Estate—Merida—Historical Jottings—Destruction of
    all the Documents by the Historian Landa—Municipal
    Palace—Cathedral—The Conqueror’s House—Private Houses—Market
    Place—Maya Race—Types—Manners and Customs of the
    Mayas—Deformation and Tattooing—Meztizas—Dwellings—Suburbs.

We will next proceed to the study of the Toltec branch which penetrated
the Yucatan peninsula by Patonchan, and from which the reigning family
of the Cocomes were descended.

The main harbour on the north-east coast was formerly Sisal, but the
requirements of an increasing trade have moved it on to Progreso, where
we cast anchor in a gale of wind which obliged us to remain five or
six miles outside, to keep clear of the shoals which make this coast
dangerous. We land with considerable difficulty at last, and are not
sorry to get rid of the unpleasant sensation known as sea-sickness. The
peninsula has no rivers and no water, and is of calcareous formation;
flat and barren to the north, where the soil is but few inches deep;
more hilly and productive towards the centre, because of its older
formation; it rises to the south to the Sierra Madre, which runs
through Central America.

The direction of Yucatan is from north to south, between the eighth and
twelfth degree longitude east of Mexico, and between the eighteenth and
twenty-second degree of latitude. The first to mention it is Columbus,
who, on July 30th, 1502, finding himself at Pine Island, saw a large
barque manned by twenty-four rowers, having a cacique and family on
board, dressed in the costume known since as Yucatec; the boat was
freighted with cacao, tortillas, and a beverage made of Indian corn,
wooden swords with blades of obsidian, copper axes, and cotton tissues
as soft as silk, dyed in brilliant hues.

    JOURNEY TO YUCATAN and to the country of THE LACANDONS by D.
    Charnay 1882 ]

A reasonable doubt may be entertained as to this canoe, said to have
measured 8 feet wide, having come from Yucatan, a country by its nature
exceedingly dry, arid, stony, and without rivers, circumstances hardly
favourable to making sailors of its inhabitants; moreover, copper axes
and obsidian blades were scarce among the Mayas, and the Spaniards,
under Grijalva, never met them until they reached Tabasco.[101] It
seems, therefore, probable, that the canoe came from Tabasco, a region
civilised like Yucatan, intersected by large rivers, clad with an
exuberant vegetation, noble cedar and mahogany trees, from which to
build capacious boats. As for the dress, it is nearly the same as that
worn by the Mayas; but what is even more significant is that cocoa
is one of the chief productions of Tabasco, and is only known as an
importation in Yucatan,[102] except indeed towards Patonchan, where, at
the time of the Conquest, the vegetation was as vigorous, and cacao as
extensively cultivated as in Tabasco. The Maya language was common to
both districts. Had Columbus followed the canoe, he would have added to
his own the glory Cortez achieved later; at all events he had been the
first to discover the central regions of America.

The first to visit Yucatan was Vincente Yanez Pinzon, who with Diaz
Solis, in 1505, coasted the eastern side, without, however, identifying
it. In 1511, Valdivia was wrecked on the Alacranes reefs on his way
to Cuba; he and his crew effected a landing, when the only survivors
of the ill-usage of the natives were Gonzalo Guerrero and Geronimo de
Aguilar, of whom I shall speak later. In 1517, Cordova sailed along the
northern coast, where he observed great cities and high pyramids; he
landed at Campeche, and saw stately temples, having serpentine walls
in relief, similar to that of the great temple in Mexico, dedicated to
Cukulcan (Quetzalcoatl). He landed at Patonchan or Champeton, when the
natives massacred fifty-seven of his companions. It would seem strange
that Cortez, in all his encounters with the natives of the Uplands,
should have had so few casualties, were it not known that they strove
to take their enemies alive that they might offer them on the altar
of their deities. To this prevailing custom Cortez twice owed his
life during the siege of Mexico, but as he was being led away to be
sacrificed to their war-god he was both times rescued by his companions.

In Yucatan and Tabasco, where Aztec influence was of recent date, the
introduction of human sacrifice comparatively new, the natives killed
rather than captured their enemies; and this explains the great losses
sustained by the Spaniards in the peninsula, and is another proof of
Toltec teachings in these districts.

In 1518, Grijalva landed at Cozumel, when he perceived on the opposite
coast a city supposed to be Tuloom-Pamal or Paamul; he followed the
route of his predecessor and halted in the Islands of Sacrificios and
Uluo, opposite the site of future Vera Cruz; and lastly Cortez, who, in
1519, found here Aguilar and further on in Tabasco Marina.

The name of Yucatan is variously derived from _Chacnuitan; Tectecan,
tectetan_, “we don’t understand,” from a misunderstanding by the
Spaniards when the natives were questioned about the name of their
country; or from _Yuca-Tan_, “land of yuca,” not to be confounded
with the yuca of our gardens, for the former yielded a substance out
of which the Spaniards made _cazabe_, bread; and _Ciu-Than_, “say
yourself,” or, according to Landa, _Ulumil y etel Ceh_, “land of
turkeys and deer.” Another authority, Ramesal, believes the name to
be derived from Tectetan-Ylatli and Teloquitan;[103] Cogolludo adopts
these various appellations, remarking that as the country was named
after its chief city, it differed at each successive epoch, being
in ancient times Mayapan, but in the time of the writer Campeche.
Ternaux-Compans declares that from the fall of Mayapan to the coming
of the Spaniards, the country had no general name, but was severally
called after each province, as district of Choaca, Bakhalal, Campeche,
etc.; but there is little doubt that the name of Yucatan, at the
coming of Europeans and afterwards, was Maya. However that may be, we
will turn to the monuments, which afford a far surer guide whereon to
construct a history of this country so rich in works of “los antiguos.”

[Illustration: PANORAMIC VIEW OF MERIDA.]

Progreso is a miserable hamlet surrounded by low-lying swamps; here the
luggage is examined, but in our case only _pro formâ_, and we are glad
to resume our seats and to steam out of this unhealthy zone, although
the country we traverse, on which nothing grows save brambles and
brushwood, is no less flat or monotonous. We come presently to immense
estates of _henequen_, a kind of agave, having long narrow leaves,
yielding a solid shining thread, which is hardly known out of American
markets; patches of verdure, bananas, palm-trees, and maritime pines,
betray now and again a private residence, while smoking mills show the
factories where the henequen is being prepared ready for exportation.

Were it not for the mysterious spirit of “los antiguos,” which seems to
fill the whole country, the landscape to a less enthusiastic explorer
must appear dreary and melancholy in the extreme. We pass eminences on
our right on which once stood noble temples; these remains carry me
back to the time when I first visited these parts, and when these ruins
fixed my resolve to make archæology the business of my life. Next came
a few straggling hamlets; groups of dark women in short petticoats,
and naked urchins, gaze on us with wondering eyes as they stand at the
entrance of their huts while we speed along. We reach Merida after a
run of three hours over a distance of ten leagues, where we learn that
no hotel or house is to be found, and it is only after searching the
whole place that we can at last secure a room of some fifteen feet
square, in which my two companions and myself have to settle down.
There is but one atrociously bad restaurant where to get any kind of
food; our thoughts, however, are taken up with exploring the ruins
rather than with a good _maître d’hôtel_; we find, besides, a small
Anglo-American colony, and in their midst our abominable fare is soon
forgotten.

Francisco de Montejo, who founded Merida, had occupied Chichen in
1527, but had been compelled to abandon it and seek reinforcements in
Mexico. On his return he was enabled, through a traitorous cacique,
to establish himself here, and built Merida in 1542. The conquest of
Yucatan was longer and beset with greater difficulties than that of
Mexico; here the Spaniards were continually threatened by a warlike
population, ever on the alert to raise the standard of rebellion.
The history of this people can only be read on the monuments they
have left, which have given rise to so many divergent hypotheses. Yet
documents were not wanting, and had the religious zeal of the men of
that time been less ill-judged, they would have found in the various
and multiform manuscripts, in the charts or maps, in the idols, in
the pottery and living traditions, ample and reliable materials from
which to write an exhaustive history of the Maya civilisation. But the
Spaniards were more careful to demolish than to preserve. Zumarraga,
Bishop of Mexico, destroyed all the Aztec annals he could lay his
hand upon, and Landa, Bishop of Merida, made an auto-da-fé of all
the monuments he could collect, having done which, he set himself to
writing his history, “De las Cosas de Yucatan.”[104]

All there now remains for us are mere gleanings, the interpretation
of certain passages in this very Landa, in Cogolludo and Herrera,
and above all by a careful comparison between these monuments and
bas-reliefs with those we already know; for with their help only can
we hope to reconstruct a past which becomes more familiar the more it
is studied. These monuments have been endowed with fabulous antiquity;
whereas, on the strength of my explorations, I assert that they are
comparatively recent.

Merida stands on the site of ancient _Ti-hoo_ or _T-hoo_, one of the
chief cities of the peninsula; but nothing positive is known, and
tradition is almost silent respecting it. If we are to believe the
Spaniards, it had long been abandoned on their arrival; but this is
not borne out by facts, for although they beheld a dense vegetation
amidst the pyramids, the edifices on their summits were entire;[105]
moreover, Montejo was able to quarter his troops here, as well as
the Indian contingent from Mani. Furthermore, Eligio Ancona, the
modern Yucatec historian, describes a celebrated sanctuary known as
_H-Chun-Caan_, “The centre and foundation of heaven,” which was the
object of great veneration; it follows therefore that its imposing
ceremonies were presided over by revered and powerful priests, that
the temples and palaces in Merida were standing after the arrival of
the Spaniards,[106] although not in the vast proportions assigned to
them by the Abbé Brasseur, whose lively imagination is apt to lead him
astray.

[Illustration: MONTEJO’S HOUSE, MERIDA.]

Merida was built with the materials of the Indian city, and like
all the Spanish places of the New World, is but a huge chess-board,
with streets running at right angles, consisting of square blocks of
buildings. The centre is occupied by a large plaza, having a waterless
fountain and gardens, the flowers of which are perishing for want
of water; as for the young trees planted about, they doubtless will
afford shade to future generations; for the present the glare of
this open space is intolerable. When I visited it some twenty years
ago, if not so symmetrical it was certainly more picturesque. In the
plaza are found the municipal palace and the cathedral, of monumental
proportions for a place of 30,000 souls; it numbered, probably, only
the third of this when it was built in 1598. Its erection cost the
pious Meridans £60,000, equivalent at the present day to fifteen times
that sum, but it is doubtful if even with its greater population so
large a sum could now be raised. The front, 179 feet wide, is occupied
by a central pavilion in which the principal entrance intervenes,
ornamented by an indifferent Corinthian portico, over which, at a
height of some 97 feet, a great vaulted arch supports an elegant
gallery; on each side of the pavilion are two steeples with a number
of galleries narrowing in upward succession, forming with their
balustrades a pleasing contrast to the plain façade. The interior
of the church, 289 feet long, is imposing; it consists of three naves
with round arches, supported by twelve immense columns, and twenty of
like dimensions imbedded in the walls. Small chapels run along the
sides, and the structure altogether bears the impress of solidity which
is so conspicuous a feature of the conquerors’ work. To the south of
the square stands Montejo’s house, bearing the date of 1541; it is the
oldest in Merida, and an interesting specimen of that epoch. It may
be worthy of mention that the sculptures in this house are as defaced
as those of the Indian monuments, which seems to indicate similarity
of date. The pillars on each side of the entrance bear aloft two
Spanish soldiers, whilst on the first floor, by the window, knights
armed cap-à-pie are standing on two recumbent Indians, personating
the subjugation of the race. The façade with its columns, statues,
arabesques, and shields, is a fair specimen of American Renaissance;
but if the composition was Spanish, the work, probably, was due to
Indian hands, for at the time of its erection the Spaniards were a
handful of soldiers or adventurers, whose pride would not have suffered
them to do any manual labour.

[Illustration: CATHEDRAL.]

Artisans were plentiful among the Mayas, who have interspersed their
country with so many remarkable monuments, and whose building aptitude
is notable even at the present day. Beside these edifices the town,
with very few exceptions, is an assemblage of low houses having but
the ground floor, while all the windows are stoutly grated to secure
the inmates against housebreakers. But the impression produced by this
unpromising exterior soon gives place to agreeable surprise on being
introduced into spacious apartments opening on the “patio,” encompassed
by Moorish cloisters. The patios are planted with flowers, shrubs,
and palm-trees, which, towering above the terraced roofs, break the
monotonous lines of the town panorama. Our cut shows Don Alvaro Peon’s
house with its charming gallery on the first floor.

[Illustration: DON ALVARO PEON’S HOUSE.]

All movement and life centre towards the market-place, where Spaniards,
Indians, and Meztizos are seen in their picturesque costumes; sellers
are crying out their goods, consisting of pottery and baskets, the
facsimiles of those we bought at Tula; somewhat further we come across
some natives bending under heavy loads of “ramon,” the green twigs
of a particular tree, affording the only forage in a country without
grass. Here young caballeros are stopped by cumbrous carts taking up
the whole street with their enormous bales of henequen; further on,
women in snowy white costumes sit in long rows, offering with a pretty
grace their small stock-in-trade spread before them. Among this motley
crowd I spied a diminutive “aguador” looking so bonnie that I wished
to take his photograph, making his less favoured companions envious
thereat.[107]

[Illustration: FRUIT SELLERS.]

The Mayas, both in type and language, are unlike both the surrounding
tribes and those of the plateaux; they are said to be an ancient race,
but this assumption is based on no positive proof. Cogolludo believes
the first inhabitants to have come from Cuba; and Agassiz, who studied
these tribes in their respective homes, leans to the same opinion.
Traditions and ancient writers, confirmed in modern times by Humboldt,
all are unanimous in asserting that this country was invaded towards
the end of the eleventh and the beginning of the twelfth century by
the Toltecs.[108] Granted their building genius, seeing that both the
architecture and the decorations of the edifices correspond to the
descriptions left by historians respecting Toltec palaces and temples
of the Uplands, we are in a position to affirm that there was no other
civilisation in Central America except the Toltec civilisation, and
that if another existed, our having met with no trace of it gives us
the right to deny it altogether.

When two civilisations come in contact, the outcome is a mixture of
both which is easy of recognition. Take as an instance India after
the Mohammedan Conquest, where Indo-Arabic monuments are notable to
the most inexperienced eye. If, therefore, Yucatan had possessed an
indigenous civilisation, we should certainly have found monuments or
ruins indicating as much; or if destroyed by time, we should have
found others of a composite character, showing the fusion of the two
races, whereas nothing of the kind occurs, and the older monuments,
or those which appear so, are in no respect different from the more
recent or Toltec ones. Consequently the Mayas, who were peculiarly
well fitted for receiving a superior culture, had their share in the
artistic manifestations to be met with through the length and breadth
of the peninsula, and being the stronger nationality they opposed a
stouter and longer resistance to the hated invaders. Even now, after
three centuries of degrading oppression, a Maya, or Maya-Toltec,
preserves distinctive characteristics by which he can be singled out
from among a number of different nationalities, nor would it be easy to
find among the rural classes of Europe men of a better build, or with
more intelligent and open countenances. Their heads are round, their
eyes black, their noses arched, their ears and mouth small, they are
deep-chested, straight-jawed, with round chin and sound square teeth,
their hair is black, straight, and coarse, their complexion reddish
brown.

[Illustration: MAYA TYPES.]

The form of government was monarchical and almost absolute; below were
the nobles, the priests, the people, and the slaves. Such a partition,
amounting to almost castes, presupposes an anterior conquest. The
lands were divided between the crown, the nobility, the temples, and
the people. The division was by no means equal, by far the greater
proportion being appropriated by the king, the aristocracy, and the
temples. The lands of the people were the common property of the
community and not of individuals. Every member of the community had
a portion suitable to his position and requirements, which he was
entitled to hold as long as he cultivated it. As the soil was very
poor, no plough was used in ancient times, nor later by the Spaniards.
Four-fifths of the land was suffered to lie fallow, and every five
years the brushwood was cut down and burnt to manure the ground ready
to receive the Indian corn. The work was chiefly done by men; the women
planting the seed, husking the corn, and doing such light labours as
were suitable to their weaker frames. The peasants were bound to till
the land for their lord, to supply him with game, fish, flowers, salt,
and other comforts, and to accompany him in battle.

The campaigns were short, sharp, and severe; for as commissariat was
unknown, they were generally decided in one engagement, when no pity
was shown the vanquished, no quarter given, and what could not be
plundered was destroyed. This explains the number of ruined cities
which were rebuilt and the new monuments erected after each war.
Diaz remarks that the military dress of the warriors consisted of a
breast-piece made of quilted cotton, which was completely arrow-proof,
and was adopted by the conquerors in place of their heavy steel armour.
Their head-dress was a casque ornamented with rich feathers, prominent
amongst which were the quetzal. The rank and file wore no clothing
except the _maxtli_ in battle, but by painting their faces and bodies
in grotesque patterns of brilliant colours, and covering their heads
with raw cotton, they presented a fierce and gaudy appearance. Painting
the face and body with red, black, and white was universal; on the
return from an expedition the warrior’s paint was substituted for
tattooing. “Stripes, serpents, animals, and birds,” says Cogolludo,
“were the favourite devices for this kind of decoration, according to
their military order; the warrior being entitled to a fresh hieroglyph
after each notable feat of arms, an old veteran came to have his whole
body covered with them.”

Owing to the warm climate the Maya dress was simple and scanty in
the extreme. Men wore almost universally the _maxtli_ (a long strip
of cotton cloth, wound round the loins); children up to two years of
age wore no clothes at all; the baby girls, like those in Java, had a
string round their waist, from which depended a shell, the removal of
which was looked upon as sinful. The dress of the nobles, both men and
women, consisted of loose tunics and flowing mantles dyed in brilliant
and variegated colours. The hair was worn short, cut in a fringe on
the forehead; no beard was allowed, and the few hairs that made their
appearance on the face were immediately extracted. Squinting was
fashionable, and mothers ensured it for their daughters by suffering a
tuft of hair to hang over their eyes. Their ears, nose, and lips were
adorned with jewels. Cranial disfigurement seems to have been confined
to the priests and nobles.[109] According to Landa,[110] four or five
days after birth the child was laid with the face down on a bed of
osiers, and the head compressed between two pieces of wood, one on the
forehead and the other on the back, the boards being kept in place for
several days until the desired cranial flattening was effected. This
Spartan process was often attended with disastrous results. Tamenes
practised this flattening on the forehead only, which was thus better
adapted to the carrying of burdens. Disfigured Tamenes skulls were
found by us at Teotihuacan, and on the pottery of Vera Cruz.

Eligio Ancona draws a mournful picture of the Mayas before the
Conquest: “They were much oppressed by the king, the nobles, and in a
special manner by the restless and ambitious caciques constantly at
war with each other; the education of the youth of both sexes rested
entirely with the priests, the clans of the people were ignorant and
degraded; men were sold in the market or sacrificed on the altars;
women excluded from society and the family circle,” etc. The nation
prospered in spite of it all; the country was densely populated, while
the monuments everywhere attest that the arts flourished.

What have the Spaniards done for them? Have they relieved their misery,
dispelled their ignorance, minimised their vices? The peninsula
counted millions before the Conquest; there are not a hundred thousand
at the present day, and they are more sunk and wretched than at any
time of their existence. For a nation is always found to have the
religion and the Government best suited to its character or degree of
civilisation; let extraneous institutions, whether civil or religious,
however superior, be imposed upon them, they seem only to stultify and
dishearten a people they were not intended for.

[Illustration: MESTIZOS’ HOUSE.]

Meztizas are one of the chief attractions of Merida; they are
looked upon as an inferior caste, but this they seem to accept with
indifference, revenging themselves on society by their attractive
ways, which it is not given to man to resist; for even those who are
not beautiful, and they are few, have a winning grace, a peculiar
charm all their own. To a certain extent this is due to their becoming
costume, which consists in a loose tunic with short sleeves and square
body, leaving arms and neck bare; this tunic, _uipil_, is tastefully
embroidered at the neck, arms, and bottom with red, blue, or green
devices; the under-skirt, _fustan_, is trimmed with rich lace, while
their clustering black hair is set off by a silver arrow; they wear
rings on their fingers, and chains of gold depend from their lovely
necks, often constituting their whole dowry. Meztizos have a quarter at
the outskirts of the town allotted to them, where they inhabit oblong
thatched cottages decorated outside with a diamond pattern showing
where the lines join. It is probable that these huts are identical
with those of the Mayas of ancient days, while there is no doubt as to
the decorations being like the mouldings of the old palaces. A hamac,
one or two trunks to put their clothes in, a _butaca_ or low leather
arm-chair, compose the sole furniture of these poor dwellings. From
a little distance, the Meztizo quarter looks like a cool, pleasant
grove, for each hut stands on ground covering a quarter of an acre
planted with ramon. Meridan ladies are never seen out of doors except
at church, or during their evening drive. Church hours are unusually
early here, beginning at three a.m., when all the bells of the town are
set ringing, to awake, I suppose, a slumbering population.

Meridans are sociable and more conversant with the questions of the day
than might be expected: two scholars, Eligio and Canon Ancona, have
written both of the times preceding and those following the Conquest;
while the rising generation of men is studious, intelligent, and
manly; literary meetings, periodicals, reviews, concerts, theatres,
and dances, keep the population pleasantly occupied. The civility I
experienced with regard to my mission was very welcome and flattering
to my self-respect, the good canon presenting me with an obsidian
sceptre, a marvel of workmanship, now to be seen in the Trocadéro. This
people, unlike the Mexicans of the Uplands, are good men of business,
and what trade or industry the country possesses is entirely in their
own hands. They have the characteristics of a race in its manhood,
enduring, self-possessed, patient, and industrious. The only falling
off noticeable (due to the climate) is a diminution in their stature,
and a disproportionately large female element. Never were their
qualities better tested than during their social war, when they stood
single-handed and succeeded, after years of hard fighting and sore
distress, in recovering their municipal rights.[111]

Their soil may be poor, they may not have mineral wealth like their
neighbours, but their thrift and industrious habits bring their own
reward. It would be interesting to tell the long struggle of this
gallant people to regain their independence; suffice it to say that the
risings of the natives began in 1761, to break forth into a formidable
insurrection in 1846, which has continued with hardly any interruption
to the present day.

[Illustration: A STREET IN MERIDA.]

The Indian, whether his spirit is broken by long oppression, or from
some other cause, seems to shrink and melt away at the approach of
the white man, and to retire more and more from the beaten paths of
civilisation.

The environs of Merida are interspersed with numerous haciendas;
amongst these Ascorra is certainly one of the most picturesque. Three
_norias_, or deep wells, give ample water for the requirements of the
household, the irrigation of the garden, and the plantation.

The house, with its verandah festooned with creepers, its flower-beds,
shrubs, and palms, is a charming picture of beauty and comfort;
multitudes of ducks, mandarins, swans, and flamingoes people the
ponds, while rills of water cool the air and add to the enjoyment of
this lovely spot. Here I noticed for the first time a liana bearing
a curious large flower of 1-1/2 feet long by 9 inches wide, with a
filament of more than 1 foot 9 inches, making over 3 feet altogether.
The colour is bluish green outside, while the inside is like a spring
muslin, with red devices on a dazzling white ground, deepening down
the calyx into a rich red velvet bordered with prone hairs. The bud
resembles a web-footed animal swimming, hence its name _flor de pato_,
“duck’s flower.” It may not improperly be compared to an immense
aristochia. This liana was, I believe, imported from the Antilles; but
nothing is perfect in this world, not even this marvellous flower,
which astonished both Agassiz and myself, for no sooner is it fully
blown than it stinks so abominably that its immediate removal becomes
an imperative necessity.

To lay out this lovely garden, it was necessary to blast the rocks
forming the crust of this country; and as the work is still going on,
it enabled Mr. Agassiz to study its formation, which, like Florida,
belongs to the recent Tertiary epoch. We tarried but one day at
Ascorra, for we wished to visit the Tepich Hacienda, where the largest
henequen factory in these parts is to be seen, worked by machinery,
a great innovation for this country. The exports of this important
industry are reckoned at £600 a year. The want of hands, however,
precludes the possibility for the present of any scheme being mooted to
give it greater extension. The country is not sufficiently favoured to
tempt immigrants; unless it were Malay coolies, who would not suffer
from the climate, and who, moreover, when crossed with Meztizas or
Indian women, would produce a magnificent race.

We resume our seats for Acanceh, formerly a populous centre, as
testified by three great pyramids still extant in the plaza, which
supported ancient temples on their summits. In one of them which
furnished the material for the builders of the station, fine sculptured
blocks, like those employed at Uxmal for building purposes, were found;
together with several funeral objects, fine obsidians, a magnificent
sceptre, in my possession, and vases identical with those we unearthed
at Teotihuacan. These affinities and resemblances between Yucatec
vestiges and those of the Uplands, are of constant occurrence.

[Illustration: HACIENDA OF ASCORRA.]

[Illustration: VOLAN COCHÉ.]

CHAPTER XVI.

AKÉ AND IZAMAL.

    Departure—A Family Exploration—“Volan coché”—Tixpénal and
    Tixkokob—Cenoté—Ruins of Aké—Historical Rectification—Small
    Pyramid—Tlachtli—A Large Gallery—Explorations—A Strange
    Theory—Picoté—Architecture of Yucatan at Different Epochs.

On our return from Merida, an expedition to Aké was organised
consisting of the American Consul, Mr. Aymé, his wife, her pet dog
Shuty, and ourselves. Mr. Aymé is an energetic archæologist, well
acquainted with the ruins, so that his offer to accompany us was most
welcome. The ruins of Aké are on a hacienda which belongs to Don
Alvaro Peon, from whom a permit was easily obtained; he furnishing us
besides with a large hamper to supply our wants, which his Chinese cook
was to take to the hacienda.

Journeys in the interior of the peninsula may be performed either
by diligence or “volan coché,” a national vehicle, made entirely of
wood, save the iron tires of the wheels. An oblong box balanced on two
leather springs is placed on a heavy underframe, the bottom of the
carriage lined with a stout flax net, on which is spread a mattress,
to deaden to some extent the jolting of these abominable roads. The
coachman sits in front, while the back is occupied by the baggage; when
the _coché_ has but one occupant, he generally lies full-length on the
mattress; but if not he sits Turkish fashion, which in time becomes
very irksome to one not to the manner born; as to the natives, it seems
to be immaterial how many are packed away in a “volan.” Although well
hung, the swaying of these _cochés_ is truly amazing, especially when
the driver is drunk and sets his mules full gallop; but most wonderful
of all is that nothing ever happens, and in my numerous expeditions I
was only once upset.

Aké lies ten leagues east of Merida, which can be reached by the Izamal
road, through immense estates of agave, leaving on the right two mounds
covered with ruins and passing Tixpénal, a wretched-looking village, as
indeed is the whole country around; but the half-burnt, tumbled-down
hovels are the work of the revolted natives, who in 1846 occupied the
village and set fire to it.

Some three leagues further lies Tixkokob, where we halt to have a cup
of chocolate. The inhabitants are great hammock-makers, and through
the open doors, multicoloured nets may be descried in every stage of
progress. They are the only beds used by the natives, and cost from
half-a-crown to four shillings, but those made at Valladolid are more
expensive. Here we leave the main road for a cross path, when we may
be said to become fully acquainted with a _coché’s_ peculiarities. We
are rocked to and fro in the most alarming manner; we hold on to the
net like grim death, for fear of being pitched out on the stony road or
landed among prickly pears at every turn. It is with a sigh of relief
that we reach Ekmul, long after the curfew has been sounded, and the
place lies wrapped in the silence and deep shadows of night. We found
the hacienda strongly bolted, for the inmates had given us up; but the
loud barking of the dogs brought Don Peon’s mayor-domo, and we were soon
made at home and as comfortable as the somewhat dilapidated nature of
the dwelling would allow.

We were up at early dawn, when we found under the thatched verandah a
number of Don Peon’s servants, with hatchets and _machetes_, awaiting
our orders for clearing the main pyramid, and while so engaged, we
proposed to visit a _cenoté_ lying on the other side of a thick wood
containing various ruins. This hacienda is stocked with horned cattle,
and we were warned to provide against garrapatas, the most terrible
wood-lice in existence. We had taken, or fancied we had taken, all the
precautions which the ingenuity of man, alarmed at the approach of
danger, could devise. But against the voracity of a famished garrapata
what can avail? This insidious insect is invisible in its early youth;
thinner than the thinnest paper, it steals, it creeps in quite easily
between two stitches!

But what is a “cenoté”?

Although Yucatan is uncut by rivers or streams, an immense sheet of
water and ill-defined currents occupy its under surface; these waters
are near the surface along the coast, but low down in the interior
of the peninsula, where the calcareous layer is of great thickness.
Localities where these waters can be reached, whether through the
natural subsidence of the soil or artificial pits, receive the name of
_cenoté_. When the water flows at a slight depth, and the calcareous
layer has only been partly eaten away, there follows an irregular
sinking which forms a cave open from side to side; but when the
crust is thicker, and the stream has a regular course, the soil is
generally corroded in a circular space; and the vault thus formed
lacking support, falls in, when an immense open well is made, as for
instance at Chichen-Itza. Often the crust is so deep, that the soft
parts only crumble down or are carried away, leaving frequently a small
aperture towards the top, fashioning a real grotto with stalactites
and stalagmites, as at Salacun and Valladolid. It sometimes happens
that the calcareous crust is exceedingly thick, when a gigantic
subterraneous passage is formed, as at Bolonchen; in a word, all the
varieties which are produced by the silent work of an undisturbed
stream in a friable soil, may be witnessed. It is worthy of note that
most civilised centres in Yucatan rose around these natural reservoirs;
for the early settlers were probably unacquainted with the means of
sinking artificial wells or cisterns, as they did later at Uxmal.

The Aké cenoté is thirty feet below the surface, and belongs to the
early series of these natural phenomena. It forms a gigantic vault
slightly curved, to which the accidents of the rock give a picturesque
and grand aspect. The bottom is occupied by an extensive piece of clear
fresh water, peopled by a multitude of small fish some three inches
long, while thousands of swallows flit about, filling the whole place
with their joyous twitter.

We left the cenoté to come back through the woods, spying out if
peradventure we could perceive any ruins from under their deep,
green shroud, brushing unwittingly past the trailing branches of the
trees, suffocating literally in our well-closed garments; no unusual
sensation, no unseemly irritation had as yet alarmed us. Shuty was
the first to show that all was not well with her. We had already
noticed some signs of uneasiness as we emerged from the cenoté; she
would suddenly stop, to nibble her paws, or perform some extraordinary
gymnastic feat; gyrating, running, and barking joyously at the empty
space.

We came presently to some very intricate parts of the wood, when the
somewhat fictitious gaiety of Shuty turned into groans of acute agony,
rolling madly on the grass, biting herself, and howling lamentably
until her mistress took her into her arms, to find her alive with
garrapatas, as indeed we all were; there was nothing for it but to
return to the hacienda as quickly as possible, and institute a minute
and conscientious investigation. A complete change of clothes became
necessary, ere we could sit down to the very excellent breakfast
prepared for us by Don Peon’s cook; as for Mrs. Aymé and Shuty, they
did not venture on the perils of another exploration in the fated woods.

Here I again noticed the same curious phenomenon I had observed at
Palenque with regard to concentric circles in the trees; on the great
pyramid which Don Peon had caused to be cleared only six months before,
and which was now thickly covered with young shoots our men were fast
demolishing, I counted no less than seven or eight circles on the twigs.

The ruins of Aké are hardly known; Stephens, their only visitor besides
myself, calls the gallery “colossal, the ruins of the palace ruder,
older, and more cyclopean in aspect than any he had previously seen.”
Quoting Cogolludo, apparently from memory, he adds that the Spaniards
halted at a place called Aké, where a great battle was fought; had he
read Cogolludo properly, he would have seen that the place meant could
not be Aké, which lay out of the line of march of the conquerors. We
have had occasion to observe before that Montejo landed on the eastern
coast of Yucatan at a place now opposite to Valladolid, where he
took possession of the country; various other points are also given,
but it is certain that he made his way to Coni in Chiapas, halted at
Coba, and continued his march to Ce-Aké, where he had to fight the
Indians for two days; hence he directed his course to Chichen-Itza,
which he wished to colonise, because “its great buildings made it
easy of defence.”[112] This was in 1527; but Ce-Aké was thirty-five
leagues east of the ruins of another Aké, once a populous centre,
as shown by fifteen or twenty pyramids of all dimensions, crowned
with ruinous palaces, scattered over a space of about half a square
mile. The largest are grouped so as to form a rectangle, encircling
a vast courtyard, the centre of which is occupied by a large stone
of punishment called _picoté_, of universal use before and after the
Conquest, and still found at Uxmal and various other places. An old
Indian of Tenosiqué assured me that such a stone was standing some
thirty years ago in the plaza. The culprit was stripped and tied to
the _picoté_ previous to receiving the bastinado. This custom still
prevails at Tumbala, an Indian village lying between Palenque and S.
Christobal. According to the Indian moral code, punishment makes a
man clean, and I have seen natives who, to have a clear conscience,
requested a punishment no one dreamt of inflicting.

[Illustration: PLAN OF THE RUINS OF AKÉ.

    No. 1, Small Pyramid. No. 2, Tlachtli, Tennis-court. No. 3,
    Large Gallery. No. 4, Ruined Palaces. No. 5, Akabna. No. 6,
    Xnuc. No. 7, Succuna. No. 8, Picoté. No. 9, Various Ruins.]

The plan we give is, unfortunately, very incorrect, but such as it
is it will enable the reader to follow out our description of the
ruins. To the north-west is a three-storeyed pyramid like those at
Palenque, built with large blocks laid together without mortar, about
40 feet high, crowned by a small structure whose roof has crumbled away
but whose walls are still standing. We recognise the same style of
structure we observed at Tula and Teotihuacan, a style we shall meet
again both in Yucatan and in the district of the Lacandones. It may
be stated that pyramids with esplanades, both here and at Palenque,
although built with large stones, are smaller than those of the
monuments in other places, and if the blocks were laid in mortar it has
crumbled away like the cement which formed the outer surface.

[Illustration: SMALL PYRAMID OF AKÉ.]

The dimensions of this structure are so diminutive that it cannot have
been anything but a temple, forming part of the next monument which it
commands. The latter from its rectangular arrangement recalls to mind
the so-called fortresses at Tula and Teotihuacan, which were in reality
_tlachtli_, “tennis-courts.”

The third monument has given rise to many conjectures; it is a large
pyramid with an immense staircase, presenting a new and extraordinary
feature, entirely different from all we have seen in Yucatan. Was this
a specimen of a different civilisation, or simply a particular building
which belonged to an earlier epoch?—were the questions which presented
themselves to my somewhat bewildered imagination. This strange
monument is surmounted by thirty-six pillars (only twenty-nine are
still standing) each 4 feet square, and from 14 to 16 feet high. These
pillars are arranged in three parallel rows 10 feet apart from north
to south, and 15 from east to west; whilst the esplanade supporting
them is 212 feet long by 46 feet wide, rounded off at the extremities
like the Hunpitoc pyramid at Izamal looking north-south. Each pillar
is composed of ten square stones 3 ft. 10 in. on one side, varying in
thickness from 1 ft. 3 in. to 1 ft. 6 in. A gigantic staircase with
steps some 4 ft. 7 in. to 6 ft. 7 in. long and about 1 ft. to 1 ft. 6
in. thick, leads to the summit.

It was urged that all these monuments had been constructed with
uncemented stones, as neither cement nor mortar were found at Aké.
This, however, is an error, for I observed that the builders used
stones cut on the side facing the outer surface of the pillars, leaving
the inner sides uncut; and as they did not perfectly fit one into
another, but left cavities sometimes 3 inches deep, they were filled
up with fragments of stone rubble which I found, and the whole was no
doubt smoothed and polished over with mortar or cement.[113]

[Illustration: GREAT PYRAMID AND GALLERY OF AKÉ.]

But what was this singular structure intended for? If for a covered
gallery, the wood or thatch roof has long since disappeared and left
no trace. Could it have been a commemorative monument? We know not,
save that it is the only monument of the kind in Yucatan, and that
its dimensions are far from colossal. Not that theories are wanting;
some writers have gone so far as to imagine this monument to have been
erected to commemorate periods or reigns, and each block to represent
either a _ahau-katun_, “twenty-four years,” or a century, _katun_,
“fifty-two years.” Now, as there are thirty-six pillars having each
ten stones, this monument would be, by the first computation, 8,640
years old, and by the second, 18,720. It is clear that were this the
case the first stone would have disappeared long before the last one
had been placed, and that the earlier would have looked older than
the later ones, whereas the same air of decay is observable in all.
It is more simple and consistent to suppose this monument to have
been a thatched gallery which was used for games, meetings, or public
ceremonies. Its central position as regards other monuments would
seem to bear me out. Is a ruin to be interesting only in ratio of its
obscurity and antiquity?

[Illustration: PILLARS OF THE GREAT GALLERY OF AKÉ.]

After the pyramid, we visited the ruin known as _Akabna_, “House of
Darkness,” in which the rooms still standing are perfectly dark; for
the only light they receive is from a door communicating with other
apartments. Here we again find the _boveda_, the corbel roof, the
pointed arch observed in previous buildings. The Aké vault is built
with large rough blocks, which has caused these monuments to be called
cyclopean, an appellation hardly deserved, for cyclopean structures
were built with far larger blocks, irregular in shape, yet fitting so
well that it would be impossible to introduce the slightest object
between the joints, whilst the stones employed in the constructions
at Aké are uniform, consisting of thick uncut slabs, with large gaps
intervening. This I observed to Mr. Aymé: “You hold that Aké structures
were built without mortar or cement, and that no sculpture or
decoration of any kind have been found, but I lay down as a principle,
that it is altogether impossible, without wishing to deny the very
novel features of the phenomenon we are confronted with; and nothing
except the most irrefragable proofs will bring me from my position of
total denial, for I am convinced that the builders would not have left
structures so important unfinished. If these stones fitted originally,
the gaps which are noticeable would be the work of time, and this
were to give them an impossible and incredible antiquity, since the
slabs are rounded off or sharp at the edges as if quarried yesterday;
further, both in the interior or facing the walls, they are exactly in
the same condition, from which I conclude that all were originally laid
in cement, and coated over in the usual manner.”

Soon after this conversation we visited the ruin called _Knuc_, “Owl’s
Palace,” and on reaching the top of the great pyramid, the first
thing I noticed was a very pretty bas-relief of cement, consisting of
diamonds and flattened spheres, of the kind met at Palenque. This
relief formed the right side of a frame, topped by figures, traces of
which were still discernible; below the projecting cornice was a thick
coating of plaster, filling the joints, well smoothed and polished on
the surface, and also a coating of paint on the wall.

“Well,” I said to my companion, Mr. Aymé, “what do you say now?”

“That you were perfectly right.”

And, indeed, this discovery proved that the monuments could no longer
be considered the work of a different race, a different civilisation,
or a hoary antiquity. In effect, their cement decorations are similar
to those of the older edifices in Tabasco and many in Yucatan. I shall
therefore distinguish the Aké period under three heads: the _cement
epoch_, the _cement_ and _cut stone_, and the _cut stone only_, when
the builders used only the latter in their decorations, examples of
which are to be found in the later edifices at Uxmal and Kabah.

The Aké builders lived in a country where the calcareous layer was
taken up in sheets varying from 10 inches to 1 foot 7 inches thick.
They used them exactly as they came from the quarry, thus saving great
expenditure in labour. When the shell of a structure was run up, it
was thickly plastered over, painted, and ornamented with mouldings
in relief. This explains at once why the stones on the pillars of
the gallery and the blocks of the grand stairway are irregular.
The discovery of the bas-relief and cornice filled me with joyful
expectation, but although I was indefatigable in visiting the Succuna
and other nameless pyramids, I brought to light nothing more of the
kind; everything had crumbled away. Here are also found the typical
superimposed layers of cement, which we mentioned in various places
inhabited by the Toltecs.

To sum up, Aké seems to belong to the early times of the Toltec
invasion in Yucatan; an epoch which may not improperly be termed
Maya-Toltec, as the civilisation in Tabasco and Chiapas may be termed
Tzendal-Toltec, and that of Guatemala, Guatemalto-Toltec.

[Illustration: CEMENTED BAS-RELIEF OF AKÉ.]

[Illustration: SQUARE OF TUNKAS.]

CHAPTER XVII.

IZAMAL EN ROUTE FOR CHICHEN.

    Expedition to Izamal and
    Chichen-Itza—Brigands—Cacalchen—Market Place—Great
    Pyramid—Small Pyramid and Colossal Decorative
    Figures—Cemented Roads—The Convent of the Virgin at Izamal—A
    Precarious Telegraph—Tunkas—Garrison—Quintana-Roo—An Old
    Acquaintance—Citas—A Fortified Church—Troops—Opening a
    Path—Native Entertainment—Arrival at Pisté.

Our expedition to Izamal and Chichen was a somewhat serious
undertaking: we required a large number of hands for our work in
mid-forest; we should have to camp out for three weeks at least,
removed from all human habitation; finally a military escort, fifty
strong, was deemed necessary to secure us against a sudden attack from
the revolted natives, respecting whom alarming rumours of pillaging
were afloat. Our heavy baggage had been sent on, and armed with
twelve-shot Winchesters, and provided with letters from the Governor
for the officers in command of the district garrisons which were
to supply the escort, we started on January 4th, travelling over a
monotonous, dusty, abominable road. Our drivers, however, were such
good whips, that we went over the distance in no time.

There is hardly a soul to be met on the road, save at rare intervals
some carts loaded with henequen; some natives returning from the next
village, the women veiling their faces or turning their backs upon us
at our approach; now a company of reserve on their way to the front or
homeward-bound, for the borders are strictly guarded against a _coup de
main_ from the revolted natives.

We stop at Cacalchen; for our early start, the crisp morning air, and
the jolting of the road, have sharpened our appetites. We breakfast
under a shaded verandah opening into a central court planted with
cocoa-trees. We are waited upon by a very pretty Meztiza, whose fair
complexion, rosy mouth, large black eyes, and exquisite figure, are
shown to the utmost advantage in her transparent _uipil_, doing her
work with simple, quiet grace, while her presence and her bewitching
smile seem to light up the whole place. What dish would not have tasted
sweet, offered by her shapely hands?

Izamal, where we arrive at three o’clock, is an important place
numbering some five or six thousand souls. It looks beautifully white,
for it has just undergone its annual cleaning, when every building is
whitewashed in honour of the patron saint.

It has been urged by some writers that the civilisation of Yucatan and
Tabasco belonged to a remote past; but these writers often speak from
mere hearsay, accepting everything without the slightest criticism;
their accounts, however valuable, are filled with uncertainties, are
often obscure and contradictory, so that they may be made to square
with the idiosyncrasy of all or any particular man. Consequently the
difficulties in arriving at the truth are almost insuperable, unless
it is one who has visited the regions he writes upon, studied the
monuments, collated ethnographical documents, compared the various
manners and customs, fitting himself to catch a word or a sentence
which from time to time shoots across the darkness of their undigested
narratives, and correcting with their help errors with which they
abound. But the general neglect by ancient writers of monuments which
everywhere met their gaze makes me unjust, while our gratitude is due
to such industrious writers as Bernal Diaz, Sahagun, Torquemada, and
many more.

Izamal, like many other places in the peninsula, was built on the
site of an Indian city; here, as elsewhere, the chief care of the
Spaniards was to destroy alike palaces, temples, and written documents,
bidding the natives forget their ancient traditions. Landa, who wrote
forty-five years after the Conquest (1566), speaks of the edifices at
Izamal as twelve in number, adding that the founders were unknown;
whilst Lizana, sixty years later (1626), with fewer opportunities for
collecting legends, gives their history in full, together with the
Indian names and their signification; but unfortunately in his time the
monuments had dwindled down to five.

Landa, as we have remarked, says these monuments are of unknown origin,
yet in another place he affirms they are the work of the existing race,
since he writes: “_Among the remains of monuments which were destroyed
are found fragments of human figures and other decorations, such as
the natives make even now with very hard cement._” He further mentions
having found in a tomb “_stone ornaments artistically wrought, similar
to the currency in present use among the natives_.”

At Merida he demolished an Indian temple, which crowned the upper
part of the great mound, giving a ground plan and describing it as
“built with square blocks, beautifully carved, and of such height as
to produce a feeling of awe in the beholder” (its real height is 80
feet); thus proving the monument to have been entire when he wrote.
Nevertheless it is from an assertion such as this that judgment has
been passed on the monuments, and from documents like the Perez
manuscript that a chronology has been deduced. The monuments are
imposing, no doubt, to judge from the few that remain; but we should
err if, following Landa and others, we pronounced them “colossal,
gigantic, magnificent, to which nothing in the world can be compared.”

The whole extent of the Yucatec monuments would not represent in
cubic metres the works achieved in Paris during the last twenty-five
years; consequently they should be viewed as the unpretending outcome
of a semi-civilised people, and this estimate need not lessen their
interest, while the mysterious silence which surrounds them forms a
void in the history of the human race.

The great mound to the north is called _Kinich-Kakmó_, “The Sun’s face
with fiery rays,” from an idol which stood in the temple crowning
its summit. The monument consists of two parts: the basement, nearly
650 feet, surmounted by an immense platform, and the small pyramid
to the north. “Great veneration was felt for the idol or deity of
Kinich-Kakmó, and in times of public calamity, the entire population
flocked to this shrine with peace-offerings, when at mid-day a fire
descended and consumed the sacrifice, in the presence of the assembled
multitude. Then the officiating priest notified the will of the
deity whether for good or for evil, and prophesied more or less the
secret longings of their hearts: but as they could not always guess
aright, it not unfrequently happened that their expectations were not
fulfilled.”[114]

[Illustration: GREAT PYRAMID, KINICH-KAKMÓ, AT IZAMAL.]

Facing this to the south was another great mound, known as
_Ppapp-Hol-Chac_, “the House of Heads and Lightning,” the priest’s
house, presumably similar to those still standing in various towns
of Yucatan. The upper portion of this pyramid was levelled down, and
on its lower platform was erected the Franciscan church and convent.

The third pyramid to the east supported a temple dedicated to
_Izamat-Ul_, _Izamna_, or _Zamna_, the great founder of the ancient
Maya empire. “To him were brought,” says Lizana, “the sick, the halt,
and the dead, and he healed and restored them all to life by the touch
of his hand;” hence the appellation _Kab-Ul_, the Miraculous Hand,
applied to him.[115] He is often represented by a hand only, which
recalled him to the memory of his worshippers. His other names are the
Strong, the Mighty Hand, the Long-handed Chief, who wrote the code of
the Toltecs, and as such has been identified with Quetzalcoatl, with
whom he shared the government; he conducting the civil power, whilst
Quetzalcoatl, the virgin-born deity, looked after the spiritual.[116]

“The temple in which these miracles were performed, was much
frequented; for this reason four good roads had been constructed,
leading to Guatemala, Chiapas, and Tabasco. Traces of them can even now
be seen in various places.”[117] We also have found marks of a cemented
road, from Izamal to the sea facing the island of Cozumel.

[Illustration: SOUTH SIDE OF HUNPICTOK PYRAMID AT IZAMAL, AFTER
STEPHENS.]

Lastly the fourth pyramid to the west, which is shown in our cut of
the market-place, had on its summit the palace of _Hunpictok_, “the
commander-in-chief of eight thousand flints.” On its side near the
basement, consisting of stones laid without mortar, and rounded off
at the corners like those of the Aké pyramid, stood the gigantic face
reproduced by Stephens, but which has since disappeared. This head is
so interesting that I cannot deprive the reader of the description
given by the American traveller: “It is 7 feet 8 inches high. The
features were first rudely formed by small rough stones, fixed in the
side of the mound by means of mortar, and afterwards perfected with
stucco so hard that it has successfully resisted the action of air and
water for centuries.”[118] The stone forming the chin alone measures 1
foot 6 inches; the figure has enormous moustachios, and a resemblance
may be traced to the gigantic faces in stone at Copan, where the
plaster has crumbled away and left the stone bare. The resemblance to
the Aké pyramids is remarkable and leads us to conclude that the latter
were decorated in the same manner. Here also on the east side is found
the figure shown in our cut, from which may be traced the builder’s
mode of working.

This colossal head is 13 feet high; the eyes, nose, and under-lip were
first formed by rough stones coated over with mortar; the ornaments to
the right and left were obtained by the same means; the latter are the
best preserved, while double spirals, symbols of wind or speech, may
be seen, similar to those in Mexico, at Palenque and Chichen-Itza. On
the western side of this pyramid, which has been cleared towards the
basement, we discovered one of the finest bas-reliefs it has been our
fortune to see in Yucatan. Its principal subject is a crouching tiger
with a human head and retreating forehead, less exaggerated than those
at Palenque, beautifully moulded, and reminding us of the orders of
knighthood in which the tiger had the pre-eminence; nor could a better
device be imagined for the house of the commander-in-chief at Izamal.
To conclude, these documents, which would be a dead letter to one who
had not followed the various migrations from north to south, enable
us to reconstruct here also a Toltec centre. It may be noted that if
numerous monuments are still found in Yucatan, their existence is due
to the small number of Spaniards settled in these regions at the time
of the Conquest, and more especially to their being at a distance from
the centres occupied by the conquerors.

[Illustration: COLOSSAL HEAD FORMING BASEMENT OF PYRAMID AT IZAMAL.]

Through the whole length and breadth of Anahuac both monuments and
cities have entirely disappeared; for the Spaniards were not satisfied
with destroying all that reminded them of a former polity, they were
also careful to infuse into their young disciples a profound horror
for their former religion, while they trained children to report any
word or deed they observed in their parents or priests which savoured
of their ancient customs. Thanks to these measures, everything that
could recall the past to the rising generation was soon blotted out
from the Indian mind. But however dilapidated the monuments we observe
at Izamal, they prove that there was here a great population at the
time of the Conquest; and this being admitted, it follows that their
destruction is comparatively recent, due mainly to civil wars, dating a
few years before the arrival of the Spaniards.

As for the Perez manuscript, which was written by a native from memory
long after the Conquest, purporting to be the faithful rendering of
legends handed down from mouth to mouth, in a particular family, it
adds nothing to our knowledge, throws no light on the question which
perplexes us. The narrative begins from 144 A.D., and goes on to
1560 A.D.; but is it possible to admit seriously the authority of an
account so obtained, extending over so many centuries? At the time of
its publication all the natives had preserved was a dubious legend;
and traditions fared hardly better with the caciques and nobles fallen
from their high estate, than they did with the common people, for “the
former were often reduced,” says Cogolludo, “to the extreme of poverty;
and forty years after the Conquest (1582) the royal descendants of
Tutulxiu, and the princely house of Mayapan, were obliged to work for
their living like the humblest amongst their ancient subjects.”[119]

[Illustration: MARKET PLACE OF IZAMAL.]

This picture, sad as it is, became even worse a few years later, when
the conquerors had reduced the whole population to a state of hard
bondage. The only difference of any importance between the Perez
manuscript and the narratives of Clavigero, Veytia, and Ixtlilxochitl,
is in the chronology, which is far too absurd for any serious
consideration, for while the latter gives the seventh century as
the date of the arrival of the Toltecs at Tula, and their subsequent
migration in Central America at the end of the eleventh and the
beginning of the twelfth century; with the former they leave Tula in
144 A.D., and arrive in Yucatan in 217 A.D., nearly five hundred years
before the generally accepted date of their arrival at Tula. Moreover
he calls Yucatan an island, although the new-comers had penetrated the
country through Tabasco and the south without crossing the sea, clearly
indicating that it was a peninsula.

The church of Izamal is very fine, but its chief attraction in the eyes
of the natives is a statue of the Virgin. Its story runs thus:

A celebrated artist of Guatemala received an order from the towns of
Izamal and Merida respectively, for two statues of the Virgin; in
their transit, which took place in the rainy season, neither the case
containing the images, nor the men conveying them, got a drop of rain.
Valladolid, jealous that so small a place as Izamal should possess this
fine statue, came in great force and carried it off, but the image
proved stronger than all those men put together, for it became so heavy
that it had to be abandoned at the outskirts of the little town. The
miracle was followed by a great many more, so that the Izamal Virgin
was soon the most celebrated in the peninsula, attracting as many
pilgrims as did formerly _Kab-Ul_, of the Miraculous Hand.

We set off at five in the morning for Valladolid, to avoid the
overpowering heat of the day; indeed, all traffic between May and
September in these tropical regions is done by night, for the greater
comfort of both man and beast. We watch the sun rise in the east, but
far from enlivening the scene, it seems only to bring out in stronger
relief the desolateness of the landscape. A few carts with natives on
their way home shivering with the night cold, a wretched tumbledown
hamlet called Stilipech, is all we notice on our route; and indeed we
have much to do with keeping our seats in these _volan cochés_, which
rattle along at so furious a pace on these atrocious roads, as to make
us wonder what power keeps them from being smashed to pieces.

I had had suspicion during my stay at Merida as to Yucatan having any
postal or telegraphic administration, for a number of my telegrams were
left unanswered, and my inquiries were met with the evasive reply that
the line was not in good order. That such was the case I could now
plainly see for myself. A wire which skirted the wood had indeed been
laid, but having no poles or insulators it trusted to fate to get fixed
now and again to a branch or a tree, which, bending with the breeze,
allowed it to trail among the rocks or get entangled in the brambles.
Wonderful to relate, a message sometimes reached its destination; a
great step forward as compared to Tabasco, where no sooner is the wire
laid than it is purloined by the inhabitants, who, it seems, find
it useful. But our _volan_ suddenly stops, and the driver draws our
attention to an important cenoté known as Xcolac, shaded by beautiful
trees and full of fish. On its banks a number of Indians are filling
their gourds to the brim, and with simple grace offer us a drink of
its cool, fresh pure water. It argues strange apathy in the natives
that in a country where water is so scarce, a hamlet or hacienda should
not have been erected around it. We re-enter our _cochés_ and reach
Tumbras, formerly a flourishing place, about eleven o’clock; it was
burnt down during the civil wars and has not been rebuilt. We alight
before a decent-looking house, having a tienda stocked with salt,
tobacco, wine, liqueurs, preserves, sardines, and American hams. For
whom are all these good things? I was going to ask, when I recollected
that a garrison is stationed here.

Our host, a fat, red-faced man, receives us with a profusion of
smiles, putting “everything in his house at our feet.” Warned by sad
experience, feeling, moreover, as hungry as schoolboys after a game
of cricket, we stammered out for the usual “portion” in the shortest
possible delay, but what was our agreeable surprise to find a _menu_
consisting of strong clear soup, a sardine omelette, beefsteak, French
beans, wine, English beer, and excellent coffee!

[Illustration: CENOTÉ OF XCOLAC.]

Meanwhile the commander, who had received instructions with regard to
our mission, came in just as we were sitting down; he was immediately
invited to join our party, which he did with alacrity, for the life of
an officer quartered in this out-of-the-way place, without a soul to
speak to from year’s end to year’s end, whose sole business consists
in the morning and evening parades, or giving the order of the day,
must be indescribably monotonous and trying in the extreme.

The presence of our _volan_ has set the village in motion; soon a
number of people are seen crossing the deserted plaza in our direction:
some are old and decrepit, and all look as though they could hardly
stand on their rickety legs, for the able-bodied men are in the fields
preparing the _milpa_, cleaning the ground for the sowing of Indian
corn. They invade the tienda, peering into our room; the boldest
advances with rolling gait, to have a nearer view of our group,
delivering himself of a little speech in the Maya tongue, presumably
indiscreet, to judge by the amused smiles of the company. The
commandant desires him to leave the room, but he refuses, and has to be
ejected by the united efforts of two orderlies.

Refreshed with our excellent luncheon, our pleasant chat, and last, not
least, a respite from the too lively _coché_, we set out, and do not
stop again until we reach Quintana-Roo, sometimes used as a basis by
the revolted natives in their expeditions, whence they sallied forth
for their _razzias_, carrying off the women, and massacring the men,
except in the rare instances when a large ransom might be looked for;
this, however, did not always save the poor wretch, who, his money
being paid, was ruthlessly butchered by these savages.

Quintana is about as small a place as can be conceived, consisting of
one small fort garrisoned by twelve men, and one house; in the landlord
of the latter I recognise my old guide, who in 1859 accompanied me
to Chichen. My old acquaintance is now a prosperous man, with a nice
house, a tienda and poultry-yard well stocked, while a comely wife,
lovely children, and pretty Meztizas, attend to the business of
the household and enliven it. My friend insists on our having some
chocolate, and wishes to be again our guide to Chichen. I am delighted,
and with expressions of mutual regard we take leave of this charming
family, _en route_ for Citas, where we arrive so late in the evening
that everybody had given us up, so that nothing had been prepared, and
the people did not seem inclined to bestir themselves for us. No house
or room was to be had. It was fortunately holiday time; the school-room
was placed at our disposal, in which we at once deposited our camp-beds
and other paraphernalia. The next thing was how to get something to
eat, and we should have gone supperless to bed, if the magistrate
and the mayor had not kindly interfered in our behalf, and partly by
coaxing, partly by the weight of their authority, induced the people to
bring out the contents of their larder.

Here we leave the _volan_ for saddle-horses, mules, and _tamenes_,
for our next stage is through thick woods right across country. Our
preparations take a good deal of time; horses are scarce and have to
come some distance, while _tamenes_ must be brought down from their
extravagant prices before we can think of engaging them. The same
difficulties have beset us everywhere; the natives deeming fair game
any one so insane or ridiculous as to come from distant lands to view
some crumbling stones; of course he has more money than he knows what
to do with, and it is only common justice to ease him of some of his
surplus. We despatch our men a day in advance to open the way through
the woods, while we tarry to witness a _jardana_, native dance, to
which an invitation in due form, that we “would honour the same with
our presence,” has been received.

“What, you dance here?” I exclaimed on first hearing of it; “but you
told me that your life and property were continually threatened; that
you never knew when you lay down at night whether you would not be
massacred by your revolted countrymen, ere another day dawned.”

“That’s quite true,” answered my servant, “but we dance for all that,
and as often as we have the opportunity. Why should we neglect to cull
the few flowerets growing on the short, dreary path of our life?”

I confess that I was not prepared for so much philosophy in such a
place, and from such a man, savouring of a _ci-devant_ at the time of
the Convention rather than of a half-savage.

The streets of Citas might not improperly be called ridges of rock
divided by minute precipices, down which, however, a stranger may break
his neck. To avoid so great a calamity, we set out holding on to two
native guides by means of ropes tied round our waist, for the night is
pitch dark, and the distance to the _jardana_ some 500 yards.

The house in which the entertainment is given wears a poor appearance.
Three huge fires are burning, round which stand women busy with
roasting and otherwise preparing the feast with chickens, turkeys,
pork, etc.; whilst outside, other women are kneeling before _metates_,
or, _comals_ in hand, prepare tortillas to be served hot during the
whole “fiesta.” A little in front is a thatched barn, lighted by
smoking lamps, which forms the ball-room, with benches and chairs
against the walls for the ladies, while in the centre the men dancers
in white hose, flowing shirt, and loose coloured neckties, are
meditating on whom their choice may fall with any chance of success.
The whole village, Indians and Meztizos, are here to-night, but hardly
any _Ladinos_ or whites.

Every traveller who has witnessed these native dances, has described
them as entrancing; for my part I confess that I find them devoid of
attraction: the performers, without grace or animation, move gravely
on one spot, without looking at or touching their partners, going
round them as they would a pole, to the sound of very primitive and
monotonous music.

“It is an Indian who gives the entertainment,” said my friend the
judge. “It will last several days, or rather several nights, and cost
at least sixty pounds, which to a native is a fortune—ruination in
fact—but he will not care, and after him another will be found to take
up the ball, and so on to the end of time.”

“But what happens afterwards?”

“Oh, nothing happens; they’ll go to their _milpas_ as before; if the
harvest is good they will lay by a little in view of another party
when their turn comes round; if it is a bad year, they’ll pinch; if a
famine, they’ll starve. Care never sits behind an Indian, and as for
the lessons of experience, they seem incapable of learning them.”

In these entertainments may be traced the customs of the ancient
Indians which are unconsciously kept up by their descendants. We
read in Landa: “They often spent in one banquet what they had been a
long time earning with difficulty. Banquets were of two kinds: those
given by the caciques and great nobles to their friends for the mere
pleasure of showing their hospitality, when they expected to be asked
in return. The table on all such occasions was well provided with
meats, game, vegetables, and fruit of every kind, and at the conclusion
of the entertainment, the guests were presented with rich dresses and
ornaments, when they withdrew after midnight.” “If one died before the
debt of his obligation had been paid, the duty fell to his family. Next
came the occasions when a marriage occurred in a family, or when the
illustrious deeds of an ancestor were celebrated by the whole clan. On
such occasions the necessity of returning the banquet was not enforced;
but if a person belonging to another family had been asked, he was
expected to invite them all again when he married.”[120]

[Illustration: CHURCH AND SQUARE, CITAS.]

There is positively nothing worthy of remark with regard to our road,
save here and there a palm or cedar-tree towering like a giant over
the thick underwood overrun with flowering lianas, peopled with great
sky-blue butterflies, whose wings are tipped with black; for the whole
country to the east and south of Citas is a vast scene of desolation.
Pisté, where we arrive, stands on the extreme border of the state; it
has been so often sacked and burnt by the revolted natives, that the
only building left is the church, occupied by a company of twenty-five
men. It looks a forsaken, God-forgotten place, a veritable exile for
the small garrison quartered here in turn for three months in the year;
not that there is any immediate danger, for the natives, who first
rose to conquer their liberties, fell to massacring from a spirit of
revenge, and now only take the field for the sake of plunder. We have
nothing to tempt their cupidity, consequently our escort of fifty men
is a measure of prudence rather than of necessity.

[Illustration: EL CASTILLO OF CHICHEN-ITZA.]

CHAPTER XVIII.

CHICHEN-ITZA.

    Chichen-Itza—El Castillo—General Survey—A Maya
    City—Aguilar—Historical Jottings—Montejo’s
    Expedition—Historians—Their Contradictions—Chichen
    Deserted—The Conqueror’s Retreat—The Nunnery—Impressions and
    Photographs—Terrestrial Haloes—An Unexpected Visitor—Electric
    Telegraph—Akab-Sib—Prison—Caracol—Cenotés—Ruined Temples—The
    Temple of the Sacred Cenoté—Tennis-Court—Monuments
    Described—Portico—Paintings—Bas-reliefs—New Analogy—The
    Tlalocs of Chichen and of the Uplands—Market-place—End of Our
    Labours—Col. Triconis.

The ruins of Chichen are two miles east of Pisté, and were used as
pasture for the cattle of the inhabitants, who at stated periods had
the woods cut down, when the monuments were easily distinguished.
It was a favourite place, to the prejudice of the palaces and the
sculptures, which were made the butt by the visitors to shoot at; but
since the destruction of Pisté, nature again reigns supreme; every
sign of the buildings has disappeared, and the jungle has become so
impassable, that twenty men were required to open the old path.

This was not my first visit to Chichen, nevertheless my emotion was
profound on beholding again the gigantic outline of El Castillo, which
we had decided beforehand should be our headquarters, as from its
elevated position it offered many strategical advantages, which would
secure us against surprise. It was with considerable difficulty that we
climbed the steps, which are steep and completely invaded by a vigorous
vegetation; as for our great quantity of baggage, none but nimble,
sure-footed natives could have succeeded in hauling it up on to the
platform of the monument.

Our next thought was how to dispose of ourselves. The interior of El
Castillo consists of a rectangular corridor, running along two-thirds
of the edifice, pierced east, south, and west by three large apertures,
and a gallery giving access to a great hall closed in on every side.
We very stupidly gave up the latter to our men, with the idea that we
should be cooler and have more air in the open gallery, not taking into
consideration that at this altitude, whichever way the wind blew, it
would sweep in upon us in fearful blasts, causing perpetual sneezing,
coughing, and freezing the very life out of us.

The day was spent unpacking and classifying, and at suppertime we
discovered that our cook, who was to have come from Valladolid, had
failed us; food we had in tins, but no water, having left our cantaros
at Citas, so that we were obliged to go without soup, coffee, or our
evening tub.

It may seem unworthy to have been put out by such trivial details with
the grand spectacle we had before us: a glorious moon had risen,
sailing on her course with her brilliant retinue of scintillating
stars, illuminating the vast wooded expanse, like a boundless, heaving
ocean on a calm day; fragments of walls, mounds, eminences, shrouded in
a sombre vegetation, were distinctly visible, which I pointed out one
by one to my companions who, unlike myself, beheld them for the first
time. El Castillo occupies nearly the centre of the ruins; below it to
the east was the Market-place, and two small palaces which belonged
to it; to the north, a stately but ruinous building, the cenoté and
the temple attached; to the north-west, the famous Tennis-court;
to the west and south-west, the Chichan-Chob, the Caracol and the
other cenoté, the Nuns’ Palace, the Akab-Sib; and farther south, the
hacienda, which has long been abandoned.

We were conversing in subdued tones of the mysterious past of this
dead city, which mayhap our studies and explorations would bring to
life again; all was hushed, and the death-like silence was only broken
at regular intervals by the cry of our sentinels; and these very
cries carried us back to the far-gone days, when the city was perhaps
similarly guarded against a sudden inroad from her jealous neighbours.

The morning effects of light and shade were no less beautiful; the
broad level wrapped in a transparent mist, pierced here and there by
the pyramids and the wooded eminences, looked like a whitening sea
interspersed with green islets; while the horizon was gilded with the
brightness of the rising sun, who seemed to create, to raise suddenly
into life all the objects touched with his golden wand; presently, like
a mighty giant he tore asunder and burnt up the white vapour, and lit
up the whole sky.

Meanwhile, our unpacking and our plans for the immediate future are
almost completed; the cantaros have come, and as water is one of our
great requirements, as the cenoté is at some distance, and there are
ninety steps to our abode, ten men are told off for it; other ten are
set to cleaning the place, while an equal number will open up the paths
and clear the monuments we wish to explore.

Here it may be remarked that Yucatan had centres rather than cities;
for the groups of dwellings and palaces we find resemble in no way
our cities of the present day, although they are continually compared
to Spanish places, notably Sevilla, by the conquerors. They consist
everywhere of temples and palaces, either of the reigning prince or
caciques, of public edifices scattered about, apparently at random,
covering a vast area, with cemented roads and gardens intervening,
while the avenues were occupied by the dwellings of dependents and
slaves. This is borne out by Landa, who says: “Before the arrival of
the Spaniards the aborigines lived in common, were ruled by severe
laws, and the lands were cultivated and planted with useful trees. The
centre of their towns was occupied by the temples and squares, round
which were grouped the palaces of the lords and the priests, and so
on in successive order to the outskirts, which were allotted to the
lower classes. The wells, necessarily few, were found close to the
dwellings of the nobles, who lived in close community for fear of their
enemies, and not _until the time of the Spaniards_ did they take to the
woods.”[121]

These last words plainly indicate the sudden desertion of Indian cities
at the coming of the Spaniards.

The word used by Landa is _pueblo_, “hamlet,” meaning, perhaps, town;
at all events, it shows that even after the breaking up of the Maya
empire (from great provinces) into small independent principalities,
the people had preserved their ancient customs. Chichen-Itza, “the
mouth of the wells,” from the two cenotés around which the town was
built, is more recent than Izamal or Aké, but older than Uxmal,
although it belongs, like the latter, to the “cut stone period.”

Our information respecting it is of the vaguest, and Aguilar and
Montejo are equally silent on the subject, while E. Ancona is of
opinion that the greater portion of the writings and documents treating
of the conquest of Yucatan have been lost, or at any rate have escaped
our investigations. Nevertheless, we find in a letter of Montejo to the
King of Spain, April 13th, 1529, published by Brinton, of Philadelphia,
from the unpublished documents and archives of the Indies, this
remarkable passage: “This region is covered with great and beautiful
cities and a dense population” (“ciudades muy frescas,” recent, new).
Could he have expressed more clearly that the cities he had visited
were lately built? Can these places have disappeared and left no
trace? Who were the builders of the noble ruins that have filled with
admiration every one who has visited them?

Unfortunately, whether we consult the traditions collected too late, or
the Perez manuscript with its doubtful dates, we find no certain data
to go upon; in the latter we read that the Toltecs travelled in 360
from Bacalar (Ziyancan) to Chichen; left it in 452 to return in 888,
when they remained until 936; that a governor of Chichen was defeated
in 1258 by a prince of Mayapan, etc.; in fact, a mere roll of obscure
names without any meaning. If we would find an ascertained historical
fact, we must turn to Cogolludo and Landa, who wrote from 1420 to 1460,
where the Chichemec exodus is recorded, corresponding to the capture
and destruction of Mayapan.

The cause of this emigration (or elopement, since there was a lady in
the case) is thus told by Cogolludo: “A king of Chichen, called Canek
(a generic name of the sovereigns of the Iztaes), fell desperately
in love with a young princess, who, whether she did not return his
affection, or whether she was obliged to obey a parent’s mandate,
married a more powerful Yucatec cacique. The discarded lover, unable
to bear his loss, moved by love and despair, armed his dependents and
suddenly fell upon his successful rival; when the gaiety of the feast
was exchanged for the din of war, and amidst the confusion the Chichen
prince disappeared, carrying off the beautiful bride. But conscious
that his power was less than his rival’s, and fearing his vengeance, he
fled the country with most of his vassals.”[122]

Thus runs the legend; the historical fact is that the inhabitants of
Chichen did emigrate, and did establish in the Peten lagoons, one
hundred leagues to the south, a little principality with Tayasal for
its capital, seen by Cortez in his journey to Honduras, and brought
under the Spanish sway as late as 1696. That a whole population should
abandon their native city, is an example of the facility with which
these peoples moved from one place to another at a moment’s notice;
nevertheless, we cannot accept the reasons given by Cogolludo for
this migration, so little in accordance with the deep-seated love of
the Mayas for their country. It is more likely that one or a series
of calamities incident to a primitive race, such as war, pestilence,
famine, more or less periodical among the aborigines, was the true
cause of their migration.

One thing is clear, that Chichen was inhabited scarcely sixty years
before the Conquest, when her monuments were entire; and it is equally
clear that a city possessed of two considerable cenotés, so important
in a country without water, was not left uninhabited, and that the
vacuum left by the exodus was soon filled up, the city preserving
its normal existence down to the time of the Spaniards. I am well
aware that this kind of evidence will not suit people fond of the
marvellous, yet the paucity of documents allows us only a tentative
theory, but it will be our care to collect probabilities in such
vast numbers, knitting them into a cumulative whole by a patient
comparison of monuments, sculptures, bas-reliefs, customs, arms, and
public ceremonies, so as to make the evidence absolute. Had Aguilar,
who was wrecked and made prisoner on this coast, and lived for nearly
eight years as factotum of a powerful cacique, been more observant,
we might have a graphic and thorough description of the public and
private life among the Mayas; but like the rest of his countrymen, his
ideas were turned into quite a different channel, so much so that he
has not even recorded the name of the place where later Cortez found
him. Ancona tells us that the conquest of Yucatan was hastened by
Aguilar, who, when in Mexico with Cortez, persuaded Montejo that “the
region was fertile and covered with magnificent monuments”—words of
paramount importance, since Aguilar could not have mentioned them in
such terms, had they been in ruins or hid away in the woods. It may
also be inferred from the incessant mutual warfare of the caciques,
that the country had lost its unity and was split up into several
provinces, which Herrera says were “eighteen in number covered with
stately edifices.”[123] According to the same authority Montejo had
a return of the whole population taken, that he might apportion them
among his followers, when every one received no less than two or three
thousand.[124] This, however, is obviously a gross exaggeration, for
supposing the 400 soldiers of Montejo to have dwindled down to 300,
the mean population of the district would have amounted to 750,000,
which is quite impossible.[125] At all events, the Spaniards occupied
Chichen-Itza for two years, but nothing is known of their doings,
for Montejo was no writer, nor did he, like Cortez, have chroniclers
to record his deeds. At first the submission of the natives was
complete; but after a time they rallied from the stupor into which the
unparalleled success of the Spaniards had plunged them, and tiring
of ministering to the insatiable wants of the Spanish marauders, who
consumed in one day what would have kept in comfort a native family
for a month, they disappeared, and the Spaniards were soon reduced to
foraging in distant villages. This gave rise to daily skirmishes and a
more active hatred on the part of the Indians against the foreigners,
until at last exasperated, relying moreover on their numerical
strength, they came in great numbers and laid siege to Chichen, during
which the Spaniards lost 150 of their number, while the rest were all
covered with wounds. In this strait, Montejo, despairing of holding
the place much longer, determined to evacuate it; this it was not
easy to do, for the whole country round was occupied by the Indians;
but a pitch-dark night seemed to favour their flight: Montejo took
the precaution of having the horses’ hoofs muffled, not to arouse the
natives’ suspicions respecting their movements, while he left a dog
tied to a pole beneath a piece of meat with a bell attached, which the
animal rang every time he tried to reach the prey, thus keeping the
Indians in the full belief that the enemy was entrenched behind the
walls. Only on the morrow did the natives find out their mistake; they
gave instant but unavailing pursuit, for the Spaniards had several
hours’ start of them and were able to reach the territory of a friendly
cacique, not far from their own ships.

To return to our excavations, “El Palacio de las Monjas,” or Nuns’
Palace, is one of the most important monuments at Chichen-Itza, and
possesses a greater number of apartments than any other. Whether the
name is due to this circumstance, or from its traditionary appellation,
is uncertain; but we know from Mexican writers that it was the custom
among the Aztecs to dedicate girls of noble birth to the service of the
gods, on their attaining the age of twelve or thirteen. Some remained
there until they were about to be married; some few took perpetual
vows; others, on account of some vow they had made during sickness,
or that the gods might send them a good husband, entered the Nunnery
for one, two, three, or four years. They were called deaconesses or
sisters; they lived under the superintendence of staid matrons of
good character, and upon entering the convent, each girl had her hair
cut short. They all slept in one dormitory, and were not allowed to
undress before retiring to rest, that they might always be ready when
the signal was given to rise. They occupied their time with weaving and
embroidering the tapestry and ornamental work of the temple. They rose
in the night to renew the incense in the braziers, a matron leading
the procession; the maidens with eyes modestly cast down filed up to
the altar, and returned in the same manner; they fasted often, and
were required to sweep the temples and keep a constant supply of fresh
flowers on the altars. They did penance for the slightest infringement
of their religious rules by pricking their tongues and ears with the
spines of the maguey plant. Death was the punishment of the Mexican
maiden who violated her vow of chastity.[126]

It has been supposed, from the latter custom, that an order of Vestals,
similar to those in Rome, existed in America, but the analogy is
more apparent than real. According to Clavigero, priesthood was not
binding for life among the Mayas. Of the different male and female
religious orders, those dedicated to Quetzalcoatl deserve particular
mention; their members had to submit to the strictest observances, but
in compensation the people paid them almost divine honours, whilst
their power and influence were boundless. Their chief or superior bore
the name of Quetzalcoatl, and never walked abroad except to visit
some royal personage.[127] Thus the Nunnery may very well have been
both a convent and a priestly abode. It is not a considerable pile,
the façade measuring only some 29 feet by 19 feet 6 inches high,
while its grotesque, heavy ornamentation reminds us in its details
of a Chinese carving. The base up to the first cornice is occupied
by eight large superimposed idols, and four of these figures are
enclosed within two very salient cornices. The door is crowned with a
medallion representing a cacique or priest with the usual head-dress
of feathers, the inscription of the palace and stone spires, some of
which have entirely disappeared, while the outline of the rest is much
defaced. The whole length of the frieze of the north façade has a row
of similar gigantic heads, bearing the general characteristics of the
ornamentation observable throughout this structure. The Nunnery is
typical of the Toltec calli, of which we gave a drawing in our chapter
on Tula. The left wing is but 26 feet wide, by 13 feet deep, and
about 32 feet high; it consists of three cornices, with two friezes
intervening in which the same designs are repeated; the first two
high-reliefs represent stooping figures, one having his body locked
in a tortoise shell, while the centre and the sides of the frieze
are decorated with grotesque figures like those of the main façade,
which, with small variations, are the same throughout the peninsula.
As we have seen in a former chapter, these monstrous masks have been
called elephants by Waldeck and others, who wished to claim a fabulous
antiquity for these monuments, but the types they most resemble are the
Japanese or Chinese. Here, as at Palenque, the upper portion of the
wall is ornamented so as to enhance the effect of height.

The main body of the Nunnery rests on a perpendicular pyramid, the
platform of which is occupied by a solidly constructed building,
intersected with small apartments having two niches facing each other,
traversed by a corridor running from east to west of the pyramid.
Over this is a smaller structure or third story. The first platform
is reached by a steep, broad stairway 50 feet wide, which continues
with additional steps to the second platform, where the apartments of
the ruined building were but cells. The ornamentation of the first
story differs from that of other buildings at Chichen; it consists
of small sunk panels, having in the centre a large rose-like device,
framed with exquisitely moulded stones. The lintels, likewise of
stone, were covered with sculptures and inscriptions now fallen into
decay; we could only collect three, and even these are much defaced.
In this building are curious traces of masonry out of character with
the general structure, showing the place to have been occupied at two
different epochs.

[Illustration: ORNAMENTATION OF THE UPPER STORY OF THE NUNNERY,
CHICHEN-ITZA.]

This second construction, or rather restoration, was effected with
the materials of the ancient building, as is seen in the fragments of
sculptured stones which in the later construction are identical with
those of the first, save that they were put up haphazard, so that
the systematic ornamentation of the older structure is no longer
reproduced, but in places a thick plaster coating was laid over the
whole. The rebuilding may have been the work of the aborigines,
since we know that Chichen was abandoned and reoccupied towards the
middle of the fifteenth century; or, more likely still, the clumsy
restoration may have been the work of the Spaniards during their
sojourn in the city, when the Nunnery, from its elevated position,
constituted a valuable fortress. Traces of their passage are observable
in various other buildings, notably in the Castillo, where their
natural fanaticism, coupled with their ignorance, caused them to see
in the portraiture of the national and religious life of the Mayas,
representations of the devil. This could not be suffered to remain, and
as they were unable to demolish the temples and palaces in which they
lived, they whitewashed the ornamentation, in order that their eyes
might not be constantly offended by the subjects therein represented.

[Illustration: MAIN FAÇADE OF THE NUNNERY OF CHICHEN-ITZA.]

We try with small success to undo their savage work by means of
daggers, brushes, and repeated washes, taking up much time, but in most
cases the relief is lost to science, being much too defaced to allow us
to take squeezes. The idea that the chiefs who erected these monuments
were the authors of their defacement is too absurd for serious
consideration.

The Castillo, or rather temple,[128] is reared on a pyramid, facing
north and south, and is the most interesting monument at Chichen; its
four sides are occupied with staircases, facing the cardinal points.
Our drawing shows the western façade. The base of the pyramid measures
175 feet; it consists of nine small esplanades, narrowing towards the
top, supported by perpendicular walls, and terminates in a structure
about 39 feet on one side by 21 feet high. The upper platform is 68
feet above the level of the plain, having a flight of ninety steps, 39
feet wide, leading up to it.

The name of El Castillo (the fortress), given to this building is
appropriate enough; since throughout Central America, temples, in
times of war, became real strongholds, on whose gigantic terraces the
last desperate conflict was waged against an invading and victorious
foe. The struggle might last some time, but was always attended with
heavy loss, for each terrace had to be carried against men resolved to
die. In the assault on the great temple in Mexico, the Spaniards were
several times repulsed before they could get possession of the four
esplanades of the pyramid; and when these were taken a fierce encounter
followed on the upper platform, which only ended with the utter
annihilation of the Aztecs, who were either slaughtered on the spot or
hurled down the sides of the pyramid.

[Illustration: NORTHERN FAÇADE OF THE NUNNERY OF CHICHEN-ITZA.]

The only decoration of the western and southern sides consists in
two beautiful cornices, while the interior of the long corridor
shows no trace of ornamentation, save over the doors, where gigantic
warriors are sculptured. The principal or northern façade must have
been very striking when Landa saw it in 1560. Our photograph shows
its dilapidated condition, but it can easily be reconstructed. It
consists of a portico supported by two massive columns connected by
wooden lintels, resembling that in the Nunnery; this portico gives
access to a gallery which occupies the whole width of the building. A
large room, which must have been the sanctuary, is entered by the only
opening out of the gallery, while two pillars with square capitals
supported a double corbel vault. Here the stairway was wider, and
on each side, forming a balustrade, is a gigantic plumed serpent,
whose head and protruding tongue run down the balustrade. All these
columns, pillars, and wooden lintels, are covered with sculptures and
bas-reliefs, the impressions of which kept us closely at work for
several days.

[Illustration: LEFT WING OF THE NUNNERY OF CHICHEN-ITZA.]

As in Mexico, Palenque, and Tula, there were no doors properly so
called at Chichen, and no traces of hinges are found; but a bamboo or
wickerwork screen was suspended across the entrance, and secured at
night with a bar. The inner rooms were divided off by hangings, which
probably also served to cover the windows. We notice everywhere the
small holes in the pillars into which the bars fitted.

Landa mentions the two serpents of the grand staircase, and that the
corridor was probably used for burning perfumes: “Over the door is
a kind of coat-of-arms sculptured in stone, which I could not read.
Extending round this edifice is a series of solid constructions; the
intervening distances are coated with cement in perfect condition,
_which looks quite new_, so hard was the mortar in which it was
laid.”[129] These stucco layers are facsimiles of those at Tula and
Teotihuacan, and characteristic of the Toltecs. In the three centuries
that have elapsed since the bishop visited these monuments, vegetation
has completely overrun them, but it was not so in his time.

[Illustration: FAÇADE OF EL CASTILLO, CHICHEN-ITZA.]

[Illustration: TOLTEC COLUMN IN THE CASTILLO.]

It was in this temple that the striking analogy between the sculptures
and the bas-reliefs of the plateaux with those at Chichen was first
revealed to us; and since the dates of the Toltec emigrations are
known, we can fix approximately the age of these monuments. We know, on
the other hand, that the Aztec civilisation was but a reflex directly
derived from the Toltecs, so that in some of their manifestations the
two civilisations must resemble each other; from all which it may be
seen that these monuments are both Toltec and recent. The balustrade
on the grand staircase consists of a plumed serpent like those forming
the outer wall of the temple in Mexico; an emblem of Quetzalcoatl, a
deity common to the Toltecs, the Aztecs, and the Mayas. He is often
found on Yucatec buildings. In Mexico, a serpent biting his tail was a
favourite design with the Aztecs as a frieze to their houses, or over
their entrances, and this we shall also observe at Uxmal. Further, the
two columns of the temple façade furnish a still more striking example:
the bases represent two serpents’ heads, whilst the shafts were
ornamented with feathers, proving that the temple was dedicated to
Cukulcan (Quetzalcoatl). These shafts are almost an exact reproduction
of a Toltec column we unearthed at Tula, as seen in our cuts. The two
columns are found three hundred leagues from each other, separated by
an interval of several centuries; but if, as we firmly believe, the
Tula column is Toltec, the other must be so too, for it could not be
the result of mere accident. I have only compared the shafts, for the
simple reason that the Tula column has no capital.

[Illustration: YUCATEC CAPITAL AT CHICHEN-ITZA.]

The bas-relief on the capital of the other consists of a standing
figure with upraised arms supporting the entablature; he wears large
bracelets, huge feathers form his head-dress, his feet are covered
with shoes fastened on the instep by a leather knot, a collar of
precious stones is around his neck, a richly embroidered maxtli falls
to the ground, and he wears the long flowing beard characteristic of
Quetzalcoatl.

[Illustration: DOOR-POSTS IN THE CASTILLO, CHICHEN-ITZA.]

The two bas-reliefs given opposite are from pillars in the sanctuary.
They represent figures in gala costumes, one of which is distinguished
by a long beard, and all have the aquiline nose ascribed to the
Toltecs. These pillars are occupied by three bas-reliefs, a large one
in the centre and two smaller at each side of it. The central relief
is a life-size figure of a priest, to judge from the total absence of
arms about all the figures on these pillars. The caryatides on the
smaller reliefs, notably the lower one, have double spirals over the
mouth, presumably a symbol of wind and speech. We noticed in a former
chapter this spiral about Quetzalcoatl on the outer relief of the altar
in the Temple of the Cross at Palenque. All these caryatides represent
long-bearded men, whose type is identical with those on the Tula
relief, as may be seen by the most superficial comparison of the two.
But is the spiral an emblem of speech? That it is so may be assumed
from the upper caryatid, which only supporting the entablature has no
spiral about the mouth, while the lower one not only bears aloft the
central figure and the edifice, but it seems to carry, to create and
breathe life into the whole, as the emblem of civilisation. At least
so it struck us when we looked at these bearded figures which support
the pillars, and saw the symbolical sign of quickening speech around
the mouth of each, and considered that the Toltecs were the builders of
these monuments, which they reared by their mighty word, in accordance
with their pacific and civilising character, as described by Herrera
and Landa. I am well aware that this assumption rests on no scientific
basis, nevertheless I hope to bring so many data in its favour as to
make it highly probable. The most remarkable feature about the relief
on the capital is its striking resemblance to the caryatides in high
relief found on the terrace and façade of Angcor-Thom’s palace, given
by Francis Garnier;[130] in both the same attitude and dress are
observable; the latter consists of the _patoi_ with the Cambodians, and
the maxtli with the Toltecs; while the sculpture is primitive in both,
the only difference being in the relief.

Our excursions in these impenetrable woods, our ascents and descents of
the pyramid, the arduous work attending the taking of squeezes, made
our life very harassing; it could have been more easily borne had we
been able to sleep, but the scorching days were succeeded by icy-cold
nights, which kept us awake, so that we rose in the morning more
unrefreshed and more tired than when we turned in for the night.

Some compensation we had in our walks round the pyramid, beguiling the
time we could not sleep with a cigar, contemplating the fine starry
nights and sometimes the lunar rainbows so rarely seen; or we watched
the broad shadow of the pyramid cast athwart the white haze shrouding
the plain, fringed by an immense brilliant corona, which seemed to
float in space. Never had I gazed on anything so curious and fantastic
as this terrestrial halo; and if the ancient worshippers of Cukulcan
ever witnessed the phenomenon, they must have deemed it little short of
miraculous.

We were still without a cook; for Julian was so atrociously bad that I
kept him at the squeezes, taking the cooking ourselves in turn, which
wasted much valuable time. One evening, after everybody had gone to
rest, I was sitting alone writing my impressions, my head full of the
ruins and the people who inhabited them. I suddenly looked up, to see
standing before me a lovely maiden more like an apparition than a
mortal being. Was this the shade of a Maya princess who had returned to
the scenes of her former life, conjured up by my imagination? Meanwhile
the beauteous figure stood looking and smiling at me. I was amazed,
speechless, hardly daring to break the spell, when a third figure stood
out from the dark entrance, in whom I recognised the commandant of
Pisté.

“You are surprised at our visit,” he said.

“Rather, especially at this hour, and in such a night.”

“Time is of no account when you wish to serve a friend; I heard that
you required a cook, I brought you mine, that’s all.”

[Illustration: BAS-RELIEFS FROM PILLARS OF SANCTUARY OF CHICHEN-ITZA.]

“A cook!” I ejaculated to myself. What a fall! my Indian princess a
cook! I looked at her again, and I could not believe that so much youth
and beauty were put to such menial occupation. I wondered at the
commandant’s self-abnegation. I was somewhat embarrassed, nevertheless,
as to where I should put her. I called up Julian to prepare a bed for
her, but as he was not easily roused, I had time to reflect that with
a hundred men about me, El Castillo was no fitting place for a young
girl. I was profuse in my acknowledgments to the commandant, observing
that as nothing was ready, it would perhaps be better to put off her
coming for a day or two, apologising for the trouble they had taken
in coming through the woods and having to climb the pyramid in such a
pitch-dark night. He knew what I meant. I slipped a coin in the girl’s
hand, as she held a bottle towards me. “Drink,” said the officer; “it
is Josepha’s present to you.” I did so, while Josepha merely put her
lips to the bottle. We shook hands, and my two visitors disappeared in
the night. The draught was _Staventum_, a strong spirit, which made me
light-headed, and in a fit of somnambulism I wandered about, spouting
poetry at the top of my voice, on the very edge of the pyramid, whence
I was fortunately removed, without any further result than to awake the
next day with a splitting headache. Our long-expected cook arrived at
last, and she was so old, and such a fright, that it relieved me of all
fear on her account.

Akab-Sib, “writing in the dark,” is a modern appellation, due to a
bas-relief found on the lintel of an inner door at the extremity of the
building. The cut we give is a copy of our photograph. We can give no
explanation respecting this relief. The figure it represents is sitting
before a vase full of indistinct objects, with outstretched arm and
forefinger pointed, whether in question or command is uncertain—not
much for the imagination to go upon. We will restrict ourselves to
pointing out the analogy of the characters in the inscriptions with
those at Palenque. The structure consists of eighteen rooms, reared on
a plain pyramid, with a stairway to the east, without any ornamentation.

The Caracol is a round building, 22 feet in diameter, with a double
inner corridor and a central pillar; it is a kind of tower, used
probably for civil or religious ceremonies, for we have found this kind
of structure at Cozumel and in all the great centres.

[Illustration: BAS-RELIEFS WITH INSCRIPTIONS, AKAB-SIB PALACE AT
CHICHEN-ITZA.]

The Chichan-Chob, “Red House” (p. 351), is a small building about
a hundred yards north of the Caracol; it stands on a rectangular
platform, reached by a flight of twelve or fifteen steps. It is the
best preserved monument at Chichen, and might be even now a pleasant
residence; for time seems to have respected and to have left untouched
its plain, smooth walls, and from its general appearance it cannot date
further back than towards the last years of the city in the fifteenth
century. Three doorways to the north lead into a corridor extending
over the whole length of the building, whence three more openings give
access to as many apartments in a perfect state of preservation. Over
these doorways, and running the whole length of the corridor, is a
narrow stone tablet, on which is graven a row of hieroglyphics very
much damaged, of which Stephens gave a faithful reproduction.

The situation of Chichen is due probably to the great cenotés which
supplied the city with abundant water, and which differ from the
complicated underground passages noted in other parts of the state,
being immense natural pits of great depth, with perpendicular sides.
Of these cenotés, that for general use occupied the centre of the
place; picturesque must have been the throng of white-robed women who
peopled its steps at all hours of the day to fetch water for household
purposes, carrying double-handled urns on their shoulders or on their
hips just as they do at the present day. The other, or sacred cenoté,
lies in a tangle of wood on the confines of the city, to which a path
had to be opened. We find midway a large broken statue of Tlaloc,
similar to the two we reproduce further on; the upper portion of the
body and the head are wanting. Near it are ruinous heaps, remains of
two temples, their base occupied by immense heads of Quetzalcoatl,
who seems to have been the tutelary deity of Chichen. On fragments of
walls still standing, I notice bas-reliefs in excellent preservation,
one representing a large fish with a human head,[131] and the other a
figure of a man after death.

[Illustration: CHICHAN-CHOB, PRISON OF CHICHEN-ITZA.]

Landa’s description of these temples would lead us to infer that
they were entire in his time, for he says: “Some distance north of
the Castillo were two small theatres built with square blocks; four
flights of steps led to the top, paved with fine slabs, and on
which low comedies were performed.”[132] Notwithstanding Landa and
Cogolludo’s testimony, we think they were temples on whose summits the
Christianised Indians performed their religious ceremonies, which from
fear of anathemas they represented to the good bishop as comedies.

The sacred cenoté lies 150 yards beyond; it is oblong in shape, and
the two diameters measure from 130 to 165 feet. The surface of the
water cannot be reached, for the wall, some 65 feet high, is entire and
perpendicular throughout. The desolation of this _aguado_, its walls
shrouded with brambles, shrubs, and lianas, the sombre forest beyond,
but above all the lugubrious associations attaching to it, fill the
imagination with indescribable melancholy.

Hither pilgrims repaired, and here offerings were made; for Chichen was
a holy city, and among her shrines the cenoté held a conspicuous place,
as the following passage from Landa will show: “From the courtyard of
the theatre, a good wide road led to a well some little distance beyond
(the road was therefore in perfectly good condition), into which in
times of drought the natives used to throw men, _as indeed they still
do_ (1560), as an offering to their deities, fully believing that
they would not die, even though they disappeared. Precious stones and
other valuable objects were also offered; and had the country been
rich in gold, this well would contain a vast quantity, because of the
great veneration of the natives for it. The aguado is round, of great
depth, measuring over 100 feet in width and cunningly hewn out of the
rock.[133] The green colour of the water is due to the foliage; on its
banks rises a small building filled with idols in honour of all the
principal edifices in the country, exactly like the Pantheon in Rome.
I cannot say whether this is an ancient practice or an innovation of
the aborigines, who find here their idols to which they can bring their
offerings. I also found sculptured lions, vases, and other objects,
which, from the manner they were fashioned, must have been wrought
with metal instruments; besides two statues of considerable size of
one single block, with peculiar heads, earrings, and the maxtli round
their loins.”[134] This passage is very remarkable, but the Abbé
Brasseur, who translated it, does not seem to have grasped its true
meaning. What, there was a plastered road in good preservation, a
temple filled with idols brought thither by the existing natives, more
than forty years after the Conquest, there were numerous offerings in
honour of the various poliote deities, statues representing the Mayas
in their national costume, and yet it is urged that these temples were
constructed before the Christian era! Landa’s account ought to convince
the most prejudiced; proving the town to have been, if not quite
recent, comparatively so, and inhabited when Montejo occupied it for
the first time, in 1527, since thirty-three years later (1560) devotees
were still visiting its shrines. This is also the conclusion arrived at
by Stephens, who had fewer data in support of it.

These pages had already been written when I received Chicxulub’s
Chronicles, written at the time of the Conquest, by the Cacique
Nakuk-Peck; translated and published by Brinton, Philadelphia, 1882,
containing most valuable information whereby my theory is strengthened
with all the weight of an official document.

[Illustration: SACRED CENOTÉ OF CHICHEN-ITZA.]

Sec. 4. Nakuk-Peck, writing of Montejo’s expedition to Chichen-Itza,
1527, says: “He set out to reconnoitre the place called Chichen-Itza,
whence he invited _the chief of the town_ to come and see him; and
the people said unto him: ‘_There is a King_, my Lord, _there is a
King, even Cocom aun Peck, King Peck, King Chel of Chicantum_;’ and
Captain _Cupul_ said to him: ‘_Stranger warrior, take your rest in
these palaces_.’ So spoke Captain _Cupul_.” After this, can it be
further doubted that Chichen was inhabited at the Conquest? Of Izamal
he says:

Sec. 18. “When the Spaniards established themselves at Merida in 1542,
the chief orator, the _high-priest Kinich-Kakmó and the King of the
Tutulxius from Mani, made their submission_.” Obviously Kinich-Kakmó
was the generic name for the high-priests at Izamal who were in full
possession of their religious prerogatives at the coming of the
Spaniards; consequently the temples and palaces of both Izamal and
Chichen were then inhabited. These passages tell us, moreover, what we
did not yet know—that after the fall of Mayapan the head of the Cocomes
took possession of the principality of Chichen (the fall of Mayapan and
the migration of the Chichemecs were probably contemporaneous events),
that Kinich-Kakmó was the ally of Tutulxiu, King of Mani, since,
jointly with him, he offered his alliance to Montejo, and that the
latter and Cocom, both of Toltec descent, were enemies struggling for
supremacy over the province.[135]

We read in Torquemada and other writers that the first to arrive in
the country were the Cocomes, penetrating the peninsula from Tabasco
towards the end of the twelfth century, under the command of their
chief Quetzalcoatl, after they had already subdued and civilised most
of the northern portion of Yucatan. They were succeeded a century later
by the Tutulxius, who marked their passage through the Usumacinta
Valley by the erection of Lorillard and Tikal.

Herrera and Landa tell us that “several tribes came from Chiapas,
having entered Yucatan by the south, although this is not generally
known to the natives themselves, but he (Landa) conjectures it from
the great number of names and verbal constructions common to Chiapas
and Yucatan, as from considerable vestiges of deserted localities
(Palenque, Ocosingo, and Lorillard, etc.). These tribes dwelt in the
wilderness south of the peninsula, journeying hence to the hilly
region of Kabah, Uxmal, etc., where they settled down under their
chief Tutulxiu, spreading everywhere the worship of the Sun, the Moon,
Tlaloc, and Quetzalcoatl, their chief deities. They lived in great
peace with the former inhabitants, and with one another. They had
no arms, snaring animals with nets or taking them with lazos.”[136]
Yet these kindred tribes, the Cocomes and Tutulxius, so mild in
disposition, became fierce and quarrelsome soon after the settlement
of the latter in the district, both struggling for supremacy. In
this conflict, Mayapan was successively occupied by the victorious
party, while both succumbed to the caciques, who, taking advantage of
these inter-tribal contentions, consolidated their power, when the
peninsula was divided into eighteen independent provinces, continually
at war with each other, which finally worked the destruction of the
Maya-Toltec civilisation.

Aware of the treasures the cenoté might contain, I had provided myself
with two automatic Toselli sounding-machines, one of which is capable
of bringing up half a cubic metre deposit; but unfortunately I could
not get it to work, owing to the height of the walls, the depth of the
water, and the enormous detritus of several centuries.

[Illustration: SMALL TEMPLE IN THE TENNIS-COURT OF CHICHEN-ITZA.]

The Tennis-court is at once the largest and the best preserved of any
structure of this description; it consists of two perpendicular
parallel walls from north to south, 34 by 325 feet, 32 feet high, and
113 feet apart. Both ends are occupied by two small temples always seen
in structures of this kind. The southern edifice has no ornamentation
of any interest; the northern, which is shown in our cut, contains a
single apartment, with a portico to the south supported by columns,
forming a balcony whence the grandees witnessed the game sheltered from
the fierce rays of the sun.

The ruinous condition of this building will not allow us to judge of
its external decoration; but the columns and the walls in the interior
are covered with rows of human figures in bas-relief, so damaged,
however, that the subjects represented cannot be recognised. The inner
walls facing each other, have in the centre of each, some 15 feet from
the ground, two stone rings with a hole through the centre, similar
to the one we dug up at Tula. The vast proportions of this tlachtli
indicate that the national Nahua game was as eagerly played in Yucatan
as on the table-land.

From the remaining sculptured fragments, whether bases, shafts of
columns, or reliefs, representing Quetzalcoatl, we are induced to
believe that this stately building was dedicated to this god; all the
more that the south end of the eastern wall is occupied by a monument
where his symbolical image is everywhere seen. It consists of two
apartments of different size, richly decorated; a portico gave access
to the main chamber (our cut shows its dimensions), where the bases of
the columns are covered with finely sculptured serpents’ heads with
protruding tongues, over 9 feet long, bearing the characteristics of
those on the great temple at Mexico which date 1484-1486.

The southern façade of this monument has a beautiful interlaced frieze,
with a procession of tigers, divided by richly fringed shields, bearing
a strong resemblance to those of the various tribes, published by
Lorenzana with Cortez’ letters, and similar to those generally seen
in the Mexican manuscripts. We think we recognise in this a monument
of Quetzalcoatl commemorating his victory over Tezcatlipoca in his
foot-ball match which took place at Tula, and that this is so seems
highly probable.

[Illustration: BAS-RELIEF IN HALL OF TENNIS-COURT OF CHICHEN-ITZA.]

In the chamber which stood over the ruined portico there was, twenty
years ago, a series of paintings descriptive of domestic and public
life among the Mayas, now entirely destroyed by barbarous explorers,
or by the inhabitants of Pisté. Stephens, who saw them, says that
they were painted in bright colours of blue, red, yellow, and green.
Fortunately for us, three sides of the pillars at the entrance are
still covered with sculptures, as also the lintels, and all are in
better preservation than any at Chichen-Itza, as may be seen in our
drawing. Here also we find numerous analogies with Mexican monuments,
which, it should be recollected, were the result of Toltec teaching.

[Illustration: TIGERS’ BAS-RELIEFS ON PORTION OF TENNIS-COURT OF
CHICHEN-ITZA.]

All the human figures seen on these monuments have the usual type of
the Toltecs of the high plateaux. Their gala dress, like that of the
reliefs at page 362, is identical with the dress of the figures on
Tizoc’s stone. It is always a head-dress of feathers, a heavy collar
of precious stones, a bundle of arrows in the left hand, while the
right carries a knife similar to that carried by the figures of the
Cuauhxicalli, so that we might almost fancy we are following in the
train of a Nahua pageant so vividly portrayed by Sahagun, when he
says: “In the feast of the God of Fire, which was held in the month
_Izcalli_” (the eighteenth month), “the nobles wore a high-fronted
paper coronet, with no back to it, a kind of false nose of blue paper,
a collar and medallions around their necks, while in their hands was
carried a wooden knife, the lower half of which was painted red and the
upper white.”[137] In our cut, the figure to the right wears the mitre
just described with the piece of paper about the nose, while the collar
and the wooden knife may be seen in both, just like those we see on
Tizoc’s stone. The analogy is as curious as it is striking.

[Illustration: DOOR-POSTS OF HALL IN THE TENNIS-COURT OF CHICHEN-ITZA.]

[Illustration: TIZOC’S STONE, IN MEXICO.]

Further, to the right of our drawing (page 365), the figures, besides
the huge feather head-dress, carry in their hands spears barbed with
feathers, like the figures to the extreme left on Tizoc’s stone. These
warriors are distributed in groups of two, the conqueror to the left,
the vanquished to the right; the latter in the act of presenting the
sacred knife he holds in his hand, as a sign of submission. Some of the
warriors, instead of the knife, have a two-handed sword, “_macana_,”
furnished with blades of obsidian of Toltec manufacture; a few have
their noses pierced, and wear a golden ball, or the obsidian _bezoté_,
on their under-lip, as a badge of knighthood, which they had adopted
from the Nahuas of the Uplands. Further, each figure, whether in the
Mexican or Maya bas-relief, wears a kind of casque, fashioned in the
shape of a crocodile, a bird, a serpent, or a duck’s head, etc., with
his name on it. Slight differences of style may occur here and there;
for these monuments belong to remote epochs, while Tizoc’s stone only
dates back to 1485; but the fact that they are found at a distance of
more than 900 miles from each other does not make their resemblance
less marvellous.

[Illustration: STATUE OF TLALOC FOUND AT CHICHEN-ITZA.]

We will end our comparisons with a description of the following
statues, which ought to convert the most obstinate to our theory. One
was discovered at Chichen-Itza five or six years ago, by Leplongeon, an
American explorer; the other in the neighbourhood of Tlascala, close
to Mexico, at a considerable distance from the former. The two statues
represent the Toltec god Tlaloc, according to Mr. Hamy, whose view I
take. This view receives additional probability from the existence
of a third statue, which was found I know not where, and which is
the property of Mr. Baron of Mexico, who bought it among several
other Aztec antiquities, and had it placed in his beautiful garden
at Tacubaya, whence it has, I suppose, been removed to Spain. “This
statue,” says Jesus Sanchez, “is smaller than the other two, measuring
but 3 feet by 1 foot 7 inches by 2 feet high. It also represents a man
lying on his back, his legs drawn up, his feet on the ground, and
holding with both hands a vase which rests against his body.”

[Illustration: STATUE OF TLALOC OF TLASCALA (IN THE MUSEUM OF MEXICO).]

There is no doubt that the same deity is figured in these three
statues, whatever the ornamentation, which varies according to the
epoch, the locality, or the imagination of the artist. But Sanchez
adds, “recollecting that a number of Mexican statues were sculptured
also beneath their base, I turned this, when I discovered several
devices in relief. The sculptor had carved on the surface of the stone
_a sheet of water, aquatic plants, two frogs, and a fish_; while the
bank was occupied by _beans and grains of maize_, which are among
the attributes of Tlaloc.[138] The statue in the Mexican Museum,
although found at Tlascala, must necessarily be Toltec from its archaic
character, and determines the origin of the second at Chichen-Itza.
When we add that the same customs, the same institutions, the same
manner of computing time, the same religion, and the same arms,
were common to both the tribes of the plateaux and the Mayas of the
peninsula, as recorded by all ancient writers so often quoted in the
course of this work, we think we may even more positively affirm that
the Yucatec civilisation is both Toltec and recent.

There remains another monument to explore, which has not been
understood by former travellers, whilst the drawing given by Stephens
is altogether erroneous, but the probable use of which we think we
can explain. At a distance of some 162 feet east of the Castillo, is
a curious assemblage of several hundred small columns in rows, five
or six abreast, 13 feet apart from each other, forming an immense
quadrilateral. These columns, 6 feet high, some of which are still
standing, consist of five round pieces, crowned by a beautifully cut
but plain square capital.

By far the greater proportion are lying on the ground, their blocks
disjointed but in order, while others are scattered about in great
confusion. Two edifices, now demolished, save some fine sculptured
fragments, occupied the angles north-east and south-west of the
quadrilateral. We are of opinion that this vast structure was the
Market-place.

It is not conceivable that so great a religious centre was not
possessed of an establishment similar to those found in all the great
cities of the Uplands, notably to any one familiar with the narratives
of the time of the Conquest, in which the Mexican and Tlascalan
market-places are described as having, like this monument, low
colonnades, galleries, and buildings occupied by the judges entrusted
with the various cases arising in and out of the Market-place.

The importance attached to the market on the table-land, leaves no
doubt that it had equal rank in the peninsula, where the manners and
requirements were identical. “In Mexico,” says Clavigero, “the judges
of the commercial tribunal, twelve in number, held their court in
the market building, where they regulated prices and measures, and
settled disputes. Commissioners acting under their authority patrolled
the _tianquiztli_ (market-place) to prevent disorder. Any attempt
at extortionate charges, or at passing inferior or injured goods,
or any infringement of another’s right, was reported and severely
punished.”[139]

The king received a certain percentage on all goods brought to the
market, in return for the protection thus extended to the merchants.
The _tianquiztlis_ of Texcuco, Cholula, and other cities, were on a
similar plan, and Cortez speaks of the market at Tlascala as being
attended by more than thirty thousand people.

Sahagun enumerates the various products which were sold, the judges who
watched over the interests of buyers and sellers, the perfect order
enforced, and the importance of the markets.[140]

What more natural than to suppose that the markets of the table-land
had their counterpart in the peninsula, and that a great city like
Chichen should have had an important _tianquiz_, which was frequented
daily or at stated times by vast multitudes of traffickers, or that