the imprint of the red hand appears on the interior walls. Against each end of the solid foundation is built a wing in two stories, thirty-five feet long, making the whole length of the Castle one hundred feet. The upper story of each wing consists of two apartments, one of which is twenty by twenty-four feet. Two columns, ornamented with stucco, stand in the centre of the room, of which the ceiling has fallen, although a succession of holes along the top of the walls indicate that it had been flat and supported by timbers. The building north of the Castle, at E, contains a single room seven by twelve feet, with a raised step or bench at each end, and much defaced painted ornaments in stucco on its walls. Over the doorway on the outside is the figure we have met before, standing on the hands with legs spread apart. The building close to the Castle on the south has four columns in the centre of a room nineteen by forty feet, and also in another room are fragments of a sculptured tablet. A senote with artificial steps, which supplied water to the ancient inhabitants, is included within the enclosure at K. At H is a building remarkable for its roof, which differs radically from the usual Maya type. Four timbers fifteen feet long and six inches thick stretch across the room from wall to wall, and crossways on these timbers are placed smaller timbers ten feet long and three inches thick close together, and the whole covered with a thick layer of coarse pebbles in mortar. Several other buildings evidently had similar roofs originally, else it might be suspected that this one had undergone modern improvements, especially as an altar was found in it with traces of use at no very remote period. In this building also sea-shells take the place of stone rings at the sides of the doorways. One of the structures marked G on the plan has two stories. The front is decorated with stucco, and the doorway of the lower story occupies nearly the whole front, its top being supported by four pillars. The interior plan is similar to that of the Castle at Chichen Itza, since a corridor extends round three sides of a central apartment. The interior walls of both room and corridor are painted, and in the latter is an altar on which copal is supposed to have been burned. The second story, which has no stairway or other visible means of approach, differs from all other upper stories in Yucatan, in standing directly over the central lower room, instead of over a solid mass of masonry as elsewhere. Among other ruins near this, two stone tablets with indistinct traces of sculpture were noticed. The cut shows one of several small structures found at Tuloom outside the walls, and probably intended as altars or adoratorios. This building is twelve by fifteen feet and contains a single room where a copal altar appears. Tuloom was undoubtedly one of the cities seen by the early voyagers along this coast, and from the perfect state of preservation of many of the monuments, especially of the stucco ornament resembling a pine-apple shown in the last cut, Mr Stephens believes that the city was occupied long after the conquest of other parts of the peninsula. At Tancar, a few miles north of Tuloom, are many remains of small ancient edifices, much dilapidated and not described.[V-92]

[Sidenote: RUINS ON THE EASTERN COAST.]

The island of Cozumel has not been explored, by reason of the dense growth which covers its surface, but in a small clearing on the shore two buildings were discovered. One of them is shown in the preceding cut. It is sixteen feet square, with plain exterior walls formerly plastered and painted. A doorway in the centre of each side opens into a corridor only twenty inches wide, extending round a central chamber five by eight and a half feet, with one doorway. The other is similar but larger. One of the dome-shaped cisterns was also found on the island. Here is also a ruined Spanish church, which very probably furnished the cross with a crucified Christ, preserved in Mérida as an aboriginal relic, and much talked of by enthusiasts who formerly believed that Christianity was introduced into America long before the Spaniards came. On the main land opposite the island ruined stone buildings are also visible from the sea, as they were to Grijalva and Córdova in the sixteenth century. Pole, or Popole, is one of the localities somewhat further north where ruins are located on the maps.[V-93]

At Point Nisuc Mr Stephens locates ruins on his map, as does Malte-Brun at the mouth of the River Petampich a little further south, and the former also mentions stone buildings as visible on the barren island of Kancune. On the northern point of Mugeres Island, known to the early voyagers as Point, or Cape, Mugeres, are two small buildings of the usual type. One of them, fifteen by twenty-eight feet, resting on a solid foundation with perpendicular sides in which a narrow stairway was cut, is located on a cliff at the extreme point of the island.[V-94]

At Cayo Ratones is a ruin according to Malte-Brun's map; and Cape Catoche was the location of one of the cities seen by the Spaniards in the sixteenth century, this early discovery being perhaps the only authority for M. Waldeck's statement that a ruined city may there be found.[V-95]

[Sidenote: NORTHERN COAST RELICS.]

Following the coast westward, an ancient mound is seen at Yalahao, the map shows another at Emal, and Monte Cuyo is a lofty mound, reported to have no traces of buildings, visible from far out at sea. This latter may perhaps be identical with "a small Hill by the Sea, call'd the Mount," mentioned by the old English voyager Dampier, who says: "I was never ashore here, but have met with some well acquainted with the Place, who are all of opinion that this Mount was not natural, but the Work of Men."[V-96] Two pyramids are reported further east, near the Rio Lagartos, but their existence rests on no very reliable authority.[V-97] Two mounds, once covered with buildings, at the port of Silan, are the only other monuments to be mentioned on the northern coast. One of these latter is of great size, being four hundred feet long and fifty feet high. The padre could remember when the building on the other, known as the Castle, was still standing.[V-98]

On or near the western coast are few monuments of antiquity worthy of note. At Maxcanú, some twenty-five miles north-west from Uxmal, a locality visited by Stephens during his trip toward the coast, are several mounds covered with ruins, which present no peculiarities. But in the interior of one of these mounds was found a gallery four feet wide and seven feet high, with triangular-arched ceiling, extending several hundred feet with many branches and angles. Before Mr Stephens' visit this was supposed by the inhabitants of the region to be a subterranean passage, or cave, known as Satun Sat, or the Labyrinth. The presence of this gallery of course suggests the idea that others of the Yucatan pyramids may contain similar ones, and that their exploration might lead to important results. On the hacienda of Sijoh, a few leagues nearer the coast, is a large group of ruined mounds and buildings, presenting nothing new, except that the stones of one of them were much larger than usual, one being noticed that was three by six feet. In a kind of courtyard in the midst of these mounds are standing many huge stones, resembling in their situation and size the monoliths of Copan, but they bear no marks of sculpture, being rough and unhewn as if just taken from the quarry. The largest is fourteen feet high, four feet wide and a foot and a half thick. At Tankuché one apartment of a ruined building has its walls and ceiling decorated with paintings in bright colors, but the room was filled up with rubbish, and nothing definite could be made out respecting the designs, except in the case of one ornament which seemed to resemble a mask found at Palenque. Ruins are reported also at Becal, in the same region.[V-99] At the mouth of the Rio Jaïna a tumulus, with pottery and spear-heads on its surface, is mentioned by Waldeck and Norman, and perhaps at the same place under the name of Chuncana, ruins are indicated on Malte-Brun's map.

[Sidenote: MONUMENTS OF CAMPECHE.]

[Sidenote: RELICS AT CAMPECHE.]

Further south, in the region extending from Campeche to Laguna de Terminos there is only the vaguest information respecting antiquities. The city of Campeche itself is said to be built over extensive artificial galleries, or catacombs, supposed to have been devoted by the ancient people to sepulchral uses; but I find no satisfactory description of these excavations. On the Rio Champoton, some leagues from the coast, ruins are reported concerning which nothing definite is known. From the tumulus mentioned, "and other places contiguous to ruins of immense cities, in the vicinity of Campeachy," Mr Norman claims to have obtained "some skeletons and bones that have evidently been interred for ages, also a collection of idols, fragments, flint spear-heads, and axes; besides sundry articles of pottery-ware, well wrought, glazed, and burnt." The cuts on the preceding pages show five of these idols, which are hollow and have small balls within to rattle at every movement. Padre Camacho is also said to have collected at Campeche a museum composed of many relics from different localities, many of them interesting but not particularly described.[V-100]

[Sidenote: MAYA CALZADAS.]

Besides the monuments that have been described, the remains of ancient paved roads, or calzadas, have been found in several different parts of the state. The traditionary history of the country represents the great cities and religious centres as connected, in the time of their original splendor and prosperity, by broad smooth paved ways, constructed for the convenience of the rulers in sending dispatches from place to place. These roads are even reported to have stretched beyond the limits of the peninsula, affording access to the neighboring kingdoms of Guatemala, Chiapas, and Tabasco. Modern discoveries lend some probability to these reports. Cozumel was one of these great religious centres from which roads led in every direction, and Cogolludo says that in his time "were to be seen vestiges of calzadas which cross the whole kingdom, said to end at its eastern border on the sea-shore." The cura of Chemax, speaking of Coba, far eastward of Chichen toward the coast, says "there is a calzada, or paved road, of ten or twelve yards in width, running to the south-east to a limit that has not been discovered with certainty, but some aver that it goes in the direction of Chichen Itza." Bishop Landa mentions "a fine broad calzada extending about two stone's throw to a well" from one of the Chichen structures. Izamal was another much-frequented shrine, from which Lizana tells us "they had constructed four roads, or calzadas, towards the four winds, which reached the ends of the county, and even extended to Tabasco, Guatemala, and Chiapas; and even now are seen in many places portions and traces of these roads." Landa also states that between Izamal and Mérida, "there are to-day signs of there having existed a very beautiful paved way." In the same locality, running parallel to the modern road for several miles, M. Charnay found "a magnificent road, from seven to eight mètres wide, whose foundation is of immense stones surmounted by a concrete perfectly preserved, which is covered with a coating of cement two inches thick. This road is everywhere about a mètre and a half above the surface of the ground. The coating of cement seems as if put on yesterday;" the whole being buried, however, some sixteen inches deep in soil and vegetable accumulations. The Cura Carillo and party found in 1845 one of these paved roads four and a half varas wide, running parallel with the modern road south-eastward from Uxmal, and said by the natives to connect the latter city with Nohpat. It is perhaps the same calzada, in Maya Sacbé, 'a road of white stone,' that has given a name to the Sacbé ruins, and is described by Mr Stephens as "a broken platform or roadway of stone, about eight feet wide and eight or ten inches high, crossing the road, and running off into the woods on both sides," reported to extend from Uxmal to Kabah.[V-101]

* * * * *

[Sidenote: GENERAL RÉSUMÉ.]

Having now completed my detailed description of Maya antiquities in all parts of the peninsula where aboriginal relics have been seen or reported, I have thought it best to give in conclusion a general view of these antiquities, their peculiarities, the contrasts and similarities which they present among themselves and when compared with more southern monuments, together with such general remarks and conclusions as their examination may seem to warrant.

The comparatively level and uniform surface of the peninsula left the aboriginal builders little choice in the location of their cities and temples, yet a preference for a broken hilly region may be traced in the fact that the central, or Uxmal, group, the most crowded with ancient monuments, corresponds with the principal transverse ranges of the peninsula; likewise the eastern coast cities rest generally on elevated bluffs overlooking the sea. In the selection of sites, however, as in the construction of their cities, security against enemies seems to have been not at all, or at best very slightly, considered. None of the cities on the plains are located with any view to defence, or have any traces of fortifications to guard their approaches. Tuloom, on the eastern coast, was indeed surrounded by a strong wall on which watch-towers were placed; but of all the Yucatan cities this is best guarded by its natural position and would seem to have least need of artificial defences. Some slight remains of walls are seen at Uxmal and Mayapan, but insufficient to prove that these were walled cities. A wall more or less perfect is also reported at Chacchob. No structure has been found which partakes in any way of the nature of a fort, or which appears to have been erected with a view to military defense. It is true the numerous pyramids and their superimposed buildings would serve as a refuge for non-combattants, as well as property, and would afford facilities for defense in a hand-to-hand conflict, or perhaps against any attack by men armed with aboriginal weapons; but would in nowise serve as a protection to the dwellings or fields of the populace which must be supposed to have dotted the plains for a wide extent about the palaces of the nobility and temples of the gods.

In the laying out both of cities and of individual structures, no fixed plan was followed that can now be ascertained, except that a majority of the edifices face in general terms the cardinal points; that is, as nearly as these points would naturally be determined by observation of the rising and setting sun. The oft-repeated statement that all the temples and palaces were exactly oriented is altogether unsupported by facts.

The materials employed by the Maya builders were limestone, mortar, and wood. The limestone used is that which, covered with a few feet of sand or soil, forms the substratum of the whole peninsula. It is soft and easily worked, and may be readily quarried in any part of the state. Somewhat strangely, none of the quarries which supplied the stone for building, or for sculptured decorations and idols, have ever been found;--at least none such have been reported by any explorer.[V-102] With very few exceptions, such as in the case of the city wall at Tuloom, the stone employed, whether rough or hewn, was laid in mortar. Cement was also used on roofs and floors; plaster on interior walls; and stucco in exterior decorations. Mortar, cement, plaster, and stucco were presumably composed of the same materials, lime and sand, mixed in different proportions according to the use for which it was designed. No satisfactory analysis seems to have been made of the mortar, nor is anything definite known respecting the method of its manufacture, or the source from which lime was obtained. That the material was of excellent quality is proved by the resistance it has offered for at least three centuries to tropical rains and the inroads of tropical vegetation. It is nearly as hard as the stone blocks which it holds together, and to its excellence the preservation of the Yucatan monuments is in great measure due.[V-103]

Wood was employed by the Maya builders only for lintels, for timbers of unknown use stretched across the rooms from side to side of the ceilings, in one case at Chichen for beams to support the regular stone arches of the roof, and, at Tuloom only, for the support of a flat cement roof. The only wood mentioned is the zapote, native to some parts of the peninsula, extremely hard and heavy, but not resinous or particularly well fitted to resist decay or the ravages of worms. It seems remarkable that any portion of this woodwork should have survived even their three or four centuries of unquestioned age;--and, indeed, few or none of the lintels of outer doorways exposed to the weather have remained unbroken.

Having fixed upon a site for a proposed edifice, the Maya builder invariably erected an artificial elevation on which it might rest. And this peculiarity is observed, not only in Yucatan, but, as we shall see in many other portions of the Pacific States, no less universally in regions where natural hills abound than on level plains. In several places, however, the artificial structure rests on a natural hill of slight elevation, as at Chack and Zayi; in other cases advantage is taken of a small hill to save labor in the accumulation of material, as at Uxmal; and in one instance at Chichen the appearance of a mound is gained by excavating the surrounding earth. Buildings resting on the natural surface of the earth are unknown, as are also subterranean apartments or galleries of artificial construction, excepting only the reported catacombs under the city of Campeche. The bases of the foundation structures, or pyramids, are usually rectangular, the largest dimensions being fifteen hundred feet square at Zayi, while many have sides of three to eight hundred feet. They diminish in size towards the summit, from twenty to fifty feet high in the case of the larger mounds, and from sixty to ninety feet in some of the smaller ones. Most of the larger mounds have two or more terrace-platforms on their slope. The mass of the mound is composed of rough stones and fragments generally in mortar, making a coarse concrete; the outer surface is faced with hewn stones, not generally laid so as to form steps, as seems to have been the case at Copan, but so as to present a smooth surface on the slope. It is uncertain whether some of the larger terrace-platforms were paved with regular blocks or not. The corners are often rounded. Sculptured decorations occur in a few instances, as on the Pyramid at Uxmal; and at Izamal a row of faces in stucco adorn the base. A stairway always occupies the centre of one side, often of more than one side. Some of these stairways are over a hundred feet wide, and their steps are rarely arranged with any reference to convenience in mounting. Balustrades remain on some stairways, ornamented in a few instances by sculptured monsters' heads. There is nothing to show that the surface of the slopes or the steps were covered with cement. The supporting stone structure of one building at Chichen and also of one at Tuloom has perpendicular instead of sloping sides. All the pyramids are truncated, none forming a point at the top, although there is one or more in every group of ruins whose summit platform presents no traces of ever having supported buildings of any kind. Interior galleries were explored in a mound at Maxcanú, and chambers in the body of that at Izamal were reported; others are solid so far as known, except that a few small chambers have been mentioned with a vertical entrance at the top, which may have been cisterns.

The edifices supported by the mounds are built either on the summit platform, or in receding ranges, one above another, on the slope. In the latter case these receding ranges form the nearest approach on the part of the Mayas to buildings of several stories, except in one instance at Tuloom, where one room is directly over another. In one building at Kabah the outer wall rises from the foot of the mound, and the inner from the summit. One building usually occupies the summit; but in several cases four of them enclose an interior courtyard. The buildings are long, low, and narrow. Thirty-one feet is the greatest height, thirty-nine the greatest width, and three hundred and twenty-two the greatest length. The roofs are flat and, like the floors, covered with cement. The walls are, in proportion to the dimensions of the buildings, very thick, usually from three to six feet, but sometimes nine feet. Like the pyramids, the buildings consist of a mass of concrete, stones and mortar, faced with hewn blocks of nearly cubical form, and of varying dimensions rarely exceeding eighteen inches, but found at Sijoh and Aké as large as three by six and seven feet. Only one building has been noted whose exterior walls are not perpendicular, but the corners are in most cases rounded.

The interior has generally two, often one, and rarely four parallel ranges of rooms, while in a few of the smaller buildings an uninterrupted corridor extends the whole length. Neither rooms nor corridors ever exceed twenty feet in width or height, while the ordinary width is eight to ten feet and the height fifteen to eighteen feet. Sixty feet is the greatest length noted. The walls of each room rise perpendicularly for one half their height, and then approach each other, by the stone blocks overlapping horizontally, to within about one foot, the intervening space being covered with a layer of wide flat stones, and the projecting corners being beveled off to form a straight, or rarely a curved, surface. In a few instances, as at Nohcacab, the sides of the ceiling form an acute angle at the top; and once, at Uxmal, the overlapping stones are inclined instead of lying horizontally, forming a slight, but the nearest, Maya approach to the true arch. This is the only kind of ceiling found in Yucatan, except one at Tuloom which is flat and supported by timbers stretched across from wall to wall. I have followed Stephens and applied the name of 'triangular arch' to this structure of overlapping stones, although the term may by a strict interpretation be liable to some criticism.[V-104]

The tops of the few gateways discovered are constructed by means of the same arch as that employed in the ceilings. One solitary arch unconnected with any other structure has been noted at Kabah; and in the Castle at Chichen two interior arches rest on beams supported by stone columns instead of the usual perpendicular walls. In some of the buildings at Kabah and Chichen the floor of the inner range of rooms is higher than that of the outer, being reached by stone steps. Small round timbers extend from side to side of the ceiling in nearly all rooms, and at Tuloom stone benches are found along the sides and ends.

Rarely do more than two rooms communicate with each other. The doorways are on an average perhaps four feet wide and eight feet high, with square tops formed by zapote beams or stone lintels, which rest on stone jambs composed of two or three pieces, or are built into the regular wall of the building. At Chacchob a doorway is reported wider at the top than at the bottom. Many exterior doorways are wide and divided into two or more entrances by stone pillars supporting the lintels. Stone rings, or hooks, replaced at Tuloom by shells, near the top on the inside, and in a few cases at both top and bottom, are the only traces of the means by which the entrances were originally closed. Wooden lintels are almost exclusively employed at Uxmal, but elsewhere stone is more common; a few both of wood and stone are covered with carved devices, as are also some of the door-posts. Besides the doorways the rooms have no openings whatever, no chimneys, windows, or ventilators being found, if we except the oblong openings in the rear wall of the Castle at Tuloom.[V-105]

Respecting the rooms, aside from their decoration, nothing remains to be noticed except the casas cerradas, or rooms filled with solid masonry, and the interior stairways of unexplained construction at Labphak. Exterior stairways supported by a half arch lead up to the top of such of the buildings as have more than one story, and also to the summit of the few mounds that have perpendicular sides; in one case the entrance to the courtyard is by stairways leading over the roof of one of the enclosing edifices. The only important exceptions to the usual type of Yucatan buildings are the circular structures with conical roofs, at Chichen and Mayapan, and the gigantic walls composing the so-called gymnasiums at Chichen and Uxmal.

It will be noticed that the strength of these structures depended to a great extent on the excellence of the mortar by which the blocks were united, since the latter are not usually laid so as to break joints, although carefully placed so that the plummet line applied to such walls as are uninjured, rarely detects any departure from perfect regularity. A Maya custom of inserting projecting stones, or katunes, in the walls of their buildings as a record of time and in commemoration of great events is spoken of by many authors; and by certain stones which he identifies with the katunes, M. Waldeck computes the age of some of the ruins, but I am unable to tell which are the stones meant, unless they be those already mentioned as elephants' trunks.

Besides the columns mentioned in connection with doorways, many others are found whose use in most cases is not understood. They are both round and square, and usually, if not always, composed of several pieces placed one upon another. Among them may be mentioned the row of round columns on the terrace of the Governor's House at Uxmal, sixteen columns at Xul from the ruins of Nohcacab, thirty-six square columns on the summit platform of the pyramid at Aké, three hundred and eighty short pillars, also square, arranged round a square at Chichen, eight round pillars on the terrace of the round house at Mayapan, the reported line of square columns originally supporting a gallery at Mérida, and finally the monoliths of Sijoh, which latter may have been idols.

I now come to the interior and exterior decorations of the Yucatan buildings. In some apartments, particularly at Uxmal, the walls and ceilings present only the plain surface of the hewn blocks of stone. Most, however, are covered with a coating of fine white plaster, and in many this plastered surface is wholly or partially covered with paintings in bright colors. The paintings are much damaged in every case, but seem to have been executed with much care and skill. They are, apparently, never purely ornamental, but represent some definite objects, oftener than otherwise human beings in various attitudes and employments, battles, processions, and dances. In one or two localities, as at Kewick, a single stone is decorated with painting, while the rest of the surface is left plain. Niches in the walls of a room at Chichen, benches along the sides and ends at Tuloom, and a reported inner cornice at Zayi vary the usual interior monotony of the Maya apartments.

Interior sculptured decorations are of comparatively rare occurrence. A few of the lintels and jambs in each of the cities are covered with carvings; the steps leading up to the raised inner room at Kabah, together with the base of the walls at their sides, are sculptured; small circles are cut on the walls of the Casa del Adivino at Uxmal; a tablet of hieroglyphics stretches over the inner doorways of a corridor at Chichen; and a sculptured procession covers the wall and ceiling of a room on the Gymnasium wall at the same city. Hieroglyphic inscriptions are not very numerous, but are apparently identical in character with those we have seen at Copan. The only instance noted of interior decoration in stucco is that of the stucco birds in a room at Kabah, and a few stuccoed columns.

The exterior walls have almost invariably a cornice extending over the doorways round the whole circumference, and another near the roof. Several buildings have one or two additional cornices. Besides the cornices a very few fronts are plain; most are so below the lower cornice, but are decorated in their upper portions, as several are from top to bottom, with a mass of complicated sculptured designs, of which the reader has formed a clear idea by the drawings that have been presented. These ornaments, or the separate parts of each, are carved on the faces of cubical or rectangular blocks which are built into the face of the wall, each carved piece fitting most accurately into its place as part of a most elaborate whole. Some parts of the decoration are also joined to the walls by means of long tenons. In the human faces represented in profile among the ornamental carvings the flattened forehead, or contracted facial angle, is the most important feature noticed, and this is not as strongly marked as in many other regions of America. Excepting the phallus, which is prominent in many of the decorations, and which was probably a religious symbol, no ornaments of an obscene nature are noticed. Instead of stone, stucco is employed at Labphak in exterior decorations, and to a slight extent at Tuloom also. Over the front wall of some buildings, and from the centre of the roof of others, rises a lofty wall, sometimes in peaks, or turrets, apparently intended only as a basis for ornamentation. At Kabah this supplementary wall is plain and resembles from a distance a second story; on the Nunnery at Uxmal the ornamentation is in stone; but in other cases stucco is employed. Only one exterior wall, at Chunhuhu, is plastered; but all the exterior decorations are supposed to have been originally painted, traces of bright colors still remaining in sheltered positions.[V-106]

[Sidenote: MAYA IDOLS.]

The scarcity of idols among the Maya antiquities must be regarded as extraordinary. The double-headed animal and the statue of the Old Woman at Uxmal; the nude figure carved on a long flat stone and the small statue in two pieces, at Nohpat; the idol at Zayi reported as in use for a fountain; the rude unsculptured monoliths of Sijoh; the scattered and vaguely mentioned idols on the plains of Mayapan; and the figures in terra cotta collected by Norman at Campeche, complete the list; and many of these may have been originally merely decorations for buildings. That the inhabitants of Yucatan were idolators there is no possible doubt, and in connection with the magnificent shrines and temples erected by them, stone representatives of their deities carved with all their aboriginal art and rivaling or excelling the grand obelisks of Copan, might naturally be sought for. But in view of the facts it must be concluded that the Maya idols were small, and that such as escaped the destructive hands of the Spanish ecclesiastics, were buried by the natives, as the only means of preventing their desecration. Altars are as rare as idols; indeed, only at Tuloom are such relics definitely reported, and then they are of small size and of simple construction, merely hewn blocks on which copal was burned.

The almost complete lack of pottery, implements, and weapons is no less remarkable. Earthen relics, so abundant over nearly the whole surface of the Pacific States, even in the territory of the wildest tribes, where no ruined edifices are to be seen, are rarely met with in Yucatan and Chiapa, where the grandest ruins indicate the highest civilization. No trace of any metal has been found in Yucatan, although there is some historical evidence that copper implements were used by the Mayas to a slight extent in the sixteenth century, the material for which must have been brought from other parts of the country. Besides spear and arrow heads of flint or obsidian which have been found in small numbers in different parts of the state, and the implements included in the Camacho collection at Campeche already mentioned, there remains to be noticed "a collection of stone implements, gathered by Dr. J. W. Veile, in Yucatan," spoken of by Mr Foster as resembling in many respects similar relics from the Mississippi Valley. "The material employed is porphyry. Some of them are less than two inches in length, and the edges are polished as if from use. At the first glance it would be said that many of these implements were too small for practical purposes, but when we reflect that the material out of which the ancient inhabitants of that region cut their basso-relievos, was a soft coralline limestone, I find, by experiment, that such a tool is almost as effective as one of steel. Some of the implements, however, are cylindrical in shape, with the convex surface brought to an edge, and the opposite side ground out like a gouge."[V-107] There can be little doubt that the Maya sculpture was executed with tools of stone, although with such implements the complicated carvings on hard zapote lintels must have presented great difficulties even to aboriginal patience and skill.

[Sidenote: THE MAYAS AS ARTISTS.]

With respect to the artistic merit of the monuments of Yucatan, and the degree of civilization which they imply on the behalf of their builders, I leave the reader to form his own conclusion from the information which I have collected and presented as clearly as possible in the preceding pages. That they bear, as a whole, no favorable comparison with the works of the ancient Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Assyrians, and perhaps other old-world peoples must, I believe, be granted. Yet they are most wonderful when considered as the handiwork of a people since lapsed into a condition little above savagism. I append in a note some quotations designed to show the impression these monuments have made on explorers and students.[V-108]

[Sidenote: ANTIQUITY OF THE MAYA MONUMENTS.]

Finally I have to consider the antiquity of the Yucatan monuments. As in the case of all ruined cities and edifices, the questions, when and by whom were they built? are of the most absorbing interest. In Yucatan the latter question presents no difficulties, and the former few, compared with those connected with other American ruins. It was formerly a favorite theory that the great American palaces and temples of ancient times, whose remains have astonished the modern world, were the work of civilized peoples that have become extinct, probably of some old-world people which long centuries ago settled on our coasts and flourished for a long period, but was at last forced to succumb to the native races whose descendants occupied the land at the coming of Europeans in the sixteenth century. The discussion of the origin of the American people and of the American civilization, as well as of the possible agency of old-world elements in the development of the latter, belongs to another part of my work; still it may be appropriately stated here that the theory of extinct civilized races in America, to which our ruined cities may be attributed, rests upon only the very vaguest and most unsubstantial foundation, while so far as the Yucatan cities are concerned it rests on no foundation at all.

The traditional history of the peninsula, which will be given in the following volume, represents Yucatan as constituting the mighty Maya empire, whose rulers, secular and religious, reared magnificent cities, palaces, and temples, and which flourished in great, if not its greatest, power down to within a little more than a century of the Spaniards' coming. Then the empire was more or less broken up by civil wars, an era of dissension and comparative weakness ensued, some of the great cities were abandoned in ruins, but the edifices of most, and especially the temples, were still occupied by the disunited factions of the original empire. In this condition the Spaniards found and conquered the Maya people. They found the immense stone pyramids and buildings of most of the cities still used by the natives for religious services, although not for dwellings, as they had probably never been so used even by their builders. The conquerors established their own towns generally in the immediate vicinity of the aboriginal cities, procuring all the building material they needed from the native structures, destroying so far as possible all the idols, altars, and other paraphernalia of the Maya worship, and forcing the discontinuance of all ceremonies in honor of the heathen gods. A few cities escaped the damning blight of European towns in their vicinity, and kept up their rites in secret for some years later; such were Uxmal, Tuloom, and probably others of the best preserved ruins. All the early voyagers, conquistadores, and writers speak of the wonderful stone edifices found by them in the country, partly abandoned and partly occupied by the natives. To suppose that the buildings they saw and described were not identical with the ruins that have been described in these pages, that every trace of the former has disappeared, and that the latter entirely escaped the notice of the early visitors to Yucatan, is too absurd to deserve a moment's consideration. That the Mayas were found worshiping in the temples of an extinct race is a position almost equally untenable. The Spaniards forced the Mayas to accept a new faith, utterly crushed out their ancient spirit by a long course of oppression, and then together with other Europeans resorted to the theory of an extinct old-world race to account for the wonderful structures which the ancestors of the degraded Mayas could not have reared. The Mayas are not, however, the only illustrations of a deteriorated race to be seen in Yucatan, as will be understood by comparing the present Spanish population of the peninsula with the proud Castilian conquerors of the sixteenth century.

Mr Stephens, to whom many of the Spanish and Maya documents relating to Yucatan history were unknown, sought carefully for proofs in support of his belief that the cities were constructed by "the same races who inhabited the country at the time of the Spanish conquest, or by some not very distant progenitors." He was entirely successful in establishing the truth of his position, which rested on the statements of the historians with whose works he was acquainted, and on the following points, many of them discovered by himself, and whose only weakness is the fact that they were not really needed to justify his conclusions. 1st. The Maya arch in the foundations of the Franciscan convent at Mérida, built in 1547, with the historical statement that Mérida was built on the mounds of ancient Tihoo. 2d. The traditional destruction of Mayapan in 1420. 3d. The custom of the Spaniards to locate their towns near those of the natives, together with the almost uniform location of the ruins, near the modern towns. 4th. The skeletons and skulls dug up at Ticul were pronounced by Dr Morton to belong to the universal American type. 5th. Sr Peon's deed to the Uxmal estate, dated in 1673, states that the natives still worshiped in the stone buildings; that a native then claimed the estate as having belonged to his ancestors; that at that time there were doors in the ruins which were opened and shut; and that water was then drawn from the aguadas. 6th. The sword in the hands of the kneeling sculptured figure at Kabah, which has already been mentioned as almost identical with an aboriginal Maya weapon. 7th. A map dated 1557 was found at Mani, on which Uxmal is designated by a different character from all the other surrounding towns, being the only one that is not surmounted by a cross. 8th. With the map was found a document in the Maya language, also dated 1557, announcing the arrival of certain officials with interpreters at, and their departure from, Uxmal. Now there never was a Spanish town of Uxmal, and the hacienda was not established until one hundred and forty-five years later. 9th. The gymnasiums at Chichen and Uxmal, agreeing with those traditionally described in connection with certain aboriginal games of ball. 10th. Many scattered resemblances to Aztec relics and customs. 11th. The European penknife discovered in a grave with aboriginal relics at Kantunile. 12th. The comparatively fresh appearance of the altars and other relics at Tuloom.[V-109]

It may then be accepted as a fact susceptible of no doubt that the Yucatan structures were built by the Mayas, the direct ancestors of the people found in the peninsula at the conquest and of the present native population. Respecting their age we only know the date of their abandonment--that is the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Nothing in the ruins themselves gives any clue to the date of their construction, and this is not the place to discuss the few vague historical traditions bearing on the subject. The data on which different writers have based their speculations, and claimed for these monuments greater or less antiquity are the following. 1st. The immense trees that are found growing on the ruins, and the accumulation of soil and vegetable matter on the roofs and terrace platforms; but to persons acquainted with the rapid growth of trees in tropical countries, these constitute no evidence of antiquity. 2d. The ignorance of the natives respecting the builders of the monuments; the investigations of Indian character in the preceding volumes of this work, however, show conclusively enough that two generations, to say nothing of three centuries, are amply sufficient to blot from the native mind everything definite concerning the past. 3d. Comparisons of the Yucatan ruins with different old-world remains; the argument being that if an American monument is more dilapidated than an Egyptian one, it must be older. 4th. And on the other hand, against a great antiquity, the destructiveness of the tropical vegetation and tropical rains. 5th. The softness of the building material. 6th. The perfect preservation in many places of wood and paint. 7th. The rapid decay of the ruins between the periods of the earliest and latest visits.

It will be at once noted that the preceding points all bear on the date of abandonment and not at all on the date of construction. Explorers may marvel, according to the view they take of the matter, either that the buildings have resisted for three or four hundred years the destructive agencies to which they have been exposed; or, that three or four short centuries have wrought so great ravages in structures so strongly built; still the fact remains that the buildings were abandoned three or four hundred years ago. M. Waldeck's theory, by which he computes the antiquity of some of the ruins by certain stones peculiarly placed in the walls, or by the small houses--calli, or house, being one of the signs of the Aztec calendar--over the doorways of the Nunnery at Uxmal, like Mr Jones' argument that the structures must have been reared before the invention of the arch, is mere idle speculation, utterly unfounded in fact or probability. The history of the Mayas indicates the building of some of the cities at various dates from the third to the tenth centuries. As I have said before, there is nothing in the buildings to indicate the date of their erection,--that they were or were not standing at the commencement of the Christian Era. We may see how, abandoned and uncared for, they have resisted the ravages of the elements for three or four centuries. How many centuries they may have stood guarded and kept in repair by the builders and their descendants we can only conjecture.[V-110]

FOOTNOTES:

[V-1] 'Le sol de l'Yucatan est encore, aujourd'hui, parsemé d'innombrables ruines, dont la magnificence et l'étendue frappent d'étonnement les voyageurs; de toutes parts, ce ne sont que collines pyramidales, surmontées d'édifices superbes, des villes dont la grandeur éblouit l'imagination, tant elles sont multipliées et se touchent de près, sur les chemins publics: enfin on ne saurait faire un pas sans rencontrer des débris qui attestent à la fois l'immensité de la population antique du Maya et la longue prospérité dont cette contrée jouit sous ses rois.' 'Nulle terre au monde ne présente aujourd'hui un champ si fécond aux recherches de l'archéologue et du voyageur.' Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 20, 24. 'A peine y a-t-il dans l'Yucatan une ville, une bourgade, une maison de campagne qui n'offre dans ses constructions des restes de pierres sculptées qui ont été enlevées d'un ancien édifice. On peut compter plus de douze emplacements couverts de vastes ruines.' Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 300-1. 'Elle est, pour ainsi dire, jonchée de ruines. Partout, dans cette partie de l'Amérique, la poésie des souvenirs parle à l'imagination.' Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., p. 320.

[V-2] The earliest modern account of Yucatan Antiquities with which I am acquainted is that written by Sr Lorenzo de Zavala, Ambassador of the Mexican Government in France, and published in Antiquités Mexicaines, tom. i., div. ii., pp. 33-5. Sr Zavala visited Uxmal several years before 1834. His communication gives a tolerably good general idea of the ruins, but it is brief, unaccompanied by drawings, and relates only to one city. It is, therefore, of little value when compared with later and more extensive works on the subject, and is mentioned in this note only as being the earliest account extant. Yet long before Zavala's visit, Padre Thomas de Soza, a Franciscan friar of the convent of Mérida, had observed the ruins during his frequent trips through the province, and he gave a slight account of them to Antonio del Rio, who mentioned it in his Descrip. of an Ancient City, pp. 6-8.

M. Frédéric de Waldeck, a French artist, visited Uxmal in 1835 during a short tour in the peninsula, and published the result of his labors in his Voyage Pittoresque et Archéologique dans la Province d'Yucatan, Paris, 1838, large folio, with 22 steel plates and lithographic illustrations. M. de Waldeck became in some way obnoxious to the Mexican Government, which threw some obstacles in his way, and finally confiscated his drawings, of which he had fortunately made copies. Waldeck in his turn abuses the government and the people, and has consequently been unfavorably criticised. His drawings and descriptions, however, tested by the work of later visitors under better auspices, are remarkable for their accuracy so far as they relate to antiquities. The few errors discoverable in his work may be attributed to the difficulty of exploring alone and unaided ruins enveloped in a dense tropical forest. 'Supplied with pecuniary aid by a munificent and learned Irish peer.' (Lord Kingsborough.) Foreign Quar. Rev., vol. xviii., p. 251. 'Waldeck, aumentando ó disminuyendo antojadiza y caprichosamente sus obras, las hace participar, en todos sentidos, de las no muy acreditadas cualidades de verídico, imparcial y concienzudo que aquí le conocieron.' M. F. P., in Registro Yucateco, tom. i., p. 362.

Mr. John L. Stephens, accompanied by Fred. Catherwood, artist, at the end of an antiquarian expedition through Central America, arrived at Uxmal in 1840, and began the work of surveying the city, but the sickness of Mr Catherwood compelled them to abandon the survey when but little progress had been made and return abruptly to New York. The results of their incomplete work were published in Stephens' Cent. Amer., N. Y., 1841, vol. ii.

Mr B. M. Norman, a resident of New Orleans, made a flying visit to Yucatan from December to March, 1841-2, and published as a result Rambles in Yucatan, N. Y., 1843, illustrated with cuts and lithographs. According to the Registro Yucateco, tom. i., p. 372, this trip was merely a successful speculation on the part of Norman, who collected his material in haste from all available sources, in order to take advantage of the public interest excited by Stephens' travels. However this may be, the work is not without value in connection with the other authorities. 'The result of a hasty visit.' Mayer's Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 172. The work 'n'est qu'une compilation sans mérite et sans intérêt.' Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 150. 'A valuable work.' Davis' Antiq. Amer., p. 12. 'By which the public were again astonished and delighted.' Frost's Pict. Hist. Mex., p. 77. Norman's work is very highly spoken of and reviewed at length, with numerous quotations and two plates, in the Democratic Review, vol. xi., pp. 529-38.

Mr Stephens arrived in New York on his return from his Central American tour in July, 1840, having left Yucatan in June. 'About a year' after his return he again sailed for Yucatan on October 9th and remained until the following June. This is all the information the author vouchsafes touching the date of his voyage, which was probably in 1841-2, Stephens and Norman being therefore in the country at the same time; the latter states, indeed, that they were only a month apart at Zayi. Stephens' work is called Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, N. Y., 1843. (?) (Ed. quoted in this work, N. Y., 1858.) The drawings of this and of the previous expedition were published, with a descriptive text by Stephens, under the title of Catherwood's Views of Ancient Monuments in Central America, N. Y., 1844, large folio, with 25 colored lithographic plates. Stephens' account was noticed, with quotations, by nearly all the reviews at the time of its appearance, and has been the chief source from which all subsequent writers, including myself, have drawn their information. His collection of movable Yucatan relics was unfortunately destroyed by fire with Mr Catherwood's panorama in New York. Critics are almost unanimous in praise of the work. 'Malgré quelques imperfections, le livre restera toujours un ouvrage de premier ordre pour les voyageurs et les savants.' Brasseur de Bourbourg, Esquisses, p. 7. 'Stephens y Catherwood, por ejemplo, sin separarse de la verdad de los originales, los cópia el uno, y los describe el otro con exactitud, criterio y buena fé,' M. F. P., in Registro Yucateco, tom. i., p. 362. 'Ce que M. Stephens a montré talent, de science et de modestie dans ses narrations est au-dessus de toute appréciation.' Dally, Races Indig., p. 14. Jones, Hist. Anc. Amer., criticises Stephens' conclusions, and his criticisms will be somewhat noticed in their proper place. See also p. 82, note 14, of this volume.

The Baron von Friederichsthal, an attaché of the Austrian Legation, spent several months in an examination of Yucatan ruins, confining his attention to Chichen Itza and Uxmal. He had with him a daguerreotype apparatus, and with its aid prepared many careful drawings. As to the date of his visit it probably preceded those of Norman and Stephens, since a letter by him, written while on his return to Europe, is dated April 21, 1841. This letter is printed in the Registro Yucateco, tom. ii., pp. 437-43, and in the Dicc. Univ., tom. x., pp. 290-3. It contains a very slight general account of the ruins, which are spoken of as 'hasta hoy desconocidas,' with much rambling speculation on their origin. On his arrival in Europe Friederichsthal was introduced by Humboldt to the Académie Royale des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, before which society he read a paper on his discoveries on October 1, 1841, which paper was furnished by the author for the Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 297-314, where it was published under the title of Les Monuments de l'Yucatan. The author proceeded to Vienna where he intended to publish a large work with his drawings, a work that so far as I know has never seen the light. 'M. de Friederichsthal a souvent été inquiété dans ses recherches; les ignorants, les superstitieux, les niais les regardaient comme dangereuses au pays.' Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 304.

In 1858 M. Désiré Charnay visited Izamal, Chichen Itza, and Uxmal, taking with him a photographic apparatus. He succeeded in obtaining perfect views of many of the buildings, which were published under the title Cités et Ruines Américaines, Paris, 1863, in large folio. The text of the work is in octavo form and includes a long introduction by M. Viollet-le-Duc, French Government Architect, occupied chiefly with speculation and theories rather than descriptions. Charnay's part of the text, although a most interesting journal of travels, is very brief in its descriptions, the author wisely referring the reader to the photographs, which are invaluable as tests of the correctness of drawings made by other artists both in Yucatan and elsewhere.

See also a general notice of the ruins in Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 176-7, and in Gottfriedt, Newe Welt, p. 611; full account in Baldwin's Anc. Amer., pp. 125-50, from Stephens; and brief accounts, made up from the modern explorers, in Mayer's Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., pp. 171-3, with cut of an idol from Catherwood; Prichard's Researches, vol. v., pp. 346-8; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., pp. 147, 191-5, 269-72; Dally, Races Indig., pp. 14-15; Warden, Recherches, pp. 68-9; Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., pp. 36-50, from old Spanish authorities; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 460, 462; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. i., p. 12; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 267; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., pp. 144, 247; Baril, Mexique, pp. 128-30; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 20-31; Davis' Antiq. Amer., pp. 512-30; Id., Ed. 1847, p. 31; Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., pp. 320-8; Mex. in 1842, p. 75; Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 227, 242-7, 303-4.

[V-3] The best map of Yucatan, showing not only the country's geographical features, but the location of all its ruins, is the Carte du Yucatan et des régions voisines, compiled by M. Malte-Brun from the works of Owen, Barnett, Lawrence, Kiepert, García y Cubas, Stephens, and Waldeck, and published in Brasseur de Bourbourg, Palenqué, Paris, 1866, pl. i., ii.

[V-4] Fray Diego Lopez Cogolludo visited Uxmal at some time before the middle of the seventeenth century, and describes the ruins to some extent in his Historia de Yucathan, Mad., 1688, pp. 176-7, 193-4, 197-8. Padre Thomas de Soza, about 1786, reported to Antonio del Rio stone edifices covered with stucco ornaments, known by the natives as Oxmutal, with statues of men beating drums and dancing with palms in their hands, which he had seen in his travels in Yucatan, and which are thought to be perhaps identical with Uxmal, although the monuments are reported as being located twenty leagues south of Mérida and may be quite as reasonably identified with some other group. Rio's Description, pp. 6-7. Zavala's visit to Uxmal at some date previous to 1834 has already been spoken of in note 2. His account is called Notice sur les Monuments d'Ushmal, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., pp. 33-5. M. de Waldeck left Mérida for Uxmal on May 6, 1835, arrived at the ruins on May 12, where he spent some eight days, and was interrupted in his work by the rainy season. Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 67-74, 93-104, and plates. Mr Stephens had Waldeck's work with him at the time of his second visit. He says, Yucatan, vol. i., p. 297, 'It will be found that our plans and drawings differ materially from his, but Mr Waldeck was not an architectural draughtsman;' yet the difference is only to be noted in a few plates, and is not so material as Mr Stephens' words would imply. Still, where differences exist, I give Mr Stephens the preference, because, having his predecessor's drawings, his attention would naturally be called to all the points of Waldeck's survey. Mr Stephens says further, 'It is proper to say, moreover, that Mr Waldeck had much greater difficulties to encounter than we, ... besides, he is justly entitled to the full credit of being the first stranger who visited these ruins and brought them to the notice of the public.' Mr Stephens' first visit was in June, 1840, during which he visited the ruins from the hacienda three times, on June 20, 21, and 22, while Mr Catherwood spent one day, the 21st, in making sketches. It was unfortunate that he was forced by Mr Catherwood's illness to leave Uxmal, for at this time the ground had been cleared of the forest and was planted with corn; the occasion was therefore most favorable for a thorough examination. Stephens' Cent. Amer., vol. ii., pp. 413-35, with 3 plates. Mr Norman, according to his journal, reached the ruins, where he took up his abode, on February 25, 1842, and remained until March 4, devoting thus seven days or thereabouts to his survey. His account is accompanied by several lithographic illustrations. Norman's Rambles in Yuc., pp. 154-67. Messrs Stephens and Catherwood arrived on their second visit on November 15, 1841, and remained until January 1, 1842, Mr Stephens meanwhile making two short trips away, one in search of ruins, the other to get rid of fever and ague. It is remarkable that they found no traces of Mr Friederichsthal's visit, (Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 306-9,) which was probably in the same year. Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 163-325, vol. ii., pp. 264-73, with many plates and cuts. Padre Carrillo, cura of Ticul, with D. Vicente García Rejon, and D. José María Fajardo, visited the ruins in March, 1845, and an account of the visit, embodying but little information, was published by L. G., in Registro Yuc., tom. i., pp. 275-9. Another account of a visit in the same year was published by M. F. P., in Id., pp. 361-70. Mr Carl Bartholomaeus Heller spent two or three days at Uxmal, April 6 to 9, 1847. His account is found in Heller, Reisen, pp. 256-65. M. Charnay's visit was in 1858, and his efforts to obtain photographic negatives and to fight the insects which finally drove him away, lasted eight days. Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 362-80, pl. xxxv-xlix. M. Brasseur de Bourbourg was at Uxmal in 1865, and made a report, accompanied by a plan, which was published in the Archives de la Com. Scien. du Mex., tom. ii., pp. 234, 254, as the author states in his Palenqué, Introd., p. 24. See further on Uxmal: Description quoted from Stephens with unlimited criticisms, italics, capitals, and exclamation points, in Jones' Hist. Anc. Amer., pp. 86-105, 120; description from Waldeck and Stephens, with remarks on the city's original state, in Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 21-3, 585; and also slight accounts made up from one or more of the authorities already cited as follows: Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 462, 483; Bradford's Amer. Antiq., pp. 99-103, from Waldeck; Baril, Mexique, pp. 129-30, from Del Rio; Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 237-41; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., pp. 149-50, 193; Frost's Great Cities, pp. 268-81; Id., Pict. Hist. Mex., p. 80; Album, Mex., tom. i., pp. 203-4, the last three including a moonlight view of the ruins, from Norman; Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., pp. 321-8, with plates from Waldeck; Baldwin's Anc. Amer., pp. 131-7, with cuts, from Stephens; Foster's Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 208, 212-13, 302, 330, 398-9, from Stephens; Willson's Amer. Hist., pp. 82-6, with cuts, from Stephens; Armin, Das Heutige Mex., pp. 91-6, with cuts, from Stephens; Id., Das Alte Mex., p. 97; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 144; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. i., p. 12; Domenech's Deserts, vol. i., p. 51; Hermosa, Enciclopedia, Paris, 1857, pp. 176-7; Prescott's Mex., vol. iii., pp. 412-13; Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., pp. 36-7, 44.

[V-5] Pronounced ooshmahl.

[V-6] Cogolludo sometimes writes the name Uxumual. 'Il nous a été impossible de trouver une étymologie raisonnable à ce nom.' Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 21. 'Le nom d'Uxmal signifie du temps passé. Il ne s'applique aux ruines que parce que celles-ci sont situées sur le terrain de la hacienda d'Uxmal.' Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 68; Sivers, Mittelamerika, p. 237. Possibly derived from ox and mal, meaning 'three passages' in Maya. Heller, Reisen, p. 255. 'It was an existing inhabited aboriginal town' in 1556. Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., p. 272. Called Oxmutal by Soza, in Rio's Description, p. 7.

[V-7] Lat. 30° 22´ 86´´ (!), Long. 4´ 33´´ west of Mérida. 'Une couche très mince d'une terre ferrugineuse recouvre le sol, mais disparaît dans les environs où l'on n'aperçoit que du sable.' Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 306. 2 miles (German) west of Jalacho, which lies near Maxcanú, on the road from Mérida to Campeche. Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 144. 20 leagues from Mérida, occupying an extent of several leagues. Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. i., p. 12. 'A huit lieues de Mayapan ... dans une plaine légèrement ondulée.' Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 21. 'Le terrain d'Uxmal est plat dans toute l'étendue du plateau.' 'Sur le plateau d'une haute montagne.' Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 68, 70.

[V-8] 'Sur un diamètre d'une lieue, le sol est couvert de débris, dont quelques-uns recouvrent des intérieurs fort bien conservés.' Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 363.

[V-9] In the plan I have followed Stephens, Yucatan, vol. i., p. 165, who determined the position of all the structures by actual measurement, cutting roads through the undergrowth for this express purpose, and the accuracy of whose survey cannot be called in question. His plan is reproduced on a reduced scale in Willson's Amer. Hist., p. 83. Plans are also given in Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pl. viii.; Norman's Rambles in Yuc., p. 155; and Charnay, Ruines Amér., introd. by Viollet-le-Duc, p. 62. These all differ very materially both from that of Stephens, and from each other; they are moreover very incomplete, and bear marks of having been carelessly or hastily prepared. 'Disposée en échiquier, où se déployaient, à la suite les uns des autres, les palais et les temples.' Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 21. Besides the plans, general views of the ruins from nearly the same point (q on the plan looking southward) are given by Stephens, Yucatan, vol. i., p. 305, and by Charnay, Ruines Amér., phot. 49. Norman, Rambles in Yuc., frontispiece, gives a general view of the ruins by moonlight from a point and in a direction impossible to fix, which is copied in the Album Mex., tom. i., p. 203, in Frost's Great Cities, p. 269, and in Id., Pict. Hist. Mex., p. 80. It makes a very pretty frontispiece, which is about all that can be said in its favor, except that it might serve equally well to illustrate any other group of American or old-world antiquities.

[V-10] Charnay, Ruines Amér., phot. 49.

[V-11] 'No habiendo tradicion alguna que testifique los nombres propios, que en un principio tuvieron los diferentes edificios que denuncian estas ruinas, es preciso creer que los que hoy llevan, son enteramente gratuitos.' L. G., in Registro Yuc., tom. i., p. 275. Mr Jones is positive this must have been a temple rather than a palace. 'Mr Stephens appears to be so strict a Spartan Republican, that every large, or magnificent building in the Ruined Cities, he considers to be a Palace,--he seems to have thought less of mind, than of matter.' Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 96; Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 97, calls it the Temple of Fire.

[V-12] In stating the dimensions of this mound, as I shall generally do in describing Uxmal, I have followed Stephens' text. His plan and both plans and text of all the other visitors vary more or less respecting each dimension. I had prepared tables of dimensions for each building from all the authorities, but upon reflection have thought it not worth while to insert them. Such tables would not enable the reader to ascertain the exact measurements, and moreover differences of a few feet cannot be considered practically important in this and similar cases. All the authorities agree on the general form and extent of this pyramidal mound. Most of them, however, refer only to the eastern front, and no one but Stephens notes the western irregularities. In giving the dimensions of the respective terraces some also refer to their bases, and others probably to their summits. Norman, Rambles in Yuc., pp. 156-7, states that the second and third terraces are each thirty feet high, while Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 372-3, makes the same fifteen and ten feet respectively. Waldeck's plan makes the summit platform about 240 feet long.

[V-13] Jones, Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 120, says there was a stairway in the centre of each side.

[V-14] Norman's dimensions are 36×272 feet; Heller's, 40×320 feet; Friederichsthal's, 38×407 feet; and Waldeck's, about 65×195 feet.

[V-15] Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., p. 175, reproduced in Baldwin's Anc. Amer., p. 132, and Willson's Amer. Hist., p. 84. The author speaks of the number of rooms as being 18, although the plan shows 24. He probably does not count the four small rooms corresponding with the recesses on the front and rear, as he also does not include their doors in his count. How he gets rid of the other two does not appear. Norman says 24 rooms, Charnay 21, and Stephens indicates 22 in the plan in Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 428.

[V-16] Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 309, speaking of the Uxmal structures in general, says the blocks are usually 5×12 inches; Zavala, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 34, pronounces them from 25 to 28 centimètres in length, width, and thickness.

[V-17] This beam was taken to N. Y., where it shared the fate of Stephens' other relics.

[V-18] Stephens favors the former theory, Waldeck and Charnay the latter, insisting that the hammock is consequently an American invention. Norman goes so far as to say that the grooves worn by the hammock-ropes are still to be seen on some of these timbers.

[V-19] Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 97, speaks of real or false doors made of a single stone in connection with this building, but his examination of it was very slight. Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 177, speaks of interior decorations as follows: 'Ay vn lienço en lo interior de la fabrica, que (aunque es muy dilatado) à poco mas de medio estado de vn hombre, corre por todo èl vna cornisa de piedra muy tersa, que haze vna esquina delicadissima, igual, y muy perfecta, donde (me acuerdo) avia sacado de la misma piedra, y quedado en ella vn anillo tan delgado, y vistoso, como puede ser vno de oro obrado con todo primor.'

[V-20] From Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., p. 174; also in Baldwin's Anc. Amer., p. 132. Charnay's photograph 48 shows the opposite or northern end in connection with another building.

[V-21] From Stephens; one of them also in Baldwin's Anc. Amer.

[V-22] A cut of this hook is also given by Norman, and by Waldeck, who, Voy. Pitt., p. 74, attempts to prove its identity with an elephant's trunk, and that it was not molded from a tapir's snout.

[V-23] Charnay, Ruines Amér., phot. 46, shows the whole eastern façade. Photograph 47 gives a view on a larger scale of the portion over the principal doorway. Stephens, Yucatan, vol. i., frontispiece, represents the same front in a large plate, and in his Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 434, is a plate showing a part of the same. Norman gives a lithograph of the front. Rambles in Yuc., p. 158. His enlarged portion of the front from Waldeck does not belong to the Governor's House at all. 'Couvert de bas-reliefs, exécutés avec une rare perfection, formant une suite de méandres et arabesques d'un travail non moins capricieux que bizarre.' Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 23. Decorated with 'gros serpents entrelacés et d'anneaux en pierre.' Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 308. 'Chiefly the meander, or the Grecian square border, used in the embroidery of the mantles and robes of Attica.' Jones' Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 98. 'The length of the upper platform (in English feet!!) is seen to correspond nearly with the number of days in the year, and the mysterious emblem of eternity, the serpent, is found extending its portentous length around the building.' Frost's Great Cities, p. 271. 'Du haut de ses trois étages de pyramides, il se dresse comme un roi, dans un isolement plein de majestueuse grandeur.' 'L'ornementation se compose d'une guirlande en forme de trapèzes réguliers, de ces énormes têtes déjà décrites, courant du haut en bas de la façade, et servant de ligne enveloppante à des grecques d'un relief très-saillant, reliées entre elles par une ligne de petites pierres en carré diversement sculptées; le tout sur un fond plat de treillis de pierre. Le dessus des ouvertures était enrichi de pièces importantes, que divers voyageurs ont eu le soin d'enlever. Quatre niches, placées régulièrement, contenaient des statues, absentes aujourd'hui.' Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 372-3. 'One solid mass of rich, complicated elaborately sculptured ornaments forming a sort of arabesque.' 'Perhaps it may with propriety be called a species of sculptured mosaic; and I have no doubt that all these ornaments have a symbolical meaning; that each stone is part of a history, allegory, or fable.' Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 166, 173. 'The ornaments were composed of small square pieces of stone, shaped with infinite skill, and inserted between the mortar and stone with the greatest care and precision. About two-thirds of the ornaments are still remaining upon the façade.... The ground-work of the ornaments is chiefly composed of raised lines, running diagonally, forming diamond or lattice-work, over which are rosettes and stars; and, in bold relief, the beautiful Chinese border.' Norman's Rambles in Yuc., pp. 158-9. 'A travers ces grands méandres formés par l'appareil se montrent, ici encore, la tradition des constructions de bois par empilages, en encorbellement et le treillis. Cette construction est une des plus soignées parmi celles d'Uxmal.' Viollet-le-Duc, in Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 70.

[V-23] 'La décoration du parement de cet édifice ne consiste qu'en une imitation de palissade formée de rondins de bois. Sur la frise supérieure, des tortues saillantes rompent seules les lignes horizontales.' Viollet-le-Duc, in Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 69. Photograph 48 shows the north front of the Casa de Tortugas. Stephens, Yucatan, vol. i., p. 184, gives a plate showing the southern front. Waldeck's plan would make this building's dimensions about 60×185 feet. The column structure will be illustrated by engravings in connection with the ruins of Zayi and others.

[V-24] Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., p. 181; Norman's Rambles in Yuc., p. 156. From this rather meagre information Mr Jones proves, in a manner entirely satisfactory to himself, that the whole platform was surrounded in its original condition by a double row of columns, 230 in number, placed 10 feet apart, each 18 inches in diameter and 12 feet high, with a grand central column, 6 feet in diameter, and 60 feet high. Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 119.

[V-25] 'A shaft of gray limestone in an inclined position, measuring twelve feet in circumference and eight in height; bearing upon its surface no marks of form or ornament by which it might be distinguished from a natural piece.' Norman's Rambles in Yuc., p. 156. 'Une espèce de colonne dite pierre du châtiment, où les coupables devaient recevoir la punition de leurs fautes.' Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 372. 'Una enorme columna de piedra, cuya forma semicónica le da el aire de un obelisco, aunque de base circular y sin adornos.' M. F. P., in Registro Yuc., tom. i., p. 364.

[V-26] 'Double-headed cat or lynx,' cut from Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., p. 183; and Baldwin's Anc. Amer., p. 133. 'Un autel, au centre, soutenait un tigre à deux têtes, dont les corps reliés au ventre figurent une double chimère.' Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 372. 'Rude carving of a tiger with two heads.' Norman's Rambles in Yuc., p. 156. 'En un mismo cuerpo contiene dos cabezas de tigre de tamaño regular, vueltas hácia fuera: su actitud es la misma que la en que generalmente se representa la esfinge de la fábula; y si su excavacion no fuera tan reciente, probablemente habria corrido la suerte de otras estátuas y objetos preciosos, que à nuestra vista y paciencia han sido sacados del pais para figurar en los museos extranjeros.' M. F. P., in Registro Yuc., tom. i., pp. 364-5. Mr Heller, Reisen, p. 259, confounds this monument with the picote.

[V-27] Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i. pp. 229-32. Sr Peon, proprietor of Uxmal, believed that these excavations were originally used as granaries, not deeming the plaster sufficiently hard to resist water. 'Excavations ... with level curbings and smoothly finished inside.' Norman's Rambles in Yuc., p. 156.

[V-28] Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 253-6, with a view in the frontispiece. Although Stephens says the pyramid is only sixty-five feet high, it is noticeable that in Catherwood's drawing it towers high above the roof of the Casa del Gobernador, which is at least sixty-eight feet in height. Norman, Rambles in Yuc., p. 157, calls this a pile of loose stones, about two hundred feet square at the base, and one hundred feet high, and covered on the sides and top with débris of edifices. Friederichsthal, Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 308, says the summit platform is seventy-seven feet square.

[V-29] Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., p. 319. A distant view of this pyramid is included in Stephens' general view, p. 305, and in Charnay's photograph 49. Norman, in both plan and text, unites this pyramid at the base with that at E, and makes its height eighty feet. Rambles in Yuc., p. 157.

[V-30] Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 318-19, with view of the Casa de Palomas; cut also in Id., Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 426. 'Une muraille dentelée de pignons assez élevés, percés d'une multitude de petites ouvertures, qui donnent à chacun la physionomie d'un colombier.' Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 371-2, phot. 49. 'A wall of two hundred feet remains standing upon a foundation of ten feet. Its width is twenty-five feet; having ranges of rooms in both sides, only parts of which remain. This wall has an acute-angled arch doorway through the centre.... The top of this wall has numerous square apertures through it, which give it the appearance of pigeon-holes; and its edge is formed like the gable-end of a house, uniformly notched.' Norman's Rambles in Yuc., p. 165, with plate showing one of the peaks of the wall.

[V-31] Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., p. 320; Norman, Rambles in Yuc., p. 165, speaks of this part of the ruin as 'an immense court or square, enclosed by stone walls, leading to the Nun's House,' C of the plan. He says, also, that some of the scattered mounds in this direction have been excavated and seem to have been intended originally for sepulchres.

[V-32] Mr Stephens, Yucatan, vol. i., p. 320, refers to his appendix for a mention of some of the relics found in this group. The reference is probably to a note on vestiges of the phallic worship on p. 434, which from motives of modesty the author gives in Latin.

[V-33] Mr Norman's statements, Rambles in Yuc., p. 166, differ materially from those of Stephens, Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 298-9. He states that the walls are only twelve feet apart, that the eastern façade only has the entwined serpents, that the western is covered with hieroglyphics, that the structure contains rooms on a level with the ground, and implies that the western ring was still perfect at the time of his visit. This building is called by Charnay the Cárcel, or Prison.

[V-34] In these dimensions I have followed Mr Stephens' text, as usual in Uxmal, as far as possible. Although the Casa de Monjas has received more attention than any of the other structures, yet, strangely enough, no visitor gives all the dimensions of the buildings and terraces; hardly any two authors agree on any one dimension; and no author's text agrees exactly with his plans. Yet the figures of my text may be considered approximately correct. I append, however, in this instance a table of variations as a curiosity.

Respecting the height of the buildings, except the northern, we have no figures from any reliable authority; but we know that both eastern and western are lower than the northern building and higher than the southern, whose rooms are 17 feet high on the inside, and moreover that the eastern is higher than the western.

[V-35] M. Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pl. xii., presents a drawing of four of these turtles. 'Covered with square blocks of stone.' Norman's Rambles in Yuc., p. 163. 'Each tortoise is in a square, and in the two external angles of each square is an Egg. The tortoise and the egg, are both National emblems.' Jones' Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 94.

[V-36] Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 364, 368; Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 301, 308.

[V-37] Plan in Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., p. 301; reproduced in Baldwin's Anc. Amer., p. 136. Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pl. xii., also gives a ground plan, which, so far as the arrangement of rooms and doorways is concerned, differs very widely from that of Stephens, and must be regarded as very incorrect. M. Waldeck, during his short stay in Yucatan, seems to have devoted his chief attention to sketching the sculptured façades, a work which he accomplished accurately, but to have constructed his plans from memory and imagination after leaving the country. In the preparation of the present plan he had, to aid his fancy, the supposed occupation of these buildings in former times by nuns, and he has arranged the rooms with an eye to the convenience of the priests in keeping a proper watch and guard over the movements of those erratic demoiselles.

[V-38] Cut from Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., p. 309. For some reason the sculpture is not shown. Waldeck's pl. xii. contains also a section showing the form of the arches and ceilings.

[V-39] 'Les linteux des portes sont en bois, comme partout à Uxmal.' 'Les intérieurs, de dimensions variées suivant la grandeur des édifices ... deux murailles parallèles, puis obliquant, pour se relier par une dalle.' 'Les salles étaient enduites d'une couche de plâtre fin qui existe encore.' 'On remarque de chaque côté de l'ouverture, à égale distance du sol et du linteau de la porte, plantés dans la muraille de chaque côté des supports, quatre crochets en pierre.' Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 364-6. M. Waldeck speaks of the door-tops of the western building as being composed of nine pieces of stone, perpendicular on the outside, or visible, portions, but beveled and secured by a keystone within. 'Fait de neuf pierres à coupe perpendiculaire, et point du tout à clef: je parle ici de l'aspect de cette partie du monument à l'extérieur; mais à l'intérieur, ces neuf pierres sont à clef, ce que l'absence d'enduit m'a permis de constater.' Voy. Pitt., p. 100. 'The height of the ceiling is uniform throughout.' Norman's Rambles in Yuc., p. 161. Heller, Reisen, p. 257, gives the botanical name of the zapote-wood used for lintels as cavanilla, achras sapota. Waldeck calls the wood jovillo. Voy. Pitt., p. 97. Norman spells it zuporte.

[V-40] 'J'ai parlé, dans le texte du présent ouvrage, des prétendues colonnes trouvées dans l'Yucatan. Les trois balustres qu'on voit dans cette planche peuvent, déplacés comme ils l'étaient, avoir donné lieu à cette erreur. En effet, en divisant ces ornements en plusieurs morceaux, on y trouvera un fût droit et une espèce de chapiteau que, d'après des idées relatives assurément fort naturelles, on place volontiers à l'extrémité supérieure du fût, au lieu de le mettre au milieu.' Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 103. 'C'est un ensemble de colonnettes nouées dans le milieu trois par trois, séparées par des parties de pierres plates et les treillis qu'on rencontre si souvent; ce bâtiment est d'une simplicité relative, comparé à la richesse des trois autres.' Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 368.

[V-41] My engravings are taken from Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pl. xv., xvii. They are reproduced in Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., p. 323, pl. 3, 6. The perfect accuracy of the engravings--except the seated statues--is proved by Charnay's photographs 42, 49, which show the same front, as does the view in Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., p. 305. The southern front of this building is only shown in general views in Stephens' Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 420; repeated in Armin, Das Heutige Mex., p. 92; and in Norman's Rambles in Yuc., p. 160, which give no details.

[V-42] 'La décoration se compose d'une espèce de trophée en forme d'éventail, qui part du bas de la frise en s'élargissant jusqu'au sommet du bâtiment. Ce trophée est un ensemble de barres parallèles terminées par des têtes de monstres. Au milieu de la partie supérieure, et touchant à la corniche, se trouve une énorme tête humaine, encadrée à l'égyptienne, avec une corne de chaque côté. Ces trophées sont séparés par des treillis de pierre qui donnent à l'édifice une grande richesse d'effet. Les coins ont toujours cette ornementation bizarre, composée de grandes figures d'idoles superposées, avec un nez disproportionné, tordu et relevé, qui fait songer à la manière chinoise.' Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 366-7. The first of my engravings I take from Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., p. 306; the same front being shown also in Charnay's photograph 38, in Waldeck's pl. xv., and in Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., pl. 3. The second engraving is from Waldeck's pl. xvi., given also in Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., pl. 5, in Norman's Rambles in Yuc., p. 156--where it is incorrectly stated to represent a portion of the Casa del Gobernador,--and corresponding with Charnay's photograph 39. The third cut is from Viollet-le-Duc, in Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 65. M. Viollet-le-Duc explains the cut as follows: 'Supposons des piles ou murs de refend A; si l'on pose à la tête des piles les premiers patins B, sur lesquels, à angle droit, on embrévera les traverses C, puis les secondes pièces B', les deuxièmes traverses C' en encorbellement égalemente embérvées, et ainsi de suite, on obtient, au droit des têtes de piles ou murs de refend, des parois verticales, et, dans le sens des ouvertures, des parois inclinées arrivant à porter les filières D avec potelets intercalés. Si, d'une pile à l'autre, on pose les linteaux E en arrière du nu des pièces BB', et que sur ces linteaux on établisse des treillis, on obtiendra une construction de bois primitive, qui est évidemment le principe de la décoration de la façade de pierre du bâtiment.' This façade is 'the most chaste and simple in design and ornament, and it was always refreshing to turn from the gorgeous and elaborate masses on the other façades to this curious and pleasing combination.' Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., p. 306. 'The eastern façade is filled with elaborate ornaments, differing entirely from the others, and better finished.' Norman's Rambles in Yuc., pp. 161-2. 'Les huit échelons dont la série forme un cône renversé, sont ornés, à chacune de leurs extrémités, d'une tête symbolique de serpent ou de dragon. La tête du Soleil qui touche à la corniche et repose sur le troisième échelon, offre deux rayons ascendants, indépendemment de ceux qui flamboient autour du masque, dont je n'ai pu deviner la signification. Les trois rayons qui se voient au dessus de la tête ont peut-être quelques rapports avec le méridien, celui du milieu indiquant le parfait équilibre.' 'Des sept masques solaires, un seul était intact.' 'L'ensemble de cette façade offre à l'heure de midi un caractère de grandeur dont il serait difficile de donner une idée.' Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 102-3.

[V-43] Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., p. 307, with plate; Charnay, Ruines Amér., phot. 43.

[V-44] The illustrations of the Serpent front are in Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pl. xiii., xviii., which latter shows some of the detached faces, or masks; Charnay, Ruines Amér., phot. 40, 41, 44; and Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 302-3. Rattlesnakes are common in this region. The proprietor proposed to build this serpent's head into a house in Mérida as a memorial of Uxmal. 'Toward the south end the head and tail of the serpents corresponded in design and position with the portion still existing at the other.' Id., vol. i., pp. 302-3. 'The remains of two great serpents, however, are still quite perfect; their heads turned back, and entwining each other, they extend the whole length of the façade, through a chaste ground-work of ornamental lines, interspersed with various rosettes. They are put together by small blocks of stone, exquisitely worked, and arranged with the nicest skill and precision. The heads of the serpents are adorned with pluming feathers and tassels.' Norman's Rambles in Yuc., p. 162. 'Son nom lui vient d'un immense serpent à sonnettes courant sur toute la façade, dont le corps, se roulant en entrelacs, va servir de cadre à des panneaux divers. Il n'existe plus qu'un seul de ces panneaux: c'est une grecque, que surmontent six croisillons, avec rosace à l'intérieur; une statue d'Indien s'avance en relief de la façade, il tient à la main un sceptre; on remarque au-dessus de sa tête un ornement figurant une couronne.' Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 367. 'Un ornement, imité d'une sorte de pompon en passementerie terminé par une frange, se voit au-dessus de la queue du reptile. On découvre également dans la frise ces rosettes frangées comme celles signalées dans le bâtiment de l'est.' Viollet-le-Duc, in Id., p. 69. 'En voyant pour la première fois ce superbe édifice, je ne pus retenir un cri de surprise et d'admiration, tant les choses originales et nouvelles émeuvent l'imagination et les sens de l'artiste. J'ai cherché à rendre, dans ce qu'on vient de lire, mes premières impressions. Pourquoi n'avouerais-je pas qu'il s'y mêle un peu de vanité? Un pareil sentiment n'est-il pas excusable chez le voyageur qui révèle au monde civilisé des trésors archéologiques si longtemps ignorés, un style nouveau d'architecture, et une source abondante où d'autres, plus savants que lui, iront puiser un jour?' Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 100.

[V-45] Cut of one of these projecting curves in Norman's Rambles in Yuc., p. 162.

[V-46] 'The whole, loaded as it is with ornament, conveys the idea of vastness and magnificence rather than that of taste and refinement.' Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., p. 304. 'The northern front, no doubt, was the principal one, as I judge from the remains, as well as from the fact, that it is more elevated than the others.' Norman's Rambles in Yuc., p. 161. Norman's general view of the Nunnery includes a view of this northern front, but the decorations are omitted and the turrets also. 'Chaque porte, de deux en deux, est surmontée d'une niche merveilleusement ouvragée que devaient occuper des statues diverses. Quant à la frise elle-même, c'est un ensemble extraordinaire de pavillons, où de curieuses figures d'idoles superposées ressortent comme par hasard de l'arrangement des pierres, et rappellent les têtes énormes sculptées sur les palais de Chichen-Itza. Des méandres de pierres finement travaillées leur servent de cadre et donnent une vague idée de caractères hiéroglyphiques: puis viennent une succession de grecques de grande dimension, alternées, aux angles, de carrés et de petites rosaces d'un fini admirable. Le caprice de l'architecte avait jeté çà et là, comme des démentis à la parfaite régularité du dessin, des statues dans les positions les plus diverses. La plupart ont disparu, et les têtes ont été enlevées à celles qui restent encore.' Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 364-5, phot. 36-7. 'Les grosses têtes forment la principale décoration des dessus de portes; les treillis sont historiés, les encorbellements empilés supprimés.' Viollet-le-Duc, in Id., p. 67.

[V-47] I append a few general quotations concerning the Nunnery: The court façades 'ornamented from one end to the other with the richest and most intricate carving known in the art of the builders of Uxmal; presenting a scene of strange magnificence, surpassing any that is now to be seen among its ruins.' Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., p. 300. 'All these façades were painted; the traces of the colour are still visible, and the reader may imagine what the effect must have been when all this building was entire, and according to its supposed design, in its now desolate doorways stood noble Maya maidens, like the vestal virgins of the Romans, to cherish and keep alive the sacred fire burning in the temples.' Id., p. 307. The bottoms of the caissons of the diamond lattice-work are painted red. The paint is believed to be a mixture in equal parts of carmine and vermilion, probably vegetable colors. Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 200-1; Zavala, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., pp. 33-4, describes a building supposed to be the Nunnery on account of the serpent ornament, which, however, is stated to be on the exterior front of the building. Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 177, describes the court and surrounding edifices, stating that the serpent surrounds all four sides. 'Vn gran patio con muchos aposentos separados en forma de claustro donde viuian estas doncellas. Es fabrica digna de admiracion, porque lo exterior de las paredes es todo de piedra labrada, donde estàn sacadas de medio relieue figuras de hombres armados, diuersidad de animales, pajaros, y otras cosas.' 'Todos los quatro lienços de aquel gran patio (que se puede llamar plaça) los ciñe vna culebra labrada en la misma piedra de las paredes, que termina la cola por debaxo de la cabeça, y tiene toda ella en circuito quatrocientos pies.' Jones, Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 93, accounts for the superiority of the sculpture on the court façades by supposing that it was executed at a later date; its protection from the weather would also tend to its better preservation.

[V-48] Although Zavala says, speaking of the Uxmal ruins in general: 'Celles qui forment l'arête à partir de laquelle les plans des murs convergent pour déterminer la voûte prismatique dont j'ai déjà parlé, sont taillées en forme de coude dont l'angle est obtus.' Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 34. 'In the rear of, and within a few feet of the eastern range, are the remains of a similar range, which is now almost in total ruins. There appear to have been connecting walls, or walks, from this range to the Pyramid near by, as I judged from the rubbish and stones that can be traced from one to the other.' Norman's Rambles in Yuc., p. 162. Cuts from Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 311, 430; one of them reproduced in Baldwin's Anc. Amer.

[V-49] So say Stephens' text and plan, Viollet-le-Duc, and Charnay's plan; but Stephens' views, except that in Cent. Amer., Charnay's photographs, and Waldeck's plan and drawings, do not indicate an oval form. I am inclined to believe that the corners are simply rounded somewhat more than in the other Uxmal structures, and that the oval form indicated in the plan is not correct.

[V-50] M. Viollet-le-Duc says it is 'entièrement composé d'un blocage de maçonnerie revêtu de gros moellons parementés,' in Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 70.

[V-51] Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 193. 'La subida principal está á la parte del oriente y se practica por medio de una grada, que á la altura referida, guarda, segun mi cálculo, el muy escaso declive de treinta pies á lo mas: esta circunstancia, como se deja entender, la hace en extremo pendiente y peligrosa. Si no me engaño, la grada á que me refiero, tiene de 95 á 100 escaloncitos de piedra labrada, pero tan angostos, que apénas pueden recibir la mitad del pié: la cubren muchos troncos de árboles, espinos, y, lo que es peor, una multitud de yerba, resbaladiza.' The author, however, climbed the stairway barefooted. L. G., in Registro de Yuc., tom. i., p. 278. 'Les côtés de la pyramide sont tellement lisses qu'on ne peut y monter même à l'aide des arbres et des broussailles qui poussent dans les interstices des pierres.' Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 95. The eastern slope 70°, and the western 80°. Heller, Reisen, p. 256. Stairway has 180 steps, each 12 to 15 centimetres wide and high. Zavala, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 33. 100 steps, each 5 inches wide. Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 71. 100 steps, each 6 inches wide. Norman's Rambles in Yuc., p. 163. About 130 steps, 8 or 9 inches high. Stephens' Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 421.

[V-52] 'Une espèce de petite chapelle en contre-bas tournée à l'ouest; ce petit morceau est fouillé comme un bijou; une inscription parait avoir été gravée, formant ceinture au-dessus de la porte.' Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 368. 'Loaded with ornaments more rich, elaborate, and carefully executed, than those of any other edifice in Uxmal.' Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., p. 313.

[V-53] In the matter of dimensions, the Casa del Adivino presents the same variations as the other structures--Stephens, Yucatan, being the authority followed. Waldeck makes the platform 45 by 91 feet 8 inches, and the building 81 feet 8 inches by 14 feet 8 inches. Zavala calls the building 8 metres square. According to Norman the pyramid measures 500 feet at the base, and is 100 feet high, the platform being 21 by 72 feet, and the building 12 by 60, and 20 feet high. Charnay pronounces the pyramid 75 to 80 feet high. Stephens, Cent. Amer., vol. ii., pp. 421-2, gives the dimensions as follows: Pyramid, 120 by 240 feet at base; platform, 4½ feet wide outside the building; building, 68 feet long; rooms, 9 feet wide, 18, 18, and 34 feet long. Friederichsthal's dimensions: Pyramid, 120 by 192 feet and 25½ feet high; platform, 23⅓ by 89 feet; building, 12 by 73 feet, and 19¼ feet high. Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 307. Heller's dimensions: Pyramid, 135 by 225 feet, and 105 feet high; platform, 20 by 70 feet; building, 12 by 60 feet, and 20 feet high.

[V-54] 'Il est à remarquer que le pénis des statues était en érection, et que toutes ces figures étaient plus particulièrement mutilées dans cette partie du corps.' Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 95-6. Plate xi. shows the statue and accompanying portion of the wall. 'The emblems of life and death appear on the wall in close juxtaposition, confirming the belief in the existence of that worship practiced by the Egyptians, and all other eastern nations, and before referred to as prevalent among the people of Uxmal.' Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., p. 314. 'The western façade is ornamented with human figures similar to caryatides, finely sculptured in stone with great art.' Norman's Rambles in Yuc., p. 164. It is astonishing how easy the meaning of these sculptures may be deciphered when the right person undertakes the task. For instance: 'The translation of the above Sculpture seems as easy as if a DANIEL had already read the handwriting on the wall! as thus--The human figure, in full life and maturity, together with the sex, presents mortality; over the figure the cross-bones are placed, portraying the figure's earthly death; while the skull supported by expanding wings (and this Sculpture being placed above those of life and death,) presents the immortal Soul ascending on the wings of Time, above all earthly life, or the corruption of the grave!' Jones' Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 103.

[V-55] Stephens, Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 312, 316, gives views of the east and west fronts, the former of which I have inserted in my description; and in Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 420, a view from the south, which is copied in Armin, Das Heutige Mex., p. 92, which last authority also gives what seems to be a restoration of the pyramid from Waldeck. Waldeck's plates, ix., x., xi., relate to this structure; plate ix. is a view from a point above the whole and directly over the centre, including a ground plan of the summit building; plate x. is the western elevation of the pyramid and building with the eastern elevation of the latter; and plate xi. is a view of one of the statues as already mentioned. Charnay's photograph 35 gives a western view of the whole, which is also included in photograph 38; it is to be noted that his plan places the Casa del Adivino considerably south of the Nunnery. Norman, Rambles in Yuc., p. 162, gives an altogether imaginary view of the pyramid and building, perhaps intended for the western front. 'La base de la colline factice est revêtue d'un parement vertical avec une frise dans laquelle on retrouve l'imitation des rondins de bois, surmontés d'une sorte de balustrade presque entièrement détruite.' Viollet-le-Duc, in Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 70. On the east front of the building are 'deux portes carrées et deux petits pavillons couverts d'une espèce de toit reposant sur des pilastres.' 'Tel est ce monument, chef-d'œuvre d'art et d'élégance. Si j'étais arrivé un an plus tard à Uxmal, je n'aurais pas pu en donner un dessin complet; le centre avait été dégradé par suite de l'extraction de quelques pierres nécessaires à la solidité de cette partie de l'édifice.' Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 96. Yet if the structure was as perfect and his examination as complete as he claims, it is very strange, to say the least, that he did not discover the apartments in the western projections. Zavala, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 33, says that the interior walls of this building are plastered. Stephens, Charnay, and Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 578-88, give the tradition of the Dwarf, which gives this temple one of its names. 'The construction of these ornaments is not less peculiar and striking than the general effect. There were no tablets or single stones, each representing separately and by itself an entire subject; but every ornament or combination is made up of separate stones, on each of which part of the subject was carved, and which was then set in its place in the wall.' 'Perhaps it may, with propriety, be called a species of sculptured mosaic.' Stephens' Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 422.

[V-54] Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 248-51, 227-8; Norman's Rambles in Yuc., pp. 166, 157; Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 74; Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 307-8; Zavala, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 35; Domenech's Deserts, vol. i., p. 51.

[V-55] Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 188, 221-2.

[V-56] Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., p. 122, with plate showing front of one building.

[V-57] On Xcoch and Nohpat see Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 348-58, 362-8, with cut of the pyramid, beside those given in the text. Cut of former ruin reproduced in Baldwin's Anc. Amer., pp. 144-5. 'Una infinita multitud de edificios enteramente arruinados, esparcidos sobre toda la extension del terreno que puede abrazar la vista. Esta como cadena de ruinas que desde Uxmal se prolonga con direccion al S.E. por mas de 4 millas, induce á creer que es la continuacion de esa inmensa ciudad.' 'Muchos edificios colosales enteramente arruinados, que, aunque compartidos casi del mismo modo que en Uxmal, indican, sin embargo, mayor antigüedad; porque siendo construidos con iguales materias, y con no menor solidez, las injurias del tiempo son mas evidentes sobre cuantos objetos se presentan á la vista. Aún se nota la configuracion y trazo de las rámpas, átrios y plazas, donde andan, como diseminados en grupos, restos de altares, multitud de piedras escuadradas talladas en medios relievos representando calaveras y canillas, trozos de columnas, y cornizas y estátuas caprichosas ó simbólicas.' This visitor describes most of the monuments mentioned by Stephens. The picote, or phallus, together with a sculptured head, he brought away with him. M. F. P., in Registro Yuc., tom. i., pp. 365-7.

[V-58] 'The cornice running over the doorways, tried by the severest rules of art recognised among us, would embellish the architecture of any known era, and amid a mass of barbarism, of rude and uncouth conceptions, it stands as an offering by American builders worthy of the acceptance of a polished people.' Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 387-95, with plates of the whole front, an enlarged portion of the same, and the interior of the room mentioned. Norman, Rambles in Yuc., p. 149, devotes a few lines to this building, but furnishes no details.

[V-59] The front is as usual decorated with sculpture, but it is much fallen. Plate showing the front in Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., p. 397.

[V-60] Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 398-400, with cuts of the Casa de Justicia and of the Arch; the latter being also in Baldwin's Anc. Amer., p. 139.

[V-61] Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 386-7, 402-14, with cuts and plates. Norman, Rambles in Yuc., pp. 148-9, thus describes these sculptured jambs, which he found where Stephens left them placed against the walls of the room: 'They are about six feet high and two wide; the front facings of which are deeply cut, representing a caçique, or other dignitary, in full dress, (apparently a rich Indian costume,) with a profusion of feathers in his head-dress. He is represented with his arms uplifted, holding a whip; a boy before him in a kneeling position, with his hands extended in supplication; underneath are hieroglyphics. The room is small, with the ceiling slightly curved.'

[V-62] Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., p. 321; Baril, Mexique, p. 129; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 144. 'Autour de cette grande ville (Uxmal), dans un rayon de plusieurs lieues, l'œil admirait les cités puissantes de Nohcacab, de Chetulul, de Kabah, de Tanchi, de Bokal et plus tard de Nohpat, dont les nobles omules se découpaient dans l'azur foncé du ciel, comme autant de fleurons dans la couronne d'Uxmal.' Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 21.

[V-63] Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 30-8, 41-6, 124-6.

[V-64] Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 16-28, with two plates in addition to the cuts I have given. Armin, Das Heutige Mex., pp. 79-80, with two cuts, from Stephens. 'The summits of the neighboring hills are capped with gray broken walls for many miles around.' Norman's Rambles in Yuc., pp. 150-3, with view of front, copied in Democratic Review, vol. xi., pp. 536-7; Frost's Pict. Hist. Mex., pp. 78-9; and Id., Great Cities, pp. 291-5.

[V-65] Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 40-65, with plates. The cut given in the text is also given by Baldwin, Anc. Amer., as a frontispiece. Willson's Amer. Hist., p. 86.

[V-66] Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 72-8, with two plates, and cut of painting. Willson's Amer. Hist., pp. 86-7.

[V-67] Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 83-4, 87-94.

[V-68] Id., vol. ii., pp. 235-43.

[V-69] Un Curioso, in Registro Yuc., tom. i., pp. 207-8, 351.

[V-70] Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 249, 258-61, 130-5, with four plates illustrating the ruins of Chunhuhu. At Mani 'a pillory of a conical shape, built of stones, and to the southward rises a very ancient palace.' Soza, in Rio's Description, p. 7. 'On voit encore près de Mani les restes d'un édifice construit sur une colline. On appelle cette ruine le temple de las monjas del fuego.' Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 48.

[V-71] Authorities on Chichen Itza. Landa, Relacion, pp. 340-7,--Landa describing the ruins from personal observation, having been bishop of Mérida for several years, and died in the country in 1579; Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 300, 302, 304-6,--this author having visited Chichen in 1840, directed thereto by the advice of Mr Stephens, who had heard rumors of the existence of extensive remains; Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 282-324,--whose visit was from March 11 to 29, 1842, and whose description, as usual, is much more complete than that of other explorers; Norman's Rambles in Yuc., pp. 104-28,--the corresponding survey having lasted from February 10 to 14, 1842; Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 339-46, phot. 26-34,--from an exploration in 1858. Thomas Lopez Medel is also mentioned in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., pp. 38, 43, as having visited Chichen by authority of the Guatemalan government. Other authors who publish accounts of Chichen, made up from the works of the preceding actual explorers, are as follows: Armin, Das Heutige Mex., pp. 80-3; Baldwin's Anc. Amer., pp. 140-4; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 15; Frost's Great Cities, pp. 282-91; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., pp. 186, 193; Willson's Amer. Hist., pp. 79-82; Davis' Antiq. Amer., p. 6; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 144; Mayer's Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 179, cut; Democratic Review, vol. xi., pp. 534-6; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 174; Schott, in Smithsonian Rept., 1871, pp. 423-4.

[V-72] Plan from Stephens. The only other plan is that given by Norman, which, in distances and the arrangement of the buildings with respect to each other, presents not the slightest similarity with the probably accurate drawings of Stephens and Catherwood. 'The ruins of Chichen lie on a hacienda, called by the name of the ancient city.' 'The first stranger who ever visited them was a native of New-York,' Mr John Burke. First brought to the notice of the world by Friederichsthal. 'The plan is made from bearings taken with the compass, and the distances were all measured with a line. The buildings are laid down on the plan according to their exterior form. All now standing are comprehended, and the whole circumference occupied by them is about two miles ... though ruined buildings appear beyond these limits.' 'In all the buildings, from some cause not easily accounted for, while one varies ten degrees one way, that immediately adjoining varies twelve or thirteen degrees in another;' still the plan shows no such arrangement. Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 282-3, 290, 312. The modern church 'entièrement composée de pierres enlevées aux temples et aux palais dont j'allais étudier les ruines.' The proprietor 'me proposa la cession de sa propriété et des ruines pour la somme de deux mille piastres.' Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 336, 344-5. 'A city which, I hazard little in saying, must have been one of the largest the world has ever seen. I beheld before me, for a circuit of many miles in diameter, the walls of palaces and temples and pyramids, more or less dilapidated.' 'No marks of human footsteps, no signs of previous visitors, were discernible; nor is there good reason to believe that any person, whose testimony of the fact has been given to the world, had ever before broken the silence which reigns over these sacred tombs of a departed civilization.' Norman's Rambles in Yuc., pp. 108-9. Thirty-three leagues from Valladolid, and twenty-five from Mérida. 'Une grotte offre, à une profondeur de 52 pieds, un petit étang d'eau douce, auquel on descend par des degrés taillés dans le roc, et se prolongeant au-dessous de la surface de l'eau.' Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 304-6.

[V-73] 'Le bijou de Chichen pour la richesse des sculptures.' Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 342. 'The most strange and incomprehensible pile of architecture that my eyes ever beheld--elaborate, elegant, stupendous.' Norman's Rambles in Yuc., p. 119. Norman calls the building House of the Caciques.

[V-74] 'L'édifice appelé la casa de las Monjas (la maison des nonnes) est long de 157 pieds, large de 86, haut de 47. Dans la partie inférieure, il n'y a pas de trace d'ouverture. L'étage supérieur a des chambres nombreuses; les linteaux des portes sont ornés d'hiéroglyphes.' Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 305. 'La porte (east front), surmontée de l'inscription du palais, possède en outre une ornementation de clochetons de pierre qui rappellent, comme ceux des coins de plusieurs édifices, la manière chinoise ou japonaise. Au-dessus, se trouve un magnifique médaillon représentant un chef la tête ceinte d'un diadème de plumes; quant à la vaste frise qui entoure le palais, elle est composée d'une foule de têtes énormes représentant des idoles, dont le nez est lui-même enrichi d'une figure parfaitement dessinée. Ces têtes sont séparées par des panneaux de mosaïque en croix, assez communs dans le Yucatan.' 'Le développement du palais et de la pyramide est d'environ soixante-quinze mètres.' Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 342-3. Photograph 30 shows the eastern front, and 29 the northern, of the wing; 26 the north side of the building a; 27 the eastern, and 28 the southern front of the Iglesia, b. 'La façade (eastern) est même d'un beau caractère, et la composition de la porte avec le bas-relief qui la surmonte est pleine d'une grandeur sauvage, d'un effet saisissant. Mieux traités que dans les exemples précédents, l'appareil des parements est plus régulier, et il présente cette particularité très-remarquable, qu'il s'accorde exactement avec la décoration.' Viollet-le-Duc, in Id., p. 60. East wing 32 by 50 feet, and 20 feet high. 'Over the door-way ... is a heavy lintel of stone, containing two double rows of hieroglyphics, with a sculptured ornament intervening. Above these are the remains of hooks carved in stone, with raised lines of drapery running through them ... over which, surrounded by a variety of chaste and beautifully executed borders, encircled within a wreath, is a female figure in a sitting posture, in basso-relievo, having a head-dress of feathers, cords, and tassels, and the neck ornamented.' Building a, 10×35×20 feet; building b, 13×22×36 feet. Main platform 75×100 feet. 'On the eastern end of these rooms (in 1st story over the solid basement) is a hall running transversely, four feet wide ... one side of which is filled with a variety of sculptured work, principally rosettes and borders, with rows of small pilasters; having three square recesses.' Norman's Rambles in Yuc., pp. 169-73, with view of eastern front of wing, and of north front of the whole structure. 'Over the doorway (eastern front) are twenty small cartouches of hieroglyphics in four rows, five in a row.' Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., p. 293, with plates of eastern front, northern front, and the Iglesia.

[V-75] Akab-Tzib and not Akatzeeb, as Stephens spells it. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 12; Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 291-2, with plate of front and of the sculptured lintel. 'Those (rooms) fronting the south are the most remarkable, the inner doorways having each a stone lintel of an unusually large size, measuring thirty-two inches wide, forty-eight long, and twelve deep; having on its inner side a sculptured figure of an Indian in full dress, with cap and feathers, sitting upon a cushioned seat, finely worked; having before him a vase containing flowers, with his right hand extended over it, his left resting upon the side of the cushion--the whole bordered with hieroglyphics. The front part of this lintel contains two rows of hieroglyphics. 43×150×20 feet, walls 3 feet thick. Norman's Rambles in Yuc., pp. 123-4. 'Un énorme bâtiment près des Nonnes, mais totalemente dénué de sculptures.' Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 344.

[V-76] Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 311-17, with plates of north front of the castle and its pyramid, and the interior of the room, besides the cut of the monsters' heads given in my text. Bishop Landa gives a description probably intended for this edifice and even gives a plan of it. His account, except in mentioning four stairways, agrees very well with that of later visitors, and is as follows: 'This edifice has four stairways facing the four parts of the world; they are 33 feet wide, each having 91 steps, very difficult of ascent. The steps have the same height and width as ours. Each stairway has two low balustrades, two feet wide, of good stonework like all the building. The edifice is not sharp-cornered, because from the ground upward between the balustrades the cubic blocks are rounded, ascending by degrees and elegantly narrowing the building. There was, when I saw it, at the foot of each balustrade a fierce serpent's mouth very strangely worked. Above the stairways there is on the summit a small level platform in which is an edifice of four rooms. Three of them extend round without interruption, each having a door in the middle and being covered with an arch. The northern room is of peculiar form, and has a corridor of great pillars. The middle one, which must have been a kind of little court between the rooms, has a door which leads to the northern corridor and is closed with wood at the top, and served for burning perfumes. In the entrance of this door or corridor is a kind of coat of arms sculptured in stone, which I could not well understand.' Landa, Relacion, pp. 342-4. 550 feet in circumference at the base, its sides facing the cardinal points. 'The angles and sides were beautifully laid with stones of an immense size, gradually lessening, as the work approached the summit.' Stairways on north and east 30 feet wide and narrowing toward the top. The south and west slopes also mount in steps, each four feet high. Monsters' heads at foot of eastern stairway. Slope 100 feet; building 42 feet square; stone door-jambs have holes drilled through their inner angles; interior walls are plastered and painted with figures now very dim; roof perfectly flat and covered with soil. This author in his whole description evidently confounds the north with the east front. Norman's Rambles in Yuc., pp. 115-17, with view of pyramid. Charnay's phot. 32 gives a view of the Chateau. 120 feet high, 159 feet square at base; platform 60 feet square; 80 steps in the stairway. Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 304.

[V-77] 'Tenia delante la escalera del corte (of the castle) algo aparte dos teatros de canteria pequeños de a quatro escaleras, y enlosados por arriba en que dizen representavan las farsas y comedias para solaz del pueblo.' Landa, Relacion, p. 344.

[V-78] Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 303-11. Plates giving a general view of the Gymnasium, the front of the building on the eastern wall, and the painted and sculptured figures. 'Le monument se composait autrefois de deux pyramides perpendiculaires et parallèles, d'un développement de cent dix mètres environ, avec plate-forme disposée pour les spectateurs. Aux extrémités deux petits édifices semblables, sur une esplanade de six mêtres de hauteur, devaient servir aux juges, ou d'habitation aux guardiens du gymnase.' Of the two chambers on the eastern wall, 'la seconde, entière aujourd'hui, est couverte de peintures. Ce sont des guerriers et des prêtres, quelques-uns avec barbe noire et drapés dans de vastes tuniques, la tête ornée de coiffures diverses. Les couleurs employées sont le noir, le jaune, le rouge, et le blanc.... Dans le bas et en dehors du monument se trouve la salle dont nous donnons les bas-reliefs, qui sont certainement ce qu'il y a de plus curieux à Chichen-Itza. Toutes les figures en bas-relief, sculptées sur les murailles de cette salle, ont conservé le type de la race indienne existante.' Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 140-1. Phot. 33 and 34 show the sculptured procession of tigers and that of human figures, of which I have given a portion in my text. 'On observera que les joints des pierres ne sont pas coupés conformément à l'habitude des constructeurs d'appareils, mais que les pierres, ne formant pas liaison, présentent plusieurs joints les uns au-dessus des autres, et ne tiennent que par l'adhérence des mortiers, qui les réunit au blocage intérieur. Par le fait, ces parements ne sont autre chose qu'une décoration, un revêtement collé devant un massif.' Viollet-le-Duc, in Id., pp. 48-9. Walls stand on foundations about 16 feet high; columns two feet in diameter; walls 250×16×26 feet and 130 feet apart; building of southern wall (eastern, Norman having completely lost his reckoning at Chichen in the points of the compass) 24 feet high; rings two feet thick; line of rubbish in form of a curve connecting main and end walls (c and d). General view of the Temple and cut of the ring. Norman's Rambles in Yuc., pp. 111-15. Walls 262×18×27 feet. Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 305.

[V-79] Cuts from Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 300-1. Terrace 55 by 62 feet; stairway 20 feet wide; building 23 by 43. Ib. 'Foundations of about twenty feet in height, which were surrounded and sustained by well-cemented walls of hewn stone with curved angles' 240 feet in circumference. Building 21 by 40 feet. 'Across these halls were beams of wood, creased as if they had been worn by hammock-ropes.' Norman's Rambles in Yuc., pp. 124-5. Foundation only two mètres high, but photograph 31 shows this to be an error. Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 344. 'Deux petits temples (E and D), ayant leur façade au sud et à l'est; le vestibule du premier est orné d'hiéroglyphes.' Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 305.

[V-80] Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 298-300, with view of the building. This author is at fault so far as dimensions are concerned, since 4 and 5 feet, the width of the corridors, and 3¾ feet, half the diameter of the solid central mass, exceed 11 feet, half the diameter of the whole building, to say nothing of the two walls. 'Bâti en manière de mur à limaçon.' Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 344. Top of first terrace, 30 feet high, 125 feet square; second terrace 50 feet square and 12 feet high; on this terrace is a pyramidical square 50 feet high, divided into rooms; on the centre of this square is the Dome--'three conic structures, one within the other, a space of six feet intervening; each cone communicating with the others by doorways, the inner one forming the shaft. At the height of about ten feet, the cones are united by means of transoms of zuporte. Around these cones are evidences of spiral stairs, leading to the summit.' It is clear that either Stephens' description or that of Norman is very incorrect. Norman compares this Dome to a 'Greenan Temple' in Donegal, Ireland. Rambles in Yuc., pp. 118-19, with a cut which agrees with Stephens' cut and text. Tower 50 feet high, 36 feet in diameter; surrounding wall 756 feet in circumference and twenty-five feet high. Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 305.

[V-81] Four hundred and eighty bases of overthrown columns. 'Des colonnades qui, bien que d'une construction lourde, surprennent par leur étendue.' Friederichsthal, loc. cit., pp. 302, 300; Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 317-18, and view.

[V-82] 'Had the Spaniards selected this for the site of their city of Valladolid, a few leagues distant, it is highly probable that not a vestige of the ancient edifices would now be seen.' Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 174. 'Lieu qui offre beaucoup l'apparence d'une ville sainte.' Friederichsthal, loc. cit., p. 300. Dr Arthur Schott discourses, in the Smithsonian Rept., 1871, pp. 423-5, on a face, or mask, of 'semiagatized xyolite, still bearing the marks of silicified coniferous wood, a fossil probably foreign to the soil of the peninsula.' It was found at Chichen, and the Doctor thinks it may have some deep mythologic meaning, which he generously leaves to some other ethnologist to decipher. Norman, Rambles in Yuc., p. 127, states that the hewn blocks of stone at Chichen are uniformly 12 by 6 inches. M. Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 47, speaks of a reported silver collar bearing an inscription in Greek, Hebrew, and Phœnician letters, found in the 'grottes cristallines de Chixhen.' But even this enthusiastic antiquarian looks at this report with much distrust.

[V-83] Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 144; Norman's Rambles in Yuc., p. 87; Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 340-4.

[V-84] Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 272-85; Norman's Rambles in Yuc., pp. 146-7; Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 22, 70, 73, 102-3, 111; Bradford's Amer. Antiq., p. 103; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 144.

[V-85] Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 130-9, with cuts; Baldwin's Anc. Amer., pp. 127-9, with cuts. Near the village of Telchaquillo. Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 144. Surrounded by a ditch that can be traced for three miles. Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., pp. 194-5. 'Se dice que Mayapan ... estaba murada, pero fué demolida hasta sus cimientos, y únicamente los grandes montones de piedras indican que fué una gran poblacion.' Un Curioso, in Registro Yuc., tom. i., p. 206.

[V-86] 'Los españoles poblaron aqui una ciudad, y llamaronla Mérida, por la estrañeza y grandeza de los edificios.' As to the size of the pyramid mentioned it is 'mas de dos carreras de caballo'--that is twice as far as a horse can run without taking breath--in extent. The cement is made with the juice of the bark of a certain tree, 'El primero edificio de los quatro quartos nos dio el adelantado Montejo a nosotros hecho un monte aspero, limpiamosle y emos hecho en el con su propria piedra un razonable monesterio todo de piedra y una buena yglesia que llamamos la Madre de Dios.' Landa, Relacion, pp. 330-8, with cut. 'Entre aquel cerro, y otro como èl hecho à mano, que està à la parte Oriental de la Ciudad; se determinò fuesse fundada, y eran tan grandes, que con la piedra que auia en el que estaban, se obraron quantos edificios ay en la Ciudad, con que quedò todo el sitio llano, que es la Plaça mayor oy, y sus quadras en contorno, y con la del de la parte Oriental, se edifico nuestro Conuento por caerle cercano, despues se han hecho muchas casas, y todo el Conuento, y Iglesia de la Mejorada, que tambien es nuestro, y tiene material para otros muy muchos.' Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 138. 'Auia junto adonde està aora la Plaça entre otros cerros, vno que llamaban el grande de los Kues, adoratorio que era de Idolos lleno de arboleda.' Id., p. 149. Tihoo was built by the Tutul-Xius, and had a celebrated temple to Baklum-Chaam, the Maya Priapus. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 8-9. 'En el pátio del convento de S. Francisco está una cruz.... En la huerta del mismo convento se ven aun algunas piedras curiosamente labradas con cotas y morreones á la antigua romana, y púnica.' Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. ii., p. 112. The buildings were 'construits en pierres de taille fort grandes. On ignore qui les a bâtis; il paraît que ce fut avant la naissance de Jésus-Christ, car il y avait au-dessus des arbres aussi gros que ceux qui croissaient au pied. Ces bâtiments ont cinq toises de hauteur, et sont construits en pierres sèches; au sommet de ces édifices sont quatre appartements divisés en cellules comme celles des moines; ils ont vingt pieds de long et dix de large; les jambages des portes sont d'un seul morceau, et le haut est voûté.' Bienvenida, Lettre, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., pp. 310-11. 'In different parts of the city are the remains of Indian buildings.' Stephens' Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 398. Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 259, says that Mérida is built on the ruins of Mayapan. Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 465, confounds Mérida with the ruins farther south, mentioned by Padre Soza. See mention in Norman's Rambles in Yuc., pp. 45-8; Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 23, 55-6; Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., p. 37; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 174; Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 243-4; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 269; Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 94-8.

[V-87] Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., p. 440-4, vol. i., p. 127, with plate; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 144. 'Les monuments les plus anciens, dont les restes sont composés d'énormes blocs de pierres brutes, posés quelquefois les uns sur les autres, sans aucun ciment qui les unisse. Tels sont les édifices d'un lieu voisin de l'hacienda d'Aké, située à 27 milles à l'est-sud-est de Mérida.' Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 300.

[V-88] Stephens speaks of the 'sternness and harshness of expression' of the cara gigantesca. 'A stone one foot six inches long protrudes from the chin, intended, perhaps, for burning copal on, as a sort of altar.' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 434-6, with plate. 'Les alentours sont parsemés de pyramides artificielles, et deux, entre autres, sont les plus considérables de la péninsule.' M. Charnay finds fault with Catherwood for representing the colossal head as in a desert with a raging tiger and savages armed with bows and arrows in the foreground. 'A force de vouloir faire de la couleur locale, on fausse l'histoire, et on déroute la science.' He pronounces the face 'd'un genre cyclopéen. Ce sont de vastes entailles, espèces de modelages en ciment.' Ruines Amér., pp. 319-22, phot. 23-5. 'C'est une sorte de gros blocage dont les moellons, posés avec art par le sculpteur au milieu d'un mortier très-dur, ont formé les joues, la bouche, le nez, les yeux. Cette tête colossale est réellement une bâtisse enduite.' 'Les traits sont beaux, la bouche est bien faite, les yeux grands sans être saillants, le front, couvert d'un ornement, ne semble point fuyant. Cette tête était peinte comme toute l'architecture mexicaine.' Viollet-le-Duc, in Id., pp. 46-7. Dr Schott pronounces Mr Stephens' description unsatisfactory, especially his calling the face harsh and stern in expression. The features are feminine in their cast, and of the narrow rather than of the broad type. 'The whole face exhibits a very remarkable regularity and conforms strictly to the universally accepted principles of beauty.' 'The head-dress in the shape of a mitre is encircled just above the forehead by a band, which is fastened in front by a triple locket or tassel.' This author identities the face as that of Itzamatul, the semi-divine founder of Izamal, and explains the signification of each particular feature. His treatise is perhaps as intelligible and rational as most speculation on such topics, but it is to be noted that the Dr founds his conclusions on Clavigero's description of the Toltecs! It would be hard to prove that the cara gigantesca does not represent this particular hero, and that the large ears are not emblems of wisdom. Dr Schott pronounces it 'hazardous' to attempt to connect this face with any other than Itzamatul, and I prefer to run no risks. Smithsonian Rept., 1869, pp. 389-93. Norman, Rambles in Yuc., p. 79, speaks of a well on the platform of one of the pyramids. 'Dans ses flancs, la colline sacrée recélait de vastes appartements, des galeries et un temple souterrain, destinés, dit-on, aux mystères de la religion et à servir de nécropole aux cadavres des prêtres et des princes.' The grave of Zamná was here, and his followers erected the pyramid. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 79. History of the pyramids, see Id., tom. ii., pp. 47-8. 'On trouva dans un édifice en démolition une grande urne à trois anses, recouverte d'ornements argentés extérieurement, au fond duquel il y avait des cendres provenant d'un corps brûlé, parmi lesquelles nous trouvâmes des objets d'art en pierre.' 'Statues en demi-bosse, modelées en ciment que je dis se trouver dans les contreforts, et qui sont d'hommes de haute taille.' Landa, Relacion, pp. 326-30, with plan. 'Ay en este pueblo de Ytzamal cinco cuyos ó cerros muy altos, todos levantados de piedra seca, con sus fuerças y reparos, que ayudan á levantar la piedra en alto, y no se ven edificios enteros oy, mas los señales y vestigios están patentes en uno dellos de la parte de mediodia.' One altar was in honor of their king or false god Ytzmat-ul, and had on it the figure of a hand, being called Kab-ul, or 'working hand.' Another mound and temple in the northern part of the city, the highest now standing, was called Kinich-Kakmó, or 'sun with fiery rayed face.' Another, on which the convent is founded, is Ppapp-Hol-Chac, 'house of heads and lightnings.' Another in the south called Hunpictok, 'captain with an army of 8000 flints.' Lizana, Devocionario, 1663, in Landa, Relacion, pp. 348-64.

[V-89] Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 137-232, with plates and cuts; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 144; Baldwin's Anc. Amer., pp. 101, 146-7; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 20-3.

[V-90] On these east coast buildings seen by Córdova, Grijalva, and Cortés, see Diaz, Itinéraire, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., pp. 5-9; and in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 282-6; Cortés, Vida, in Id., p. 339; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., pp. 497, 505-7; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 352; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. iii., cap. i.; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 22-4; Id., Hist. Ind., fol. 60; Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. iii.; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 4; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 41; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 181; Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 241-4; Folsom, in Cortés, Despatches, p. 20.

[V-91] Voy. Pitt., p. 102.

[V-92] Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 387-409, with plates and cuts.

[V-93] 'They founde auncient towers there, and the ruines of such as hadde beene broken downe and destroyed, seeming very auncient: but one aboue the rest, whereto they ascended by 18 steppes or staires, as they ascende to famous, and renowned temples.' Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. iii. Grijalva found a tower 'xviii gradi de altura et tutta massiza al pede et tenia a torno clxxx piedi, et incima de essa era una torre piccola la quale era de statura de homini doi uno sopra laltro.' Diaz, Itinerario, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 284, 287. See also the authorities referred to in note 89. Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 362-80, with cut; Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., p. 321; Gondra, in Album Mex., tom. i., p. 239; Mayer's Mex., Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 169; Baril, Mexique, p. 129; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 145.

[V-94] Córdova found here in 1517 'torres de piedra con grados y capillas cubiertas de madera y paja en que por gentil orden estauan puestos muchos idolos, que parecian mugeres.' Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 60; Cortés, Vida, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 339; Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 415-17, with plate.

[V-95] Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 102. 'Une ville entière offre ses ruines aux investigations des archéologues.' Baril, Mexique, p. 129; Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., p. 321.

[V-96] Dampier's Voyages, vol. ii., pt. ii., pp. 10-11; Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., p. 418.

[V-97] 'Tout près du rio Lagarto se voient deux pyramides, au sommet desquelles croissent maintenant des arbres élevés et touffus.' Baril, Mexique, p. 129; Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 102.

[V-98] Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 427-30, with plate.

[V-99] Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 189, 199-220; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 144.

[V-100] 'The whole of Campeachy rests upon a subterraneous cavern of the ancient Mayas. It is now difficult to ascertain whether these quarries or galleries, which, according to the traditions of the country, are understood to be immense, served for the abode of the people who executed the work. Nothing reveals the marks of man's sojournings here; not even the traces of smoke upon the vaults were visible. It is more probable that the greater part of this excavation was used as a depository for their dead. This supposition has been strengthened by the discovery of many openings of seven feet deep by twenty inches in breadth, dug horizontally in the walls of the caverns. These excavations, however, are few; and the galleries have been but little investigated and less understood.' Mr Norman sent some of the skeletons discovered here to Dr Morton, who pronounced them to present many of the characteristics of the natives at the present time. Norman's Rambles in Yuc., pp. 211-18, with plates. Sr Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex. (Mex. 1846) tom. iii., pp. 95-8, pl. xviii., gives engravings of four of these idols in Norman's collection, erroneously stating that they are from Stephens' work. 'I have seen some of his (Norman's) remarkable antiquities, as Penates, hieroglyphics,' etc. Davis' Antiq. Amer., p. 12. The above notice, given by Mr Norman is an almost literal translation of Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 10; as is also the account by I. R. Gondra, in Album Mex., tom. i., p. 162. Mention of the Champoton ruins in Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 102; Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., p. 321; Baril, Mexique, p. 128. Córdova in 1517 saw at Campeche 'vn torrejoncillo de piedra quadrado y gradado, en lo alto del qual estaua vn ydolo con dos fieros animales alas hijadas, como que lo comian. Y vna sierpe de quarenta y siete pies larga, y gorda quanto vn buey, hecha de piedra como el ydolo.' Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 61. 'On ne rencontre ni dans l'île de Carmen ni sur les bords de la Lagune aucun tumulus, aucune ruine, aucun vestige enfin de l'industrie des temps passés.' Description of the Camacho collection in Campeche, consisting of 'figurines et des vases d'argile portant encore des traces de peinture et de vernis, des instruments de musique, de menus objets de parure, des haches, des fers de lance en silex ou en obsidienne.' Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., pp. 226, 167-8. The Camacho Museum contains 'Una numerosa colleccion de ídolos de barro y piedra.... Una urna cineraria que contiene los restos de un hombre.... Una coleccion de vasos, jarros, cántaros y fuentes de piedra y barro, adornados, muchos de ellos, con geroglíficos y con pinturas vivas, frescas y bien conservadas. Una colleccion de lanzas, flechas, dardos y demas instrumentos de guerra.... Casi todos estos instrumentos son de pedernal. Otra coleccion de flautas y otros instrumentos músicos, de barro. Otra id. de zarcillos, cuentas y adornos de piedra.... Otra id. de lozas sepulcrales.... Una multitud de fragmentos arquitectónicos.' Registro Yuc., tom. i., pp. 373-4. 'Le canton qui s'étend de la côte de la lagune de Jerm, vers le nord-est, offre sur-tout une suite presque continue de monticules et de villes, jusqu'au point où il atteint le sanctuaire de l'île de Cozumel.' Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 299-300. 'Une foule de ruines d'une grande importance.' Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 67.

[V-101] Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 193; Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 341, 122, vol. i., p. 415; Landa, Relacion, pp. 344, 330; Lizana, in Id., p. 358; Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 321-2; Registro Yuc., tom. i., p. 366.

[V-102] 'La piedra margosa de que están formados tales edificios, es ademas generalmente considerada como un material muy inferior para la construccion.' Friederichsthal, in Dicc. Univ., tom. x., p. 292. The blocks 'ont une transparence troublée comme celle du gypse. Il est probable ... que c'est du véritable carbonate calcaire.' Zavala, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 34. 'A soft coralline limestone of a comparatively recent geological formation, probably of the Tertiary period.' Foster's Pre-Hist. Races, p. 398.

[V-103] 'La poca mezcla que se advierte en ellos, es fina, tersa y tan compacta por su particular beneficio, que tomada entre los dedos una pastilla, cuyo grueso es poco mayor que el de un peso fuerte, da sumo trabajo quebrantarla.' L. G., in Registro Yuc., tom. i., p. 277. 'Ces mortiers sont faits avec une chaux hydraulique presque pure, et ont une si complète adhérence, soit dans les massifs, soit même lorsqu'ils sont appliqués comme enduits, comme à Palenqué, qu'à peine si le marteau peut les entamer.' Viollet-le-Duc, in Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 59-60.

[V-104] Jones says 'The term "triangular Arch" cannot be admitted by the language of Architecture; he (Mr Stephens) might as well have written triangular semicircle, terms distinctly opposed to each other.' Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 100. 'Los techos, sin variacion alguna entre sí, representan una figura ojiva, muy conocida de los árabes, y repetidamente citada por el recomendable Victor Hugo en su obra de Nuestra Sra. de Paris.' L. G., in Registro Yuc., tom. i., p. 277. 'On dit en espagnol de boveda, qui n'exprime aucunement cette architecture toute particulière; boveda veut dire voûte, et ces intérieurs n'y ressemblent nullement; ce sont deux murs parallèles jusqu'à une hauteur de trois mètres, obliquant alors l'un vers l'autre, et terminés par une dalle de trente centimètres.' Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 342-3.

[V-105] Friederichsthal erroneously says the wooden lintels are always sculptured, and that each room has air-holes above the cornice, both square and round, from 3 to 5 inches in diameter. Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 311.

[V-106] Mr Jones believes that the ornaments on the Maya façades must have been sculptured after the stones in a rough state had been put in place, and not before, as Mr Stephens thinks. Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 92. The following is Mr Waldeck's not very clear explanation of the mode of decorating these façades. 'Voulaient-ils couvrir une façade d'ornements ou de figures symboliques, ils commençaient par peindre la muraille toute entière de la couleur qu'ils avaient choisie; presque toujours c'était le rouge qui formait le fond.... Cette première opération terminée, on posait sur le mur peint la marqueterie en pierre qui devait servir d'ornement et on la badigeonnait avec plus de soin que le fond. Le bleu était employé dans ce travail.' Voy. Pitt., pp. 72-3. 'In the Mayan delineations of the human countenance the contracted facial angle is as remarkable as in the paintings of the Aztecs.' Prichard's Researches, vol. v., p. 346. See Foster's Pre-Hist. Races, p. 302. 'On retrouve chez quelques-uns de ces Indiens les traits bien accentués de la race au front fuyant et au nez busqué, qui construisit les palais d'Uxmal, de Palenque, et de Chichen-Itza. Je fus frappé de cette analogie, quoique la similitude soit loin d'être parfaite, les artistes nationaux ayant exagéré vraisemblablement certains caractères qui constituaient alors l'idéal de la beauté.' Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 147.

[V-107] Foster's Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 212-13.

[V-108] 'Depuis le cap Catoche jusqu'au pied de la Cordillère centrale, analogie frappante dans le caractère, l'ensemble et les proportions des diverses parties des ouvrages.' 'Quant à l'impression que fait éprouver l'examen de l'architecture de tous ces édifices, je dois ajouter que les idées fines de l'artiste ont évidemment été exécutées d'une manière qui ne les rend nullement.' 'Toutefois on rencontre, notamment à Uxmal, des preuves suffisantes qu'ils étaient parvenus à plus de dextérité dans quelques-unes de leurs sculptures. On reconnaît leur addresse à représenter les formes humaines, dans les idoles et les figures en argile.... Ces ouvrages sont supérieurs, sous tous les rapports de l'art, à tout ce que cette nation a produit.' Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 303, 312. 'Esa bella y elegante arquitectura, esos soberbios é imponentes adornos, superiores á todo lo que hasta hoy ha podido verse y concebirse.' 'Ruinas soberbias, que agobian la imaginacion y oprimen el entendimiento.' Id., in Dicc. Univ., tom. x., p. 291. 'The splendid temples and palaces still standing attest the power of the priests and of the nobles; no trace remains of the huts in which dwelt the mass of the nation.' Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 174. Uxmal 'the American Palmyra.' Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 144. 'El primer golpe de vista de su conjunto, es grandioso, es imponente. Examinandolos luego en detall, causa admiracion el distinto órden de arquitectura que se nota en cada edificio, la elegancia caprichosa de sus formas, la abundancia y riqueza del material que interior y exteriormente es todo de piedra de sillería, el lujo prodigioso de los adornos variados hasta lo infinito de un modo raro, original y nunca visto, y la perfeccion y maestría con que todo ha sido ejecutado.' 'Nótase en Uxmal ... la infancia del arte en punto á estatuaria.' M. F. P., in Registro Yuc., tom. i., pp. 363, 365. 'En somme, les ruines d'Uxmal nous paraissent être la dernière expression de la civilisation américaine; nulle part un tel assemblage de ruines, maisons particulières, temples et palais.' Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 374. 'La arquitectura de Uxmal brillante en su perspectiva, es complicada y simétrica en sus dibujos, robusta en sus cimientos y terraplenes, simbólica en sus geroglíficos y figuras humanas ... y bastante delicada en sus cornizas y molduras.' L. G., in Registro Yuc., tom. i., p. 277. 'The sculpture at Uxmal is not only as fine, but distinctly of a Grecian character.' Jones' Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 107. 'Plusieurs de ces constructions ne laissent rien à désirer au point de vue du bon goût et des règles de l'art.' Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 193. M. Viollet-le-Duc's conclusions and speculations are mostly directed to prove that the builders were of mixed race, white and yellow, Aryan and Turanian. He supports his theory by a study of the faces among the sculptured decorations, and by pointing out in the buildings traditions of structures in wood, and also the use of mortar, the use of wood and mortar being peculiar, as he claims, to different races. Charnay, Ruines Amér., introd. 'These antiquities show that this section of the continent was anciently occupied by a people admirably skilled in the arts of masonry, building, and architectural decoration.' Baldwin's Anc. Amer., p. 101. 'The builders of the ruins of the city of Chi-Chen and Uxmal excelled in the mechanic and fine arts. It is obvious that they were a cultivated, and doubtless a very numerous people.' Norman's Rambles in Yuc., p. 175. 'Ohne Zweifel zu den herrlichsten Amerikas gehören.--Welch riesenhafte Bauten für eine Nation, die alles mit steinernen Instrumenten arbeitete!' Heller, Reisen, p. 260.

[V-109] Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 93-9, 140, 274, 322-5, 413, vol. ii., pp. 264-73, 306, 343, 406.

[V-110] 'Dilato la fundacion de Uxmal á 150 ó 200 años ántes del de 1535, en que tuvo efecto la conquista del pais por los españoles.' L. G., in Registro Yuc., tom. i., p. 276. 'Aunque el mar de conjeturas que las cubre sea muy ancho, y de libre navegacion para todo el mundo, creo, sin embargo, que lo ménos ridículo y mas acertado es no engolfarse en él.' M. F. P., in Id., p. 363. Cogolludo found in the Casa del Adivino at Uxmal traces of recent sacrificial offerings. Hist. Yuc., p. 193. 'Fassen wir nun diess alles zusammmen, so haben wir in den Ruinen Uxmals echte Denkmäler tultekischer Kunst von einem Alter von ungefähr 800 Jahren.' Heller, Reisen, p. 264. 'Elles paraissent, en majeure partie, appartenir à l'architecture toltèque et dater d'au moins mille ans.' Baril, Mexique, p. 128,. Friederichsthal, in Registro Yuc., tom. ii., pp. 437-43, and many others regard the Yucatan and other Central American ruins as the work of the Toltecs. See vol. ii., cap. ii., and vol. v. of this work on this point. Uxmal generally regarded as having been founded by Ahcuitok Tutul-Xiu between 870 and 894 A. D. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 22. Chichen seems older than the other ruins. The Maya MS. places its discovery between 360 and 432 A. D. Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., p. 323. 'Uxmal is placed by us as the last built of all the Ancient Cities as yet discovered on the Western Continent.' Jones' Hist. Anc. Amer., pp. 104, 101. 'Evidently the city of Chi-Chen was an antiquity when the foundations of the Parthenon at Athens, and the Cloaca Maxima at Rome, were being laid.' The ruins of Yucatan 'belong to the remotest antiquity. Their age is not to be measured by hundreds, but by thousands of years.' Norman's Rambles in Yuc., pp. 177-8. See Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 71, 97-8; Prescott's Mex., vol. iii., pp. 412-13; Foster's Pre-Hist. Races, p. 398.