VOLUME IV***


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THE WORKS OF HUBERT HOWE BANCROFT.

VOLUME IV.

THE NATIVE RACES.

VOL. IV. ANTIQUITIES.







San Francisco:
A. L. Bancroft & Company, Publishers.
1883.

Entered according to Act of Congress in the Year 1882, by
Hubert H. Bancroft.
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

All Rights Reserved.




CONTENTS OF THIS VOLUME.


     CHAPTER I.

     ARCHAEOLOGICAL INTRODUCTION.

                                                                 PAGE.

     Monumental Archaeology -- Scope of the Volume -- Treatment
     of the Subject -- Sources of Information -- Tangibility of
     Material Relics --Vagueness of Traditional and Written
     Archaeology -- Value of Monumental Relics, as conveying
     Positive Information respecting their Builders, as
     Corroborative or Corrective Witnesses, as Incentives to
     Research --Counterfeit Antiquities -- Egyptian, Assyrian
     and Persian monuments --Relics proving the Antiquity of
     Man -- Exploration of American Ruins -- Key to Central
     American Hieroglyphics -- No more Unwritten History             1


     CHAPTER II.

     ANTIQUITIES OF THE ISTHMUS, COSTA RICA, MOSQUITO COAST,
     AND NICARAGUA.

     The Isthmus -- Roman Coin and Galley -- Huacas of Chiriqui
     -- Incised Stone-carvings -- Sculptured Columns -- Human
     Remains -- Golden Ornaments -- Weapons -- Implements --
     Pottery -- Musical Instruments -- Costa Rica -- Stone
     Hammers -- Ancient Plantations -- Images of Gold --
     Terra-Cottas -- Axe of Quartz -- Wonderful Hill -- Paved
     Road -- Stone Frog -- Mosquito Coast -- Granite Vases --
     Remarkable Reports -- Animal Group -- Rock-Paintings --
     Golden Figure -- Home of the Sukia -- Nicaragua --
     Authorities -- Mounds -- Sepulchres --Excavations --
     Weapons -- Implements -- Ornaments -- Statues -- Idols --
     Pottery -- Metals                                              15


     CHAPTER III.

     ANTIQUITIES OF SALVADOR AND HONDURAS, RUINS OF COPAN.

     Salvador -- Opico Remains -- Mounds of Jiboa -- Relics of
     Lake Guijar -- Honduras -- Guanaja -- Wall -- Stone Chairs
     -- Roatan -- Pottery --Olancho Relics -- Mounds of Agalta
     and Abajo -- Hacienda of Labranza -- Comayagua -- Stone
     Dog-idol -- Terraced Mounds of Calamulla --Tumuli on Rio
     Chiquinquare -- Earthen Vases of Yarumela -- Fortified
     Plateau of Tenampua -- Pyramids, Enclosures, and
     Excavations -- Stone Walls -- Parallel Mounds --
     Cliff-Carvings at Aramacina -- Copan --History and
     Bibliography -- Palacio, Fuentes, Galindo, Stephens, Daly,
     Ellery, Hardcastle, Brasseur de Bourbourg -- Plan of Ruins
     Restored --Quarry and Cave -- Outside Monuments --
     Enclosing Walls -- The Temple -- Courts -- Vaults --
     Pyramid -- Idols -- Altars -- Miscellaneous Relics --
     Human Remains -- Lime -- Colossal Heads -- Remarkable
     Altars -- General Remarks                                      68


     CHAPTER IV.

     ANTIQUITIES OF GUATEMALA AND BELIZE.

     The State of Guatemala -- A Land of Mystery -- Wonderful
     Reports --Discoveries Comparatively Unimportant -- Ruins
     of Quirigua -- History and Bibliography -- Pyramid,
     Altars, and Statues -- Comparison with Copan -- Pyramid of
     Chapulco -- Relics at Chinamita -- Temples of Micla --
     Cinaca-Mecallo -- Cave of Penol -- Cyclopean Debris at
     Carrizal -- Copper Medals at Guatemala -- Esquimatha --
     Fortification of Mixco -- Pancacoya Columns -- Cave of
     Santa Maria -- Mammoth Bones at Petapa -- Rosario Aqueduct
     -- Ruins of Patinamit, or Tecpan Guatemala --
     Quezaltenango, or Xelahuh -- Utatlan, near Santa Cruz del
     Quiche -- Zakuleu, near Huehuetenango -- Cakchiquel Ruins
     in the Region of Rabinal -- Cawinal -- Marvelous Ruins
     Reported -- Stephens' Inhabited City -- Antiquities of
     Peten -- Flores -- San Jose -- Casas Grandes -- Tower of
     Yaxhaa -- Tikal Palaces and Statues -- Dolores
     --Antiquities of Belize                                       106


     CHAPTER V.

     ANTIQUITIES OF YUCATAN.

     Yucatan, the Country and the People -- Abundance of Ruined
     Cities --Antiquarian Exploration of the State -- Central
     Group -- Uxmal --History and Bibliography -- Waldeck,
     Stephens, Catherwood, Norman, Friederichsthal, and Charnay
     -- Casa del Gobernador, Las Monjas, El Adivino, Pyramid,
     and Gymnasium -- Kabah, Nohpat, Labna, and nineteen other
     Ruined Cities -- Eastern Group; Chichen Itza and vicinity
     --Northern Group, Mayapan, Merida, and Izamal -- Southern
     Group; Labphak, Iturbide, and Macoba -- Eastern Coast;
     Tuloom and Cozumel --Western Coast; Maxcanu, Jaina, and
     Campeche -- General Features of the Yucatan Relics --
     Pyramids and Stone Buildings -- Limestone, Mortar, Stucco,
     and Wood -- The Triangular Arch -- Sculpture, Painting,
     and Hieroglyphics -- Roads and Wells -- Comparisons --
     Antiquity of the Monuments -- Conclusions                     140


     CHAPTER VI.

     ANTIQUITIES OF TABASCO AND CHIAPAS, RUINS OF PALENQUE.

     Geographical Limits -- Physical Geography -- No Relics in
     Tabasco --Ruins of Palenque -- Exploration and
     Bibliography -- Name; Nachan, Culhuacan, Otolum, Xibalba
     -- Extent, Location, and Plan -- The Palace -- The
     Pyramidal Structure -- Walls, Corridors, and Courts --
     Stucco Bas-Reliefs -- Tower -- Interior Buildings --
     Sculptured Tablet --Subterranean Galleries -- Temple of
     the Three Tablets -- Temple of the Beau Relief -- Temple
     of the Cross -- Statue -- Temple of the Sun
     --Miscellaneous Ruins and Relics -- Ruins of Ococingo --
     Winged Globe --Wooden Lintel -- Terraced Pyramid --
     Miscellaneous Ruins of Chiapas --Custepeques, Xiquipilas,
     Laguna Mora, Copanabastla, and Zitala --Huehuetan -- San
     Cristoval -- Remains on the Usumacinta -- Comparison
     between Palenque and the Cities of Yucatan -- Antiquity of
     Palenque --Conclusion                                         286


     CHAPTER VII.

     ANTIQUITIES OF OAJACA AND GUERRERO.

     Nahua Antiquities -- Home of the Zapotecs and Miztecs --
     Remains in Tehuantepec -- Fortified Hill of Guiengola --
     Petapa, Magdalena, and Laollaga -- Bridge at Chihuitlan --
     Cross of Guatulco -- Tutepec --City of Oajaca and Vicinity
     -- Tlacolula -- Etla -- Penoles --Quilapan -- Ruins of
     Monte Alban -- Relics at Zachila -- Cuilapa --Palaces of
     Mitla -- Mosaic Work -- Stone Columns -- Subterranean
     Galleries -- Pyramids -- Fortifications -- Comparison with
     Central American Ruins -- Northern Monuments -- Quiotepec
     -- Cerro de las Juntas -- Tuxtepec -- Huahuapan --
     Yanguitlan -- Antiquities of Guerrero                         366


     CHAPTER VIII.

     ANTIQUITIES OF VERA CRUZ.

     Physical Features of the State -- Exploration and Reports
     -- Caxapa and Tuxtla -- <DW64> Head -- Relics from Island
     of Sacrificios --Eastern <DW72> Remains -- Medelin --
     Xicalanco -- Rio Blanco -- Amatlan -- Orizava -- Cempoala
     -- Puente Nacional -- Paso de Ovejas --Huatusco --
     Fortifications and Pyramids of Centla -- El Castillo
     --Fortress of Tlacotepec -- Palmillas -- Zacuapan --
     Inscription at Atliaca -- Consoquitla Fort and Tomb --
     Calcahualco -- Ruins of Misantla or Monte Real -- District
     of Jalancingo -- Pyramid of Papantla -- Mapilca -- Pyramid
     and Fountain at Tusapan -- Ruins of Metlaltoyuca -- Relics
     near Panuco -- Calondras, San Nicolas, and Trinidad           425


     CHAPTER IX.

     ANTIQUITIES OF THE CENTRAL PLATEAUX.

     Anahuac -- Monuments of Puebla -- Chila, Teopantepec,
     Tepexe, Tepeaca, San Antonio, Quauhquelchula, and Santa
     Catalina -- Pyramid of Cholula -- Sierra de Malinche --
     San Pablo -- Natividad -- Monuments of Tlascala -- Los
     Reyes -- Monuments of Mexico -- Cuernavaca, Xochicalco,
     Casasano, Ozumba, Tlachialco, Ahuehuepa, and Mecamecan
     --Xochimilco, Tlahuac, Xico, Misquique, Tlalmanalco, and
     Culhuacan --Chapultepec, Remedios, Tacuba, and Malinalco
     -- City of Mexico --Tezcuco -- Tezcocingo -- Teotihuacan
     -- Obsidian Mines -- Tula --Monuments of Queretaro --
     Pueblito, Canoas, and Ranas -- Nahua Monuments                464


     CHAPTER X.

     ANTIQUITIES OF THE NORTHERN MEXICAN STATES.

     The Home of the Chichimecs -- Michoacan -- Tzintzuntzan,
     Lake Patzcuaro, Teremendo, Aniche, and Jiquilpan -- Colima
     -- Armeria and Cuyutlan -- Jalisco -- Tonala, Guadalajara,
     Chacala, Sayula, Tepatitlan, Nayarit, Tepic, Santiago
     Ixcuintla, and Bolanos --Guanajuato -- San Gregorio and
     Santa Catarina -- Zacatecas -- La Quemada and Teul --
     Tamaulipas -- Encarnacion, Santa Barbara, Carmelote,
     Topila, Tampico, and Burrita -- Nuevo Leon and Texas
     --Coahuila -- Bolson de Mapimi, San Martero, Durango,
     Zape, San Agustin, and La Brena -- Sinaloa and Lower
     California -- Cerro de las Trincheras in Sonora -- Casas
     Grandes in Chihuahua                                          568


     CHAPTER XI.

     ANTIQUITIES OF ARIZONA AND NEW MEXICO.

     Area enclosed by the Gila, Rio Grande del Norte, and
     Colorado -- A Land of Mystery -- Wonderful Reports and
     Adventures of Missionaries, Soldiers, Hunters, Miners, and
     Pioneers -- Exploration -- Railroad Surveys --
     Classification of Remains -- Monuments of the Gila Valley
     -- Boulder-Inscriptions -- The Casa Grande of Arizona --
     Early Accounts and Modern Exploration -- Adobe Buildings
     -- View and Plans -- Miscellaneous remains, Acequias, and
     Pottery -- Other Ruins on the Gila -- Valley of the Rio
     Salado -- Rio Verde -- Pueblo Creek -- Upper Gila --
     Tributaries of the Colorado -- Rock-Inscriptions, Bill
     Williams' Fork -- Ruined Cities of the Colorado Chiquito
     -- Rio Puerco -- Lithodendron Creek -- Navarro Spring --
     Zuni Valley -- Arch Spring -- Zuni -- Ojo del Pescado --
     Inscription Rock -- Rio San Juan --Ruins of the Chelly and
     Chaco Canyons -- Valley of the Rio Grande --Pueblo Towns,
     Inhabited and in Ruins -- The Moqui Towns -- The Seven
     Cities of Cibola -- Resume, Comparisons, and Conclusions      615


     CHAPTER XII.

     ANTIQUITIES OF THE NORTHWEST.

     General Character of North-western Remains -- No Traces of
     Extinct or of Civilized Races -- Antiquities of California
     -- Stone Implements --Newspaper Reports -- Taylor's Work
     -- Colorado Desert -- Trail and Rock-Inscriptions --
     Burial Relics of Southern California -- Bones of Giants
     -- Mounds in the Saticoy Valley -- New Almaden Mine
     --Pre-Historic Relics in the Mining Shafts -- Stone
     Implements, Human Bones, and Remains of Extinct Animal
     Species -- Voy's Work -- San Joaquin Relics -- Merced
     Mounds -- Martinez -- Shell-Mounds round San Francisco
     Bay, and their Contents -- Relics from a San Francisco
     Mound -- Antiquities of Nevada -- Utah -- Mounds of Salt
     Lake Valley --Colorado -- Remains at Golden City --
     Extensive Ruins in Southern Colorado and Utah -- Jackson's
     Expedition -- Mancos and McElmo Canyons -- Idaho and
     Montana -- Oregon -- Washington -- Mounds on Bute Prairie,
     and Yakima Earth-work -- British Columbia -- Deans'
     Explorations -- Mounds and Earth-works of Vancouver Island
     -- Alaska                                                     687


     CHAPTER XIII.

     WORKS OF THE MOUND-BUILDERS.

     American Monuments beyond the Limits of the Pacific States
     -- Eastern Atlantic States -- Remains in the Mississippi
     Valley -- Three Geographical Divisions -- Classification
     of Monuments -- Embankments and Ditches -- Fortifications
     -- Sacred Enclosures -- Mounds --Temple-Mounds,
     Animal-Mounds, and Conical Mounds -- Altar-Mounds, Burial
     Mounds, and Anomalous Mounds -- Contents of the Mounds --
     Human Remains -- Remains of Aboriginal Art -- Implements
     and Ornaments of Metal, Stone, Bone, and Shell -- Ancient
     Copper Mines --Rock-Inscriptions -- Antiquity of the
     Mississippi Remains --Comparisons -- Conclusions              744


     CHAPTER XIV.

     PERUVIAN ANTIQUITIES.

      Two Epochs of Peruvian Civilization -- Aboriginal
     Government, Religion, and Arts -- Contrasts -- The Huacas
     -- Human Remains --Articles of Metal -- Copper Implements
     -- Gold and Silver Vases and Ornaments -- Use of Iron
     unknown -- Aboriginal Engineering -- Paved Roads --
     Peruvian Pottery -- Ruins of Pachacamac -- Mausoleum of
     Cuelap -- Gran-Chimu -- Huaca of Misa -- Temple of the Sun
     -- Remains on the Island of Titicaca -- Chavin de Huanta
     -- Huanuco el Viejo --Cuzco -- Monuments of Tiahuanaco --
     Island of Coati                                               791




  [Illustration: NATIVE RACE OF THE PACIFIC STATES SHOWING THE
   LOCATION OF ANCIENT MONUMENTS]




     THE NATIVE RACES
     OF THE
     PACIFIC STATES.

     ANTIQUITIES.




CHAPTER I.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL INTRODUCTION.

     MONUMENTAL ARCHAEOLOGY -- SCOPE OF THE VOLUME -- TREATMENT
     OF THE SUBJECT -- SOURCES OF INFORMATION -- TANGIBILITY OF
     MATERIAL RELICS -- VAGUENESS OF TRADITIONAL AND WRITTEN
     ARCHAEOLOGY -- VALUE OF MONUMENTAL RELICS, AS CONVEYING
     POSITIVE INFORMATION RESPECTING THEIR BUILDERS, AS
     CORROBORATIVE OR CORRECTIVE WITNESSES, AS INCENTIVES TO
     RESEARCH -- COUNTERFEIT ANTIQUITIES -- EGYPTIAN, ASSYRIAN,
     AND PERSIAN MONUMENTS -- RELICS PROVING THE ANTIQUITY OF
     MAN -- EXPLORATION OF AMERICAN RUINS -- KEY TO CENTRAL
     AMERICAN HIEROGLYPHICS -- NO MORE UNWRITTEN HISTORY.


  [Sidenote: TREATMENT OF THE SUBJECT.]

The present volume of the NATIVE RACES OF THE PACIFIC STATES treats of
monumental archaeology, and is intended to present a detailed
description of all material relics of the past discovered within the
territory under consideration. Two chapters, however, are devoted to a
more general view of remains outside the limits of this
territory--those of South America and of the eastern United States--as
being illustrative of, and of inseparable interest in connection with,
my subject proper. Since monumental remains in the western continent
without the broad limits thus included are comparatively few and
unimportant, I may without exaggeration, if the execution of the work
be in any degree commensurate with its aim, claim for this treatise a
place among the most complete ever published on American antiquities
as a whole. Indeed, Mr Baldwin's most excellent little book on Ancient
America is the only comprehensive work treating of this subject now
before the public. As a popular treatise, compressing within a small
duodecimo volume the whole subject of archaeology, including, besides
material relics, tradition, and speculation concerning origin and
history as well, this book cannot be too highly praised; I propose,
however, by devoting a large octavo volume to one half or less of Mr
Baldwin's subject-matter, to add at least encyclopedic value to this
division of my work.

There are some departments of the present subject in which I can
hardly hope to improve upon or even to equal descriptions already
extant. Such are the ruins of Yucatan, Guatemala, and Nicaragua, so
ably treated by Messrs Stephens, Catherwood, and Squier. Indeed, not a
few relics of great importance are known to the world only through the
pen or pencil of one or another of these gentlemen, in which cases I
am forced to draw somewhat largely upon the result of their
investigations. Yet even within the territory mentioned, concerning
Uxmal and Chichen Itza we have most valuable details in the works of
M. M. Waldeck and Charnay; at Quirigua, Dr Scherzer's labors are no
less satisfactory than those of Mr Catherwood; and Mr Squier's careful
observations in Nicaragua are supplemented, to the advantage of the
antiquarian public, by the scarcely less extensive investigations of
Mr Boyle. In the case of Palenque, in some respects the most
remarkable American ruin, we have, besides the exhaustive delineations
of Waldeck and Stephens, several others scarcely less satisfactory or
interesting from the pens of competent observers; and in a large
majority of instances each locality, if not each separate relic, has
been described from personal examination by several parties, each
noting some particulars by the others neglected. By a careful study
and comparison of information drawn from all available sources
respecting the several points, the witnesses mutually corroborating or
correcting one another's statements, I expect to arrive in each case
practically at the truth, and thus to compensate in a measure for that
loss of interest inevitably incurred by the necessary omission of that
personal experience and adventure by which antiquarian travelers are
wont to impart a charm to their otherwise dry details.

Although necessarily to a great extent a compilation, this volume is
none the less the result of hard and long-continued study. It embodies
the researches of some five hundred travelers, stated not merely en
resume, but reproduced, so far as facts and results are concerned, in
full. Very few of the many works studied are devoted exclusively or
even chiefly to my subject; indeed most of them have but an occasional
reference to antiquarian relics, which are described more or less
fully among other objects of interest that come under the traveler's
eye; hence the possibility of condensing satisfactorily the contents
of so many volumes in one, and of making this one fill on the shelves
of the antiquary's library the place of all, excepting, of course, the
large plates of the folio works. Full references to, and quotations
from, the authorities consulted are given in the notes, which thus
become a complete index to all that has been written on the subject.
These notes contain also bibliographical notices and historical
details of the discovery and successive explorations of each ruin, and
other information not without interest and value. That some few books
containing archaeological information may have escaped my notice, is
quite possible, but none I believe of sufficient importance to
seriously impair the value of the material here presented. In order to
give a clear idea of the great variety of articles preserved from the
past for our examination, the use of numerous illustrations becomes
absolutely essential. Of the cuts employed many are the originals
taken from the published works of explorers, particularly of Messrs
Stephens and Squier, with their permission. As I make no claim to
personal archaeological research, save among the tomes on the shelves
of my library, and as the imparting of accurate information is my only
aim, the advantage of the original cuts over any copies that could be
made, will be manifest to the reader. Where such originals could not
be obtained I have made accurate copies of drawings carefully selected
from what I have deemed the best authorities, always with a view to
give the clearest possible idea of the objects described, and with no
attempt at mere pictorial embellishment.

Confining myself strictly to the description of material remains, I
have omitted, or reserved for another volume, all traditions and
speculations of a general nature respecting their origin and the
people whose handiwork they are, giving, however, in some instances,
such definite traditions as seem unlikely to come up in connection
with ancient history. This is in accordance with the general plan
which I adopt in treating of the Native Races of this western half of
North America, proceeding from the known to the unknown, from the near
to the remote; dealing first with the observed phenomena of aboriginal
savagism and civilization when first brought within the knowledge of
Europeans, as I have done in the three volumes already before the
public; then entering the labyrinthine field of antiquity from its
least obstructed side, I devote this volume to material relics
exclusively, thus preparing the way for a final volume on traditional
and written archaeology, to terminate with what most authors have given
at the start,--the vaguest and most hopelessly complicated department
of the whole subject,--speculations respecting the origin of the
American people and of the western civilization.

In the descriptions which follow I proceed geographically from south
to north for no reason more cogent than that of convenience. From the
same motive, much more weighty however in this case, I follow the same
order in my comparisons between remains in different parts of the
continent, comparing invariably each ruin with others farther south
and consequently familiar to the reader, rather than with more
northern structures to be described later. It is claimed by some
writers that the term antiquities is properly used only to designate
the works of a people extinct or only traditionally known. This
restriction of the term would exclude most of the monumental remains
of the Pacific States, since a large majority of the objects described
in the following pages are known to have been the work of the peoples
found by Europeans in possession of the country, or of their immediate
ancestors. I employ the term, however, in its more common application,
including in it all the works of aboriginal hands presumably executed
before native intercourse with Europeans, at dates varying
consequently with that of the discovery of different localities.

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: REALITY OF MATERIAL RELICS.]

Monumental archaeology, as distinguished from written and traditional
archaeology, owes its interest largely to its reality and tangibility.
The teachings of material relics, so far as they go, are irrefutable.
Real in themselves they impart an air of reality to the study of the
past. They stand before us as the actual work of human hands,
affording no foothold for scepticism; they are the balance-wheels of
tradition, resting-places for the mind wearied with the study of
aboriginal fable, stepping-stones on which to cross the miry sloughs
of mythic history. The ruins of a great city represent and recall
vividly its original state and the populace that once thronged its
streets; the towering mound or pyramid brings before the observer's
mind toiling bands of slaves driven to their unwelcome task by strong
progressive masters; temples and idols are but remnants of religious
systems, native fear, superstition, and faith; altars imply victims
and sacrificial ceremonies; sculpture, the existence of art; kingly
palaces are the result of a strong government, wars, and conquest;
sepulchral deposits reveal thoughts of another life; and hieroglyphic
inscriptions, even if their key be lost, imply events deemed worthy of
record, and a degree of progress toward letters.

What the personal souvenir is to the memory of dead friends, what the
ancestral mansion with its portraits and other relics is to family
memories and pride of descent, what the ancient battle-ground with the
monument commemorating early struggles for liberty is to national
patriotism, what the familiar hill, valley, stream, and tree to
recollection and love of home,--all this and more are material relics
to the study of ages gone by. Destroy such relics in the case of the
individual, the family, and the nation, and imagine the effect on our
interest in a past, which is, however, in nearly every instance
clearly recorded. What would be the consequence of blotting from
existence the ruins that stand as monuments of a past but vaguely
known even in the most favorable circumstances through the medium of
traditionary and written annals? Traditional archaeology, fascinating
as its study is and important in its results, leaves always in the
mind a feeling of uncertainty, a fear that any particular tradition
may be in its present form, modified willfully or involuntarily in
passing through many hands, a distortion of the original, or perhaps a
pure invention; or if intact in form its primary signification may be
altogether misunderstood. And even in the case of written annals, more
definite and reliable of course than oral traditions, we cannot forget
that back beyond a certain time impossible to locate in the distant
past, history founds its statements of events on no more substantial
basis than popular fable.

  [Sidenote: COUNTERFEIT ANTIQUITIES.]

It is true that false reports may be made respecting the discovery or
nature of ruined cities and other monuments; and relics may be
collected and exhibited which have no claim whatever to antiquity.
Indeed it is said that in some parts of Spanish America, Aztec,
Chichimec, or Toltec relics, of any desired era since the creation,
are manufactured to order by the ingenious natives and sold to the
enthusiastic but unwary antiquarian. To similar imposition and like
enthusiasm may be referred the long list of Roman, Greek,
Scandinavian, Tyrian, and other old-world coins, medals, and
inscriptions, whose discovery in the New World from time to time has
been reported, and used in support of some pet origin-theory. Yet
practically these counterfeit or fabulous antiquities do little harm;
their falsity may in most cases be without difficulty detected, as
will be apparent from several instances of the kind noted in the
following pages. There are, as I have said, few ruins of any
importance that have not been described by more than one competent and
reliable explorer. The discovery of wonderful cities and palaces, or
of movable relics which differ essentially from the well-authenticated
antiquities of the same region, is not accepted by archaeologists, or
by the public generally, without more positive proof of genuineness
than the representations of a single traveler whose reliability has
not been fully proved.

       *       *       *       *       *

The study of ancient monuments, in addition to its high degree of
interest, is moreover of great practical value in the development of
historical science, as a source of positive information, as a
corroboration of annals otherwise recorded, and as an incentive to
continued research. It contributes to actual knowledge by indicating
the various arts that flourished among the peoples of antiquity, the
germs of the corresponding arts of modern times. The monuments show
not alone the precise degree of excellence in architecture and
sculpture attained by the particular people whose work they are, but
by an examination of their differences they throw much light on the
origin and growth of these and other arts, while by comparison with
the works of other peoples better known they serve to establish more
or less clearly national affinities. And not only do they illustrate
the state of the fine and useful arts, but also to a great extent
public institutions and private customs. Temples, idols, and altars
reveal much of religious rites and priestly power; weapons, of
warfare; implements, of household habits; ornaments, of dress; tombs
and sepulchral relics, of burial ceremonies, regard for the dead, and
ideas respecting another life. When, in addition to their indirect
teachings respecting the arts and institutions of their builders,
antique monuments bear also inscriptions in written or legible
hieroglyphic characters, their value is of course greatly increased;
indeed under such circumstances they become the very highest historic
authority.

It is, however, in connection with the other branches of the science,
written and traditional, that material relics accomplish their most
satisfactory results, their corroborative evidence being even more
valuable than the positive information they convey. For instance,
tradition relates wondrous tales of the wealth, power, and mighty
deeds of a people that long ago occupied what is now a barren desert
or a dense forest. These tales are classed with other aboriginal
fables, interesting but comparatively valueless; but some wandering
explorer, by chance or as the result of an apparently absurd and
profitless research, discovers in the shade of the tangled thicket, or
lays bare under the drifting desert-sands, the ruins of a great city
with magnificent palace and temple; at once the mythic fable is
transformed into authentic history, especially if the traditional
statements of that people's arts and institutions are confirmed by
their relics.

Again, the written record of biblical tradition, unsatisfactory to
some, when not supported by corroborative evidence, narrates with
minute detail the history of an ancient city, including its conquest
at a given date by a foreign king. The discovery in another land of
that monarch's statue or triumphal arch, inscribed with his name,
title, and a list of his deeds, confirms or invalidates the scriptural
account not only of that particular event but indirectly of other
details of the city's annals not recorded in stone. In America
material relics acquire increased importance as corroborative and
corrective witnesses, in comparison with those of the old world, from
the absence of contemporary written annals. Beside constituting the
only tangible supports of the more ancient triumphs of American
civilization, they are the best illustrations of comparatively modern
stages of art whose products have disappeared, and by no means
superfluous in support of Spanish chroniclers in later times, "very
many, or perhaps most of whose statements respecting the wonderful
phenomena of the New World culture," as I have remarked in a preceding
volume, "without this incontrovertible material proof would find few
believers among the sceptical students of the present day."

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: IMPORTANCE OF MATERIAL RELICS.]

The importance of monumental remains as incentives to historical study
and research results directly from the interest and curiosity which
their examination invariably excites. Gibbon relates that he was first
prompted to write the annals of Rome's decline and fall by the
contemplation of her ruined structures. Few even of the most prosaic
and matter-of-fact travelers can resist the impulse to reason and
speculate on the origin of ruins that come under their notice, and the
civilization to which they owe their existence; and there are probably
few eminent archaeologists but may trace the first development of a
taste for antiquarian pursuits to the curiosity excited at the sight
of some mysterious relic.

This irresistible desire to follow back remains of art to the artist's
hand and genius, prompted the oft-repeated and so long fruitless
attempts to decipher the Egyptian hieroglyphics and the cuneiform
inscriptions of Persia and Assyria. These efforts were at last crowned
with success; the key to the mysterious wedges, and the Rosetta-stone
were found, by which the tablets of Babylon, Ninevah, and the
pyramids--the Palenque, Copan, and Teotihuacan of the old world--may
be read. The palaces, monuments, and statues of ancient kings bear
legible records of their lives, dominions, and succession. By the aid
of these records definite dates are established for events in the
history of these countries as early as two thousand years before the
Christian era, and thus corroborations and checks are placed on the
statements of biblical and profane history. But the art of
interpreting these hieroglyphics is yet in its infancy, and the
results thus far accomplished are infinitesimal in comparison with
what may be reasonably anticipated in the future.

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: THE ANTIQUITY OF THE HUMAN RACE.]

So much for antique monuments and their teachings--alone and in
connection with history and tradition--respecting the peoples to whom
they owe their existence. Another and not less important value they
have, in connection with geology and paleontology, in what they tell
us about the age of the human race on the earth. Biblical tradition,
as interpreted in former times, asserts the earth and its inhabitants
to be about six thousand years old. Geology has enforced a new
interpretation, which, so far as the age of the earth is concerned, is
accepted by all latter-day scholars; and geology now lends a helping
hand to her sister sciences in their effort to prove, what is not yet
universally accepted as truth, that man's antiquity far exceeds the
limit which scripture is thought to establish.

Throughout the successive geologic strata of earthy matter that
overlie the solid rocky foundations below, traces of man's presence are
found. It is in deposits of peat and alluvium that these traces are
most clearly defined and with greatest facility studied. The extremely
slow accumulation of these deposits and the great depth at which human
remains appear, impress the mind of the observer with a vivid idea of
their antiquity. Calculations based on the known rate of increase for
a definite period fix the age of the lowest relics at from six
thousand to one hundred thousand years according to the locality. But
geology tells yet no definite tale in years, her chronology being on a
grander scale, and these calculations are to scientific men the
weakest proofs of man's antiquity. As we penetrate, however, this
superficial geologic formation, we find in the upper layers weapons
and implements of iron; then, at a greater depth, of bronze; and
lowest of all stone is the only durable material employed. In all
parts of the world, so far as explorations have been made, this order
of the ages, stone, bronze, iron, is observed; although they were
certainly not contemporaneous in all regions. With the products of
human skill, in its varying stages of development, are mingled the
fossil trees and plants of different species which flourished and
became locally extinct as the centuries passed away. So animal
remains, no less abundant than the others, indicate successive changes
in the fauna and its relations to human life, the animals pursued at
different epochs for food, the introduction of domestic animals, and
the transition from the chase to agriculture as a means of
subsistence.

From a study of all these various relics of the past--human, animal,
and vegetable--in connection with geologic changes, the student seeks
to estimate approximately the date at which man first appeared upon
the earth. He observes the slow accumulation of surface deposits and
speculates on the time requisite to bury the works of man hundreds of
feet deep in dilluvium. He studies savagism in its different phases as
portrayed in a previous volume; notes how tenaciously the primitive
man clings to old customs, how averse he is to change and improvement;
and then reflects upon the centuries that would probably suffice for
beings only a little above the beast to pass successively from the use
of the shapeless stone and club to the polished stone spear and arrow
and knife, to the partial displacement of stone by the fragment of
crude metal, to the smelting of the less refractory ores and the
mixture of metals to form bronze, and to a final triumph in the use of
iron. He reflects farther that all this slow process of development
precedes in nearly every part of the world the historic period; that
its relics are found in the alluvial plains of the Nile, buried far
below the monuments of Egyptian civilization, a civilization,
moreover, which dates back at least two thousand years before Christ.
Searching the peat-beds of Denmark, he brings to light fossil Scotch
firs in the lower strata mingled with relics of the stone age;
oak-trees above with implements of bronze; and beech-trunks in the
upper deposits, corresponding with the iron age and also with the
present forest-growth of the country. He tries to fix upon a period of
years adequate to effect two complete changes in Danish forest-trees,
bringing to his aid the fact that about the Christian era the Romans
found that country covered as now with a luxurious growth of beech,
and that consequently eighteen hundred years have wrought no change.
Having thus established in his mind the epoch to which he must be
carried by the relics of the alluvial deposits, he remarks that during
all this period climate has not essentially changed, for the animal
remains thus far discovered are all of species still existing in the
same climatic zone.

But at the same time he finds in southern Europe abundant remains of
polar animals which could only have lived when the everlasting snow
and ice of a frigid clime covered the surface of those now sunny
lands. Still finding rude stone implements, the work of human hands,
mingled with these polar skeletons, he adds to the result of previous
computations the time deemed necessary for so essential a climatic
transformation, and, finally, he is driven to make still another
addition, when he learns that in geologic strata much older than any
yet considered, the bones and works of man have been discovered in
several apparently well-authenticated instances lying side by side
with the bones of mastodons and other ancient species which have long
since disappeared from the face of the earth. With the innumerable
data of which the foregoing is only an outline before him, the student
of man's antiquity is left to decide for himself whether or not he can
satisfactorily compress within the term of sixty centuries all the
successive periods of man's development.

In our examination of relics in the thinly peopled Pacific States we
shall find comparatively few works of human hands bearing directly on
this branch of archaeology; yet in the north-west regions, newest to
modern civilization, the Californian miner's deep-sunk shafts have
brought to light implements and fossils of great antiquity and
interest to the scientific world.

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: AMERICAN RELICS AND HIEROGLYPHICS.]

In America many years must elapse before explorations equaling in
extent and thoroughness those already made in the old world can be
hoped for. The ruins from whose examination the grandest results are
to be anticipated lie in a hot malarious climate within the tropics,
enveloped in a dense thicket of exuberant vegetation, presenting an
almost impenetrable barrier to an exploration by foreigners of
monuments in which the natives as a rule take no interest. It must be
admitted, however, that even the most exhaustive examination of our
relics cannot be expected to yield results as definite and
satisfactory as those reached in the eastern continent. We have
practically no written record, and our monuments must tell the tale of
the distant past unaided.

Our hieroglyphic inscriptions are comparatively few and brief, and
those found on the stones of the more ancient class of ruins as yet
convey no meaning. By reason of the absence of a contemporary written
language, the difficulties in the way of their interpretation are
clearly much greater than those so brilliantly overcome in Assyria and
Egypt. Only one systematic attempt has yet been made to decipher their
signification, and that has thus far proved a signal failure; it is
believed almost universally that future efforts will be equally
unsuccessful, and that our annals as written in stone will forever
remain wrapped in darkness. Yet not only was the interpretation of the
cuneiform inscriptions long deemed an impossibility, but the very
theory that any meaning was hidden in that complicated arrangement of
wedges was pronounced absurd by many wise antiquaries. Let not
therefore our New World task be abandoned in despair till the list of
failures shall be swollen from one to seventy times seven.

It is believed that the antiquary's zeal for all coming time will be
brought to bear on no other objects than those which now claim our
attention and search; that is, although new monuments will be brought
to light from their present hiding-places, no additions will be made
to their actual number. With the invention of printing and the
consequent wide diffusion of national annals, the era of unwritten
history ceased, and with it all future necessity of searching tangled
forest and desert plain for monumental records of the present
civilization. That the key of our written history can ever be lost,
our civilization blotted out, ruined structures and vague traditions
called anew into requisition for historic use, we believe impossible.
Yet who can tell; for so doubtless thought the learned men and
high-priests of Palenque, when with imposing pageant and sacrificial
invocation to the gods in the presence of the assembled populace, the
inscribed tablets had been set up in the niches of the temple; and
proudly exclaimed the orator of the day, as the last tablet settled
into its place, "Great are our gods, and goodly the inheritance they
have bequeathed to their chosen people. Mighty is Votan, world-wide
the fame of his empire, the great Xibalba; and the annals and the
glory thereof shall endure through all the coming ages; for are they
not here imperishably inscribed in characters of everlasting stone
that all may read and wonder?"




CHAPTER II.

ANTIQUITIES OF THE ISTHMUS, COSTA RICA, MOSQUITO COAST, AND NICARAGUA.

     THE ISTHMUS -- ROMAN COIN AND GALLEY -- HUACAS OF CHIRIQUI
     -- INCISED STONE-CARVINGS -- SCULPTURED COLUMNS -- HUMAN
     REMAINS -- GOLDEN ORNAMENTS -- WEAPONS -- IMPLEMENTS --
     POTTERY -- MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS -- COSTA RICA -- STONE
     HAMMERS -- ANCIENT PLANTATIONS -- IMAGES OF GOLD -- TERRA
     COTTAS -- AXE OF QUARTZ -- WONDERFUL HILL -- PAVED ROAD --
     STONE FROG -- MOSQUITO COAST -- GRANITE VASES --
     REMARKABLE REPORTS -- ANIMAL GROUP -- ROCK-PAINTINGS --
     GOLDEN FIGURE -- HOME OF THE SUKIA -- NICARAGUA --
     AUTHORITIES -- MOUNDS -- SEPULCHRES -- EXCAVATIONS --
     WEAPONS -- IMPLEMENTS -- ORNAMENTS -- STATUES -- IDOLS --
     POTTERY -- METALS.


The ancient Muiscas of Colombia, or New Granada, have left interesting
relics of their antiquity, which, with some points of resemblance,
present marked contrasts to the monuments of Peruvian civilization
farther south, and of Maya, Quiche, and Aztec civilizations in North
America.[II-1] In that part of Colombia, however, which is included
within the limits of the Pacific States, extending from the gulf of
Darien westward to Costa Rica, no such relics have yet come to light,
except in the western provinces of Chiriqui and Veragua,
notwithstanding the extensive explorations that have been made in
various parts of the Isthmus in the interests of interoceanic
communication.[II-2]

  [Sidenote: CHIRIQUI ROCK-SCULPTURES.]

The province of Chiriqui lies on the Pacific side of the Isthmus, and
it is in its central region about the town of David, that monuments of
a past age have been unearthed.[II-3] These monuments are of three
classes; the first consisting of rude figures cut on the surface of
large boulders. The best known of this class, and in fact the only one
definitely described, is the Piedra Pintal at Caldera, a few leagues
from David, which is fifteen feet high, about sixteen in diameter, and
somewhat flattened at the top. Top and sides are covered with curves,
ovals, and concentric rings; while on the eastern side there are also
fantastic figures, with others supposed to represent the sun, a series
of varying heads, and scorpions. The figures are cut to a depth of
about one inch, but on the parts most exposed to the weather are
nearly effaced.

  [Illustration: Incised Figures on the Rocks of Chiriqui.]

Another lava boulder similarly incised found in the parish of San
Miguel is pronounced by Mr Squier, from the examination of a drawing,
to resemble stones seen by him in other parts of Central America. I
copy Seemann's cuts of several of the characters.[II-4] The second
class includes a few stone columns, some of them ten or twelve feet
high, found at David and in Veragua as well. These seem never to have
been seen in situ, but scattered and sometimes used for building
purposes by the present inhabitants. Their peculiarity is that the
characters engraved on their surface are entirely different from those
of the Piedra Pintal, being smaller and cut in low relief. Drawings of
these possibly hieroglyphic signs, by which to compare them with those
of Copan, Palenque, and Yucatan, are not extant. The third class
comprises the _huacas_, or tombs, a large number of which have been
opened, and a variety of deposited articles brought to light. The
tombs themselves are of two kinds. Those of the first kind are mere
pebble-heaps, or mounds, three or four feet high, and the only
articles taken from them are three-legged stones for grinding corn,
known in all Spanish America as _metates_. The other graves have rude
boxes or coffins of flat stones, with, in a few instances, rude stone
posts several feet in height. Graves of this class are found to
contain golden ornaments, with trinkets and implements of stone and
burned clay. In most of them no traces of human remains are met; and
when human bones do occur, they usually crumble to dust on exposure to
the air, one skull, however, described as broad in the middle and flat
behind, having been secured, and a plaster cast exhibited to the
American Ethnological Society.[II-5]

  [Sidenote: POTTERY OF CHIRIQUI.]

The golden ornaments taken from the huacas of Chiriqui amount to many
thousands of dollars in value. They are of small size, never exceeding
a few inches in either dimension, are all cast and never soldered, and
take the shape of men, animals, or birds. One represents a man holding
a bird in each hand, with another on his forehead. The gold is
described by Dr Davis as being from ten to twenty carats fine, with
some copper alloy; but by another party the alloy is pronounced
silver.[II-6] Of stone are found ornaments, such as round agates
pierced in the middle; weapons, including axes, chisel-heads, and
arrow-heads, the latter of peculiar make, being pyramidal in form,
with four cutting edges converging to a point, and in some instances
apparently intended to fit loosely into a socket on the shaft; images,
perhaps idols, in the shape of animals or men, but these are of
comparatively rare occurrence;[II-7] and various articles of unknown
use. One of the latter dug up at Bugabita is described as a
"horizontal tablet, supported on ornamented legs, and terminating in
the head of a monster--all neatly carved from a single stone," being
twenty inches long, eight inches high, and weighing twenty-five
pounds. Another was conjectured to have served for grinding
paints.[II-8] Articles of burned clay are more numerous in the huacas
than those of other material. Small vases, jars, and tripods, some of
the latter having their three legs hollow and containing small earthen
balls which rattle when the vessels are moved, with musical
instruments, compose this class of relics. The earthen ware has no
indication of the use of the potter's wheel; is found both glazed and
unglazed; is painted in various colors, which, however, are not burned
in, but are easily rubbed off when moist; and many of the articles are
wholly uninjured by time. The specimens, or some part of each, are
almost invariably molded to imitate some natural object, and the
fashioning is often graceful and true to nature. Perhaps the most
remarkable of these earthen specimens, and indeed of all the Chiriqui
antiquities, are the musical wind-instruments, or whistles. These are
of small dimensions, rarely exceeding four inches in length or
diameter, with generally two but sometimes three or four finger-holes,
producing from two to six notes of the octave. No two are exactly
alike in form, but most take the shape of an animal or man, the
mouth-hole being in the tail of the tiger and bird, in the foot of the
peccary, in the elbow of the human figure. Some have several
air-cavities with corresponding holes to produce the different notes,
but in most, the holes lead to one cavity. One had a loose ball in its
interior, whose motion varied the sounds. Several are blown like
fifes, and nearly all have a hole apparently intended for suspending
the instrument by a string.[II-9] Other antiquities are reported to
exist at various points of the Isthmus, which white men have never
seen; instance a rocking stone in the mountains of Veragua.[II-10]

I close my somewhat scanty information concerning the antiquities of
Chiriqui with the general remarks which their examination has elicited
from different writers. Whiting and Shuman speak of the sculptured
columns of Muerto Island as being similar to those in Yucatan
described by Stephens;[II-11] but it is hardly probable that this
opinion rests on an actual comparison of the hieroglyphics. Dr Merritt
deems the axe or chisel heads almost identical in form as well as
material with specimens dug up in Suffolk County, England; some of the
same implements resemble those seen by Mr Squier in actual use among
the natives of other parts of Central America; while the arrow-heads
and musical instruments are pronounced different in some respects from
any others known, either ancient or modern. The incised characters
represented in the cut on page 17, together with many others, if we
may believe Mr Seemann, have a striking resemblance to those of
Northumberland, England, as shown by Mr Tate.[II-12] In some of the
terra cottas, a likeness to vessels of Roman, Grecian, and Etruscan
origin has been noted; the golden figures, in the opinion of Messrs
Squier and May, being like those found further south in the country of
the ancient Muiscas.[II-13]

One point bearing on the antiquity of the Chiriqui relics is the
wearing away by the weather of the incised sculptures, which appear to
Mr Seemann to belong to a more ancient, less advanced civilization
than those in low relief.[II-14] Another is the disappearance as a
rule of human remains, which, however, as Dr Torrey remarks,[II-15]
cannot in this climate and soil be regarded as an indication of great
age; and, moreover, against the theory of a remote origin of these
relics, and in favor of the supposition that all may be the work of
the not distant ancestors of the people found by the Spaniards in
possession of the country, we have the fact that gold figures similar
to those found in the huacas were made, worn, and traded by the
natives of the Isthmus at the time of its discovery and
conquest;[II-16] that the animals so universally imitated in all
objects whether of gold, stone, or clay, are all native to the
country, with no trace of any effort to copy anything foreign; and
that similar clay is still employed in the manufacture of rude
pottery.[II-17]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: COSTA RICAN RELICS.]

Costa Rica, adjoining Chiriqui on the west, is the first or most
southern of the states which belong politically to North America, all
the Isthmus provinces forming a part of Colombia, a state of the
southern continent. Stretching from ocean to ocean with an average
width of ninety miles, it extends north-westward in general terms some
two hundred miles from the Boca del Drago and Golfo Dulce to the Rio
de San Juan and the southern shores of Lake Nicaragua in 11 deg. north
latitude. Few as are the aboriginal monuments reported to exist within
these limits, still fewer are those actually examined by travelers.

  [Illustration: Terra Cottas from the Graves of Costa Rica.]

  [Sidenote: IMPLEMENTS AND ORNAMENTS.]

Drs Wagner and Scherzer, who traveled extensively in this region in
1853-4, found in all parts of the state, but more particularly in the
Turialba Valley, which is in the vicinity of Cartago, traces of old
plantations of bananas, cacao, and palms, indicating a more systematic
tillage of the soil, and consequently a higher general type of culture
among the former than are found among the modern native Costa Ricans.
The only other antiquities seen by these intelligent explorers were a
few stone hammers thought to resemble implements which have been
brought to light in connection with the ancient mines about Lake
Superior; but the locality of these implements is not stated. Cabo
Blanco, reported by Molina[II-18] as containing the richest deposit of
ancient relics, yielded nothing whatever to the diligent search of the
German travelers; nor did their failure here leave them sufficient
faith to continue their researches on the island of Chira, where,
according to the same authority, there are to be found ruined
aboriginal towns and tombs. At San Jose they were told of figures of
gold alloyed with copper which had been melted at the government mint,
and they briefly mention hieroglyphics on a few ancient ornaments
nowhere described.[II-19] Mr Squier describes five vessels of earthen
ware or terra cotta obtained, in localities not mentioned, from Costa
Rican graves. Four of these are shown in the accompanying cut. Fig. 1,
symmetrically shaped, is entirely without decoration; Fig. 2 is a
grotesque image supposed to have done duty originally as a rattle;
Fig. 3 has hollow legs, each containing a small earthen ball, which
rattles at each motion of the vase; and the top of Fig. 4 is
artistically moulded, apparently after the model of a tortoise's back.
An axe of green quartz is also described, which to Mr Squier seemed to
indicate a higher grade of skill in workmanship than any relic of the
kind seen in Central America. The cutting edge is slightly curved,
showing the instrument to have been used as an adze; the surface shown
in the cut is highly polished, and the whole is penetrated by a small
hole drilled from side to side parallel to the face where the notches
appear. This implement seems to present a rude representation of a
human figure whose arms are folded across its breast. Other implements
similar in material but larger and of ruder execution, are said to be
of not unusual occurrence in the sepulchres of this state.[II-20]

  [Illustration: Axe of Green Quartz.]

Mr Boyle makes the general statement that gold ornaments and idols are
constantly found, and that the ancient mines which supplied the
precious metal are often seen by modern prospectors. Dr Merritt also
exhibited specimens of gold, both wrought and unwrought, from the
(ancient?) mines of Costa Rica, at a meeting of the American
Ethnological Society in February, 1862.[II-21] While voyaging on the
Colorado, the southern mouth of the Rio de San Juan, Mr Boyle was told
by a German doctor, his traveling companion, of a wonderful artificial
hill in that vicinity, but of whose exact locality the doctor's ideas
appeared somewhat vague. On this hill, according to his statement, was
to be seen a pavement of slate tiles laid in copper; but the
interesting specimens which he claimed to have collected in this
neighborhood had been generously presented by him to museums in
various parts of the world, and therefore he was unable to show any
of them.[II-22] Father Acuna, an enthusiastic antiquary of the Rich
Coast, living at Paraiso near Cartago, reports an ancient road which
he believes to have originally connected Cartago with the port of
Matina, and to have formed part of a grand aboriginal system of
highways from the Nicaraguan frontier to the Isthmus, with branches to
various points along the Atlantic coast. The road is described as
thirty-six feet wide, paved with rounded blocks of lava, and guarded
at the sides with sloping walls three feet in height. Where the line
of the road crossed deep ravines, bridges were not employed, but in
their stead the ascent and descent were effected by means of massive
steps cut in the rocky sides. Some relics found near this road were
given to New York gentlemen. The priest also speaks of tumuli
abounding in the products of a past age, which dot the plains of
Terraba, once the centre, as he believes, of a populous American
empire.[II-23] A channel which connects the Rio Matina with Moin Bay
has been sometimes considered artificial, but Mr Reichardt pronounces
it probably nothing more than a natural lagoon.[II-24] In the
department of Guanacaste, near the gulf of Nicoya, was found the
little frog in grey stone shown, full-sized, in the cut. The hole near
the fore feet would seem to indicate that it was worn suspended on a
string as an ornament.[II-25]

  [Illustration: Frog in Grey Stone.]

Such is the meagre account I am able to give of Costa Rican monuments.
True, neither this nor any others of the Central American states have
been thoroughly explored, nor are they likely to be for many years,
except at the few points where the world's commerce shall seek new
passages from sea to sea. The difficulties are such as would yield
only to a denser population of a more energetic race than that now
occupying the land. The only monuments of the aboriginal natives
likely to be found are those buried in the ancient graves. The
probability of bringing to light ruined cities or temples south of
Honduras is extremely slight. It is my purpose, however, to confine
myself to the most complete account possible of such remains as have
been seen or reported, with very little speculation on probable
discoveries in the future.

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: THE MOSQUITO COAST.]

Our next move northward carries us to Cape Gracias a Dios on the
Atlantic, and to the gulf of Fonseca on the Pacific, the inclosed
territory of Nicaragua stretching some two hundred and fifty miles
north-westward to the Wanks River and Rio <DW64>, widening in this
distance from one hundred and fifty to about three hundred miles.
Dividing this territory by a line along the central mountain ranges,
or water-shed, into two nearly equal portions, the western or Pacific
<DW72> is the state of Nicaragua proper, while the eastern or Atlantic
side is known as the Mosquito Coast. This latter region is almost
entirely unexplored except along the low marshy shore, and the natives
of the interior have always been independent of any foreign control.

In respect of ancient remains the Mosquito Coast has proved even more
barren of results than Costa Rica. A pair of remarkable granite vases
preserved in an English museum are said to have come from this region,
but as no particulars of their discovery are given, it is of course
possible, considering the former unsettled condition of all Central
American boundary lines, not altogether remedied in later times, that
there may be an error in locality. It is from ten to twelve inches in
diameter and height, as nearly as can be ascertained from the drawing,
and Humboldt remarks the similarity of its ornamentation to that found
on some parts of the ruins of Mitla in Oajaca, described in a future
chapter. One of the vases as represented in Humboldt's drawing, is
shown in the cut. The second vase is somewhat larger, more nearly
uniform in size at top and bottom, with plain legs, only
diamond-shaped ornaments on the body of the vessel, and handles which
take the form of a head and tail instead of two heads as in the first
specimen.[II-26]

  [Illustration: Granite Vase from the Mosquito Coast.]

Christopher Columbus in a letter speaks of having seen on this coast,
which he calls Cariay, a sculptured tomb in the forest as large as a
house; and Mr Helps imagines the Spanish conquerors sailing up the coast
and beholding amidst the trees white structures "bearing some likeness
to truncated pyramids, and, in the setting sun, dark figures would be
seen against the horizon on the tops of these pyramids;"[II-27] but as
he is describing no particular voyage, some allowance may be made for
the play of his imagination. Mr Boyle is enthusiastic over "the vast
remains of a civilization long since passed away," but far superior to
that of Spain, including rocks cut down to human and animal shapes,
artificial hills encased in masonry, streams turned from their
courses, and hieroglyphic sculptures on the cliffs,--all in the
Mosquito wilds. As a foundation for this, three men who descended the
Rio Mico and Blewfields River from Libertad, Nicaragua, to the sea,
claim to have beheld extraordinary ancient works. These took the form
of a cliff cut away where the river passed through a narrow canyon,
leaving a group of stone animals, among which was a colossal bear,
standing erect on the brink of the precipice as if to guard the
passage. The natives reported also to Mr Pim the existence of grand
temples of the antiguos, with an immense image of the aboriginal god
Mico (a monkey) on the banks of this river; but when subjected to
cross-questioning, their wonderful stories dwindled to certain rude
figures painted on the face of a cliff, which Mr Pim was unable to
examine, but which seemed from the native description similar to the
cliff-paintings at Nijapa Lake in Nicaragua, to be described on a
future page.[II-28]

  [Illustration: Golden Image.]

  [Sidenote: COLOSSAL BEAR AND GOLDEN IMAGE.]

From a mound of earth fifteen feet in diameter, and five or six feet
high, on an island in Duckwarra Lagoon, south of Cape Gracias a Dios,
Mr Squier unearthed a crumbling human skeleton, at whose head was a
rude burial vase containing chalcedony beads, two arrow-heads of the
same material, and the human figure shown full-sized in the cut,
fashioned from a piece of gold plate. Antonio, an intelligent Maya
servant, could see no resemblance in this figure to any relics of his
race in Yucatan. Two additional vases of coarse earthen ware were
discovered, but contained no relics. On another occasion, during a
moonlight visit to the 'Mother of Tigers,' a famed native _sukia_, or
sorceress, on the Bocay, which is a branch of the Wanks, about fifty
miles south-westward from Cape Gracias, Mr Squier claims to have seen
a ruined structure, part of which is shown in the cut. The building
was of two stories, but the upper walls had fallen, covering the
ground with fragments. It is described as "built of large stones, laid
with the greatest regularity, and sculptured all over with strange
figures, having a close resemblance, if not an absolute identity" with
those drawn by Catherwood. A short distance from the building stood an
erect stone rudely sculptured in human form, facing east, as in the
cut. There are, however, some reasons for doubting the accuracy of
these Bocay discoveries, notwithstanding the author's well-known skill
and reliability as an antiquarian, since they were published under a
nom de plume, and in a work perhaps intended by the writer as a
fictitious narrative of adventures.[II-29]

  [Illustration: Home of the Sukia.]

  [Illustration: Mosquito Statue.]

       *       *       *       *       *

Across the dividing sierras, the Pacific <DW72>, or Nicaragua proper,
has yielded plentiful monuments of her former occupants, chiefly to
the researches of two men, Messrs Squier and Boyle. The former
confined his explorations chiefly to the region between the lakes and
ocean, while the latter has also made known the existence of remains
on the north-east of Lake Nicaragua, in the province of
Chontales.[II-30]

  [Sidenote: CLASSIFICATION OF RELICS.]

Although nothing like a thorough exploration of the state has ever
been made, yet the uniformity of the remains discovered at different
points enables us to form a clear idea of the character, if not of the
full extent, of her antiquities, which for convenience in description
may be classified as follows: I. Mounds, sepulchres, excavations, and
other comparatively permanent works; II. Figures painted or cut on
rocks or cliffs; III. Statues or idols of stone; IV. Stone weapons,
implements, and ornaments; V. Pottery; VI. Articles of metal.
Remarking that nowhere in Nicaragua have traces of ruined cities been
found, nor even what may be regarded positively as the ruins of
temples or other buildings, I proceed to describe the first class, or
permanent monuments, beginning in the south-west, following the coast
region and lake islands northward, and then returning to the
south-eastern province of Chontales.

First on the south are the cemeteries of Ometepec Island, which is by
some supposed to have been the general burial place of all the
surrounding country. These cemeteries, according to Woeniger, are
found in high and dry places, enclosed by a row of rough flat stones
placed a few inches apart and projecting only slightly above the
surface of the ground. Friederichsthal represents the sepulchres as
three feet deep and scattered at irregular intervals over a plain.
Boyle found both fixed cemeteries fenced with a line of heavy stones
and also separate graves.[II-31] Thus no burial mounds proper seem to
exist on the island. The ashes or unburned bones of the dead are found
enclosed in large earthen vases, together with what may be considered
as the most valued property of the deceased, or the most appropriate
gifts of friends, in the shape of weapons, ornaments, vessels, and
implements of stone, clay, and perhaps metal, all of which will be
described in their turn. When the burial urn is found to contain
unburned bones, its mouth is sometimes closed with the skull; in other
cases one or more inverted earthen pans are used for that purpose.

  [Sidenote: EL BANO AT MASAYA.]

On Zapatero, an island which lies just north of Ometepec, distributed
over a level space covered with a dense growth of trees, are eight
irregular heaps of loose unhewn stones, showing no signs of system
either in the construction of each individual mound or in their
arrangement with reference to each other.[II-32] An attempt to open
one of the largest of the number led to no results beyond the
discovery of an intermixture of broken pottery in the mass of stones.
They are surrounded, as we shall see, by statues, and are believed by
Mr Squier to be remains of the teocallis known to have served the
Nicaraguans as temples at the time of the conquest.[II-33] At the foot
of Mt Mombacho, a volcano south of Granada, was found a ruined cairn,
or sepulchre, about twenty feet square, not particularly described,
but similar to those which will be mentioned as occurring in the
department of Chontales; others were said by the inhabitants to have
been found in the same vicinity.[II-34] In a steep-banked ravine near
Masaya, the rocky sides of which present numerous sculptured figures,
or hieroglyphics, a shelf some nine feet wide is cut in the
perpendicular cliff which towers one hundred feet in height at its
back. On this shelf is a rectangular excavation eight by four feet and
eighteen inches deep, with regularly sloping and smoothly cut sides,
surrounded by a shallow groove which leads to the edge of the
precipice, presumably designed to carry off rain-water. This strange
excavation is popularly known as El Bano, although hardly of
sufficient size to have served as a bath; a rudely cut flight of steps
leads up the cliff to the shelf, and two pentagonal holes penetrate
the face of the cliff at its back horizontally to a great depth, but
these may be of natural formation. Some kettle-shaped excavations are
reported also along the shore of the lake, now and possibly of old
used in tanning leather.[II-35] Mr Boyle speaks of the road by which
water is brought up from the lake to the city by the women of Masaya,
a deep cut in the solid rock, a mile long and descending to a depth of
over three hundred feet, as a reputed work of aboriginal engineering,
but as he seems himself somewhat doubtful of the fact, and as others
do not so mention it, this may not properly be included in our list of
ancient monuments.[II-36] In the cliff at Nijapa, an old crater-lake
near Managua, is what has been regarded by the natives as a wonderful
temple excavated from the solid rock by the labors of the Antiguos,
their ancestors. Indeed its entrance bears a strong resemblance, when
viewed from the opposite side of the lake, to the arched portals of a
heathen temple, but, explored by both Squier and Boyle, it proved to
be nothing more than a natural cavern.[II-37]

Across the lake northward from Managua the volcano of Momotombo,
projecting into the waters, forms a bay in a locality once occupied
traditionally by a rich and populous city. If we may credit the Abbe
Brasseur de Bourbourg, its ruins are yet to be seen beneath the waters
of the bay.[II-38] Captain Belcher visited the country in 1838, and
was told that a causeway formerly extended across from the main to the
island of Momotombita, probably for the use of the priests of ancient
faith, since the island is rich in idols. He even was able to see the
remains of the causeway extending in the dry season some three hundred
and sixty yards from the shore; but a closer examination convinced Mr
Squier that the supposed ruins were simply a natural formation whose
extreme hardness had resisted better than the surrounding strata the
action of the waves.[II-39]

On the <DW72> of a small bowl-shaped valley near Leon is what the
natives call the Capilla de la Piedra, a natural niche artificially
enlarged in the face of a large rock facing the amphitheatre. It is
spacious enough to accommodate four or five persons, and a large flat
stone like an altar stands just at the entrance. At Subtiava, an
Indian pueblo near Leon, is a stone mound, sixty by two hundred feet,
and ten feet high, very like those at Zapatero, except that in this
case the stones about the edges present some signs of regularity in
their arrangement. It is very probably the ruin of some old
temple-mound, and even in modern days the natives are known to have
secretly assembled to worship round this stone-heap the gods of their
antiquity. Several low rectangular mounds were also seen but not
examined at the base of the volcano of Orota, north-east of
Leon.[II-40]

  [Sidenote: CHONTAL BURIAL MOUNDS.]

Returning to the south-eastern Chontal province, the only
well-attested permanent monuments are burial mounds or cairns of
stone, although the Chevalier Friederichsthal claims to have found
here "remains of ancient towns and temples," which, nevertheless, he
does not attempt to describe, and Mr Squier mentions a traditionary
ruined city near Juigalpa.[II-41] The cairns are found in the regions
about the towns of Juigalpa and Libertad, although exploration would
doubtless reveal their existence elsewhere in the province. At both
the places named they occur in great numbers over a large area. "At
Libertad," says Mr Boyle, "graves were so plentiful we had only the
embarrassment of choice. Every hill round was topped with a vine-bound
thicket, springing, we knew, from the cairn of rough stone reverently
piled above some old-world chieftain." No farther description can be
given of them than that they are rectangular embankments of unhewn
stone, built, in some cases at least, with regularly sloping sides,
and of varying dimensions, the largest reported being one hundred and
twenty by one hundred and seventy-five feet, and five feet high. Being
opened they disclose earthen burial urns containing, as at Ometepec,
human remains, both burned and unburned, and a great variety of stone
and earthen relics both within and without the cinerary vase. The
burial deposit is oftenest found above, but sometimes also below, the
original surface of the ground. These cairns appear to have somewhat
more regularity, on the exterior at least, than the stone tumuli of
Ometepec. A more thorough examination of both is necessary before it
can be determined whether or not the Ometepec mounds are, as Mr Squier
believes, the ruins of teocallis and not tombs, and whether some of
the Chontal cairns may not be the ruins or foundations of ancient
structures. There can be little doubt that the Nicaraguans employed
the mound-temple in their worship, and it is somewhat remarkable if
modern fanaticism has left no traces of them; yet it is probable that
wood entered more largely into their construction than in more
northern climes. Mr Boyle found one grave near Juigalpa differing from
the usual Chontal method of interment, and agreeing more nearly with
that practiced in Mexico and Ometepec; and Mr Pim mentions the
occurrence of numerous graves in the province, of much smaller size
and of different proportions, the largest being twenty by twelve feet,
and eight feet high.[II-42]

Near Juigalpa was seen a hill whose surface was covered with stones
arranged in circles, squares, diamonds, and rays about a central
stone;[II-43] also a hill of terrace-formation which from a distance
seemed to be an aboriginal fortification.[II-44] In the same
neighborhood is reported a series of trenches stretching across the
country, one of them traced for over a mile, nine to twelve feet wide,
widening at intervals into oval spaces from fifty to eighty feet in
diameter, and these enlargements containing alternately two and four
small mounds arranged in lines perpendicular to the general direction
of the trench.[II-45] "Several rectangular parallelograms outlined in
loose stone," in the vicinity of Libertad, are supposed by Mr Boyle to
be Carib works, not connected with the Chontal burial system.[II-46]

  [Illustration: Trench near Juigalpa.]

I come secondly to the hieroglyphic figures cut or painted on
Nicaraguan cliffs. These appear to belong for the most part to that
lowest class of picture-writing common throughout the whole length of
the North American continent, even in the territory of the most savage
tribes. Doubtless many of these figures were executed in commemoration
of events, and thus served temporarily as written records; but it is
doubtful if the meaning of any of these inscriptions ever survived the
generation which originated them, and certain that they are not
understood by native or by antiquarian at the present day. It is not
unlikely that some of them in Nicaragua may be rude representations of
deities, and thus identified with the same gods preserved in stone,
and with characters in the Aztec picture-writings; but the
picture-writing of the Nicaraguan Nahuas, unlike that of their
brethren of Anahuac, was not committed to paper during the first years
of the conquest, and has consequently been lost.

  [Sidenote: CLIFF-CARVINGS AT MASAYA.]

At Guaximala a cave is mentioned having sculptures on the rocks at its
entrance. The natives dared not cross the figured portal.[II-47] In
the ravine near Masaya, already spoken of as the locality of the
excavation known as El Bano, the steep side-cliffs are covered with
figures roughly cut in outline, and often nearly obliterated by the
ravages of time. They are shown in Squier's drawings on the following
page, the order in which the groups occur being preserved.

Mr Squier detects among the objects thus rudely delineated, the sun
twice represented, a shield, arrows or spears, the _Xiuhatlatli_ of
the Aztec paintings, which is an instrument for hurling spears, and a
monkey. Besides the regular groups, isolated single figures are seen,
among which the two characters shown in the accompanying cut are most
frequently repeated. The same vicinity is reported to contain figures
both painted and cut in other localities.[II-48]

  [Illustration]

  [Illustration: Rock-Sculptures at Masaya.]

  [Sidenote: CLIFF-PAINTINGS AT NIJAPA.]

On the old crater-walls, five hundred feet in height at the lowest
point, which inclose Lake Nijapa, a few miles south-west of Managua,
are numerous figures painted in red. Portions of the walls have been
thrown down by an earthquake, the debris at the water's edge being
covered with intricate and curious red lines; and most of those still
in place have been so defaced by the action of wind and water that
their original appearance or connection cannot be distinguished.

  [Illustration: Feathered Serpent at Lake Nijapa.]

Among the clearest of the paintings is the coiled feathered serpent
shown in the cut. It is three feet in diameter, across the coil, and
is painted forty feet up the perpendicular side of the precipice. This
would seem to be identical with the Aztec Quetzalcoatl, or the Quiche
Gucumatz, both of which names signify 'plumed serpent.' Of the
remaining figures, shown in the cut on the following page, the red
hand is of frequent occurrence here, and we shall meet it again
farther north, especially in Yucatan. The central upper figure is
thought by Mr Squier to resemble a character in the Aztec paintings;
and among those thrown down the sun and moon are said to have been
prominent.[II-49]

  [Illustration: Rock-paintings of Nijapa.]

In the Chontal province none of these pictorial remains are reported,
yet Mr Boyle believes that many of the ornamental figures on pottery
and stone vessels are hieroglyphic in their nature; founding this
opinion on the frequent repetition of complicated groups, as for
instance that in the cut, which is repeated four times on the
circumference of a bowl.[II-50]

  [Illustration: Chontal Hieroglyphic.]

  [Sidenote: STONE STATUES OR IDOLS.]

Statues in stone, representing human beings generally, but in some
cases animals and monsters also, have been found and described to the
number of about sixty, constituting our third and the most interesting
class of Nicaraguan relics. Ometepec, rich in pottery and other
relics, and reported also to contain idols, has yielded to actual
observation only the small animal couchant represented in the cut. It
was secretly worshiped by the natives for many years, even in modern
times, until this unorthodox practice was discovered and checked by
zealous priests. This animal idol was about fourteen inches long and
eight inches in height.[II-51]

  [Illustration: Ometepec Idol.]

  [Illustration: Idols of Zapatero.--Fig. 1, 2.]

  [Sidenote: IDOLS ON ZAPATERO ISLAND.]

The island of Zapatero has furnished some seventeen idols, which are
found in connection with the stone-heaps already described, lying for
the most part wholly or partially buried in the sand and enveloped in
a dense shrubbery. It is not probable that any one of them has been
found in its original position, yet such is their size and weight that
they are not likely to have been moved far from their primitive
locality. Indeed Mr Squier, with a large force of natives, transformed
into zealous antiquarians by a copious dispensation of brandy, had the
greatest difficulty in placing them in an upright position. An
ancient crater-lake conveniently near at hand accounts satisfactorily
for the almost entire absence of smaller idols, and would doubtless
have been the receptacle of their larger fellow-deities, had the
strength of the priestly iconoclasts been in proportion to their godly
spirit, as was the case with Mr Squier's natives. As it was they were
obliged to content their religious zeal with overthrowing and defacing
as far as possible these stone gods of the natives. There seems to be
no regularity or system in the arrangement of the statues with respect
to each other, and very little with respect to the stone mounds. It is
probable, however, that, if the latter are indeed ruined teocallis,
the statues stood originally round their base rather than on their
summit. The idols of Zapatero, which is within the limits of the
Niquiran or Aztec province, are larger and somewhat more elaborate in
workmanship than those found elsewhere; and the genital organs appear
on many of their number, indicating perhaps the presence here of the
wide-spread phallic worship. The cuts show ten of the most remarkable
of these monuments.

Fig. 1 is nine feet high and about three feet in diameter, cut from a
solid block of black basalt. The head of the human figure crouching on
its immense cylindrical pedestal forms a cross, a symbol not uncommon
here or elsewhere in America. All the work, particularly the
ornamental bands and the niches of unknown use or import in front, is
gracefully and cleanly cut. Fig. 2 is a huge tiger eight feet high
seated on a pedestal. The heads and other parts of different animals
are often used in the adornment of partially human shapes both in
stone work and pottery, but purely animal statues, intended as this
apparently is, for idols, are rare. Fig. 3, an idol "of mild and
benignant aspect" is shown in the leaning position in which it was
found. Fig. 4, standing in the background, was raised from its fallen
position to be sketched.

  [Illustration: Idols of Zapatero.--Fig. 3, 4.]

  [Illustration: Idols of Zapatero.--Fig. 5.]

  [Illustration: Idols of Zapatero.--Fig. 6.]

Fig. 5 represents a statue which, with its pedestal, is over twelve
feet high. The well-carved head of a monster, two feet eight inches
broad, surmounts the head of a seated human form, a common device in
the fashioning of Nicaraguan gods. A peculiarity of this monument is
that the arms are detached from the sides at the elbows;
free-sculptured limbs being of rare occurrence in American aboriginal
carvings. Fig. 6 is a slab three by five feet, bearing a human figure
cut in high relief, the only sculpture of this kind discovered in
Nicaragua. The tongue appears to hang upon the breast, and the eyes
are merely two round holes. Fig. 7, on the following page, represents
a crouching human form, on whose back is a tiger or other wild beast
grasping the head in its jaws, a favorite method among these southern
Nahua nations of representing in stone and clay the characteristics of
what are presumably intended as beings to be worshiped. The expression
of the features in the human face is described by Mr Squier as
differing from any of the others found in this group. This idol and
the following, with many other curious monuments of antiquity
obtained by the same explorer, are now in the museum of the
Smithsonian Institution at Washington.

  [Illustration: Idols of Zapatero.--Fig. 7.]

Fig. 8 is carved on a slab five feet long and eighteen inches wide,
representing a person who holds to his abdomen what seems to be a mask
or a human face.

Fig. 9 is of very rude execution and seemingly represents a human
figure wearing an animal mask, which is itself surmounted by another
human face. Two small cup-shaped smoothly cut holes are also noted in
the head-dress. Fig. 10 is a stone three feet and a half high, but
slightly modified by the sculptor's art, which gave some semblance of
the human form.

  [Illustration: Idols of Zapatero.--Fig. 8, 9.]

From the cuts given a good general idea of the Zapatero monuments may
be obtained; of the others described, one is a man with a calm, mild
expression of countenance, seated with knees at chin and hands on
feet on a round-topped square pedestal which tapers towards the
bottom.

  [Illustration: Idols of Zapatero.--Fig. 10.]

  [Sidenote: IDOLS AT GRANADA.]

Two statues from Zapatero stand at the street-corners of Granada; one,
known as the Chiflador, is much broken; the other has the crouching
animal on the human head. Another from the same island stands by the
roadside at Dirioma, near Granada, where it serves as a boundary mark.
According to Mr Boyle this statue is of red granite, and it seemed to
Mr Squier more delicately carved than those at Zapatero.[II-52]

In the vicinity of the cairn already spoken of at the foot of Mount
Mombacho, were found six statues with abundant fragments. One had what
seemed a monkey's head, with three female breasts and a phallus among
the complicated sculptures below; a rudely cut animal bore some
resemblance to a bear; a broken figure is said by the natives to have
represented, when whole, a woman with a child on her back. One female
figure, of which there is no drawing, is pronounced by Mr Boyle "very
far the best-drawn statue we found in Nicaragua." A sleeping figure
with large ears, a natural face, absurd arms, and a phallus, with the
life-sized corpse or sleeper of the cut complete the list.

  [Illustration: Sleeping Statue of Mombacho.]

Mr Boyle believes the statues of Mombacho, like other relics there
found, to unite the styles of art of the Chontales and the Aztec
natives of Ometepec; showing, besides the cairns, the simplicity of
sculpture peculiar to the former, together with the superior skill in
workmanship and the distinction of sex noticeable in the monuments of
the latter.[II-53]

  [Sidenote: IDOLS OF PENSACOLA ISLAND.]

Pensacola is one of the group of islands lying at the foot of Mt
Mombacho in Lake Nicaragua. On this island the three statues shown in
the following cuts have been dug up, having been buried there
purposely by order of the catholic authorities in behalf of the
supposed spiritual interests of the natives. Fig. 1 is cut from hard
red sandstone; the human face is surmounted by a monster head, and by
its side the open mouth and the fangs of a serpent appear. The limbs
of this statue, unlike those of most Nicaraguan idols, are freely
sculptured and detached so far as is consistent with safety.

  [Illustration: Pensacola Idols.--Fig. 1.]

  [Illustration: Pensacola Idols.--Fig. 2.]

Fig. 2 is an animal clinging to the back of a human being, concerning
which Mr Squier remarks: "I never have seen a statue which conveyed so
forcibly the idea of power and strength." The back is ribbed or
carved to represent overlapping plates like a rude coat of mail, and
the whole is nine feet high and ten feet in circumference. Fig. 3 is
the head and bust--the lower portion having been broken off--of a
hideous monster, with hanging tongue and large staring eyes, large
ears, and distended mouth, "like some gray monster just emerging from
the depths of the earth at the bidding of the wizard-priest of an
unholy religion," not inappropriately termed 'el diablo' by the
natives, when first it met their view.[II-54]

  [Illustration: Pensacola Idols.--Fig. 3.]

  [Sidenote: MOMOTOMBITA RELICS.]

Momotombita Island formerly contained some fifty statues standing
round a square, and facing inward, if, as Mr Squier believes, we may
credit the native report. All are of black basalt, and have the sex
clearly marked, a large majority representing males.

  [Illustration: Idols of Momotombita.--Fig. 1 and 2.]

Fig. 1 is a statue noticeable for its bold and severe cast of
features, and for what is conjectured to be a human heart held in the
mouth, as is shown in the front view, Fig. 2. Fig. 3 was found at a
street-corner at Managua, but had been brought originally from the
island. Another, also from Momotombita, was found at Leon and
afterwards deposited in the Smithsonian Institution. It evidently
served as a support for some other object; the back is square and
ribbed like the one at Pensacola, the eyes closed, and "the whole
expression grave and serene." The colossal head shown in the cut on
the preceding page was among the other fragments found on the island,
where two groups of relics are said to exist, only one of which has
been explored.[II-55]

  [Illustration: Idols of Momotombita.--Fig. 3.]

  [Illustration: Colossal Head from Momotombita.]

  [Illustration: Piedra de la Boca.]

The Piedra de la Boca is a small statue, or fragment, with a large
mouth, standing at a street-corner in Granada, having been brought
from one of the lake islands. The natives still have some feelings of
dependence on this idol in times of danger. Several rudely carved,
well-worn images stood also at the street-corners of Managua in
1838.[II-56]

  [Sidenote: IDOLS OF SUBTIAVA.]

  [Illustration: Idols of Subtiava.--Fig. 1.]

At the Indian pueblo of Subtiava near Leon many idols were dug up by
the natives for Mr Squier, eight of them ranging from five and a half
to eight feet in height and from four to five feet in circumference.
The natives have always been in the habit of making offerings secretly
to these gods of stone, and only a few months before Mr Squier's visit
a stone bull had been broken up by the priests. About the large stone
mound before described are numerous fragments, but only one statue
entire, which is shown in Fig. 1. It projects six feet four inches
above ground and is cut from sandstone. At the lower extremity of the
flap which hangs from the belt in front is noted a cup-like hole large
enough to contain about a quart. Fig. 2, of the same material, is two
feet six inches in height, and represents a female either holding a
mask over her abdomen, or holding open the abdomen for the face to
look out. Fig. 3 and 4 show a front and rear view of another statue,
in which the human face, instead of being surmounted by, looks out
from the jaws of some animal. The features of the face had been
defaced apparently by blows with a hammer; the ornamentation was
thought to resemble somewhat that of the Copan statues. Others
mentioned and sketched at Subtiava have a general resemblance to
these.[II-57]

  [Illustration: Idols of Subtiava.--Fig. 2.]

  [Sidenote: IDOLS OF CHONTALES.]

The Chontal statues are divided by Mr Boyle into two classes; the
first of which includes idols, with fierce and distorted features,
never found on the graves, but often near them; while the second is
composed of portrait-statues, always distinguished by closed eyes and
a calm, "simple, human air about their features, however irregularly
modeled." The latter are always found on or in the cairns under which
bodies are interred, and are much more numerous than the idols proper.
Unfortunately we have but few drawings in support of this theory. It
is true that the two classes of features are noticeable elsewhere, as
well as here, but the position of the statues does not seem to justify
any such division into portraits and idols. Mr Boyle also believes the
Chontal sculptures better modeled though less elaborate than those of
the south-west.[II-58]

  [Illustration: Idols of Subtiava.--Fig. 3 and 4.]

  [Illustration: Chontal Statues.--Fig. 1 and 2.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 3.]

Fig. 1 is one of several statues found near Juigalpa; it is of the
portrait class, and is remarkable for the wen over the eye and a cross
on the breast. Fig. 2 is the head of another taken from a cairn near
Libertad, and since used to prop up a modern wall. Fig. 3 is what Mr
Pim terms a head-stone of one of the graves in the same locality. Many
of the images have holes drilled through them; there is no distinction
of sex, and here, as elsewhere, there is no attempt at drapery. Entire
statues seem to be rare, but fragments very abundant. Mr Squier notes
in all the Nicaraguan statues a general resemblance, but at the same
time marked individuality, and deems it possible to identify many of
them with the gods of the Mexican Pantheon.[II-59]

  [Sidenote: NICARAGUAN WEAPONS.]

My fourth class includes weapons, implements, ornaments, and other
miscellaneous articles of stone. There is a mention without
description of arrow-heads and flint flakes dug up from the graves of
Ometepec. Celts, much like those extant in European collections, are
reported as of frequent occurrence; two of granite and one of basalt
at Ometepec, and one of chipped flint at Zapatero, the latter being
regular in outline, with a smooth sharp edge, believed by Mr Boyle to
be of very rare form, and unique in America. Axes are also said to be
numerous, there being specially mentioned one of basalt, broad and
thin, from Ometepec; and a similar one, three or four inches wide, six
inches long, and of a uniform thickness, not exceeding one third of an
inch, from Zapatero.

  [Illustration: Nicaraguan Weapons.--Fig. 1 and 2.]

  [Illustration: Nicaraguan Weapons.--Fig. 3 and 4.]

Fig. 1 is a rude aboriginal weapon from a cairn near Libertad, called
by Mr Pim a hatchet. Fig. 2 is an axe of syenite found by Mr Squier
at Granada, where he states that similar relics are not uncommon. Fig.
3 is one of two very beautiful double-edged battle-axes from the
Chontal cairns. It is of volcanic stone, twelve and a half inches long
by seven and three fourths inches wide. Fig. 4 represents a flint axe
from Zapatero Island as sketched by Mr Boyle. A knife ten inches long
was also found by Pim in a Chontal grave.[II-60]

  [Illustration: Granite Vase from Brita.]

  [Sidenote: STONE IMPLEMENTS AND ORNAMENTS.]

Stone vessels are rare, though a granite vase, eighteen inches high,
as shown in the cut, was dug up at Brita, near Rivas; and two marble
vases of very superior workmanship were found in a Libertad mound. One
was of the tripod form and badly broken; the other was shaped like a
can resting on a stand, with ornamental handles, and having its sides,
not thicker than card-board, covered with grecs and arabesques.[II-61]

Metates occur often on both sides the lakes. The cut on the following
page shows one dug up at Leon, being very similar to those still in
use in the country, but more elaborate in its ornamentation. Those
east of the lakes are flat instead of curved, but still superior to
any now made, and in connection with them have been found the pestles
with which maize was crushed.[II-62]

  [Illustration: Nicaraguan Metate.]

Broken pedestals and sculptured fragments whose original purpose is
unknown occur frequently, and stone rattles were formerly found about
Juigalpa. Beads of lava, basalt, and chalcedony, in collections
suggestive of small necklaces, are numerous, particularly at Ometepec.
Those of lava are often wonderfully wrought, about an inch long,
ringed or grooved on the surface, pierced lengthwise with a hole only
large enough to admit a fine thread, and yet the whole, of the most
brittle material, not thicker than twine. Those of chalcedony are of
larger size.[II-63]

The niche near Leon, known as the Capilla de la Piedra, had before its
entrance a flat stone resembling an altar. At Zapatero Mr Squier found
four stones also apparently intended for sacrificial purposes. One of
these, an oval stone imbedded in the earth, and covered on its upper
surface with inscribed characters, is shown in the cut. Near the Simon
mine in Nueva Segovia, the north-eastern province of the state, was
found by Mr Pim a broken font, the only relic of this region, on the
exterior of which the following figure is carved, supposed to
represent the sun. It has also the peculiarity of what seem intended
for long moustaches.[II-64]

  [Illustration: Altar from Zapatero.]

  [Illustration: Sun-sculpture in Nueva Segovia.]

  [Illustration: Burial Urns from Ometepec.]

  [Sidenote: NICARAGUAN POTTERY.]

The fifth class embraces all articles of pottery, abundant throughout
the whole extent of the state, but especially so on the lake islands,
where the natives actually dig them from the earth to supply their
present needs. None of the localities which have yielded other relics
is without its deposit of earthen ware, either whole or in fragments.
The fact that vessels unearthed by the natives, when unbroken, are
wholly uninjured by their long rest under a damp tropical soil,
indicates their excellence in material and construction. It is not
indeed probable that in material or methods of manufacture the ancient
differed essentially from the modern pottery; but in skill and taste
the former was unquestionably far superior. Mr Squier pronounces the
work equal to the best specimens of the Mexican and Peruvian potters.
He finds no evidence of the use of the wheel; Mr Boyle, however,
thinks it was employed, but rarely. The clay varies from brown to
black, and the glazing, often sufficiently thick to be chipped off
with a knife, is usually of a whitish or yellowish hue. The colors
with which most articles are painted are both brilliant and durable,
red being a favorite. In some cases the paint seems to have penetrated
the substance of the pottery, as if applied before the clay was dry.
The figures of the cut illustrate the two most common forms of the
cinerary, or burial, urns, both from Ometepec, the former sketched by
Mr Boyle and the latter by Mr Squier. The urns contain a black sticky
earth supposed to represent traces of burned flesh, and often
unburned bones, skull, or teeth, together with a collection of the
smaller relics which have been described. The bones of animals,
deer-horns, and boar-tusks, and bone implements rarely or never occur.
Earthen basins of different material and color from the urns are
often--always in the Chontal graves--found inverted one over another
to close the mouth. The burial vases are sometimes thirty-six inches
long by twenty inches high, painted usually on the outside with
alternate streaks of black and scarlet, while serpents or other
ornaments are frequently relieved on the surface. One or two handles
are in most cases attached to each. Mr Squier believes a human skull
to have been the model of the urns. Five of them at Libertad are
noticed as lying uniformly east and west. It appears evident that many
of the articles found in or about the graves had no connection with
burial rites, some of them having undoubtedly been buried to keep them
from the hands of the Spaniards. The figures of the cuts, from Mr
Boyle, show two forms of vessels which are frequently repeated among
an infinite variety of other shapes. The tripod vase with hollow legs
is a common form, of which Fig. 1 is a fine specimen from Ometepec,
five and three fourths inches high, and six inches in diameter, with a
different face on each leg. Fig. 2 is a bowl from Zapatero which
occurs in great numbers, of uniform shape and decoration, but of
varying size, being ordinarily, however, ten inches in diameter and
four and one fourth inches high. Both inside and outside are painted
with figures which from their uniformity in different specimens are
deemed by Mr Boyle to have some hidden hieroglyphic meaning. It is
also remarked that vessels intended to be of the same size are exactly
equal in every respect. Another common vessel is a black jar, glazed
and polished, about four inches high and five and one fourth inches in
diameter, made of light clay, and having a simple wavy ornament round
the rim. Animals or parts of animals, particularly alligators, often
form a part of the ornamentation of pottery, but complete animals in
clay are rare, a rude clay stag being the only relic of the kind
reported. The device of a beast springing on the back of a human form,
so frequent among the statues or idols, also occurs in terra cotta.
The four figures of the cut show additional specimens in terra cotta
from Mr Squier, of which Fig. 2 is from Ometepec.[II-64]

  [Illustration: Ometepec Tripod Vase.--Fig. 1.]

  [Illustration: Bowl from Zapatero.--Fig. 2.]

  [Illustration: Nicaraguan Figures in Terra Cotta.]

  [Sidenote: RELICS OF THE USE OF METALS.]

It only remains to speak of the sixth and last class of Nicaraguan
relics; viz., articles of metal, which may be very briefly disposed
of. The only gold seen by any of our authorities was "a drop of pure
gold, one inch long, precisely like the rattles worn by Malay girls,"
taken by Mr Boyle from a cinerary vase at Juigalpa. But all others
mention small gold idols and ornaments which are reported to have been
found, one of them weighing twenty-four ounces; so that there can be
but little doubt that the ancient people understood to a limited
extent the use of this precious metal, which the territory has never
produced in large quantities. Copper, on the contrary, is said to be
abundant and of a variety easily worked, and yet the only relic of
this metal discovered is the copper mask, which Mr Squier supposes to
represent a tiger's face, shown in the cut. It was presented to him by
a man who claimed to have obtained it from Ometepec. Mr Boyle
believes, with reason as I think, that in a country abounding in the
metal, the skill and knowledge requisite to produce the mask would
most certainly have left other evidences of its possession. The
authenticity of this mask, when considered as a Nicaraguan relic, may
be regarded as extremely problematical.[II-65]

  [Illustration: Copper Mask.]

Nicaraguan antiquities, concerning which I have now given all the
information in my possession, give rise to but little discussion or
visionary speculation. Indeed there is little of the mysterious
connected with them, as they do not necessarily carry us farther back
into the past than the partially civilized people that occupied the
country in the sixteenth century. Not one relic has appeared which may
not reasonably be deemed their work, or which requires the agency of
an unknown nation of antiquity. Yet supposing Nicaragua to have been
long inhabited by a people of only slightly varying stages of
civilization, any one of the idols described may have been worshiped
thousands of years before the Spanish conquest. The relics are over
three hundred years old; nothing in themselves proves them to be less
than three thousand. Comparison with more northern relics and history
may fix their age within narrower limits.

FOOTNOTES:

[II-1] A general view of South American antiquities is given in
another chapter of this volume.

[II-2] I might except a Roman coin of the time of Caesar Augustus, and
a buried ship, or galley, of antique model, said to have been
discovered in early times by the Spaniards in the vicinity of Panama,
and which figured somewhat largely in early speculations on the
question of American origin. I need not say that the evidence for the
authenticity of such a discovery is extremely unsatisfactory. See:
_Garcia_, _Origen de los Ind._, p. 174, with quotation from _Marineo_,
_Sumario_, (Toledo, 1546,) fol. 19--apparently the original authority
in the matter--and a reference to other editions and works; _Solorzano
Pereyra_, _De Ind. Jure_, tom. i., p. 93; _Id._ _Politica Ind._, tom.
i., p. 22; _Horn_, _Orig. Amer._, p. 13; _Simon_, _Noticias
Historiales_, (Cuenca, 1626,) lib. i., cap. x.

[II-3] Authorities on the Isthmian antiquities are not numerous. Mr
Berthold Seemann claims to have been the first to discover stone
sculptures near David in 1848, and he read a paper on them before the
Archaeological Institute of London in 1851. He also briefly mentions
them in his _Voy. Herald_, vol. i., pp. 312-13, for which work
drawings were prepared but not published. Some of the drawings were,
however, afterwards printed in _Bollaert's Antiq. Researches in N.
Granada_, (Lond., 1860,) and a few cuts of inscribed figures also
inserted with farther description by Seemann in _Pim and Seemann's
Dottings_, pp. 25-32. It is stated in the last-named work that M.
Zeltner, French Consul at Panama, whose private collection contained
specimens from Chiriqui, published photographs of some of them with
descriptive letter-press. Bollaert also wrote a paper on 'The Ancient
Tombs of Chiriqui,' in _Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact._, vol. ii., pp.
151, 159. On various occasions from 1859 to 1865, travelers or
residents on the Isthmus, chiefly parties connected with the Panama
railway, sent specimens, drawings, and descriptions to New York, where
they were presented to the American Ethnological Society, or exhibited
before and discussed by that body at its monthly meetings, an account
of which may be found in the _Hist. Mag._, vol. iii., p. 240, vol.
iv., pp. 47-8, 113, 144, 176-7, 239-41, 274, 338, vol. v., pp. 50-2,
vol. vi., pp. 119, 154, vol. ix., p. 158. A report on the Chiriqui
antiquities by Dr Merritt was printed by the same society. The above,
with slight mentions in _Cullen's Darien_, p. 38, from _Whiting and
Shuman's Report on Coal Formations_, April 1, 1851, and in _Bidwell's
Isthmus_, pp. 37-8, from _Hay's Report_, in _Powles' N. Granada_, are
the only sources of information on the subject with which I am
acquainted.

[II-4] _Pim and Seemann's Dottings_, pp. 25, 28-31; _Seemann's Voy.
Herald_, vol. i., pp. 312-13; _Hist. Mag._, vol. iv., p. 338.

[II-5] _Hist. Mag._, vol. ix., p. 158.

[II-6] _Id._, vol. iii., p. 240, vol. iv., pp. 47-8, 239-40.

[II-7] Three statues presented by Messrs Totten and Center in 1860
were about two feet high, of a dark, hard stone, in human form with
features and limbs distorted. Two of them had square tapering
pedestals apparently intended to support the figures upright in the
ground. _Id._, vol. iv., p. 144.

[II-8] _Id._, vol. iv., pp. 239-40, 274.

[II-9] _Hist. Mag._, vol. iv., pp. 144, 177, 240-1, 274.

[II-10] _Seemann's Voy. Herald_, vol. i., p. 314.

[II-11] _Cullen's Darien_, p. 38.

[II-12] _Pim and Seemann's Dottings_, pp. 25-32; _Tate's Ancient
British Sculptured Rocks_.

[II-13] _Bidwell's Isthmus_, p. 37; _Hist. Mag._, vol. iv., p. 176.

[II-14] 'A much higher antiquity must be assigned to these
hieroglyphics than to the other monuments of America.' _Voy. Herald_,
vol. i., p. 313.

[II-15] _Hist. Mag._, vol. v., p. 50.

[II-16] Vol. i., chap. vii. of this work.

[II-17] _Merritt and Davis_, in _Hist. Mag._, vol. iv., pp. 176, 274.

[II-18] In a work which I have not seen. That author's _Coup d'Oeuil
sur la Republique de Costa Rica_, and _Memoir on the Boundary
Question_, furnish no information on the subject.

[II-19] _Wagner and Scherzer_, _Costa Rica_, pp. 465-6, 471, 522-4,
561.

[II-20] _Squier's Nicaragua_, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., pp. 338-9, and
plate.

[II-21] _Boyle's Ride_, vol. ii., p. 86; _Hist. Mag._, vol. vi., p.
119.

[II-22] _Boyle's Ride_, vol. i., pp. 25-6.

[II-23] _Meagher_, in _Harper's Mag._, vol. xx., p. 317.

[II-24] _Reichardt_, _Cent. Amer._, pp. 121-2.

[II-25] _Squier's Nicaragua_, p. 511.

[II-26] _Pownal_, in _Archaeologia_, vol. v., p. 318, pl. xxvi.;
_Humboldt_, _Vues_, tom. ii., p. 205, pl. xiii.; (Ed. in folio, pl.
xxxix.); _Id._, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. i., <DW37>. ii., pp. 27-8, tom.
ii., suppl. pl. vii., fig. xi.

[II-27] _Colon_, _Carta_, in _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, tom. i.,
p. 307; _Helps' Span. Conq._, vol. ii., p. 138.

[II-28] _Boyle's Ride_, vol. i., pp. 296-9; _Pim and Seemann's
Dottings_, p. 401.

[II-29] _Bard's (E. G. Squier) Waikna, or Adventures on the Mosquito
Shore_, pp. 216-17, 254, 258-60. The 'King of the Mosquitos' somewhat
severely criticised the work, in which, by the way, His Royal Highness
is not very reverently spoken of, as 'a pack of lies, especially when
it was notorious that the author had never visited the Mosquito
Coast.' _Pim and Seemann's Dottings_, p. 271. 'Le desert qui s'etend
le long de la cote de la mer des Antilles, depuis le golfe Dulce
jusqu'a l'isthme de Darien, n'a pas offert jusqu'a present de vestiges
indiquant que le peuple auquel on doit les monuments de Palenque, de
Quiragua, de Copan, ait emigre au sud de l'isthme.' _Friederichsthal_,
in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1841, tom. xcii., p. 301.

[II-30] _Squier's Nicaragua_; _Boyle's Ride Across a Continent_. Mr E.
G. Squier resided in Nicaragua as Charge d'Affaires of the United
States during the year 1849-50. On account of his position he was
afforded facilities for research not enjoyed by other foreigners, and
which his well-known antiquarian tastes and abilities prompted and
enabled him to use to the best advantage during the limited time left
from official duties. Besides the several editions of the work
mentioned, Mr Squier's accounts or fragments thereof have been
published in periodicals in different languages; while other authors
have made up almost wholly from his writings their brief descriptions
of Nicaraguan antiquities. See _Wappaeus_, _Geog. u. Stat._, p. 341;
_Sivers_, _Mittelamerika_, pp. 128-35; _Tiedemann_, in _Heidelberger
Yahrb._, 1851, pp. 81, 91, 170; _Mueller_, _Amerikanische
Urreligionen_, pp. 463, 484, 498, 544; _Andree_, in _Westland_, tom.
ii., pp. 3, 251; _Heine_, _Wanderbilder_, p. 181; _Holinski_, _La
Californie_, p. 252; _Baldwin's Anc. Amer._, p. 124. Frederick Boyle,
F.R.G.S., visited the country in 1865-6, with the examination of
antiquities as his main object. Both works are illustrated with plates
and cuts; and both authors brought away interesting specimens which
were deposited by the American in the Smithsonian Institution, and by
the Englishman in the British Museum. 'J'avoue n'avoir rien rencontre
d'important dans mes lectures, en ce qui touche les etats de Costa
Rica et de Nicaragua.' _Dally_, _Races Indig._, p. 12.

[II-31] 'Nicht ... von abgesonderten Steinen umgeben, sondern fanden
sich, in einer Tiefe von drei Fuss, unregelmaessig ueber die Ebene
zerstreut.' _Friederichsthal_, in _Sivers_, _Mittelamerika_, p. 128;
'Les iles du lac, notamment Ometepe semblent avoir servi de
sepultures a la population des villes environnantes, ... car on y
rencontre de vastes necropoles ou villes des morts, ressemblant par
leur caractere a celles des anciens Mexicains.' _Id._ in _Nouvelles
Annales des Voy._, 1841, tom. xcii., p. 297; in _Lond. Geog. Soc.,
Jour._, vol. xi., p. 100; _Woeniger_, in _Squier's Nicaragua_, pp.
509-10; _Boyle's Ride_, vol. ii., p. 86.

[II-32] Plan showing their relative position, in _Squier's Nicaragua_,
p. 477.

[II-33] 'On y trouve (sur les iles du lac) encore un grand nombre de
debris de constructions antiques.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, in
_Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1855, tom. cxlvii., p. 135.

[II-34] _Boyle's Ride_, vol. ii., p. 42.

[II-35] _Squier's Nicaragua_, pp. 439-41.

[II-36] _Boyle's Ride_, vol. ii., pp. 10-11.

[II-37] _Id._, vol. ii., pp. 161-2; _Squier's Nicaragua_, p. 396.

[II-38] 'Ils montrent avec effroi les debris de la cite maudite,
encore visibles sous la surface des eaux.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, in
_Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1855, tom. cxlvii., p. 149.

[II-39] _Belcher's Voyage_, vol. i., p. 171; _Squier's Nicaragua_, p.
299.

[II-40] _Squier's Nicaragua_, pp. 306-8; _Id._, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii.,
p. 335.

[II-41] _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xi., p. 100; _Nouvelles
Annales des Voy._, 1811, tom. xcii., p. 297; _Squier's Nicaragua_,
(Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 335.

[II-42] _Boyle's Ride_, vol. i., pp. 159-61, 195-212, 291; _Pim and
Seemann's Dottings_, p. 126; On the buildings of the ancient
Nicaraguans, see vols. ii. and iii. of this work; also _Brasseur de
Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. ii., p. 114; _Peter Martyr_, dec.
vi., lib. v.; _Squier's Nicaragua_, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., pp. 335-6.

[II-43] _Boyle's Ride_, vol. i., pp. 154-5.

[II-44] _Froebel_, _Aus Amer._, tom. i., pp. 379-80; _Id._, _Cent.
Amer._, pp. 119-20.

[II-45] _Livingston_, in _Squier's Nicaragua_, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii.,
pp. 334-5.

[II-46] _Boyle's Ride_, vol. i., p. 212.

[II-47] _Heine_, _Wanderbilder_, p. 181.

[II-48] _Squier's Nicaragua_, pp. 435-41; 'Sur les parois du rocher on
voit encore des dessins bizarres graves et peints en rouge, tels que
les donne M. Squier.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, in _Nouvelles Annales
des Voy._, 1855, tom. cxlvii., p. 147.

[II-49] Mr Boyle found the cliff-paintings to have suffered much since
Mr Squier's visit, thirteen years before; so much so that none could
be made out except the winged snake and red hand. He also states that
yellow as well as red pictures are here to be seen. _Boyle's Ride_,
vol. ii., pp. 160-1; _Squier's Nicaragua_, pp. 391-6. In a letter, a
fragment of which is published in the _Annual of Scientific
Discovery_, 1850, p. 364, Mr Squier declares the paintings precisely
in the style of the Mexican and Guatemalan MSS., closely resembling,
some of the figures indeed identical with, those of the Dresden MS.
Pim and Seemann, _Dottings_, p. 401, also noted the 'coiled-up lizard'
and other pictures, calling the locality Asososca Lake. Scherzer,
_Wanderungen_, p. 72, and _Trav._, vol. i., p. 77, mentions also
sculptured figures on this crater-wall.

[II-50] _Boyle's Ride_, vol. ii., pp. 142-3.

[II-51] _Squier's Nicaragua_, pp. 510-17. There were formerly many
idols resembling those of Zapatero, but they have been buried or
broken up. A group is reported still to be found near the foot of Mt
Madeira, but not seen. _Woeniger_, in _Id._, p. 509. _Froebel_, _Aus
Amer._, tom. i., p. 261.

[II-52] _Squier's Nicaragua_, pp. 180, 470-90, 496; _Id._, (_ed._
1856,) vol. ii., p. 336; _Id._, in _Annual Scien. Discov._, 1851, p.
388. 'L'ile de Zapatero a fourni des idoles qui sont comme des
imitations grossieres du fameux colosse de Memnon, type connu de cette
impassibilite reflechie que les Egyptiens donnaient a leurs dieux.'
_Holinski_, _La Californie_, p. 252. 'There still exist on its surface
some large stone idols.' _Scherzer's Trav._, vol. i., p. 31. 'Statues
d'hommes et d'animaux d'un effet grandiose, mais d'un travail qui
annonce une civilisation moins avancee que celle de l'Yucatan ou du
Guatemala.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._,
1855, tom. cxlvii., p. 135; _Boyle's Ride_, vol. ii., p. 122.

[II-53] _Boyle's Ride_, vol. ii., pp. 42-7; _Friederichsthal_, in
_Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xi., p. 100; _Id._, in _Nouvelles
Annales des Voy._, 1841, tom. xcii., p. 297.

[II-54] _Squier's Nicaragua_, pp. 448-57. The head of fig. 1 is the
Mexican sign tochtli. The animal in fig. 2 may be intended for an
alligator. _Id._, in _Annual Scien. Discov._, 1851, p. 387.

[II-55] _Squier's Nicaragua_, pp. 285-7, 295-301, 402; _Id._, in
_Annual Scien. Discov._, 1850, p. 363; _Wappaeus_, _Geog. u. Stat._, p.
341.

[II-56] _Belcher's Voyage_, vol. i., p. 172; _Squier's Nicaragua_, pp.
179, 402.

[II-57] _Squier's Nicaragua_, pp. 264-5, 301-7: 'Some of the statues
have the same elaborate head-dresses with others of Copan; one bears a
shield upon his arm; another has a girdle, to which is suspended a
head.' _Id._, in _Annual Scien. Discov._, 1850, p. 363.

[II-58] If idols, to Mr Boyle they indicate a worship of ancestors, of
which, however, there seems to be no historical evidence. Mr Pim
suggests that the idols of mild expression may be those worshiped
before, and those of more ferocious aspect after, the coming of the
Aztecs.

[II-59] The other Chontal statues more or less fully described are the
following: A huge monolith, of which twelve feet six inches were
unearthed, having a cross on the breast with two triangles, and the
arms and legs doubled back; a head four feet eight inches in
circumference, and one foot ten inches high; an idol four feet eight
inches high, wearing on its head an ornamented coronet, resembling a
circlet of overlapping oyster-shells, with a cross on the left
shoulder and a richly carved belt; a stone woman thirty-seven inches
high, having the left corner of the mouth drawn up so as to leave a
round hole between the lips, and the arms crossed at right angles from
the elbows; a very rude idol with pointed cap, holes for eyes, and a
slit for a mouth, whose modern use is to grind corn; and lastly, a
statue with beard and whiskers. _Boyle's Ride_, vol. i., pp. 147-9,
158-64, 210-12, 242, 290-5; _Pim and Seemann's Dottings_, pp. 126-8.

[II-60] _Boyle's Ride_, vol. i., pp. 290-1, vol. ii., pp. 97, 144-5;
_Squier's Nicaragua_, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 339; _Pim and Seemann's
Dottings_, pp. 126-7.

[II-61] _Boyle's Ride_, vol. i., pp. 200-2, 209, vol. ii., pp. 45-6;
_Squier's Nicaragua_, pp. 515, 521; cut of the leg of a stone vase,
_Id._, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 339.

[II-62] _Squier's Nicaragua_, pp. 256-7.

[II-63] _Boyle's Ride_, vol. i., pp. 150-2, 159, vol. ii., pp. 43, 98;
_Squier's Nicaragua_, pp. 521-2; _Pim and Seemann's Dottings_, pp.
126-7.

[II-64] _Squier's Nicaragua_, pp. 307-8, 476, 488; _Pim and Seemann's
Dottings_, p. 128.

[II-64] _Boyle's Ride_, vol. i., pp. 150-1, 201, 209, vol. ii., pp.
45, 86, 90-7; _Squier's Nicaragua_, pp. 299, 490, 509-10; _Id._, (Ed.
1856,) vol. ii., pp. 335-8, 362; _Pim and Seemann's Dottings_, p. 126;
_Sivers_, _Mittelamerika_, pp. 128-9.

[II-65] _Boyle's Ride_, vol. i., pp. 150-1, vol. ii., p. 87; _Squier's
Nicaragua_, pp. 509-11.




CHAPTER III.

ANTIQUITIES OF SALVADOR AND HONDURAS. RUINS OF COPAN.

     SALVADOR -- OPICO REMAINS -- MOUNDS OF JIBOA -- RELICS OF
     LAKE GUIJAR -- HONDURAS -- GUANAJA -- WALL -- STONE CHAIRS
     -- ROATAN -- POTTERY -- OLANCHO RELICS -- MOUNDS OF AGALTA
     AND ABAJO -- HACIENDA OF LABRANZA -- COMAYAGUA -- STONE
     DOG-IDOL -- TERRACED MOUNDS OF CALAMULLA -- TUMULI ON RIO
     CHIQUINQUARE -- EARTHEN VASES OF YARUMELA -- FORTIFIED
     PLATEAU OF TENAMPUA -- PYRAMIDS, ENCLOSURES, AND
     EXCAVATIONS -- STONE WALLS -- PARALLEL MOUNDS --
     CLIFF-CARVINGS AT ARAMACINA -- COPAN -- HISTORY AND
     BIBLIOGRAPHY -- PALACIO, FUENTES, GALINDO, STEPHENS, DALY,
     ELLERY, HARDCASTLE, BRASSEUR DE BOURBOURG -- PLAN OF RUINS
     RESTORED -- QUARRY AND CAVE -- OUTSIDE MONUMENTS --
     ENCLOSING WALLS -- THE TEMPLE -- COURTS -- VAULTS --
     PYRAMID -- IDOLS -- ALTARS -- MISCELLANEOUS RELICS --
     HUMAN REMAINS -- LIME -- COLOSSAL HEADS -- REMARKABLE
     ALTARS -- GENERAL REMARKS.


  [Sidenote: ANTIQUITIES OF SALVADOR.]

Following the continent westward from Nicaragua, we have the state of
Salvador on the Pacific side, stretching some one hundred and eighty
miles from the gulf of Fonseca to the Rio de Paza, the Guatemalan
boundary, and extending inland about eighty miles. Here, in the
central province of San Vicente, a few miles southward from the
capital city of the same name, I find the first well-authenticated
instance in our progress northward of the occurrence of ruined
edifices. But of these ruins we only know that they are the most
imposing monuments in the state, covering nearly two square miles at
the foot of the volcano of Opico, and that they consist of "vast
terraces, ruins of edifices, and circular and square towers, and
subterranean galleries, all built of cut stones. A single carving has
been found here, on a block of stone eight feet long by four broad. It
is in the true Mexican style, representing probably a prince or great
warrior."[III-1] Several mounds, considerable in size and regular in
outline, were noted on the plain of Jiboa west of San Vicente; also
similar ones near Sonsonato in the south-western portion of the state.
In the north-west on the Guatemalan boundary, aboriginal relics are
vaguely reported on the islands of Lake Guijar, but of them nothing is
known.[III-2] And concerning Salvador monuments nothing further is to
be said, although Mr Squier heard of ruins in that state rivaling in
extent and interest the famous Copan.[III-3]

       *       *       *       *       *

On the other side of the continent, reaching also across to the
Pacific at the gulf of Fonseca, north of Nicaragua, the Mosquito
coast, and Salvador, is the state of Honduras. It extends over three
hundred and fifty miles westward along the Atlantic shore, from Cape
Gracias a Dios nearly to the narrowest point of the isthmus where
America is a second time so nearly cut in twain by the gulfs of
Honduras and Dulce. The mountain chains which skirt the valley of the
Motagua on the south, known as the sierras of Grita, Espiritu Santo,
Merendon, Copan, etc., form the boundary line between Honduras and
Guatemala. The northern coast, closely resembling in its general
character the Mosquito shore, has preserved along its marshy lagoons,
so far as they have been explored, no traces of its early occupants.
Yet on the coast islands some relics appear. On that of Guanaja,
whence in 1502 Columbus first beheld the continent of North America,
is reported a wall of considerable extent, only a few feet high, with
three-legged stone chairs fixed at intervals in rude niches or
fissures along its sides. Chair-shaped excavations in solid rock occur
at several other points on the island, together with rudely molded but
fantastically decorated vessels of earthen ware. The Guanaja remains
are chiefly found in the vicinity of the Savanna Bight Kay.[III-4] On
the neighboring island of Roatan fragments of aboriginal pottery and
small stone idols are found scattered through the forest.[III-5]

The eastern interior of Honduras, by reason of its gold mines, has
been more extensively explored than the Mosquito region farther south;
yet with respect to the departments of Olancho and Tegucigalpa I only
find the statement by Mr Wells that "mounds containing specimens of
ancient pottery are often met with by the _vaqueros_ while exploring
the gloomy depths of the forest, but these seldom survive the
destructive curiosity of the natives;" this chiefly in the valleys of
Agalta and Abajo, and on the hacienda of Labranza. The pottery takes
the form of pans and jars to the number of ten to thirty in each
mound; no idols or human remains having been reported.[III-6]

  [Sidenote: COMAYAGUA RELICS.]

Still farther west, in the valley of Comayagua, midway between the
oceans, about the head-waters of the rivers, to which the names Ulua,
Goascoran, and Choluteca are applied as often as any others on the
maps, there are abundant works of the former natives, made known, but
unfortunately only described in part, by Mr Squier. These works
chiefly occur on the terraces of the small branch valleys which
radiate from that of Comayagua as a centre, in localities named as
follows: Chapulistagua, Jamalteca, Guasistagua, Chapuluca, Tenampua,
Maniani, Tambla, Yarumela, Calamulla, Lajamini, and Cururu. The ruins
are spoken of in general terms as consisting of "large pyramidal,
terraced structures, often faced with stones, conical mounds of earth,
and walls of stone. In these, and in their vicinity, are found
carvings in stone, and painted vases of great beauty." Concerning most
of the localities mentioned we have no further details, and must form
an idea of their nature from the few that are partially described,
since a similarity is apparent between all the monuments of the
region.

  [Illustration: Mastodon's Tooth.]

  [Illustration: Earthen Vase of Yarumela.]

About Comayagua, or Nueva Valladolid, we are informed that "hardly a
step can be taken in any direction without encountering evidences of
aboriginal occupation," the only relic specified, however, being a
stone idol of canine form now occupying a position in the walls of the
church of Our Lady of Dolores. At Tambla, some leagues south-east of
Comayagua, was found the fossil skeleton of a mastodon, whose tooth is
shown in the cut, imbedded in a sandstone formation.[III-7] One of the
stratified sandstone terraces of the sierra south-west of Comayagua
forms a fertile table over three thousand feet above the level of the
sea; and on its surface, in an area of ten or twelve acres inclosed by
a spring-fed mountain stream, are the ruins of Calamulla, consisting
simply of mounds. Of these, two are large, one about one hundred feet
long, with two stages, having a flight of steps on the western <DW72>.
It shows clear traces of having been originally faced with flat
stones, now for the most part removed. Most of the mounds are of earth
in terraces, and some of rectangular outline have a small conical
mound raised a few feet above the surface of their upper platform.
Stone-heaps of irregular form also occur; perhaps places of sepulture;
at least differing in their use from the tumuli of more regular
outlines which may readily be imagined once to have supported
superimposed structures of more perishable materials. The natives have
traditions, probably unfounded, of subterranean chambers and galleries
beneath this spot. In the same vicinity, near the banks of the Rio
Chiquinguare, and about a league from the pueblo of Yarumela, is
another group of mounds, lying partly in the forest and partly in
lands now under native cultivation. These remains, although in a more
advanced state of ruin, are very similar to those of the Calamulla
group. It is noted, however, that the tumuli are carefully oriented,
and that some have stone steps in the centre of each side. In one or
two cases there even remained standing portions of cut-stone walls.
Local tradition, which as a rule amounts to nothing in such cases,
seems to indicate that these structures were already in a ruined state
before the Spanish conquest. At the town of Yarumela, and presumably
taken from the group described, were seen, besides a few curiously
carved stones, six earthen vases of superior workmanship and design,
one of which is represented in the cut, together with separate and
enlarged portions of its ornamentation, which is both carved and
painted. The flying deity painted in outline on one of its faces is
pronounced by Mr Squier identical with one of the characters of the
Dresden Codex.[III-8]

  [Sidenote: RUINS OF TENAMPUA.]

At Tenampua, or Pueblo Viejo, twenty miles south-east of Comayagua,
near Flores, is a hill of white stratified sandstone, whose sides rise
precipitously to a height of sixteen hundred feet above the level of
the surrounding plain. The summit forms a level plateau one half a
mile wide and one mile and a half long from east to west. On the
eastern half chiefly, but also spreading over the whole surface of
this lofty plateau, is the most extensive group of ancient works in
the whole region, and in fact the only one of which we have a
description at all in detail. As in the other localities of this part
of the state, the group is made up for the most part of rectangular
oriented mounds, some of stone, but most of earth, with a stone
facing. The smaller mounds are apparently arranged in groups according
to some system; they vary in size from twenty to thirty feet in
height, having from two to four stages. The larger pyramidal tumuli
are from sixty to one hundred feet long and of proportionate width and
altitude, with in many cases a flight of steps in the centre of the
side facing the west.

  [Illustration: Enclosure at Tenampua.]

  [Sidenote: RUINS OF TENAMPUA.]

The structures that have been described are as follows, it being
understood that they are but a part of the whole: A mound located on
the very edge of the southern precipice commands a broad view over the
whole plain of Comayagua, and its position suggests its possible
aboriginal use as a station for fire-signals. Just north of this is an
excavation, or perhaps a small natural valley, whose sides are faced
with stone in steps leading up the <DW72> on all four sides. In the
centre of the eastern half of the plain, and consequently in the
midst of the principal ruins, is what may be regarded as the chief
structure of the group, commanding a view of all the rest. The annexed
cut, made up from the description, will aid in giving a clear idea of
the work. Two stone walls, an outer and an inner, about ten feet
apart, each two feet thick, of which only a few feet in height remain
standing, enclose a rectangular area of one hundred and eighty by
three hundred feet. Cross-walls at regular intervals divide the space
between the two into rectangular apartments now filled with earth to a
depth of two feet. The walls terminate on the western side in two
oblong terraced mounds between which is the only entrance to the
enclosure; while on the opposite side in a corresponding position on
the eastern wall is a mound equal in bulk to both the western ones
combined. Within the inclosure is a large pyramidal mound in three
stages, with a flight of steps on the west, situated just south of a
central east and west line. From its south-west corner a line of
imbedded stones runs to the southern wall; and between the pyramid and
the gateway is a small square of stones. A similar mound, also
provided with a stairway, is found in the north-east corner of the
enclosure. The stones of which the walls and facings are made, indeed
of all the stone work at Tenampua, are not hewn, but very carefully
laid, no mention being made of mortar. All the structures are
carefully oriented. At the south-east corner of the plateau is a
second enclosure which has a gateway in the centre of each of its four
equal sides, but whose dimensions are not given. This has in its area
two mounds, each with a stairway. Elsewhere, its location on the
plateau not being stated, is a raised terrace, or platform, three
hundred and sixty feet long, containing one of the most remarkable
features of the place, in the form of two parallel mounds one hundred
and forty feet long, thirty-six feet wide at the base, ten feet high,
and forty feet apart at their inner and lower edges. The outer sides
have double walls like those of the chief enclosure, divided into
three compartments, and having served apparently as the foundations of
three separate buildings. The inner side of each mound <DW72>s in three
terraces, the lower ones being faced with large flat stones set
upright. In a line with the centre between these parallels and at a
distance of one hundred and twenty paces is a mound with a stairway on
its southern <DW72>, and at a distance of twenty-four paces on the same
line, but in a direction not stated, are two large stones carefully
placed with a space of one foot between them. The conjectural use of
these parallels, like that of somewhat similar ones which we shall
meet elsewhere, is for the accommodation of the ancient nobility or
priesthood in their games or processions. On the west end of the
plateau are two perpendicular excavations in the rock, twenty feet
square and twelve feet deep, with a gallery three feet square leading
northward from the bottom of each. The natives have an idea that these
passages lead to the ruins of Chapulistagua, but they are probably of
natural formation with artificial improvements, and of no great
extent. The remains of a pyramid are found in the vicinity of the
holes. Near the centre of the plateau, in a spot naturally low and
marshy, are two large square excavations which may have been
reservoirs. In addition to the works described are over three hundred
mounds or truncated pyramids of different sizes, scattered over the
surface of the plateau, to the location and arrangement of which, in
the absence of a plan, we have no guide. They are covered with a heavy
growth of timber, some of them supporting pine-trees two feet in
diameter. Only one was opened and its interior found to consist simply
of earth, except the upper terrace which was ashes and burned matter,
containing fragments of pottery and of obsidian knives. The pottery is
chiefly in the form of small flat pans and vases, all decorated with
simple painted figures; and one small gourd-shaped vase, nearly
entire, was filled with some black indurated matter so hard as not to
be removable. As to the original purposes to which the structures of
Tenampua were devoted, speculation points with much plausibility to
religious ceremonies and temples in the case of the enclosures and
larger pyramids; to sepulchral rites in that of the smaller mounds;
while the strong natural position of the works on a plateau with high,
precipitous, and at nearly every point inaccessible sides, indicates
that defense was an important consideration with the builders. The
supposed reservoirs favor this theory, which is rendered a certainty
by the fortifications which protect the approach to the plateau at the
only accessible points, on three narrow ridges connecting this hill
with others of the range. These fortifications are walls of rough
stone, from six to fifteen feet high and ten to twenty feet thick at
the base, according to the weakness or strength of the location.
Gullies on the <DW72>s which might afford a cover for approaching foes
are carefully filled with stones; and the walls themselves, which also
have traces of towers at intervals, while presenting a perpendicular
exterior, are terraced on the inside for the convenience of the
defenders. Yet the poor thin soil, incapable of supporting a large
number of people, indicates that it was not probably a fortified town,
but that it must be regarded as a place sacred to the gods, to be
defended to the last, and possibly a refuge for the people of the
towns below in cases of extreme danger.[III-9]

  [Sidenote: CLIFF-CARVINGS OF ARAMACINA.]

Southward from Comayagua, toward the Pacific shore, we find relics of
former times near Aramacina, in the Goascoran region. Here the smooth
vertical face of a sandstone ledge forms one side of a natural
amphitheatre, and is covered, for a space of one hundred by fifteen
feet, with engraved figures cut to a depth of two and a half inches,
the incisions serving as convenient steps by which to mount the cliff.
Some of the engravings have been destroyed by modern quarry-men; of
those remaining some seem to be ornamental and arbitrary, while in
others the forms of men and animals may be distinguished. They are
pronounced by the observer identical in style with the inscriptions of
Nicaragua and Salvador, of whose existence in the latter state we have
no other intimation.[III-10]

       *       *       *       *       *

But one group of antiquities in Honduras remains to be
described,--Copan, the most wonderful of all, and one of the most
famous of American ruins. The location is in a most fertile
tobacco-producing region near the Guatemalan boundary, on the eastern
bank of the Rio Copan, which flows northward to join the Motagua some
fifty miles below the ruins, at a point something more than one
hundred miles above its mouth in the bay of Honduras.[III-11]

Some rapids occur in the Copan River below the ruins, but in the
season of high water it is navigable for canoes for a greater part of
its course. The name Copan, so far as can be known, was applied to the
ruins simply from their vicinity to an adjacent hamlet or Indian
pueblo so named, which is located at the mouth of a small stream,
called Sesesmil by Col. Galindo, which empties into the Copan a little
higher up. This pueblo has greatly deteriorated in later times;
formerly both town and province were rich and prosperous. Indeed, in
the sixteenth century, in the revolt which broke out soon after the
first conquest, the cacique of Copan resisted the Spanish forces long
after the neighboring provinces had been subdued. Driven eventually to
his chief town, he opposed barricades and ditches to the advancing
foe, but was at last forced after a desperate struggle to yield to
Hernando de Chaves in 1530. It was formerly supposed that the place
where he made his brave stand against Chaves was identical with the
ancient city since called Copan, its ruin dating from its fall in
1530. It is now believed, however, that there was no connection
whatever between the two, and that, so far as the ruined city of
antiquity is concerned, history is absolutely silent. This conclusion
is based on the facts that Cortes in his famous march through Honduras
in 1524, although passing within a few leagues of this place, heard
nothing of so wonderful a city, as he could hardly have failed to do
had it been inhabited at the time; that there is not the slightest
resemblance between the ruined structures to be described in these
pages and the town besieged by Chaves as reported in the chronicles of
the period; and above all that the ruins are described by Palacio as
being very nearly in their present state, with nothing but the vaguest
traditions respecting their origin, only about forty years after the
fall of the brave cacique, the latter fact, however, not having been
known to those authors who have stated that Copan was inhabited at the
conquest.[III-12]

  [Sidenote: EXPLORATION OF THE RUINS.]

This region has never been really explored with a view to the
discovery of ancient relics. The few visitors, of whose explorations I
give the history and bibliography in full in the annexed note,[III-13]
have found enough of the wonderful in the monuments known to exist
since the sixteenth century, without pushing their investigations back
into the dense and almost impenetrable forest away from the immediate
banks of the river. The difficulty attending antiquarian research in a
country where the whole surface is covered with so dense a growth that
progress in any direction is possible only foot by foot with the aid
of the native machete, may be imagined. A hot climate, a moist and
malarious atmosphere, venomous serpents and reptiles, myriads of
diminutive demons in the form of insects, all do most vigorous battle
against the advances of the foreign explorer, while the apathetic
natives, whether of American or Spanish blood, feel not the slightest
enthusiasm to unveil the mysterious works of the antiguos.

For what is known of Copan the world is indebted almost entirely to
the works of the American traveler, Mr John L. Stephens, and of his
most skilful artist-companion, Mr F. Catherwood;[III-14] and from the
works of these gentlemen, with the slight notes to be gleaned from
other sources, I proceed to give all that is known of what is commonly
termed the oldest city on the American continent. I will begin by
giving Juarros' description in full, since few or none of the objects
mentioned by him can be identified with any of those met in the
following pages. "In the year 1700, the Great Circus of Copan, still
remained entire. This was a circular space, surrounded by stone
pyramids about six yards high, and very well constructed; at the bases
of these pyramids were figures, both male and female, of very
excellent sculpture, which then retained the colours they had been
enamelled with; and, what was not less remarkable, the whole of them
were habited in the Castilian costume. In the middle of this area,
elevated above a flight of steps, was the place of sacrifice. The same
author (Fuentes) relates that, at a short distance from the Circus,
there was a portal constructed of stone, on the columns of which were
the figures of men, likewise represented in Spanish habits, with hose,
ruff round the neck, sword, cap, and short cloak. On entering the
gateway there are two fine stone pyramids, moderately large and lofty,
from which is suspended a hammock that contains two human figures, one
of each sex, clothed in the Indian style. Astonishment is forcibly
excited on viewing this structure, because, large as it is, there is
no appearance of the component parts being joined together; and,
although entirely of stone, and of an enormous weight, it may be put
in motion by the slightest impulse of the hand. Not far from this
hammock is the cave of Tibulca; this appears like a temple of great
size, hollowed out of the base of a hill, and adorned with columns
having bases, pedestals, capitals and crowns, all accurately adjusted
according to architectural principles; at the sides are numerous
windows faced with stone exquisitely wrought. All these circumstances
lead to a belief that there must have been some intercourse between
the inhabitants of the old and new world at very remote
periods."[III-15]

  [Sidenote: EXTENT OF THE RUINS.]

The ruins are always spoken of as extending two miles along the bank
of the river; yet all the structures described or definitely located
by any visitor, are included in the much smaller area shown on Mr
Stephens' plan, with, however, the following exceptions: "A stone wall
with a circular building and a pit, apparently for a reservoir," is
found about a mile up the river; the quarry which supplied material
for all the structures and statues,--a soft grit interspersed with
hard flinty lumps,--is in a range of hills two miles north of the
river, where are scattered many blocks rejected by the ancient
workers, one being seen on the very top of the range, and another, the
largest noted, half-way between the quarry and its destination at the
ruins; Fuentes' wonderful cave of Tibulca is in the same range of
hills, and may be identical with the quarry, or, as Col. Galindo
thinks, with a natural cave in a mountain two leagues distant; one
monument is mentioned at a distance of a mile across the river on the
summit of a mountain two thousand feet high, but this does not appear
to have been visited; and finally, the natives reported to Mr
Hardcastle a causeway in the forest, several leagues in length. Yet
although so very little is known of outside monuments, there can be no
doubt that such exist, not improbably of great extent and interest;
since, although heaps of ruins and fragments are vaguely reported in
every direction, no attempt at a thorough examination has ever been
made or indeed could be, except by removing the whole forest by a
conflagration during the dry season.[III-16]

  [Illustration: Temple of Copan.]

  [Illustration: RUINS OF COPAN RESTORED]

The plan on the opposite page shows the ruins in their actual state,
according to Mr Stephens' survey, together with a restoration to what
seems to have been something like their original condition. The union
of the two effects in one plate is, I believe, a sufficient reason for
indulging to this extent in a fancy for restoration, justly condemned
by antiquarians as a rule.[III-17]

Returning then to the limits of the plan, we find portions of a wall,
_a_, _a_, _a_, which when entire, as indicated by the dotted lines,
seems to have enclosed a nearly rectangular area, measuring in general
terms 900 by 1600 feet. Whatever treasures of antiquity may be hid in
the depths of the forest, there can be but little doubt that this
enclosure embraced the leading structures or sacred edifices of the
ancient town. These walls would seem at least twenty-five feet thick
at the base, and are built, like all the Copan structures, of large
blocks of cut stone, of varying but not expressly stated dimensions.
They are built, in parts at least, in terraces or steps, and
painted. Only one authority speaks of the use of mortar.[III-18]

  [Sidenote: THE GREAT TEMPLE.]

In the north-west corner of the enclosure, nearly filling its northern
half, is the chief structure which has been called the Temple. Its
dimensions are 624 feet north and south by 809 feet east and
west.[III-19] From the remains the Temple in its original state is
seen to have been an immense terrace, with sides sloped toward the
land but perpendicular on the river, on the platform of which were
both pyramidal elevations and sunken courts of regular rectangular
outlines. The river wall, _b_, _c_, rises perpendicularly to a
height, in its present ruined state, of from sixty to ninety feet, and
the annexed cut gives its appearance from the opposite side of the
river; but the original elevation of the terrace overlooking the
river, judging from portions still intact, was about a hundred feet,
some twenty-five or thirty feet of this elevation, at least at the
northern end, being, however, the height of the original bank above
the water; so that the terrace-platform of the whole Temple, _d_, _d_,
_d_, must have been about seventy feet above the surface of the
ground. The whole is built of cut stone in blocks a foot and a half
wide by three to six feet long, and, without taking into account the
excess of superimposed pyramids over sunken courts, must have required
in round numbers over twenty-six million cubic feet of stone in its
construction.[III-20]

The land sides on the north, east, and south, <DW72> by steps of about
eighteen inches each to a height of from thirty to 140 feet according
as they are more or less fallen, extending also in some parts to the
general level of the terrace-platform, and in others reaching in one
incline to the top of the upper pyramids, E, E.[III-21] On the main
platform are two sunken rectangular courts, marked on the plan A and
B, whose floors or pavements seem to be about forty feet above the
surface of the ground, and thirty feet below the level of the terrace.
The court A is ninety by 144 feet, and ascends on all sides in regular
steps like a Roman amphitheatre. The west side ascends in two flights
each of fifteen steps, separated by a terrace twelve feet wide, to the
platform overlooking the river, on which, at _i_, are the ruins of
what were apparently two circular towers. From a point half-way up the
steps a passage or gallery _m_, _n_, just large enough to afford
passage to a crawling man, leads horizontally through to the face of
the river-wall, the opening in which, visible from the opposite bank,
has given to the ruins the name among the natives of Las Ventanas.
Just below the entrance to this gallery, at _o_, is a pit five feet
square, and seventeen feet deep, from the bottom of which a passage
leads into a vault five feet wide, ten feet long, and four feet high,
which, according to Col. Galindo's measurement, is twelve feet below
the pavement of the court; the opening into this pit, at _o_, seems
however to have been made by Galindo by excavation. The entrance to
the court A is by the passage-way, C, C, from the north, the floor of
which is on a level with that of the court. Similar steps lead up to
the river-terrace on the west, while the pyramid D on the east rises
to a height of 122 feet on the <DW72> in steps or stages each six feet
high and nine feet wide. The passage-way is thirty feet wide and over
300 feet long, and it seems probable that a flight of steps originally
led up to the level of its entrance at _p_. The Court B is larger, but
its steps are nearly all fallen, and it is now only remarkable for its
altar, which will be described elsewhere.[III-22]

As I have said, all the steps and sides bear evident traces of having
been originally painted. The whole structure is enveloped in a dense
growth of shrubs and trees, which have been the chief agents in its
ruin, penetrating every crevice with their roots and thus forcing
apart the carefully laid superficial stones. Two immense ceiba-trees
over six feet in diameter, with roots spreading from fifty to one
hundred feet, are found on the summit of the lofty pyramid D.

  [Sidenote: PYRAMIDS AT COPAN.]

Besides the temple, there are three small detached pyramids, I, F, G,
the former fifty feet square and thirty feet high, between the last
two of which there seems to have been a gateway, or entrance, to the
enclosure. There are moreover the terraced walls _v_, _v_, of the
plan, which require no additional description, but which extend for an
unknown distance eastward into the forest. There are also shapeless
heaps of fallen ruins scattered in every direction.[III-23]

  [Illustration: Sandaled feet at Copan.]

  [Sidenote: STATUES OR IDOLS.]

  [Sidenote: SCULPTURED OBELISK.]

Next to the ruined Temple in importance, or even before it as an
indication of the artistic skill of its builders, are the carved
obelisks, statues, or idols, which are peculiar to this region, but
remarkably similar to each other. Fourteen of these are more or less
fully described, most of them standing and in good preservation, but
several of this number, and probably many besides, fallen and broken.
Their positions are shown on the plan by the numbers 1 to 14. It will
be noticed that only one is actually within the structure known as the
Temple, three standing at the foot of its outer terrace within the
quadrangle H, and the remainder in a group at the southern part of the
enclosure, two of the latter being at the foot of terraced walls.
These statues are remarkable for their size and for their complicated
and well-executed sculpture. Of the eight whose dimensions are given,
the smallest, No. 13, is eleven feet eight inches high, three feet
four inches wide and thick; and the largest, Nos. 2 and 3, are
thirteen feet high, four feet wide, and three feet thick. The material
is the same soft stone taken from the quarry which furnished the
blocks for building the walls. As to their position, Nos. 3, 11, and
13 face toward the east; Nos. 1, 5, and 9, toward the west; and No. 10
toward the north; the others are either fallen or their position is
not given. No. 1 is smaller at the bottom than at the top, and Col.
Galindo mentions two others, on hills east and west of the city, which
have a similar form; all the rest are of nearly uniform dimensions
throughout their length. Several rest on pedestals from six to seven
feet square, and No. 13 has also a circular stone foundation sixteen
feet in diameter. In each a human face occupies a central position on
the front, having in some instances something that may be intended to
represent a beard and moustache. The faces are remarkably uniform in
the expression of their features, generally calm and pleasant; but in
the case of No. 11 the partially open lips, and eye-balls starting
from their sockets, indicate a design on the part of the artist to
inspire terror in the beholder of his work. The hands rest in nearly
every instance back to back on the breast. The dress and decoration
seem to indicate that some were intended for males, others for
females; this and the presence or absence of beard are the only
indications of sex observable. The feet are mostly dressed in sandals,
as shown clearly in the cut from No. 7. Above and round the head is a
complicated mass of the most elaborate ornamentation, which utterly
defies verbal description. Mr Stephens notes something like an
elephant's trunk among the decorations of No. 8. The sides and usually
the backs are covered with hieroglyphics arranged in square tablets,
which probably contain, as all observers are impelled to believe, the
names, titles, and perhaps history of the beings whose images in stone
they serve to decorate. The backs of several, however, have other
figures in addition to the supposed hieroglyphics, as in No. 8, where
is a human form sitting cross-legged; and in No. 10, in which the
characters seem to be human in a variety of strange contortions,
although arranged in tablets like the rest; and No. 13 has a human
face in the centre of the back as well as front. The sculpture is all
in high relief, and was originally painted red, traces of the color
being well preserved in places protected from the action of the
weather. I give cuts of two of these carved obelisks, Nos. 3, and 6,
to illustrate as fully as possible the general appearance of these
most wonderful creations of American art, the details and full
beauties of which can only be appreciated in the large and finely
engraved plates of Catherwood.

  [Illustration: Copan Statues.--No. 3.]

  [Illustration: Copan Statues.--No. 6.]

  [Illustration: Copan Altar.--No. 10.]

  [Sidenote: SACRIFICIAL ALTARS.]

Standing from six to twelve feet in front of nine of the fourteen
statues, and probably of all in their primitive state, are found
blocks of stone which, apparently, can only have been employed for
making offerings or sacrifices in honor of the statues, whose use as
idols is rendered nearly certain by the uniform proximity of the
altars. The altars are six or seven feet square and four feet high,
taking a variety of forms, and being covered with sculpture somewhat
less elaborate than the statues themselves, often buried and much
defaced. Two of them, belonging to Nos. 10 and 7, are shown in the
accompanying cuts. The former is five and a half feet in diameter, and
three feet high, with two grooves in the top; the latter seven feet
square and four feet high, supposed to represent a death's head. The
top of the altar accompanying No. 9 is carved to represent the back of
a tortoise; that of No. 13 consists of three heads strangely grouped.
The grooves cut in the altars' upper surface are strongly suggestive
of flowing blood, and of slaughtered victims.[III-24]

  [Illustration: Copan Altar.--No. 7.]

I will next mention the miscellaneous relics found in connection with
the ruins, beginning with the court A. The vault already spoken of,
whose entrance is at _o_, was undoubtedly intended for burial
purposes. Both on the floor of the vault and in two small niches at
its sides were found human bones, chiefly in vessels of red pottery,
which were over fifty in number. Lime was found spread over the floor
and mixed with human remains in the burial vases; also scattered on
the floor were oyster and periwinkle shells, cave stalactites,
sharp-edged and pointed knives of chaya stone, and three heads, one of
them "apparently representing death, its eyes being nearly shut, and
the lower features distorted; the back of the head symmetrically
perforated by holes; the whole of most exquisite workmanship, and cut
out or cast from a fine stone covered with green enamel." Another
head, very likely one of the other two found in this vault, its
locality, not, however, being specified, is two inches high, cut from
green and white jade, hollow behind, and pierced in several places,
probably for the introduction of a cord for its suspension. Its
individual character and artistic workmanship created in Col.
Galindo's mind the impression that it was customary with this people
to wear as ornaments the portraits of deceased friends.[III-25]

  [Illustration: Colossal Head.]

Two thirds of the distance up the eastern steps at _u_, is the
colossal head of the cut, which is about six feet high. Two other
immense heads are overturned at the foot of the same <DW72>; another is
half-way up the southern steps at w; while numerous fragments of
sculpture are scattered over the steps and pavement in every
direction. There are no idols or altars here, but six circular stones
from one foot and a half to three feet in diameter, found at the foot
of the western stairway of the passage C, C, may have supported idols
or columns originally.[III-26]

  [Illustration: Altar in the Temple of Copan.]

  [Sidenote: ALTAR OF THE TEMPLE.]

In the court B, the only relic beside the statue No. 1 is a remarkable
stone monument, generally termed an altar, at _x_. This is a solid
block of stone six feet square and four feet high, resting on four
globular stones, one under each corner. On the sides are carved
sixteen human figures in profile, four on each side. Each figure is
seated cross-legged on a kind of cushion which is apparently a
hieroglyphic, among whose characters in two or three cases the serpent
is observable. Each wears a breastplate, a head-dress like a
turban,--no two being, however, exactly alike--and holds in one hand
some object of unknown significance. The cut shows the north front of
the altar. The two central figures on this side sit facing each other,
with a tablet of hieroglyphics between them, and may readily be
imagined to represent two kings or chiefs engaged in a consultation on
important matters of state. According to Mr Stephens' text the other
fourteen figures are divided into two equal parties, each following
its leader. But the plates represent all those on the east and west
as facing the south, while those on the south look toward the west.
The top is covered with hieroglyphics in thirty-six squares, as shown
the cut on the preceding page. A peculiarity of this altar is that its
sculpture, unlike that of all the other monuments of Copan, is in low
relief.[III-27]

  [Illustration: Hieroglyphics on the Copan Altar.]

  [Illustration: Decorated Head at Copan.]

  [Illustration: Death's Head at Copan.]

  [Sidenote: MISCELLANEOUS RELICS.]

The head shown in the cut is one of the fragments lying on the ground
at the foot of the terraces that inclose the quadrangle H. On the
<DW72>s of these terraces, particularly of the eastern <DW72> of the
pyramid _e_, half-way from top to bottom, are rows of death's heads in
stone. It is suggested that they represent the skulls of apes rather
than of human beings, and that this animal, abundant in the country,
may have been an object of veneration among the ancient people. One of
the skulls is shown in the cut. The next cut pictures the head of an
alligator carved in stone, found among the group of idols towards the
south. Another is mentioned by Col. Galindo, as holding in its open
jaws a figure, half human, half beast. A gigantic toad, standing
erect, with human arms and tiger's claws, was another of the relics
discovered by the same explorer, together with round plain stones
pierced by a hole in the centre. Mr Davis talks of an architrave of
black granite finely cut; and M. Waldeck corrects a statement, in a
work by Balbi, that marble beds are to be found here. The portrait in
the cut is from the fragments found at the north-west corner of the
temple near _b_.[III-28]

  [Illustration: Alligator's Head at Copan.]

  [Illustration: Copan Portrait.]

  [Sidenote: GENERAL CONCLUSIONS.]

Most of the general reflections and speculations on Copan indulged in
by observers and students refer to other ruined cities in connection
with this, and will be noted in a future chapter. It is to be remarked
that besides pyramids and terraced walls, no traces whatever of
buildings, public or private, remain to guide us in determining the
material or style of architecture affected by the former people of
this region. The absence of all traces of private dwellings we shall
find universal throughout America, such structures having evidently
been constructed of perishable materials; but among the more notable
ruins of the Pacific States, Copan stands almost alone in its total
lack of covered edifices. There would seem to be much reason for the
belief that here grand temples of wood once covered these mighty
mounds, which, decaying, have left no trace of their former grandeur.

Col. Galindo states that the method of forming a roof here was by
means of large inclined stones. If this be a fact, it must have been
ascertained from the sepulchral vault in the temple court, concerning
the construction of which both he and Stephens are silent. The top of
the gallery leading through the river-wall would indicate a method of
construction by means of over-lapping blocks, which we shall find
employed exclusively in Yucatan and Chiapas. No article of any metal
whatever has been found; yet as only one burial deposit has been
opened, it is by no means certain that gold or copper ornaments were
not employed. That iron and steel were not used for cutting
implements, is clearly proved by the fact that hard flinty spots in
the soft stone of the statues are left uncut, in some instances where
they interfere with the details of the sculpture. Indeed, the
chay-stone points found among the ruins are sufficiently hard to work
the soft material, and although in some cases they seem to have
required the use of metal in their own making, yet when we consider
the well-known skill of even the most savage tribes in the manufacture
of flint weapons and implements, the difficulty becomes of little
weight. How the immense blocks of stone of which the obelisks were
formed, were transported from the quarry, several miles distant,
without the mechanical aids that would not be likely to exist prior to
the use of iron, can only be conjectured.

The absence of all implements of a warlike nature, extending even to
the sculptured decorations of idol and altar, would seem to indicate a
population quiet and peaceable rather than warlike and aggressive; for
though it has been suggested that implements of war are not found here
simply because it is a place sacred to religion, yet it does not
appear that any ancient people has ever drawn so closely the line
between the gods of war and the other divinities of the
pantheon.[III-29]

Of the great artistic merit of the sculpture, particularly if executed
without tools of metal, there can be no question. Mr Stephens, well
qualified by personal observation to make the comparison, pronounces
some of the specimens "equal to the finest Egyptian sculpture."[III-30]
Mr Foster believes the flattened forehead of the human profile on the
altar-sides to indicate a similar cranial conformation in the builders
of the city.[III-31]

With respect to the hieroglyphics all that can be said is mere
conjecture, since no living person even claims the ability to decipher
their meaning. They have nothing in common with the Aztec
picture-writing, which, consequently, affords no aid in their study.
The characters do, however, appear similar to, if not identical with,
some of those found at Palenque, in Yucatan, in the Dresden Codex, and
in the Manuscript Troano. When the disciples of Brasseur de Bourbourg
shall succeed in realizing his expectations respecting the latter
document, by means of the Landa alphabet, we may expect the mystery to
be partially lifted from Copan. It is hard to resist the belief that
these tablets hold locked up in their mystic characters the history of
the ruined city and its people, or the hope that the key to their
significance may yet be brought to light; still, in the absence of a
contemporary written language, the hope must be allowed to rest on a
very unsubstantial basis.[III-32]

  [Sidenote: ORIGIN OF THE RUINS.]

Concerning the age and origin of the Copan monuments, as distinguished
from other American antiquities, there are few or no facts on which to
base an opinion. The growth of trees on the works, and the
accumulation of vegetable material can in this tropical climate yield
but very unsatisfactory results in this direction. Copan is, however,
generally considered the oldest of American cities; but I leave for
the present the matter of comparison with more northern relics.
Palacio claims to have found among the people a tradition of a great
lord who came from Yucatan, built the city of Copan, and after some
years returned and left the newly built town desolate; a tradition
which he inclines to believe, because he says the same language is
understood in both regions, and he had heard of similar monuments in
Yucatan and Tabasco. Among the inhabitants of the region in later
times, there is no difference of opinion whatever with respect to the
origin of the ruins or their builders; they are unanimous in their
adherence to the 'quien sabe' theory.

FOOTNOTES:

[III-1] _Squier's Cent. Amer._, p. 341; _Baldwin's Anc. Amer._, pp.
123-4.

[III-2] 'Hier sollen sich gleichfalls noch ununtersuchte interessante
indianische Monumente finden.' _Reichardt_, _Cent. Amer._, p. 83.
'Nothing positive is known concerning them.' _Squier's Cent. Amer._,
p. 341. Hassel says they are the remains of the old Indian town of
Zacualpa. _Mex. Guat._, p. 368.

[III-3] _Squier's Nicaragua_, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 335.

[III-4] _Young's Narrative_, p. 48. Mr Young also saw, but does not
describe, several 'curious things' besides these chairs where once the
antiguos seated, perhaps, their gods of stone.

[III-5] _Sivers_, _Mittelamerika_, p. 182. 'I understand the adjacent
island, Roatan, exhibits yet more proofs of having been inhabited by
an uncivilized race.' _Young's Narrative_, p. 48. 'Jusqu'a ce jour on
n'y a decouvert aucune ruine importante; mais les debris de poterie et
de pierre sculptee qu'on a trouves ensevelis dans ses forets,
suffisent pour prouver qu'elle n'etait pas plus que les autres regions
environnantes privee des bienfaits de la civilisation.' _Brasseur de
Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iv., pp. 612-3.

[III-6] _Wells' Explor. Hond._, p. 553. Sivers, _Mittelamerika_, pp.
166-7, without reference to any particular locality, mentions pottery
as frequently found in graves and among ruins, including pipe-heads,
cigar-holders, drinking-cups, sacrificial vessels, and jugs.

[III-7] _Squier's Cent. Amer._, pp. 132-3; _Scherzer's Trav._, vol.
ii., p. 95; _Id._, _Wanderungen_, p. 371; _Wappaeus_, _Geog. u. Stat._,
p. 310; _Harper's Mag._, vol. xix., p. 610, with a cut of the
mastodon's tooth.

[III-8] _Visit to the Guajiquero Ind._, in _Harper's Mag._, vol. xix.,
pp. 608-11. For account of the Dresden _MS._, see vol. ii. of this
work.

[III-9] _Squier's Cent. Amer._, pp. 134-9; _Scherzer's Trav._, vol.
ii., pp. 95; _Id._, _Wanderungen_, p. 371; _Wappaeus_, _Geog. u.
Stat._, p. 310.

[III-10] _Atlantic Monthly_, vol. vi., p. 49. Las Casas has the
following on the province of Honduras at the time of the conquest:
'Tenia Pueblos innumerables, y una vega de treinta leguas y mas, toda
muy poblada ... la ciudad de Naco que tenia sobre dos cientas mil
animas, y muchos edificios de piedra, en especial los templos en que
adoraban.' _Hist. Apologetica_, _MS._, cap. lii.

[III-11] On the north bank of the Copan, in latitude 14 deg. 45',
longitude 90 deg. 52', four leagues east of the Guatemalan line, twenty
leagues above the junction of the Motagua, which is sixty-five leagues
from the bay. _Galindo_, in _Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact._, vol. ii.,
pp. 547-50. Latitude 14 deg. 39', longitude 91 deg. 13' west of Paris;
six hundred and forty metres above the sea level; forty-five leagues
from San Salvador, fifty-eight leagues from Guatemala. _Id._, in _Antiq.
Mex._, tom. i., <DW37>. ii., p. 76. 'Thirty miles east of Chiquimula.'
_Cyclopedia._ Three hundred miles from the sea, (perhaps by the
windings of the stream). By reason of accidental injury to the
instruments the latitude and longitude could not be obtained. Situated
on the east bank of the stream according to plan. _Stephens' Cent.
Amer._, vol. i., p. 132. 'Until lately erroneously located in
Guatemala, are many miles within the boundaries of Honduras, and but a
few days' travel from the original landing-place of the Spanish
discoverers.' _Wells' Explor. Hond._, p. 552. Not to be confounded
with Coban, metropolis of Vera Paz, one hundred and fifty miles west
of Copan. _Gallatin_, in _Amer. Ethnol. Soc., Transact._, vol. i., p.
5.

[III-12] 'Copan was a colony of Tultecos.' 'The Spaniards found Copan
inhabited, and in the summit of its perfection.' _Galindo_, in _Amer.
Antiq. Soc., Transact._, vol. ii., pp. 546, 549. On the expedition of
Cortes referred to, see _Alaman_, _Disertaciones_, tom. i., pp.
203-25; _Cogolludo_, _Hist. Yucathan_, pp. 45-58; _Cortes_, _Cartas_,
pp. 396-492; _Gomara_, _Conq. Mex._, fol. 245-74; _Herrera_, _Hist.
Gen._, dec. iii., lib. vii., cap. viii., to lib. viii., cap. vii.;
_Peter Martyr_, dec. viii., lib. x.; _Prescott's Mex._, vol. iii., pp.
278-99; _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. i., p. 588; _Villagutierre_,
_Hist. Conq. Itza_, pp. 39-50; _Helps' Span. Conq._, vol. iii., pp.
33-57. Stephens seems to be in some doubt as to the identity of
ancient and modern Copan, there being 'circumstances which seem to
indicate that the city referred to was inferior in strength and
solidity of construction, and of more modern origin.' _Cent. Amer._,
vol. i., pp. 99-101. 'The ruins of the city of that name and their
position do not at all agree with the localities of the severe battle
which decided the contest.' 'There is every appearance of these places
(Copan and Quirigua) having been abandoned long before the Spanish
conquest.' _Gallatin_, in _Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact._, vol. i., p.
171. 'Whatever doubts may have existed on the Subject, and as regards
the high antiquity of the Ruins of Copan ... they are set at Rest by
this Account of Palacio. They were evidently very nearly in their
present Condition, at the Time he wrote, three hundred Years ago.'
_Squier's Pref._ to _Palacio_, _Carta_, p. 9. 'Certain it is that the
latter was a ruin long before the arrival of the Spaniards.' _Squier's
Cent. Amer._, p. 345.

[III-13] The Licenciado Diego Garcia de Palacio, Oidor (Justice, not
Auditor) of the Real Audiencia of Guatemala, in accordance with the
duties of his office, traveled extensively in Guatemala and adjoining
provinces, embodying the results of his observations on countries and
peoples visited in a relation to King Felipe II. of Spain, dated March
8, 1576, which document is preserved in the celebrated Munoz
collection of MSS. It contains a description of the ruins of Copan
which exists in print as follows; _Palacio_, _Relacion_, in _Pacheco_,
_Col. Doc. Ined._, tom. vi., pp. 37-9; _Palacio_, _Carta dirijida al
Rey_, Albany, 1860, pp. 88-96, including an English translation by E.
G. Squier; _Palacios_, _Description_, in _Ternaux-Compans_, _Recueil
de Doc._, pp. 42-4, which is a somewhat faulty French translation;
_Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1843, tom. xcvii., pp. 38-40; _Squier's
Cent. Amer._, pp. 242-4; and it is mentioned by Senor J. B. Munoz in a
report on American antiquities, written as early as 1785, of which a
translation is given in _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Palenque_, pp. 7-8;
Herrera, _Hist. Gen._, quotes, or rather takes from, Palacio's
relation extensively, but omits the portion touching Copan. This first
account of the ruins is by no means the worst that has been written.
Although naturally incomplete, it is evidently a bona-fide description
by an actual visitor, written at a time when the ruins were very
nearly in their present condition, and their origin wrapped in
mystery, although the stirring events of 1530 were yet comparatively
fresh in the memory of the natives. The next account is that in
_Fuentes y Guzman_, _Recopilacion Florida de la Historia del Reino de
Guatemala_, _MS._, 1689. This work was never printed, although said to
be in preparation for the press in 1856. _Ximenez_, _Hist. Ind.
Guat._, p. vii. Fuentes' description of Copan was, however, given to
the public in 1808, in _Juarros_, _Compendio de la Hist. de la Ciudad
de Guatemala_, a work translated into English in 1823, under the title
of _A Statistical and Commercial Hist. of the Kingdom of Guatemala_.
From Juarros the account is taken by many writers, none, so far as I
know, having quoted Fuentes in the original. Where the latter obtained
his information is not known. His account is brief, and justly termed
by Brasseur de Bourbourg, _Palenque_, p. 14., 'la description menteuse
de Fuentes,' since nothing like the relics therein mentioned have been
found in later times. Yet it is possible that the original was
mutilated in passing through Juarros' hands. This description, given
in full in my text, is repeated more or less fully in _Stephens' Cent.
Amer._, vol. i., p. 131; _Warden_, _Recherches_, p. 71; _Conder's Mex.
Guat._, vol. ii., pp. 299-300; _Malte-Brun_, _Precis de la Geog._,
tom. vi., pp. 470-1; _Humboldt_, in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._,
1827, tom. xxxv., p. 329; _Hassel_, _Mex. Guat._, pp. 385-6; _Cortes_,
_Adventuras_, p. 321, and in many other works mentioned in connection
with matter from later sources. Next we have the exploration of
Colonel Juan Galindo, an officer in the Central American service,
sometime governor of the province of Peten, made in April, 1835. An
account of his observations was forwarded to the Societe de Geographie
of Paris, and published in the _Bulletin_ of that Society, and also in
the _Literary Gazette_ of London. A communication on the subject was
also published in _Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact._, vol. ii., pp.
545-50; and the information furnished to the French Geographical
Society was published en resume in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. i., <DW37>. ii.,
pp. 73, 76. Ten drawings accompanied Galindo's report, but have never
been published, although the author announced the intention of the
Central American government to publish his report in full with plates.
He says, 'je suis le seul qui ait examine les ruines de Copan, et qui
en ait fait la relation,' but he knew nothing of Palacio's visit. 'Not
being an artist, his account is necessarily unsatisfactory and
imperfect, but it is not exaggerated.' _Stephens' Cent. Amer._, vol.
i., p. 132. 'Had an enquiring mind, but a very superficial Education.'
_Squier's Pref._ to _Palacio_, _Carta_, p. 8. Most of Galindo's
account is also given with that of Juarros, in _Bradford's Amer.
Antiq._, pp. 96-9; also some information from the same source in
_Brownell's Ind. Races_, p. 52, and in _Larenaudiere_, _Mex. et
Guat._, p. 267. In 1839 Messrs Stephens and Catherwood visited Copan.
Mr Stephens, as I find by a careful examination of his book, spent
thirteen days in his survey, namely, from November 17 to 30; while Mr
Catherwood spent the larger part of another month in completing his
drawings. The results of their labors appeared in 1841 and 1844 under
the titles:--_Stephens' Incidents of Travel in Central America_, vol.
i., pp. 95-160, with twenty-one plates and seven cuts; _Catherwood's
Views of Ancient Monuments in Central America_, in folio, with large
lithographic plates. Slight descriptions of the ruins, made up chiefly
from Stephens, may be found as follows:--_Helps' Span. Conq._, vol.
iii., pp. 54-5; _Willson's Amer. Hist._, pp. 76-9, with plan and cut;
_Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 64-74, 57, with
plan and plates; _Jones' Hist. Anc. Amer._, pp. 57-69, 116; _Davis'
Antiq. Amer._, pp. 4-5; _Id._, (Ed. 1847,) p. 30; _Dally_, _Races
Indig._, pp. 12-13; _Baldwin's Anc. Amer._, pp. 111-14, with cut;
_Wappaeus_, _Geog. u. Stat._, p. 308; _Tiedemann_, _Heidelb. Yahrb._,
1851, p. 85; _Larenaudiere_, _Mex. et Guat._, pl. 9-12, the text being
from Galindo and Juarros; _Reichardt_, _Cent. Amer._, pp. 91-2;
_Amerique Centrale_, _Colonization_, pt. ii., p. 68; _Mueller_,
_Amerikanische Urreligionen_, pp. 462-4, 483; _Macgregor's Progress of
Amer._, pp. 877-8; _Frost's Great Cities of the World_, pp. 279-82,
with cut. Dr Scherzer in 1856 started to explore Copan, but, owing to
the political state of the country at the time, was unable to get
nearer than Santa Rosa, where the padre said moreover that recent
land-slides had much injured the effect of the ruins. This author
gives, however, a brief account made up from Stephens, Galindo, and
Juarros. _Scherzer's Trav._, vol. ii., pp. 41, 86-7, 94-5. _Id._,
_Wanderungen_, pp. 332, 366, 371. In September, 1856, the Jesuit Padre
Cornette is said to have visited the ruins; M. Cesar Daly, at a date
not mentioned, prepared on the spot plans and drawings of the
different structures which he intended to publish in the _Revue
Generale de l'Architecture_, but whether or not they have ever
appeared, I know not; the Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg made two visits
to Copan in 1863 and 1866; some slight additional information on the
subject was communicated by Mr Center, on authority not given, at a
meeting of the American Ethnological Society in February, 1860; and Mr
Hardcastle, who had spent several weeks in exploring the ruins,
furnished some farther notes at a meeting of the same society in
April, 1862; and, finally, photographs were made of the ruins by M.
Ellerly, director of the Alotepeque silver-mines. But these later
explorations have not as yet afforded the public much information,
except that the photographs mentioned, when compared by Brasseur de
Bourbourg with Catherwood's plates, show the latter as well as
Stephens' descriptions to be strictly accurate. _Brasseur de
Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. i., p. 96, tom. ii., p. 493;
_Id._, _Palenque_, pp. 8, 17; _Hist. Mag._, vol. v., p. 114, vol. vi.,
p. 154.

[III-14] The only unfavorable criticism of Mr Stephens' work within my
knowledge, is that 'the Soul of History is wanting!' 'The Promethean
spark by which the flame of historic truth should illuminate his work,
and be viewed as a gleaming beacon from afar, to direct wanderers
through the dark night of wonders, has found no spot to rest upon and
to vivify!' _Jones' Hist. Anc. Amer._, p. 55. And we may thank heaven
for the fault when we consider the effects of the said 'Promethean
spark' in the work of the immortal Jones.

[III-15] _Juarros' Hist. Guat._, pp. 56-7. That any such structure as
the rocking hammock ever existed here is in the highest degree
improbable; yet the padre at Gualan told Stephens that he had seen it,
and an Indian had heard it spoken of by his grandfather. _Stephens'
Cent. Amer._, vol. i., p. 144.

[III-16] 'The extent along the river, ascertained by monuments still
found, is more than two miles.' 'Beyond the wall of enclosure were
walls, terraces, and pyramidal elevations running off into the
forest.' _Stephens' Cent. Amer._, vol. i., pp. 133, 139, 146-7.
'Extended along the bank of its river a length of two miles, as
evidenced by the remains of its fallen edifices.' 'Mounts of stone,
formed by fallen edifices, are found throughout the neighbouring
country.' _Galindo_, in _Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact._, vol. ii., pp.
547, 549-50. 'La carriere ... est a 2000 metres au nord.' 'La se
trouve beaucoup de bois de sapin petrifie.' _Id._, in _Antiq. Mex._,
tom. i., <DW37>. ii., p. 76. 'The ground, being covered with ruins for
many square miles, and much overgrown by a rank vegetation, would
require months for a thorough examination.' 'No remains whatever on
the opposite side of the river.' _Hardcastle_, in _Hist. Mag._, vol.
vi., p. 154. 'Les plaines de Chapulco s'etendent entre Copan et le
pied des montagnes de Chiquimula. Elles sont couvertes de magnifiques
ruines.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. ii., p. 105.

[III-17] Plan in _Stephens' Cent. Amer._, vol. i., p. 133, reproduced
in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1841, tom. xcii., p. 57; and in
_Willson's Amer. Hist._, p. 76. Galindo's drawings also included a
plan. By reason of the disagreement between Stephens' plan and text in
the matter of dimensions, I have omitted the scale as useless. The
southern wall of the enclosure, to accommodate the size of my page, I
have placed some two hundred feet north of its true position. Those
portions of the temple shaded by cross-lines are the portions still
standing according to the survey.

[III-18] The southern wall in one place rises 30 or 40 feet in steps.
_Stephens' Cent. Amer._, vol. i., p. 134. 'One wall eighty feet high
and fifty feet thick for half its height, or more, and then sloping
like a roof, was formed of stones often six feet by three or four,
with mortar in the interstices.' _Hardcastle_, in _Hist. Mag._, vol.
vi., p. 154. Mr Center 'mentioned a Cyclopean wall ... undescribed in
any publication, but reported to him by most credible witnesses, about
800 feet long, 40 feet high, ---- feet thick, formed of immense hewn
stone.' _Hist. Mag._, vol. v., p. 114. Stones 'cut into blocks.'
_Galindo_, in _Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact._, vol. ii., p. 549. Before
reaching the ruins 'esta senal de paredes gruesas.' _Palacio_, in
_Pacheco_, _Col. Doc. Ined._, tom. vi., p. 37.

[III-19] According to Stephens' text, which states that the river or
west side is 624 feet, and the whole line of survey, which cannot in
this case mean anything but the circumference, is 2866 feet, thus
leaving 809 feet each for the northern and southern sides. His plan,
and consequently my own, makes the dimensions about 790 feet north and
south by 600 east and west, the circuit being thus 2780 feet. 'Not so
large as the base of the great Pyramid of Ghizeh.' _Stephens' Cent.
Amer._, vol. i., pp. 133. Galindo, _Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact._,
vol. ii., p. 547, makes the dimensions 750 feet east and west (He
calls it north and south, but on the supposition that the ruins are on
the north bank of the river instead of the east) by 600 feet north and
south, a circumference of 2700 feet; or if his measurements be
understood to be Spanish, their English equivalent would be about 690
by 552 feet, circuit 2484 feet. The same author, _Antiq. Mex._, tom.
i., <DW37>. ii., p. 76, gives 653 by 524, and 2354 feet; or if French
measure be understood, its equivalent is 696 by 588, and 2568 feet. As
large as Saint Peter's at Rome. _Davis' Antiq. of Amer._, pp. 4-5.

[III-20] 'Broad terrace one hundred feet high, overlooking the river,
and supported by the wall which we had seen from the opposite bank,'
cut showing a view of this wall from across the river. _Stephens'
Cent. Amer._, vol. i., pp. 104, 95-6, 139. Same cut in _Baldwin's Anc.
Amer._, p. 112. 'Built perpendicularly from the bank of the river, to
a height, as it at present exists, of more than forty yards.'
_Galindo_, in _Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact._, vol. ii., p. 547. 'Una
torre o terrapleno alto, que cae sobre el rio que por alle pasa.' 'Hay
una escalera que baja hasta el rio por muchas gradas.' _Palacio_, in
_Pacheco_, _Col. Doc. Ined._, tom. vi., p. 38. 'The city-wall on the
river-side, with its raised bank, ... must then have ranged from one
hundred and thirty to one hundred and fifty feet in height' in
imitation of ancient Tyre, the only city of antiquity with so high a
wall on a river-bank. _Jones' Hist. Anc. Amer._, pp. 63, 161-2.

[III-21] At the south-west corner a recess is mentioned which Mr
Stephens believes to have been occupied by some large monument now
fallen and washed away. _Cent. Amer._, vol. i., p. 134.

[III-22] This court may have been Fuentes' circus, although the latter
is represented as having been circular. The terrace between it and the
river is stated by Stephens to be only 20 feet wide; according to the
plan it is at least 50 feet. _Stephens' Cent. Amer._, vol. i., pp.
142-4, 133, 140. The pavement of the court is 20 yards above the
river; the gallery through the terrace is 4 feet high and 2-1/2 feet
wide; the vault below the court is 5-1/2 by 10 by 6 feet, its length
running north and south with 9 deg. variation of the compass. _Galindo_,
in _Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact._, vol. ii., p. 547. 'Una plaza muy
bien fecha, con sus gradas a la forma que escriben del Coliseo romano,
y por algunas partes tiene ochenta gradas, enlosada, y labrada por
cierto en partes de muy buena piedra e con harto primor.' The
river-wall 'hase caido y derrumbado un gran pedazo, y en lo caido se
descubrieron dos cuevas debajo del dicho edificio,' a statement that
may possibly refer to the gallery and vault. _Palacio_, in _Pacheco_,
_Col. Doc. Ined._, tom. vi., pp. 37-8.

[III-23] 'There was no entire pyramid, but, at most, two or three
pyramidal sides, and these joined on to terraces or other structures
of the same kind.' _Stephens' Cent. Amer._, vol. i., p. 139. The
author intends to speak perhaps of the Temple only, but Mr Jones
applies the words to Copan in general, and considers them a flat
contradiction of the statement respecting the three detached pyramids.
_Hist. Anc. Amer._, p. 63. 'Les edifices sont tous tombes et ne
montrent plus que des monceaux de pierres.' _Galindo_, in _Antiq.
Mex._, tom. i., <DW37>. ii., p. 73. 'Several hills, thirty or forty feet
in height, and supporting ruins, appeared to have been themselves
entirely built of stone.' _Hardcastle_, in _Hist. Mag._, vol. vi., p.
154. 'Unas ruinas y vestigios de gran poblazon, y de soberbios
edificios.' 'Hay montes que parecen haber sido fechos a manos.'
_Palacio_, in _Pacheco_, _Col. Doc. Ined._, tom. vi., p. 37. The
latter sentence is incorrectly translated by M. Ternaux-Compans, 'il y
a des arbres que paraissent avoir ete plantes de main d'homme.'
_Recueil de Doc._, p. 42. Mr Squier makes the same error: 'Trees which
appear to have been planted by the hands of men.' Translation of
_Palacio_, _Carta_, p. 91.

[III-24] See _Stephens' Cent. Amer._, vol. i., pp. 140, 138, 136-7,
134, 149, 158, 157, 156, 155, 153, 152, 150, 151, for description of
the statues in their order from 1 to 14, with plates of all but 4, 6,
and 12, showing the altars of 7, 10, and 13. Plates of 3, 5, 10, and
13 are copied from Stephens in _Larenaudiere_, _Mex. et Guat._, pl.
ix-xi.; and of No. 13, from the same source, in _Nouvelles Annales des
Voy._, 1841, tom. xcii., p. 57. We have already seen the idea of
Fuentes respecting these statues, clad in Spanish habits; that of the
Licenciado Palacio is as follows: 'Una estatua grande, de mas que
quatro varas de alto, labrada como un obispo vestido de pontificial,
con su mitra bien labrada y anillos en las manos.' In the plaza, which
would seem to be the court A, where no statues were found by Stephens,
were 'seis estatuas grandisimas, las tres de hombres armados a lo
mosaico, con liga gambas, e sembradas muchas labores por las armas; y
las otras dos de mujeres con buen ropaje largo y tocaduras a lo
romano; la otra, es de obispo, que parece tener en las manos un bulto,
como cofrecito; decian ser de idolos, porque delante de cada una
dellas habia una piedra grande, que tenia fecha una pileta con su
sumidero, donde degollaban los sacrificados y corria la sangre.'
_Palacio_, in _Pacheco_, _Col. Doc. Ined._, tom. vi., pp. 37-8.
Galindo says 'there are seven obelisks still standing and entire, in
the temple and its immediate vicinity; and there are numerous others,
fallen and destroyed, throughout the ruins of the city. These stone
columns are ten or eleven feet high, and about three broad, with a
less thickness; on one side were worked, in _basso-relievo_, (Stephens
states, on the contrary, that all are cut in _alto-relievo_) human
figures, standing square to the front, with their hands resting on
their breast; they are dressed with caps on their heads, and sandals
on their feet, and clothed in highly adorned garments, generally
reaching half way down the thigh, but sometimes in long pantaloons.
Opposite this figure, at a distance of three or four yards, was
commonly placed a stone table or altar. The back and sides of the
obelisk generally contain phonetic hieroglyphics in squares. Hard and
fine stones are inserted (naturally?) in many obelisks, as they, as
well as the rest of the works in the ruins, are of a species of soft
stone, which is found in a neighbouring and most extensive quarry.'
_Galindo_, in _Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact._, vol. ii., p. 548; and in
_Bradford's Amer. Antiq._, p. 97. A bust 1m., 68 high, belonging to a
statue fifteen to twenty feet high. _Galindo_, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom.
i., <DW37>. ii., p. 76. Pillars so loaded with attributes that some
scrutiny is required to discover from the head in the centre that they
represent a human form. An altar not infrequently found beside them
would, if necessary, show their use. They are sun-pillars, such as are
found everywhere in connection with an ancient sun-religion. _Mueller_,
_Amerikanische Urreligionen_, p. 464.

[III-25] _Galindo_, in _Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact._, vol. ii., pp.
547-8; _Id._, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. i., <DW37>. ii., p. 73,
supplementary pl. vii., fig. 14. This head bears a remarkable
resemblance to one given by Humboldt as coming from New Granada, shown
in fig. 13, of the same plate. Stephens, _Cent. Amer._, vol. i., p.
144, gives the dimensions of the two niches as 1 foot 8 in. by 1 foot
9 in. by 2 feet 5 in.; the relics having been removed before his
visit.

[III-26] _Stephens' Cent. Amer._, vol. i., pp. 103-4, 142-3, with cut.
Cut also in _Larenaudiere_, _Mex. et Guat._, pl. x.

[III-27] _Stephens' Cent. Amer._, vol. i., pp. 140-2, with plates;
_Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 57, 67-8. Plate.
Mention of the altar with a comparison of the cross-legged chiefs to
certain ornaments of Xochicalco. _Tylor's Anahuac_, p. 190. The altar
is described by Galindo as a very remarkable stone table in the
temple, 'two feet four inches high, and four feet ten inches square;
its top contains forty-nine square tablets of hieroglyphics; and its
four sides are occupied by sixteen human figures in _basso-relievo_,
sitting cross-legged, on cushions carved in the stone, and bearing
each in their hands something like a fan or flapper.' _Amer. Antiq.
Soc., Transact._, vol. ii., p. 548. To Mr Jones, possessed as that
gentleman is with the 'Soul of History,' this altar is the
'Rosetta-stone' of American antiquity. The four supporting stones are
eggs; serpents occur in the ornaments; the objects held in the hands
of the lesser personages of the sides are spiral shells; the figures
are seated cross-legged, or in the oriental style; one chief holds a
sceptre, the other none. Now these interpretations are important to
the author, since he claims that the _serpent_ was the good demon of
the Tyrians; a serpent entwining an _egg_ is seen on Tyrian coins; the
_spiral shell_ was also put on Tyrian medals in honor of the discovery
of the famous purple; the style of sitting is one practiced in Tyre;
the chief representing Tyre holds no sceptre, because Tyre had ceased
to be a nation at the time of the event designed to commemorate. The
conclusion is clear: the altar was built in commemoration of an act of
friendship between Tyre and Sidon, by which act the people of the
former nation were enabled to migrate to America! _Jones' Hist. Anc.
Amer._, pp. 65-6, 156-62. More of this in a future treatise on origin.

[III-28] _Stephens' Cent. Amer._, vol. i., pp. 134-9, 156; _Galindo_,
in _Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact._, vol. ii., pp. 548-9; _Id._, in
_Antiq. Mex._, tom. i., <DW37>. ii., p. 76; _Davis' Antiq. Amer._, pp.
4-5; _Waldeck_, _Voy. Pitt._, pp. 68-9. Palacio's miscellaneous relics
are, a large stone in the form of an eagle with a tablet of
hieroglyphics a vara long on its breast; a stone cross three palms
high, with a broken arm; and a supposed baptismal font in the plaza.
_Relacion_, in _Pacheco_, _Col. Doc. Ined._, tom. vi., p. 38.

[III-29] _Jones' Hist. Anc. Amer._, p. 67; _Stephens' Cent. Amer._,
vol. i., p. 142; _Foster's Pre-Hist. Races_, p. 197.

[III-30] _Cent. Amer._, vol. i., pp. 102-3, 151. 'La sculpture
monumentale des ruines de Copan peut rivaliser avec quelques produits
similaires de l'Orient et de l'Occident europeens. Mais la conception
de ces monuments, l'originalite de leur ornementation suffit a plus
d'un esprit pour eloigner toute idee d'origine commune.' _Dally_,
_Races Indig._, p. 13.

[III-31] 'We have this type of skull delineated by artists who had the
skill to portray the features of their race. These artists would not
select the most holy of places as the groundwork of their caricatures.
This form, then, pertained to the most exalted personages.' _Foster's
Pre-Hist. Races_, pp. 302, 338-9.

[III-32] 'The hieroglyphics displayed upon the walls of Copan, in
horizontal or perpendicular rows, would indicate a written language in
which the pictorial significance had largely disappeared, and a kind
of word-writing had become predominant. Intermingled with the
pictorial devices are apparently purely arbitrary characters which may
be alphabetic.' _Foster's Pre-Hist. Races_, p. 322. They are
conjectured to recount the adventures of Topiltzin-Acxitl, a Toltec
king who came from Anahuac and founded an empire in Honduras, or
Tlapallan, at the end of the eleventh century. _Brasseur de
Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. ii., pp. 101-2. Like those of
Palenque, and some characters of the Dresden MS. _Squier's Pref._ to
_Palacio_, _Carta_, p. 10. 'No he hallado libros de sus antiguedades,
ni creo que en todo este distrito hay mas que uno, que yo tengo.'
_Palacio_, in _Pacheco_, _Col. Doc. Ined._, tom. vi., p. 39. I have no
idea what this one book spoken of may have been. The characters are
apparently hieroglyphics, 'but to us they are altogether
unintelligible.' _Gallatin_, in _Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact._, vol.
i., pp. 55-6, 66.




CHAPTER IV.

ANTIQUITIES OF GUATEMALA AND BELIZE.

     THE STATE OF GUATEMALA -- A LAND OF MYSTERY -- WONDERFUL
     REPORTS -- DISCOVERIES COMPARATIVELY UNIMPORTANT -- RUINS
     OF QUIRIGUA -- HISTORY AND BIBLIOGRAPHY -- PYRAMID,
     ALTARS, AND STATUES -- COMPARISON WITH COPAN -- PYRAMID OF
     CHAPULCO -- RELICS AT CHINAMITA -- TEMPLES OF MICLA --
     CINACA-MECALLO -- CAVE OF PENOL -- CYCLOPEAN DEBRIS AT
     CARRIZAL -- COPPER MEDALS AT GUATEMALA -- ESQUIMATHA --
     FORTIFICATION OF MIXCO -- PANCACOYA COLUMNS -- CAVE OF
     SANTA MARIA -- MAMMOTH BONES AT PETAPA -- ROSARIO AQUEDUCT
     -- RUINS OF PATINAMIT, OR TECPAN GUATEMALA --
     QUEZALTENANGO, OR XELAHUH -- UTATLAN, NEAR SANTA CRUZ DEL
     QUICHE -- ZAKULEU NEAR HUEHUETENANGO -- CAKCHIQUEL RUINS
     IN THE REGION OF RABINAL -- CAWINAL -- MARVELOUS RUINS
     REPORTED -- STEPHENS' INHABITED CITY -- ANTIQUITIES OF
     PETEN -- FLORES -- SAN JOSE -- CASAS GRANDES -- TOWER OF
     YAXHAA -- TIKAL PALACES AND STATUES -- DOLORES --
     ANTIQUITIES OF BELIZE.


  [Sidenote: GUATEMALA.]

Above the isthmus of Honduras the continent widens abruptly, forming
between the Rio Motagua and Laguna de Terminos on the Atlantic, the
Rio Paza and bar of Ayutla on the Pacific, a territory which stretches
some five hundred and fifty miles from north to south, with a nearly
uniform width of two hundred miles from east to west. Dividing this
territory into two nearly equal portions by a line drawn near the
eighteenth parallel of latitude, the northern part, between the bay of
Chetumal and Laguna de Terminos, is the peninsula of Yucatan; while
that portion lying south of the dividing line constitutes the
republic of Guatemala and the English province of Belize, which latter
occupies a strip along the Atlantic from the gulf of Amatique
northward. The Pacific coast of Guatemala for an average width of
seventy miles is low and unhealthy, with few inhabitants in modern,
as, judging from the absence of material relics, in ancient times.
Then comes a highland tract which contains the chief towns and most of
the white population of the modern republic; succeeded by the yet
wilder and more mountainous regions of Totonicapan and Vera Paz,
chiefly inhabited by comparatively savage and unsubdued aboriginal
tribes; from which we descend, still going northward towards Yucatan,
into the little-explored lake region of Peten. At the time of its
conquest by the Spaniards, Guatemala was the seat of several powerful
aboriginal kingdoms, chief among which were those of the Quiches and
Cakchiquels. They fought long and desperately in defence of their
homes and liberty, and when forced to yield before Spanish discipline
and arms, the few survivors of the struggle either retired to the
inaccessible fastnesses of the northern highlands, or remained in
sullen forced submission to their conquerors in the homes of their
past greatness--the aboriginal spirit still unbroken, and the native
superstitious faith yielding only nominally to Catholic power and
persuasion. Here and in the adjoining state of Chiapas the natives
probably retain to the present day their original character with fewer
modifications than elsewhere in the Pacific States.

By reason of the peculiar nature of the country, the grandeur of its
mountain scenery, the existence of large tracts almost unknown to
white men, the desperate struggles of its people for independence,
their wild and haughty disposition, and their strange and
superstitious traditions, Guatemala has always been a land of mystery,
particularly to those who delight in antiquarian speculations. A
residence at Rabinal in close contact with the native character in
its purest state first started in the mind of the Abbe Brasseur de
Bourbourg the train of thought that has since developed into his most
startling and complicated theories respecting American antiquity; and
Guatemala has furnished also many of the documents on which these
theories rest. Few visitors have resisted the temptation to indulge in
speculative fancies or to frame far-reaching theories respecting
ancient ruins or possibly flourishing cities hidden from the explorer's
gaze in the depths of Guatemalan forests and mountains.

And yet this mysterious land, promising so much, has yielded to actual
exploration only comparatively trifling results in the form of
material relics of antiquity. The ruins scattered throughout the
country are indeed numerous, but with very few exceptions, besides
being in an advanced state of dilapidation, they are manifestly the
remains of structures destroyed during the Spanish conquest. Important
as proving the accuracy of the reported power and civilization of the
Quiches and Cakchiquels, and indirectly of the Aztecs in Anahuac,
where few traces of aboriginal structures remain for our study, they
are still unsatisfactory to the student who desires to push his
researches back into the more remote American past.

  [Sidenote: RUINS OF QUIRIGUA.]

Beginning with the province of Chiquimula, bordering on Honduras and
composed for the most part of the valley of the Motagua and its
tributaries, the first ruin of importance, one of the exceptions noted
above to the general character of Guatemalan antiquities, is found at
Quirigua, fifty miles north-east of Copan, on the north side of the
Motagua, about sixty miles above its mouth, and ten miles below
Encuentros where the royal road, so called, from Yzabal to Guatemala
crosses the river. The stream is navigable for small boats to a point
opposite the ruins, which are in a cedar-forest on low moist ground
nearly a mile from the bank.[IV-1] Our only knowledge respecting this
ancient city comes through Mr Catherwood and Dr Scherzer. The former,
traveling with Mr Stephens, visited the locality in 1840 in company
with the Senores Payes, proprietors of the estate on which the ruins
stand, and by his description Quirigua first was made known to the
world. Mr Stephens, on hearing Catherwood's report, entered into
negotiations with the owners of the land for its purchase, with a view
to shipping the monuments to New York, their location on the banks of
a navigable stream being favorable for the execution of such a
purpose; but the interference of a European official so raised the
market value of ancient real estate that it was found necessary to
abandon the scheme. Dr Karl Scherzer's visit was in 1854, and his
account, published in the Transactions of the Royal Austrian Academy
of Science, and also reprinted in pamphlet form, is the most extensive
and complete extant.[IV-2] Nothing like a thorough exploration has
been made even in comparison with those of Copan and other Central
American ruins; but monuments and fragments thus far brought to light
are found scattered over a space of some three thousand square feet,
on the banks of a small creek which empties into the Motagua. The site
is only very slightly elevated above the level of the river, and is
consequently often flooded in times of high water; indeed, during a
more than ordinary freshet in 1852, after Mr Catherwood's visit,
several idols were undermined and overthrown. No aboriginal name is
known for the locality, Quirigua being merely that of a small village
at the foot of Mount Mico, not far distant. There being no plan extant
by which to locate the different objects to be mentioned in this old
centre of civilization, I will give the slight descriptions
obtainable, with very slight reference to their arrangement, beginning
with the pyramid which seems to occupy a somewhat central position
round which the other relics are grouped. Catherwood's description of
this structure is limited to the statement that it is "like those at
Copan, with the steps in some places perfect," and twenty-five feet
high. Scherzer's account only adds that it is constructed of neatly
cut sandstone in regular oblong blocks, and is very much ruined,
hardly more, in fact, than a confused mass of fragments, among which
were found some pieces of fine white marble. But under this structure
there is, it seems, a foundation, an artificial hill, or mound, of
rough stones without mortar. The base is an irregular square, the
dimensions of which are not stated, with a spur extending toward the
south. The steps which lead up the sides to the super-imposed
structure are only eight or nine inches high and six or seven inches
in width, remaining intact only at a few points. In the upper part of
the mound are two or three terraces, on the first of which several
recesses, or niches, of no great extent are noticed; they are lined
with small rough stones, plastered, and in a good state of
preservation, details which indicated to the observer that these
niches may be of more modern origin than the rest of the ruin. There
are no traces of openings to show that the hill contained underground
apartments; neither are there any sculptures on the hewn stones of the
pyramid itself, nor any idols or carved fragments found on the surface
of the mound.

Very near the foot of the mound Mr Catherwood found a moss-covered
colossal head six feet in diameter, and a large altar, both relics
being within an enclosure.[IV-3] Scherzer also describes several
monuments near the pyramid, some of which may be identical with the
ones mentioned by Catherwood, although he says nothing of an
enclosure. The first is a stone of a long oval form like a human head,
six feet high and thirty-five feet in circumference, the surface being
covered with carved figures in demi-relief, which for some reason have
been better preserved and present clearer outlines than other carvings
at Quirigua. One of the most clearly defined of these sculptures
represents a sitting female, whose legs and hands are wanting, but
whose arms hang down to the ground. A prominent feature is her
head-dress, sixteen inches high, the upper part of which is an idol's
head crowned with a diadem. The forehead is described as narrow,
depressed above and projecting below. The features are indistinct, but
the form of the head is of what Scherzer terms the Indian type. On
the south side of this block, or altar, is the rude figure of a turtle
five feet high. The top is covered with ornamental figures
representing plants and fruits, all the varieties there delineated
being such as still flourish in this region. The sides bear also faint
indications of hieroglyphics. Dr Scherzer believes that the stone used
in the construction of this altar must have been found on the spot,
since by reason of its great size it could not have been brought from
a distance with the aid of any mechanical appliances known to native
art.[IV-4] The second of these monuments is like a mill-stone, four
feet in diameter and two feet thick, cut from harder material than the
other objects. A tiger's head nearly covers one side of the disk, and
the rest of the surface, including the rim, is covered with
hieroglyphics, several of these mysterious signs appearing on the
animal's forehead. The third of the relics found near the pyramid is a
fragment eighteen feet long and five feet wide, the upper portion
having disappeared. The human face appears at different points among
its hieroglyphics and ornaments.

  [Sidenote: STATUES OF QUIRIGUA.]

Three or four hundred yards northward from the mound, and at the foot
of a 'pyramidal wall,' concerning which we have no information beyond
the mention of its existence, is a group of sculptured idols, pillars,
or obelisks, standing in the forest like those in the sacred enclosure
at Copan. Indeed, they bear a strong resemblance to the latter, except
in their greater height and less elaborate sculpture, which is also in
lower relief. Twelve of them are definitely mentioned, the smallest of
which is nine feet high, and the largest twenty-six feet above ground,
increasing in size toward the top, leaning twelve feet out of the
perpendicular, and requiring, of course, some six or eight feet below
the surface to sustain its weight in such a position.[IV-5] They are
from two to three feet thick and four to six feet wide. In most
instances a human face, male or female, appears on the front or back
or both; while the sides are covered for the most part with
hieroglyphics, which are also seen on various parts of the dress and
ornaments. One statue is, however, mentioned, which, although crowded
with ornaments, has no character, apparently, of hieroglyphic nature.
One of the idols, twenty-three feet high, stands on a stone foundation
projecting some fifteen feet; and another, circular instead of
rectangular in form, rests on a small mound, within a wall of stones
enclosing a small circular area.[IV-6] In one the human figure has a
head-dress of which an animal's head forms a prominent part, while in
yet another the head is half human and half animal. In both cases the
aim of the artist would seem to have been to inspire terror, as in the
case of some Nicaraguan idols already noticed. Mr Catherwood made
sketches of two of the obelisks, including the leaning one, the
largest of all; but as he could not clean them of moss in the limited
time at his disposal, he makes no attempt to give the details of
sculpture, and a reproduction of the plates is therefore not deemed
necessary. The two monuments sketched by him could not be found at all
by Dr Scherzer. The Quirigua idols have not, like those at Copan,
altars in front of them, but several altars, or apparently such, were
found buried in moss and earth, and not carefully examined by either
of the explorers. They are usually of round or oval form, with
hieroglyphically inscribed sides; and one of them, within the circular
wall with steps, already mentioned as enclosing one of the
statues,[IV-7] is described as supported by two colossal heads. Many
fragments were noticed which are not described; and here as elsewhere
monuments superior to any seen were reported to exist by enthusiastic
guides and natives; in which latter class of antiquities are eleven
square columns higher than those mentioned, and also a female holding
a child, and an alligator's head in stone.[IV-8] The material of all
the stone work of Quirigua is a soft coarse-grained sandstone, not
differing materially, so far as I can judge, from that employed at
Copan. It is the prevalent formation at both localities, and may be
quarried readily at almost any point in the vicinity.

Absolutely no traditions have been preserved respecting Quirigua in
the days when its monuments were yet intact, when a large town, which
has left no traces, must have stood in the immediate vicinity.[IV-9]
The idols scattered over the surface of the ground, instead of being
located on the pyramids, may indicate here as at Copan that the
elevations served as seats for spectators during the religious
ceremonies, rather than as temples or altars on which sacrifice was
made. Both observers agree on the general similarity between the
monuments of Quirigua and Copan,[IV-10] and the hieroglyphics are
pronounced identical. Indeed, it seems altogether probable that they
owe their existence to the same era and the same people. Mr Stephens
notes, besides the greater size and lower relief of the Quirigua
monuments, that they are "less rich in design, and more faded and
worn, probably being of a much older date." Dr Scherzer speaks of the
greater plumpness of the sculptured figures, and has no faith in their
great antiquity, believing that the low-relief carvings on so soft a
material, would, when exposed in an atmosphere so moist, have been
utterly obliterated in a thousand years.[IV-11]

  [Sidenote: CHAPULCO AND CHINAMITA.]

At Chapulco, a few leagues below Quirigua, on the opposite side of the
Motagua, one traveler speaks of a quadrilateral pyramid with terraced
sides, up which steps lead to the summit platform, where debris of
hewn stone are enveloped in a dense vegetation. Also at Chinamita,
some sixteen miles above Quirigua on the same side of the river, the
same authority reports a large area covered with aboriginal relics, in
the form of ruined stone structures, vases and idols of burned clay,
and monoliths buried for the most part in the earth. Of course, with
this meagre information, it is impossible to form any definite idea of
what these ruins really are, and whether they should be classed with
Quirigua and Copan, or with a more modern class of Guatemalan
antiquities. The same remark will apply also to many of the localities
of this state, of whose relics we have no description in
detail.[IV-12]

At Micla, or Mimilla, some three leagues north of lake Guijar, or
Uxaca, which is on the boundary between Guatemala and Salvador, traces
of a sacred town with its cues and temples are spoken of as visible in
1576. They are represented as of the class erected by the Pipiles who
occupied the region at the time of the conquest.[IV-13]

  [Sidenote: CINACA-MECALLO.]

Still farther south-west towards the coast, a few miles south, of
Comapa, are the ruins of Cinaca-Mecallo, a name said to mean 'knotted
rope.' The Rio Paza here forms the boundary line between the two
states, and from its northern bank rises abruptly a mountain chain. On
the summit, at a point commanding a broad view over a large portion of
Salvador, is a plain of considerable extent, watered by several small
mountain streams, which unite and fall over a precipice on the way to
the river below. On the highest portion of this summit plain
interesting works of the former inhabitants have been discovered by D.
Jose Antonio Urrutia, padre in charge of the church at Jutiapa.[IV-14]
The remains of Cinaca-Mecallo cover an oval area formerly surrounded
by a wall, of which fragments yet remain sufficient to mark the line
originally followed. Within this space are vestiges of streets, ruined
buildings, and subterranean passages. Padre Urrutia makes special
mention of four monuments. The first is what he terms a temple of the
sun, an excavation in the solid rock opening towards the rising sun,
and having at its entrance an archway known to the natives as 'stone
of the sun,' formed of stone slabs closely joined. On these slabs are
carved in low relief figures of the sun and moon, to which are added
hieroglyphics painted on the stone with a very durable kind of red
varnish. There are also some sculptured hieroglyphic signs on the
interior walls of this artificial cavern. The second monument is a
great slab covered with carved inscriptions, among which were noted a
tree and a skull, emblematic, according to the padre's views, of life
and death. Next is mentioned the representation of a tiger or other
wild animal cut on the side of a large rock. This monument is, it
appears, some distance from the other ruins, and is conjectured by
Urrutia to be a commemoration of some historical event, from the fact
that the natives still celebrate past deeds of valor by dances, or
scenic representations, in which they dress in imitation of different
animals. Mr Squier suggests farther that the event thus commemorated
may have been a conflict between the Pipiles and the Cakchiquels, in
which the latter were driven permanently from this district. The
fourth and last of these monuments is one of the subterranean passages
which the explorer penetrated until he reached a kind of chamber where
were some sculptured blocks. This underground apartment is celebrated
among the natives as having been in modern times the resort of a
famous robber chief, who was at last brought to bay and captured here
in his stronghold. The material employed in all the Cinaca-Mecallo
structures is a slate-like stone in thin blocks, joined by a cement
which resembles in color and consistence molten lead. Some of the
carved blocks were sent by the discoverer as specimens to the city of
Guatemala. Outside the walls are tumuli of earth and small stones,
with no sculptured fragments. These are supposed to be burial mounds,
and to vary in size according to the rank and importance of the
personages whose resting-places they mark.

Proceeding now north-eastward to the region lying within a circle of
fifty miles about the city of Guatemala as a centre, we have a
reported cave on the hacienda of Penol, perhaps twenty-five miles east
of Guatemala, which is said to have been explored for at least a
distance of one mile, and is believed by the credulous natives to
extend eleven leagues through the mountain to the Rio de los Esclavos.
In this cavern, or at least on the same hacienda, if we may credit
Fuentes, human bones of extraordinary size were found, including
shin-bones about five feet in length. These human relics crumbled on
being touched, but fragments were carefully gathered up and sent to
Guatemala, since which time nothing is known of them.[IV-15] On the
hacienda of Carrizal, some twenty miles north of Guatemala, we hear of
cyclopean debris, or masses of great unhewn stones heaped one on
another without cement, and forming gigantic walls, which cover a
considerable extent of territory on the lofty heights that guard the
approaches to the Motagua Valley.[IV-16]

  [Illustration: Copper Medal at Guatemala.]

  [Sidenote: COPPER MEDALS AND FORTIFICATIONS.]

The immediate vicinity of Guatemala seems not to have yielded any
antiquarian relics of importance. M. Valois reports the plain to be
studded with mounds which the natives regard as the tombs of their
ancestors, which others have searched for treasure, but which he
believes to be ant-hills.[IV-17] Ordonez claims to have found here two
pure copper medals, fac-similes one of the other, two inches in
diameter and three lines thick, a little heavier than a Mexican peso
fuerte, engraved on both sides, as shown in the cut, which I give
herewith notwithstanding the fact that this must be regarded as a
relic of doubtful authenticity. M. Dupaix noticed an indication of
the use of the compass in the centre of one of the sides, the figures
on the same side representing a kneeling, bearded, turbaned man,
between two fierce heads, perhaps of crocodiles, which appear to
defend the entrance to a mountainous and wooded country. The reverse
presents a serpent coiled round a fruit-tree, and an eagle--quite as
much like a dove or crow or other bird--on a hill. There are, besides,
some ornamental figures on the rim, said to resemble those of
Palenque, and, indeed, Ordonez refers the origin of these medals to
the founders of that city. He kept one of them and sent the other to
the king of Spain in 1794.[IV-18]

About 1860, a stone idol forty inches high was dug up in a yard of the
city, where it had been buried fifty years before, having been brought
by the natives from a point one hundred and fifty miles distant. Its
discovery was mentioned at a meeting of the American Ethnological
Society in 1861, by Mr Hicks. The same gentleman also spoke of the
reported discovery of a great city in ruins in the province of
Esquimatha, buried in a dense forest about fifty-six miles from the
city.[IV-19]

A few leagues west of the city are the ruins of Mixco, a fortified
town of the natives down to the time of the conquest, mentioned by
several authorities but described by none. Fuentes, however, as
quoted by Juarros, speaks of a cavern on a small ridge by the side of
the ruins. The entrance was a Doric portico of clay about three feet
wide and high. A flight of thirty-six stone steps leads down to a room
one hundred and twenty feet square, followed by another flight still
leading downward. This latter stairway no one has had the courage to
fully explore, on account of the tremulous and insecure condition of
the ground. Eighteen steps down this second flight, however, is an
arched entrance on the right side, to a passage which, after a descent
of six steps, has been explored for a distance of one hundred and
forty feet. Furthermore, the author tells us there are some
extravagant (!) accounts not worthy of implicit belief, and
consequently not repeated by him. Hassel states that gigantic bones
have been found here, and that the cave is natural, without any
artificial improvements whatever.[IV-20]

In this same valley, where the Pancacoya River enters the Xilotepec,
Juarros speaks of "a range of columns curiously wrought, with
capitals, mouldings, etc.; and a little farther on there are several
round cisterns formed in the rock." The cisterns are about four feet
in diameter and three feet deep, and may have served originally, as
the author remarks, for washing auriferous earths in the search for
gold.[IV-21] The Santa Maria River, near its junction with the
Motagua, is said to flow for a long distance underground, and at the
entrance to its subterranean channel are reported some carvings, the
work of human hands, but from superstitious fears the interior of this
bewitched cave has never been explored.[IV-22]

  [Sidenote: PETAPA, ROSARIO, AND PATINAMIT.]

Petapa, twelve or fifteen miles southward from Guatemala on Lake
Amatitlan is another of the localities where the old authors report
the discovery of mammoth human bones, including a tooth as large as a
man's two fists. Such reports, where they have any other than an
imaginary foundation, may probably result from the finding of animal
bones, by which the good padres were deceived into the belief that
they had come upon traces of the ancient giants reported in all the
native traditions, which did not seem to them unworthy of belief,
since they were told elsewhere that "there were giants on the earth in
those days."[IV-23]

At Rosario, eight or ten miles south of the same lake, we have a bare
mention of a beautiful aqueduct in ruins.[IV-24] Twenty-five or thirty
miles west of the lake, at the western foot of the volcano of Fuego,
Don Jose Maria Asmitia, a Guatemalan official of antiquarian
tendencies, reports the discovery on his estate of a well-preserved
aqueduct, constructed of hewn stone and mortar, together with nine
stone idols each six feet in height. He proposed to make, at an early
date, more thorough explorations in that vicinity. Like other
explorers he had his theory, although he had not personally seen even
the relics on his own estate; deriving the American culture from a
Carthaginian source.[IV-25] Farther south on the Pacific lowlands, at
a point called Calche, between Escuintla and Suchiltepeques, the Abbe
Brasseur speaks of a pyramid cut from solid stone, which had been seen
by many Guatemalans.[IV-26]

  [Sidenote: RUINS OF PATINAMIT.]

Passing now north-westward to the region lying about Lake Atitlan, and
noting that the town of Solola on the northern lake-shore is said to
be built on the ruins of the aboriginal Tecpan Atitlan,[IV-27] we come
to the ruins of the ancient Patinamit, 'the city', the Cakchiquel
capital. It is near[IV-28] the modern town of Tecpan Guatemala,
fifteen miles south-east of the lake, and forty miles north-west of
Guatemala. The aboriginal town, to which Brasseur de Bourbourg would
assign a very ancient, pre-Toltec origin, was inhabited down to the
time when the conquistadores came, and was by them destroyed. With the
state of the city as found and described by them, I have, of course,
nothing to do in this volume, having simply to record the condition of
the ruins as observed at subsequent periods, although in the
descriptions extant the two phases of the city's condition are
considerably confounded. The remains are found on a level plateau
having an area of several square miles, and surrounded by a ravine
from one hundred to four hundred feet in depth, with precipitous
sides. The plateau is accessible at one point only by a path
artificially cut in the side of the barranca, twenty to thirty feet
deep, and only wide enough to permit the passage of a single horseman.
At the time of Mr Stephens' visit nothing was visible but confused
irregular masses, or mounds, of fallen walls, among which, however,
could still be made out the foundations of two buildings, one of them
fifty by one hundred feet. Two sculptured figures were pointed out by
the natives, lying on the ground, on one of which the nose and eyes of
some animal were discernible. Fuentes, who wrote in the century
following the conquest, observed, during his examination of the city,
more definite traces of its former grandeur. Two gates of chay-stone
afforded entrance to the narrow passage which led up to the plateau; a
coating, or layer, of clay covered the soil to a depth of two feet;
and a trench six or eight feet deep, faced with stone and having also
a breastwork of masonry three feet high, running north and south
across the table, divided the city's site into two portions,
inhabited, as is suggested, respectively by the plebeian and
aristocratic classes of its original citizens. The street-lines,
crossing each other at right angles, were traceable, indicating that
the city was regularly laid out in blocks. One of the structures whose
foundations were then to be seen was a hundred yards square, besides
which there remained the ruins of what is described as a palace, and
of several houses. West of the city, on a mound six feet high, was "a
pedestal formed of a shining substance, resembling glass." Brasseur
also mentions 'vastes souterrains,' which, as usual, he does not deign
farther to describe. The modern town is built to a considerable
extent, and its streets are paved, with fragments of the hewn stone
from Patinamit, which have been carried piece by piece on the backs of
natives up and down the sides of the barranca. The aborigines still
look with feelings of superstitious respect on this memorial of their
ancestral glory, and at times their faithful ears detect the chimes of
bells proceeding from beneath the hill. A famous black stone was, in
the days of aboriginal independence, an object of great veneration in
the Cakchiquel religious rites connected with the fate of prisoners,
its shrine being in the depths of a dark ravine near at hand. In
Fuentes' time it had been consecrated by the Catholic bishop and
placed on the altar of the church. He describes it as of singular
beauty and about eighteen inches square. Stephens found it still on
the altar, the object of the people's jealous veneration; and when his
Spanish companion had, with sacrilegious hand, to the infinite terror
of the parish priest, ripped open the cotton sack in which the relic
was enveloped, there appeared only a plain piece of ordinary slate
measuring ten by fourteen inches. Brasseur de Bourbourg, however,
believes that the former visitors were both in error, and that the
original black stone was never permitted to fall into the hands of the
Spanish unbelievers.[IV-29] At Patzun, a native pueblo near Tecpan
Guatemala, two mounds were noticed, but not opened.[IV-30]

Quezaltenango, the aboriginal Xelahuh, is some twenty-five or thirty
miles westward from Lake Atitlan. In the days of Quiche power this
city was one of the largest and most powerful in the land. I find no
evidence that any remains of the town itself are to be seen, though
Wappaeus speaks of such remains, even classing them with the most
ancient type of Guatemalan antiquities. Two fortresses in this
vicinity, however, Olintepec and Parrazquin, supposed to have guarded
the approaches to Xelahuh, are said to have left some traces of their
former strength.[IV-31]

  [Sidenote: RUINS OF UTATLAN.]

  [Illustration: El Sacrificatorio at Utatlan.]

Thirty miles farther back in the mountains north-eastward from
Quezaltenango, toward the confines of Vera Paz, was Utatlan, 'road of
the waters,' in the native language Gumarcaah, the Quiche capital and
stronghold, at the modern town of Santa Cruz del Quiche. This city was
the richest and most magnificent found by the Spaniards south of
Mexico, and at the time of its destruction by them was, unlike most
aboriginal American towns, in its highest state of prosperity. Slight
as are the ruins that remain, they are sufficient to show that the
Spanish accounts of the city's original splendor were not greatly
exaggerated; this, with the contrasts which these ruins present in the
absence of statues, sculpture, and hieroglyphics, and in other
respects, when compared with those of Quirigua and Copan, constitutes
their chief importance in archaeological investigations. Like
Patinamit, Utatlan stood on a plateau, or mesa, bounded by a deep
ravine on every side, a part of which ravine is believed to be of
artificial construction. The barranca can only be crossed and the site
of the city reached at one point, from the south-east. Guarding this
single approach, at the distance of about half a mile from the village
of Santa Cruz, are the ruins of a long line of structures of carefully
laid hewn stone, evidently intended as fortifications and connected
one with another by a ditch. Within this line and more immediately
guarding the passage, is an immense fortress, El Resguardo, one
hundred and twenty feet high, in the form of a square-based pyramidal
structure, with three ranges of terraces, and steps leading up from
one to another. A stone wall, plastered with a hard cement, incloses
the area of the summit platform, in the centre of which rises a tower
furnished with steps, which were also originally covered with cement.
Crossing the barranca from the fort Resguardo, we find the table which
was the site of the ancient city covered throughout its whole extent
with shapeless masses of ruins, among which the foundations of a few
structures only can be definitely made out. The chief edifice, known
as the grand castle, or palace, of the Quiche kings, and said to have
been in round numbers eleven hundred by twenty-two hundred feet,
occupied a central position. Its upper portions have been carried away
and used in the construction of the modern town, but in 1810, if we
may trust the cura of the parish, the building was still entire. The
floors remain, covered with a hard and durable cement, and also
fragments of the partition walls sufficient to indicate something of
the original ground plan. A plaster of finer quality than that
employed on the floors and pyramids, covers the inner walls, with
evident traces of having been  or painted. The ruins of a
fountain appear in an open court-yard, also paved with cement. Another
structure, El Sacrificatorio, still visible, is a pyramid of stone
sixty-six feet square at the base and, in its present state,
thirty-three feet high, the plan and elevation of which are shown in
the cuts. Each side except the western is ascended by a flight of
nineteen steps, each step eight inches wide and seventeen inches high.
The western side is covered with stucco, laid on, as is ascertained by
careful examination, in several successive coatings, each painted with
ornamental figures, among which the body of a leopard only could be
distinguished. The pyramid is supported by a buttress in each of the
four corners, diminishing in size toward the top. The summit is in
ruins, but our knowledge of the Quiche religious ceremonies, as set
forth in the preceding volume of this work, leaves little doubt that
this was a place of sacrifice and supported an altar. No sculpture has
been found in connection with the ruins of Utatlan. Its absence is
certainly remarkable; but it is to be noted that the natives of this
region have always been of a haughty, unsubdued spirit, ardently
attached to the memory of their ancestors; and the destruction or
concealment of their idols with a view to keep them from the
sacrilegious touch and gaze of the white man, would be in accordance
with their well-known character. They have the greatest respect for
the holy pyramid on the plateau, and at one time when the reported
discovery of a golden image prompted the destruction of the palace in
search of treasure, the popular indignation on the part of the natives
presaged a serious revolt and compelled the abandonment of the scheme,
not, however, until the walls had been razed. Flint arrow-heads are
mentioned as of frequent occurrence among the debris of fortifications
outside the barranca, and a Spanish explorer in 1834 found a sitting
figure twelve inches high, and two heads of terra cotta exceedingly
hard, smooth, and of good workmanship. One of the heads was solid, the
other and the idol were hollow. The annexed cut shows the sitting
figure. Under one of the buildings is an opening to what the natives
represented as a subterranean passage leading by an hour's journey to
Mexico, but which only revealed to Mr Stephens, who entered it, the
presence of a roof formed by overlapping stones. This form of arch
will be described in detail when I come to speak of more northern
ruins, where it is of frequent occurrence. That a long time must have
passed between the erection of Copan and Utatlan, the civilization of
the builders meantime undergoing great modifications, involving
probably the introduction of new elements from foreign sources, is a
theory supported by a careful study of the two classes of remains. For
an account of Utatlan and other Guatemalan cities as they were in the
time of their aboriginal glory, I refer the reader to Volume II. of
this work.[IV-32] The cura at Santa Cruz del Quiche said he had seen
human skulls of more than natural size, from a cave in a neighboring
town.[IV-33]

  [Illustration: Utatlan Terra Cotta.]

  [Sidenote: RUINS OF HUEHUETENANGO OR ZAKULEU.]

  [Illustration: Sepulchral Urn from Huehuetenango.]

North-westward from Utatlan, thirty or forty miles distant, in the
province of Totonicapan, is the town of Huehuetenango, and near it,
located like Utatlan on a ravine-guarded plain, are the ruins of
Zakuleu, the ancient capital of the Mams, now known popularly as Las
Cuevas. These remains are in an advanced state of dilapidation, hardly
more than confused heaps of rubbish scattered over the plain, and
overgrown with grass and shrubs. Two pyramidal structures of rough
stones in mortar, formerly covered with stucco, can, however, still be
made out. One of them is one hundred and two feet square and
twenty-eight high, with steps, each four feet in height and seven feet
wide. The top is small and square, and a long rough slab found at the
base may, as Mr Stephens suggests, have been the altar thrown down
from its former position on the platform. There are also several small
mounds, supposed to be sepulchral, one of which was opened, and
disclosed within an enclosure of rough stones and lime some fragments
of bone and two vases of fine workmanship, whose material is not
stated but is probably earthen ware. One of them is shown in the cut,
and bears a striking resemblance to some of the burial vases of
Nicaragua.[IV-34] Another burial vault, not long enough, however, to
contain a human being at full length, at the foot of one of the
pyramids, was faced with cut stone, and from it the proprietor of the
estate took a quantity of bones and the terra-cotta tripod shown in
the cut. It has a polished surface and is one foot in diameter. At a
point on the river where the banks had been washed away at the time of
high water, some animal skeletons of extraordinary size were brought
to light. Mr Stephens saw in the bank the imprint of one of these
measuring twenty-five or thirty feet in length, and others were said
to be yet larger.[IV-35]

  [Illustration: Tripod from Huehuetenango.]

  [Sidenote: RUINS IN RABINAL VALLEY.]

Extending eastward from the region of Huehuetenango to that of Salama
in the province of Vera Paz, a distance of nearly one hundred miles,
there seems to be a line of ruins, occurring at frequent intervals,
particularly in the valley of the Rabinal and about the town of that
name. A map of Guatemala now before me locates seventeen of these
ruins, and M. Brasseur de Bourbourg incidentally mentions many of them
by name, none of them, however, being anywhere described in detail. It
is much to be regretted that the last-named author, during a residence
at Rabinal, did not more fully improve his opportunities for the
examination of these remains, or, at least, that he has never made
known to the world the result of his investigations. All the ruins
along this line would seem to belong to the class of those occupied
by the natives, chiefly Cakchiquels, at the time of the conquest, most
of them being the remains of fortresses or fortified towns, built on
strong natural positions at the river-mouths, guarding the entrance to
fertile valleys.

Opposite the mouth of the River Rabinal, where the Pacalah empties
into the Chixoy, or Usumacinta, are the ruins of Cawinal, visited by
the Abbe Brasseur in 1856, and by him pronounced the finest in Vera
Paz. They are situated on both sides of the stream in a fine
mountain-girt valley, the approach to which was guarded by a long line
of fortifications, pyramidal mounds, and watch-towers, whose remains
may yet be seen. Among these structures is a pyramid of two terraces,
forty feet high, ascended by a stairway of three flights, with the
ruined walls of three small buildings on its summit. Near many of the
old towns, especially in the Rabinal district, tumuli--_cakhay_, 'red
houses'--very like in form and material to those of the Mississippi
Valley are said to be numerous.[IV-36]

Besides the ruins actually seen and vaguely described, there are
reports of others. The province is large and comparatively unexplored,
its people wild and independent, and both have ever been to travelers
the object of much mysterious conjecture, increasing in intensity as
the northern region of Peten is approached. In 1850 Mr Squier wrote,
"there has lately been discovered, in the province of Vera Paz, 150
miles north-east of Guatemala, buried in a dense forest, and far from
any settlements, a ruined city, surpassing Copan or Palenque in extent
and magnificence, and displaying a degree of art to which none of the
structures of Yucatan can lay claim."[IV-37] The cura of Santa Cruz
had once lived in Coban, some forty miles north of Rabinal, and four
leagues from there he claimed to have seen an ancient city as large as
Utatlan, its palace being still entire at the time of his
visit.[IV-38] One Leon de Pontelli claims to have traveled extensively
in these parts in 1859, and to have discovered many ancient and
remarkable ruins of great cities, at points impossible to locate,
somewhere about the confines of Vera Paz and Peten. Pontelli is not
regarded as a trustworthy explorer, and no positive information
whatever is to be obtained from his account.[IV-39]

Not only are cities in ruins reported to exist, but also somewhere in
this region, four days' journey from Utatlan towards Mexico, an
inhabited city in all its aboriginal magnificence is said to be
visible, far out on the plain, from the summit of a lofty sierra. The
cura of Santa Cruz before mentioned had gazed upon its glittering
turrets and had heard from the natives traditions of its splendor, and
the failure of all attempts on the part of white men to approach its
walls for the purpose of a closer examination. One other man had the
courage to climb the sierra, but on the day chosen for the ascent the
city was rendered invisible by mists. The intelligence and general
reliability of the good cura inclined Mr Stephens to put some faith in
the accuracy of his report; others, however, not without reason, are
sceptical about the matter.[IV-40]

  [Sidenote: PROVINCE OF PETEN.]

Leaving the lofty highlands of Vera Paz, we descend northward to the
province of Peten, a comparatively low region whose central portion is
occupied by several large lakes. It is in this lake region chiefly
that antiquities have been brought to light by the few travelers who
have penetrated this far-off country, less known, perhaps, than any
other portion of Central America. The Spaniards found the Itzas, a
Maya branch from Yucatan, established here, their capital, Tayasal, a
city of no small pretensions to magnificence, being on an island now
known as Remedios, in Lake Itza, or Peten, where the town of Flores is
now situated. Flores is built indeed on the ruins of the aboriginal
city, which, however, has left no relics of sculpture or architecture
to substantiate the Spanish accounts of its magnificent structures,
which included twenty-one adoratorios. Rude earthen figures and
vessels are, however, occasionally exhumed; and M. Morelet heard of
one vase of some hard transparent material, very beautifully formed
and ornamented. This relic had passed into the hands of a Tabascan
merchant. Sr Fajardo, commissioner to establish the boundary between
Mexico and Guatemala, furnished to Sr I. R. Gondra drawings of some
_nacas_, or small idols, found in the Peten graves. Sr Gondra
pronounces them similar to those of Yucatan as represented by
Stephens.[IV-41]

On the north side of the lake is the small town of San Jose, and a
spot two days' journey south-eastward from here--although this would,
according to the maps, carry us back across the lake--is given as the
locality of three large edifices buried in the forest, called by the
natives Casas Grandes. All we know of them rests on the report of an
Indian chief, who was induced by M. Morelet to depart from the
characteristic reserve and secrecy of his race respecting the works of
the antiguos; consequently the statement that the buildings are
covered with sculptures in high relief, closely analogous to those of
Palenque, must be accepted with some allowance.[IV-42]

Two days eastward of Lake Peten, on the route to Belize, is the lake
of Yaxhaa, Yacha, or Yasja, one of the isles in which is said to be
covered with debris of former structures. Col. Galindo, who visited
the locality in 1831, is the only one who has written of the ruins
from personal observation, and he only describes one structure, which
he terms the most remarkable of all. This is a tower of five stories,
each nine feet high, each of less length and breadth than the one
below it, and the lower one sixty-six feet square. No doors or windows
appear in the four lower stories, although Galindo, from the hollow
sound emitted under blows, supposed them not to be solid. A stairway
seven feet wide, of steps each four inches high, leads up to the base
of the fifth story on the west, at which point, as on the opposite
eastern side, is an entrance only high enough for a man to crawl
through on hands and knees. This upper story is divided into three
apartments communicating with each other by means of low doors, and
now roofless, but presenting signs of having been originally covered
with the overlapping arch. The whole structure is of hewn stone laid
in mortar, and no traces of wood remain. It is evident that this
building is entirely different from any other monuments which we have
thus far met in our progress northward, and further north we shall
meet few if any of a similar nature. So far as the data are sufficient
to justify conclusions, this may safely be classed with the older
remains at Copan and Quirigua, rather than with the more modern
Quiche-Cakchiquel structures. There are no means of determining with
any degree of accuracy whether these buildings of Yaxhaa were the work
of the Itzas or of a more ancient branch of the Maya people.[IV-43]

  [Sidenote: RUINS OF TIKAL.]

About forty miles north-east from the eastern end of Lake Peten, in
the foothills of the mountains, but in a locality inaccessible from
the direction of the lake except in the dry season, from January to
June, are the ruins of Tikal, a name signifying in the Maya language
'destroyed palaces.' So dry is the locality, however, during this dry
season, that water must be carried in casks, or thirst quenched with
the juice of a peculiar variety of reed that grows in the region. A
more thorough search might reveal natural wells, which supplied water
to the ancient inhabitants, as was the case further north in Yucatan.
The ruined structures of Tikal are reported to extend over a space of
at least a league, and they were discovered, although their existence
had been previously reported by the natives, in 1848, by Governor
Ambrosio Tut and Colonel Modesto Mendez. From the pen of the latter we
have a written description accompanied by drawings.[IV-44]
Unfortunately I have not been able to examine the drawings made by Sr
Mendez, whose text is brief and, in some respects, unsatisfactory.

  [Sidenote: TIKAL PALACES.]

The chief feature at Tikal is the occurrence of many palaces or
temples of hewn stone in mortar, on the summit of hills usually of
slight elevation. Five of these are specially mentioned, of which
three are to some extent described. The first is on a hill about one
hundred and forty feet high, natural like all the rest so far as
known, but covered in many places with masonry. A stairway about
seventy feet wide leads up to the summit, on which stands a lofty
stone palace, or tower, seventy-two by twenty-four feet at the base
and eighty-six feet high, facing the east. The walls of the lower
portion, or what may be regarded as the first story, are plain and
coated with a hard cement. There is a niche five or six feet deep in
the front, covered on the interior with paintings and hieroglyphics,
and furnished with wooden rings at the top, as if for the suspension
of curtains. At this point an attempt to penetrate to the interior of
the structure showed the lower story to be solid, filled with earth
and stones. The upper story has an ornamented and sculptured front,
and there are ruins of a fallen balcony, or more probably a staircase
which formerly led up to the entrance. Nothing is said of the
interior of the upper portion. The second structure is of the same
dimensions as the first, and is built on a hill opposite, or eastward,
which seems, however, to have no steps upon its sides. It is much
damaged and fallen, but several of its rooms are well preserved,
having the triangular-arched roof of overlapping stones, walls
decorated with paintings and hieroglyphics, and corridors six and a
half feet wide and over one hundred feet long, with windows, or
air-holes, two and a half by four feet. The walls are nearly seven
feet thick, and the top of the doorway at the entrance is of rough
zapote beams. The third palace differs in no respect from the others,
except that the zapote architrave of the chief entrance is carved in
ornamental and hieroglyphic figures. In a kind of a court at the foot
of the hill in front of the first palace were found eleven stone idols
from five to six feet high. Three of the number stood on large round
stone disks, or pedestals. About twenty of these disks, without idols,
were also found, seven or eight of which bore indistinct medallion
figures sculptured in low relief, and the rest were rough and
apparently unfinished. Three oval stone disks were also dug out, as
implied by Mendez' text, from the excavation under the first palace,
although it is difficult to explain the presence of sculptured relics
in such a situation. One of the stones measured five and a half by
four by five and a half feet, and bore on one side the figure of a
woman with decorated robe. The second bore the outlines of a supposed
god, and the third a figure which the explorer profoundly concludes to
have represented an eagle or a snake, but which may perhaps be taken
for some other insect. On the road, just before reaching the ruins,
fragments of pottery were noticed, and Governor Tut had also seen the
figure of a bull well cut from stone lying on the bank of a lagoon
some eight miles distant. It is evident that at or near Tikal was
formerly a large city, and when we consider the extent and importance
of the ruins, the preceding description unaccompanied by plates may
seem meagre and unsatisfactory. But after a perusal of the following
chapter on the ruins of Yucatan, the reader will not fail to form a
clear idea of those at Tikal; since all that we know of the latter
indicates clearly their identity in style and in hieroglyphics with
numerous monuments of the peninsula further north. It is therefore
very probable that both groups are the work of the same people,
executed at approximately the same epoch.

Colonel Mendez, while on his way to visit Tikal for the second time in
1852, accidentally discovered two other groups of ruins in the
neighborhood of Dolores, south-eastward from Lake Peten and at about
the same distance from the lake as Tikal. One group is south-east and
eight miles distant from Dolores, and the other the same distance
north-west. The former is called by the natives Yxtutz, and the latter
Yxcum. There seem to have been made a description and some drawings of
the Dolores remains, which I have not seen. Traces of walls are
mentioned and monoliths sculptured in high relief, with figures
resembling those at Copan and Quirigua rather than those at Tikal,
although the hieroglyphics are pronounced identical with those of the
latter monuments. Other relics are the figure of a woman dressed in a
short nagua of feathers about the waist, fitting closely and showing
the form of the leg; and a collection of sculptured blocks upon a
round disk, on which are carved hieroglyphics and figures of the sun
and moon with a prostrate human form before them.

  [Sidenote: RELICS IN BELIZE.]

Near by on the Belize River is a cave in which several idols were
discovered, probably brought here by the natives for concealment.[IV-45]
There are found in the early Spanish annals of this region some
accounts of inhabited towns in this vicinity when the conquerors
first came, of which these ruins may be the remains. I close the
chapter on Guatemalan antiquities with two short quotations, embodying
all I have been able to find respecting the ancient monuments of the
English province of Belize, on the Atlantic coast eastward from Peten.
"About thirty miles up the Balize River, contiguous to its banks are
found, what in this country are denominated the Indian-hills. These
are small eminences, which are supposed to have been raised by the
aborigines over their dead; human bones, and fragments of a coarse
kind of earthen-ware, being frequently dug from them. These
Indian-hills are seldom discovered but in the immediate vicinity of
rivers or creeks," and were therefore, perhaps, built for refuge in
time of floods. "The foot of these hills is regularly planted round
with large stones, and the whole may perhaps be thought to bear a very
strong resemblance to the ancient barrows, or tumuli, so commonly
found in various parts of England."[IV-46] "I learned from a young
Frenchman that on this plantation (New Boston) are Indian ruins of the
same character as those of Yucatan, and that idols and other
antiquities have often been found there."[IV-47]

FOOTNOTES:

[IV-1] About five miles down the river from El Pozo de los Amates on
the main road from Guatemala to Yzabal, in a forest of cedar and
mahogany, about a mile from the left bank of the river, on the estate
of the Senores Payes. _Stephens' Cent. Amer._, vol. ii., pp. 118-23.
Stephens' map locates Quirigua, however, on the south bank of the
river. 'Quirigua, village guatemalien, situe sur la route et a huit
lieues environ du port de l'Isabal; les ruines qui en portent le nom
existent a deux lieues de la sur la rive gauche du fleuve Motagua.'
_Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Palenque_, introd., p. 22. 'Sur la rive
gauche de la riviere de Motagua, a milles vares environ de cette
riviere.' _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1840, tom. lxxxviii., pp.
376-7. 'Liegen in der Naehe des kleinen Dorfes Los Amates, 2 Stunden
unterhalb Encuentros, am linken Ufer des Motagua, 3/4 Stunde vom
Flusse entfernt, mitten im Walde. Der Weg von Yzabal fuehrt in einer
Entfernung von 3 Stunden an dem Orte vorbei.' _Reichardt_, _Cent.
Amer._, p. 69. 'Eine der unbekanntesten und merkwuerdigsten
Ruinenstaetten Central-Amerika's, nahe dem See von Isabal, in einer
schwer zugaenglichen Wildniss.' _Wagner and Scherzer_, _Costa Rica_, p.
x. 'Quirigua, c'est le nom d'une ville considerable, batie par les
Azteques a l'epoque ou florissait la magnifique Anahuac. Ses ruines
mysterieuses sont aujourd'hui ensevelies a environ trois lieues du
triste village qui porte son nom.' _Sue_, _Henri le Chancelier_, pp.
110-11. Nearly two English miles from the river-bank. _Scherzer_,
_Quirigua_, p. 5. Mention in _Wappaeus_, _Geog. u. Stat._, p. 276;
_Hesse_, in _Sivers_, _Mittelamerika_, p. 256.

[IV-2] _Stephens' Cent. Amer._, vol. ii., pp. 118-24, with two plates.
An account made up from Catherwood's notes was, however, inserted in
the Guatemalan newspaper _El Tiempo_ by the proprietors of the
Quirigua estate, and translated into French in _Le Moniteur Parisien_,
from which it was reprinted in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1840,
tom. lxxxviii., pp. 376-7; and in _Amerique Cent._, pt. ii., pp. 68-9,
both French and Spanish text is given. The same description is also
given in _Valois_, _Mexique_, pp. 202-3. Scherzer's pamphlet on the
subject bears the title _Ein Besuch bei den Ruinen von Quirigua im
Staate Guatemala in Central-Amerika_, (Wien, 1855,) and I have not
found it quoted elsewhere. _Baily's Cent. Amer._, pp. 65-6, also
contains a brief account from a source not stated, and this is quoted
nearly in full in _Helps' Span. Conq._, vol. ii., pp. 138-9. The ruins
are slightly mentioned in _Macgregor's Progress of Amer._, vol. i.,
pp. 878-9, and in _Baldwin's Anc. Amer._, pp. 114-17, where it is
incorrectly stated that Mr Stephens personally visited Quirigua.
Brasseur de Bourbourg says: 'Nous les avons visitees en 1863, et nous
possedons les dessins des plusieurs des monolithes qu'on y voit, faits
par M. William Baily, d'Izabal.' _Palenque_, introd., p. 22. See also
the additional references in Note 1.

[IV-3] The French version of Catherwood's notes has it, 'Au centre du
cirque, dans lequel on descend par des degres tres-etroits, il y a une
grande pierre arrondie, dont le contour presente beaucoup
d'hieroglyphes et d'inscriptions; deux tetes d'homme, de proportion
plus grande que nature, parraissent soutenir cette table, laquelle est
couverte de vegetation dans la plus grande partie.' _Nouvelles Annales
des Voy._, 1840, tom. lxxxviii., p. 377.

[IV-4] 'Wahrscheinlich benutzten die Erbauer einen hier schon
vorhandenen grossen Felsblock zu ihren Zwecken, denn der Transport
eines Steines von solcher Groesse und Umfang mit den bewegenden Kraeften
welche diesen Voelkern muthmasslich zu Gebote standen, waere sonst kaum
begreiflich.' _Scherzer_, _Quirigua_, p. 7.

[IV-5] 'Plus inclinee que la tour de Pise.' _Nouvelles Annales des
Voy._, 1840, tom. lxxxviii., p. 376.

[IV-6] Stephens' text, _Cent. Amer._, vol. ii., p. 122, leaves it
uncertain whether it is the statue or the altar afterwards mentioned
which rests on the elevation. The French text, however, indicates that
it is the former.

[IV-7] See Notes 6 and 3.

[IV-8] Baily, _Cent. Amer._, pp. 65-6, sums up all the relics at
Quirigua as follows: seven quadrilateral columns, twelve to
twenty-five feet high, three to five feet at base; four pieces of an
irregular oval shape, twelve by ten or eleven feet, not unlike
sarcophagi; two large square slabs seven and a half by three feet and
over three feet thick; all except the slabs being covered on all sides
with elaborately wrought and well-defined sculptured figures of men,
women, animals, foliage, and fanciful representations. All the columns
are moreover of a single piece of stone.

[IV-9] Yet Scherzer thinks that 'es ist nicht ganz unwahrscheinlich,
dass die Monumente von Quirigua noch zur Zeit der spanischen Invasion
ihrer religioesen Bestimmung dienten, und dass auch eine Stadt in der
Naehe noch bewohnt war.' _Quirigua_, p. 15, although there is no record
of such a place in the annals of the conquest.

[IV-10] Although Baily, _Cent. Amer._, p. 66, says 'they do not
resemble in sculpture those of Palenque ... nor are they similar to
those of Copan.... They suggest the idea of having been designed for
historical records rather than mere ornament.'

[IV-11] The sculpture presents no old-world affinities whatever. A
certain coarseness of execution, implying inferior tools,
distinguishes them from the coarsest Egyptian carvings. Both grouping
and execution indicate a still "barbaric state of art, with no
advanced idea of beauty, the patience and industry of the workmen
being more remarkable than their ideas or skill." _Scherzer_,
_Quirigua_, p. 11-12.

[IV-12] _Hesse_, in _Sivers_, _Mittelamerika_, p. 256.

[IV-13] _Palacio_, _Carta_, pp. 62.

[IV-14] Padre Urrutia published an account of his investigations at
Cinaca-Mecallo in the _Gaceta de Guatemala_, according to _Brasseur de
Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. ii., p. 81. The most complete
description, however, he gave in a letter to E. G. Squier, who
published the same in his _Cent. Amer._, pp. 342-4. The substance of
the letter may be found in _Baldwin's Anc. Amer._, p. 124; and a
French version in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1857, tom. cliii., pp.
182-6.

[IV-15] _Juarros' Hist. Guat._, pp. 45, 308-9, taking the information
from _Fuentes_, _Recopilacion Florida_, MS., tom. ii., lib. iv., cap.
ii. Of course no importance is to be attached to these and similar
reports.

[IV-16] _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. i., pp. 43-4.

[IV-17] _Valois_, _Mexique_, pp. 430-1.

[IV-18] _Dupaix_, _Rel. 3me Exped._, p. 9, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom.
i., <DW37>. i., tom. iii., pl. vii., fig. 12, and in _Kingsborough's Mex.
Antiq._, vol. v., p. 290, vol. vi., p. 470, vol. iv., pl. viii., fig.
12. Kingsborough's translation incorrectly represents this relic as
having been found at Palenque, although the original reads 'lo
encontro en Guatemala' and the French 'l'a trouvee a Guatemala.' M.
Lenoir, _Parallele_, p. 72, thinks the engraved device may show some
analogy with the astronomical traditions of the ancients, the serpent
of the pole, the dragon, the constellation Ophis, the apples of the
Hesperides, etc.; and the reverse may be the Mexican tradition of the
creation, the Python, or the serpent killed by Cadmus!! Cabrera,
_Teatro Critico_, pp. 53-5, pl. i., who was the bearer of one of the
medals to the king of Spain, speaks of it as made of brass, and
pronounces it to be 'a concise history of the primitive population of
this part of North America.' The bird, in his opinion, is an eagle
with a serpent in its beak and claws. His application of this relic to
history will be more appropriate when I come to treat of the origin of
the Americans.

[IV-19] _Hist. Mag._, vol. vi., pp. 57-8.

[IV-20] _Juarros' Hist. Guat._, pp. 488-9. The ruins are situated on a
rock commanding the junction of the rivers Pixcayatl and Motagua.
_Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. ii., p. 524. Ruins of
the ancient capital of the Cakchiquel kings. _Hassel_, _Mex. Guat._,
pp. 333, 335. 'Remarquable par les ruines de l'ancienne forteresse du
meme nom.' _Larenaudiere_, _Mex. et Guat._, p. 266; _Malte-Brun_,
_Precis de la Geog._, tom. vi., p. 470.

[IV-21] _Juarros' Hist. Guat._, pp. 487-8; _Hassel_, _Mex. Guat._, p.
333.

[IV-22] _Hesse_, in _Sivers_, _Mittelamerika_, p. 257.

[IV-23] _Fuentes_, in _Juarros' Hist. Guat._, p. 492; _Hassel_, _Mex.
Guat._, p. 327.

[IV-24] _Wappaeus_, _Geog. u. Stat._, p. 281.

[IV-25] _Hesse_, in _Sivers_, _Mittelamerika_, p. 257.

[IV-26] _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. ii., p. 507.

[IV-27] _Reichardt_, _Cent. Amer._, p. 72.

[IV-28] The distance is stated to be one fourth of a mile, one mile
and a half, one league, and one league and a half by different
writers.

[IV-29] _Juarros' Hist. Guat._, pp. 382-4; his authority being
_Fuentes_, _Recopilacion_, MS., tom. i., lib. iii., cap. i., and lib.
xv., cap. v.; _Stephens' Cent. Amer._, vol. ii., pp. 147, 149-53.
Juarros' account is also given in _Conder's Mex. Guat._, vol. ii., pp.
270-1, in _Bradford's Amer. Antiq._, p. 90, and in _Stephens' Cent.
Amer._, loc. cit. It is also used with that of Stephens to make up the
description in _Sivers_, _Mittelamerika_, pp. 199-200. Slight mention
also in _Wappaeus_, _Geog. u. Stat._, p. 284; _Brasseur de Bourbourg_,
_Palenque_, p. 33; _Id._, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. ii., pp. 152, 493,
526. According to Brasseur's statement, M. Daly made drawings at
Patinamit, seen by the Abbe, and to be published.

[IV-30] _Stephens' Cent. Amer._, vol. ii., p. 146.

[IV-31] 'In the province of Quezaltenango, there are still to be met
with the vestiges and foundations of many large fortresses, among
which is the celebrated one of Parrazquin, situated on the confines of
Totonicapan and Quezaltenango; and the citadel of Olintepeque, formed
with all the intricacies of a labyrinth, and which was the chief
defence of the important city of Xelahuh.' _Juarros' Hist. Guat._, pp.
485, 379. Slight mention also, probably resting on no other authority
than the paragraph above quoted, in _Wappaeus_, _Geog. u. Stat._, p.
247; _Hassel_, _Mex. Guat._, p. 341.

[IV-32] _Stephens' Cent. Amer._, vol. ii., pp. 171, 182-8. Mr Stephens
gives, besides the engravings I have copied, and one of the other
terra-cotta heads mentioned, a view of El Sacrificatorio, a ground
plan showing the relative positions of the plateau, the barranca, and
the projecting fortress, together with a view of El Resguardo and the
other ruins in the distance. I do not reproduce them because they show
no details not included in the description, which, moreover, is easily
comprehended without the aid of cuts. A thorough exploration of
Utatlan was made by Don Miguel Rivera y Maestre, a commissioner sent
for the purpose by the Guatemalan government in 1834. His MS. report
to the state authorities was seen by Mr Stephens and is described as
being very full and accurate, but not containing any details outside
of Stephens' account. He does not state that his plans and views were
obtained from Rivera y Maestre. Juarros, _Hist. Guat._, pp. 86-8, 487,
follows Fuentes, who described the city chiefly from historical
accounts of its original condition, although it seems that he also
visited the ruins. Las Casas, _Hist. Apologetica_, MS., cap. lii.,
speaks of Utatlan's 'maravillosos edificios de cal y canto, de los
cuales yo vide muchos.' Brasseur de Bourbourg, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom.
ii., pp. 493, 120, tom. i., p. 124, speaks of Rivera y Maestre's plans
in Stephens' work as incorrect, but rejoices in the prospect that M.
Cesar Daly will publish correct drawings. 'Un des palais des rois de
Quiche a 728 pas geometriques de longueur et 376 de largeur.'
_Humboldt_, in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1827, tom. xxxv., p. 329.
'En Utlatan habia muchos y muy grandes _cues_ o templos de sus Idolos,
de maravillosos edificios, y yo vi algunos aunque muy arruinados.'
_Zurita_, in _Palacio_, _Carta_, pp. 123-4. See also accounts of these
ruins made up from Stephens and Juarros, in _Wappaeus_, _Geog. u.
Stat._, p. 286, and _Reichardt_, _Cent. Amer._, p. 72; also mention in
_Malte-Brun_, _Precis de la Geog._, tom. vi., p. 470; _Larenaudiere_,
_Mex. et Guat._, pp. 266, 274; _Galindo_, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. i.,
<DW37>. ii., pp. 73-8; _Revue Amer._, 1826, tom. i., pp. 353-5; _Mueller_,
_Amerikanische Urreligionen_, p. 462.

[IV-33] _Stephens' Cent. Amer._, vol. ii., p. 192.

[IV-34] See p. 63 of this volume.

[IV-35] _Stephens' Cent. Amer._, vol. ii., pp. 228-32, with figures of
two vases found at Huehuetenango in addition to those represented
above. 'On trouve un plan des plus incorrects dans le MS. de Fuentes.'
_Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. ii., pp. 119, 504.
Mention of the ruins in _Id._, _Palenque_, p. 34. Huehuetenango, in
Lat. 15 deg. 28' 15'', Long. 91 deg. 36' 50''. _Wappaeus_, _Geog. u.
Stat._, p. 288. Engravings of four vases copied from Stephens, in
_Larenaudiere_, _Mex. et Guat._, p. 379, pl. 14.

[IV-36] 'J'ai moi-meme visite les ruines d'un grande nombre de ces
villes et chateaux, dont les positions sont admirablement choisies
pour la defense; il en existe sur presque toutes les hauteurs qui
environnent la plaine de Rabinal. Elles sont, du reste,
tres-nombreuses dans toutes les provinces guatemaliennes et sont une
preuve de l'etendue de leur antique population.' The chief one is one
league west of Rabinal. _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._,
tom. ii., p. 125. Ruins of Cawinal, _Id._, p. 149. Mention of tumuli,
_Id._, tom. i., p. 15. Mention of ruins of Tzuruya, Tzutum, Nimpokom,
Cakyug, Zamaneb, and Salama. _Id._, tom. ii., pp. 479, 505-6. Mention
of Nebah, Uspantan, Rabinal, Cavinal, Xeocok, and Nimpokom. _Wappaeus_,
_Geog. u. Stat._, pp. 288, 291. The ruins located by Sonnenstern,
_Mapa de Guat._, 1859, proceeding from west to east, are as follows:
Xolacul, Nebak, Hatzal, Suizul, Balbitz, Cavinal, Pacalay, Xokoc,
Beleh Trak, Pikek, Xozintun, Trak Pocoma, Cakyug, Chocotoy, Chotocoy,
Talam, Xubabal.

[IV-37] _Annual Scien. Discov._, 1850, pp. 363-4.

[IV-38] _Stephens' Cent. Amer._, vol. ii., p. 193.

[IV-39] Pontelli's account with some plates was published in the
_Correo de Ultramar_, Paris, 1860. I have not seen the original, but
what purports to be a translation of it in the _California Farmer_,
Nov. 7, 1862, is the veriest trash, containing nothing definite
respecting the location or description of the pretended discoveries.

[IV-40] _Stephens' Cent. Amer._, vol. ii., pp. 195-7; _Id._, _Yuc._,
vol. ii., p. 201. 'Quant a l'existence d'une cite mysterieuse, habitue
par des indigenes, qui vivraient au centre du Peten dans les memes
conditions d'autrefois, c'est une croyance qu'il faut releguer parmi
les fantaisies de l'imagination. Ce conte a pris naissance au Yucatan,
et les voyageurs en le recueillant, lui ont donne trop d'importance.'
_Morelet_, _Voyage_, tom. ii., p. 68. Mr Otis, on the authority of a
late English explorer, believes the city to be a limestone formation
which has misled. _Hist. Mag._, vol. vi., p. 120. 'We must reject the
notion of great cities existing here.' _Squier_, in _Id._, vol. iv.,
p. 67. Its existence not improbable. _Mayer's Mex. as it Was_, p. 263.
Such reports unfounded. _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._,
tom. i., p. 37.

[IV-41] _Morelet_, _Voyage_, tom. ii., pp. 65-8, 26. M. Morelet, by
reason of sickness, was unable to make any personal explorations in
Peten beyond the island. He has preserved, however, some native
reports respecting the antiquities of the region. 'On trouve dans tout
ce pays des ruines d'anciens edifices, comme dans le Yucathan, et des
idoles en pierre.' _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1843, tom. xcvii., p.
51. 'Por aquellos montes ay muchos edificios antiguos grandiosos (como
lo que oy se ven en Yucathan) y en ellos muy grandes Idolos de
piedra.' _Cogolludo_, _Hist. Yuc._, p. 700. 'It is doubtful if any
monuments of note exist in the district, except on the islands, or in
the immediate neighborhood of the lakes.' _Squier's Cent. Amer._, pp.
543-5. Mention in _Wappaeus_, _Geog. u. Stat._, p. 295; _Humboldt_, in
_Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1827, tom. xxxv., p. 329. 'Il n'existe
dans cette ile aucuns vestiges d'idoles ni de temples.' _Waldeck_,
_Voy. Pitt._, pp. 69-70. Many relics and remains of idols still to be
found on the island. _Hassel_, _Mex. Guat._, p. 359; _Malte-Brun_,
_Precis de la Geog._, tom. vi., p. 470; _Morelet's Trav._, pp. 240-2;
_Gondra_, in _Prescott_, _Mex._, tom. iii., p. 98.

[IV-42] 'Les Indiens, on le sait, se montrent tres reserves sur tout
ce qui touche a leur ancienne nationalite: quoique ces ruines fussent
connues d'un grand nombre d'entre eux, pas un n'avait trahi le secret
de leur existence.' _Morelet_, _Voyage_, tom. ii., pp. 66-7; _Id._,
_Trav._, pp. 241-2; _Squier_, in _Hist. Mag._, vol. iv., p. 66;
_Wappaeus_, _Geog. u. Stat._, p. 295.

[IV-43] _Galindo_, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. i., <DW37>. ii., p. 68;
_Squier_, in _Hist. Mag._, vol. iv., p. 66. Mr Squier says the tower
is 22 feet square at the base, instead of 22 paces as Galindo gives
it. He does not state the authority on which his description rests; it
seems, however, in other respects to be simply a reproduction of
Galindo's account, which is also repeated in _Squier's Cent. Amer._,
pp. 544-5. Slight mention in _Morelet_, _Voyage_, tom. ii., p. 66;
_Id._, _Trav._, p. 240; _Wappaeus_, _Geog. u. Stat._, p. 295.

[IV-44] Col. Mendez, whom Gov. Tut preceded at Tikal by a day or two
only, visited the ruins as commissioner of the Guatemalan government,
to which, after a stay of four days, he made a report. This report, so
far as I know, was never published in the original Spanish; but the
MS. fell into the hands of Mr Hesse, Prussian envoy to the Central
American governments, and was by him translated into German and
published with the plates in the _Zeitschrift fuer Allgemeine
Erdkunde_, 1853, tom. i., pt. iii., pp. 162-8. This translation,
without the plates, and with some slight omissions of unimportant
details respecting the journey, was also published in _Sivers_,
_Mittelamerika_, pp. 247-54, 304-8, with notes by Messrs Hesse and
Sivers. This is the source of my information. Mendez revisited Tikal
in 1852, without obtaining any additional information of value so far
as I know. The ruins are mentioned and more or less fully described,
always from the same source, in _Mueller_, _Amerikanische
Urreligionen_, pp. 460-2; _Buschmann_, _Ortsnamen_, pp. 115-17;
_Ritter_, in _Gumprecht_, tom. i., p. 3; _Wappaeus_, _Geog. u. Stat._,
pp. 247, 295.

[IV-45] Hesse, in _Sivers_, _Mittelamerika_, pp. 254-5, 308-9;
_Buschmann_, _Ortsnamen_, pp. 115-16; _Wappaeus_, _Geog. u. Stat._, p.
295; _Mueller_, _Amerikanische Urreligionen_, p. 460.

[IV-46] _Henderson's Honduras_, pp. 52-3; repeated in _Squier's Cent.
Amer._, pp. 596-7.

[IV-47] _Froebel's Cent. Amer._, p. 167.




CHAPTER V.

ANTIQUITIES OF YUCATAN.

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


  [Sidenote: PHYSICAL FEATURES OF YUCATAN.]

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

  [Sidenote: A RICH ANTIQUARIAN FIELD.]

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

  [Sidenote: EXPLORATION OF MAYA RUINS.]

  [Sidenote: STEPHENS AND CATHERWOOD.]

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

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

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

  [Sidenote: GROUPS OF RUINS.]

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

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

  [Sidenote: RUINS OF UXMAL.]

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

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

  [Illustration]

  [Sidenote: PLAN OF UXMAL]

  [Sidenote: UXMAL--CASA DEL GOBERNADOR.]

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

  [Illustration: Ground Plan of the Casa del Gobernador.]

  [Illustration: Section of the Casa del Gobernador.]

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

  [Illustration: South End of the Governor's House.]

  [Illustration: Ornament of the Casa del Gobernador.--Fig. 1.]

  [Illustration: Ornament of the Casa del Gobernador.--Fig. 2.]

  [Illustration: The Elephant's Trunk.--Fig. 3.]

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

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

  [Sidenote: UXMAL--CASA DE TORTUGAS.]

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

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

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

  [Sidenote: UXMAL--PICOTE AND IDOL.]

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

  [Illustration: Two-headed Idol at Uxmal.]

  [Sidenote: UXMAL--CISTERNS AND PYRAMID.]

At the south-west corner of the Casa del Gobernador, and even
intrenching on the terraces that support it, is the pyramid E, to
which strangely enough no name has been given. It has in fact received
but very slight attention; one short visit by Mr Stephens, during
which he mounted to the summit with a force of Indians, being the only
one recorded, although it is barely mentioned by others. This pyramid
measures two hundred by three hundred feet at the base, and its height
is sixty-five feet. At the top is a square platform, whose sides are
each seventy-five feet. The area of this platform is flat, composed of
rough stones, and has no traces whatever of ever having supported any
building. Its sides, however, three feet high perpendicularly, are of
hewn blocks of stone, and smooth with ornamented corners. Below this
summit platform, for a distance of ten or twelve feet, the sides of
the pyramid are faced with sculptured stone, the ornaments being
chiefly grecques, like those on the Governor's House, having one of
the immense faces with projecting teeth at the centre of the western
side. At this point Mr Stephens attempted an excavation in the hope of
discovering interior apartments, but the only result was to prostrate
himself with an attack of fever, which obliged him to quit Uxmal. Just
below this sculptured upper border, some fifteen feet below the top, a
narrow terrace extends round the four sides of the pyramid. Concerning
the surface below this terrace, we only know that it is encased in
stone, and would very probably reveal additional ornamentation if
subjected to a more minute examination.[V-28] The pyramid F, still
farther south-west, is two hundred feet long and one hundred and
twenty feet wide at the base, being about fifty feet high. These
particulars, together with the fact that a stairway leads up the
northern <DW72>, to one of the typical Yucatan buildings, twenty by one
hundred feet and divided into three apartments, are absolutely all
that has been recorded of this structure, which, like its more
imposing companion pyramid, has not been thought worthy of a name. The
reader will be able to form a more consistent conjecture respecting
its original appearance after reading a description in the following
pages of the structure at D, which presents some points of apparent
similarity to its more modest southern neighbor.[V-29]

  [Sidenote: UXMAL--CASA DE PALOMAS.]

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

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

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

  [Sidenote: UXMAL GYMNASIUM.]

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

  [Sidenote: UXMAL--CASA DE MONJAS.]

Between two and three hundred yards north from the Casa del
Gobernador, is the Casa de Monjas, or Nunnery, marked C on the plan.
This is perhaps the most wonderful edifice, or collection of edifices,
in Yucatan, if not the finest specimen of aboriginal architecture and
sculpture in America. The supporting mound, whose base is indicated by
the dotted lines _m_, _n_, _o_, _p_ is in general terms three hundred
and fifty feet square, and nineteen feet high, its sides very nearly
facing the cardinal points. The southern, or front, <DW72> of the
mound, about seventy feet wide, rises in three grades, or terraces,
three, twelve, and four feet high, and twenty, forty-five, and five
feet wide, respectively, from the base. There are some traces of a
wide central stairway leading up to the second terrace on this side,
but none of the steps remain in place.

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

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

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

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

  [Illustration: Ground Plan of the Nunnery.]

  [Illustration: Interior of Room--Casa de Monjas.]

It will be noticed that the northern building of the Nunnery does not
stand exactly in the same direction as the sides of the platform or of
the other edifices, an arrangement which detracts somewhat from the
symmetry of the group. Each of the four buildings is divided
longitudinally into two parallel ranges of apartments, arranged very
much like those of the Governor's House, with doorways opening on the
interior court. The only exterior doorways are on the front of the
southern building and on the ends of the northern; these, however,
only afford access to the outer range of rooms, which do not
communicate with the interior. In only one instance do more than two
rooms communicate with each other, and that is in the centre of the
eastern building, where are two communicating apartments, the largest
in the Nunnery, each thirteen by thirty-three feet, with an ante-room
at each end measuring nine by thirteen feet. All the doorways of this
suite are decorated with sculpture, the only instance of interior
stone-carving in Uxmal. The cut on the next page shows the inside of
one of the larger rooms of this suite, and also gives an excellent
idea of the interior of all the structures of Yucatan.[V-38] The rooms
of the Casa de Monjas, eighty-eight in number, like some in the Casa
del Gobernador, are plastered with a thin coat of hard white material
like plaster of Paris. Those of the southern building average
twenty-four feet long, ten feet wide, and seventeen feet high. They
all present the same general features of construction--angular-arched
ceilings, wooden lintels, stone rings, or hinges, on the inside of the
doorways, holes in the sloping ceilings for hammock-timbers, entire
absence of any openings except the doors--that have been previously
described.[V-39] The platform on which the buildings stand forms a
narrow promenade, only five or six feet in width, round each, both
on the exterior and on the court. The entrance to the court is by a
gateway, at _v_ on the general plan, in the centre of the southern
building. It is ten feet and eight inches wide and about fourteen feet
high, the top being formed by the usual triangular arch, and the whole
being similar to the passages through the Casa del Gobernador before
the latter were walled up. Opposite this gateway, at _w_, a stairway
ninety-five feet wide leads up to the upper terrace which supports the
northern building. On each side of this stairway, at _x_, _y_, on the
<DW72> of the terrace, is a ruin of the usual construction, in which
six small apartments may be traced. The dilapidation of these
buildings is so great that it is impossible to ascertain whether they
were independent structures or formed a part of the terrace itself, a
mode of construction of which we shall find some specimens in Yucatan,
and even at Uxmal. A noticeable peculiarity in the northern building
is that, wherever the outer walls are fallen, the sculptured surface
of an inner wall is disclosed, showing that the edifice in its present
form was built over an older structure.

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

  [Illustration: Southern Court Facade--Casa de Monjas.]

  [Illustration: Detail of Southern Court Facade.]

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

  [Illustration: Eastern Court Facade--Casa de Monjas.]

  [Illustration: Detail of Eastern Court Facade.]

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

  [Illustration: Trace of Original Structure in Wood.]

  [Illustration: Western Court Facade--Casa de Monjas.]

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

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

  [Illustration: House of Birds at Uxmal.]

  [Sidenote: UXMAL ARCH.]

  [Illustration: Arch at Uxmal.]

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

  [Sidenote: UXMAL--CASA DEL ADIVINO.]

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

The supporting mound, or pyramid, in this case, from a base of one
hundred and fifty-five by two hundred and thirty-five feet, rounded at
the corners so as to form an oval rather than a rectangular
figure,[V-49] rises with very steep sides to a height of eighty-eight
feet, forming at the summit a platform twenty-two by eighty-two feet.
The surface of this pyramid is faced with blocks of hewn stone laid in
mortar. The interior is presumably of rough stones in mortar, although
little or nothing is said on this point.[V-50] Excavations prove that
the structure is solid without interior galleries. The surface blocks
are cubical, about two feet in dimensions at the base, if we may trust
M. Waldeck's drawing, but diminishing toward the top. They are not
laid so as to break joints, yet so solid is the structure that the
powerful leverage of growing roots has caused comparatively little
damage. The eastern front is shown on the following page. A stairway
one hundred and two feet on the <DW72>, seventy feet wide at the base,
but narrowing toward the summit, composed of ninety steps, each step
being about a foot high and five or six inches wide, leads up this
side. The <DW72> of this stairway is so steep, being inclined at an
angle of about eighty degrees, that visitors have found it very
difficult to ascend and descend. Padre Cogolludo was the first to
complain of the steep grade. He says: 'I once did go up that of
Uxumual, and when I would come down, I did repent me; because so
narrow are the steps, and so many in number, that the edifice goes up
exceeding straight, and being of no small height, the head swims, and
there is even some peril in its descent.'[V-51]

  [Illustration: Casa del Adivino at Uxmal.]

In the centre of the western <DW72> of the Prophets Pyramid, toward the
Nunnery, are certain structures, which M. Waldeck represents as
projecting portions of the pyramid, or piers, the lower one forming a
platform fifteen by forty feet, sixty feet up the <DW72>; and the upper
rising from this platform and forming a second, twenty by twenty-five
feet, continuous with the main summit platform of the pyramid. The
upper projection, or pier, has since proved to be a distinct building,
with richly sculptured front,[V-52] one central door, and two plain
rooms in the interior; the outer one seven by fifteen feet, and
nineteen feet high; the inner, four by twelve feet, and eleven feet
high. The lower pier may have been a similar structure, but it is
completely in ruins below the central platform, except a few slight
traces of rooms near the base. Mr Stephens is disposed to believe that
a broad staircase of peculiar construction, supported by a triangular
arch-like stairways that will be mentioned later in a few instances in
connection with other Yucatan ruins--originally led up to the front of
the building on the <DW72>; otherwise it is difficult to imagine by
what means these apartments could have been reached. The stones of
these projecting portions are longer than elsewhere, and laid so as to
break joints. On the summit platform stands a small building, twelve
feet wide, seventy-two feet long, and about sixteen feet high, leaving
a promenade five feet wide at its base. This building presents no
feature with which the reader is not already perfectly familiar,
except that it contains only one range of rooms, having no dividing
interior wall. The interior is divided into three rooms, which do not
communicate with each other, and are not plastered. The central room
is seven by twenty-four feet, and its door is on the west, just
opposite the platform formed by the projecting pier. The end rooms are
seven by nineteen feet, and open on the promenade at either side of
the eastern stairway.[V-53]

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

  [Sidenote: UXMAL--MISCELLANEOUS RELICS.]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  [Illustration: Pyramid of Xcoch.]

  [Illustration: Nohpat Sculpture.]

  [Sidenote: THE PYRAMID OF XCOCH.]

  [Sidenote: SKULLS AND CROSSBONES AT NOHPAT.]

Somewhat less than ten miles eastward of Uxmal is the town of
Nohcacab, 'the great place of good land,' preserving the name of an
aboriginal town which formerly existed somewhere in this vicinity. In
this village are several mounds; and a sculptured head, with specimens
of pottery, has been dug up in the plaza. The surrounding country
within a radius of a few miles abounds in ruins, two of which are
particularly mentioned. The first is known as Xcoch, and consists of
the pyramid shown in the cut. It is between eighty and ninety feet
high, plainly visible from the Prophet's House at Uxmal, but the
buildings on its summit, like its sides, are almost completely in
ruins, although traces of steps yet remain. Great and marvelous
stories were told by the natives concerning a senote, or well, in this
vicinity; and it proved indeed to be a most wonderful cavern with
branching subterranean galleries, worn by the feet of ancient carriers
of water; but it was entirely of natural formation, a single block of
sculptured stone, with the worn paths being the only traces of man's
presence. The second of the ruins is that of Nohpat, 'great lord,'
three miles from Nohcacab toward Uxmal, whose buildings are plainly
visible from it, and of which it may, not improbably, have been a
continuation or dependency. A mound, or pyramid, two hundred and fifty
feet long at the base, and one hundred and fifty feet high on the
<DW72>, with a nearly perfect stairway on the southern side, supports a
portion of a dilapidated building, which overlooks the numerous ruins
scattered over the plain at its foot. A single corridor, or room, is
left intact, and is only three feet and five inches wide. At the foot
of the stairway is a platform with a picote, as at Uxmal, in its
centre. There was also lying at the foot of the steps, the flat stone
represented in the cut, measuring eleven and one third feet in length
by three feet ten inches in width. The human figure in low relief on
its surface is very rudely carved, and was moreover much defaced by
the rains to which for many years it had been exposed. Near the
pyramid another platform, two hundred feet square, and raised about
twenty feet, supports buildings at right angles with each other, one
of which has two stories built after a method which will be made clear
in describing other ruins. The only others of the many monuments of
Nohpat which throw any additional light on Yucatan antiquities, are
those found on a level spot, whose shape is that of a right-angled
triangle with a mound at each angle. Here are many scattered blocks
and fragments, two of which united formed the statue shown in the cut
on the next page. It is four and a quarter feet high and a foot and a
half in diameter. The face seems to be represented as looking sideways
or backward over the shoulder, and is surmounted by a head-dress in
which the head of a wild beast may be made out, recalling slightly the
idols which we have already seen in Nicaragua. Other statues might
doubtless be reconstructed by means of a thorough search, but only the
stone blocks shown in the cut are particularly mentioned. They are
twenty-seven inches high and from sixteen to twenty-two inches wide,
bearing alternately sculptured on their fronts the skull and
cross-bones, symbols in later times--perhaps also when these carvings
were made--of death. In its original condition Nohpat may not unlikely
have been as grand a city as Uxmal, but it is almost completely in
ruins.[V-57]

  [Illustration: Statues at Nohpat.]

  [Illustration: Skull and Crossbones.]

  [Sidenote: RUINS OF KABAH.]

  [Illustration: Interior Steps at Kabah.]

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

A mound forms a summit platform, raised twenty feet, and measuring one
hundred and forty-two by two hundred feet. Ascending the terrace from
its south-western side, buildings of the ordinary type appear on the
right and left; the former resting on the <DW72> instead of on the
summit of the terrace,--that is, the rear wall, of great thickness,
rises perpendicularly from the base. In the centre of the platform is
an enclosure seven feet high and twenty-seven feet square, formed of
hewn stones, the lower tier of which was sculptured with a continuous
line of hieroglyphics extending round the circumference. No picote,
however, was found within the enclosure. Directly in front, or on the
north-east side of the platform, a stairway of twenty steps, forty
feet wide, leads up to a higher terrace, the arrangement being much
like that of the northern building of the Casa de Monjas at Uxmal.
But in this case the upper platform, instead of being long and narrow
as usual, is nearly square, and supports a building of the same shape,
whose front at the top of the stairway measures one hundred and
fifty-one feet. The advanced state of ruin in which the whole
structure was found, made it difficult to form an idea of its original
plan, and Mr Stephens' description in this case fails to present
clearly the idea which he formed on the subject. The front portion of
the edifice, however, which is the best preserved of all, has two
double ranges of apartments, separated by a very thick wall, and all
under the same roof. Two peculiarities were noted in these rooms. The
inner rooms of the front range have their floors two feet and eight
inches higher than the outer, and are entered from the latter by two
stone steps; while in one case at least these steps are cut from a
single block of stone, the lower step taking the form of a scroll, and
the walls at the sides are covered with carvings, as shown in the cut.
Over the rear wall of the front range rises a structure of hewn stone
four feet thick and fifteen feet high, which, like the turrets over
the northern building of the Nunnery and the Casa de Palomas at Uxmal,
could only have been intended as an ornament, but which from the
ground beneath presents every appearance of a second story. The
exterior sculpture of this front, except a small portion at the
northern end, has fallen, but enough remains to indicate that the
decorations were most rich and elaborate, though uniform; and, unlike
those of any structure yet met with, they covered the whole surface of
the front, both above and below the central cornice. The cut shows the
general appearance of these decorations.[V-58] This building is called
by the natives _Xco=c=poop_, or 'straw hat doubled up.'

  [Illustration: Sculptured Front at Kabah.]

At a short distance from the ruin just described, in a north-easterly
direction, is another group, the details of whose arrangement, in the
absence of a carefully prepared plan, it is useless to attempt to
describe, but three new features presented by these ruins require
notice. First, one of them, from a base of one hundred and six by one
hundred and forty-seven feet, is built in three receding stories. That
is, the roof of each story, or range, forms a platform, or promenade,
before the doors of the one above; or, in other words, the stories are
built one above another on the <DW72> of a pyramid. Second, an exterior
staircase leads up from story to story. These staircases are
supported by half of one of the regular triangular arches resting
against the top of the wall of the buildings. The accompanying cut,
although not representing this or any other particular building, is
intended as a half section to illustrate the construction of the Maya
structures in several stories, and that of the stairways which afford
access to the upper stories; _a_ being the solid mound, or terrace;
_bb_, the apartments or corridors; _d_, the staircase; and _c_, an
open passage under the half arch of overlapping stones that supports
the stairway. In this Kabah building the stairway leading to the foot
of the third story is not immediately over the lower one, but in
another part of the edifice. The third peculiarity is a double one,
and is noticed in some of the doorways; since here for the first time
we find lintels of stone, supported each by a central column, about
six feet high, of rude workmanship, with square blocks serving as
pedestal and capital.[V-59]

  [Illustration: Yucatan Structure in Three Stories.]

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

  [Illustration: Arch at Kabah.]

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

  [Illustration: Sculptured Door-Jamb at Kabah.]

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

  [Sidenote: RUINS OF SANACTE.]

  [Illustration: Front of Building at Sanacte.]

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

  [Sidenote: RUINS OF ZAYI.]

  [Illustration: Casa Grande at Zayi.]

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

  [Illustration: Front of Casa Grande at Zayi.]

  [Illustration: Wall at Zayi.]

  [Sidenote: RUINS OF LABNA.]

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

  [Illustration: Corner at Labna.]

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

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

  [Sidenote: XUL, SACACAL, AND CHACCHOB.]

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

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

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

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: RUINS OF CHICHEN ITZA.]

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

  [Illustration: PLAN OF CHICHEN-ITZA]

  [Sidenote: CHICHEN--NUNNERY.]

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

  [Sidenote: CHICHEN--AKAB-TZIB.]

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

  [Illustration: Sculptured Lintel at Chichen.]

  [Sidenote: CHICHEN--THE CASTLE.]

  [Illustration: Serpent Balustrade at Chichen.]

  [Illustration: Carved Door-Jamb in the Castle.]

In the northern part of the city, at B, is the Pyramid, or Castle, of
Chichen. Its base is one hundred and ninety-seven by two hundred and
two feet; its height about seventy-five feet; and its summit platform
sixty-one by sixty-four feet. A stairway thirty-seven feet wide leads
up the western <DW72> to the platform, and on the north is another
stairway of ninety steps forty-four feet wide, having solid
balustrades which terminate at the bottom in two immense serpent's
heads ten feet long, with open mouths and protruding tongues as in the
opposite cut. On the platform stands a building forty-three by
forty-nine feet, and about twenty feet high, having only a single
doorway in the centre of each front. These doorways have all wooden
lintels elaborately carved, and the jambs,--probably of stone,
although Norman says they are of wood--are also covered with
sculpture. The upper portion of one of these sculptured jambs is
represented in the cut, and the designs on the others are of a similar
general character. The northern doorway, which seems to have been the
principal entrance, is twenty feet wide and its lintel is supported by
two columns, each eight feet and eight inches high, with projecting
bases, and having their entire surface decorated, like the jambs at
the sides, with sculptured figures. The interior plan of this building
differs materially from any we have met; since the doorways on the
east, west, and south open into a corridor six feet wide, which
extends without partition walls round the three corresponding sides of
the edifice; while the northern doorway gives access also to a
corridor forty feet long and six and a third feet wide. Through the
centre of the rear wall of this corridor a doorway leads into a room
twelve feet nine inches by nineteen feet eight inches, and seventeen
feet high. This room also differs widely from any before described,
for its ceiling, instead of being formed by a single triangular arch
running lengthways, has two transverse arches supported by immense
carved zapote-beams stretched across the room, and which rest, each at
its centre, on two square pillars whose dimensions are twenty-two
inches on each side and nine feet in height. The cut shows the ground
plan of this remarkable structure, the squares at _a_ representing the
feet of the interior pillars, and the circles at _b_, the pillars that
support the lintel of the northern doorway.[V-76]

  [Illustration: Ground Plan of the Castle.]

  [Illustration: Stone Ring at Chichen.]

  [Illustration: Painted Boat in the Gymnasium.]

  [Sidenote: CHICHEN--THE GYMNASIUM.]

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

  [Illustration: Sculptured Design in the Gymnasium.]

  [Illustration: Red House at Chichen.]

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

  [Illustration: Hieroglyphic Tablet at Chichen.]

  [Sidenote: CHICHEN--THE CARACOL.]

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

  [Illustration: The Caracol at Chichen.]

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

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

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: NORTHERN GROUP.]

  [Sidenote: RELICS AT TICUL.]

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

  [Illustration: Sepulchral Relics from Kantunile.]

  [Illustration: Earthen Vase from Ticul.]

  [Illustration: Mound at Mayapan.]

  [Sidenote: RUINS OF MAYAPAN]

  [Illustration: Circular Structure at Mayapan.]

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

  [Illustration: Mayapan--Sculptured Fragments.]

  [Sidenote: RELICS OF TIHOO AT MERIDA.]

Merida, the capital of Yucatan, was built by the Spanish conquerors on
the ruins of the aboriginal city of Tihoo, the ancient mounds
furnishing material to the builders of the modern town. Only very
slight vestiges of Tihoo remain; yet in the lower cloisters of the
Franciscan convent, which is known to have been erected over an
ancient mound and building, the Spanish architects left one of the
peculiar aboriginal arches intact, unless we suppose that they
imitated such an arch in their own work, which is most unlikely.
Bishop Landa describes and illustrates with a ground plan one of the
largest and finest of the Tihoo structures, as it was in the sixteenth
century. In most respects his description agrees exactly with the
ruins of the grander class already mentioned. The supporting mound has
two retreating terraces on all sides except the western, which side
seems to have been perpendicular to its full height. Stairways running
the whole length of the mound lead up to the eastern <DW72>s, and on
the summit platform is a courtyard surrounded by four buildings, like
the Casa de Monjas at Uxmal. A gateway leads through the centre of
both eastern and western buildings, and one of these gateways is
represented by Landa as having a round arch, the other being of the
ordinary form. The buildings are divided into a single range of small
apartments opening on the court, except the southern, which has two
large rooms, and in front of which was a gallery supported by a row of
square pillars. A round building or room is also mentioned in
connection with the western range. Landa also mentions several other
structures, including the one over whose ruins the Franciscan convent
was built. M. Waldeck mentions an excavation in a garden of the city,
which is twenty-three by thirty feet, and fifteen feet deep, with
double walls three and six feet thick, where the bones of a tapir and
other bones were dug up. He also saw here several idols collected from
different parts.[V-86]

  [Sidenote: PYRAMID AND COLUMNS OF AKE.]

Some twenty-five miles east of Merida, at a place called Ake, barely
mentioned in the annals of the conquest as the locality where a battle
was fought between the Spaniards and Mayas, are the ruins of an
aboriginal city; ruins which, according to Mr Stephens, their only
visitor, have a ruder, older, and more cyclopean air than any others
seen. Some of the stones here employed are seven feet long. One
remarkable feature is a pyramid, whose summit platform is fifty by two
hundred and twenty-five feet, and supports thirty-six columns, each
four feet square, and from fourteen to sixteen feet high. These
columns are arranged in three parallel rows, ten feet apart from north
to south, and fifteen feet from east to west. Each column is composed
of several square stones. A stairway one hundred and thirty-seven feet
wide, with steps seventeen inches high, and four feet five inches
deep, leads up the southern <DW72>. Of this mound Mr Stephens says: "It
was a new and extraordinary feature, entirely different from any we
had seen, and at the very end of our journey, when we supposed
ourselves familiar with the character of American ruins, threw over
them a new air of mystery." Between Merida and Mayapan is mentioned a
stone wall, which crosses the road and extends far on either side into
the forest. Near by is also an aguada, said by the inhabitants to be
of artificial formation.[V-87]

  [Illustration: Cara Gigantesca at Izamal.]

  [Sidenote: RUINS OF IZAMAL.]

Izamal, something more than twenty miles further eastward, was a city
of great importance in aboriginal times, as we shall see in the
following volume. Two or three immense pyramids are all the vestiges
that remain of its former greatness. The largest mound is between
seven and eight hundred feet long, and between fifty and sixty feet
high, and Mr Stephens "ascertained beyond all doubt" that it has
interior chambers, concerning which he very strangely gives no further
information. M. Charnay's photograph shows that this mound was in two
receding stages, on the <DW72>s of the upper of which steps are still
to be seen. The modern town is built on the site of the ancient city,
and the mounds as elsewhere have furnished the material of the later
structures. The upper portion of a pyramid facing the one already
mentioned was leveled down, and on the lower platform was erected the
Franciscan church and convent. Another smaller mound is in the
courtyards of two private houses, and on its side near the base is the
cara gigantesca, or gigantic face, shown in the cut. It is seven feet
wide and seven feet eight inches high. The features were first rudely
formed by small rough stones, fixed in the side of the mound by means
of mortar, and afterward perfected with a stucco so hard that it has
successfully resisted for centuries the action of air and water. There
were signs of a row of similar stucco ornaments extending along the
side of the mound; and either on this mound or another near by, M.
Charnay photographed a similarly formed face, which is twelve feet
high. These colossal stucco faces are the distinctive features of the
ruins of Izamal, nothing of the kind appearing elsewhere in Yucatan,
although a slight resemblance may be traced to the gigantic faces in
stone at Copan. Bishop Landa describes one of the Izamal structures as
it appeared in his time, and adds a plan to his description. He
represents the supporting pyramid as being over one hundred feet high,
with a very steep stairway and very high steps, being built in a
semi-circular form on one side. According to his statement the
edifices were eleven or twelve in number, standing near together.
Lizana, another of the early writers on Yucatan, mentions five of the
sacred mounds supporting buildings which were already in ruins in his
time, and he also gives the Maya name of each temple with its meaning.
It should be noted, moreover, that Izamal is, according to the annals
of Yucatan, the burial place of Zamna, the great semi-divine founder
of the ancient Maya power.[V-88]

  [Sidenote: SENOTE OF BOLONCHEN.]

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

  [Illustration: Senote at Bolonchen.]

  [Illustration: Ground Plan of Labphak Structure.]

  [Illustration: Sculptured Tablet at Labphak.]

  [Sidenote: RUINS OF LABPHAK.]

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

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

  [Sidenote: AGUADAS OF THE SOUTH.]

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

  [Illustration: Aguada at Jalal.]

       *       *       *       *       *

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

  [Sidenote: RUINS OF TULOOM.]

  [Illustration: Plan of Tuloom.]

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

  [Illustration: Watch-Tower at Tuloom.]

  [Illustration: Tuloom Relics.]

  [Sidenote: RUINS ON THE EASTERN COAST.]

  [Illustration: Building at Cozumel.]

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

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

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

  [Sidenote: NORTHERN COAST RELICS.]

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

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

  [Illustration: Campeche Idol in Terra Cotta.]

  [Sidenote: MONUMENTS OF CAMPECHE.]

  [Sidenote: RELICS AT CAMPECHE.]

  [Illustration: Campeche Idols in Terra Cotta.]

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

  [Sidenote: MAYA CALZADAS.]

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

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: GENERAL RESUME.]

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

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

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

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

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

Having fixed upon a site for a proposed edifice, the Maya builder
invariably erected an artificial elevation on which it might rest. And
this peculiarity is observed, not only in Yucatan, but, as we shall
see in many other portions of the Pacific States, no less universally
in regions where natural hills abound than on level plains. In several
places, however, the artificial structure rests on a natural hill of
slight elevation, as at Chack and Zayi; in other cases advantage is
taken of a small hill to save labor in the accumulation of material,
as at Uxmal; and in one instance at Chichen the appearance of a mound
is gained by excavating the surrounding earth. Buildings resting on
the natural surface of the earth are unknown, as are also subterranean
apartments or galleries of artificial construction, excepting only the
reported catacombs under the city of Campeche. The bases of the
foundation structures, or pyramids, are usually rectangular, the
largest dimensions being fifteen hundred feet square at Zayi, while
many have sides of three to eight hundred feet. They diminish in size
towards the summit, from twenty to fifty feet high in the case of the
larger mounds, and from sixty to ninety feet in some of the smaller
ones. Most of the larger mounds have two or more terrace-platforms on
their <DW72>. The mass of the mound is composed of rough stones and
fragments generally in mortar, making a coarse concrete; the outer
surface is faced with hewn stones, not generally laid so as to form
steps, as seems to have been the case at Copan, but so as to present a
smooth surface on the <DW72>. It is uncertain whether some of the
larger terrace-platforms were paved with regular blocks or not. The
corners are often rounded. Sculptured decorations occur in a few
instances, as on the Pyramid at Uxmal; and at Izamal a row of faces in
stucco adorn the base. A stairway always occupies the centre of one
side, often of more than one side. Some of these stairways are over a
hundred feet wide, and their steps are rarely arranged with any
reference to convenience in mounting. Balustrades remain on some
stairways, ornamented in a few instances by sculptured monsters'
heads. There is nothing to show that the surface of the <DW72>s or the
steps were covered with cement. The supporting stone structure of one
building at Chichen and also of one at Tuloom has perpendicular
instead of sloping sides. All the pyramids are truncated, none forming
a point at the top, although there is one or more in every group of
ruins whose summit platform presents no traces of ever having
supported buildings of any kind. Interior galleries were explored in a
mound at Maxcanu, and chambers in the body of that at Izamal were
reported; others are solid so far as known, except that a few small
chambers have been mentioned with a vertical entrance at the top,
which may have been cisterns.

The edifices supported by the mounds are built either on the summit
platform, or in receding ranges, one above another, on the <DW72>. In
the latter case these receding ranges form the nearest approach on the
part of the Mayas to buildings of several stories, except in one
instance at Tuloom, where one room is directly over another. In one
building at Kabah the outer wall rises from the foot of the mound, and
the inner from the summit. One building usually occupies the summit;
but in several cases four of them enclose an interior courtyard. The
buildings are long, low, and narrow. Thirty-one feet is the greatest
height, thirty-nine the greatest width, and three hundred and
twenty-two the greatest length. The roofs are flat and, like the
floors, covered with cement. The walls are, in proportion to the
dimensions of the buildings, very thick, usually from three to six
feet, but sometimes nine feet. Like the pyramids, the buildings
consist of a mass of concrete, stones and mortar, faced with hewn
blocks of nearly cubical form, and of varying dimensions rarely
exceeding eighteen inches, but found at Sijoh and Ake as large as
three by six and seven feet. Only one building has been noted whose
exterior walls are not perpendicular, but the corners are in most
cases rounded.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  [Sidenote: MAYA IDOLS.]

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

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

  [Sidenote: THE MAYAS AS ARTISTS.]

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

  [Sidenote: ANTIQUITY OF THE MAYA MONUMENTS.]

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

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

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

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

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

FOOTNOTES:

[V-1] 'Le sol de l'Yucatan est encore, aujourd'hui, parseme
d'innombrables ruines, dont la magnificence et l'etendue frappent
d'etonnement les voyageurs; de toutes parts, ce ne sont que collines
pyramidales, surmontees d'edifices superbes, des villes dont la
grandeur eblouit l'imagination, tant elles sont multipliees et se
touchent de pres, sur les chemins publics: enfin on ne saurait faire
un pas sans rencontrer des debris qui attestent a la fois l'immensite
de la population antique du Maya et la longue prosperite dont cette
contree jouit sous ses rois.' 'Nulle terre au monde ne presente
aujourd'hui un champ si fecond aux recherches de l'archeologue et du
voyageur.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. ii., pp.
20, 24. 'A peine y a-t-il dans l'Yucatan une ville, une bourgade, une
maison de campagne qui n'offre dans ses constructions des restes de
pierres sculptees qui ont ete enlevees d'un ancien edifice. On peut
compter plus de douze emplacements couverts de vastes ruines.'
_Friederichsthal_, in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1841, tom. xcii.,
pp. 300-1. 'Elle est, pour ainsi dire, jonchee de ruines. Partout,
dans cette partie de l'Amerique, la poesie des souvenirs parle a
l'imagination.' _Larenaudiere_, _Mex. et Guat._, p. 320.

[V-2] The earliest modern account of Yucatan Antiquities with which I
am acquainted is that written by Sr Lorenzo de Zavala, Ambassador of
the Mexican Government in France, and published in _Antiquites
Mexicaines_, tom. i., <DW37>. ii., pp. 33-5. Sr Zavala visited Uxmal
several years before 1834. His communication gives a tolerably good
general idea of the ruins, but it is brief, unaccompanied by drawings,
and relates only to one city. It is, therefore, of little value when
compared with later and more extensive works on the subject, and is
mentioned in this note only as being the earliest account extant. Yet
long before Zavala's visit, Padre Thomas de Soza, a Franciscan friar
of the convent of Merida, had observed the ruins during his frequent
trips through the province, and he gave a slight account of them to
Antonio del Rio, who mentioned it in his _Descrip. of an Ancient
City_, pp. 6-8.

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

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

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

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

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

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

See also a general notice of the ruins in _Cogolludo_, _Hist. Yuc._,
pp. 176-7, and in _Gottfriedt_, _Newe Welt_, p. 611; full account in
_Baldwin's Anc. Amer._, pp. 125-50, from Stephens; and brief accounts,
made up from the modern explorers, in _Mayer's Mex. Aztec, etc._, vol.
ii., pp. 171-3, with cut of an idol from Catherwood; _Prichard's
Researches_, vol. v., pp. 346-8; _Morelet_, _Voyage_, tom. i., pp.
147, 191-5, 269-72; _Dally_, _Races Indig._, pp. 14-15; _Warden_,
_Recherches_, pp. 68-9; _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1843, tom.
xcvii., pp. 36-50, from old Spanish authorities; _Mueller_,
_Amerikanische Urreligionen_, pp. 460, 462; _Muehlenpfordt_, _Mejico_,
tom. ii., pt. i., p. 12; _Hassel_, _Mex. Guat._, p. 267; _Wappaeus_,
_Geog. u. Stat._, pp. 144, 247; _Baril_, _Mexique_, pp. 128-30;
_Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. ii., pp. 20-31;
_Davis' Antiq. Amer._, pp. 512-30; _Id._, Ed. 1847, p. 31;
_Larenaudiere_, _Mex. et Guat._, pp. 320-8; _Mex. in 1842_, p. 75;
_Sivers_, _Mittelamerika_, pp. 227, 242-7, 303-4.

[V-3] The best map of Yucatan, showing not only the country's
geographical features, but the location of all its ruins, is the
_Carte du Yucatan et des regions voisines_, compiled by M. Malte-Brun
from the works of Owen, Barnett, Lawrence, Kiepert, Garcia y Cubas,
Stephens, and Waldeck, and published in _Brasseur de Bourbourg_,
_Palenque_, Paris, 1866, pl. i., ii.

[V-4] Fray Diego Lopez Cogolludo visited Uxmal at some time before the
middle of the seventeenth century, and describes the ruins to some
extent in his _Historia de Yucathan_, Mad., 1688, pp. 176-7, 193-4,
197-8. Padre Thomas de Soza, about 1786, reported to Antonio del Rio
stone edifices covered with stucco ornaments, known by the natives as
Oxmutal, with statues of men beating drums and dancing with palms in
their hands, which he had seen in his travels in Yucatan, and which
are thought to be perhaps identical with Uxmal, although the monuments
are reported as being located twenty leagues south of Merida and may
be quite as reasonably identified with some other group. _Rio's
Description_, pp. 6-7. Zavala's visit to Uxmal at some date previous
to 1834 has already been spoken of in note 2. His account is called
_Notice sur les Monuments d'Ushmal_, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. i., <DW37>.
ii., pp. 33-5. M. de Waldeck left Merida for Uxmal on May 6, 1835,
arrived at the ruins on May 12, where he spent some eight days, and
was interrupted in his work by the rainy season. _Waldeck_, _Voy.
Pitt._, pp. 67-74, 93-104, and plates. Mr Stephens had Waldeck's work
with him at the time of his second visit. He says, _Yucatan_, vol. i.,
p. 297, 'It will be found that our plans and drawings differ
materially from his, but Mr Waldeck was not an architectural
draughtsman;' yet the difference is only to be noted in a few plates,
and is not so material as Mr Stephens' words would imply. Still, where
differences exist, I give Mr Stephens the preference, because, having
his predecessor's drawings, his attention would naturally be called to
all the points of Waldeck's survey. Mr Stephens says further, 'It is
proper to say, moreover, that Mr Waldeck had much greater difficulties
to encounter than we, ... besides, he is justly entitled to the full
credit of being the first stranger who visited these ruins and brought
them to the notice of the public.' Mr Stephens' first visit was in
June, 1840, during which he visited the ruins from the hacienda three
times, on June 20, 21, and 22, while Mr Catherwood spent one day, the
21st, in making sketches. It was unfortunate that he was forced by Mr
Catherwood's illness to leave Uxmal, for at this time the ground had
been cleared of the forest and was planted with corn; the occasion was
therefore most favorable for a thorough examination. _Stephens' Cent.
Amer._, vol. ii., pp. 413-35, with 3 plates. Mr Norman, according to
his journal, reached the ruins, where he took up his abode, on
February 25, 1842, and remained until March 4, devoting thus seven
days or thereabouts to his survey. His account is accompanied by
several lithographic illustrations. _Norman's Rambles in Yuc._, pp.
154-67. Messrs Stephens and Catherwood arrived on their second visit
on November 15, 1841, and remained until January 1, 1842, Mr Stephens
meanwhile making two short trips away, one in search of ruins, the
other to get rid of fever and ague. It is remarkable that they found
no traces of Mr Friederichsthal's visit, (_Nouvelles Annales des
Voy._, 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 306-9,) which was probably in the same
year. _Stephens' Yucatan_, vol. i., pp. 163-325, vol. ii., pp. 264-73,
with many plates and cuts. Padre Carrillo, cura of Ticul, with D.
Vicente Garcia Rejon, and D. Jose Maria Fajardo, visited the ruins in
March, 1845, and an account of the visit, embodying but little
information, was published by _L. G._, in _Registro Yuc._, tom. i.,
pp. 275-9. Another account of a visit in the same year was published
by _M. F. P._, in _Id._, pp. 361-70. Mr Carl Bartholomaeus Heller
spent two or three days at Uxmal, April 6 to 9, 1847. His account is
found in _Heller_, _Reisen_, pp. 256-65. M. Charnay's visit was in
1858, and his efforts to obtain photographic negatives and to fight
the insects which finally drove him away, lasted eight days.
_Charnay_, _Ruines Amer._, pp. 362-80, pl. xxxv-xlix. M. Brasseur de
Bourbourg was at Uxmal in 1865, and made a report, accompanied by a
plan, which was published in the _Archives de la Com. Scien. du Mex._,
tom. ii., pp. 234, 254, as the author states in his _Palenque_,
Introd., p. 24. See further on Uxmal: Description quoted from Stephens
with unlimited criticisms, italics, capitals, and exclamation points,
in _Jones' Hist. Anc. Amer._, pp. 86-105, 120; description from
Waldeck and Stephens, with remarks on the city's original state, in
_Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. ii., pp. 21-3, 585;
and also slight accounts made up from one or more of the authorities
already cited as follows: _Mueller_, _Amerikanische Urreligionen_, pp.
462, 483; _Bradford's Amer. Antiq._, pp. 99-103, from Waldeck;
_Baril_, _Mexique_, pp. 129-30, from Del Rio; _Sivers_,
_Mittelamerika_, pp. 237-41; _Morelet_, _Voyage_, tom. i., pp. 149-50,
193; _Frost's Great Cities_, pp. 268-81; _Id._, _Pict. Hist. Mex._, p.
80; _Album_, _Mex._, tom. i., pp. 203-4, the last three including a
moonlight view of the ruins, from Norman; _Larenaudiere_, _Mex. et
Guat._, pp. 321-8, with plates from Waldeck; _Baldwin's Anc. Amer._,
pp. 131-7, with cuts, from Stephens; _Foster's Pre-Hist. Races_, pp.
208, 212-13, 302, 330, 398-9, from Stephens; _Willson's Amer. Hist._,
pp. 82-6, with cuts, from Stephens; _Armin_, _Das Heutige Mex._, pp.
91-6, with cuts, from Stephens; _Id._, _Das Alte Mex._, p. 97;
_Wappaeus_, _Geog. u. Stat._, p. 144; _Muehlenpfordt_, _Mejico_, tom.
ii., pt. i., p. 12; _Domenech's Deserts_, vol. i., p. 51; _Hermosa_,
_Enciclopedia_, Paris, 1857, pp. 176-7; _Prescott's Mex._, vol. iii.,
pp. 412-13; _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1843, tom. xcvii., pp. 36-7,
44.

[V-5] Pronounced _ooshmahl_.

[V-6] Cogolludo sometimes writes the name Uxumual. 'Il nous a ete
impossible de trouver une etymologie raisonnable a ce nom.' _Brasseur
de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. ii., p. 21. 'Le nom d'_Uxmal_
signifie _du temps passe_. Il ne s'applique aux ruines que parce que
celles-ci sont situees sur le terrain de la hacienda d'Uxmal.'
_Waldeck_, _Voy. Pitt._, p. 68; _Sivers_, _Mittelamerika_, p. 237.
Possibly derived from _ox_ and _mal_, meaning 'three passages' in
Maya. _Heller_, _Reisen_, p. 255. 'It was an existing inhabited
aboriginal town' in 1556. _Stephens' Yucatan_, vol. ii., p. 272.
Called _Oxmutal_ by Soza, in _Rio's Description_, p. 7.

[V-7] Lat. 30 deg. 22' 86'' (!), Long. 4' 33'' west of Merida. 'Une
couche tres mince d'une terre ferrugineuse recouvre le sol, mais
disparait dans les environs ou l'on n'apercoit que du sable.'
_Friederichsthal_, in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1841, tom. xcii.,
p. 306. 2 miles (German) west of Jalacho, which lies near Maxcanu,
on the road from Merida to Campeche. _Wappaeus_, _Geog. u. Stat._, p.
144. 20 leagues from Merida, occupying an extent of several leagues.
_Muehlenpfordt_, _Mejico_, tom. ii., pt. i., p. 12. 'A huit lieues de
Mayapan ... dans une plaine legerement ondulee.' _Brasseur de
Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. ii., p. 21. 'Le terrain d'Uxmal
est plat dans toute l'etendue du plateau.' 'Sur le plateau d'une
haute montagne.' _Waldeck_, _Voy. Pitt._, pp. 68, 70.

[V-8] 'Sur un diametre d'une lieue, le sol est couvert de debris, dont
quelques-uns recouvrent des interieurs fort bien conserves.'
_Charnay_, _Ruines Amer._, p. 363.

[V-9] In the plan I have followed Stephens, _Yucatan_, vol. i., p.
165, who determined the position of all the structures by actual
measurement, cutting roads through the undergrowth for this express
purpose, and the accuracy of whose survey cannot be called in
question. His plan is reproduced on a reduced scale in _Willson's
Amer. Hist._, p. 83. Plans are also given in _Waldeck_, _Voy. Pitt._,
pl. viii.; _Norman's Rambles in Yuc._, p. 155; and _Charnay_, _Ruines
Amer._, introd. by Viollet-le-Duc, p. 62. These all differ very
materially both from that of Stephens, and from each other; they are
moreover very incomplete, and bear marks of having been carelessly or
hastily prepared. 'Disposee en echiquier, ou se deployaient, a la
suite les uns des autres, les palais et les temples.' _Brasseur de
Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. ii., p. 21. Besides the plans,
general views of the ruins from nearly the same point (_q_ on the plan
looking southward) are given by Stephens, _Yucatan_, vol. i., p. 305,
and by Charnay, _Ruines Amer._, phot. 49. Norman, _Rambles in Yuc._,
frontispiece, gives a general view of the ruins by moonlight from a
point and in a direction impossible to fix, which is copied in the
_Album Mex._, tom. i., p. 203, in _Frost's Great Cities_, p. 269, and
in _Id._, _Pict. Hist. Mex._, p. 80. It makes a very pretty
frontispiece, which is about all that can be said in its favor, except
that it might serve equally well to illustrate any other group of
American or old-world antiquities.

[V-10] _Charnay_, _Ruines Amer._, phot. 49.

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

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

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

[V-14] Norman's dimensions are 36x272 feet; Heller's, 40x320 feet;
Friederichsthal's, 38x407 feet; and Waldeck's, about 65x195 feet.

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

[V-16] Friederichsthal, in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1841, tom.
xcii., p. 309, speaking of the Uxmal structures in general, says the
blocks are usually 5x12 inches; Zavala, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. i.,
<DW37>. ii., p. 34, pronounces them from 25 to 28 centimetres in length,
width, and thickness.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[V-23] 'La decoration du parement de cet edifice ne consiste
qu'en une imitation de palissade formee de rondins de bois. Sur la
frise superieure, des tortues saillantes rompent seules les lignes
horizontales.' _Viollet-le-Duc_, in _Charnay_, _Ruines Amer._, p. 69.
Photograph 48 shows the north front of the Casa de Tortugas. Stephens,
_Yucatan_, vol. i., p. 184, gives a plate showing the southern front.
Waldeck's plan would make this building's dimensions about 60x185
feet. The column structure will be illustrated by engravings in
connection with the ruins of Zayi and others.

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

[V-25] 'A shaft of gray limestone in an inclined position, measuring
twelve feet in circumference and eight in height; bearing upon its
surface no marks of form or ornament by which it might be
distinguished from a natural piece.' _Norman's Rambles in Yuc._, p.
156. 'Une espece de colonne dite _pierre du chatiment_, ou les
coupables devaient recevoir la punition de leurs fautes.' _Charnay_,
_Ruines Amer._, p. 372. 'Una enorme columna de piedra, cuya forma
semiconica le da el aire de un obelisco, aunque de base circular y sin
adornos.' _M. F. P._, in _Registro Yuc._, tom. i., p. 364.

[V-26] 'Double-headed cat or lynx,' cut from _Stephens' Yucatan_, vol.
i., p. 183; and _Baldwin's Anc. Amer._, p. 133. 'Un autel, au centre,
soutenait un tigre a deux tetes, dont les corps relies au ventre
figurent une double chimere.' _Charnay_, _Ruines Amer._, p. 372. 'Rude
carving of a tiger with two heads.' _Norman's Rambles in Yuc._, p.
156. 'En un mismo cuerpo contiene dos cabezas de tigre de tamano
regular, vueltas hacia fuera: su actitud es la misma que la en que
generalmente se representa la esfinge de la fabula; y si su excavacion
no fuera tan reciente, probablemente habria corrido la suerte de otras
estatuas y objetos preciosos, que a nuestra vista y paciencia han sido
sacados del pais para figurar en los museos extranjeros.' _M. F. P._,
in _Registro Yuc._, tom. i., pp. 364-5. Mr Heller, _Reisen_, p. 259,
confounds this monument with the picote.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[V-35] M. Waldeck, _Voy. Pitt._, pl. xii., presents a drawing of four
of these turtles. 'Covered with square blocks of stone.' _Norman's
Rambles in Yuc._, p. 163. '_Each tortoise_ is in a square, and in the
two external angles of each square is an _Egg_. The _tortoise_ and the
_egg_, are both National emblems.' _Jones' Hist. Anc. Amer._, p. 94.

[V-36] _Charnay_, _Ruines Amer._, pp. 364, 368; _Stephens' Yucatan_,
vol. i., pp. 301, 308.

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

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

[V-39] 'Les linteux des portes sont en bois, comme partout a Uxmal.'
'Les interieurs, de dimensions variees suivant la grandeur des
edifices ... deux murailles paralleles, puis obliquant, pour se relier
par une dalle.' 'Les salles etaient enduites d'une couche de platre
fin qui existe encore.' 'On remarque de chaque cote de l'ouverture, a
egale distance du sol et du linteau de la porte, plantes dans la
muraille de chaque cote des supports, quatre crochets en pierre.'
_Charnay_, _Ruines Amer._, pp. 364-6. M. Waldeck speaks of the
door-tops of the western building as being composed of nine pieces of
stone, perpendicular on the outside, or visible, portions, but beveled
and secured by a keystone within. 'Fait de neuf pierres a coupe
perpendiculaire, et point du tout a clef: je parle ici de l'aspect de
cette partie du monument a l'exterieur; mais a l'interieur, ces neuf
pierres sont a clef, ce que l'absence d'enduit m'a permis de
constater.' _Voy. Pitt._, p. 100. 'The height of the ceiling is
uniform throughout.' _Norman's Rambles in Yuc._, p. 161. Heller,
_Reisen_, p. 257, gives the botanical name of the zapote-wood used for
lintels as _cavanilla_, _achras sapota_. Waldeck calls the wood
_jovillo_. _Voy. Pitt._, p. 97. Norman spells it _zuporte_.

[V-40] 'J'ai parle, dans le texte du present ouvrage, des pretendues
colonnes trouvees dans l'Yucatan. Les trois balustres qu'on voit dans
cette planche peuvent, deplaces comme ils l'etaient, avoir donne lieu
a cette erreur. En effet, en divisant ces ornements en plusieurs
morceaux, on y trouvera un fut droit et une espece de chapiteau que,
d'apres des idees relatives assurement fort naturelles, on place
volontiers a l'extremite superieure du fut, au lieu de le mettre au
milieu.' _Waldeck_, _Voy. Pitt._, p. 103. 'C'est un ensemble de
colonnettes nouees dans le milieu trois par trois, separees par des
parties de pierres plates et les treillis qu'on rencontre si souvent;
ce batiment est d'une simplicite relative, compare a la richesse des
trois autres.' _Charnay_, _Ruines Amer._, p. 368.

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

[V-42] 'La decoration se compose d'une espece de trophee en forme
d'eventail, qui part du bas de la frise en s'elargissant jusqu'au
sommet du batiment. Ce trophee est un ensemble de barres paralleles
terminees par des tetes de monstres. Au milieu de la partie
superieure, et touchant a la corniche, se trouve une enorme tete
humaine, encadree a l'egyptienne, avec une corne de chaque cote. Ces
trophees sont separes par des treillis de pierre qui donnent a
l'edifice une grande richesse d'effet. Les coins ont toujours cette
ornementation bizarre, composee de grandes figures d'idoles
superposees, avec un nez disproportionne, tordu et releve, qui fait
songer a la maniere chinoise.' _Charnay_, _Ruines Amer._, pp. 366-7.
The first of my engravings I take from _Stephens' Yucatan_, vol. i.,
p. 306; the same front being shown also in Charnay's photograph 38, in
Waldeck's pl. xv., and in _Larenaudiere_, _Mex. et Guat._, pl. 3. The
second engraving is from Waldeck's pl. xvi., given also in
_Larenaudiere_, _Mex. et Guat._, pl. 5, in _Norman's Rambles in Yuc._,
p. 156--where it is incorrectly stated to represent a portion of the
Casa del Gobernador,--and corresponding with Charnay's photograph 39.
The third cut is from _Viollet-le-Duc_, in _Charnay_, _Ruines Amer._,
p. 65. M. Viollet-le-Duc explains the cut as follows: 'Supposons des
piles ou murs de refend A; si l'on pose a la tete des piles les
premiers patins B, sur lesquels, a angle droit, on embrevera les
traverses C, puis les secondes pieces B', les deuxiemes traverses C'
en encorbellement egalemente embervees, et ainsi de suite, on obtient,
au droit des tetes de piles ou murs de refend, des parois verticales,
et, dans le sens des ouvertures, des parois inclinees arrivant a
porter les filieres D avec potelets intercales. Si, d'une pile a
l'autre, on pose les linteaux E en arriere du nu des pieces BB', et
que sur ces linteaux on etablisse des treillis, on obtiendra une
construction de bois primitive, qui est evidemment le principe de la
decoration de la facade de pierre du batiment.' This facade is 'the
most chaste and simple in design and ornament, and it was always
refreshing to turn from the gorgeous and elaborate masses on the other
facades to this curious and pleasing combination.' _Stephens'
Yucatan_, vol. i., p. 306. 'The eastern facade is filled with
elaborate ornaments, differing entirely from the others, and better
finished.' _Norman's Rambles in Yuc._, pp. 161-2. 'Les huit echelons
dont la serie forme un cone renverse, sont ornes, a chacune de leurs
extremites, d'une tete symbolique de serpent ou de dragon. La tete du
Soleil qui touche a la corniche et repose sur le troisieme echelon,
offre deux rayons ascendants, independemment de ceux qui flamboient
autour du masque, dont je n'ai pu deviner la signification. Les trois
rayons qui se voient au dessus de la tete ont peut-etre quelques
rapports avec le meridien, celui du milieu indiquant le parfait
equilibre.' 'Des sept masques solaires, un seul etait intact.'
'L'ensemble de cette facade offre a l'heure de midi un caractere de
grandeur dont il serait difficile de donner une idee.' _Waldeck_,
_Voy. Pitt._, pp. 102-3.

[V-43] _Stephens' Yucatan_, vol. i., p. 307, with plate; _Charnay_,
_Ruines Amer._, phot. 43.

[V-44] The illustrations of the Serpent front are in _Waldeck_, _Voy.
Pitt._, pl. xiii., xviii., which latter shows some of the detached
faces, or masks; _Charnay_, _Ruines Amer._, phot. 40, 41, 44; and
_Stephens' Yucatan_, vol. i., pp. 302-3. Rattlesnakes are common in
this region. The proprietor proposed to build this serpent's head into
a house in Merida as a memorial of Uxmal. 'Toward the south end the
head and tail of the serpents corresponded in design and position with
the portion still existing at the other.' _Id._, vol. i., pp. 302-3.
'The remains of two great serpents, however, are still quite perfect;
their heads turned back, and entwining each other, they extend the
whole length of the facade, through a chaste ground-work of ornamental
lines, interspersed with various rosettes. They are put together by
small blocks of stone, exquisitely worked, and arranged with the
nicest skill and precision. The heads of the serpents are adorned with
pluming feathers and tassels.' _Norman's Rambles in Yuc._, p. 162.
'Son nom lui vient d'un immense serpent a sonnettes courant sur toute
la facade, dont le corps, se roulant en entrelacs, va servir de cadre
a des panneaux divers. Il n'existe plus qu'un seul de ces panneaux:
c'est une grecque, que surmontent six croisillons, avec rosace a
l'interieur; une statue d'Indien s'avance en relief de la facade, il
tient a la main un sceptre; on remarque au-dessus de sa tete un
ornement figurant une couronne.' _Charnay_, _Ruines Amer._, p. 367.
'Un ornement, imite d'une sorte de pompon en passementerie termine par
une frange, se voit au-dessus de la queue du reptile. On decouvre
egalement dans la frise ces rosettes frangees comme celles signalees
dans le batiment de l'est.' _Viollet-le-Duc_, in _Id._, p. 69. 'En
voyant pour la premiere fois ce superbe edifice, je ne pus retenir un
cri de surprise et d'admiration, tant les choses originales et
nouvelles emeuvent l'imagination et les sens de l'artiste. J'ai
cherche a rendre, dans ce qu'on vient de lire, mes premieres
impressions. Pourquoi n'avouerais-je pas qu'il s'y mele un peu de
vanite? Un pareil sentiment n'est-il pas excusable chez le voyageur
qui revele au monde civilise des tresors archeologiques si longtemps
ignores, un style nouveau d'architecture, et une source abondante ou
d'autres, plus savants que lui, iront puiser un jour?' _Waldeck_,
_Voy. Pitt._, p. 100.

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

[V-46] 'The whole, loaded as it is with ornament, conveys the idea of
vastness and magnificence rather than that of taste and refinement.'
_Stephens' Yucatan_, vol. i., p. 304. 'The northern front, no doubt,
was the principal one, as I judge from the remains, as well as from
the fact, that it is more elevated than the others.' _Norman's Rambles
in Yuc._, p. 161. Norman's general view of the Nunnery includes a view
of this northern front, but the decorations are omitted and the
turrets also. 'Chaque porte, de deux en deux, est surmontee d'une
niche merveilleusement ouvragee que devaient occuper des statues
diverses. Quant a la frise elle-meme, c'est un ensemble extraordinaire
de pavillons, ou de curieuses figures d'idoles superposees ressortent
comme par hasard de l'arrangement des pierres, et rappellent les tetes
enormes sculptees sur les palais de Chichen-Itza. Des meandres de
pierres finement travaillees leur servent de cadre et donnent une
vague idee de caracteres hieroglyphiques: puis viennent une succession
de grecques de grande dimension, alternees, aux angles, de carres et
de petites rosaces d'un fini admirable. Le caprice de l'architecte
avait jete ca et la, comme des dementis a la parfaite regularite du
dessin, des statues dans les positions les plus diverses. La plupart
ont disparu, et les tetes ont ete enlevees a celles qui restent
encore.' _Charnay_, _Ruines Amer._, pp. 364-5, phot. 36-7. 'Les
grosses tetes forment la principale decoration des dessus de portes;
les treillis sont histories, les encorbellements empiles supprimes.'
_Viollet-le-Duc_, in _Id._, p. 67.

[V-47] I append a few general quotations concerning the Nunnery: The
court facades 'ornamented from one end to the other with the richest
and most intricate carving known in the art of the builders of Uxmal;
presenting a scene of strange magnificence, surpassing any that is now
to be seen among its ruins.' _Stephens' Yucatan_, vol. i., p. 300.
'All these facades were painted; the traces of the colour are still
visible, and the reader may imagine what the effect must have been
when all this building was entire, and according to its supposed
design, in its now desolate doorways stood noble Maya maidens, like
the vestal virgins of the Romans, to cherish and keep alive the sacred
fire burning in the temples.' _Id._, p. 307. The bottoms of the
caissons of the diamond lattice-work are painted red. The paint is
believed to be a mixture in equal parts of carmine and vermilion,
probably vegetable colors. _Waldeck_, _Voy. Pitt._, pp. 200-1; Zavala,
in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. i., <DW37>. ii., pp. 33-4, describes a building
supposed to be the Nunnery on account of the serpent ornament, which,
however, is stated to be on the exterior front of the building.
Cogolludo, _Hist. Yuc._, p. 177, describes the court and surrounding
edifices, stating that the serpent surrounds all four sides. 'Vn gran
patio con muchos aposentos separados en forma de claustro donde viuian
estas doncellas. Es fabrica digna de admiracion, porque lo exterior de
las paredes es todo de piedra labrada, donde estan sacadas de medio
relieue figuras de hombres armados, diuersidad de animales, pajaros, y
otras cosas.' 'Todos los quatro liencos de aquel gran patio (que se
puede llamar placa) los cine vna culebra labrada en la misma piedra de
las paredes, que termina la cola por debaxo de la cabeca, y tiene toda
ella en circuito quatrocientos pies.' Jones, _Hist. Anc. Amer._, p.
93, accounts for the superiority of the sculpture on the court facades
by supposing that it was executed at a later date; its protection from
the weather would also tend to its better preservation.

[V-48] Although Zavala says, speaking of the Uxmal ruins in general:
'Celles qui forment l'arete a partir de laquelle les plans des murs
convergent pour determiner la voute prismatique dont j'ai deja parle,
sont taillees en forme de coude dont l'angle est obtus.' _Antiq.
Mex._, tom. i., <DW37>. ii., p. 34. 'In the rear of, and within a few
feet of the eastern range, are the remains of a similar range, which
is now almost in total ruins. There appear to have been connecting
walls, or walks, from this range to the Pyramid near by, as I judged
from the rubbish and stones that can be traced from one to the other.'
_Norman's Rambles in Yuc._, p. 162. Cuts from _Stephens' Yucatan_,
vol. i., pp. 311, 430; one of them reproduced in _Baldwin's Anc.
Amer._

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

[V-50] M. Viollet-le-Duc says it is 'entierement compose d'un blocage
de maconnerie revetu de gros moellons parementes,' in _Charnay_,
_Ruines Amer._, p. 70.

[V-51] _Cogolludo_, _Hist. Yuc._, p. 193. 'La subida principal esta a
la parte del oriente y se practica por medio de una grada, que a la
altura referida, guarda, segun mi calculo, el muy escaso declive de
treinta pies a lo mas: esta circunstancia, como se deja entender, la
hace en extremo pendiente y peligrosa. Si no me engano, la grada a que
me refiero, tiene de 95 a 100 escaloncitos de piedra labrada, pero tan
angostos, que apenas pueden recibir la mitad del pie: la cubren muchos
troncos de arboles, espinos, y, lo que es peor, una multitud de yerba,
resbaladiza.' The author, however, climbed the stairway barefooted.
_L. G._, in _Registro de Yuc._, tom. i., p. 278. 'Les cotes de la
pyramide sont tellement lisses qu'on ne peut y monter meme a l'aide
des arbres et des broussailles qui poussent dans les interstices des
pierres.' _Waldeck_, _Voy. Pitt._, p. 95. The eastern <DW72> 70 deg., and
the western 80 deg. _Heller_, _Reisen_, p. 256. Stairway has 180 steps,
each 12 to 15 centimetres wide and high. _Zavala_, in _Antiq. Mex._,
tom. i., <DW37>. ii., p. 33. 100 steps, each 5 inches wide. _Waldeck_,
_Voy. Pitt._, p. 71. 100 steps, each 6 inches wide. _Norman's Rambles
in Yuc._, p. 163. About 130 steps, 8 or 9 inches high. _Stephens'
Cent. Amer._, vol. ii., p. 421.

[V-52] 'Une espece de petite chapelle en contre-bas tournee a l'ouest;
ce petit morceau est fouille comme un bijou; une inscription parait
avoir ete gravee, formant ceinture au-dessus de la porte.' _Charnay_,
_Ruines Amer._, p. 368. 'Loaded with ornaments more rich, elaborate,
and carefully executed, than those of any other edifice in Uxmal.'
_Stephens' Yucatan_, vol. i., p. 313.

[V-53] In the matter of dimensions, the Casa del Adivino presents the
same variations as the other structures--Stephens, _Yucatan_, being
the authority followed. Waldeck makes the platform 45 by 91 feet 8
inches, and the building 81 feet 8 inches by 14 feet 8 inches. Zavala
calls the building 8 metres square. According to Norman the pyramid
measures 500 feet at the base, and is 100 feet high, the platform
being 21 by 72 feet, and the building 12 by 60, and 20 feet high.
Charnay pronounces the pyramid 75 to 80 feet high. Stephens, _Cent.
Amer._, vol. ii., pp. 421-2, gives the dimensions as follows: Pyramid,
120 by 240 feet at base; platform, 4-1/2 feet wide outside the building;
building, 68 feet long; rooms, 9 feet wide, 18, 18, and 34 feet long.
Friederichsthal's dimensions: Pyramid, 120 by 192 feet and 25-1/2 feet
high; platform, 23-1/3 by 89 feet; building, 12 by 73 feet, and 19-1/4
feet high. _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1841, tom. xcii., p. 307.
Heller's dimensions: Pyramid, 135 by 225 feet, and 105 feet high;
platform, 20 by 70 feet; building, 12 by 60 feet, and 20 feet high.

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

[V-55] Stephens, _Yucatan_, vol. i., pp. 312, 316, gives views of the
east and west fronts, the former of which I have inserted in my
description; and in _Cent. Amer._, vol. ii., p. 420, a view from the
south, which is copied in _Armin_, _Das Heutige Mex._, p. 92, which
last authority also gives what seems to be a restoration of the
pyramid from Waldeck. Waldeck's plates, ix., x., xi., relate to this
structure; plate ix. is a view from a point above the whole and
directly over the centre, including a ground plan of the summit
building; plate x. is the western elevation of the pyramid and
building with the eastern elevation of the latter; and plate xi. is a
view of one of the statues as already mentioned. Charnay's photograph
35 gives a western view of the whole, which is also included in
photograph 38; it is to be noted that his plan places the Casa del
Adivino considerably south of the Nunnery. Norman, _Rambles in Yuc._,
p. 162, gives an altogether imaginary view of the pyramid and
building, perhaps intended for the western front. 'La base de la
colline factice est revetue d'un parement vertical avec une frise dans
laquelle on retrouve l'imitation des rondins de bois, surmontes d'une
sorte de balustrade presque entierement detruite.' _Viollet-le-Duc_,
in _Charnay_, _Ruines Amer._, p. 70. On the east front of the building
are 'deux portes carrees et deux petits pavillons couverts d'une
espece de toit reposant sur des pilastres.' 'Tel est ce monument,
chef-d'oeuvre d'art et d'elegance. Si j'etais arrive un an plus tard
a Uxmal, je n'aurais pas pu en donner un dessin complet; le centre
avait ete degrade par suite de l'extraction de quelques pierres
necessaires a la solidite de cette partie de l'edifice.' _Waldeck_,
_Voy. Pitt._, p. 96. Yet if the structure was as perfect and his
examination as complete as he claims, it is very strange, to say the
least, that he did not discover the apartments in the western
projections. Zavala, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. i., <DW37>. ii., p. 33, says
that the interior walls of this building are plastered. Stephens,
Charnay, and Brasseur, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. ii., pp. 578-88, give
the tradition of the Dwarf, which gives this temple one of its names.
'The construction of these ornaments is not less peculiar and striking
than the general effect. There were no tablets or single stones, each
representing separately and by itself an entire subject; but every
ornament or combination is made up of separate stones, on each of
which part of the subject was carved, and which was then set in its
place in the wall.' 'Perhaps it may, with propriety, be called a
species of sculptured mosaic.' _Stephens' Cent. Amer._, vol. ii., p.
422.

[V-54] _Stephens' Yucatan_, vol. i., pp. 248-51, 227-8; _Norman's
Rambles in Yuc._, pp. 166, 157; _Waldeck_, _Voy. Pitt._, p. 74;
_Friederichsthal_, in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1841, tom. xcii.,
pp. 307-8; _Zavala_, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. i., <DW37>. ii., p. 35;
_Domenech's Deserts_, vol. i., p. 51.

[V-55] _Stephens' Yucatan_, vol. i., pp. 188, 221-2.

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

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

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

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

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

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

[V-62] _Larenaudiere_, _Mex. et Guat._, p. 321; _Baril_, _Mexique_, p.
129; _Wappaeus_, _Geog. u. Stat._, p. 144. 'Autour de cette grande
ville (Uxmal), dans un rayon de plusieurs lieues, l'oeil admirait les
cites puissantes de Nohcacab, de Chetulul, de Kabah, de Tanchi, de
Bokal et plus tard de Nohpat, dont les nobles omules se decoupaient
dans l'azur fonce du ciel, comme autant de fleurons dans la couronne
d'Uxmal.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. ii., p. 21.

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

[V-64] _Stephens' Yucatan_, vol. ii., pp. 16-28, with two plates in
addition to the cuts I have given. _Armin_, _Das Heutige Mex._, pp.
79-80, with two cuts, from Stephens. 'The summits of the neighboring
hills are capped with gray broken walls for many miles around.'
_Norman's Rambles in Yuc._, pp. 150-3, with view of front, copied in
_Democratic Review_, vol. xi., pp. 536-7; _Frost's Pict. Hist. Mex._,
pp. 78-9; and _Id._, _Great Cities_, pp. 291-5.

[V-65] _Stephens' Yucatan_, vol. ii., pp. 40-65, with plates. The cut
given in the text is also given by Baldwin, _Anc. Amer._, as a
frontispiece. _Willson's Amer. Hist._, p. 86.

[V-66] _Stephens' Yucatan_, vol. ii., pp. 72-8, with two plates, and
cut of painting. _Willson's Amer. Hist._, pp. 86-7.

[V-67] _Stephens' Yucatan_, vol. ii., pp. 83-4, 87-94.

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

[V-69] _Un Curioso_, in _Registro Yuc._, tom. i., pp. 207-8, 351.

[V-70] _Stephens' Yucatan_, vol. ii., pp. 249, 258-61, 130-5, with
four plates illustrating the ruins of Chunhuhu. At Mani 'a pillory of
a conical shape, built of stones, and to the southward rises a very
ancient palace.' _Soza_, in _Rio's Description_, p. 7. 'On voit encore
pres de Mani les restes d'un edifice construit sur une colline. On
appelle cette ruine le temple _de las monjas del fuego_.' _Waldeck_,
_Voy. Pitt._, p. 48.

[V-71] Authorities on Chichen Itza. _Landa_, _Relacion_, pp.
340-7,--Landa describing the ruins from personal observation, having
been bishop of Merida for several years, and died in the country in
1579; _Friederichsthal_, in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1841, tom.
xcii., pp. 300, 302, 304-6,--this author having visited Chichen in
1840, directed thereto by the advice of Mr Stephens, who had heard
rumors of the existence of extensive remains; _Stephens' Yucatan_,
vol. ii., pp. 282-324,--whose visit was from March 11 to 29, 1842, and
whose description, as usual, is much more complete than that of other
explorers; _Norman's Rambles in Yuc._, pp. 104-28,--the corresponding
survey having lasted from February 10 to 14, 1842; _Charnay_, _Ruines
Amer._, pp. 339-46, phot. 26-34,--from an exploration in 1858. Thomas
Lopez Medel is also mentioned in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1843,
tom. xcvii., pp. 38, 43, as having visited Chichen by authority of the
Guatemalan government. Other authors who publish accounts of Chichen,
made up from the works of the preceding actual explorers, are as
follows: _Armin_, _Das Heutige Mex._, pp. 80-3; _Baldwin's Anc.
Amer._, pp. 140-4; _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom.
ii., p. 15; _Frost's Great Cities_, pp. 282-91; _Morelet_, _Voyage_,
tom. i., pp. 186, 193; _Willson's Amer. Hist._, pp. 79-82; _Davis'
Antiq. Amer._, p. 6; _Wappaeus_, _Geog. u. Stat._, p. 144; _Mayer's
Mex. Aztec, etc._, vol. ii., p. 179, cut; _Democratic Review_, vol.
xi., pp. 534-6; _Gallatin_, in _Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact._, vol.
i., p. 174; _Schott_, in _Smithsonian Rept._, 1871, pp. 423-4.

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

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

[V-74] 'L'edifice appele _la casa de las Monjas_ (la maison des
nonnes) est long de 157 pieds, large de 86, haut de 47. Dans la partie
inferieure, il n'y a pas de trace d'ouverture. L'etage superieur a des
chambres nombreuses; les linteaux des portes sont ornes
d'hieroglyphes.' _Friederichsthal_, in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._,
1841, tom. xcii., p. 305. 'La porte (east front), surmontee de
l'inscription du palais, possede en outre une ornementation de
clochetons de pierre qui rappellent, comme ceux des coins de plusieurs
edifices, la maniere chinoise ou japonaise. Au-dessus, se trouve un
magnifique medaillon representant un chef la tete ceinte d'un diademe
de plumes; quant a la vaste frise qui entoure le palais, elle est
composee d'une foule de tetes enormes representant des idoles, dont le
nez est lui-meme enrichi d'une figure parfaitement dessinee. Ces tetes
sont separees par des panneaux de mosaique en croix, assez communs
dans le Yucatan.' 'Le developpement du palais et de la pyramide est
d'environ soixante-quinze metres.' _Charnay_, _Ruines Amer._, pp.
342-3. Photograph 30 shows the eastern front, and 29 the northern, of
the wing; 26 the north side of the building _a_; 27 the eastern, and
28 the southern front of the Iglesia, _b_. 'La facade (eastern) est
meme d'un beau caractere, et la composition de la porte avec le
bas-relief qui la surmonte est pleine d'une grandeur sauvage, d'un
effet saisissant. Mieux traites que dans les exemples precedents,
l'appareil des parements est plus regulier, et il presente cette
particularite tres-remarquable, qu'il s'accorde exactement avec la
decoration.' _Viollet-le-Duc_, in _Id._, p. 60. East wing 32 by 50
feet, and 20 feet high. 'Over the door-way ... is a heavy lintel of
stone, containing two double rows of hieroglyphics, with a sculptured
ornament intervening. Above these are the remains of hooks carved in
stone, with raised lines of drapery running through them ... over
which, surrounded by a variety of chaste and beautifully executed
borders, encircled within a wreath, is a female figure in a sitting
posture, in basso-relievo, having a head-dress of feathers, cords, and
tassels, and the neck ornamented.' Building _a_, 10x35x20 feet;
building _b_, 13x22x36 feet. Main platform 75x100 feet. 'On the
eastern end of these rooms (in 1st story over the solid basement) is a
hall running transversely, four feet wide ... one side of which is
filled with a variety of sculptured work, principally rosettes and
borders, with rows of small pilasters; having three square recesses.'
_Norman's Rambles in Yuc._, pp. 169-73, with view of eastern front of
wing, and of north front of the whole structure. 'Over the doorway
(eastern front) are twenty small cartouches of hieroglyphics in four
rows, five in a row.' _Stephens' Yucatan_, vol. ii., p. 293, with
plates of eastern front, northern front, and the Iglesia.

[V-75] _Akab-Tzib_ and not _Akatzeeb_, as Stephens spells it.
_Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. ii., p. 12;
_Stephens' Yucatan_, vol. ii., pp. 291-2, with plate of front and of
the sculptured lintel. 'Those (rooms) fronting the south are the most
remarkable, the inner doorways having each a stone lintel of an
unusually large size, measuring thirty-two inches wide, forty-eight
long, and twelve deep; having on its inner side a sculptured figure of
an Indian in full dress, with cap and feathers, sitting upon a
cushioned seat, finely worked; having before him a vase containing
flowers, with his right hand extended over it, his left resting upon
the side of the cushion--the whole bordered with hieroglyphics. The
front part of this lintel contains two rows of hieroglyphics. 43x150x20
feet, walls 3 feet thick. _Norman's Rambles in Yuc._, pp. 123-4.
'Un enorme batiment pres des Nonnes, mais totalemente denue de
sculptures.' _Charnay_, _Ruines Amer._, p. 344.

[V-76] _Stephens' Yucatan_, vol. ii., pp. 311-17, with plates of north
front of the castle and its pyramid, and the interior of the room,
besides the cut of the monsters' heads given in my text. Bishop Landa
gives a description probably intended for this edifice and even gives
a plan of it. His account, except in mentioning four stairways, agrees
very well with that of later visitors, and is as follows: 'This
edifice has four stairways facing the four parts of the world; they
are 33 feet wide, each having 91 steps, very difficult of ascent. The
steps have the same height and width as ours. Each stairway has two
low balustrades, two feet wide, of good stonework like all the
building. The edifice is not sharp-cornered, because from the ground
upward between the balustrades the cubic blocks are rounded, ascending
by degrees and elegantly narrowing the building. There was, when I saw
it, at the foot of each balustrade a fierce serpent's mouth very
strangely worked. Above the stairways there is on the summit a small
level platform in which is an edifice of four rooms. Three of them
extend round without interruption, each having a door in the middle
and being covered with an arch. The northern room is of peculiar form,
and has a corridor of great pillars. The middle one, which must have
been a kind of little court between the rooms, has a door which leads
to the northern corridor and is closed with wood at the top, and
served for burning perfumes. In the entrance of this door or corridor
is a kind of coat of arms sculptured in stone, which I could not well
understand.' _Landa_, _Relacion_, pp. 342-4. 550 feet in circumference
at the base, its sides facing the cardinal points. 'The angles and
sides were beautifully laid with stones of an immense size, gradually
lessening, as the work approached the summit.' Stairways on north and
east 30 feet wide and narrowing toward the top. The south and west
<DW72>s also mount in steps, each four feet high. Monsters' heads at
foot of eastern stairway. <DW72> 100 feet; building 42 feet square;
stone door-jambs have holes drilled through their inner angles;
interior walls are plastered and painted with figures now very dim;
roof perfectly flat and covered with soil. This author in his whole
description evidently confounds the north with the east front.
_Norman's Rambles in Yuc._, pp. 115-17, with view of pyramid.
Charnay's phot. 32 gives a view of the Chateau. 120 feet high, 159
feet square at base; platform 60 feet square; 80 steps in the
stairway. _Friederichsthal_, in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1841,
tom. xcii., p. 304.

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

[V-78] _Stephens' Yucatan_, vol. ii., pp. 303-11. Plates giving a
general view of the Gymnasium, the front of the building on the
eastern wall, and the painted and sculptured figures. 'Le monument se
composait autrefois de deux pyramides perpendiculaires et paralleles,
d'un developpement de cent dix metres environ, avec plate-forme
disposee pour les spectateurs. Aux extremites deux petits edifices
semblables, sur une esplanade de six metres de hauteur, devaient
servir aux juges, ou d'habitation aux guardiens du gymnase.' Of the
two chambers on the eastern wall, 'la seconde, entiere aujourd'hui,
est couverte de peintures. Ce sont des guerriers et des pretres,
quelques-uns avec barbe noire et drapes dans de vastes tuniques, la
tete ornee de coiffures diverses. Les couleurs employees sont le noir,
le jaune, le rouge, et le blanc.... Dans le bas et en dehors du
monument se trouve la salle dont nous donnons les bas-reliefs, qui
sont certainement ce qu'il y a de plus curieux a Chichen-Itza. Toutes
les figures en bas-relief, sculptees sur les murailles de cette salle,
ont conserve le type de la race indienne existante.' _Charnay_,
_Ruines Amer._, pp. 140-1. Phot. 33 and 34 show the sculptured
procession of tigers and that of human figures, of which I have given
a portion in my text. 'On observera que les joints des pierres ne sont
pas _coupes_ conformement a l'habitude des constructeurs
d'_appareils_, mais que les pierres, ne formant pas _liaison_,
presentent plusieurs joints les uns au-dessus des autres, et ne
tiennent que par l'adherence des mortiers, qui les reunit au blocage
interieur. Par le fait, ces parements ne sont autre chose qu'une
decoration, un revetement colle devant un massif.' _Viollet-le-Duc_,
in _Id._, pp. 48-9. Walls stand on foundations about 16 feet high;
columns two feet in diameter; walls 250x16x26 feet and 130 feet
apart; building of southern wall (eastern, Norman having completely
lost his reckoning at Chichen in the points of the compass) 24 feet
high; rings two feet thick; line of rubbish in form of a curve
connecting main and end walls (_c_ and _d_). General view of the
Temple and cut of the ring. _Norman's Rambles in Yuc._, pp. 111-15.
Walls 262x18x27 feet. _Friederichsthal_, in _Nouvelles Annales des
Voy._, 1841, tom. xcii., p. 305.

[V-79] Cuts from _Stephens' Yucatan_, vol. ii., pp. 300-1. Terrace 55
by 62 feet; stairway 20 feet wide; building 23 by 43. _Ib._
'Foundations of about twenty feet in height, which were surrounded and
sustained by well-cemented walls of hewn stone with curved angles' 240
feet in circumference. Building 21 by 40 feet. 'Across these halls
were beams of wood, creased as if they had been worn by
hammock-ropes.' _Norman's Rambles in Yuc._, pp. 124-5. Foundation only
two metres high, but photograph 31 shows this to be an error.
_Charnay_, _Ruines Amer._, p. 344. 'Deux petits temples (E and D),
ayant leur facade au sud et a l'est; le vestibule du premier est orne
d'hieroglyphes.' _Friederichsthal_, in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._,
1841, tom. xcii., p. 305.

[V-80] _Stephens' Yucatan_, vol. ii., pp. 298-300, with view of the
building. This author is at fault so far as dimensions are concerned,
since 4 and 5 feet, the width of the corridors, and 3-3/4 feet, half the
diameter of the solid central mass, exceed 11 feet, half the diameter
of the whole building, to say nothing of the two walls. 'Bati en
maniere de mur a limacon.' _Charnay_, _Ruines Amer._, p. 344. Top of
first terrace, 30 feet high, 125 feet square; second terrace 50 feet
square and 12 feet high; on this terrace is a pyramidical square 50
feet high, divided into rooms; on the centre of this square is the
Dome--'three conic structures, one within the other, a space of six
feet intervening; each cone communicating with the others by doorways,
the inner one forming the shaft. At the height of about ten feet, the
cones are united by means of transoms of zuporte. Around these cones
are evidences of spiral stairs, leading to the summit.' It is clear
that either Stephens' description or that of Norman is very incorrect.
Norman compares this Dome to a 'Greenan Temple' in Donegal, Ireland.
_Rambles in Yuc._, pp. 118-19, with a cut which agrees with Stephens'
cut and text. Tower 50 feet high, 36 feet in diameter; surrounding
wall 756 feet in circumference and twenty-five feet high.
_Friederichsthal_, in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1841, tom. xcii.,
p. 305.

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

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

[V-83] _Wappaeus_, _Geog. u. Stat._, p. 144; _Norman's Rambles in
Yuc._, p. 87; _Stephens' Yucatan_, vol. ii., pp. 340-4.

[V-84] _Stephens' Yucatan_, vol. i., pp. 272-85; _Norman's Rambles in
Yuc._, pp. 146-7; _Waldeck_, _Voy. Pitt._, pp. 22, 70, 73, 102-3, 111;
_Bradford's Amer. Antiq._, p. 103; _Wappaeus_, _Geog. u. Stat._, p.
144.

[V-85] _Stephens' Yucatan_, vol. i., pp. 130-9, with cuts; _Baldwin's
Anc. Amer._, pp. 127-9, with cuts. Near the village of Telchaquillo.
_Wappaeus_, _Geog. u. Stat._, p. 144. Surrounded by a ditch that can be
traced for three miles. _Morelet_, _Voyage_, tom. i., pp. 194-5. 'Se
dice que Mayapan ... estaba murada, pero fue demolida hasta sus
cimientos, y unicamente los grandes montones de piedras indican que
fue una gran poblacion.' _Un Curioso_, in _Registro Yuc._, tom. i., p.
206.

[V-86] 'Los espanoles poblaron aqui una ciudad, y llamaronla Merida,
por la estraneza y grandeza de los edificios.' As to the size of the
pyramid mentioned it is 'mas de dos carreras de caballo'--that is
twice as far as a horse can run without taking breath--in extent. The
cement is made with the juice of the bark of a certain tree, 'El
primero edificio de los quatro quartos nos dio el adelantado Montejo a
nosotros hecho un monte aspero, limpiamosle y emos hecho en el con su
propria piedra un razonable monesterio todo de piedra y una buena
yglesia que llamamos la Madre de Dios.' _Landa_, _Relacion_, pp.
330-8, with cut. 'Entre aquel cerro, y otro como el hecho a mano, que
esta a la parte Oriental de la Ciudad; se determino fuesse fundada, y
eran tan grandes, que con la piedra que auia en el que estaban, se
obraron quantos edificios ay en la Ciudad, con que quedo todo el sitio
llano, que es la Placa mayor oy, y sus quadras en contorno, y con la
del de la parte Oriental, se edifico nuestro Conuento por caerle
cercano, despues se han hecho muchas casas, y todo el Conuento, y
Iglesia de la Mejorada, que tambien es nuestro, y tiene material para
otros muy muchos.' _Cogolludo_, _Hist. Yuc._, p. 138. 'Auia junto
adonde esta aora la Placa entre otros cerros, vno que llamaban el
grande de los Kues, adoratorio que era de Idolos lleno de arboleda.'
_Id._, p. 149. Tihoo was built by the Tutul-Xius, and had a celebrated
temple to Baklum-Chaam, the Maya Priapus. _Brasseur de Bourbourg_,
_Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. ii., pp. 8-9. 'En el patio del convento de S.
Francisco esta una cruz.... En la huerta del mismo convento se ven aun
algunas piedras curiosamente labradas con cotas y morreones a la
antigua romana, y punica.' _Alegre_, _Hist. Comp. de Jesus_, tom. ii.,
p. 112. The buildings were 'construits en pierres de taille fort
grandes. On ignore qui les a batis; il parait que ce fut avant la
naissance de Jesus-Christ, car il y avait au-dessus des arbres aussi
gros que ceux qui croissaient au pied. Ces batiments ont cinq toises
de hauteur, et sont construits en pierres seches; au sommet de ces
edifices sont quatre appartements divises en cellules comme celles des
moines; ils ont vingt pieds de long et dix de large; les jambages des
portes sont d'un seul morceau, et le haut est voute.' _Bienvenida_,
_Lettre_, in _Ternaux-Compans_, _Voy._, serie i., tom. x., pp. 310-11.
'In different parts of the city are the remains of Indian buildings.'
_Stephens' Cent. Amer._, vol. ii., p. 398. Montanus, _Nieuwe Weereld_,
p. 259, says that Merida is built on the ruins of Mayapan. Malte-Brun,
_Precis de la Geog._, tom. vi., p. 465, confounds Merida with the
ruins farther south, mentioned by Padre Soza. See mention in _Norman's
Rambles in Yuc._, pp. 45-8; _Waldeck_, _Voy. Pitt._, pp. 23, 55-6;
_Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1843, tom. xcvii., p. 37; _Gallatin_, in
_Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact._, vol. i., p. 174; _Sivers_,
_Mittelamerika_, pp. 243-4; _Morelet_, _Voyage_, tom. i., p. 269;
_Stephens' Yucatan_, vol. i., pp. 94-8.

[V-87] _Stephens' Yucatan_, vol. ii., p. 440-4, vol. i., p. 127, with
plate; _Wappaeus_, _Geog. u. Stat._, p. 144. 'Les monuments les plus
anciens, dont les restes sont composes d'enormes blocs de pierres
brutes, poses quelquefois les uns sur les autres, sans aucun ciment
qui les unisse. Tels sont les edifices d'un lieu voisin de l'hacienda
d'Ake, situee a 27 milles a l'est-sud-est de Merida.' _Friederichsthal_,
in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1841, tom. xcii., p. 300.

[V-88] Stephens speaks of the 'sternness and harshness of expression'
of the cara gigantesca. 'A stone one foot six inches long protrudes
from the chin, intended, perhaps, for burning copal on, as a sort of
altar.' _Yucatan_, vol. ii., pp. 434-6, with plate. 'Les alentours
sont parsemes de pyramides artificielles, et deux, entre autres, sont
les plus considerables de la peninsule.' M. Charnay finds fault with
Catherwood for representing the colossal head as in a desert with a
raging tiger and savages armed with bows and arrows in the foreground.
'A force de vouloir faire de la couleur locale, on fausse l'histoire,
et on deroute la science.' He pronounces the face 'd'un genre
cyclopeen. Ce sont de vastes entailles, especes de modelages en
ciment.' _Ruines Amer._, pp. 319-22, phot. 23-5. 'C'est une sorte de
gros blocage dont les moellons, poses avec art par le sculpteur au
milieu d'un mortier tres-dur, ont forme les joues, la bouche, le nez,
les yeux. Cette tete colossale est reellement une batisse enduite.'
'Les traits sont beaux, la bouche est bien faite, les yeux grands sans
etre saillants, le front, couvert d'un ornement, ne semble point
fuyant. Cette tete etait peinte comme toute l'architecture mexicaine.'
_Viollet-le-Duc_, in _Id._, pp. 46-7. Dr Schott pronounces Mr
Stephens' description unsatisfactory, especially his calling the face
harsh and stern in expression. The features are feminine in their
cast, and of the narrow rather than of the broad type. 'The whole face
exhibits a very remarkable regularity and conforms strictly to the
universally accepted principles of beauty.' 'The head-dress in the
shape of a mitre is encircled just above the forehead by a band, which
is fastened in front by a triple locket or tassel.' This author
identities the face as that of Itzamatul, the semi-divine founder of
Izamal, and explains the signification of each particular feature. His
treatise is perhaps as intelligible and rational as most speculation
on such topics, but it is to be noted that the Dr founds his
conclusions on Clavigero's description of the Toltecs! It would be
hard to prove that the cara gigantesca does not represent this
particular hero, and that the large ears are not emblems of wisdom. Dr
Schott pronounces it 'hazardous' to attempt to connect this face with
any other than Itzamatul, and I prefer to run no risks. _Smithsonian
Rept._, 1869, pp. 389-93. Norman, _Rambles in Yuc._, p. 79, speaks of
a well on the platform of one of the pyramids. 'Dans ses flancs, la
colline sacree recelait de vastes appartements, des galeries et un
temple souterrain, destines, dit-on, aux mysteres de la religion et a
servir de necropole aux cadavres des pretres et des princes.' The
grave of Zamna was here, and his followers erected the pyramid.
_Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. i., p. 79. History of
the pyramids, see _Id._, tom. ii., pp. 47-8. 'On trouva dans un
edifice en demolition une grande urne a trois anses, recouverte
d'ornements argentes exterieurement, au fond duquel il y avait des
cendres provenant d'un corps brule, parmi lesquelles nous trouvames
des objets d'art en pierre.' 'Statues en demi-bosse, modelees en
ciment que je dis se trouver dans les contreforts, et qui sont
d'hommes de haute taille.' _Landa_, _Relacion_, pp. 326-30, with plan.
'Ay en este pueblo de Ytzamal cinco cuyos o cerros muy altos, todos
levantados de piedra seca, con sus fuercas y reparos, que ayudan a
levantar la piedra en alto, y no se ven edificios enteros oy, mas los
senales y vestigios estan patentes en uno dellos de la parte de
mediodia.' One altar was in honor of their king or false god
Ytzmat-ul, and had on it the figure of a hand, being called _Kab-ul_,
or 'working hand.' Another mound and temple in the northern part of
the city, the highest now standing, was called _Kinich-Kakmo_, or 'sun
with fiery rayed face.' Another, on which the convent is founded, is
_Ppapp-Hol-Chac_, 'house of heads and lightnings.' Another in the
south called _Hunpictok_, 'captain with an army of 8000 flints.'
_Lizana_, _Devocionario_, 1663, in _Landa_, _Relacion_, pp. 348-64.

[V-89] _Stephens' Yucatan_, vol. ii., pp. 137-232, with plates and
cuts; _Wappaeus_, _Geog. u. Stat._, p. 144; _Baldwin's Anc. Amer._, pp.
101, 146-7; _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. ii., pp.
20-3.

[V-90] On these east coast buildings seen by Cordova, Grijalva, and
Cortes, see _Diaz_, _Itineraire_, in _Ternaux-Compans_, _Voy._, serie
i., tom. x., pp. 5-9; and in _Icazbalceta_, _Col. de Doc._, tom. i.,
pp. 282-6; _Cortes_, _Vida_, in _Id._, p. 339; _Oviedo_, _Hist. Gen._,
tom. i., pp. 497, 505-7; _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. i., p.
352; _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec. ii., lib. iii., cap. i.; _Gomara_,
_Conq. Mex._, fol. 22-4; _Id._, _Hist. Ind._, fol. 60; _Peter Martyr_,
dec. iv., lib. iii.; _Cogolludo_, _Hist. Yuc._, p. 4; _Brasseur de
Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iv., p. 41; _Morelet_, _Voyage_,
tom. i., p. 181; _Sivers_, _Mittelamerika_, pp. 241-4; _Folsom_, in
_Cortes_, _Despatches_, p. 20.

[V-91] _Voy. Pitt._, p. 102.

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

[V-93] 'They founde auncient towers there, and the ruines of such as
hadde beene broken downe and destroyed, seeming very auncient: but one
aboue the rest, whereto they ascended by 18 steppes or staires, as
they ascende to famous, and renowned temples.' _Peter Martyr_, dec.
iv., lib. iii. Grijalva found a tower 'xviii gradi de altura et tutta
massiza al pede et tenia a torno clxxx piedi, et incima de essa era
una torre piccola la quale era de statura de homini doi uno sopra
laltro.' _Diaz_, _Itinerario_, in _Icazbalceta_, _Col. de Doc._, tom.
i., pp. 284, 287. See also the authorities referred to in note 89.
_Stephens' Yucatan_, vol. ii., pp. 362-80, with cut; _Larenaudiere_,
_Mex. et Guat._, p. 321; _Gondra_, in _Album Mex._, tom. i., p. 239;
_Mayer's Mex., Aztec, etc._, vol. ii., p. 169; _Baril_, _Mexique_, p.
129; _Wappaeus_, _Geog. u. Stat._, p. 145.

[V-94] Cordova found here in 1517 'torres de piedra con grados y
capillas cubiertas de madera y paja en que por gentil orden estauan
puestos muchos idolos, que parecian mugeres.' _Gomara_, _Hist. Ind._,
fol. 60; _Cortes_, _Vida_, in _Icazbalceta_, _Col. de Doc._, tom. i.,
p. 339; _Stephens' Yucatan_, vol. ii., pp. 415-17, with plate.

[V-95] _Waldeck_, _Voy. Pitt._, p. 102. 'Une ville entiere offre ses
ruines aux investigations des archeologues.' _Baril_, _Mexique_, p.
129; _Larenaudiere_, _Mex. et Guat._, p. 321.

[V-96] _Dampier's Voyages_, vol. ii., pt. ii., pp. 10-11; _Stephens'
Yucatan_, vol. ii., p. 418.

[V-97] 'Tout pres du rio Lagarto se voient deux pyramides, au sommet
desquelles croissent maintenant des arbres eleves et touffus.'
_Baril_, _Mexique_, p. 129; _Waldeck_, _Voy. Pitt._, p. 102.

[V-98] _Stephens' Yucatan_, vol. ii., pp. 427-30, with plate.

[V-99] _Stephens' Yucatan_, vol. i., pp. 189, 199-220; _Wappaeus_,
_Geog. u. Stat._, p. 144.

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

[V-101] _Cogolludo_, _Hist. Yuc._, p. 193; _Stephens' Yucatan_, vol.
ii., pp. 341, 122, vol. i., p. 415; _Landa_, _Relacion_, pp. 344, 330;
_Lizana_, in _Id._, p. 358; _Charnay_, _Ruines Amer._, pp. 321-2;
_Registro Yuc._, tom. i., p. 366.

[V-102] 'La piedra _margosa_ de que estan formados tales edificios, es
ademas generalmente considerada como un material muy inferior para la
construccion.' _Friederichsthal_, in _Dicc. Univ._, tom. x., p. 292.
The blocks 'ont une transparence troublee comme celle du gypse. Il est
probable ... que c'est du veritable carbonate calcaire.' _Zavala_, in
_Antiq. Mex._, tom. i., <DW37>. ii., p. 34. 'A soft coralline limestone
of a comparatively recent geological formation, probably of the
Tertiary period.' _Foster's Pre-Hist. Races_, p. 398.

[V-103] 'La poca mezcla que se advierte en ellos, es fina, tersa y tan
compacta por su particular beneficio, que tomada entre los dedos una
pastilla, cuyo grueso es poco mayor que el de un peso fuerte, da sumo
trabajo quebrantarla.' _L. G._, in _Registro Yuc._, tom. i., p. 277.
'Ces mortiers sont faits avec une chaux hydraulique presque pure, et
ont une si complete adherence, soit dans les massifs, soit meme
lorsqu'ils sont appliques comme enduits, comme a Palenque, qu'a peine
si le marteau peut les entamer.' _Viollet-le-Duc_, in _Charnay_,
_Ruines Amer._, pp. 59-60.

[V-104] Jones says 'The term "triangular _Arch_" cannot be admitted by
the language of Architecture; he (Mr Stephens) might as well have
written _triangular semicircle_, terms distinctly opposed to each
other.' _Hist. Anc. Amer._, p. 100. 'Los techos, sin variacion alguna
entre si, representan una figura ojiva, muy conocida de los arabes, y
repetidamente citada por el recomendable Victor Hugo en su obra de
Nuestra Sra. de Paris.' _L. G._, in _Registro Yuc._, tom. i., p. 277.
'On dit en espagnol de _boveda_, qui n'exprime aucunement cette
architecture toute particuliere; _boveda_ veut dire voute, et ces
interieurs n'y ressemblent nullement; ce sont deux murs paralleles
jusqu'a une hauteur de trois metres, obliquant alors l'un vers
l'autre, et termines par une dalle de trente centimetres.' _Charnay_,
_Ruines Amer._, pp. 342-3.

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

[V-106] Mr Jones believes that the ornaments on the Maya facades must
have been sculptured after the stones in a rough state had been put in
place, and not before, as Mr Stephens thinks. _Hist. Anc. Amer._, p.
92. The following is Mr Waldeck's not very clear explanation of the
mode of decorating these facades. 'Voulaient-ils couvrir une facade
d'ornements ou de figures symboliques, ils commencaient par peindre la
muraille toute entiere de la couleur qu'ils avaient choisie; presque
toujours c'etait le rouge qui formait le fond.... Cette premiere
operation terminee, on posait sur le mur peint la marqueterie en
pierre qui devait servir d'ornement et on la badigeonnait avec plus de
soin que le fond. Le bleu etait employe dans ce travail.' _Voy.
Pitt._, pp. 72-3. 'In the Mayan delineations of the human countenance
the contracted facial angle is as remarkable as in the paintings of
the Aztecs.' _Prichard's Researches_, vol. v., p. 346. See _Foster's
Pre-Hist. Races_, p. 302. 'On retrouve chez quelques-uns de ces
Indiens les traits bien accentues de la race au front fuyant et au nez
busque, qui construisit les palais d'Uxmal, de Palenque, et de
Chichen-Itza. Je fus frappe de cette analogie, quoique la similitude
soit loin d'etre parfaite, les artistes nationaux ayant exagere
vraisemblablement certains caracteres qui constituaient alors l'ideal
de la beaute.' _Morelet_, _Voyage_, tom. i., p. 147.

[V-107] _Foster's Pre-Hist. Races_, pp. 212-13.

[V-108] 'Depuis le cap Catoche jusqu'au pied de la Cordillere
centrale, analogie frappante dans le caractere, l'ensemble et les
proportions des diverses parties des ouvrages.' 'Quant a l'impression
que fait eprouver l'examen de l'architecture de tous ces edifices, je
dois ajouter que les idees fines de l'artiste ont evidemment ete
executees d'une maniere qui ne les rend nullement.' 'Toutefois on
rencontre, notamment a Uxmal, des preuves suffisantes qu'ils etaient
parvenus a plus de dexterite dans quelques-unes de leurs sculptures.
On reconnait leur addresse a representer les formes humaines, dans les
idoles et les figures en argile.... Ces ouvrages sont superieurs, sous
tous les rapports de l'art, a tout ce que cette nation a produit.'
_Friederichsthal_, in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1841, tom. xcii.,
pp. 303, 312. 'Esa bella y elegante arquitectura, esos soberbios e
imponentes adornos, superiores a todo lo que hasta hoy ha podido verse
y concebirse.' 'Ruinas soberbias, que agobian la imaginacion y oprimen
el entendimiento.' _Id._, in _Dicc. Univ._, tom. x., p. 291. 'The
splendid temples and palaces still standing attest the power of the
priests and of the nobles; no trace remains of the huts in which dwelt
the mass of the nation.' _Gallatin_, in _Amer. Ethno. Soc.,
Transact._, vol. i., p. 174. Uxmal 'the American Palmyra.' _Wappaeus_,
_Geog. u. Stat._, p. 144. 'El primer golpe de vista de su conjunto, es
grandioso, es imponente. Examinandolos luego en detall, causa
admiracion el distinto orden de arquitectura que se nota en cada
edificio, la elegancia caprichosa de sus formas, la abundancia y
riqueza del material que interior y exteriormente es todo de piedra de
silleria, el lujo prodigioso de los adornos variados hasta lo infinito
de un modo raro, original y nunca visto, y la perfeccion y maestria
con que todo ha sido ejecutado.' 'Notase en Uxmal ... la infancia del
arte en punto a estatuaria.' _M. F. P._, in _Registro Yuc._, tom. i.,
pp. 363, 365. 'En somme, les ruines d'Uxmal nous paraissent etre la
derniere expression de la civilisation americaine; nulle part un tel
assemblage de ruines, maisons particulieres, temples et palais.'
_Charnay_, _Ruines Amer._, p. 374. 'La arquitectura de Uxmal brillante
en su perspectiva, es complicada y simetrica en sus dibujos, robusta
en sus cimientos y terraplenes, simbolica en sus geroglificos y
figuras humanas ... y bastante delicada en sus cornizas y molduras.'
_L. G._, in _Registro Yuc._, tom. i., p. 277. 'The sculpture at Uxmal
is not only as fine, but distinctly of a Grecian character.' _Jones'
Hist. Anc. Amer._, p. 107. 'Plusieurs de ces constructions ne laissent
rien a desirer au point de vue du bon gout et des regles de l'art.'
_Morelet_, _Voyage_, tom. i., p. 193. M. Viollet-le-Duc's conclusions
and speculations are mostly directed to prove that the builders were
of mixed race, white and yellow, Aryan and Turanian. He supports his
theory by a study of the faces among the sculptured decorations, and
by pointing out in the buildings traditions of structures in wood, and
also the use of mortar, the use of wood and mortar being peculiar, as
he claims, to different races. _Charnay_, _Ruines Amer._, introd.
'These antiquities show that this section of the continent was
anciently occupied by a people admirably skilled in the arts of
masonry, building, and architectural decoration.' _Baldwin's Anc.
Amer._, p. 101. 'The builders of the ruins of the city of Chi-Chen and
Uxmal excelled in the mechanic and fine arts. It is obvious that they
were a cultivated, and doubtless a very numerous people.' _Norman's
Rambles in Yuc._, p. 175. 'Ohne Zweifel zu den herrlichsten Amerikas
gehoeren.--Welch riesenhafte Bauten fuer eine Nation, die alles mit
steinernen Instrumenten arbeitete!' _Heller_, _Reisen_, p. 260.

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

[V-110] 'Dilato la fundacion de Uxmal a 150 o 200 anos antes del de
1535, en que tuvo efecto la conquista del pais por los espanoles.' _L.
G._, in _Registro Yuc._, tom. i., p. 276. 'Aunque el mar de conjeturas
que las cubre sea muy ancho, y de libre navegacion para todo el mundo,
creo, sin embargo, que lo menos ridiculo y mas acertado es no
engolfarse en el.' _M. F. P._, in _Id._, p. 363. Cogolludo found in
the Casa del Adivino at Uxmal traces of recent sacrificial offerings.
_Hist. Yuc._, p. 193. 'Fassen wir nun diess alles zusammmen, so haben
wir in den Ruinen Uxmals echte Denkmaeler tultekischer Kunst von einem
Alter von ungefaehr 800 Jahren.' _Heller_, _Reisen_, p. 264. 'Elles
paraissent, en majeure partie, appartenir a l'architecture tolteque et
dater d'au moins mille ans.' _Baril_, _Mexique_, p. 128,.
Friederichsthal, in _Registro Yuc._, tom. ii., pp. 437-43, and many
others regard the Yucatan and other Central American ruins as the work
of the Toltecs. See vol. ii., cap. ii., and vol. v. of this work on
this point. Uxmal generally regarded as having been founded by
Ahcuitok Tutul-Xiu between 870 and 894 A. D. _Brasseur de Bourbourg_,
_Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. ii., p. 22. Chichen seems older than the other
ruins. The Maya MS. places its discovery between 360 and 432 A. D.
_Stephens' Yucatan_, vol. ii., p. 323. 'Uxmal is placed by us as the
last built of all the Ancient Cities as yet discovered on the Western
Continent.' _Jones' Hist. Anc. Amer._, pp. 104, 101. 'Evidently the
city of Chi-Chen was an antiquity when the foundations of the
Parthenon at Athens, and the Cloaca Maxima at Rome, were being laid.'
The ruins of Yucatan 'belong to the remotest antiquity. Their age is
not to be measured by hundreds, but by thousands of years.' _Norman's
Rambles in Yuc._, pp. 177-8. See _Waldeck_, _Voy. Pitt._, pp. 71,
97-8; _Prescott's Mex._, vol. iii., pp. 412-13; _Foster's Pre-Hist.
Races_, p. 398.




CHAPTER VI.

ANTIQUITIES OF TABASCO AND CHIAPAS, RUINS OF PALENQUE.

     GEOGRAPHICAL LIMITS -- PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY -- NO RELICS IN
     TABASCO -- RUINS OF PALENQUE -- EXPLORATION AND
     BIBLIOGRAPHY -- NAME; NACHAN, CULHUACAN, OTOLUM, XIBALBA
     -- EXTENT, LOCATION, AND PLAN -- THE PALACE -- THE
     PYRAMIDAL STRUCTURE -- WALLS, CORRIDORS, AND COURTS --
     STUCCO BAS-RELIEFS -- TOWER -- INTERIOR BUILDINGS --
     SCULPTURED TABLET -- SUBTERRANEAN GALLERIES -- TEMPLE OF
     THE THREE TABLETS -- TEMPLE OF THE BEAU RELIEF -- TEMPLE
     OF THE CROSS -- STATUE -- TEMPLE OF THE SUN --
     MISCELLANEOUS RUINS AND RELICS -- RUINS OF OCOCINGO --
     WINGED GLOBE -- WOODEN LINTEL -- TERRACED PYRAMID --
     MISCELLANEOUS RUINS OF CHIAPAS -- CUSTEPEQUES, XIQUIPILAS,
     LAGUNA MORA, COPANABASTLA, AND ZITALA -- HUEHUETAN -- SAN
     CRISTOVAL -- REMAINS ON THE USUMACINTA -- COMPARISON
     BETWEEN PALENQUE AND THE CITIES OF YUCATAN -- ANTIQUITY OF
     PALENQUE -- CONCLUSION.


  [Sidenote: NO RELICS IN TABASCO.]

The next step, as antiquarian investigation is pushed westward along
the continental line, will lead us from the boundaries of Guatemala
and Yucatan to the isthmus of Tehuantepec. The included territory,
constituting the geographical basis of the present chapter, stretches
on the Atlantic shore from the Laguna de Terminos to Laguna de Santa
Ana, about one hundred and fifty miles, and on the Pacific a somewhat
less distance from the bar of Ayutla to the bar of Tonala The northern
and smaller portion--all in the low and flat tierra caliente--is
comprised in the state of Tabasco, with a part of El Carmen, a
province belonging politically, I believe, to Yucatan; while in the
south--a high and mountainous region, except a very narrow strip along
the Pacific border--we have the state of Chiapas, with its
south-eastern province of Soconusco, to the political possession of
which Guatemala, no less than her neighbor, has always laid claim.
Tabasco and Chiapas, like Yucatan, are states of the Mexican Republic,
although they are situated in what it is more convenient to term
Central America, and in a region treated in a preceding volume of this
work as a part of the Maya territory. This chapter will consequently
complete the description of southern, or Maya, antiquities, and bring
us to the study of Nahua monuments in the north.

Tabasco, a part of the aboriginal Anahuac Xicalanco, extends inland
seventy-five miles on an average throughout its whole length. It is
for the most part a low marshy plain--the American tierra caliente par
excellence--of the usual tropical fertility, covered with an exuberant
growth, but extremely unhealthy to all but natives, except while the
winter winds render the navigation of the coast waters dangerous. This
tract is traversed by two large rivers, flowing from the hilly country
farther inland, the Tabasco and Usumacinta, under several different
names, communicating with each other by many branches, and pouring, or
rather creeping, into the gulf through many mouths. In the annual
season of inundation from June to October, the whole country is
involved in a labyrinth of streams and sloughs, and travel by land
becomes impossible. The luxuriant tropical vegetation includes a
variety of valuable dye-woods, the export of which constitutes the
leading industry of the few towns located on the banks of the larger
streams. On the immediate coast some large towns and temples were seen
by the early voyagers, but I have no information that relics of any
kind have been discovered in modern times. It is true that no careful
explorations have been made, but the character of the country is not
promising, so far as ruined cities and other architectural monuments
are concerned. Indeed, it is not improbable that a large part of this
region was covered by a body of water similar to the Laguna de
Terminos, at a time when the great aboriginal Central American cities,
now far inland, were founded. Moreover, as state boundaries are not
very accurately laid down in the maps, and as the location of relics
by travelers is in many cases vague, it is quite possible that some of
the few miscellaneous monuments which I shall describe in this
chapter, are really within the limits of Tabasco instead of Chiapas.

As we go southward from the gulf coast, and reach the boundary of
Chiapas the face of the country changes rapidly from marshy flat to
undulating hills of gradually increasing height toward the Pacific,
retaining all the wonderful fertility and density of tropical forest
growth without the pestilential malaria and oppressive heat of the
plain below. Here is an earthly paradise, the charms of which have
been enjoyed with enthusiastic delight by the few lovers of nature who
have penetrated its solitudes.[VI-1]

  [Sidenote: EXPLORATION OF PALENQUE.]

  [Sidenote: BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PALENQUE.]

The natural advantages of this region seem to have been fully
appreciated by aboriginal Americans, for here they reared the temples
and palaces of one of their grandest cities, or religious centres,
which as a ruin under the name of Palenque has become famous
throughout the world, as it was doubtless throughout America in the
days of its pristine glory many centuries ago. Built on the heights
just mentioned, which may be appropriately termed foothills of the
lofty sierras beyond, its high places afforded a broad view over the
forest-covered plain below to the waters of the gulf. A detailed
account of the explorations by which the ruins of this city have been
brought to light, and of the numerous books and reports resulting
from such explorations, is given in the appended note.[VI-2] About
the year 1564 a Dominican missionary, with a few Tzendal natives who
had been converted to the true faith by his labors in their behalf,
chose what he deemed a suitable location for future evangelical
efforts, and founded the little town of Santo Domingo del Palenque,
some seventy miles north-east of San Cristoval, the state capital, on
a tributary of the Usumacinta, not over twenty miles, perhaps less,
from the head of navigation for canoes. Nearly two centuries later a
group of magnificent ruins, whose existence had been before utterly
unknown, at least to any but natives, was accidentally discovered
only a few leagues from the town in the midst of a dense forest. Since
their discovery in the middle of the eighteenth century the ruins have
been several times carefully explored both by public and private
enterprise, and all their prominent features have been clearly brought
to the knowledge of the world by means of illustrative plates and
descriptive text. Waldeck and Stephens are the best and most complete
authorities, but the reports of Antonio del Rio, Guillaume Dupaix,
Juan Galindo, and Desire Charnay afford also much valuable
information, especially in connection with the two standard
authorities mentioned. After a most careful study of all that has been
written on the subject, I shall endeavor to give the reader a clear
idea of ruined structures which have given rise to more faithful
investigation and absurd speculation than any others on the continent.

  [Sidenote: NAME OF THE ANCIENT CITY.]

The aboriginal name of the city represented by this group of ruins is
absolutely unknown. Palenque, the name by which it is known, is, as we
have seen, simply that of a modern village near by. The word
_palenque_ is of Spanish origin and means a stockade or enclosure of
palisades. How it came to be applied to the village of Santo Domingo
is not explained, but there is not the slightest reason to suppose
that it has any connection with the ruins.[VI-3] Sr Ordonez, already
mentioned, applies in his unpublished writings the name Nachan, 'city
of the Serpents,' the same as the Aztec Culhuacan, to Palenque, but so
far as can be known, without any authority whatever. This name has
been adopted without question by several writers, and it is quite
common to read of "the ruins of Culhuacan, improperly termed
Palenque."[VI-4] The old traditions of the primitive times when
Votan's great empire flourished, apply the name Xibalba not only to
the empire but to a great city which was its capital. Palenque, as the
greatest city of ancient times in this region which has left traces of
its existence, may have been identical with Xibalba; the difficulty of
disproving the identity is equaled only by that of proving it.[VI-5]
The natives, here as elsewhere, have often applied to the city a name
which simply indicates its ruined condition, calling it Otolum, 'place
of falling stones,' a name also borne by the small stream on which the
buildings stand. Waldeck writes it Ototiun, 'stone house,' which he
derives from the native words _otote_ and _tinnich_. Stephens calls
the stream Otula. If there were any good reasons for abandoning the
designation Palenque, and there certainly are none, Otolum would
perhaps be the most appropriate name to take its place.[VI-6] The name
Xhembobel-Moyos, from that of another modern village of this region,
seems sometimes to have been used by the natives in connection with
Palenque; and in a Tzendal manuscript the name Ghocan, 'sculptured
serpent,' is said to be used in the same connection; while one
author, drawing heavily on his imagination, speaks of the "immense
city of Culhuacan or Huehuetlapallan," thus identifying Palenque with
the famous city whence the Toltecs started in their traditional
migration to Anahuac.[VI-7] By the Spanish inhabitants and most of the
native population of Santo Domingo, the ruins are commonly spoken of
as the Casas de Piedra.

  [Sidenote: LOCATION OF THE RUINS.]

The structures that have attracted the attention of and been described
by all the successive explorers, are generally the same, and in their
descriptions less exaggeration is found in the earlier reports than
might naturally be expected. In extent, however, the city has
gradually dwindled in the successive reports from two hundred
buildings stretching over a space of twenty miles, to less than the
area of a modern town of humble pretensions. A few scattered mounds or
fragments in the surrounding country, which very probably exist, but
which have escaped the attention of modern travelers, eager to
investigate the more wonderful central structures, are probably the
only basis of the statements by the first explorers. The earlier
visitors doubtless counted each isolated fragment of hewn stone, or
other trace of the antiguos' work, as representing an aboriginal
edifice.[VI-8] Doubtless the condition of Palenque has changed
materially for the worse since its discovery. The rapidity with which
structures of solid stone are destroyed by the growth of a tropical
forest, when once the roots have gained a hold, is noted with surprise
by every traveler. In the work of destruction, moreover, nature has
not been unaided by man, and few visitors have been content to depart
without some relic broken from the walls. Del Rio, if we may credit
his own words, seems to have attempted a wholesale destruction of the
city; he says: "By dint of perseverance I effected all that was
necessary to be done, so that ultimately there remained neither a
window nor a doorway blocked up, a partition that was not thrown down,
nor a room, corridor, court, tower, nor subterranean passage in which
excavations were not effected from two to three varas in depth."[VI-9]

Palenque,--for I shall hereafter apply this name exclusively to the
ruins,--is situated about six or seven miles[VI-10] south-west of
Santo Domingo, and some sixty-five miles north-east of San Cristoval.
The topography of the region is not definitely marked out on the maps,
and the nomenclature of the streams and mountains is hopelessly
confused; but many parallel streams flow north-westward from the
hills, and unite to form a branch of the Usumacinta sometimes called
the Tulija. The Otolum on which the ruins stand seems to be a
tributary from the north of one of the parallel streams. The location
is consequently in a small valley high in the foothills, through which
runs a mountain stream of small size during the dry season, but
becoming a torrent when swollen by the rains.[VI-11]

The present extent of the ruins, their distribution, and their
relative size are shown in the accompanying plan, taken with slight
changes to be mentioned in their proper place, from Waldeck.[VI-12]
The structures that have been described or definitely located by any
author are numbered on the plan, the unnumbered ones being heaps of
ruins whose existence is mentioned by all, and the exact location of
which M. Waldeck in his long stay was able to fix. It will be seen
that the buildings all face the cardinal points with a very slight
variation. So thick is the forest on the site and over the very
buildings that no one of the latter can be seen from its neighbor or
from the adjoining hills. M. Morelet, on one occasion, lost his
bearings in the immediate vicinity, and although he did not perhaps go
a half-mile from the ruins, yet he had the greatest difficulty in
returning, and coming from a contrary direction thought at first he
had discovered new monuments of antiquity. When the trees are cut
down, as they have been several times, only a few years are necessary
to restore the forest to its original density, and each explorer has
to begin anew the work of clearing.[VI-13]

  [Illustration: PLAN OF PALENQUE.
   Zinco A L Bancroft & Co S F]

I begin with the largest of the structures, marked 1 on the plan, and
commonly known as the Palace, although of course nothing is known of
its original use. From a narrow level on the left bank of the stream
rises an artificial elevation of pyramidal form, with quadrangular
base measuring about two hundred and sixty by three hundred and ten
feet, and something over forty feet in height, with sloping sides
and traces of broad central stairways on the east and north.[VI-14]
The sides were faced with regular blocks of hewn stone, but this
facing has been so broken up and forced out of place by the roots of
trees that the original outline is hardly distinguishable. Dupaix,
both in text and drawings, divides the pyramid into three sections or
stories by two projections of a few feet running horizontally round
the sides; he puts a similar projection, or cornice, at the summit,
and covers the whole surface of the sides with a polished coating of
cement. That this state of things existed at the time of his
exploration is possible, although not very probable; yet it is not
unlikely that the <DW72>s were originally covered with plaster, or even
painted.

  [Illustration: Mode of constructing Pyramid.]

  [Sidenote: ORIGIN OF PYRAMIDAL STRUCTURES.]

The material of which the bulk of the mound is composed is not very
definitely stated by any visitor. I believe, however, that I have
discovered a peculiarity in the construction of this pyramid, which
may possibly throw some light on the origin of the pyramidal structure
so universal among the civilized nations of the continent. I think
that, perhaps with a view to raise this palace or temple above the
waters of the stream, four thick walls, possibly more, were built up
perpendicularly from the ground to the desired height; then, after
the completion of the walls to strengthen them, or during the progress
of the work to facilitate the raising of the stones, the interior was
filled with earth, and the exterior graded with the same material, the
whole being subsequently faced with hewn stone. My reasons for this
opinion may be illustrated by the annexed cut. All the authorities by
text and plates represent the pyramid with sloping stone-faced sides,
much damaged by the trees. Two of them, Stephens and Waldeck, making
excavations from the summit at different points, clearly imply that
the interior, D, is of earth. The height is given by all the visitors
down to Stephens, as from forty to sixty feet. Now Charnay, coming
nearly twenty years later, found the eastern side a perpendicular
wall, only fifteen feet high, and proves the accuracy of his statement
by his photograph, which, as he says, cannot lie. I cannot
satisfactorily account for the condition of the structure as found by
him, except by supposing that the stone facing, loosened by the trees,
had fallen from B to F, and that the earth which filled the sides at
EE, had been washed away by the rain, leaving the perpendicular wall
at B. We shall see later that it is utterly impossible to fix any
definite date for the founding of Palenque; but it is doubtless to be
referred to the earliest period of American civilization which has
left definite architectural traces; and its claims are perhaps as
strong as those of any other to be considered the oldest American
city. If this pyramid was the first erected and took its shape as
above indicated, its adoption as a type throughout the region
penetrated by the religion and civilization of its builders, would be
very natural, although the form would afterwards be more readily
attained by means of a solid structure. I offer this as a conjectural
theory to take its place by the side of many others on the subject,
and at the least not more devoid of foundation than several of its
companions.[VI-15] It is not improbable that the builders may have
taken advantage of a slight natural elevation as a foundation for
their work.

  [Sidenote: EXTERIOR OF THE PALACE.]

  [Sidenote: BAS-RELIEFS OF THE PALACE.]

The summit platform of the pyramid supports the Palace, which covers
its whole extent save a narrow passage round the edge, and the
exterior dimensions of which are about one hundred and eighty by two
hundred and twenty-eight feet and thirty feet high.[VI-16] The outer
wall, a large portion of which has fallen, was pierced with about
forty doorways, which were generally wider than the portions of the
wall that separated them, giving the whole the appearance of a portico
with wide piers. The doorways are eight and a half feet high and nine
feet wide. The tops seem to have been originally flat, but the lintels
have in every case fallen and disappeared, having been perhaps of
wood; indeed, Charnay claims to have found the marks of one of these
wooden lintels composed of two pieces, while Del Rio found a plain
rectangular block of stone five by six feet, extending from one of the
piers to another. The whole exterior was covered with a coat of hard
plaster, and there are some traces of a projecting cornice which
surrounded the building above the doorways, pierced at regular
intervals with small circular holes, such as I have noticed in
Yucatan, conjectured with much reason to have originally held poles
which supported a kind of awning. Later visitors have found no part of
the roof remaining in place; but Castaneda, who may have found some
portion standing, represents it as sloping, plain, and plastered. From
the interior construction and from the roofs of other Palenque
buildings, it is probable that his drawing gives a correct idea of the
Palace in this respect. Dupaix often speaks of the roofs at Palenque
as being covered with large stone flags (lajas) carefully joined;
other authors are silent respecting the arrangement of the stones in
the roofs. Judging from the position of the grand stairway that leads
up the side of the pyramid, and from the arrangement of the interior
doorways, the chief entrance, or front, of the Palace, was on the
east, towards the stream. It is from this side, although not so well
preserved as some other portions, that general views have been
taken.[VI-17] Of the piers that separated the doorways in this outer
wall, only fifteen have been found standing, eight on the east and
seven on the west, although their foundations may be readily traced
throughout nearly the whole circumference. Each of the remaining
piers, and probably of all in their original condition, contained on
its external surface a bas-relief in stucco, and these reliefs with
their borders occupied the whole space between the doorways. The cuts,
fig. 1, 2, and 3, represent three of the best preserved of the
reliefs, drawings of six only of them having been published. Most of
the designs, like those shown in the cuts, were of human figures in
various attitudes, and having a variety of dress, ornaments, and
insignia. It will be noticed that the faces are all in profile, and
the foreheads invariably flattened. This cranial form was doubtless
the highest type of beauty or nobility in the eyes of the ancient
artists; and of course the natural inference is that it was
artificially produced by methods similar to those employed by the
Mayas of more modern times. Yet many have believed that the builders
of Palenque or the priests and leaders that directed the work were of
a now extinct race, the peculiar natural conformation of whose
forehead was artificially imitated by the descendants of their
disciples. The many far-fetched explanations of these strange
figures, which fertile imaginations have devised, would not, I
believe, be instructive to the reader, who will derive more amusement
and profit from his own conjectures. The resemblance of the head-dress
in fig. 2 to an elephant's trunk is, however, somewhat striking. We
may be very sure that these figures placed in so prominent a position
on the exterior walls of the grandest edifice in the city, were not
merely ornamental and without significance; and it is almost equally
certain that the three hieroglyphic signs over the top of each group
would, if they could be read, explain their meaning. Some of the piers
seem to have been covered entirely with hieroglyphics in stucco, but
better preserved specimens of these inscriptions will be shown in
connection with other buildings at Palenque. The stucco, or cement,
from which the figures are molded, is the same as that with which the
whole building was covered, and is nearly as hard as the stone itself.
M. Charnay found evidence to convince him that the reliefs were put on
after the regular coating of cement had become hardened; Dupaix
believes that some of them were molded over a skeleton of small
stones, in the same way perhaps as the gigantic faces at Izamal in
Yucatan. Traces of color in sheltered portions make it evident that
the piers were originally painted.[VI-18]

  [Illustration: Bas-Relief in Stucco.--Fig. 1.]

  [Illustration: Bas-Relief in Stucco.--Fig. 2.]

  [Illustration: Bas-Relief in Stucco.--Fig. 3.]

  [Illustration: Ground Plan of the Palace.]

  [Sidenote: PLAN OF THE PALACE.]

Nothing further remains to be said of the exterior of the Palace; let
us therefore enter the doorway at the head of the eastern stairway.
The main building is found to consist of two corridors, formed by
three parallel walls and covered by one roof, which extend entirely
round the circumference of the platform, and enclose a quadrangular
court measuring about one hundred and fifty by two hundred feet. This
court also contains five or six buildings, some of them connected with
the main edifice, others separate, which divide the court into four
smaller ones. The whole arrangement of buildings and courts is clearly
shown in the preceding ground plan. At _b_, is the chief entrance at
the head of the eastern stairway; _a_, _a_, _a_, etc., are the
standing piers with stucco bas-reliefs, which have been noticed
already; A, A, B, B, etc., are the main corridors; C, D, E, F, G, the
smaller enclosed buildings; 1, 2, 3, 4, the courts.[VI-19]

  [Sidenote: THE PALACE CORRIDORS.]

Entering at _b_, we find that the corridors extend uninterruptedly on
the east and north, but are divided on the other sides, especially on
the south, into compartments. In the inner as in the outer wall
doorways are frequent, while the central wall has but few. The
corridors are each nine feet wide and twenty feet high, the
perpendicular walls being ten feet, and the sides of the ceiling
inclining inward from that height until they nearly form an acute
angle at the top. The cut represents a section of the two corridors in
nearly their true proportions. The walls are from two to three feet
thick, and so far as can be determined from the authorities, they are
built entirely of hewn blocks of stone, without the interior filling
of rubble which I have noticed in the Yucatan ruins. Indeed, with a
thickness of three feet or less the use of rubble would have been
almost impracticable. Floor, walls, and ceiling are covered with a
coating of the same hard cement found on the exterior walls. The cut
on the following page is a view from a point somewhat southward from
_b_, and looking northward into the corridor; it gives an excellent
idea of the present appearance of this portion of the Palace. The
construction of the ceiling, both in the Palace and in other Palenque
structures, is by means of the triangular arch of overlapping stones,
as in Yucatan. A remarkable difference, however, is that the
projecting corners of the blocks, instead of being beveled so as to
leave a smooth stone surface, are left, and the smooth surface is
obtained by filling the notches with cement.

  [Illustration: Section of the Palace Corridors.]

  [Illustration: Palace Corridor at Palenque.]

  [Illustration: Elevation of Palace Corridor.]

The doorway through the central wall at _c_, is eighteen feet high,
and its top, instead of being flat like those in the outer wall,
takes the form of a trefoil arch; depressions, or niches, of the same
trefoil form, extend at regular intervals right and left from the
doorway along the inclined face of the ceiling. The last cut gives a
clear idea of the doorway and trefoil niches, but the artist who
copied it from Catherwood's plate for _Morelet's Travels_, from which
I take it, has erred in representing the niches as continuing downward
on the perpendicular wall. Near the top of the perpendicular wall was
a line of what seem to have been circular stucco medallions, perhaps
portraits, at _d_, _d_, _d_, of the plan, which have for the most part
fallen. Small circular holes, apparently left by the decay of beams
that once stretched across the arch, occur at regular intervals
between the niches of the ceiling. The cut shows a front elevation of
the corridor from _e_ of the plan looking eastward, and includes all
the peculiarities found in any part of the corridors. The position of
the medallions is shown, though they are really on the opposite side
of the wall, and the shaded figures on the left of the cut are
introduced from other parts of the Palace, to illustrate the different
forms of niches which occur in the walls. The niches on the right are
in their proper place. The three which are symmetrically placed at
each side of this and some other doorways, are from eight to ten
inches square, and have a cylinder two inches in diameter fixed
upright within each. They would seem to have served in some way to
support the doors. The "T" shaped niches are of very frequent
occurrence throughout the ruins, and have caused much speculation by
reason of their resemblance to the Egyptian _tau_ and to the cross.
Some of them extend quite through the walls, and served probably for
ventilation and the admission of light. Others of the same shape are
of varying depths and of unknown use; they may have been niches for
the reception of small idols, or possibly designed to hold the
torches which lit up the corridors, since M. Waldeck claims to have
found the marks of lamp-black on the tops of some of them.[VI-20]
Nothing remains to be said of the corridors of the main building,
save that the interior like the exterior surface of the walls bears
traces of red paint over the coating of plaster in certain sheltered
portions.[VI-21]

  [Sidenote: COURT OF THE PALACE.]

Passing through the doorway _e_ we enter the court 1, the dimensions
of which are about seventy by eighty feet, its pavement, like that of
the other courts, being eight or ten feet below that of the corridors.
This pavement is covered to a depth of several feet with debris, which
has never been entirely cleared away by any explorer. The court is
bounded on the north and east by the walls, or piers, of the inner
corridor, and on the south and west by those of the interior buildings
C and D. The piers, whose position and number are clearly indicated on
the plan, are, except those on the north, yet standing, and each has
its stucco bas-relief as on the eastern front. These reliefs are,
however, much damaged, and no drawings of them have been made, or, at
least, published. Broad stairways of five or six steps lead down to
the level of the court pavement, at _g_, _g_, _g_, _g_, and a narrow
stairway, _h_, affords access through an end door to the building
E.[VI-22]

  [Illustration: Sculptured Group in the Palace Court.]

The eastern stairway is thirty feet wide, and on each side of it, at
_i_, _i_, on a surface about fifteen feet long by eleven feet high,
formed by immense stone slabs inclined at about the same angle as the
stairway itself, is sculptured in low relief a group of human figures
in peculiar attitudes. The northern group is shown in the accompanying
cut. Stephens pronounces the attitude of the figures one of pain and
trouble. "The design and anatomical proportions of the figures are
faulty, but there is a force of expression about them which shows the
skill and conceptive power of the artist."[VI-23] Stephens' plate of
this side of the court shows remains of stucco ornamentation and also
a line of small circular holes over the doorways of the inner
corridor. The opposite or western stairway is narrower than the
eastern, and at its sides, at _j, j_, are two colossal human figures
sculptured in a hard whitish stone, as shown in the cut, in which,
however, the stairway is shown somewhat narrower than its true
proportions. Waldeck sees in these figures a male and female whose
features are of the Caucasian type. At the sides of the stairway, at
_k, k, k_, stand three figures of smaller dimensions, sculptured on
pilasters which occur at regular intervals. On the basement wall
between the pilasters are found small squares of hieroglyphics.[VI-24]
In the centre of the court Waldeck found some traces of a circular
basin.

  [Illustration: Sculptured Figures in Palace Court.]

  [Sidenote: COURTS OF THE PALACE.]

The western court, 2, measuring about thirty by eighty feet, has a
narrow stairway of three steps at _l_, leading up to the central
building C. At the ends of this stairway, at _o_, _o_, are two large
blocks similar in position to those at _j_, _j_, but their sloping
fronts bear no sculptured figures. As in the other court, however,
there are some squares of hieroglyphics on the basement walls. The
piers round this court, such as remain standing, bear each a stucco
bas-relief.[VI-25]

In the southern court, 3, stands the structure known as the Tower,
marked G on the plan. Its base is about thirty feet square, and rests
like the other buildings on the platform of the pyramid some eight or
ten feet above the pavement of the courts. This base is solid, but has
niches, or false doorways, on the sides. Above the base two slightly
receding stories are still standing, with portions of a third, each
with a doorway--whose lintel has fallen--in the centre of each side,
and surrounded by two plain cornices. The walls are plain and
plastered. The whole structure is of solid masonry, and the fact that
large trees have grown from the top, presenting a broad surface to the
winter winds, which have not been able to overturn the Tower, shows
the remarkable strength of its construction. The height of the
standing portion is about fifty feet above the platform of the
pyramid. Respecting the interior arrangement of the Tower, I am unable
to form a clear idea from the descriptions and drawings of the
different visitors, notwithstanding the fact that Waldeck gives an
elevation, section, and ground plan of each story. Stephens describes
the structure as consisting of a smaller tower within the larger, and
a very narrow staircase leading up from story to story. Waldeck deemed
the Tower a chef d'oeuvre, while to Stephens' eyes it appeared
unsatisfactory and uninteresting. Dupaix, without doubt erroneously,
represents the doors as surmounted by regular arches with
keystones.[VI-26]

Respecting the other interior buildings of the Palace, the
construction of which is precisely the same as that of the main
corridors, very little remains to be said, especially since their
location and division into apartments are shown clearly in the plan.
According to Waldeck, the central room of the building D had traces of
rich ornamentation in stucco on its walls; and he also claims to have
found here an acoustic tube of terra cotta, the mouth of which was
concealed by an ornament of the same material, but of this
extraordinary relic he gives no description. Stephens found in one of
the holes in the ceiling the worm-eaten remains of a wooden pole,
about a foot in length, the only piece of wood found in Palenque, and
very likely not a part of the original building at all. Except this
chamber, the building is mostly in ruins, although, as we have seen,
the northern piers remain standing.[VI-27]

The roofs of some of the interior buildings seem to have been somewhat
better preserved than those of the main corridors, so that the sloping
roof, double cornice, and remains of stucco ornamentation were
observable. In the western apartment of the building C, the walls have
several, in one place as many as six, distinct coatings of plaster,
each hardened and painted before the next was applied. There was also
noticed a line of what appeared to be written characters in black,
covered by a thin translucent coating.[VI-28]

  [Illustration: Sculptured Tablet in the Palace.--Fig. 1.]

  [Illustration: Sculptured Tablet in the Palace.--Fig. 2.]

  [Sidenote: SCULPTURED TABLET.]

The building E has the interior walls of its two northern apartments
decorated with painted and stucco figures in a very mutilated
condition. In the wall of one of them, at the point _p_, is fixed an
elliptical stone tablet, three feet wide and four feet high, the
surface of which is covered by the sculptured device shown in the
cut. With the exception of the figures in the court 1, already
mentioned, this is the only instance of stone-carving in the Palace.
It is cut in low relief, and is surrounded by an ornamental border of
stucco. A table consisting of a plain rectangular stone slab resting
on four blocks which served as legs, stood formerly on the pavement
immediately under the sculptured tablet. Tables of varying dimensions,
but of like construction, were found in several apartments of the
Palace and its subterranean galleries, as shown in the plan at v, v,
v. They are called tables, beds, or altars, by different writers.
Waldeck says that this one was of green jasper; and Del Rio, that its
edges and legs were sculptured, one of the latter having been carried
away by him and sent to Spain. The first cut which I have given is
taken from Waldeck's drawing. The second cut, representing a portion
of the same tablet, taken from Catherwood's plate, for _Morelet's
Travels_, differs slightly in some respects--notably in the ornament
suspended from the neck, represented by one artist as a face, and by
the other as a cross. Of the subject Mr Stephens says: "The principal
figure sits cross-legged on a couch ornamented with two leopards'
heads; the attitude is easy, the physiognomy the same as that of the
other personages, and the expression calm and benevolent. The figure
wears around its neck a necklace of pearls, to which is suspended a
small medallion containing a face; perhaps intended as an image of the
sun. Like every other subject of sculpture we had seen in the country,
the personage had earrings, bracelets on the wrists, and a girdle
round the loins. The head-dress differs from most of the others at
Palenque in that it wants the plumes of feathers.... The other figure,
which seems that of a woman, is sitting cross-legged on the ground,
richly dressed, and apparently in the act of making an offering. In
this supposed offering is seen a plume of feathers, in which the
headdress of the principal person is deficient." Waldeck deems the
left-hand figure to be black, and recognizes in the profile an
Ethiopian type. Del Rio sees in the subject homage paid to a river
god; and Galindo believes the object offered to be a human head.
Somebody imagines that the two animal heads are those of the
seal.[VI-29]

The stucco ornaments on the walls of the building F seem to have been
richer and more numerous than elsewhere, but were found in a very
dilapidated condition. In the room _q_, Stephens found traces of a
stone tablet in the wall, and he also gives a sketch of a stucco
bas-relief from the side of a doorway, representing a standing human
figure in a very damaged state. A peculiar stucco ornament sketched by
Castaneda is probably from the same room, and is perhaps identical
with what Waldeck describes as a sanctuary with two birds perched on
an elephant's head, the latter, however, not appearing in the
drawing.[VI-30]

  [Sidenote: SUBTERRANEAN GALLERIES.]

  [Illustration: Ornament over a Doorway.]

Within the pyramid itself, and above the surface of the ground,
although frequently spoken of as subterranean, are found apartments,
or galleries, with walls of stone plastered but without ornament, of
the same form and construction as the corridors above. Such as have
been explored are at the south end of the pyramid and for the most
part without the line of the Palace walls, with lateral galleries,
however, extending under the corridors and affording communication
with the upper apartments by means of stairways. The arrangement of
the galleries and their entrances is made sufficiently clear by the
fine lines at the bottom of the plan, yet perhaps very little is known
of their original extent. The southernmost gallery receives a dim
light by three holes or windows leading out to the surface of the
pyramid; the other galleries are dark and damp, with water running
over their pavements in the rainy season. The walls are much fallen
and the galleries blocked up at several points. At the south-western
corner an opening affords a means of egress near the surface of the
ground; but this, as well as the windows mentioned, may be accidental
or of modern origin and have formed no part of the original plan.
These rooms are variously regarded as sleeping-rooms, dungeons, or
sepulchres, according to the temperament of the observer. Whatever
their use, they contain several of the low tables mentioned before,
one of which is said to have been richly decorated with sculpture. M.
Morelet occupied one of these lower rooms during his visit, as being
more comfortable than the others, at least in the dry season. The
chief entrance to the vaults seems to have been from one of the
southern rooms of the building E, at the point _r_, through an opening
in the floor. A narrow stairway by which the descent was made, is
divided into two flights by a platform and doorway, surmounting which
was the stucco device shown in the cut. Waldeck states that when he
found this decoration it was partially covered with stalactites formed
by trickling water. His explanation, by which he connects the figures
with aboriginal astronomical signs and the division of time, is too
long and too extremely conjectural to be repeated here. Stephens
noticed this ornament but gives no drawing of it. It was sketched by
Castaneda together with another somewhat similar one. Dupaix speaks of
two doors in this stairway; Del Rio speaks of several landings, and
says that he brought away a fragment of one of the ornamented steps. I
suspect the visitors may have confounded this stairway with another at
_w_, concerning which nothing is particularly said. Somewhere in
connection with these stairways Dupaix found a tablet of hieroglyphics
which he brought away with him, and concerning which he states the
remarkable fact that on the reverse side of the tablet, built into the
wall, were the same characters painted that were sculptured on the
face. Openings through the pavement were found at several points, as
in the court 1, and the building C, which led to no regular galleries,
but to simple and small excavations in the earth, very likely the work
of some early explorer or searcher for hidden treasure.[VI-31]

  [Sidenote: THE PALACE RESTORED.]

Having now given all the information in my possession respecting the
Palace, I present in the accompanying cut a restoration of the
structure made by a German artist, but which I have taken the liberty
to change in several respects. The reader will notice a few points in
which the cut does not exactly agree with my description; such as the
curved surface of the roofs, the height of the tower and its spire,
the width of the western stairway in court 1, etc., yet it may be
regarded as giving an excellent idea of what the Palace was in the
days when its halls and courts were thronged with the nobility or
priesthood of a great people. The view is from the north-east on the
bank of the stream, and besides the palace includes the edifice No. 2
of the general plan.[VI-32]

  [Illustration: Restoration of the Palace.]

The structure No. 2 shown in the last cut stands a short distance
south-west from the Palace, and may be known as the Temple of the
Three Tablets. The pyramid supporting it, of the same construction as
the former so far as may be judged from outward examination, is said
by Stephens to measure one hundred and ten feet on the <DW72>, and
seems to have had continuous steps all round its sides, now much
displaced by the forest. The cut on the following page presents a view
of this temple from the north-east as it appeared at the time of
Catherwood's visit, and illustrates very vividly the manner in which
the ruins are enveloped in a tropical vegetation.

  [Illustration: Temple of the Three Tablets.]

  [Sidenote: TEMPLE OF THE THREE TABLETS.]

  [Illustration: Temple and Pyramid.--Fig. 1.]

  [Illustration: Temple of the Three Tablets.--Fig. 2.]

The building, which stands on the summit platform but does not like
the Palace cover its whole surface, is seventy-six feet long,
twenty-five feet wide, and about thirty-five feet high. The front, or
northern, elevation is shown in the cuts. Fig. 1 includes the temple
with the supporting pyramid, and fig. 2 presents the building on a
larger scale. Each of the four central piers on this front has its
bas-relief in stucco, while the two lateral piers have each ninety-six
small squares of hieroglyphics, also in stucco. The bas-reliefs
represent single human figures, standing, and each bearing in its arms
an infant, or in one instance some unknown object. They are all very
much mutilated, and although drawings have been published, I do not
think it necessary to reproduce them. The roof is divided into two
sections, sloping at different angles; the lower <DW72> was covered
with painted stucco decorations, and had also five square solid
projections, one over each doorway. The dividing line between the two
<DW72>s marks the height of the apartments in the interior, the upper
portion being solid masonry. Along the ridge of the roof was a line of
pillars, of stone and mortar, eighteen inches high and twelve inches
apart, probably square, although nothing is said of their shape, and
surmounted by a layer of projecting flat stones. Similar constructions
may possibly have existed originally on some of the Palace roofs,
since they would naturally be among the first to fall. Waldeck's plate
represents a small platform in front of the doorways, ascended by four
lateral stairways. Respecting the two square projections below the
piers at the side of the central doorway there is no information
except their representation by Catherwood in the cut, fig. 2.

  [Illustration: Ground plan--Temple of the Three Tablets.]

  [Illustration: Section--Temple of the Three Tablets.]

The arrangement of the interior is shown in the accompanying ground
plan. The central wall is four or five feet thick, and is pierced by
three doorways, which afford access to three apartments in the rear.
The front corridor has a small window at each end; Stephens speaks of
two slight openings about three inches wide in each of the lateral
apartments of the rear; and the plan indicates two similar openings in
the central room, although he speaks of them as dark and gloomy.
Castaneda's drawing shows only one window at the end; it also
represents the building as having a roof like the Palace, and as
standing on a natural rocky hill in which some steps are cut, no
bas-reliefs or other decorations appearing on the front. The interior
walls are perfectly plain, and it is not even definitely stated that
they are plastered. In the walls, however, at _a_, _b_, and _c_, of
the ground plan, are fixed stone tablets one foot thick, each composed
of several blocks, neatly joined and covered with sculptured
hieroglyphics. Those in the central wall, at _a_ and _b_, measure
eight by thirteen feet, and contain each two hundred and forty squares
of hieroglyphics in a very good state of preservation, while the one
hundred and forty squares of the tablet in the rear apartment, three
and a half by four feet, are much damaged by trickling water. Drawings
of the hieroglyphics have been made by Waldeck and Catherwood only,
although other visitors speak of them. I do not copy the drawings
here, because, in the absence of any key to their meaning, the
specimen which I shall present from another part of the ruins is as
useful to the reader as the whole would be. The cut is a longitudinal
section of this temple at the central wall, and shows the position of
the tablets. Waldeck's drawing represents the two lateral doorways as
having flat tops. Brasseur tells us that, according to the statements
of the natives, the tablets were used originally for educational
purposes. M. Charnay found them still undisturbed in 1859.[VI-33]

  [Illustration: Ground plan--Temple of the Beau Relief.]

  [Sidenote: THE BEAU RELIEF.]

  [Illustration: Beau Relief in Stucco.]

Some four hundred yards south of the Palace is a pyramid, only partly
artificial if we may credit Dupaix, and rising with a steep <DW72> of
one hundred feet from the bank of the stream according to Stephens, on
which is a small building, No. 3 of the plan, which we may call, with
Waldeck, the Temple of the Beau Relief. This edifice was found by
later visitors in an advanced state of ruin, and Catherwood's drawings
of it are much less satisfactory than in the case of other Palenque
ruins; but both Dupaix and Waldeck found it in a tolerably good state
of preservation, and were enabled to sketch and describe its principal
features. This temple measured eighteen by twenty feet, apparently
fronting the east, and is twenty-five feet high. It presents the
peculiarity of an apartment in the pyramid, immediately under the
upper rooms. The cut gives ground plans--No. 1 of the upper, and No. 2
of the lower rooms. The stairway which afforded communication between
the two, is also shown. Catherwood's drawing, however, represents the
upper and lower apartments as alike in everything but height. On the
rear, or western, wall, at _a_, was the Beau Relief in stucco, which
gives a name to the temple, the finest specimen of stucco work in
America, shown in the accompanying cut. It was sketched by Castaneda
and Waldeck, in whose drawings some differences of detail appear. At
the time of Stephens' visit only the lower portions remained for
study; yet he pronounced this "superior in execution to any other
stucco relief in Palenque." At the time of Charnay's visit the last
vestige of this beautiful relic had disappeared. Waldeck speaks of a
tomb found in connection with this pyramid, which he had no time to
explore, having made the discovery just before leaving the
ruins.[VI-34]

  [Illustration: Temple of the Cross.]

  [Sidenote: TEMPLE OF THE CROSS.]

Standing about one hundred and fifty yards a little south of east from
the Palace, and on the opposite bank of the stream Otolum, is the
building No. 4 of the plan, known as the Temple of the Cross, standing
on a pyramid which measures one hundred and thirty-four feet on the
<DW72>. Mr Stephens locates this temple several hundred feet further
south than I have placed it on the plan. Charnay describes the pyramid
as partly natural but faced with stone. The temple is fifty feet long,
thirty-one feet wide, and about forty feet high. The cut shows the
front, or southern elevation. The construction of the lower portion is
precisely like that of the other buildings which have been described.
The two lateral piers were covered with hieroglyphics, and the central
ones bore human figures, all in stucco. The lower <DW72> of the roof
was also covered with stucco decorations, among which were fragments
of a head and two bodies, pronounced by Stephens to approach the Greek
models in justness of proportion and symmetry. On the top, the roof
formed a platform thirty-five feet long and about three feet wide,
which supported the peculiar two-storied structure shown in the
preceding cut, fifteen feet and ten inches high. This is a kind of
frame, or open lattice, of stone blocks covered with a great variety
of stucco ornaments. A layer of projecting flat stones caps the whole,
and from the summit, one hundred feet perhaps above the ground, a
magnificent view is afforded, which stretches over the whole
forest-covered plain to Laguna de Terminos and the Mexican gulf. This
superstructure, like some that I have described at Uxmal and elsewhere
in Yucatan, would seem to have been added to the temple solely to give
it a more imposing appearance. It could hardly have served as an
observatory, since there are no facilities for mounting to the
summit.[VI-35]

  [Illustration: Ground plan--Temple of the Cross.]

The interior arrangement is made clear by the adjoined plan. Within
the central apartment of the rear, or northern, corridor, and directly
opposite to the main doorway is an enclosure measuring seven by
thirteen feet. From its being mentioned as an enclosure rather than a
regular room by Stephens, it would seem probable that it does not
reach the full height of the chamber, but has a ceiling, or covering,
of its own. At any rate, it receives light only by the doorway.
Besides a heavy cornice round the enclosure, the doorway was
surmounted by massive and graceful stucco decorations, and at its
sides on the exterior were originally two stone tablets bearing each a
human figure sculptured in low relief, resembling in their general
characteristics the more common stucco designs, but somewhat more
elaborately draped and decorated. One of them wears a leopard-skin as
a cloak. These tablets were sketched by both Waldeck and Catherwood in
the village of Santo Domingo, whither they had been carried and set up
in a modern house. Stephens understood them to come from another of
the ruins yet to be mentioned, but the evidence indicates strongly
that he was misinformed. Both Waldeck and Stephens entered into some
negotiations with a view to remove these tablets; at the time of the
former's visit the condition of obtaining them was to marry one of the
proprietresses; in Stephens' time a purchase of the house in which
they stood would suffice. Neither removed them.[VI-36]

  [Illustration: Tablet of the Cross.]

  [Sidenote: TABLET OF THE CROSS.]

Fixed in the wall at the back of the enclosure, and covering nearly
its whole surface, was the tablet of the cross, six feet four inches
high, ten feet eight inches wide, and formed of three stones. The
central stone, and part of the western, bear the sculptured figures
shown in the cut. The rest of the western, and all of the eastern
stone, were covered with hieroglyphics. This cut is a photographic
reduction of Waldeck's drawing, the accuracy of which is proved by a
careful comparison with Charnay's photograph. The subject doubtless
possessed a religious signification, and the location of the tablet
may be considered a sacred altar, or most holy place, of the ancient
Maya or Tzendal priesthood. Two men, probably priests, clad in the
robes and insignia of their office, are making an offering to the
cross or to a bird perched on its summit. This tablet has been perhaps
the most fruitful theme for antiquarian speculation yet discovered in
America, but a fictitious importance has doubtless been attached to it
by reason of some fancied connection between the sculptured cross and
the Christian emblem. All agree respecting the excellence of the
sculpture. Of the two priests, Stephens says: "They are well drawn,
and in symmetry of proportion are perhaps equal to many that are
carved on the walls of the ruined temples in Egypt. Their costume is
in a style different from any heretofore given, and the folds would
seem to indicate that they were of a soft and pliable texture like
cotton." Stephens and other writers discover a possible likeness in
the object offered to a new-born child. Of the hieroglyphics which
cover the two lateral stones, the cut on the opposite page shows, as a
specimen, the upper portion of the western stone, or what may be
considered, perhaps, the beginning of the inscription. The large
initial character, like an aboriginal capital letter, is a remarkable
feature. In Dupaix's time all parts of the tablet were probably in
their place, and in good condition, but his artist only sketched, and
that somewhat imperfectly, the cross and human figures, omitting the
hieroglyphics. Waldeck and Stephens found and sketched the central
stone in the forest on the bank of the stream, to which point it had
been removed, according to the former, with a view to its removal to
the United States, but according to the latter its intended
destination had been the village of Santo Domingo. Stephens says he
found the eastern stone entirely destroyed, though Charnay speaks of
it as still in place nearly twenty years later; why Waldeck made no
drawing of it does not appear.[VI-37]

  [Sidenote: MAYA HIEROGLYPHICS.]

  [Illustration: Hieroglyphics--Tablet of the Cross.]

  [Sidenote: THE ONLY STATUE AT PALENQUE.]

This temple is paved with large flags, through which is an opening
made by Del Rio and noticed by later visitors. From this place Del Rio
took a variety of articles which will be mentioned hereafter. On the
southern <DW72> of this pyramid Waldeck found two statues, exactly
alike, one of which is represented in the cut on the opposite page,
from Catherwood's drawings in Stephens' work. They are ten and one
half feet high, of which two and a half feet, not shown in the cut,
formed the tenon by which they were imbedded in the ground or in a
wall. The figure stands on a hieroglyph which perhaps expresses the
name of the individual or god represented. These statues are
remarkable as being the only ones ever found in connection with the
Palenque ruins; and even these are not statues proper, sculptured 'in
the round,' since the back is of rough stone and was very likely
imbedded originally in a wall. Waldeck believes they were designed to
support a platform before the central doorway. One of them was broken
in two pieces. After sketching the best preserved of them, Waldeck
turned them face downward that they might escape the eye of parties
who might have better facilities than he for removing them; but
Catherwood afterwards discovered and sketched the one which remained
entire. The resemblance of this figure to some Egyptian statues is
remarked by all, though Stephens notes in the lower part of the dress
"an unfortunate resemblance to modern pantaloons." The space at the
western base of the pyramid where various undescribed ruins are
indicated on the plan, is described by Stephens as a level esplanade
one hundred and ten feet wide and supported by a stone terrace wall
which rises sixty feet on the <DW72> from the bank of the
stream.[VI-38]

  [Illustration: Statue from Temple of the Cross.]

  [Illustration: Temple of the Sun.]

  [Sidenote: TEMPLE OF THE SUN.]

  [Sidenote: PECULIAR ROOF STRUCTURES]

At the south-western base of the pyramid of the Cross, and almost in
contact with it, rises another of smaller base, but nearly as high,
with a still smaller companion on the north, respecting which latter
no information is given. These pyramids, Nos. 5 and 6 of the plan, are
located by Stephens directly south from the Temple of the Cross, as
indicated by the dotted lines. The building No. 5, sometimes called,
without any sufficient reason, the Temple of the Sun, is one of the
best preserved and most remarkable for variety of ornamentation of all
the Palenque structures, but is very similar in most respects to its
neighbor of the cross, having the same stuccoed piers and roof. Its
front elevation is shown in the cut, from Catherwood. Waldeck's plate
differs chiefly in representing the stucco ornaments in a more perfect
state; but both are confessedly restorations to a certain extent. Here
again we have stucco reliefs of human figures on the central, and
hieroglyphics of the same material on the lateral piers. The roof
bears a superstructure similar to that already described, composed of
a frame of hewn stone blocks, supporting complicated decorations in
cement, several of which are modeled to represent human figures
looking from openings in the lattice-work. The stone frame-work
entirely freed from its ornamentation, is shown in the cut from
Waldeck, which presents both a front and end view. Brasseur believes
that these roof structures were erected by some people that succeeded
the original builders of the temples. It will be remembered that in
Yucatan similar superimposed structures were found by Stephens and
others, and are for the most part the only ones on which traces of
stucco work are observable.

  [Illustration: Roof Structure--Temple of the Sun.]

The dimensions of this temple are twenty-eight by thirty-eight feet,
and its ground plan, identical with the exception of an additional
doorway with that of the Temple of the Cross, is shown in the cut. The
central enclosure in the rear, as is clearly shown by the plates and
description in this case, has a roof of its own. Its interior
dimensions are, nine feet long, five feet wide, and eight feet high.
It has on the exterior a double cornice and graceful ornaments, now
mostly fallen, over the doorways, while at the sides stood two
sculptured reliefs representing human figures, which although broken
in many fragments, were sketched by Waldeck. The tablets in the
village of Santo Domingo were understood by Stephens to have come from
this apartment.

  [Illustration: Ground plan--Temple of the Sun.]

Fixed in the rear wall, occupying its whole extent, and receiving
light only through the doorway, is the Tablet of the Sun, which
measures eight by nine feet and is made of three slabs of stone. In
1842 it was still unbroken and in place, and was considered by
Stephens to be the most perfect and interesting monument in Palenque.
As in the Tablet of the Cross the sides are covered with squares of
hieroglyphics; and in the central portion is an object to which two
priests are in the act of making human offerings. This central object
is a hideous face, or mask, with protruding tongue, standing on a kind
of altar which is supported on the backs of two crouching human
figures. Two other stooping men support the priests, who stand on
their backs. The name Tablet of the Sun comes from the face with
protruding tongue, which was sometimes regarded by the Aztecs as a
symbol of the sun;--a very far-fetched derivation for the name.[VI-39]

The stream on whose banks the ruins stand flows for a short distance
through an artificial covered stone channel, or aqueduct, about six
feet wide, and ten feet high, covered like all the corridors by an
arch of overlapping blocks. It extends fifty-seven feet from north to
south, and one hundred and sixty feet further south-eastward toward
the Temple of the Cross, where the fallen roof blocks up the passage
and renders further exploration impracticable. Such is the information
obtained from the works of Waldeck and Stephens. The position of this
structure is indicated on the plan by the dotted lines numbered 7,
although Stephens locates it considerably further north. There is
great confusion in the accounts of this so-called aqueduct. Bernasconi
included in his report a description and drawing of a vault seven feet
wide, twelve feet high, and two hundred and twenty-seven feet long,
extending in a curved line from the Palace to the stream. Del Rio
speaks of a "subterranean stone aqueduct of great solidity and
durability, which passes under the largest building." Dupaix states
that a rapid stream, a few paces--Kingsborough's edition has it over a
league--west of the ruins, runs through a subterranean aqueduct five
and one half feet wide, eleven feet high, and one hundred and
sixty-seven feet long, built of stone blocks without mortar. The
drawings of this structure, however, in Dupaix and Kingsborough's
works do not bear the slightest resemblance to each other, one
picturing it as a bridge, and the other as a corridor, or possibly
aqueduct, built above the surface of the ground. Galindo tells us that
a stream rises two hundred paces east of the Palace and is covered for
one hundred paces by a gallery, with traces of buildings, probably
baths, extending fifty paces further. Waldeck describes the mouth of a
subterranean passage as concealed by a small cataract in the stream.
There seems to be little reason to doubt that all these conflicting
accounts refer to the same structure. Charnay tells us that the
conduit is two metres high and wide, and that it is covered with
immense stones.[VI-40]

Not far from the Temple of the Sun a small building eight feet square
was found by Waldeck lifted bodily from the ground by the branches of
a large tree.[VI-41] On an eminence north of the Palace, at 9 of the
plan, are the foundations of several buildings,--eleven in number,
according to Dupaix, in whose time some of the arches were still
standing. They extend in a line from east to west, and all front the
south.[VI-42] On the summit of a high steep hill, or mountain, the
<DW72> of which begins immediately to the east of the Temple of the
Cross, are the foundation stones of a building twenty-one feet square,
at 8 of the plan. So thick is the forest that from this point none of
the ruins below are visible, although the site of the village of
Santo Domingo may be seen by climbing a lofty tree.[VI-43]

  [Illustration: Conduit of a Bridge near Palenque.]

Two bridges are indefinitely located in the vicinity of Palenque. One
of them, said by Dupaix to be north of the Palace, is fifty-six feet
long, forty-two feet wide, and eleven feet high, built of large hewn
blocks without mortar. The conduit is nine feet wide, having a flat
top constructed with a layer of wide blocks, and convex sides, as
illustrated in the cut. The second bridge was found on the Tulija
River some leagues west of the ruins, and only extends, according to
Galindo, partly across the river, which is now about five hundred
paces wide at that point.[VI-44] The Abbe Brasseur, during his visit
to the ruins in 1871, claims to have discovered an additional temple,
that of the Mystic Tree, containing hieroglyphic tablets.[VI-45] Three
thousand five hundred paces southward from the last house of Santo
Domingo, on a stream supposed to be a branch of the Usumacinta,
Waldeck found two pyramids. They are described as having been at the
time in a perfect state of preservation, square at the base, pointed
at the top, and thirty-one feet high, their sides forming equilateral
triangles. Pyramids of this type rarely, if ever, occur in America,
and it is unfortunate that the existence of these monuments is not
confirmed by other explorers, since without such confirmation it must
be considered very doubtful.[VI-46] Seven leagues north from the
ruins, Galindo found a circular cistern twenty feet in diameter, two
feet high on the outside, and eight feet on the inside, occupied at
the time of his visit by alligators.[VI-47] According to Ordonez, one
of Del Rio's companions discovered on the Rio Catasaha, two leagues
from Palenque, a subterranean stone structure, which contained large
quantities of valuable woods, stored as if for export.[VI-48]

  [Illustration: Palenque Altar for burning Copal.]

  [Sidenote: MISCELLANEOUS RELICS.]

A few miscellaneous relics, found by visitors at different points in
connection with the ruins of Palenque, and more or less fully
described, remain to be noticed. Del Rio made an excavation under the
pavement of the central chamber in the Temple of the Cross, and says:
"at about half a yard deep, I found a small round earthen vessel,
about one foot in diameter, fitted horizontally with a mixture of lime
to another of the same quality and dimensions; these were removed, and
the digging being continued, a quarter of a yard beneath, we
discovered a circular stone, of rather larger diameter than the first
articles, and on removing this from its position, a cylindrical cavity
presented itself, about a foot wide and the third of a foot deep,
containing a flint lance, two small conical pyramids with the figure
of a heart in dark crystallized stone; ... there were also two small
earthen jars or ewers with covers containing small stones and a ball
of vermilion.... The situation of the subterranean depository
coincides with the centre of the oratory, and in each of the inner
angles, near the entrance, is a cavity like the one before described,"
containing two little jars. The same author also speaks of burnt
bricks which seem to have been used sparingly.[VI-49] Waldeck, having
made a similar excavation in what he calls the temple of the Palace,
perhaps the building C, found a gallery containing hewn blocks of
stone, and earthen cups and vases with many little earthen balls of
different colors. He also speaks of a fine fragment of terra cotta
which he found in the court 1 where he also discovered just before
leaving Palenque the entrance to other galleries of the pyramid.
Waldeck also gives drawings of two images of human form in terra
cotta, from Dr Corroy's collection; also a face, or mask, in stucco
from the cornice of the Temple of Death, whatever that building may
have been.[VI-50] Galindo found stones apparently for grinding maize,
similar to the Mexican _metate_; also artificially shaped pebbles,
similar, as he says, to those used by the modern Lacandones but
smaller. Both Galindo and Dupaix speak of a circular granite stone,
like a mill-stone, six feet in diameter and one foot thick, found on
the side or at the foot of the Palace pyramid. Dupaix found at a
distance of a league westward from the ruins, a square pillar
fourteen feet in circumference, and about the same in height, with two
short round pillars standing at its eastern foot. He also speaks of
finding many small altars probably used originally for burning copal.
One of them, four feet in circumference and sixteen inches high, is
represented in the preceding cut.[VI-51] At the sale of a collection
of antiquities in London, 1859, two of the objects sold are,
erroneously in all probability, mentioned as relics from Palenque; one
was "a mask, with open mouth, in hard red stone, the concave surface
sculptured with a sitting figure of a Mexican chief, surrounded by
various emblems," price thirteen pounds; the other, "a Mexican deity,
with grotesque human face sculptured out of a very large and massive
piece of greenstone," price twenty-five pounds. Mr Davis talks about
"an idol of pure gold about six inches long."[VI-52] The two copper or
bronze medals which I have already noticed as probably not authentic
relics in my account of Guatemalan antiquities, have been considered
by various writers, following Ordonez without any apparent reason, as
belonging to Palenque. The speculations to which they have given rise,
and their attempted interpretations are splendid specimens of the
trash, pure and simple, which has been written in unlimited quantities
about primitive America.[VI-53]

  [Sidenote: RUINS OF OCOCINGO.]

Some thirty-five or forty miles southward from Palenque, on another of
the parallel streams which unite to form a branch of the Usumacinta,
is another important group of ruins, which may be called Ococingo,
from the name of a modern village, five or six miles distant toward
the west. The same traditions that tell us of Votan's great Maya
empire, and of Xibalba, allude also somewhat vaguely to another great
capital called Tulha. Juarros, perhaps following Ordonez, applied this
name to the ruins of Ococingo, and most authors have followed him in
this respect. I need not say, however, that the only authority for
this use of the name is the traditional existence in the shadowy past,
of a Tulha in this region. The natives call the ruins Tonila, which in
the Tzendal tongue signifies 'stone houses.' Notwithstanding the
importance of the ruins, very little is known of them. Stephens and
Catherwood spent about half a day here just before their visit to
Palenque; and Dupaix and Castaneda also visited this point. The
accounts by these explorers are about all there is extant on the
subject, but they are necessarily brief, and unfortunately neither in
text nor drawings do they agree at all with each other. Both Waldeck
and Brasseur visited Ococingo, but neither gives any description of
the monuments.[VI-54]

  [Sidenote: RUINS OF OCOCINGO.]

At the village of Ococingo Stephens noticed two sculptured figures
brought from the ruins, which he pronounced "somewhat in the same
style as those at Copan." Castaneda also saw and sketched here two
tablets, which may be the same. One of them measured forty-five by
thirty-six by four inches, was of a grayish stone, and contained a
single human figure, whose arms were bound behind the back with what
resembles a modern rope. The other measuring thirty-six by
twenty-seven inches, was of a yellow stone, and contained a standing
and a squatting figure, surrounded by a border in which hieroglyphics
appear. On the way from the village, Stephens noticed two well-carved
figures lying on the ground; while Dupaix found several of them thrown
down and broken, two of which were sketched. One of them represents a
human bust with arms crossed on the breast, the lower portion of which
seems to be a kind of tenon originally fixed in the ground; the other
bears a slight resemblance to the only statue found at Palenque. This
statue must have been removed by Dupaix, since it was afterwards seen
by Waldeck in Vera Cruz. Both statues had lost their heads.[VI-55]

  [Illustration: Terra-Cottas from Ococingo.]

  [Illustration: Engraved Chalchiuite from Ococingo.]

  [Illustration: Hieroglyphics from Ococingo.]

In the possession of some French citizens of Vera Cruz, Waldeck found
a collection of seven or eight terra-cottas of very fine workmanship
and very curious form, which had been brought from Ococingo. Two of
them are shown in the accompanying cuts.[VI-56] The figure shown in
the cut was carved in bas-relief on a hard and polished chalchiuite
which was found in this vicinity. The design is represented
full-sized, and its resemblance to one of the figures on the stone
tablet in the Palace at Palenque will be apparent to the reader.
Another similar stone bore the hieroglyphics shown in the preceding
cut, which was also given in the second volume of this work as an
illustration of the Maya system of writing. M. Warden speaks
indefinitely of ancient monuments in this vicinity, in connection with
which were stone figures representing warriors of great size.[VI-57]

This brings us to the ruins proper. They are situated a little north
of east from the village, at a distance of five or six miles. Dupaix
describes them as located on the <DW72> of a hill, on the sides of
which are some stone steps, and as consisting of five structures. The
central building is nearly square, built of hewn stone, and covered
with plaster, without exterior decorations. The drawing represents a
double cornice, and a sloping roof, very similar to those of the
interior Palace buildings at Palenque. There is only one door, on the
west, and two square windows appear on each side. A few rods in front
of this building, at the sides of the broad stairway leading up to it,
and facing each other, are two other buildings of similar
construction, but so small that the roof is pointed, its <DW72>s
forming four triangular surfaces. In the rear of the central
structure, in positions corresponding to those of the buildings in
front but at a greater distance, are two conical mounds of masonry
covered with cement. Each is sixty feet high and two hundred feet in
diameter, being pointed at the top; indeed, the only specimen of
pointed stone pyramids seen by Dupaix in his explorations.[VI-58]

  [Illustration: Winged Globe from Ococingo.]

Stephens also describes the ruins, or the principal ones at least, as
located "on a high elevation," but the elevation is an immense
artificial pyramidal structure, built in five terraces. The surface
was originally faced with stone and plastered, but was so broken up in
places that Stephens was able to ascend to the third terrace on
horseback. On the summit of this terraced hill is a pyramid, high and
steep, which supports a stone building measuring thirty-five by fifty
feet on the ground, built of hewn stone, and covered with stucco. This
is perhaps identical with the central building sketched by Dupaix. The
only exterior doorway is in the centre of the front, and is ten feet
wide. The ground plan is very similar to those of the temples of the
Cross and Sun at Palenque, except that the front corridor is divided
by partition walls, while the rear corridor is uninterrupted except by
an oblong enclosure, which, as at Palenque, seems to have been a kind
of sanctuary. The dimensions of this enclosure are eleven by eighteen
feet, and over the doorway on the outside is a stucco ornament which
arrested Mr Stephens' attention from its resemblance to the 'winged
globe' of the Egyptian temples. A portion which was yet in place was
sketched by Catherwood; the rest, which had fallen face downward, was
too heavy for four men and a boy to overturn. Waldeck, however, either
succeeded in raising the fragments, or, what is more likely, copied
the standing part and restored the rest from his imagination,
producing the drawing, a part of which is copied in the cut. The
lintel of this inner doorway is of zapote-wood, and in perfect
preservation. The entrance to this sanctuary was much obstructed by
fallen fragments, and the natives, who had never dared to penetrate
the mysterious recess, believed the passage to lead by a subterranean
course to Palenque. Stephens succeeded in entering the room, and found
its walls covered with stucco decorations, including two life-sized
human figures and a monkey.

From the top of the first building was seen another of similar plan
and construction, but in a more damaged condition. It probably stands
on the same terraced foundation, although no definite information is
given on this point. Two other buildings supported by pyramids were
seen. Stephens also speaks of an open table, probably the former site
of the city, protected on all sides by the terraced structures which
overlook the country far around. There is also a high narrow causeway,
partially artificial, extending from the ruins to a mountain range,
and bearing on its summit a mound and the foundations of a building,
or tower. Of these ruins Mr Stephens says "there was no place we had
seen which gave us such an idea of the vastness of the works erected
by the aboriginal inhabitants."[VI-59]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: MISCELLANEOUS RUINS.]

I have found no very definite information about the antiquities of
Chiapas, except the ruins of Palenque and Ococingo. In a statistical
work on Chiapas and Soconusco by Emilio Pineda there are the following
brief mentions of scattered monuments: In one of the hills near
Comitan is a stone table; and a sun, sculptured in stone, serves as a
boundary mark on the frontier. Remains are still visible of the cities
which formerly stood in the valleys of Custepeques and Xiquipilas,
including remains of giants; also of those at Laguna Mora, five
leagues from the left bank of the river Chiapas, between the pueblo of
Acala, and the valley of Custepeques, believed to have been the towns
of Tizapetlan and Teotilac, where Cortes hung the Aztec king
Guatimozin and others; also those of Copanabastla, where columns are
mentioned. There are, besides, some sepulchres of the Tzendal nobles,
two of which are especially worthy of note. The first is between the
pueblo of Zitala and the hacienda of Boxtic, twenty-two leagues
north-west of San Cristoval. "Its base is a parallelogram formed from
a hill cut down on three sides, so that at the entrance one seems to
be ascending an inclined plain; but further along is seen an elevation
with grades, or terraces, chiefly on the sides which are cut away. On
the summit plane is found an enormous cone, built of hewn blocks of
slate, whose base is about two hundred varas in circumference. In the
centre are the sepulchres, and in some of them human bones. The ascent
to them is by steps, and the whole seems like a vast winding stairway,
for which reason it is called Bololchun, meaning in the Tzendal tongue
a 'coiled snake.' Similar to this, is another at the hacienda of San
Gregorio, near the pueblo of Huistan, eight leagues east of the city
of San Cristoval; but the latter has no supporting mound, but stands
on the level of the ground. Here are two Egyptian pyramids,
considering their form and purpose." Walls of masonry are mentioned on
the hill of Colmena, four leagues from Ocosucoautla; being nine feet
thick, seven feet high, and enclosing a circular space forty-five feet
in diameter. There is also a wall on the hill of Petapa, south of
Ocosucoautla; but the most notable is that of Santoton, near Teopisca,
seven leagues south-west of San Cristoval. Two parallel walls extend
a long distance, having at one end a ditch, and at the other a high
steep mound; within the walls was a town.[VI-60]

Among the relics found at Huehuetan in Soconusco at the end of the
seventeenth century, and publicly destroyed, are said to have been
some sculptured stones; and we have a statement that the shapeless
ruins of the city itself are still visible on a hill near the Pacific,
at the modern town of Tlazoaloyan.[VI-61] The ruins of the aboriginal
Tonala, a town captured by Pedro de Alvarado, are said to be still
seen on the banks of a laguna communicating with the sea, near the
Tehuantepec frontier. The ancient Ghowel, or Huey Zacatlan, is
supposed to have stood on the present site of San Cristoval, where
some traces are reported. Dupaix mentions a human head, wearing a kind
of helmet, cut from green porphyry. This relic was in the possession
of Sr Ordonez.[VI-62]

Brasseur states that the town of Chiapa de Indios, twelve leagues from
San Cristoval, is "full of ruins;" and he thinks that obelisks, on one
of which there is a tradition of an old king having inscribed his
name, and other ruins like those at Copan and Quirigua will some time
be brought to light in the forests about Comitan. Hermosa mentions two
stones cut in the form of tongues, nine feet long and two feet wide,
at Quixte, the location of which I am unable to find. Galindo speaks
of some extraordinary and magnificent ruins in a cave somewhere on the
left bank of the Usumacinta near the falls; and somewhat lower down,
about three miles from Tenosique, a remarkable monumental stone, with
inscribed characters. And finally, among the wonderful pretended
discoveries of Leon de Pontelli, were the ruined cities of Ostuta and
Copanahuaxtla, southward of Palenque, and in the vicinity of San
Bartolome.[VI-63]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: COMPARISONS.]

I have now presented to the reader all that is known of Palenque, and
the few other relics of antiquity that have been found in Chiapas.
Since the monuments described are nearly all found in one locality, a
general resume seems less necessary than in the chapter on Yucatan
antiquities, where the remains of many cities, with numerous
variations in detail, were described. Yet a brief consideration of the
leading points of resemblance and contrast between the two groups is
important. In Palenque, as in Yucatan, we have low, narrow buildings
of stone and mortar, standing on the summit platforms of artificial
pyramidal elevations faced with masonry. There are no traces of city
walls or other fortifications. Galleries are found within the Palace
pyramid, and that of the Beau Relief; they were also found in Yucatan
at Maxcanu, reported at Izamal, and may very likely exist in other
pyramids. The building-material, stone, mortar, and wood, were
apparently the same in both groups of ruins, although at Palenque the
wood has disappeared. Respecting the form and dimensions of the hewn
blocks, our information is less complete than is desirable, especially
in the case of Palenque. I believe, however, that no importance can be
attached to Galindo's remark that the blocks at Palenque are only two
inches thick, and it is probable that the blocks used in both groups
are of varying forms and dimensions, as indeed I am informed by a
gentleman residing in San Francisco, who visited the ruins in 1860.
Mortar, plaster, or stucco was used in greater profusion at Palenque,
but there is no reason to suppose that it differed in composition or
excellence; the bright- paints also, although better preserved
in Yucatan, were, so far as can be known, everywhere the same in the
Maya ruins.[VI-64]

Interiors here as before consist for the most part of two narrow
parallel corridors, with perpendicular walls for half their height,
and covered by triangular arches of overlapping blocks of stone. Both
walls and ceilings are covered with plaster, and both painted and
stucco decorations occur on their surface. Poles originally stretched
across from ceiling to ceiling, the poles themselves remaining in
Yucatan, and the holes in which they were placed at Palenque. At the
sides of many doorways on the interior are simple contrivances for
supporting doors or curtains.[VI-65] The Palace, like those of the
Yucatan structures which seem to have been intended partially for the
residence of priests or lords, is built about an enclosed courtyard,
but at Palenque the building is continuous instead of being composed
of four separate structures as at Uxmal; and the court, unlike those
in Yucatan, contains other structures. The strongest bond connecting
Palenque to Uxmal, Kabah, and their sister cities, together with
Copan, is the evident identity of the hieroglyphic characters
inscribed on their tablets. Respecting this identity all writers are
agreed, but the reader, with the specimens given in the preceding
pages, will require no other authority on the subject.[VI-66] Both
Palenque and Yucatan are also alike remarkable for the comparative
absence of idols, statues, implements, and pottery; and, except in the
matter of statues, Copan may be classed with them. The human faces
sculptured or molded in profile in Yucatan and Chiapas exhibit the
same flattened forehead, although the type is much more strongly
marked at Palenque. The absence of all warlike subjects is remarkable
in the stucco and sculptured figures at Palenque as in all the more
ancient remains of Central America.

Together with the resemblances pointed out and others that will occur
to the student of this and the preceding chapters, there are also
strongly marked contrasts to be noted. In nearly every city of Yucatan
there are one or more pyramids on the summits of which no traces of
buildings appear, apparently designed for the performance of religious
rites in sight of the assembled people, but possibly having served
originally to support wooden structures; while at Palenque each
pyramid seems to have borne its edifice of stone. The number of
buildings apparently intended as temples, in comparison with those
which may have served also as residences for priests or rulers, seems
much greater at Palenque. Many of the pyramids in Yucatan had broad
terraces on their sides; at Palenque none appear, although a terraced
elevation has been noticed at Ococingo. Some of the Yucatan pyramids
are built of a concrete of rough stones and mortar; some of those at
Palenque are chiefly composed of earth, but our information is not
sufficiently full on this point to warrant the conclusion that there
is any uniform difference in the structure of the pyramids. The sides
of the pyramids have in Chiapas no decorations either in stone or
stucco, but such decorations in stucco may have existed and have left
no trace. Coming now to the superimposed edifices we note that none
are found of more than one story at Palenque, while in Yucatan two or
three stories are of common occurrence. The walls at Palenque are much
thinner, are built entirely of hewn stone, and lack, so far as the
authorities go, the filling of rubble found in Yucatan. While the arch
of overlapping stones is constructed in precisely the same manner,
yet, as I have said, the projecting corners are beveled in Yucatan,
while at Palenque a plain surface is produced by the aid of mortar.
Doorways in the ruins of Yucatan have for the most part, except at
Uxmal, stone lintels; in those of Palenque there is no very positive
evidence of their use. In the former the principal exterior entrances
have arched tops; in the latter no such structure appears. In the
former the roof seems to have been flat, cemented, and plain; in the
latter they were sloping, and decorated with stucco. In Yucatan
columns occur occasionally both in doorways and elsewhere, but there
are no windows; while in Chiapas small windows appear in most
buildings, but no columns. Traces of a phallic worship are apparent in
the Yucatan sculptured figures; at Palenque no such traces have been
pointed out, and there is not among the many tablets or decorations in
stucco, a single figure which would be offensive to the most prudish
modesty. It is not necessary to speak of the exterior stairways, the
isolated arch, the round buildings, the flat wooden roof, and other
peculiar edifices which were found in Yucatan and have no counterpart
at Palenque. The most marked contrast is in the use of stone and
stucco for exterior ornamentation. No stone sculpture is seen on the
outer walls of any Palenque building; while in Yucatan, except in
superimposed ornamental roof-structures, stucco very rarely
appears.[VI-67]

The resemblances in the different groups of ruins in Chiapas, Yucatan,
and Honduras, are more than sufficient to prove intimate connection
between the builders and artists. The differences pointed out prove
just as conclusively that the edifices were not all erected and
decorated by the same people, under the same laws and religious
control, at the same epoch.

  [Sidenote: ANTIQUITY OF PALENQUE.]

And this brings me to the question of the age of Palenque, the date of
its foundation and abandonment. It has already been shown that the
Yucatan structures were built by the direct ancestors of the Mayas who
occupied the peninsula at the time of the conquest; that they were not
abandoned wholly until the coming of the Spaniards, although partially
so during the two centuries preceding that event; that the reasons
adduced for and against the great antiquity of the ruins by different
authors, bear almost exclusively on the date of their abandonment
rather than that of their erection; and that the latter date, so far
as anything can be known of it, depends chiefly on traditional
history, which indicates that the cities were built at different dates
from the third to the tenth century. It is chiefly by comparison with
the ruined cities of Yucatan that the age of Palenque must be
determined, since there is no traditional history that relates
definitely to this city, and it was doubtless abandoned before the
Spaniards came; for it is hardly possible that a great inhabited city
could have remained utterly unknown during the conquest of this part
of the country, especially as Cortes is known to have passed within
thirty miles of its site. In favor of great antiquity for Palenque,
the growth of large trees on the ruins, the accumulation of vegetable
mold in the courtyards, and the disappearance of all traces of wood,
have been considered strong arguments; but they all bear on the date
of abandonment rather than of building, as do the rapid crumbling of
the ruins since their discovery, the remains of bright- paint,
the destructiveness of tropical climate and vegetation, and the
comparison with some European ruins of known age. The size of trees
and accumulation of earth are known to be very uncertain tests of age
in this region; indeed the clearings and excavations of the earlier
explorers seem to have left few signs visible to those who came a few
years later. The utter disappearance of wooden lintels is, however, a
very strong argument that Palenque was abandoned some centuries
earlier than the cities of the peninsula, where the lintels were found
often in perfect preservation, although it cannot be conclusively
shown that the same kind of wood was employed. When we add to this the
more advanced state of ruin of the Palenque structures, and the utter
silence of all later traditions respecting any great city or religious
centre in this region, it seems safe to conclude that Palenque was
abandoned, or left without repairs, as early as the twelfth or
thirteenth century, and possibly earlier.

  [Sidenote: FOUNDATION OF PALENQUE.]

Respecting the date when the city was built, we have the resemblances
to Yucatan ruins already noticed, which show beyond doubt that it was
built--under different conditions, such as religion and government
possibly--by a people of the same race and language, and not by an
extinct race as has been sometimes imagined. The present deteriorated
condition of the natives, and the flattened foreheads of the
sculptured figures have been the strongest reasons for believing in an
extinct race; but the former has been shown, I believe, in the three
preceding volumes of this work to have no weight, and the peculiar
cranial conformation may be much more simply and as satisfactorily
explained by supposing that in ancient as in modern times the forehead
was artificially flattened. Then we have the strong differences
noticeable between Uxmal and Palenque, which lead us to conclude that
these cities must have been built either at widely different epochs,
or by branches of the Maya race which had long been separated, or by
branches, which through the influence of foreign tribes lived under
greatly modified institutions. It cannot be accurately determined to
what extent the last two conditions prevailed, but from what is known
of Maya history, and the uniformity of Maya institutions, I am
inclined to attribute most of the architectural and sculptural
differences noted to the lapse of time, and to allow a difference of a
few centuries between the dates of building. I must confess my
inability to judge from the degree of art displayed respectively in
the peninsular ruins and those of Palenque, which are the older; I
will go further, and while in a confessional mood, confess to a shade
of skepticism respecting the ability of other writers to form a
well-founded judgment in the matter. Authors are, however, unanimous
in the opinion that Palenque was founded before any of the cities of
Yucatan, an opinion which is supported to a certain extent by
traditional history, which represents Votan's empire in Chiapas and
Tabasco as preceding chronologically the allied Maya empire in the
peninsula. If the Yucatan cities flourished, as I have conjectured,
between the third and tenth centuries, Palenque may be conjecturally
referred to a period between the first and eighth centuries. I regard
the theory that Palenque was built by the Toltecs after their
expulsion from Anahuac in the tenth century as wholly without
foundation; and I believe that it would be equally impossible to prove
or disprove that the Palace was standing at the birth of Christ. It
must be added that Brasseur and some others regard the stucco
decorations and especially the peculiar roof-structures as the work of
a later people than the original builders, or at least, of a later
epoch and grade of culture.[VI-68]

  [Sidenote: OLD WORLD RESEMBLANCES.]

Respecting the vague resemblances in the Palenque monuments to
old-world ruins, there is very little to be said. The earlier
observers were not permitted by their religious faith to doubt that
the builders must be connected with some race of the old world; they
were, however, allowed to use their judgment to a certain extent in
determining which should have the credit, and most of them discovered
the strongest similarities to Egyptian antiquities, although Dupaix
could find no likeness in the hieroglyphics. Later authorities are not
disposed to admit a marked likeness to the monuments of any particular
nation of Europe, Asia, or Africa, although finding vague and perhaps
accidental similarities to those of many of the older nations. My
acquaintance with old-world antiquities is not sufficiently thorough
to give any weight to my individual opinion in the matter, and I have
no space for the introduction of descriptive text and illustrative
plates. I give in a note the opinions of some writers on the
subject.[VI-69]

  [Sidenote: ART DISPLAYED AT PALENQUE.]

I close my account of Maya antiquities with the following brief
quotations respecting Palenque, and the degree of art exhibited in her
ruined monuments. "These sculptured figures are not caricatures, but
display an ability on the part of the artists to represent the human
form in every posture, and with anatomical fidelity. Nor are the
people in humble life here delineated. The figures are royal or
priestly; some are engaged in offering up sacrifices, or are in an
attitude of devotion; many hold a scepter, or other baton of
authority; their apparel is gorgeous; their head-dresses are
elaborately arrayed, and decorated with long feathers."[VI-70] "Many
of the reliefs exhibit the finest and most beautiful outlines, and the
neatest combinations, which remind one of the best Indian works of
art."[VI-71] "The ruins of Palenque have been perhaps overrated; these
remains are fine, doubtless, in their antique rudeness; they breathe
out in the midst of their solitude a certain imposing grandeur; but it
must be affirmed, without disputing their architectural importance,
that they do not justify in their details the enthusiasm of
archaeologists. The lines which make up the ornamentation are faulty in
rectitude; the designs in symmetry; the sculpture in finish; I
except, however, the symbolic tablets, the sculpture of which seemed
to me very correct." "I admire the bas-reliefs of Palenque on the
facades of her old palaces; they interest me, move me, and fill my
imagination; but let them be taken to the Louvre, and I see nothing
but rude sketches which leave me cold and indifferent."[VI-72] "The
most remarkable remains of an advanced ancient civilization hitherto
discovered on our continent." "Their general characteristics are
simplicity, gravity, and solidity."[VI-73] "While superior in the
execution of the details, the Palenque artist was far inferior to the
Egyptian in the number and variety of the objects displayed by
him."[VI-74]

FOOTNOTES:

[VI-1] The physical features and natural beauties of this region are
perhaps more vividly and eloquently described by the French traveler
Morelet than by any other visitor. _Voyage_, tom. i., pp. 245-85;
_Travels_, pp. 65-111. M. Morelet visited Palenque from the Laguna de
Terminos, passing up the Usumacinta and its branches, while other
visitors approached for the most part from the opposite direction. He
gives, moreover, much closer attention to nature in its varied aspects
than to artificial monuments of the past. 'L'esprit est frappe par le
reve biblique de l'Eden, et l'oeil cherche vainement l'Eve et l'Adam
de ce jardin des merveilles: nul etre humain n'y planta sa tente; sept
lieues durant ces perspectives delicieuses se succedent, sept lieues
de ces magnifiques solitudes que bornent de trois cotes les horizons
bleus de la Cordillere.' _Charnay_, _Ruines Amer._, p. 412. 'La nature
toujours prodigue de ses dons, dans ce climat enchanteur, lui assurait
en profusion, avec une eternelle fertilite, et une salubrite eprouvee
durant une longue suite de siecles, tout ce qu'un sol fecond, sous un
ciel admirable, peut fournir spontanement de productions necessaires a
l'entretien et au repos de la vie.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist.
Nat. Civ._, tom. i., p. 82.

[VI-2] In 1746, while Padre Antonio de Solis was temporarily residing
at Santo Domingo, a part of his curacy, the ruins were accidentally
found by his nephews; although Stephens, _Cent. Amer._, vol. ii., p.
294, gives a report without naming his authority--probably _Antiq.
Mex._, tom. i., <DW37>. i., p. v., or _Juarros_, _Hist. Guat._, p. 18.,
where the date is given as the middle of the century--which he does
not credit, that they were found by a party of Spaniards in 1750. From
one of the nephews, Ramon Ordonez, then a schoolboy at San Cristoval,
first heard of the ruins in which he took so deep an interest in later
years. In 1773 Ordonez sent his brother with one Gutierrez de la Torre
and others to make explorations, and from their report wrote an
account--probably the _Memoria relativa a las ruinas de la Ciudad
descubierta en las inmediaciones del pueblo de Palenque_, a MS. in
Brasseur's collection, (_Bib. Mex. Guat._, p. 113,) from which these
facts were gathered--which was forwarded in 1784 to Estacheria,
President of the Guatemalan Audiencia Real. President Estacheria, by
an order dated Nov. 28, 1784,--_Expediente sobre el descubrimiento de
una gran ciudad, etc._, MS., in the Archives of the Royal Hist. Acad.
of Madrid,--instructed Jose Antonio Calderon, Lieut. Alcalde Mayor of
Santo Domingo, to make further explorations. Calderon's
report,--_Informe de D. J. A. Calderon, etc._, translated in substance
in _Brasseur_, _Palenque_, Introd., pp. 5-7,--is dated Dec. 15, 1764,
so that the survey must have been very actively pushed, to bring to
light as was claimed, over 200 ruined edifices in so short a time.
Some drawings accompanied this report, but they have never been
published. In Jan. 1785 Antonio Bernasconi, royal architect in
Guatemala, was ordered to continue the survey, which he did between
Feb. 25 and June 13, when he handed in his report, accompanied by
drawings never published so far as I know. Bernasconi's report with
all those preceding it was sent to Spain, and from the information
thus given, J. B. Munoz, Royal Historiographer, made a report on
American antiquities by order of the king.

In accordance with a royal cedula of March 15, 1786, Antonio del Rio
was ordered by Estacheria to complete the investigations. With the aid
of seventy-nine natives Del Rio proceeded to fall the trees and to
clear the site of the ancient city by a general conflagration. His
examination lasted from May 18 to June 2, and his report with many
drawings was sent to Spain. Copies were, however, retained in
Guatemala and Mexico, and one of these copies was in Brasseur's
collection under the title of _Descripcion del terreno y poblacion
antigua, etc._ Another copy was found, part in Guatemala and the rest
in Mexico, by a Dr M'Quy. It was taken to England, translated, and
published by Henry Berthoud, together with a commentary by Paul Felix
Cabrera, entitled _Teatro Critico Americano_, all under the general
title of _Description of an Ancient City, etc._, London, 1822. The
work was illustrated with eighteen lithographic plates, by M. Fred.
Waldeck, ostensibly from Del Rio's drawings; but it is elsewhere
stated, _Antiq. Mex._, tom. i., <DW37>. i., p. vi., that Del Rio's
drawings did not accompany the work at all. If this be true, the
published plates must probably have been taken from the Latour-Allard
copies of Castaneda's drawings, of which I shall speak presently, and
indeed a comparison with Kingsborough's plates shows almost
conclusively that such was in some cases at least their origin.
Humboldt speaks of the Latour-Allard plate of the cross as differing
entirely from that of Del Rio. This difference does not appear in my
copies. It is possible that the plates in my copy of Del Rio's work,
the only one I have ever seen, are not the ones which originally
appeared with the book. A French translation by M. Warden was
published by the Societe de Geographie, with a part of the plates; and
a German translation by J. H. von Minutoli, with an additional
commentary by the translator, appeared in Berlin, 1832, as
_Beschreibung einer alten Stadt_, etc. This contained the plates,
together with many additional ones illustrating Mexican antiquities
from various sources. The German editor says that the whole English
edition, except two copies of proof-sheets, was destroyed; but this
would seem an error, since the work is often referred to by different
writers, and the price paid for the copy consulted by me does not
indicate great rarity. Stephens, _Cent. Amer._, vol. ii., p. 296,
speaks of this as 'the first notice in Europe of the discovery of
these ruins,'--incorrectly, unless we understand _printed_ notice, and
even then it must be noticed that Juarros, _Hist. Guat._, 1808-18, pp.
18-19, gave a brief account of Palenque. Del Rio, in Brasseur's
opinion, was neither artist nor architect, and his exploration was
less complete than those of Calderon and Bernasconi, whose reports he
probably saw, notwithstanding the greater force at his disposal. 'Sin
embargo de sus distinguidas circunstancias, carecia de noticias
historiales para lo que pedia la materia, y de actividad para lograr
un perfecto descubrimiento.' _Registro Yuc._, tom. i., p. 320. The
original Spanish of Del Rio's report, dated June 24, 1787
(?),--_Informe dado par D. Antonio del Rio al brigadier D. Jose
Estacheria, etc._--was published in 1855, in the _Diccionario Univ. de
Geog. etc._, tom. viii., pp. 528-33. See also an extract from the same
in _Mosaico Mex._, tom. ii., pp. 330-4. In _Antiq. Mex._, tom. i.,
<DW37>. ii., p. 76, it is stated that Julio Garrido wrote a work on
Palenque about 1805, which was not published. That is all I know of
it.

From 1805 to 1808 Capt. Guillaume Dupaix, in company with Luciano
Castaneda, draughtsman, and a company of Mexican soldiers, by order of
Carlos IV., King of Spain, made three expeditions to explore the
antiquities of southern Mexico. Dupaix's MS. report, and 145 drawings
by Castaneda, were deposited in the Mexican archives to be sent to
Spain; but the revolution breaking out soon after, they were for some
years forgotten. Copies of most of the drawings were obtained by M.
Latour-Allard of Paris, passed through the hands of Humboldt, who did
not publish them, and later into English hands. They were engraved in
London, 1823, without any accompanying explanation, and M. Warden
reproduced a part of them in a memoire to the French Geographical
Society. These are certainly the plates in my copy of Del Rio, and I
have but little doubt that they are the only ones that ever
accompanied his published work. Bullock, _Six Months' Residence in
Mex._, p. 330, says he copied Castaneda's drawings in Mexico, 1823,
but he published none of them. In 1831, copies of the Latour-Allard
copies, made by the artist Aglio, were published by Lord Kingsborough,
in vol. iv. of his _Mexican Antiquities_, together with the Spanish
text of Dupaix's report, obtained from I know not what source, in vol.
v., and a carelessly made English translation of the same in vol. vi.
of the same work. In 1828, the original text and drawings were
delivered by the Mexican authorities to M. Baradere--at least Sr
Icaza, curator of the Mexican Museum, certified them to be the
originals; but Sr Gondra, afterwards curator of the same institution,
assured Brasseur that these also were only copies,--and were
published--the text in Spanish and French--in 1843, in _Antiquites
Mexicaines_. The faithfulness with which the descriptions and drawings
of Dupaix and Castaneda were made, has never been called in question;
but Castaneda was not a very skilful artist, as is admitted by M.
Farcy in his introduction to _Antiq. Mex._, and many of his faults of
perspective were corrected in the plates of that work. M. Farcy states
that all previous copies of the plates were very faulty, including
those of Kingsborough, although Humboldt, in a letter to M.
Latour-Allard, testifies to the accuracy of the latter. A comparison
of the two sets of plates shows much difference in the details of a
few of them, and those of the official edition are doubtless superior.
The French editors, while criticising Kingsborough's plates more
severely, as it seems, than they deserve, say nothing whatever of his
text; yet both in the Spanish and translation it varies widely from
the other, showing numerous omissions and not a few evident blunders.
Stephens, seconded by Brasseur, objects to the slighting tone with
which Dupaix's editors speak of Del Rio's report; also to their claim
that only by government aid can such explorations be carried on. M.
Waldeck says, _Palenque_, p. vii., that he tried to prevent the
publication of the plates in Kingsborough's work on account of their
inaccuracy, although how he could at that date pretend to be a judge
in the matter does not appear. It is true that Castaneda's drawings
are not equal to those of Waldeck and Stephens, but they nevertheless
give an excellent idea of the general features of all ruins visited.
Morelet says of Dupaix's report: 'Ce document est encore aujourd'hui
le plus curieux et le plus interessant que nous possedons sur les
ruines de Palenque.' _Voyage_, tom. i., p. 268; _Travels_, p. 90. It
was during the third expedition, begun in December, 1807, that Dupaix
visited Palenque with a force of natives. His survey lasted several
months. The results may be found as follows: _Dupaix_, _3eme exped._,
in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. i., <DW37>. i., pp. 13-36, tom. iii., pl.
xi.-xlvi., with an explanation by M. Lenoir, tom. ii., <DW37>. i., pp.
73-81; _Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq._, vol. v., pp. 294-339, vol. vi.,
pp. 473-83, vol. iv., pl. xii.-xlv. To economize space I shall refer
to these works by the simple names of _Dupaix_, and _Kingsborough_,
with the number of page or plate; and I shall, moreover, refer
directly to Kingsborough only when differences may appear in text or
plates.

Dr F. Corroy, a French physician of Tabasco, lived 20 years in the
country and made several visits to Palenque, claiming to know more
about the ruins than anyone else. An inscription on one of the
entrances of the Palace, shown in _Waldeck_, pl. ix., reads 'Francois
Corroy de tercer viage en estas ruinas los dias 25 de Agosto. Unico
historiador de hellos. Con su Esposa y Ija.' He furnished some
information from 1829 to 1832 to the French Geographical Society, and
speaks of 14 drawings and a MS. history in his possession. _Soc.
Geog., Bulletin_, tom. ix., No. 60, 1828, p. 198; _Antiq. Mex._, tom.
i., <DW37>. ii., p. 76. Col. Juan Galindo, at one time connected with the
British Central American service, also Governor of Peten, and
corresponding member of the London Geographical Society, sent much
information, with maps, plans, and sketches to the French Societe de
Geographie. His letter dated April 27, 1831, describing the Palenque
ruins, is printed in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. i., <DW37>. ii., pp. 67-72, also
an English translation in the _Literary Gazette_, No. 769, London,
1831, which was reprinted in the _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. iii.,
pp. 60-2. Lafond, _Voyages_, tom. i., p. 142, states that Nebel
visited Palenque, and Mueller, _Urreligionen_, p. 459-60, also implies
that this traveler explored the ruins; but this is probably erroneous.

On April 12, 1832, M. Frederic de Waldeck, the most indefatigable and
successful explorer of Palenque, arrived at the ruined city,
illustrative plates of which he had engraved ten years before for Del
Rio's work. This veteran artist--64 years of age at that time,
according to Brasseur's statement, _Palenque_, p. vi., but 67 if we
may credit the current report in the newspapers that he celebrated his
109th birthday in Paris on Dec. 7, 1874, being still hale and
hearty--built a cabin among the ruins and spent two whole years in
their examination,--Brasseur, _Palenque_, p. vi., incorrectly says
_three_ years. 'Deux ans de sejour sur les lieux,' _Waldeck_, _Voy.
Pitt._, p. 68, translated 'in a sojourn of twelve years,' _Bradford's
Amer. Antiq._, p. 86,--his expenses being paid by a subscription which
was headed by the Mexican Government. More than 200 drawings in water
and oil colors were the result of his labors, and these drawings, more
fortunate than those made the next year in Yucatan--see p. 145 of this
volume--escaped confiscation, although Stephens erroneously states the
contrary, and were brought to France. _Waldeck_, _Voy. Pitt._, p. vi.
For various reasons Waldeck was unable to publish his proposed work,
and over 30 years elapsed before the result of his labors was made
public, except through communications dated Aug. 28, and Nov. 1, 1832,
sent to the Geographical Society at Paris. _Lafond_, _Voyages_, tom.
i., p. 142. I shall speak again of his work. Mr Friederichsthal
visited Palenque in his Central American travels before 1841, but
neither his text nor plates, so far as I know, have ever been
published. _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Palenque_, introd., p. 14. See
pp. 146-7 of this vol.

In 1840, Messrs Stephens and Catherwood, after their exploration of
the antiquities of Honduras and Guatemala, reached Palenque on May 9,
remaining until June 4. Such are the dates given by Brasseur,--the
only antiquarian except myself who has ever had the hardihood to
explore Stephens' writings for dates,--but the actual examination of
the ruins lasted only from May 11 to June 1. The results are found in
_Stephens' Yuc._, vol. ii., pp. 280-365, with 31 plates and cuts from
Catherwood's drawings; and in _Catherwood's Views of Anc. Mon._, N.
York, 1844, 25  lithographs, with text by Mr Stephens. A French
translation of Stephens' description of Palenque is given in _Brasseur
de Bourbourg_, _Palenque_, pp. 14-27. Respecting the ability of these
explorers, and the faithfulness of their text and drawings, there can
be but one opinion. Their work in Chiapas is excelled only by that of
the same gentlemen in Yucatan.--See p. 146 of this vol.--Without aid
from any government, they accomplished in 20 days, at the height of
the rainy season, the most unfavorable for such work, more
satisfactory results, as Stephens justly claims, _Cent. Amer._, vol.
ii., p. 299, than any of their predecessors--except Waldeck, whose
drawings had not then been published.

An anonymous account of the ruins appeared in 1845 in the _Registro
Yucateco_, tom. i., pp. 318-22. M. Morelet, of whom I have already
spoken, spent a fortnight here in 1846. _Voyages_, tom. i., pp.
264-84; _Travels_, pp. 64-111, with cuts from other sources. In 1858,
M. Desire Charnay, 'Charge d'une mission par le ministre d'Etat, a
l'effet d'explorer les ruines americaines,' visited Palenque; but his
photographic efforts were less successful here than elsewhere, and of
the four views published in his Atlas, only one, that of the tablet of
the cross, is of great value in testing the accuracy of preceding
artists. His description, however, is interesting and valuable as
showing the effects of time on the ruins since Stephens' visit.
_Charnay_, _Ruines Amer._, Paris, 1863, pp. 411-41, phot. 19-22;
Remarks by M. Viollet-le-Duc, pp. 72-3.

In 1860, a commission appointed by the French government examined and
reported upon Waldeck's collection, which was found to contain
ninety-one drawings relating exclusively to Palenque, and ninety-seven
representing objects from other localities. The Palenque drawings were
reported to be far superior to any others in existence, a somewhat too
decided _penchant aux restaurations_ being the only defect;--a defect,
however, which is to a greater or less extent observable in the works
of all antiquarians, several of Catherwood's plates being confessedly
restorations. In accordance with the report of the commission, the
whole collection was purchased, and a sub-commission appointed to
select a portion of the plates for publication. It was decided,
however, to substitute for M. Waldeck's proposed text some
introductory matter to be written by the Abbe Brasseur, a man
eminently qualified for the task, although at the time he had never
personally visited Palenque. He afterwards, however, passed a part of
the month of January, 1871, among the ruins. The work finally appeared
in 1866, under the general title _Monuments Anciens du Mexique_, in
large folio, with complicated sub-titles. It is made up as
follows:--I. _Avant Propos_, pp. i.-xxiii., containing a brief notice
of some of the writers on American Antiquities, and a complete account
of the circumstances which led to the publication of this work; II.
_Introduction aux Ruines de Palenque_, pp. 1-27, a historical sketch
of explorations, with translations of different reports, including
that of Stephens nearly in full; III. _Recherches sur les Ruines,
etc._, pp. 29-83, being for the most part speculations on the origin
of American civilization, with which I have nothing to do at present;
IV. _Description des Ruines, etc._, by M. Waldeck, pp. i.-viii; V.
Fifty-six large lithographic plates, of which Nos. i., v.-xlii., and
l., relate to Palenque, including a fine map of Yucatan and Chiapas. I
shall refer to the plates simply by the name _Waldeck_ and the number
of the plate. By the preceding list of contents it will be seen that
this is by far the most important and complete work on the subject
ever published. The publishers probably acted wisely in rejecting
Waldeck's text as a whole, since his archaeological speculations are
always more or less absurd; but it would have been better to give his
descriptive matter more in full; and fault may be justly found with
the confused arrangement of the matter, the constant references to
numbers not found in the plates, and with the absence of scales of
measurement; the latter, although generally useless in the
illustrations of an octavo volume, are always valuable in larger
plates. In addition to the preceding standard authorities on Palenque,
there are brief accounts, made up from one or more of those mentioned,
and which I shall have little or no occasion to refer to in my
description, as follows: _Baldwin's Anc. Amer._, pp. 104-11; _Priest's
Amer. Antiq._, pp. 246-7; _Conder's Mex. Guat._, vol. ii., pp. 157-69;
_McCulloh's Researches in Amer._, pp. 294-303; _Klemm_,
_Cultur-Geschichte_, tom. v., pp. 160-3; _Armin_, _Das Heutige Mex._,
pp. 73, 85-91; _Wappaeus_, _Geog. u. Stat._, p. 148; _Nott and
Gliddon's Indig. Races_, pp. 184-5; _D'Orbigny_, _Voyage_, pp. 354,
356, plate, restoration from Dupaix; _Fossey_, _Mexique_, pp. 373,
564-6; same account in _Escalera_ and _Llana_, _Mej. Hist. Descrip._,
pp. 332-6; _Lafond_, _Voyages_, tom. i., pp. 139-44; _Bradford's Amer.
Antiq._, pp. 86-9; _Democratic Review_, vol. i., p. 38; _Brasseur de
Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. i., pp. 82-94; _Davis' Anc.
Amer._, pp. 4-8; _Malte-Brun_, _Precis de la Geog._, tom. vi., pp.
464-5; _Frost's Pict. Hist._, pp. 71-7; _Willson's Amer. Hist._, pp.
74-6; _Jones' Hist. Anc. Amer._, pp. 69-86, 127; _Mueller_,
_Amerikanische Urreligionen_, pp. 462, 498; _Mosaico Mex._, tom. ii.,
p. 330, cut, restoration from Dupaix; _Muehlenpfordt_, _Mejico_, tom.
ii., p. 21; _Revista Mex._, tom. i., p. 498; _Buschmann_, _Ortsnamen_,
pp. 117-20, 181; _Mayer's Mex. Aztec, etc._, vol. ii., p. 180, cut,
erroneously said to be a Yucatan altar; _Littera_, _Taschenbuch der
Deutschen_, in _Russland_, pp. 54-5; _Foreign Quar. Review_, vol.
xviii., pp. 250-51; _Larenaudiere_, _Mex. Guat._, pp. 308-20, with
plates from Stephens; _Norman's Rambles in Yuc._, pp. 284-92.

[VI-3] 'Une enceinte de bois et de pallisades.' _Brasseur de
Bourbourg_, _Palenque_, p. 32; see also the Spanish dictionaries. 'Tal
vez es corrupcion de la palabra (aztec) _palanqui_, cosa podrida,'
_Orozco y Berra_, _Geografia_, p. 84. 'Means lists for fighting.'
_Davis' Anc. Amer._, p. 5. I remember also to have seen it stated
somewhere that palenque is the name applied to the poles by which
boatmen propel their boats on the waters of the tierra caliente.

[VI-4] _Humboldt_, in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, tom. xxxv., p.
327; _Fossey_, _Mexique_, p. 373; _Malte-Brun_, _Precis de la Geog._,
tom. vi., p. 464; _Juarros_, _Hist. Guat._, p. 19; _D'Orbigny_,
_Voyage_, p. 354; _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. i.,
p. 69. Brasseur, however, changed his mind about the name in later
works. _Palenque_, p. 32. Domenech, _Deserts_, vol. i., p. 18, calls
the name Pachan, probably by a typographical error.

[VI-5] _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. i., p. 111;
_Id._, _Popol Vuh_, and _Ximenez_, _Hist. Ind. Guat._, passim.

[VI-6] 'Je prouve, en effet, dans mon ouvrage sur ces celebres ruines,
que ce sont les debris de la ville d'Ototiun.' _Waldeck_, _Voy.
Pitt._, p. 111. 'Otolum, c'est a dire Terre des pierres qui
s'ecroulent. C'est le nom de la petite riviere qui traverse les
ruines. M. Waldeck, lisant ce nom de travers, en fait Ototiun, qui ne
signifie rien.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. i.,
p. 69. 'I have restored to them the true name of Otolum, which is yet
the name of the stream running through the ruins.' _Raffinesque_,
quoted in _Priest's Amer. Antiq._, p. 246.

[VI-7] _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Palenque_, p. 32; _Baril_, _Mexique_,
p. 27.

[VI-8] Calderon gives a list of 206 buildings more or less in ruins.
Bernasconi gives the city a circumference of 6 leagues and 1000 varas.
Del Rio, _Descrip._, p. 4, gives the ruins an extent of 7 or 8 leagues
from east to west, along the foot of a mountain range, but speaks of
only 14 buildings in which traces of rooms were yet visible. According
to Galindo the city extends 20 miles on the summit of the chain.
_Lond. Geog. Soc._, vol. iii., p. 60. Waldeck, p. iii., says that the
area is less than one square league. Mr Stephens, vol. ii., p. 355,
pronounces the site not larger than the Park in New York city.

[VI-9] _Descrip._, p. 3.

[VI-10] Stephens says eight miles, vol. ii., p. 287; Dupaix, a little
over two leagues, p. 14; Morelet, _Voyage_, tom. i., p. 245, two and a
half leagues--_Travels_, p. 64, two leagues; Charnay, p. 416, twelve
kilometres. The maps represent the distance as somewhat less than
eight miles.

[VI-11] 'Built on the <DW72> of the hills at the entrance of the steep
mountains of the chain of Tumbala,' on the Otolum, which flows into
the Michol, and that into the Catasaha, or Chacamal, and that into the
Usumacinta three or four leagues from Las Playas, which was formerly
the shore of the great lake that covered the plain. 'Les rues
suivaient irregulierement le cours des ruisseaux qui en descendant,
fournissaient en abondance de l'eau a toutes les habitations.'
_Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. i., pp. 82-84. 'Mide
al suroeste del pueblo dos leguas largas de extension.' _Dupaix_, p.
14, translated in _Kingsborough_, vol. vi., p. 473, 'occupied a space
of ground seven miles and a half in extent.' 'Au nord-ouest du village
indien de Santo Domingo de Palenque, dans la ci-devant province de
Tzendales.' _Humboldt_, in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, tom. xxxv.,
pp. 327-8. Galindo, _Antiq. Mex._, tom. i., <DW37>. ii., p. 69, describes
the location as on the summit of the range, and reached by stairways
from the valley below. On a plain eight leagues long, which extends
along the foot of the highest mountain chain. _Muehlenpfordt_,
_Mejico_, tom. ii., p. 21. Petrifactions of marine shells from the
ruins preserved in the Mexican Museum. _Gondra_, in _Prescott_, _Hist.
Conq. Mex._, tom. iii., p. 6.

[VI-12] _Waldeck_, pl. vi. Stephens' plan, vol. ii., p. 337, agrees in
the main with this but is much less complete. Dupaix, p. 18, found
only confused and scattered ruins, and declared it impossible to make
a correct plan.

[VI-13] 'Tous les monuments de Palenque sont orientes aux quatre
points cardinaux, avec une variation de 12 deg.' _Waldeck_, p. iii.
'Oriente comme toutes les ruines que nous avons visitees.' _Charnay_,
_Ruines Amer._, p. 424. Others, without having made any accurate
observations, speak of them as facing the cardinal points. See
_Morelet_, _Voyage_, tom. i., p. 276, etc., for the experience of that
traveler in getting lost near the ruins.

[VI-14] Dimensions from _Stephens_, vol. ii., p. 310. It is not likely
that they are to be regarded as anything more than approximations to
the original extent; the state of the pyramid rendering strictly
accurate measurements impracticable. The authorities differ
considerably. 273 feet long, 60 feet high. _Waldeck_, p. ii. 1080 feet
in circumference, 60 feet high. _Dupaix_, p. 14. 20 yards high. _Del
Rio_, _Descrip._, p. 4. 100x70 metres and not over 15 feet high.
_Charnay_, _Ruines Amer._, p. 424. Circumference 1080 feet, height 60
feet, steps one foot high. _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._,
tom. i., p. 85. 20 metres high, area 3840 sq. metres. _Morelet_,
_Voyage_, tom. i., p. 267; 20 _feet_ high. _Id._ _Travels_, p. 88.
Over 340 metres long. _Lafond_, _Voyages_, tom. i., pp. 143-4.
Waldeck, p. iii., is the only one who found traces of a northern
stairway, and none of the general views show such traces. Charnay, p.
425, thought the eastern stairway was double, being divided by a
perpendicular wall. Brasseur, _Palenque_, p. 17, in a note to his
translation of Stephens, says that author represents a stairway in his
plate but does not speak of it in his text--an error, as may be seen
on the following page of the translation or on p. 312 of the original.
The translation 'qui y montent _de_ la terasse' for 'leading up to it
_on_ the terrace' may account for the error.

[VI-15] _Stephens_, vol. ii., p. 316; _Waldeck_, p. vi.; _Charnay_, p.
425, phot. 22. Dupaix's plate xiii., fig. 20, showing a section of the
whole, indicates that the interior may be filled with earth and small
stones.

[VI-16] _Stephens_, vol. ii., p. 310, except the height, which he
gives at 25 feet. 144x240x36 feet. _Dupaix_, p. 15. 324 varas in
circumference and 30 varas high. _Kingsborough_, vol. v., p. 296.
145x240x36 feet. _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. i.,
p. 86.

[VI-17] Waldeck thinks, on the contrary, that the principal entrance
was originally on the north. General views are found in _Stephens_,
vol. ii., p. 309; _Dupaix_, pl. xii., fig. 19; _Kingsborough_, pl.
xii.; _Waldeck_, pl. viii.; _Charnay_, phot. 22. All but the last two
are, more or less, restorations, but not--except Castaneda's in a few
respects--calculated to mislead. Stephens says that this cut is less
accurate than others in his work, and Charnay calls his photograph a
failure, although I have already made important use of the latter.
Concerning the lintels, see _Charnay_, p. 427, and _Del Rio_,
_Descrip._, pp. 9-11. Brasseur, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. i., p. 86,
says the outside doors are 6 feet high. Doorways 4-1/2 to 12 ft high,
1-1/2 to 15 ft wide. _Dupaix_, p. 15.

[VI-18] Descriptions and drawings of the bas-reliefs. _Dupaix_, pp.
20, 37, 75-6, pl. xix-xxii. Kingsborough, vol. iv., pl. xxvi., shows
one damaged group not given in _Antiq. Mex._; _Del Rio_, _Descrip._,
pp. 9-11, pl. viii., x., xi., xv., xvi. (as they are arranged in my
copy--they are not numbered); _Stephens_, vol. ii., pp. 311, 316-17;
_Waldeck_, p. v., pl. xii., xiii. See _Charnay_, p. 426, and this
vol., p. 246. Morelet, _Voyage_, tom. i., pp. 274, 282, implies that
all the stucco work had disappeared at the time of his visit; and he
mentions a shell-fish common in the region which furnishes good lime
and was probably used by the ancients. Waldeck concludes that the
supposed elephant's head may be that of a tapir, 'quoiqu'il existe
parmi ces memes ruines des figures de tapir bien plus ressemblantes.'
_Voy. Pitt._, p. 37.

[VI-19] The plan is reduced from _Waldeck_, pl. vii. Ground plans are
also given in _Stephens_, vol. ii., p. 310, copied in _Willson's Amer.
Hist._, p. 75; _Dupaix_, pl. xi.; _Kingsborough_, vol. iv., pl. xiii.;
and in _Del Rio_, _Descrip._, the latter being only a rough imperfect
sketch. It is understood that a large portion of the outer and
southern walls have fallen, so that the visitors differ somewhat in
their location of doorways and some other unimportant details.
Stephens' plan makes the whole number of exterior doorways 50 instead
of 40, and many doorways in the fallen walls he does not attempt to
locate. I give the preference to Waldeck simply on account of his
superior facilities.

[VI-20] Plates illustrating the corridors may be found as follows:
_Waldeck_, pl. ix., view of doorway _c_ from _b_, showing two of the
medallions, one of which is filled up with a portrait in stucco, and
is probably a restoration; the view extends through the doorways _c_
and _d_, across the court to the building C. The same plate gives also
a view of the outer corridor lengthwise looking northward. Pl. x.
gives an elevation of the east side of the inner corridor, and a
section of both corridors. Pl. xi., fig. 1, shows the details of one
of the "T" shaped niches. _Stephens_, vol. ii., p. 313--sketch
corresponding to Waldeck's pl. ix., copied in _Morelet's Travels_, and
taken from the latter for my work. _Dupaix_, pl. xviii., fig. 25,
shows the different forms of niches and windows found in the Palace,
all of which are given in my cut. 'A double gallery of eighty yards in
length, sustained by massive pillars, opened before us.' _Morelet_,
_Voyage_, tom. i., pp. 265-6; _Travels_, p. 87. The square niches with
their cylinders are spoken of by Waldeck, _Voy. Pitt._, pp. 71-2, as
'gonds de pierre.' 'Quant aux ouvertures servant de fenetres, elles
sont petites et generalement d'une forme capricieuse, environnees, a
l'interieur des edifices, d'arabesques et de dessins en bas-relief,
parfois fort gracieux.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._,
tom. i., p. 92. Principal walls 4 feet thick, others less. _Dupaix_,
p. 15.

[VI-21] Paint the same as at Uxmal. Some was taken for analysis, but
lost. Probably a mixture in equal parts of carmine and vermilion.
Probably extracted from a fungus found on dead trees in this region,
and which gives the same color. _Waldeck_, _Voy. Pitt._, pp. 100-1.

[VI-22] Waldeck is the only authority for this narrow stairway, and
his plan for the northern broad stairway.

[VI-23] Dupaix, p. 21, says that the stone is granite, the figures 11
feet high, and the sculpture in high relief. 'Peuplee de simulacres
gigantesques a demi voiles par la vegetation sauvage.' _Morelet_,
_Voyage_, tom. i., p. 266. These figures, with the eastern side of the
court, are represented in _Dupaix_, pl. xxiii-iv., fig. 29; _Waldeck_,
pl. xiv-xvi. (according to a seated native on the steps, each step is
at least 2 feet high); _Stephens_, pp. 314-15; _Charnay_, phot. xix.,
xx. My cut is a reduction from Waldeck.

[VI-24] _Waldeck_, pl. xiv-v.; _Stephens_, vol. ii., pp. 314-15. One
of the small sculptured pilasters in _Dupaix_, pl. xxv., fig. 32.

[VI-25] The only plate that shows any portion of the court 2, is
_Waldeck_, pl. xviii., a view from the point _n_ looking
south-eastward. Two of the reliefs are shown, representing each a
human figure sitting cross-legged on a low stool.

[VI-26] Del Rio, p. 11, calls the height 16 yards in four stories,
also plate in frontispiece. Galindo, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. i., <DW37>.
ii., p. 70, says it is somewhat fallen, but still 100 feet high.
_Id._, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. iii., p. 61. Dupaix, p. 16,
says 75 feet in four stories, and his pl. xv-vi., fig. 22, make it 93
feet in three stories. Kingsborough's text mentions no height, but his
plates xvii-xviii., fig. 24, make it 108 feet in four stories. The
other authorities mention no height, but from their plates the height
would seem not far from 50 feet. See _Waldeck_, pl. xviii-xix., and
all the general views of the Palace. Waldeck, p. iii., severely
criticises Dupaix's drawings. 'Une tour de huit etages, dont
l'escalier, en plusieurs endroits est soutenu sur des voutes
cintrees.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. i., pp.
86-7. 'En el patio occidental esta la torre de tres cuerpos y medio:
en el primero tiene cuatro puertas cerradas, y una que se abrio cuando
el desmonte del capitan Rio, y se hallo ser un retrete de poco mas de
tres cuartas y lumbreras que se abrieron entonces.' _Registro
Yucateco_, tom. i., pp. 319-20. 'Dominee par une tour quadrangulaire,
dont il subsistait trois etages, separes l'un de l'autre par autant
de corniches.' _Morelet_, _Voy._, tom. i., p. 266. 'It would seem to
have been used as a modern oriental minaret, from which the priests
summoned the people to prayer.' _Jones_, p. 83.

[VI-27] _Waldeck_, p. iii. One of the figures in pl. xi. purports to
be a cornice of this room, but may probably belong to the outer walls,
since no other author speaks of interior cornices. _Stephens_, vol.
ii., p. 315.

[VI-28] _Stephens_, vol. ii., p. 316; _Waldeck_, pl. xv., fig. 2, a
cross-section of this building, showing a "T" shaped niche in the end
wall.

[VI-29] View of the building from the south-west, representing it as a
detached structure, in _Dupaix_, pl. xiv., fig. 21. This author speaks
of a peculiar method of construction in this building: 'Su
construccion varia algo del primero, pues el miembro que llamaremos
arquitrabe es de una hechura muy particular, se forma de unas lajas
grandisimas de un grueso proporcionado e inclinadas, formando con la
muralla un angulo agudo.' The plate indicates a high steep roof, or
rather second story. It also shows a "T" shaped window and
two steps on this side. For plates and descriptions of the tablet see
_Stephens_, vol. ii., p. 318; _Waldeck_, pp. iv., vi., pl. xvii.;
_Dupaix_, pp. 16, 23, pl. xviii., fig. 26, pl. xxvi., fig. 33; _Del
Rio_, p. 13, pl. xv.-xvii.; _Galindo_, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. i., <DW37>.
ii., p. 70. Waldeck's pl. xvi., fig. 3, is a ground plan showing more
detail than the general plan; and pl. xi., fig. 3, is a study of the
cornices (?) in the interior. The sculptured tablet probably
represents Cuculkan, or Quetzalcoatl. _Morelet's Travels_, p. 97. No
doubt the medallion represented a sun, and the table beneath was an
altar to the sun. _Jones' Hist. Anc. Amer._, p. 83.

[VI-30] _Stephens_, vol. ii., p. 319; _Dupaix_, pl. xxvii., fig. 34;
_Del Rio_, pl. iv.

[VI-31] _Stephens_, vol. ii., pp. 316, 318-19. Plan of galleries in
_Dupaix_, pl. xvii., fig. 24. Stucco ornaments, pl. xxv., fig. 30, 31.
Hieroglyphic tablet, pl. xxxix., fig. 41. Description, p. 28. Niche in
the wall of the gallery, _Waldeck_, p. iv., pl. xi., fig. 2.
Decoration over doorway (copied above), _Waldeck_, _Voy. Pitt._, p.
105, pl. xxii.; also in _Del Rio_, pl. xiv.

[VI-32] Cut from _Armin_, _Das Heutige Mex._, p. 73.

[VI-33] _Stephens_, vol. ii., pp. 339-43, with the cuts which I have
given, and also plates of the four stucco reliefs, and the
hieroglyphic tablets. _Waldeck_, pl. xxxiii.-xl., illustrating the
same subjects as Catherwood's plates, and giving also a transverse
section of the building in pl. xxiii., fig. 4. Waldeck's ground plan
represents the building as fronting the north. _Dupaix_, pp. 24-5, pl.
xxviii.-xxxii., including view of north front, ground plan, and the
stucco reliefs, which latter M. Lenoir, _Antiq. Mex._, tom. ii., <DW37>.
i., p. 78, incorrectly states to be sculptured in stone. Castaneda did
not attempt to sketch the hieroglyphics, through want of ability and
patience, as Stephens suggests. See _Charnay_, _Ruines Amer._, p. 424;
_Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. i., p. 89; _Baldwin_,
_Anc. Amer._, p. 107; _Del Rio_, _Descrip._, p. 16; _Galindo_, in
_Antiq. Mex._, tom. i., <DW37>. ii., p. 71. It is to be noticed that
Stephens' plan locates this temple nearer the Palace than the one I
have copied. Dupaix states the distance to be 200 paces.

[VI-34] _Stephens_, vol. ii., p. 355, giving view, section, ground
plan, and what remained of the Beau Relief. _Waldeck_, p. iii., pl.
xli.-ii., with ground plans, sections, and Beau Relief as given above,
and which the artist pronounces 'digne d'etre comparee aux plus beaux
ouvrages du siecle d'Auguste.' Drawings of the relief also in
_Dupaix_, pl. xxxiii., fig. 37; _Del Rio_, _Descrip._, pl. ii.;
_Kingsborough_, pl. xxxvi., fig. 37.

[VI-35] Del Rio, _Descrip._, p. 17, says this pyramid is one of three
which form a triangle, each supporting a square building 11x18
yards. Charnay locates this temple 300 metres to the right of the
Palace. _Ruines Amer._, p. 417. _Waldeck_, pl. xx., is a fine view of
this temple and its pyramid as seen from the main entrance of the
Palace. But according to this plate the structure on the roof is at
least 10 feet wide instead of 2 feet 10 inches as Stephens gives it,
and narrows slightly towards the top. This plate also shows two
"T" shaped windows in the west end. _Stephens_, vol. ii.,
pp. 344-8, elevation and ground plan as given in my text from
_Baldwin's Anc. Amer._, p. 106, and some rough sketches of parts of
the interior. _Dupaix_, pl. xxxv., fig. 39, exterior view and ground
plan. The view omits altogether the superstructure and locates the
temple on a natural rocky cliff. Galindo, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. i.,
<DW37>. ii., p. 71, speaks of the top walls as 80 feet from the ground
and pierced with square openings.

[VI-36] _Waldeck_, p. vii., pl. xxiii-iv.; _Stephens_, vol. ii., p.
352; _Dupaix_, pp. 24-5, pl. xxxvii-viii.; _Galindo_, in _Antiq.
Mex._, tom. i., <DW37>. ii., p. 71.

[VI-37] _Dupaix_, pp. 25-6, pl. xxxvi., fig. 40; _Waldeck_, p. vii.,
pl. xxi.-ii.; _Stephens_, vol. ii., pp. 345-7; _Charnay_, p. 419,
phot. xxi., showing only the central stone. 'Upon the top of the cross
is seated a sacred bird, which has two strings of beads around its
neck, from which is suspended something in the shape of a hand,
probably intended to denote the manitas. This curious flower was the
production of the tree called by the Mexicans macphalxochitl, or
"flower of the hand."' _Bradford's Amer. Antiq._, p. 89. 'Une grande
croix latine, surmontee d'un coq, et portant au milieu une croix plus
petite, dont les trois branches superieures sont ornees d'une fleur de
lotus.' _Baril_, _Mex._, pp. 28-9. 'Un examen approfondi de cette
question m'a conduit a penser avec certitude que la croix n'etait,
chez les Palenqueens, qu'un signe astronomique.' _Waldeck_, _Voy.
Pitt._, p. 24.

[VI-38] _Stephens_, vol. ii., pp. 344, 349; _Waldeck_, pl. xxv. 'From
the engraving, Egypt, or her Tyrian neighbour, would instantly claim
it.' _Jones' Hist. Anc. Amer._, p. 127. Copy of the statue from
Stephens, in _Squier's Nicaragua_, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 337.

[VI-39] Waldeck's plate xx. shows the pyramid No. 6 and indicates that
his location of it on the plan is correct. Charnay, _Ruines Amer._,
pp. 420-1, places No. 5 'a quelque distance de ce premier (Palace)
edifice, presque sur la meme ligne.' _Waldeck_, pl. xxvi., front
elevation; pl. xxvii., elevation of central chamber; pl. xxviii.,
central wall, roof structure (as given above), ground plan, sections;
pl. xxix-xxx, Tablet of the Sun; pl. xxxi-ii, lateral stone tablets.
Stephens, vol. ii., pp. 351-4, and frontispiece, gives elevation and
ground plan as above, and also elevation of central chamber, a view of
a corridor, and the Tablet of the Sun. Dupaix, p. 25, pl. xxxiv., fig.
38, describes a two storied building 10 by 19 varas, 12 varas high,
standing on a low pyramid, which may probably be identical with this
temple.

[VI-40] _Stephens_, vol. ii., p. 321; _Waldeck_, p. ii.; _Brasseur de
Bourbourg_, _Palenque_, introd., p. 7; _Del Rio_, _Descrip._, p. 5;
_Dupaix_, p. 29, pl. xlvi., fig. 48; _Kingsborough_, vol. v., p. 310,
pl. xlv., fig. 45; _Galindo_, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. i., <DW37>. ii., p.
71; _Charnay_, _Ruines Amer._, p. 429.

[VI-41] _Waldeck_, p. ii.

[VI-42] _Dupaix_, p. 18; _Charnay_, _Ruines Amer._, p. 424.

[VI-43] _Stephens_, vol. ii., pp. 320-1; _Waldeck_, p. iii. Plate xx.
also gives a view of the mountain from the Palace. A 'monument qui
paraitrait avoir servi de temple et de citadelle, et dont les
constructions altieres commandaient au loin la contree jusqu'aux
rivages de l'Atlantique.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._,
tom. i., p. 84.

[VI-44] _Dupaix_, p. 28, pl. xliv., fig. 46; _Kingsborough_, p. 310,
pl. xliv., fig. 43. The latter plate does not show any curve in the
sides. _Galindo_, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. i., <DW37>. ii., p. 68; _Id._,
in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. iii., p. 64.

[VI-45] _Bibliotheque Mexico-Guatemalienne_, p. xxvii.

[VI-46] _Waldeck_, p. ii.

[VI-47] _Galindo_, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. i., <DW37>. ii., p. 68.

[VI-48] _Ordonez_, _MS._, in _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat.
Civ._, tom. i., p. 92.

[VI-49] _Del Rio_, _Descrip._, pp. 18-20.

[VI-50] _Waldeck_, _Palenque_, p. iv., pl. l.; _Id._, _Voy. Pitt._, p.
104, pl. xviii., fig. 3.

[VI-51] _Galindo_, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. i., <DW37>. ii., pp. 70-2;
_Dupaix_, pp. 28-9, pl. xlii-iii., xlv., fig. 44-5, 47.

[VI-52] _Hist. Mag._, vol. iii., p. 100, quoted from _Athenaeum_;
_Davis' Anc. Amer._, p. 5.

[VI-53] See this vol. p. 118; _Melgar_, in _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_,
2da epoca, tom. iii., pp. 109-18.

[VI-54] _Stephens_, vol. ii., pp. 255-61; _Dupaix_, pp. 10-13, pl.
viii.-x.; _Kingsborough_, vol. v., pp. 291-4, vol. vi., pp. 470-2,
vol. iv., pl. ix.-x.; _Lenoir_, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. i., <DW37>. ii.,
pp. 23, 72-3; _Waldeck_, _Voy. Pitt._, pp. 46-7, 104, pl. xix.-xxi.;
_Id._, _Palenque_, p. viii., pl. liv.; _Brasseur_, _Palenque_,
introd., pp. 2, 14, 15--he writes the name Tonina. _Juarros_, _Hist.
Guat._, pp. 18-19, mere mention. Other authorities, containing no
original information, are as follows: _Muehlenpfordt_, _Mejico_, tom.
ii., p. 21; _Malte-Brun_, _Precis de la Geog._, tom. vi., p. 465;
_Baril_, _Mexique_, p. 27; _Domenech's Deserts_, vol. i., p. 20;
_Wappaeus_, _Mex. Guat._, p. 147; _Mueller_, _Amerikanische
Urreligionen_, p. 461; _Larenaudiere_, _Mex. Guat._, p. 320;
_Morelet's Trav._, pp. 97-8; _Warden_, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. ii., p.
71.

[VI-55] _Stephens_, vol. ii., pp. 256, 258; _Dupaix_, pp. 10-12, pl.
viii.-ix., fig. 13-16; _Waldeck_, _Voy. Pitt._, pp. 46-7.

[VI-56] _Waldeck_, _Voy. Pitt._, pp. 46, 104, pl. xix-xxi. 'Les
figures de terre cuite qu'on trouve de temps a autre dans les champs
voisins de ces ruines, sont bien modelees, et d'un style qui revele un
sentiment artistique assez eleve.'

[VI-57] _Morelet's Travels_, pp. 97-8, cuts probably from Catherwood's
drawings. _Warden_, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. ii., p. 71.

[VI-58] _Dupaix_, pp. 12-13, pl. x., fig. 17.

[VI-59] _Stephens_, vol. ii., pp. 258-62. Elevation, section, and
ground plan, with fragment of the stucco ornament. The latter copied
in _Brasseur_, _Palenque_, introd., pp. 14-15. _Waldeck_, _Palenque_,
p. viii., pl. liv. 'Dans l'interieur de ses monuments, un caractere
d'architecture assez semblable a celui des doubles galeries de
Palenque; seulement, j'ai remarque que les combles etaient coniques et
a angles saillants, comme des assises renversees.' _Id._, _Voy.
Pitt._, p. 46. Shows higher degree of art than Palenque. _Brasseur de
Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. i., p. 88.

[VI-60] _Pineda_, _Descrip. Geog._, in _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_,
tom. iii., pp. 346, 406-7.

[VI-61] _Pineda_, ubi sup.; _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat.
Civ._, tom. i., p. 74; _Domenech's Deserts_, vol. i., p. 21.

[VI-62] _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iv., p. 633,
tom. i., p. 75; _Wappaeus_, _Mex. Guat._, p. 147; _Muehlenpfordt_,
_Mejico_, tom. ii., p. 20; _Dupaix_, 3d Exped., p. 8, pl. vii.

[VI-63] _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. i., p. 96;
_Id._, _Palenque_, p. 33; _Hermosa_, _Manual Geog._, pp. 88-9;
_Galindo_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. iii., p. 60; _Id._, in
_Antiq. Mex._, tom. i., <DW37>. ii., p. 68; _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._,
1857, tom. clv., pp. 221-2.

[VI-64] _Galindo_, in _Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact._, vol. ii., p.
549. The stones that cover the arches in the Palace corridors, are
three feet long; those of the court stairways are one and a half feet
high and wide. Oxide of iron is mixed with the mortar. 'No es decible
la excelencia de este yeso que yo llamo estuco natural, pues no se
indaga visiblemente en su composicion o masa, arena o marmol molido. A
mas de su dureza y finura tiene un blanco hermoso.' Quarries were seen
one and a half leagues west of ruins. _Dupaix_, pp. 15-17, 20. Red,
blue, yellow, black, and white, the colors used. _Stephens_, vol. ii.,
p. 311.

[VI-65] Brasseur de Bourbourg, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. i., p. 87,
following Castaneda, speaks of regular semi-circular arches at
Palenque, and states that he has himself seen several such arches in
other American ruins. It is very certain that no such arches exist at
Palenque. Indeed, Dupaix himself, notwithstanding Castaneda's
drawings, says, p. 17, that semi-circular arches were not used, and
Lenoir, _Antiq. Mex._, tom. i., <DW37>. ii., p. 74, repeats the
statement; although the latter on the same page speaks of the 'voutes
cintrees' as appearing among the ruins. Brasseur's statement about
arches in other ruins would be more satisfactory if he had seen fit to
give further particulars. 'This original mode of construction, which
discloses the principle of the arch, was not wanting in grandeur or
boldness of design, although the architects did not understand the
science of curves, and stopped short, so to speak, on the verge of the
discovery.' _Morelet's Travels_, p. 88; _Id._, _Voyage_, tom. i., pp.
265-6.

[VI-66] Hieroglyphics at Palenque are the same as those at Copan and
Quirigua, although the intermediate country is now occupied by races
of many different languages. _Stephens_, vol. ii., p. 343; but, as
Brasseur says, _Palenque_, introd., p. 22, 'Toutes les langues qui se
parlent dans les regions existant entre Copan et Palenque ont la meme
origine; ... a l'aide du maya et du quiche, je crois qu'on les
entendrait toutes, avec quelque travail.' _Id._, _Hist. Nat. Civ._,
tom. i., p. 89; _Jones' Hist. Anc. Amer._, p. 102. See also this work,
vol. ii., chap, xxiv., vol. iii., Languages, chap. xi.

[VI-67] 'Il serait facile de demontrer, par une comparaison raisonnee
des ruines du Yucatan et de celles de Palenque, que les monuments dont
elles perpetuent le souvenir avaient un meme caractere architectonique;
qu'ils etaient ordonnes selon les memes principes et construits
d'apres les memes regles de l'art.' _Morelet_, _Voyage_, tom. i., p.
270. Brasseur, _Palenque_, introd., pp. 20, 24, notes a striking
similarity between the arrangement of buildings at Palenque and
Yucatan. He also speaks of a remarkable inferiority in the ruins of
Palenque, compared to Chichen, Zayi, and Uxmal. _Hist. Nat. Civ._,
tom. i., p. 88. Viollet-le-Duc, in _Charnay_, _Ruines Amer._, pp.
72-3, says the ruins do not resemble those of Yucatan, either in plan,
construction, or decoration; and that the face of the priest in the
Temple of the Cross is of a different race from the sculptured heads
in Yucatan. 'La sculpture ... indique un art plus savant qu'au
Yucatan; si les proportions du corps humain sont observees avec plus
de soin et d'exactitude, on s'apercoit que le _faire_ est mou, rond,
et qu'il accuse plutot une periode de decadence que l'aprete des
premiers temps d'un art.' _Id._, p. 74, 'Le caractere de la sculpture
a Palenque est loin d'avoir l'energie de celle que nous voyons dans
des edifices de l'Yucatan.' _Id._, p. 97. 'A pesar de tanta desnudez,
no hemos reparado una postura, un gesto, o algunas de aquellas del
cuerpo, al descubierto que el pudor procura ocultar,' _Dupaix_, p. 21.
Waldeck, _Voy. Pitt._, p. 72, thinks the tau-shaped figures may have
been symbols of the phallic worship. Friederichsthal, in _Nouvelles
Annales des Voy._, tom. xcii., pp. 300-3, says of the Yucatan ruins
that 'elles portent indubitablement des traces d'une identite
d'origine avec les ruines de Palenque,' but remarks a difference in
the sculptured and molded heads. Sivers, _Mittelamerika_, p. 238, says
that the stone reliefs of Uxmal belong to a ruder primitive art; and
that stucco was used at Palenque for want of suitable stone, and for
the same reason greater attention was paid to the stone tablets at the
latter ruins. See also _Reichardt_, _Centro-Amerika_, pp. 26-9;
_Prichard's Researches_, vol. v., pp. 345-6; _Foster's Pre-Hist.
Races_, p. 197.

[VI-68] M. Viollet-le-Duc, judging from the nature and degree of art
displayed in the ruins, concludes that the civilized nations of
America were of a mixed race, Turanian or yellow from the north-west,
and Aryan or white from the north-east, the former being the larger
and the earlier element. Stucco work implies a predominance of
Turanian blood in the artists; traces of wooden structures in
architecture belong rather to the white races. Therefore he believes
that Palenque was built during the continuance of the Empire of
Xibalba, probably some centuries before Christ, by a people in which
yellow blood predominated, although with some Aryan intermixture; but
that the Yucatan cities owe their foundation to the same people at a
later epoch and under a much stronger influence of the white races. In
_Charnay_, _Ruines Amer._, pp. 32, 45, 97, 103, etc. 'Here were the
remains of a cultivated, polished, and peculiar people, who had passed
through all the stages incident to the rise and fall of nations;
reached their golden age, and perished, entirely unknown. The links
which connected them with the human family were severed and lost, and
these were the only memorials of their footsteps upon earth.'
Arguments against an extinct race and Egyptian resemblances.
_Stephens_, vol. ii., pp. 356-7, 436-57. Dupaix believes in a
flat-headed race that has become extinct, p. 29. After writing his
narrative he made up his mind that Palenque was antediluvian, or at
least that a flood had covered it. _Lenoir_, p. 76. M. Lenoir says
that according to all voyagers and students the ruins are not less
than 3000 years old. _Id._, p. 73. 'Catlin, _Revue des Deux Mondes_,
March, 1867, p. 154, asserts that the ruined cities of Palenque and
Uxmal have within themselves the evidences that the ocean has been
their bed for thousands of years,' but the material is soft limestone
and presents no water lines. _Foster's Pre-Hist. Races_, pp. 398-9.
The work of an extinct race. _Escalera_ and _Llana_, _Mej. Hist.
Descrip._, p. 333; _Valois_, _Mexique_, p. 197; _Wappaeus_, _Mex.
Guat._, p. 247. Judging by decay since discovery, bright paint,
comparison with German ruins, etc., they cannot date back of the
Conquest. _Sivers_, _Mittelamerika_, pp. 237-47. 'All of them were the
Work of the same People, or of Nations of the same Race, dating from a
high antiquity, and in blood and language precisely the same Race, ...
that was found in Occupation of the Country by the Spaniards, and who
still constitute the great Bulk of the Population.' _Squier_, in
_Palacio_, _Carta_, pp. 9-10. Copan and Quirigua preceded Palenque and
Ococingo as the latter preceded the cities of Yucatan. _Ib._ 'The
sculptures and temples of Central America are the work of the
ancestors of the present Indians,' _Tylor's Researches_, pp. 189, 184.
In age the ruins rank as follows: Copan, Utatlan, Uxmal, Mitla,
Palenque. _Edinburgh Review_, July, 1867. 'Una antiguedad no menos que
antediluviana.' _Registro Yuc._, tom. i., p. 322, 'Approximative
calculations, amounting to all but certainty ... would carry its
origin as far back as twenty centuries at least.' _Dem. Review_, vol.
i., p. 38. 'Ces ruines etaient deja fort anciennes avant meme que les
Tolteques songeassent a quitter Tula.' _Fossey_, _Mexique_, p. 566.
Founded by the Toltecs after they left Anahuac in the 11th century.
They afterwards went to Yucatan. _Morelet_, _Voyage_, tom. i., pp.
269-70. Palenque much older than Yucatan according to the Katunes.
_Waldeck_, _Voy. Pitt._, pp. 22-3, 103. Waldeck found a tree whose
rings indicated an age of nearly 2000 years. _Id._, _Palenque_, p. v.
'Il est probable qu'elles appartiennent a la premiere periode de la
civilization americaine.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._,
tom. i., pp. 85, 87, 89. Copan built first, Palenque second, and Uxmal
third. _Jones' Hist. Anc. Amer._, pp. 80, 72, 76. Humboldt, _Vues_,
tom. ii., p. 284, thinks it improbable that the foundation of Palenque
dates back further than the 13th or 14th century; but he never saw the
ruins and does not pretend to have any means of accurately determining
their age.

[VI-69] 'Palenque, dans quelques bas-reliefs, a des intentions
assyriennes.' _Charnay_, _Ruines Amer._, p. iii. 'The writing of the
inscriptions ... has no more relatedness to the Phoenician than to
the Chinese writing;' nor is there any resemblance in the
architecture. _Baldwin's Anc. Amer._, p. 174. Long arguments against
any resemblance of the Central American cities to Egyptian monuments.
_Stephens_, vol. ii., pp. 436-57; which Jones, _Hist. Anc. Amer._, pp.
106-37, labors to refute. No resemblance to Egyptian pyramids, except
in being used as sepulchres. _Foster's Pre-Hist. Races_, pp. 186-7.
'The Palenque architecture has little to remind us of the Egyptian, or
of the Oriental. It is, indeed, more conformable, in the perpendicular
elevation of the walls, the moderate size of the stones, and the
general arrangement of the parts, to the European. It must be
admitted, however, to have a character of originality peculiar to
itself.' _Prescott's Mex._, vol. iii., pp. 407-8. 'Un bas-relief
representant un enfant consacre a une croix, les tetes singulieres a
grands nez et a fronts rejetes en arriere, les bottines ou _caligulae_
a la romaine servant de chaussure; la ressemblance frappante des
figures avec les divinites indiennes assises, les jambes croisees, et
ces figures un peu roides, mais dessinees dans des proportions
exactes, doivent inspirer un vif interet a quiconque s'occupe de
l'histoire primitive du genre humain.' _Humboldt_, in _Nouvelles
Annales des Voy._, tom. xxxv., p. 328. See also _Juarros_, _Hist.
Guat._, p. 19; _Dupaix_, p. 32, and elsewhere; _Larenaudiere_, _Mex.
Guat._, pp. 326-9; _Scherzer_, _Quirigua_, p. 11.

[VI-70] _Foster's Pre-Hist. Races_, pp. 338-9, 302.

[VI-71] _Klemm_, _Cultur-Geschichte_, tom. v., pp. 161-3.

[VI-72] _Morelet_, _Voyage_, tom. i., pp. 273, 264.

[VI-73] _Mayer's Mex. Aztec, etc._, vol. ii., p. 172; _Brasseur de
Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. i., p. 85.

[VI-74] _Prescott's Mex._, vol. iii., pp. 408-9.




CHAPTER VII.

ANTIQUITIES OF OAJACA AND GUERRERO.

     NAHUA ANTIQUITIES -- HOME OF THE ZAPOTECS AND MIZTECS --
     REMAINS IN TEHUANTEPEC -- FORTIFIED HILL OF GUIENGOLA --
     PETAPA, MAGDALENA, AND LAOLLAGA -- BRIDGE AT CHIHUITLAN --
     CROSS OF GUATULCO -- TUTEPEC -- CITY OF OAJACA AND
     VICINITY -- TLACOLULA -- ETLA -- PENOLES -- QUILAPAN --
     RUINS OF MONTE ALBAN -- RELICS AT ZACHILA -- CUILAPA --
     PALACES OF MITLA -- MOSAIC WORK -- STONE COLUMNS --
     SUBTERRANEAN GALLERIES -- PYRAMIDS -- FORTIFICATIONS --
     COMPARISON WITH CENTRAL AMERICAN RUINS -- NORTHERN
     MONUMENTS -- QUIOTEPEC -- CERRO DE LAS JUNTAS -- TUXTEPEC
     -- HUAHUAPAN -- YANGUITLAN -- ANTIQUITIES OF GUERRERO.


  [Sidenote: NAHUA MONUMENTS.]

I now enter what has been classified in a preceding volume of this
work as the home of the Nahua nations,--nations, most of which were at
the time of the Spanish conquest, and during the preceding century,
subjected to the allied powers of Anahuac, and were more or less
closely related to the nations of the central valley, in blood,
language, or institutions. It has been seen, in what has been said on
the subject,[VII-1] that the dividing line between the Nahuas and
Mayas, drawn across the isthmus of Tehuantepec, is not a very sharply
defined one. Many analogies, linguistic, institutionary, and
mythologic, were found between nations dwelling on different sides of
the line; so in monumental relics, and in traditional history, we
shall find many points of similarity; but on the whole, the
resemblances will be so far outweighed by the differences, as "to
indicate either a separate culture from the beginning, or what is more
probable, and for us practically the same thing, a progress in
different paths for a long time prior to the coming of the Europeans,"
to repeat the words of a preceding chapter.

The relics to be described in the present chapter are those of the
isthmus proper, and of that portion of the Mexican Republic above the
isthmus which lies in general terms south of the eighteenth parallel
of latitude, including the states of Oajaca and Guerrero, and
stretching on the Pacific from Tonala to the mouth of the Rio
Zacatula, a distance of between five and six hundred miles. The
province of Tehuantepec, belonging politically to the state of Oajaca,
includes the central continental mountain chain, with the plains on
the Pacific at its southern base, a region somewhat less fertile and
attractive than those in which many of the ruins already described are
situated. The two chief mountain ranges of the Mexican Republic, one
skirting the Atlantic, the other the Pacific shore, draw near each
other as the continent narrows, and meet in Tehuantepec. The southern
portions of these two converging ranges, the broad mountain-girt
valleys in the angle formed by their junction, and a narrow strip of
tierra caliente on the southern coast, constitute the state of Oajaca,
the home of the Miztecs, Zapotecs, and other tribes somewhat less
civilized, powerful, and celebrated. The interior valleys are for the
most part in the tierra templada, and include some of the best
agricultural land in the country, with all the larger towns grouped
round the capital as a centre. Guerrero is made up of the very narrow
lowlands of the coast, the southern mountain range extending through
its whole length from north-west to south-east, and the valley of the
Zacatula further north. It is a region but little known to travelers,
except along the great national highway, or trail, which leads from
Acapulco, the most important port of the state, to the city of Mexico.

  [Sidenote: RUINS OF GUIENGOLA.]

Five or six leagues from the city of Tehuantepec, the capital of the
province of the same name, and in the south-western corner of the
province, have been found the remains of an aboriginal fortification
or fortified town, which, according to the traditional annals of the
country, was built by the Zapotecs, not very long before the Conquest,
to resist the advance of the Aztec forces. The principal remains are
on a lofty hill, the cerro of Guiengola, but the fortified territory
is said to extend over an area measuring one and a half by over four
leagues, the outer walls being visible throughout the entire
circumference at every naturally accessible point. Besides the
protecting walls there are remains of dwellings, all of stone without
mortar, except a cornice on the larger walls. Three fortresses covered
with a coating of hard plaster are mentioned. Ditches accompany the
walls and add to the strength of the works. From a subterranean
sepulchre were taken about two hundred pieces of pottery, including
vases and imitations of various animals. The tombs had a coating of
compact cement, and the skeletons found in them were lying face down.
The preceding information I take from a very vague account written by
Sr Arias and published in the _Museo Mexicano_. Arias visited the
locality in 1833; he claims to have sent some very interesting relics,
found at Guiengola and other localities in the vicinity of
Tehuantepec, to the museum at Oajaca; but the man to whom they were
entrusted probably disposed of them in a manner more profitable to
himself, if less advantageous to the museum. Several natural caves are
spoken of by Arias, and one of them, seventy feet deep, showed traces,
according to the German traveler Mueller, of having been formerly
inhabited. The latter also found vestiges of dwellings scattered
throughout the vicinity, and speaks of a well-preserved tumulus
standing not long before his visit in a valley close by. It was
thirty-three feet high, with a base of ninety by one hundred and five
feet, and a summit platform sixty by seventy-five feet, reached by a
stairway of twenty-five wide steps. At the side of this tumulus was a
quadrilateral elevation covering an area of about two acres, and
enclosed by a wall eight feet high and twelve feet thick. Whether
these structures are identical with the 'castles' of Arias is
uncertain. A correspondent of _Hutchings' Magazine_ in 1858 describes
a wall of rough stones four feet thick and thirty feet high, said to
extend nine miles. This writer speaks also of buildings with pillars
in their centre, and of quarries from which the stone was originally
taken. Some plans accompanied Arias' report but were not published.
Unsatisfactory as it certainly is, the preceding is all the
information extant respecting these remains,[VII-2] or at least
referred definitely to Guiengola by name; but some remains were
described by Dupaix and sketched by Castaneda, at a point three
leagues west of Tehuantepec, which undoubtedly belonged to this group,
and were probably the same ruins which the other writers so vaguely
mention. On the top of a high hill, surrounded by other grand ruins,
are two pyramids of hewn stone and mortar. The first is fifty-five by
one hundred and twenty feet at the base, and thirty by sixty-six feet
at the summit. The main stairway, thirty feet wide, of forty steps,
leads up the centre of the western <DW72>; there are also narrower
stairways on the north and south. The pyramid is built in four
terraces, the walls of the lower one being perpendicular; and of all
the rest sloping. The whole surface was covered with a brilliant
cement of lime, sand, and red ochre. No remains whatever were found on
the summit. A remarkable feature is noticed on the surface of the
second story, from which project throughout the whole circumference,
except where interrupted by the stairways, four ranges of flat stones,
forming hundreds of small shelves. The only suggestions made
respecting the possible use to which these shelves were devoted are
that they supported torches or human skulls.

  [Illustration: Pyramid near Tehuantepec.]

The second pyramid is shown in the accompanying cut. The dimensions of
the base and summit platform are about the same as those of the former
pyramid, but the height is over fifty feet. The chief stairway, shown
in the cut, is on the east, and narrower stairways also afford access
to the summit on the north and south. The curved <DW72> of the lower
story constitutes a feature not found in American pyramids farther
south, and rarely if at all in the north. The upper story has three
projections, or cornices, on its perpendicular sides; and between them
is set a row of blocks, said to be white marble, bearing sculptured
designs in bas-relief. Three of these blocks with their sculptured
figures, found by Castaneda at the foot of the pyramid, are shown in
the cut. Of the building which appears on the summit nothing is known
further than may be gathered from the cut. The sides of the pyramid
were covered with cement, which was doubtless in a much more
dilapidated condition than is indicated in the drawing.

  [Illustration: Marble Tablets from Tehuantepec.]

Near the pyramids, and perhaps used in connection with them as an
altar, is a structure comprised of eight circular masses of stone and
mortar, like mill-stones in shape, placed one above another, and
diminishing in size towards the top. The base is ten feet and a half
in diameter, and the summit about four feet and a half, the height
being about twelve feet. Kingsborough's translation, without any
apparent authority, represents this monument as standing on a base
sixty-six feet long and twelve feet high.

About a hundred paces in front of the second pyramid, stands a
structure precisely similar to the lower story of that just described,
twelve feet in diameter and three feet high. Both of these altar-like
pyramids were built of regular blocks of stone, and covered with a
hard white plaster. Dupaix suggests that the latter was a gladiatorial
stone, or possibly intended for theatrical representations.[VII-3]

  [Sidenote: MONUMENTS OF TEHUANTEPEC.]

In the city of Tehuantepec, or in its immediate vicinity, Dupaix
found a flint lance-head of peculiar shape, having three cutting
edges, like a bayonet. Its dimensions were one and a half by six
inches, and the end was evidently intended to be fixed in a socket on
the shaft. Cuts of four terra-cotta idols, sent to the Mexican Museum
probably by Arias, already mentioned, are given in a Mexican magazine,
and also in a Spanish edition of Prescott's work. Two of them wear
horrible masks, the main feature of which is the projection from the
mouth of six large tusks, like those of some fierce animal or monster.
The same Arias speaks of a statue representing a naked woman, but
broken in pieces; also a stone tablet covered with hieroglyphics. A
small earthen bowl or censer, with a long handle, was presented to the
American Ethnological Society, as coming from some point on the
Tehuantepec interoceanic route.[VII-4]

In the region of Petapa, a town forty or fifty miles north of
Tehuantepec, a stalactite cave is mentioned by Brasseur, on the walls
of which figures painted in black are seen, including the imprint of
human hands like those on the Yucatan ruins except in color. A
labyrinth of caves, with some artificial improvements, is also
reported, where the remains of princes and nobles were formerly
deposited, and where an arriero claims to have seen over one hundred
burial urns, painted and ranged in order round the sides of the
cave.[VII-5] Only four leagues from Tehuantepec, near Magdalena,
Burgoa speaks of a statue of Wixepecocha, the white-haired reformer
and prophet of the Zapotecs, which Brasseur, without naming his
authority, states to have been still visible a few years before he
wrote.[VII-6] Lafond briefly mentions three pyramids on the isthmus
without definitely locating them;--that of Tehuantepec, seventy-two
feet high, that of San Cristoval near the former, and that of Altamia
in a broad plain.[VII-7] At Laollaga, seven leagues from Tehuantepec
in a direction not stated, Arias--very vaguely, as is the custom of
Mexican and Central American explorers of local antiquities--describes
a group of mounds, some of which are seventy or eighty varas square,
built of stones--or stone adobes, as the author calls them--three feet
long and half as thick. In connection with these mounds, flint and
copper hatchets have been found, together with many anchor-shaped
objects of what is spoken of as brass. A cave containing some relics
was reported to exist in the same vicinity; and at another point, some
fourteen leagues from the city, is a mound seventy-five feet high, on
the side of which was discovered a black rock, covered with
hieroglyphic characters.[VII-8] At Chihuitlan, a day's journey from
the city, a bridge of aboriginal construction, stretches across a
stream. The bridge is twelve feet long, six feet wide, and nine feet
high above the water, having low parapets guarding the sides. The
conduit is nine feet wide, and is formed by two immense stones, which
meet in the centre. According to Castaneda's drawing these two stones
have curved surfaces, so that the whole approaches in form a regular
arch. The whole structure is of the class known as cyclopean, built of
large irregular stones, without mortar.[VII-9]

Respecting Tehuantepec antiquities, I have in addition to what has
been said only brief mention by Garay of the following reported
relics: On a cliff of the Cerro del Venado, is the sculptured figure
of a deer, whence comes the name of the hill. Nine miles east of the
same hill the Indians pointed out the location of a valley where they
said were the remains of a large town of stone buildings. The Cerro de
Coscomate, near Zanatepec, is said to have a sculptured image of the
sun, with an inscription in unknown characters. And finally, relics
have been found on the islands of Monapostiac, Tilema, and
Arrianjianbaj; those on the first being in the form of earthen idols,
while in the latter were the foundations of an aboriginal
town.[VII-10]

At the port of Guatulco, south-west from Tehuantepec on the Oajacan
coast, there may yet be seen, if Brasseur's statement is to be
credited, traces of the roads and buildings of the ancient city that
stood in this locality, and transmitted its name to the modern town.
Guatulco was likewise one of the many localities described by the
early Catholic writers as containing a wonderful cross, left here
probably by Saint Thomas during his sojourn in America. We are not
very clearly informed as to the material of this relic, but we know,
from the same authorities, that all the powers of darkness could not
destroy it, not even the famous Englishman, Sir Francis Drake, who
subjected it for three days to the fiercest flames without affecting
its condition. Brasseur also tells us that the remains of Tututepec, a
great aboriginal south-coast capital, are still to be seen three or
four leagues from the sea, between the Rio Verde and Lake
Chicahua.[VII-11]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: MISCELLANEOUS REMAINS.]

Passing now to the interior valleys about the capital city of Oajaca,
where the chief remains of aboriginal works are found, I shall mention
first a few miscellaneous relics of minor importance, or at least
only slightly known to explorers,[VII-12] beginning with the city of
Oajaca, where Dupaix found two ancient ornaments of great beauty. The
first was a pentagon of polished transparent agate, about two inches
in diameter and an inch and a half thick. The surface bore no marks of
the instruments by which it was polished, and a hole was bored through
the stone presumably for the insertion of a string. The second was a
hexagonal piece of black touch-stone, of about the same dimensions,
sprinkled with grains of gold or copper, and like the former
brilliantly polished. The hole in this stone was bored in the form of
a curve, by an unknown process which must have been accompanied by no
little difficulty.[VII-13]

At Tlacolula, some twenty miles south-east of Oajaca, Mr Mueller
reports the opening of a mound twelve feet high and eight feet in
diameter at the base. It was simply a heap of earth, and the only
artificially wrought objects found in the excavations were an earthen
tube two inches in diameter and nearly two feet long, closed at each
end with a stone plug, found in a horizontal position somewhat above
the natural surface of the ground, and a bowl-shaped ring of the same
material lying in a vertical position over the tube near the centre of
the mound, but separated from the first relic by a layer of
earth.[VII-14] Remains of the ruined fortress of Quiyechapa are said
to have been seen by travelers at a point some twenty-five leagues
east of Oajaca.[VII-15] At Etla, two leagues northward from the
capital, two subterranean tombs were opened, and found to contain
what are supposed to have been earthen torch-bearers, or images in
distorted human form, with a socket in the head which indicates their
former use. Similar images found at Zachila will be noticed later in
this chapter. A wooden fac-simile of the tomb is mentioned by Sr
Gondra as preserved in the Mexican Museum.[VII-16] At Penoles, seven
leagues from Oajaca, a skull covered and preserved by a coating of
limestone was found.[VII-17] On the western boundary of this state,
perhaps across the line in Guerrero, at Quilapan, formerly a great
city of the Miztecs, an axe cast from red copper was found, one fourth
of an inch thick, four inches long, and three and a half inches wide.
From a mound opened in the same vicinity some fragments of statues and
of pottery were taken.[VII-18] Fossey tells us that conical mounds in
great numbers are scattered over the whole country between Oajaca,
Zachila, and Cuilapa. The mounds are from fifteen to fifty feet high,
and are formed in some cases of simple earth, in others of clay and
stones. Human remains are found often in the centre together with
stone and earthen figures. Those figures which are molded in human
form agree in features with the Zapotec features of modern times.
Copper mirrors and hatchets have also been found, according to this
author, as well as golden ornaments and necklaces of gilded
beads.[VII-19] M. Charnay saw in the second valley of Oajaca as he
came from Mexico the ruins of a temple, the building of which was
begun by the Spaniards in the time of Cortes, on the site of an
aboriginal temple. The ruined walls of the latter were of adobes, and
served for scaffolding in the erection of the former, and both ruins
now stand together. The whole valley was covered with tumuli,
probably tombs, as the author thinks; but the natives would neither
help to make excavations nor permit strangers to make them.[VII-20]

In addition to the relics described in the few and unsatisfactory
notes of the preceding pages, three important groups of antiquities in
central Oajaca remain to be noticed: Monte Alban, Zachila, and Mitla;
our information respecting the two former being also far from
satisfactory.

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: RUINS OF MONTE ALBAN.]

Monte Alban is located immediately west of the city of Oajaca, or
Antequera, at a distance of from half a mile to five miles according
to different authorities. These differences in the statements of the
distance perhaps result from the fact that some visitors estimate it
in an air line, while others include the windings of the road which
must be traveled over a mountainous country in order to reach the
ruins, which seem to be located on a high hill or on a range of hills
overlooking the town. Dupaix and Castaneda visited this place during
their second expedition. Juan B. Carriedo made in 1833 a manuscript
atlas of plans and drawings of the remains, which has never been
published, but which is said to be preserved in the Mexican Museum.
Jose Maria Garcia explored Monte Alban in 1855, and his report with
some drawings was published in the bulletin of the Mexican
Geographical Society. Mueller, the German traveler, visited the place
in 1857 with one Ortega, and published a plan in his work. Finally we
have Charnay's description from an exploration in 1858 or 1859,
unaccompanied, however, by photographic views.[VII-21]

  [Illustration: Plan of Ruins--Monte Alban.]

Notwithstanding this array of authorities, which ought to give a clear
idea of a single group of remains, the reader will find the following
description very imperfect, since each of the visitors, as a rule,
describes a different part of the ruins, and they do not often agree
in their remarks on any one structure. The plan in the annexed cut is
copied from that in Mueller's work, and shows all the remains marked on
the original, except four small structures on a northern continuation
of the hill, or spur, _a_, shown in the north-eastern part of the
plan. As the plan indicates, the ruins are situated on a plateau of
some three hundred by nine hundred yards along the summit of a range
of high hills with precipitous ascent, rising from the banks of a
stream which Mueller calls the Rio Xoxo. The works mentioned as not
included in the plan, are described by Mueller as the remains of four
walls which form a parallelogram. All he tells us of the works at _d_
and _f_, is that the terraces are covered with walls and embankments
parallel or at right angles to each other. The structure at _c_ is
described as a pyramidal elevation fifty feet high and two hundred and
fifty varas square at the base, from the summit platform of which rise
a smaller terrace, or mound, at the north-west corner, and various
other embankments and ruined walls not particularly described, but
indicated on the plan. The structures in the central portion of the
main plateau, at _h_, are spoken of as parallel embankments about
thirty feet high.

To the ruins thus far mentioned no one but Mueller refers definitely,
although others speak somewhat vaguely of the ruined embankments and
walls that cover the whole surface of the plateau. Only the southern
remains at _e_ seem to have attracted the attention of all. These
Mueller briefly represents as an embankment fifty feet high, enclosing
a quadrilateral space, on which embankment were two pyramids or
mounds. One of the latter was proved by excavating to have no interior
apartments or galleries; the other was penetrated at the base by
galleries at right angles with each other, and leading to a central
dome-shaped room, the top of which had fallen. Garcia represents the
square court as enclosed, not by a continuous embankment, but by four
long mounds, having a slight space between them at the ends. The
southern mound is the largest of the four, being about forty-five feet
high, and, according to Garcia's plan, about twelve hundred feet long
and three hundred feet wide. It seems, from the drawings, to be
nothing but a simple heap of earth and rough stones, although the
<DW72>s of the sides and ends were doubtless regular originally,
perhaps even faced with masonry, and there are traces of a stairway
leading up to the summit platform from the court. On the summit of the
mounds, and also in the court, are many conical mounds, four of which
were particularly noticed. These mounds were the only remains on the
plateau of Monte Alban which attracted the attention of Dupaix and
Castaneda, and are represented by them as heaps of rough stones, in
some cases with mortar, covered on the exterior with cement, and
traversed at the base by galleries, the sides of which are faced with
hewn blocks. Garcia says the mounds are about twenty-four feet high;
but Dupaix calls one forty feet, another sixty, and a third still
higher.

One of the mounds stands at the head of the stairway from the court,
and the gallery through it at the base is described by Garcia as
having a bend in the centre, being six feet high, wide enough for two
persons, and according to the plate, surmounted by large inclined
blocks of stone resting against each other and forming an angle at the
summit. Dupaix describes one of the mounds as traversed from north to
south by a gallery nine feet high and six feet wide, which makes a
turn, or elbow, near the centre, thus forming a room about twelve feet
square and of the same height. The two mounds may very likely be
identical, for although Castaneda's plate represents a regular curved
arch, Kingsborough's copy has the pointed arch of large stones.
Another of these artificial stone hills, according to Dupaix, has in
the centre a room eighteen feet square, and thirty feet high, with a
semicircular or dome-like top, the surface being formed of hewn stone.
From the centre of each side a gallery thirty feet long, seven and a
half feet high, and four feet and a half wide, with a regular arch,
leads to the open air. The whole is said to be built on a large
rectangular base of masonry, the dimensions of which are not given.
Garcia mentions a similar mound, but speaks of the central room as
being circular.

  [Illustration: Sculptured Profile from Monte Alban.]

Another of these structures, resembling at the time of Dupaix's visit
a natural hill covered with trees, is sixty feet high, and has a
gallery seven and a half feet high and six feet wide, with arched top,
extending seventy-eight feet, or nearly the whole diameter from south
to north. The left hand, or western, wall of the gallery is composed
of granite blocks, generally about twenty-eight by thirty-six inches
and eighteen inches thick, on the surface of which are sculptured
naked human figures in profile facing northward toward the interior of
the mound. Four of these figures were sketched by Castaneda, and one
of them, from whose head hangs something very like a Chinese queue, is
shown in the cut. Garcia locates this mound or another very similar
one in the court, and he also sketched some of the figures, but very
slight if any resemblance can be discovered between his drawings and
those of Castaneda. Mueller speaks of one of the tablets the sculptured
design of which represents a woman giving birth to a ball. Garcia
states that human bones and fragments of pottery have been dug from
these ruins, Dupaix found some bones, and M. Lenoir suggests that the
figures in bas-relief were portraits of persons buried in the tombs.
Dupaix mentions a fourth mound similar to the others, having an
angular ceiling, and a pavement of lime and sand.

Charnay describes the plateau as being partially artificial, and as
covering about one half a square league, covered with masses of stone
and mortar, forts, esplanades, narrow subterranean passages, and
immense sculptured blocks. The arches of the galleries, contrary to
Dupaix's statements, are formed by large inclined blocks. The grandest
ruins are at the south end of the plateau; they are mostly square
truncated pyramids, about twenty-five feet high, and having steep
sides. Enormous masses of masonry represent what once were palaces,
temples, and forts.[VII-22]

  [Illustration: Aboriginal Coin from Monte Alban.]

  [Sidenote: RELICS AT MONTE ALBAN.]

Three smooth cubical stones, seven and a half feet high, four and a
half feet wide, and eighteen inches thick, of granite, according to
Garcia, but of red porphyry, in the opinion of Mueller, were found
during the ascent of the hill, perhaps at _b_, or _g_, of the plan.
Two of the stones were standing close together, while the third had
fallen; all are supposed to have formed an altar or pedestal.[VII-23]
At the southern brink of the plateau Mueller found a crumbling stone
covered with hieroglyphics. On the <DW72> of the hill, stones covered
with sculptured hieroglyphics were noticed by Dupaix, also at the
western base long cubes, some plain and others sculptured. One of the
latter six feet long, four feet and a half wide, and eighteen inches
thick, was sketched by Castaneda, together with a circular stone three
varas and a half in circumference. His plates also include a
semi-spherical mirror of copper-covered lava, three and a half inches
in diameter, with beautifully polished surface and a hole drilled
through the back; a copper chisel, seven inches long and one inch in
diameter; and finally, the cast copper implement shown in the
preceding cut, one of two hundred and seventy-six of the same form,
but of slightly varying dimensions, which were found in an earthen jar
dug up in this vicinity. The dimensions of the one shown in the cut
are about eight by ten inches. Pieces of copper of this form were used
by the Nahua peoples for money, and such was doubtless the purpose of
these Oajacan relics. A precisely similar article from one of the
Mexican ruins lies before me as I write. Charnay states that the
plateau is covered with fragments of very fine pottery, on which a
brilliant red glazing is observable. He states further, that an
Italian explorer, opening some of the mounds, found necklaces of
agate, fragments of worked obsidian, and even golden ornaments of fine
workmanship.

Respecting these ruins Charnay says: "Monte Alban, in our opinion, is
one of the most precious remains, and very surely the most ancient, of
the American civilizations. Nowhere else have we found these strange
profiles so strikingly original." He pronounces the arch similar to
that employed in Yucatan, but this opinion does not agree with his
description on another page, where he represents the ceilings of the
galleries as formed of large inclined blocks of stone. Viollet-le-Duc
gives a cut indicating the latter form of arch; and I think there can
be no doubt that Dupaix and Castaneda are wrong in representing
semicircular arches. M. Viollet-le-Duc deems the sculpture different
in type from that at Palenque but very similar to the Egyptian. He
regards the works as fortifications and speaks of the galleries as
penetrating the ramparts. Mueller and Garcia also deem the remains
those of fortifications, while Ortega seeks to form them into a
stately capital full of royal palaces, temples, and fine edifices.
Garcia tells us that these works were erected by a Zapotec king, with
a view to resist the advance of the Miztecs; while Brasseur believes
that here was the fortress of Huaxyacac built by the Aztecs about the
year 1486, and garrisoned to keep the country in subjection.[VII-24]

It seems to me that the preceding description, imperfect as it is, is
yet more than sufficient to prove that the structures on Monte Alban
were never erected by any people as temporary works of defense. The
choice of location shows, however, that facility of defense was one of
the objects sought by the builders, and renders it very improbable
that a city proper ever stood here, where, at least in modern times,
there are no springs of water. On the other hand, the conical mounds
as represented by Castaneda's drawings seem in no way fitted for
defensive works, and were almost certainly erected as tombs of Zapotec
nobles or priests. The plateau was probably in aboriginal times a
strongly fortified holy place, sacred to the rites of the native
worship, but serving perhaps as a place of refuge to the dwellers in
the surrounding country when threatened by an advancing foe. It is
moreover very likely that in the period of civil strifes and foreign
invasions which preceded the Spanish Conquest, these works were
strengthened and occupied by the Zapotecs, and possibly by the Aztecs
also in their turn, as a fortress.

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: RELICS AT ZACHILA.]

Zachila, ten or twelve miles, according to the maps, southward from
Oajaca, was the site of a great Zapotec capital. A writer in a Mexican
magazine mentions the base of an ancient pyramid as still visible near
the church of the modern town. With the exception of this brief
mention all our information respecting the antiquities of Zachila
comes from the work of Dupaix; and this writer, so far as permanent
monuments are concerned, only speaks generally of an immense group of
mounds in conical form, built of earth and a few stones, and of the
imprint of a gigantic foot probably marking the meridian somewhat
south of the mounds. From excavations in these tumuli, stone and clay
statues, or idols, were obtained, together with pottery, burnt bricks,
pieces of human bones, and fragments of ruined walls. Of the objects
taken from the tumuli or found in the vicinity, over twenty were
described and sketched by Dupaix and Castaneda.

  [Illustration: Stone Statue from Zachila.]

1. A seated human figure with arms and legs crossed as shown in the
cut. It is carved from a grayish yellow grindstone-like material, and
is about a foot in height. It was found in a tomb together with some
human bones. The rear view in the original shows the hair falling down
the back and cut square across; while the belt about the waist is
passed between the legs and is tied in a knot behind. 2. A seated
human figure in granite, eighteen inches high. The arms, from elbow to
wrist, are free from the body, and the hands rest on the knees. A
string of beads or pearls is suspended from the neck, and a mask with
fantastic figures in relief covers the face. In the top of the head
is a hollow, and the image seems to have been designed, like many
others in the same locality, for a vase or, perhaps, a torch-bearer.
3. A seated human figure, twenty-seven inches high, cut from white
marble and painted red. The arms and body are concealed by a kind of
semicircular cape. The hands appear below the cape, holding some
indescribable object. A necklace of beads or pearls surrounds the
neck, the face is apparently masked or at least the features are
ideally fantastic, and an immense headdress, as large as all the rest
of the figure, surmounts the whole in semicircular form. A serpent
appears among the emblems of the head-dress.[VII-25] 4. A stone
twenty-seven inches long, twelve inches high, and three inches thick,
of very hard and heavy material. On one side, within a plain border,
are four human figures in low relief, two on each side facing a kind
of altar in the middle. All are squatting cross-legged, one has
clearly a beard, and another has a bird--called by Dupaix an eagle, as
is his custom respecting every bird-like sculpture--forming a part of
his head-dress. The stone was badly broken, but seems to have been
carried by the finder to Mexico.[VII-26] 5. A bird bearing
considerable likeness to an eagle, holding a serpent in its beak and
claws. This figure was sculptured in low relief on a block of hard
sandstone three feet square, built into a modern wall. 6. A human
face, much like what is in modern times drawn to represent the full
moon, three feet in diameter, and also built into a wall. The material
is a brilliant gray marble. 7. Three fragments with sculptured
surfaces, one of which has among other figures several that seem to
represent flowers. 8, 9. Two masked images, similar in some respects
to No. 2, but of terra-cotta instead of stone. One of them is shown in
the cut. They are about a foot and a half high, hollow, and present
some indications, in the form of a socket at the back of the head, of
having been intended to hold torches.[VII-27] 10. A terra-cotta
figure, about nine inches high, apparently representing a female clad
in a very peculiar dress, as shown in the cut.[VII-28] 11. An earthen
cylinder, five inches in diameter and nine inches high, on the top of
which is a head, possibly the caricature of a dog, from whose open
jaws looks out a tolerably well-formed human face. 12-17. Six heads of
animals or monsters in terra cotta. 18-23. Six earthen dishes of
various forms, one of which, in the form of a platter, has within it a
representation in clay of a human skull.

  [Illustration: Terra-Cotta Image--Zachila.]

  [Illustration: Terra-Cotta Image--Zachila.]

A tomb is said to have been opened at Zachila in which were several
tiers of earthen platters, each containing a skull. Some of the
vessels have hollow legs with small balls, which rattle when they are
moved.[VII-29] At Cuilapa, some distance north-east of Zachila, the
existence of tumuli is mentioned, but a German explorer, who visited
the locality with a view to open some of them, is said to have been
stoned and driven away by the infuriated natives, notwithstanding the
fact that he was provided with authority from the local
authorities.[VII-30]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: MITLA--HOME OF THE DEAD.]

The finest and most celebrated group of ruins in Oajaca, probably the
finest in the whole Nahua territory, is that at Mitla, about thirty
miles slightly south of east from the capital, and eight or nine
miles north-east of Tlacolula. Here was a great religious centre often
mentioned in the traditional annals of the Zapotecs. The original name
seems to have been Liobaa, or Yobaa, 'the place of tombs,' called by
the Aztecs Miquitlan, Mictlan, or Mitla, 'place of sadness,' 'dwelling
of the dead,' often used in the sense of 'hell.'[VII-31] The buildings
at Mitla were at least partially in ruins when the Spaniards came, but
their dilapidation probably dated only from the fierce contests waged
by the Zapotec kings against the Aztec powers in Anahuac, during one
or two centuries preceding the Conquest; and as we shall see later
there is no reason whatever to doubt that the place was occupied by
the Zapotec priesthood during the long period of that nation's
supremacy in Oajaca and the southern Anahuac.[VII-32]

The gloomy aspect of the locality accords well with the dread
signification of its name. The ruins stand in the most desolate
portion of central Oajaca, in a high, narrow valley, surrounded by
bare and barren hills. The soil is a powdery sand, which supports no
vegetation save a few scattered pitahayas, and is borne through the
air in clouds of dust by the cold dry wind which is almost continually
blowing. A stream with parched and shadeless banks flows through the
valley, becoming a torrent in the rainy season, when the adjoining
country is often flooded. No birds sing or flowers bloom over the
remains of the Zapotec heroes, but venomous spiders and scorpions are
abundant. Yet a modern village with few inhabitants stands amid the
ruins, and the natives go through forms of worship in honor of a
foreign deity in a modern church over the tombs of their ancestors'
kings and priests, whose faith they were long since forced to
abandon.[VII-33]

  [Sidenote: EXPLORATION OF MITLA.]

Most of the early Spanish chroniclers speak of Mitla and of the
traditions connected with the place, but what may be called the modern
exploration of the structures, as relics of antiquity, dates from the
year 1802, when Don Luis Martin and Col. de la Laguna from Mexico
visited and sketched the ruins. It was from Martin and from his
drawings in the hands of the Marquis of Branciforte, that Humboldt
obtained his information. In August 1806, Dupaix and Castaneda reached
Mitla in their second exploring tour. In 1830, the German traveler
Muehlenpfordt, during a residence in the country, made plans and
drawings of the remains, copies of which were retained by Juan B.
Carriedo and afterwards published in a Mexican periodical. Drawings
were also made by one Sawkins in 1837, and published by Mr Brantz
Mayer in a work on Zapotec antiquities. M. de Fossey was at Mitla in
1838, but his description is made up chiefly from other sources. Sr
Carriedo, already mentioned, wrote for the _Ilustracion Mejicana_, a
statement of the condition of the ruins in 1852, with measures which
had been, or ought to be, taken by the government for their
preservation. Mr Arthur von Tempsky spent part of a day at the ruins
in February, 1854, publishing a description with several plates in the
account of his Mexican travels which he named _Mitla_. Jose Maria
Garcia saw the ruins in October, 1855, as is stated in the bulletin
of the Mexican Geographical Society, but no description resulted from
his exploration. Finally Charnay came in 1859, and succeeded after
many difficulties in obtaining a series of most valuable and
interesting photographs.[VII-34]

  [Illustration: General Plan of Mitla.]

The number of ruined edifices at Mitla is variously stated by
different authors, according to their methods of counting; for
instance, one explorer reckons four buildings enclosing a court as
one palace, another as four. The only general plan ever published is
that made by Muehlenpfordt, and published by Carriedo, from which the
annexed cut was prepared.[VII-35] Most of the visitors, however, say
something of the bearing of some of the buildings from the others, and
there are only very few instances where such remarks seem to differ
from the plan I have given. The structures usually spoken of as
palaces or temples, are four in number, marked 1, 2, 3, and 4; 5 and 7
are pyramids, mounds, or altars; and 6 shows the position of the
houses in the modern village.

  [Illustration: Ground Plan of Palace No. 1.]

  [Sidenote: GRAND PALACE.]

I begin with the best preserved of all, palace No. 1 of the
plan.[VII-36] The arrangement of its three buildings is shown in the
accompanying ground plan, a reduction from Castaneda's drawing. Three
low oblong mounds, probably of rough stones, only five or six feet
high, enclose on the east, north, and west, a court, E, whose
dimensions are in general terms one hundred and twenty by one hundred
and thirty feet, and each of the mounds supports a stone building. The
walls of the northern building are still in a tolerable state of
preservation; the eastern one has mostly fallen, and of that on the
west only slight traces of the foundations remain. It is possible that
originally there was a fourth mound, with or without its building, on
the south.[VII-37]

The lateral buildings, _d_, _j_, are about nineteen by ninety-six feet
on the ground. Of the northern building, the southern portion, A, is
about thirty-six by a hundred and thirty feet, the northern portion,
C, sixty-one feet square, and the whole not far from eighteen feet
high, the walls being from four to nine feet in thickness.[VII-38]
Other details will be readily learned from the plan. Three doorways
open on the court from each building, and a broad stairway of few
steps leads up to the doorways, at least on the north.

The southern wing of the northern building, A of the plan, may be
first described, being the best known and one of the best preserved of
all; and the structure of the walls naturally claims attention first.
In Yucatan we have found a filling of rough stones and cement, faced
on both exterior and interior with hewn blocks; at Palenque the walls
are built entirely of hewn stone; at Mitla the mode of construction
somewhat resembles that in Yucatan, but the filling seems to be clay,
instead of cement, with an admixture of irregular stones, varying in
quantity in different parts of the walls.[VII-39]

  [Sidenote: CONSTRUCTION OF WALLS.]

The exterior facing of the wall is shown very clearly by the two
following cuts, which represent the southern facade of the building,
A, as seen from the court. The first cut I have reduced
photographically from Charnay's original photograph; the second,
showing the rest of the facade, was taken from the same photograph for
Mr Baldwin's work. The facing is of stone blocks cut in different
forms and sizes, placed against or in some cases slightly penetrating
the inner filling. First, a double tier of very large blocks are
placed as a base along the surface of the supporting mound, projecting
two or three feet from the line of the wall, the stones of the upper
tier sloping inward. On this base is erected a kind of frame-work of
large hewn blocks with perfectly plain unsculptured fronts, which
divide the surface of the wall into oblong panels of different
dimensions. These panels are then filled with a peculiar mosaic work
of small brick-shaped blocks of stone of different sizes, set in
different positions, so as to form a great variety of regular
patterns, usually spoken of as grecques.[VII-40] No mortar seems to
have been employed in this facing of stone; at least its use is not
mentioned by any author, and Dupaix states expressly that it is not
found. Some of the blocks used in the base, frame-work of the panels,
and lintels of the doorways, are very large. One of the latter is
described by different writers as from sixteen to nineteen feet long,
and is said by Dupaix to be of granite. The only sculpture on the
facade is found on these lintels, the surface of which is represented
as carved into regular figures in low relief, corresponding with the
mosaic in the panels. The doorways are about seven feet wide and eight
feet high, and in the upper part of the piers that separate them are
noticed four round holes, which may be supposed, as in other
aboriginal structures, to have served for the support of an awning,
although the natives have a tradition that they were originally
occupied by stone heads of native deities.[VII-41] The only other
peculiarity to be noticed in this front is, that instead of being
perpendicular, it inclines slightly outward from the base, as do many
of the walls at Mitla.[VII-42]

  [Illustration: Facade of First Palace--Mitla.]

  [Illustration: Facade of First Palace--Mitla.]

  [Sidenote: STONE COLUMNS.]

The interior of the building, A, has a pavement of flat stones covered
with cement, which latter has mostly disappeared. The inner surface of
the walls is of rough stones and earth, probably the same as the
interior filling, and covered with a coat of plaster, a greater part
of which remained in 1859, and is shown in Charnay's photograph; there
were also traces of red paint on these walls in Dupaix's time. There
are no windows, or other openings except the doorways; but on the
northern wall, at mid-height, there is a niche, perhaps more than one,
one or two feet deep, square in form, and enclosed by four blocks of
stone. Extending in a line along the centre of this apartment, are six
round stone pillars, _g_, _g_, of the plan, each about fourteen feet
high, three feet in diameter, and cut from a single block of porphyry
or granite. The tops are slightly smaller than the bases, and five or
six feet of each stone, in addition to the height mentioned, are
buried in the ground.[VII-43]

  [Illustration: Interior--South wing of the First Palace.]

The following cut I take from Baldwin's work, for which it was copied
from one of Tempsky's plates. It is very faulty, as is proved by
Charnay's photograph taken from the same point of view, in
representing the walls as if built of large rough stones without
mortar, in putting a doorway in the central part of the northern wall,
and in making the columns diminish in size towards the top much more
than is actually the case.[VII-44]

  [Sidenote: MOSAIC GRECQUES AT MITLA.]

Passing now to the northern wing of this building, C, the exterior
walls are the same in style and construction as those of the southern
wing just described, as is proved by the photographic views.[VII-45]
The court, C, is about thirty-one feet square, and its pavement was
covered with cement, as that of the larger court, E, may have been
originally. The ground plan shows the arrangement of the four
apartments, b, b, b, b, although it is to be noted that other plans
differ slightly from this in the northern and western rooms. The only
entrance to the northern court and rooms is from the southern wing
through the passage _f, f_, which is barely wide enough to admit one
person. The interior facades, fronting on the court, are precisely
like the southern facade of the southern wing, A, being made up of
mosaic work in panels.[VII-46] The interior walls of the small
apartments, b, b, b, b, unlike those of the southern apartment, A, are
formed of mosaic work in regular and graceful patterns, except a space
of four or five feet at the bottom, which is covered with plaster and
bears traces of a kind of fresco painting in bright colors. The mosaic
grecques or arabesques of the upper portions are arranged, not in
panels as on the exterior, but in three parallel bands of uniform and
nearly equal width, extending round the whole circumference of each
room. The cut is a fac-simile from Charnay's photograph of one of
these interiors, and gives an excellent idea of the three mosaic bands
that extend entirely round each room.[VII-47]

  [Illustration: Grecques on Interior of Room at Mitla.]

  [Sidenote: ROOF STRUCTURES.]

I now have to speak of the roof which originally covered this
building, since in the other buildings and palaces nothing will be
found to throw any additional light on the subject. It seems evident
that the columns in the southern wing were intended to support the
roof, and if there were no contradictory evidence, the natural
conclusion would be that the covering was of wooden beams stretching
completely across the narrow apartments, and resting on the pillars of
the wider ones, as we have seen to be the case at Tuloom, on the
eastern coast of Yucatan.[VII-48] Burgoa, in whose time it is not
impossible that some of the roofs may have been yet in place, tells us
that they were formed of large stone blocks, resting on the columns,
and joined without mortar.[VII-49] Humboldt states that the roof was
supported by large _sabino_ beams, and that three of these beams still
remained in place (1802). According to Dupaix, both the roofs and
floors in the northern wing were formed by a row of beams, or rather
logs, of the _ahuehuete_, a kind of pine, a foot and a half in
diameter, built into the top of the wall, and stretching from side to
side. He does not inform us what traces he found to support his
opinion. Muehlenpfordt[VII-50] found traces of a roof in one of the
northern rooms sufficient to convince him that the original "consisted
of round oak timbers, eight inches in diameter, placed across the room
at a distance of eight inches one from another; these were first
covered with mats, on which were placed stone flags, and over the
latter a coat of lime; forming thus a solid and water-proof covering."
Fossey speaks of one worm-eaten beam, but probably obtained his
information from Humboldt. Tempsky, notwithstanding the shortness of
his exploration, made the remarkable discovery that one of the
northern rooms was still covered by a flat roof of stone. He also
found windows in some of the buildings. What would he not have found
had he been able to remain a few hours longer at Mitla? Viollet-le-Duc
judges from the quantity and quality of the debris in the south wing,
that the roof could not have been of stone in large blocks, but was
formed by large beams extending longitudinally from pillar to pillar,
and supporting two transverse ranges of smaller timbers, laid close
together from the centre to either wall, the whole being surmounted by
a mass of concrete like that which constitutes the bulk of the walls;
and finally covered with a coating of cement. I have no doubt that
this author has given a correct idea of the original roof structure,
although in attempting to explain in detail the exact position
which--'il y a tout lieu de croire'--each timber occupied, it is
possible that the distinguished architect has gone somewhat beyond his
data.[VII-51]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Illustration: View from Court of Palace No. 1.]

As I have said before, the western building of the palace No. 1--like
the southern building, if any ever stood on the south of the
court--has entirely fallen. Of the eastern building, _d_, there remain
standing a small portion of the wall fronting on the court, including
a doorway and its lintel, and also two of the five columns which
occupied the centre of the building. The condition of this side
structure seems not to have changed materially between Dupaix's and
Charnay's visits, a period of over fifty years. The preceding cut,
taken by Baldwin from Tempsky's work, gives a tolerably correct idea
of what remains of it, except that the lintel had a sculptured front.
It is a view from the south side of the court, and includes an
imperfect representation also of the northern facade.[VII-52]

The palaces of Mitla are differently numbered by different writers,
and much that has been written of them is so vague or confused that is
difficult to determine in many cases what particular structure is
referred to; I believe, however, that the preceding pages include all
that is known of the palace numbered 1 on my general plan. I close my
account of this palace by presenting on the opposite page a cut copied
for Baldwin's work from one of Charnay's photographs, a general view
of the ruins. The cut is a distant view of the palace No. 1 from the
south-west, and cannot be said to add very materially to our
knowledge respecting this building.[VII-53]

  [Sidenote: VIEW OF PALACE.]

  [Illustration: Distant View of Palace No. 1.]

  [Sidenote: THE SECOND PALACE.]

The remaining palaces of Mitla, Nos. 2, 3, and 4, may be more briefly
disposed of, since in the construction of their walls they are
precisely the same as No. 1, but are not in so good a state of
preservation. No. 2 is located south-west of No. 1, and almost in
contact with it, so that both groups have been by some visitors
described together under the name of First Palace. It consists of four
buildings, built on low mounds like those of No. 1, from seven to nine
feet high, about a square court. All four are precisely the same in
their ground plan, which is identical with that of the western
building in palace No. 1. The dimensions of the four buildings are
also the same, according to Castaneda's plan, being about eighteen by
ninety-two English feet;[VII-54] but Muehlenpfordt's plan, so far as it
can be understood, makes the eastern and western buildings about one
hundred and forty feet long, the northern and southern being about
twenty by one hundred feet, and the former somewhat larger than the
latter.

The western building is the best preserved, being, so far as can be
judged by human figures in Charnay's photographs, about seventeen feet
high. The eastern building has fallen, and only its foundation stones
remain by which to trace its plan. Three doorways open on the court
from each building, and in the rear wall opposite the doors square
niches are seen. There are no traces of columns in any of the
apartments; nor was any part of the roofs in place in 1806. The outer
walls are composed, as in palace No. 1, of oblong panels of mosaic;
whether any mosaic work is found in the interior, is not stated. The
court is said by Muehlenpfordt to be covered with a coating of cement
five or six inches in thickness, painted red as was also the exterior
of the buildings. The same writer, and Mueller, noted that the
supporting mounds were double, or terraced, on the exterior;[VII-55]
and the latter, that one of the central doorways diminishes in width
towards the top. If this, latter statement be true, it must be one of
the doorways in the southern building, of which no photographic view
was taken.[VII-56] Views of the southern facade of the northern
building are given by Charnay, Dupaix, Muehlenpfordt, and Tempsky; of
the court facade of the western building, by Charnay and Muehlenpfordt;
and Charnay also took photographs of the western and southern facades
of the latter building.[VII-57]

       *       *       *       *       *

Under the northern building of this palace there is a subterranean
gallery in the form of a cross. The entrance to this gallery is said
by several writers to have been originally in the centre of the
court, but this seems to rest on no very good authority, and it is not
unlikely that the entrance was always where it is now, at the base of
the northern mound, as shown in the photograph and in other views. The
centre of the cross may be supposed to be nearly under the centre of
the apartment above, and the northern, eastern, and western arms are
each, according to Castaneda's drawings, about twelve feet long, five
and a half feet wide, and six and a half feet high. The southern arm,
leading out into the court is something over twenty feet long, and for
most of its length only a little over four feet high; its floor is
also several feet lower than that of the other arms, to the level of
which latter four steps lead up. Nearly the whole depth of this
gallery is probably in the body of the supporting mound rather than
really subterranean. The top is formed of large blocks of stone,
stretching across from side to side, and, according to Muehlenpfordt,
plastered and polished. The floor was also covered, if we may credit
Mueller, with a polished coat of cement. The walls are panels of mosaic
work like that found on the exterior walls above. Muehlenpfordt noticed
that the mosaic work was less skillfully executed than on the upper
walls, and therefore probably much older. The large dall that covers
the crossing of the two galleries is supported by a circular pillar
resting on a square base. According to Tempsky the natives call this
the 'pillar of death,' believing that whoever embraces it must die
shortly. The whole interior surface, sides, floor, and ceiling, are
painted red. No relics of any kind have been found here. Fossey says
that this gallery, or at least _a_ gallery, leads from the palace to
the eastern pyramid--meaning probably the western pyramid, No. 5 of
the plan--and from that point still further westward, where it may be
traced for a league to the farm of Saga, and extends, as the natives
believe, some three hundred leagues. Tradition relates that the
Zapotecs originally had their temples in natural caverns, which they
gradually improved to meet their requirements, and over which they
finally built these palaces. There are consequently many absurd rumors
afloat respecting the extent of the subterranean passages, but nothing
has ever been discovered to indicate the existence of natural caves or
extensive artificial excavations at this point. At the time of
Charnay's visit the opening to the gallery had been closed up, and the
natives would allow no one to remove the obstructions, on the ground
that hidden treasure was the object sought.[VII-58]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Illustration: Ground Plan--Palace No. 3.]

  [Sidenote: THIRD PALACE.]

Palace No. 3 of the plan is said to have no supporting mound, but to
stand on the level of the ground. Its ground plan, according to
Castaneda, the only authority, is shown in the cut. The whole
structure, divided into three courts, is about two hundred and
eighty-four feet long and one hundred and eight feet wide, the
thickness of the walls, not shown in the plan, being five or six feet.
Nearly all the walls have fallen except those of the buildings about
the central court, B, which have been repaired, covered with a roof of
tiles, and are occupied by the curate of the parish as a residence. In
the western front a doorway has been cut, before which, supporting a
balcony, or awning, stand two stone columns which were evidently
brought from some other part of the ruins. Both on the exterior and
court walls, the regular panels of mosaic work are seen in the upper
portions; the lower parts have been repaired with adobes, and newly
plastered in many places. The modern church, quite a large and
imposing structure, stands either upon or adjacent to a part of this
ancient palace.[VII-59]

  [Illustration: Ground Plan--Palace No. 4.]

  [Sidenote: FOURTH PALACE, AND PYRAMIDS.]

The cut is a ground plan of palace No. 4, which is also said to stand
on the original level of the ground. The walls are spoken of by all
visitors as almost entirely in ruins, and as presenting no
peculiarities of construction when compared with the other palaces.
From one of the portions still standing, however, Muehlenpfordt copied
some fragmentary paintings, representing processions of rudely
pictured human figures, as shown in the accompanying cut. The same
author speaks of similar paintings, very likely not the work of the
original builders of Mitla, on the walls of some of the other
buildings.[VII-60]

  [Illustration: Painting on Doorway--Palace No. 4.]

       *       *       *       *       *

Two mounds, or groups of mounds, stand west and south of the other
ruins at 5 and 7 of the plan. No. 5 was photographed by Charnay, and
is described as built of adobes, ascended by a stone stairway, and
bearing now a modern chapel. According to Castaneda's drawing probably
representing these pyramids, the principal structure had four stories,
or terraces, and was about seventy-five feet high, measuring at the
base about one hundred and twenty feet on its shortest sides from east
to west. The stairway faces westward towards the court formed by the
smaller mounds which have only two stories. Group No. 7 is
represented by Castaneda as consisting like No. 5 of a large mound and
three small ones, of two and one stories respectively, surrounding a
court in whose centre is a block, or altar, which Dupaix thinks may
conceal the entrance to a subterranean passage. Muehlenpfordt
represents the arrangement of the mounds as on my plan, and thinks the
smaller elevations may have borne originally buildings like the
northern palaces. In one of these mounds, according to the
last-mentioned author, a tomb was found. Dupaix also describes two
tombs found under mounds, the locality of which is not specified. One
of these tombs was in the form of a cross, with arms about three by
nine feet, six feet high, covered with a roof of flat stones, and in
its construction like the gallery under palace No. 2, except that the
small brick-shaped blocks of which its sides are formed are not
arranged in grecques, but laid so as to present a plain surface. The
second tomb was of rectangular form, about four by eight feet in
dimensions. In one of them some human remains, with fragments of fine
blue stone were discovered.[VII-61]

  [Sidenote: FORTIFIED HILL.]

At a distance of a league and a half eastward of the village, Dupaix
described and Castaneda sketched a small plain square stone building,
divided into four apartments, standing on the <DW72> of a high rocky
hill. On the plate there is also shown the entrance to a subterranean
gallery not mentioned in Dupaix's text.[VII-62] Three fourths of a
league westward from the village is a hill some six hundred feet in
height, with precipitous sides naturally inaccessible save on one
side, toward Mitla. The summit platform, probably leveled by
artificial means, is enclosed by a wall of stone about six feet thick,
eighteen feet high, and over a mile in circumference, forming many
angles, as is shown in the annexed plan. On the eastern and accessible
side, the wall is double, the inner wall being higher than the outer;
and the entrances are not only not opposite each other, but penetrate
the walls obliquely. Heaps of loose stones, _c_, _c_, _c_, were found
at various points in the enclosure, doubtless for use as weapons in a
hand-to-hand conflict. Outside of the walls, moreover, large rocks,
some three feet in diameter, were carefully poised where they might be
easily started down the sides against the advancing foe. Within the
fortress, at several places, _d_, _e_, _f_, _g_, are slight remains of
adobe buildings, probably erected for the accommodation of the
aboriginal garrison. All we know of this fortress is derived from the
work of Dupaix and Castaneda.[VII-63]

  [Illustration: Plan of Fortress near Mitla.]

Dupaix claims to have found the quarries which furnished material for
the Mitla structures, in a hill three-fourths of a league eastward
from the ruins, called by the Zapotecs Aguilosoe, by the Spaniards
Mirador. The stone is described as of such a nature that large blocks
may be easily split off by means of wedges and levers, and many such
blocks were scattered about the place; the removal of the stone to the
site of the palaces, here as in the case of many other American ruins,
must have been the chief difficulty overcome by the builders. Stone
wedges, together with axes and chisels of hard copper, are said to
have been found at Mitla, but are not particularly described.[VII-64]

  [Illustration: Head in Terra Cotta--Mitla.]

A head in terra cotta, wearing a peculiar helmet, was sketched here by
Castaneda, and is shown in the cut. Another terra-cotta image
represented a masked human figure, squatting cross-legged with hands
on knees. A large semicircular cape reaches from the neck to the
ground, showing only the hands and feet in front. The whole is very
similar to some of the figures at Zachila, already described, but the
tube which may be supposed to have held a torch originally, projects
above the head, and is an inch and a half in diameter. The only
specimen of stone images or idols found in connection with the ruins,
is shown in the cut. It represents a seated figure, carved from a hard
red stone, and brilliantly polished. Its height is about four inches.
Tempsky tells us that the children at Mitla offered for sale small
idols of clay and sandstone, which had been taken from the inner
palace walls.[VII-65]

  [Illustration: Stone Image from Mitla.]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: GENERAL REMARKS.]

  [Sidenote: COMPARISONS.]

The ruins of Mitla resemble Palenque only in the long low narrow form
of the buildings, since the low supporting mounds can hardly be said
to resemble the lofty stone-faced pyramids of Chiapas. A stronger
likeness may be discovered when they are compared with the structures
of Yucatan; since in both cases we find long narrow windowless
buildings, raised on low mounds, and enclosing a rectangular
courtyard, walls of rubble, and facings of hewn stone. The contrasts
are also strong, as seen in the mosaic grecques, the absence of
sculpture, and the flat roofs, in some cases supported by columns;
although in one city on the east coast of Yucatan flat roofs of wooden
beams were found. Whether the mosaic work of Mitla indicates in
itself an earlier or later development of aboriginal art than the
elaborately sculptured facades of Uxmal, I am unable to decide; but
the flat roof supported by pillars would seem to indicate a later
architectural development than the overlapping arch. The influence of
the builders of Palenque and the cities of Yucatan, was doubtless felt
by the builders of Mitla. How the influence was exerted it is very
difficult to determine; Viollet-le-Duc attributes these northern
structures to a branch of the southern civilization separated from the
parent stock after the foundation of the Maya cities in Yucatan. Most
antiquarians have concluded that Mitla is less ancient than the
southern ruins, and the condition of the remains, so far as it throws
any light on the subject, confirms the conclusion. This is the last
ruin that will be found in our progress northward, which shows any
marked analogy with the Maya monuments, save in the almost universal
use of supporting mounds or pyramids, of various forms and dimensions.
It has already been shown that the Zapotec language has no likeness
whatever to the Aztec, or to the Maya, and that so far as institutions
are concerned, this people might almost as properly be classed with
the Maya as with the Nahua nations. The Abbe Brasseur in one part of
his writings expresses the opinion that Mitla was built by the Toltecs
from Cholula, who introduced their religion in Oajaca in the ninth or
tenth century. Mitla is also frequently spoken of as a connecting link
between the Central American and Mexican remains; this, however, is
merely a part of the old favorite theory of one civilized people
originating in the far north, moving gradually southward, and leaving
at each stopping-place traces of their constantly improving and
developing culture. There seems to have been no tradition among the
natives at the Conquest, indicating that Mitla was built by a people
preceding the Zapotecs. On the contrary, Burgoa and other early
Oajacan chroniclers mention the place frequently as a Zapotec holy
place, devoted to the burial of kings, the residence of a certain
order of the priesthood, who lived here to make expiatory sacrifices
for the dead, and a place of royal mourning, whither the king retired
on the death of a relative. Subterranean caverns were used for the
celebration of religious rites before the upper temples were built.
Charnay fancies that the palaces were built by a people that
afterwards migrated southward. He noticed that the walls in sheltered
places were covered with very rude paintings--a sample of which has
been given--and suggests that these were executed by occupants who
succeeded the original builders. It will be apparent to the reader
that the ruins at Mitla bear no resemblance whatever to other Oajacan
monuments, such as those at Guiengola, Monte Alban, and Quiotepec; and
that they are either the work of a different nation, or what is much
more probable, for a different purpose. I am inclined to believe that
Mitla was built by the Zapotecs at a very early period of their
civilization, at a time when the builders were strongly influenced by
the Maya priesthood, if they were not themselves a branch of the Maya
people.[VII-66]

The mosaic work undoubtedly bears a strong resemblance to the
ornamentation observed on Grecian vases and other old-world relics;
but this analogy is far from indicating any communication between the
artists or their ancestors, for, as Humboldt says, "in all zones men
have been pleased with a rhythmic repetition of the same forms, a
repetition which constitutes the leading characteristic of what we
vaguely call grecques, meandres, and Arabesques."[VII-67]

In the northern part of Oajaca, towards the boundary line of Puebla,
remains have been found in several localities. Those near Quiotepec
are extensive and important, but are only known by the description of
one explorer, Juan N. Lovato, who visited the ruins as a commissioner
from the government in January, 1844.[VII-68] Lovato's account
contains many details, but the drawings which originally accompanied
it were, with two exceptions, not published, and from the text only a
general idea can be formed respecting the nature of the ruins. The
following are such items of information as I have been able to extract
from the report in question.

  [Sidenote: RUINS OF QUIOTEPEC.]

A hill about a mile long and a quarter of a mile wide at its base, and
over a thousand feet high, known as the Cerro de las Juntas, stands at
the junction of the rivers Quiotepec and Salado. At the eastern end,
where the streams meet, the ascent is precipitous and inaccessible,
but the other sides and the summit are covered with ruins. The <DW72>s
are formed into level platforms with perpendicular terrace walls of
stone, of height and thickness varying according to the nature of the
ground. In ascending the western <DW72>, thirty-five of these terrace
walls were encountered; on the southern <DW72> there were fifty-seven,
and on the northern eighty-eight, counting only those that were still
standing. One of the walls at the summit is about three hundred and
twenty feet long, sixty feet high, and five and a half feet thick.

Scattered over the hill on the terrace platforms, the foundations of
small buildings, supposed to have been dwellings, were found in at
least a hundred and thirty places. In connection with these buildings
some tombs were found underground, box-shaped with walls of stone,
containing human remains and some fragments of pottery. Tumuli in
great numbers are found in all directions, probably burial mounds,
although nothing but a few stone beads has been found in them. Other
mounds were apparently designed for the support of buildings. At
different points towards the summit of the hill are three tanks, or
reservoirs, one of which is sixty feet long, twenty-four feet wide,
and six feet deep, with traces of steps leading down into it. In the
walls traces of beams are seen, supposed by the explorer to have
supported the scaffolding used in their construction.

  [Illustration: Temple Pyramid--Cerro de las Juntas.]

Besides the terrace walls, foundations of dwellings, and the remains
that have been mentioned, there are also many ruins of statelier
edifices, presumably palaces and temples. Of these, the only ones
described are situated at the summit on a small level plateau, of a
hundred and twenty-two by two hundred and forty-eight feet. These
consist of what are spoken of as a palace and a temple, facing each
other, a hundred and sixty-six feet apart. Between the two are the
bases of what was formerly a line of circular pillars, leading from
one edifice to the other. The bases, or pedestals, are fourteen inches
in diameter, five inches high, and about fourteen feet apart. The
Temple faces north-east, and its front is shown in the accompanying
cut. This is a form of the pyramidal structure very different from any
that has been met before. Its dimensions on the ground are fifty by
fifty-five feet. The Palace is described as thirty-nine feet high in
front and thirty-three feet in the rear, and has a stairway of twenty
steps about twenty-eight feet wide, leading up to the summit on the
front. Judging by the plate, this so-called palace is a solid
elevation with perpendicular sides, ornamented with three plain
cornices, one end of which is occupied throughout nearly its whole
width by the stairway mentioned. The material of the two structures is
the stone of the hill itself cut in thin regular blocks, laid in what
is described as mud, and covered, as is shown by traces still left in
a few parts, with a coating of plaster. Both the structures, according
to the plates, have a rather modern appearance, and differ widely from
any other American monuments, but there seems to be no reason to doubt
the reliability of Sr Lovato's account, considering its official
nature, and I cannot suppose that the Spaniards ever erected such
edifices. The foundations and arches of three small apartments are
vaguely spoken of as having been discovered by excavation in
connection with the Palace, but whether they were on its summit or in
the interior of the apparently solid mass, does not clearly appear,
although Mueller states that the latter was the case. On the summit of
the Palace a copal-tree, one foot in diameter, was found. Five
sculptured slabs were sketched by Mueller at Quiotepec, but he does not
state in what part of the ruins they were found. Each slab has a human
figure in profile, surrounded by a variety of inexplicable attributes.
The foreheads seem to be flattened, and four of the five have an
immense curved tongue, possibly the well-known Aztec symbol of speech,
protruding from the mouth. Somewhere in this vicinity, on the
perpendicular banks of rock that form the channel of the Rio Tecomava,
painted figures of a sun, moon, and hand, are reported, at a great
height from the water.[VII-69]

  [Sidenote: TUXTEPEC AND HUAHUAPAN.]

Near the town of Tuxtepec, some fifty miles eastward from Quiotepec,
near the Vera Cruz boundary, there is said to be an artificial mound
eighty-three feet high, known as the Castillo de Montezuma. A passage
leads toward the centre, but nothing further is known of it, except
that some stone idols are mentioned by another writer as having been
dug from a mound in a town of the same name.[VII-70]

  [Illustration: Sculptured Block from Huahuapan.]

At Huahuapan, about fifty miles westward of Quiotepec, Dupaix found
the sculptured block shown in the cut. It is four and a half feet
long, and a foot and a half high; the material is a hard blue stone,
and the sculpture in low relief seems to represent a kind of coat of
arms, from which projects a hand grasping an object, a part of which
bears a strong resemblance to the Aztec symbol of water. This relic
was found in a hill called Tallesto, about a league east of the
town.[VII-71]

In another hill, called Sombrerito, only half a league from the town,
a laborer in 1831 plowed up an ancient grave, said to have contained
human bones, fine pottery, with gold beads and rings. All the relics
were buried again by the finder, except four of the rings, which came
into the possession of the Bishop of Puebla, and two of which are
shown in the cut. With some doubts respecting the authenticity of
these relics I give the cuts for what they are worth. There are
accounts and drawings of several rudely carved stone images from the
same region.[VII-72]

  [Illustration: Gold Rings from Huahuapan.]

At Yanguitlan, ten or fifteen miles south-east of Huahuapan, several
relics were found, including a human head of natural size carved from
red stone; two idols of green jasper, slightly carved in human
likeness; three cutting implements of hard stone; and the two objects
shown in the cuts on the opposite page. The first is a spear-head of
gray flint, and the second a very curious relic of unknown use, and
whose material and dimensions the finder has neglected to mention. It
is of a red color, and is very beautifully wrought in two pieces, one
serving as a cover for the other, apparently intended to be joined by
a cord as represented in the cut. Among the uses suggested are those
of a censer and a lantern.[VII-73]

  [Illustration: Relics from Yanguitlan.]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: ANTIQUITIES OF GUERRERO.]

Respecting the relics of the state of Guerrero, my only information is
derived from a statistical work by Sr Celso Munoz, contained in the
report of Gov. Francisco O. Arce to the legislature of the state in
1872. This author mentions such relics in the district of Hidalgo,
north of the Rio Zacatula towards the Mexican boundary, as follows:
1st. "The _momoxtles_, or tombs of the ancient Indians, which are
found in almost all the towns, although they are constantly
disappearing, and abound especially in the municipality of Cocula."
2d. "Traces of ancient settlements of the aborigines, who either
became extinct or migrated to other localities: such are seen on the
hill of Huizteco, in the municipality of Tasco, in that of Tetipac el
Viejo and of Coatlan el Viejo, of Tetipac, of Coculatepil, of Piedra
Grande or San Gaspar, region of Iglesia Vieja, Cocula, and many
others." 3d. At Tepecoacuilco "there are traces very clearly defined
of many foundations of houses; and in excavations that have been made
there have been found many idols and flint weapons, especially lances,
very well preserved, and other curious relics of Aztec times." 4th. At
Chontalcuatlan, there are traces of the ancient town on a hill called
Coatlan el Viejo, where there is also said to be a block of porphyry
one or two metres in diameter, on the surface of which is sculptured a
coiled serpent.[VII-74]

FOOTNOTES:

[VII-1] See vol. ii., chap. ii., of this work.

[VII-2] _Arias_, _Antiguedades Zapotecas_, in _Museo Mex._, tom. i.,
pp. 246-8, _Mueller_, _Reisen_, tom. ii., pp. 356-7; _Hutchings' Cal.
Mag._, vol. ii., pp. 395; 539-41; _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat.
Civ._, tom. iii., p. 359, with reference to _Carriedo_, _Estudios
hist. y estad. del Estado Oaxaqueno_, tom. ii., append. i.; _Garay_,
_Reconocimiento_, p. 110; _Id._, _Survey_, pp. 112-13; _Id._, _Acct._,
pp. 79-81.

[VII-3] _Dupaix_, 3d exped., pp. 6-7, pl. iii.-v., fig. 6-9;
_Kingsborough_, vol. vi., p. 469, vol. iv., pl. iii.-v., fig. 6-9;
_Larenaudiere_, _Mex. Guat._, pl. viii., from Dupaix, showing second
pyramid; _Mayer's Observations_, pp. 25-6, with cut of the first altar
representing its successive platforms as forming a spiral ascent.

[VII-4] _Dupaix_, 3d exped., p. 6, pl. ii., fig. 5; cut of same
lance-head in _Gondra_, in _Prescott_, _Hist. Conq. Mex._, tom. iii.,
p. 85, pl. xiv.; _Museo Mexicano_, tom. i., pp. 248-9, tom. iii., pp.
135-7; _Hist. Mag._, vol. iii., p. 240.

[VII-5] _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Voy. Tehuan._, pp. 122-5.

[VII-6] _Burgoa_, _Geog. Descrip._, tom. ii., cap. lxxii.; _Brasseur
de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iii., pp. 9-10.

[VII-7] _Lafond_, _Voyage_, tom. i., p. 139.

[VII-8] _Museo Mex._, tom. i., p. 248.

[VII-9] _Dupaix_, 3d exped., p. 8, pl. vi., fig. 10; _Kingsborough_,
vol. v., p. 289, vol. vi., p. 469, vol. iv., pl. vi., fig. 10;
_Lenoir_, pp. 16, 71. Kingsborough calls the name of the locality of
these remains Chilmitlan. His plate shows regular quadrilateral
openings in the parapets, while in Castaneda's plate they appear of
irregular form, as if made by the removal of stones.

[VII-10] _Garay_, _Reconocimiento_, pp. 110-12; _Id._, _Survey_, pp.
113-15; _Id._, _Acct._, pp. 79-81.

[VII-11] _Burgoa_, _Geog. Descrip._, tom. ii., p. 298; _Florencia_,
_Hist. Comp. Jesus_, pp. 233-6, _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat.
Civ._, tom. iii., pp. 39, 286, tom. i., p. 146.

[VII-12] Besides remains attributed to particular localities, see
_Museo Mex._, tom. iii., p. 135, cuts and descriptions of four earthen
idols found in this state; _Burgoa_, _Geog. Descrip._, tom. i., fol.
160, 166, 170, 197, tom. ii., fol. 275, 298, 319-21, 330, 344-5, 363,
mention and slight description of burial places, caves, temples, etc.,
of the natives, some of them seen by the author; _Muehlenpfordt_,
_Mej._, tom. ii., pp. 186, 195, 200, 206, 212, 215, slight mention of
scattered relics; _Mayer's Mex. Aztec, etc._, vol. ii., p. 218, cuts
of three heads in Penasco collection, said to have come from Oajaca.

[VII-13] _Dupaix_, 2d exped., pp. 28-9.

[VII-14] _Mueller_, _Reisen_, tom. ii., p. 282, with cut of the ring.

[VII-15] _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iii., p. 47.

[VII-16] _Gondra_, in _Prescott_, _Hist. Conq. Mex._, tom. iii., p.
91.

[VII-17] _Museo Mex._, tom. i., p. 249.

[VII-18] _Dupaix_, 3d exped., p. 6, pl. ii., 2d exped., p. 51.

[VII-19] _Fossey_, _Mexique_, pp. 375-6. No authority is given, and M.
Fossey was not himself an antiquarian explorer.

[VII-20] _Charnay_, _Ruines Amer._, pp. 249-51.

[VII-21] _Dupaix_, 2d exped., pp. 17-23, pl. xxi-viii., fig. 64-77;
_Kingsborough_, vol. v., pp. 247-51, vol. vi., pp. 444-6, vol. iv.,
pl. xix-xxv., fig. 64-77; _Lenoir_, pp. 16, 22, 49-51. Carriedo's
_Atlas de una Fortaleza Zapoteca, etc._, mentioned by _Gondra_, in
_Prescott_, _Hist. Conq. Mex._, tom. iii., p. 94, and in _Museo Mex._,
tom. i., p. 246. The editors of the latter magazine announced their
intention to publish the drawings as soon as the plates could be
engraved, but I have not seen the volume in which their purpose was
carried out, if indeed it was ever carried out. Garcia's report in
_Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, tom. vii., pp. 270-1, with plates;
_Mueller_, _Reisen_, tom. ii., pp. 270-1, with plates; _Charnay_,
_Ruines Amer._, pp. 250-3; _Viollet-le-Duc_, in _Id._, pp. 25-6, with
cut. Other references to slight notices of Monte Alban, containing no
original information are;--_Larenaudiere_, _Mex. Guat._, pl. i., from
Dupaix; _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iii., p. 340;
_Fossey_, _Mexique_, pp. 370-1. This writer locates the ruins 1/4 of a
league from the city. _Escalera_ and _Llana_, _Mej._, p. 332;
_Baldwin's Anc. Amer._, p. 91.

[VII-22] See authorities in preceding note.

[VII-23] Plate showing the stones in _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, tom.
vii., p. 270.

[VII-24] _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iii., pp.
339-40.

[VII-25] 'Elle represente un dieu dont les attributs caracterisent le
principe actif de la nature qui produit les grains et les fruits.
C'est le dieu qui cree, conserve et est en hostilite permanente avec
le Genie destructeur qui gouverne aussi le monde. Son casque ou son
diademe, ombrage d'un panache considerable et qui atteste son
importance, est orne de la Grande couleuvre, nommee aussi par les
astronomes modernes le _serpent d'Eve_, dont la presence dans le ciel
annonce la saison des recoltes.' _Lenoir_, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. ii.,
<DW37>. i., pp. 57-8. Cut also in _Mayer's Obs._, p. 32, pl. iii., from
the original which is preserved in Mexico.

[VII-26] Plate also in _Gondra_, in _Prescott_, _Hist. Conq. Mex._,
tom. iii., pp. 64-5, pl. xi.

[VII-27] Copies of plates in _Mayer's Obs._, p. 32, pl. iii.; _Id._,
_Mex. Aztec, etc._, vol. ii., pp. 218-19.

[VII-28] Dupaix says of this image: 'Elle participe un peu du style
egyptien. Elle est couverte de trois vetements qui croisent l'un sur
l'autre symetriquement, et qui sont bordes de franges. La tete est
ornee de tresses qui font deviner le sexe; les oreilles et le cou sont
pares de bijoux; enfin toute cette figure est etrange.' 2d exped., p.
49. This image in the opinion of M. Lenoir, _Antiq. Mex._, tom. ii.,
<DW37>. i., pp. 60-1, represents the Mexican goddess Toci, and the
preceding one the god of war, Huitzilopochtli. These images are now in
the Mexican Museum, and plates of them were published by Sr Gondra, in
_Prescott_, _Hist. Conq. Mex._, tom. iii., pp. 90-5, pl. xvii., who by
no means agrees with Lenoir's conclusions identifying them with Aztec
deities, although he agrees with Dupaix respecting their probable use
as chandeliers.

[VII-29] Authorities on antiquities of Zachila. _Dupaix_, 2d exped.,
pp. 44-51, pl. xlvii., fig. 95-116; _Kingsborough_, vol. v., pp.
269-78, vol. vi., pp. 458-63, vol. iv., pl. xlvii.-li., fig. 96-117.
Kingsborough also attributes fig. 118-19 to Zachila, but according to
the official edition the relics represented by those numbers came from
Tizatlan in Tlascala. _Lenoir_, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. ii., <DW37>. i.,
pp. 57-63. The aboriginal name of the place was Zaachillatloo.
_Dupaix_, pp. 44-5. Brasseur, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iii., p. 47,
speaks of a fortress visited by several travelers, built by Zaachila,
the great Zapotec conqueror, on the top of a lofty rock 25 leagues
east of Oajaca. Mention of ruins and two cuts of figures in
_Ilustracion Mej._, tom. iii., pp. 367-8, 480; _Escalera_ and _Llana_,
_Mej. Hist. Descrip._, p. 226.

[VII-30] _Escalera_ and _Llana_, _Mej. Hist. Descrip._, p. 226;
_Fossey_, _Mex._, p. 376.

[VII-31] Liuba, 'Sepultura;' Miquitlan, 'infierno o lugar de
tristeza.' _Dupaix_, 2d exped., p. 30. Leoba, or Luiva, '_sepulture_;'
_Miguitlan_, 'lieu de desolation, lieu de tristesse.' _Humboldt_,
_Vues_, tom. ii., pp. 278-9. Yopaa, Lyoba, or Yobaa, 'terre des
tombes;' Mictlan, 'sejour des Morts.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist.
Nat. Civ._, tom. i., pp. 304-5, tom. iii., p. 9. Liobaa, 'place of
rest.' _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, tom. vii., p. 170.

[VII-32] 'Uno, llamado Mictlan, que quiere decir infierno o lugar de
muertos, a do hubo en tiempos pasados, (segun hallaron las muestras)
edificios mas notables y de ver que en otra parte de la Nueva Espana.
Hubo un templo del demonio y aposentos de sus ministros, maravillosa
cosa a la vista, en especial una sala como de artesones, y la obra era
labrada de piedra de muchos lazos y labores.' _Mendieta_, _Hist.
Ecles._, pp. 395-6; _Burgoa_, _Descrip. Geog._, tom. ii., fol. 259,
etc.

[VII-33] 'Du haut de la forteresse de Mitla, la vue plonge dans la
vallee et se repose avec tristesse sur des roches pelees et des
solitudes arides, image de destruction propre a relever l'effet des
palais de Liobaa. Un torrent d'eau salee (?), qui se gonfle avec la
tempete, coule au milieu des sables poudreux qu'il entraine avec lui.
Les rives sont seches et sans ombrages; a peine voit-on de distance en
distance quelques nopals nains, ou quelques poivriers du Perou, aussi
maigres que le terrain ou ils ont pris racine. Seulement, du cote du
village, la verdure sombre des magueys et des cactus donne au tableau
l'aspect d'un jardin d'hiver plante de buis et de sapins.' _Fossey_,
_Mexique_, p. 371.

[VII-34] _Humboldt_, _Vues_, tom. ii., pp. 278-85, pl. xvii-viii.,
fol. ed., pl. xlix-l; _Id._, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. i., <DW37>. ii., pp.
28-30, supl. pl. viii.; _Id._, _Essai Pol._, pp. 263-5. Humboldt
speaks of Martin as 'un architecte mexicain tres-distingue.' _Dupaix_,
2d exped., pp. 30-44, pl. xxix-xlvi., fig. 78-93; _Kingsborough_, vol.
v., pp. 255-68, vol. vi., pp. 447-56, vol. iv., pl. xxvii-xli., fig.
81-95; _Lenoir_, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. i., <DW37>. ii., pp. 16, 23-4,
52-7. Muehlenpfordt, _Mejico_, tom. i., pref., p. 5, claims to have
been for some time Director of road-construction in the state of
Oajaca, and states his intention of publishing at some future time 18
or 20 large copper-plate engravings illustrating the antiquities of
Mitla and others. These plates, so far as I know, have never been
given to the public. Carriedo accompanied Muehlenpfordt, or
Mihelenpforott as he writes the name, and published some of the
drawings, perhaps all, in the _Ilustracion Mejicana_, tom. ii., pp.
493-8. Some of the German artists' descriptive text is also quoted
from I know not what source. _Tempsky's Mitla_, pp. 250-3, with plates
which must have been made up for the most part from other sources than
the author's own observations. Garcia's visit, _Soc. Mex. Geog.,
Boletin_, tom. vii., pp. 271-2. Sawkin's exploration, in _Mayer's
Observations_, p. 28, et seq., with plates. It will be shown later
that Mr Sawkins' drawings are without value to the archaeological
student. Fossey's account, _Mexique_, pp. 365-70; _Charnay_, _Ruines
Amer._, pp. 261-9, phot. ii-xviii.; _Viollet-le-Duc_, in _Id._, pp.
74-104, with cuts. After Charnay had completed, as he thought, the
work of photographing the ruins, all his negatives were spoiled for
want of proper varnish. He was therefore compelled to return alone,
since he had exhausted the somewhat limited patience of his native
assistants, and to work day and night to take a new set of pictures.
Mueller, _Reisen_, tom. ii., pp. 279-81, seems also to have made a
personal exploration. Other references for Mitla containing no
original information are as follows:--_Baldwin's Anc. Amer._, pp.
117-22, with two cuts from Charnay and two from Tempsky, all given in
my text. _Gallatin_, in _Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact._, vol. i., p.
173; _Bradford's Amer. Antiq._, pp. 85-6; _Larenaudiere_, in
_Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, tom. xxxiv., pp. 121-2; _Gondra_, in
_Prescott_, _Hist. Conq. Mex._, tom. iii., pp. 90-5, pl. xvii.;
_Mayer's Mex. as it Was_, pp. 251-3; _Id._, _Mex. Aztec_, vol. ii.,
pp. 213-16; _Klemm_, _Cultur-Geschichte_, tom. v., pp. 157-60;
_Morelet_, _Voyage_, tom. i., pp. 270-1; _Id._, _Travels_, p. 92;
_Mueller_, _Amerikanische Urreligionen_, p. 462; _Prescott's Mex._,
vol. i., p. 14, vol. iii., pp. 404-6; _Malte-Brun_, _Precis de la
Geog._, tom. vi., p. 463; _Mexicanische Zustaende_, tom. i., pp. 403-4;
_Wappaeus_, _Mex. Guat._, p. 162; _Lempriere_, _Mexique_, p. 144;
_Hassel_, _Mex. Guat._, p. 255; _Hermosa_, _Manual Geog._, p. 135;
_Escalera_ and _Llana_, _Mex._, pp. 327-32, 225, same as in _Fossey_;
_Lafond_, _Voyages_, tom. i., p. 139; _Bonnycastle's Span. Amer._,
vol. i., p. 154, vol. ii., p. 233; _D'Orbigny_, _Voyage_, p. 356;
_Conder's Mex. Guat._, vol. ii., pp. 130-4; _Dally_, _Races Indig._,
pp. 16-17; _Macgillivray's Life Humboldt_, pp. 314-15; _Mills' Hist.
Mex._, p. 158; _Mexico in 1842_, p. 77; _Brasseur de Bourbourg_,
_Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. ii., p. 105; _Larenaudiere_, _Mex. Guat._, pl.
ii-vi., from Dupaix; _Delafield's Antiq. Amer._, pp. 55, 59-60.

[VII-35] Charnay, phot. xvii., gives a general view of the ruins, from
which, however, no clear idea can be formed of the arrangement of the
structures. The buildings are named or numbered as follows by the
different authors; Dupaix numbers them as they are marked on my plan;
Carriedo and Muehlenpfordt unite Nos. 1 and 2 under the name of 1st
Palace, making No. 3 No. 2, and No. 4 No. 3; Charnay's 1st or grand
palace is the northern building of No. 1; his 2d is the eastern
building of the same; his 3d and 4th are the northern and western
buildings respectively of No. 2. My No. 3 is called by him the House
of the Curate, and No. 4 is only mentioned by him without name or
number.

[VII-36] At the Conquest the ruins covered an immense area, but they
now consist of six palaces and three ruined pyramids. _Charnay_,
_Ruines Amer._, p. 261.

[VII-37] Dupaix's ground plan, pl. xxix., fig. 78, represents such a
southern building and mound, although very slight, if any, traces
remained of the former at the time of his visit. Martin's plan, given
by Humboldt, shows two shorter mounds without buildings; while
Carriedo's plan locates no structure whatever south of the court, and
I have omitted it in my plan.

[VII-38] The dimensions are very nearly those of the plans of Martin
and Castaneda, who differ only very slightly. The dimensions given by
the different authorities are as follows: A. 12-1/2 x 47-1/2 varas,
_Castaneda_; 13-1/4 x 46-1/2 varas, _Martin_, in _Humboldt_; 40 metres
long, _Charnay_; 180 feet long, _Tempsky_; 132 feet long, _Fossey_. C.
22x22 varas, _Castaneda_ and _Martin_; _d_, 7x35-1/2 varas, _Castaneda_;
7-1/2 x 34-1/2 varas, _Martin_. Walls 1-1/2 to 3-1/2 varas thick,
_Castaneda_; 1-1/2 varas, _Martin_. Height 5 to 6 metres, _Humboldt_;
14 feet, _Fossey_. The height of the inner columns, to be spoken of
later, shows something respecting the original height of the walls.

[VII-39] Charnay, p. 264, describes the material of this filling as
'terre battue, melee de gros cailloux.' His photographs of walls where
the facing has fallen show in some places a mass of large irregular
stones, even laid with some regularity in a few instances; in other
parts of the ruins there seem to be very few stones, but only a mass
of earth or clay; and in still other parts the wall has every
appearance of regular adobes. Dupaix, p. 35, says that sand and lime
are mixed with the earth. 'El macizo, o grueso de las paredes se
compone de una tierra mezclada y beneficiada con arena y cal.' 'De
tierra preparada, hollada o beneficiada cuando fresca y pastosa.'
Tempsky, p. 251, declares the material to be rough boulders in cement.
Humboldt, _Vues_, tom. ii., p. 283, speaks of 'une masse d'argile qui
paroit remplir l'interieur des murs.'

[VII-40] 'Los compartimientos divididos por unos tableros
cuadrilongos, terminados por unas molduras cuadradas que sobresalen a
la linea de la muralla, contienen en sus planos unas grecas de alto
relieve de una bella invencion, pues sus dibujos presentan unos
enlaces complicados arreglados a una exactisima geometria, con una
grande union entre las piedras que los componen, las que son de varios
gruesos, y configuraciones; ademas se advierte una perfecta nivelacion
en toda esta admirable ensambladura.' _Dupaix_, 2d exped., p. 31. A
mosaic of soft sandstone cut in blocks 7x2-1/8 x1 inches, and all
forming a smooth exterior surface. _Tempsky's Mitla_, pp. 251-2, with
a very faulty cut. The statement about the smooth surface is certainly
erroneous, as is probably that respecting the size of the blocks. 'Ces
arabesques forment une sorte de mosaique, composee de petites pierres
carrees, qui sont placees avec beaucoup d'art, les unes a cote des
autres.' _Humboldt_, _Vues_, tom. ii., p. 283; with cuts of three
styles of this mosaic from Martin. 'Briquettes de differentes
grandeurs.' The modern church is built of stone from the ruins. The
natives carry away the blocks of mosaic in the belief that they will
turn to gold. _Charnay_, _Ruines Amer._, p. 252, 263-5. Phot. v-vi.,
view of southern facade. 22 different styles of grecques on this
front. _Fossey_, _Mexique_, pp. 367-8. Cuts of 16 different styles in
_Ilustracion Mej._, tom. ii., p. 501.

[VII-41] An Indian woman was reported to have one of the heads from
these holes, built into the walls of her house, but it could not be
found. _Dupaix_, 2d exped., p. 31.

[VII-42] Besides the photograph copied above, Charnay's photographs,
vii.-viii., present views from the east and west, showing that the
same style of construction and ornamentation extends completely round
the building. Dupaix's plate xxx. represents this facade, but shows
only a small portion of the stone-work. Kingsborough gives in its
place a magnificent plate, 1x5 feet, showing the whole front restored
in all its details; he gives also the plate from _Antiq. Mex._, but
refers it to the palace No. 2. pl. xxxi., fig. 85. See description of
the walls quoted from Burgoa, in _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, tom.
vii., pp. 170-3.

[VII-43] 5.8 metres high; one third of the height buried in the
ground. _Humboldt_, _Vues_, tom. ii., p. 282. 4 varas above surface, 2
varas below, 1 vara diameter. _Id._, in _Antiq. Mex._, suppl. pl.
viii. Of the material, Humboldt says: 'Quelques personnes,
tres-instruites en mineralogie, m'ont dit que la pierre est un beau
porphyre amphibolique; d'autres m'ont assure que c'est un granite
porphyritique.' 12 feet high, 9-1/2 feet in circumference. _Fossey_,
_Mex._, pp. 367-8. About 14 feet high, _Charnay_, _Ruines Amer._, p.
263; 5-1/2 varas high, 1 vara in diameter, material granite, _Dupaix_,
p. 31. Over 5 varas high. _Burgoa_, in _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, tom.
vii., p. 171. 12 feet high, 4 feet diameter. _Tempsky's Mitla_, p.
253. 10 feet 10-1/2 inches above ground, over 6 feet below, 3-1/3 varas
in circumference; material porphyry. _Ilustracion Mej._, tom. ii., pp.
495-6. So large that two men can hardly reach round them, 5 fathoms
high. _Mendieta_, _Hist. Ecles._, pp. 395-6. Material a porous
limestone. _Viollet-le-Duc_, in _Charnay_, _Ruines Amer._, p. 78.

[VII-44] See _Charnay_, phot. x.

[VII-45] _Charnay_, phot. vii.-viii.

[VII-46] _Charnay_, phot. xi. Plate in _Tempsky's Mitla_, pp. 252-3,
very incorrect, as are nearly all of this author's illustrations.

[VII-47] _Charnay_, phot. ix.

[VII-48] See p. 257 of this volume.

[VII-49] _Murguia_, in _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, tom. vii., pp.
170-3. 'De grandes dalles, de plus de deux pieds d'epaisseur, reposant
sur des piliers d'une hauteur de trois metres, formaient le plafond de
ces palais: au-dessus on voyait une corniche saillante ornee de
sculptures capricieuses, dont l'ensemble formait comme une sorte de
diademe pose sur le sommet de l'edifice.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_,
_Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iii., p. 26, Burgoa.

[VII-50] As quoted in _Ilustracion Mej._, tom. ii., p. 496.

[VII-51] _Viollet-le-Duc_, in _Charnay_, _Ruines Amer._, pp. 78-9.

[VII-52] _Charnay_, phot. xii., p. 264; _Dupaix_, pp. 31-2, pl. xxxi.,
fig. 80.

[VII-53] In the preceding pages it will be noticed that I have paid no
attention to the plates and description by Mr J. G. Sawkins, from an
exploration in 1837, as given by Col. Brantz Mayer in his
_Observations on Mexican History and Archaeology_, published among the
_Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge_. My reasons for disregarding
Sawkins' authority are, that the said descriptions and plates are just
sufficiently accurate to identify palace No. 1 with the one referred
to, but otherwise constitute one of the most bare-faced frauds
recorded in the annals of antiquarian exploration in America. The
following points are more than sufficient to substantiate what I have
said:--1st. Sawkins reverses the cardinal points, respecting which the
other authorities agree, placing the principal building on the east of
the court instead of the north, etc. To avoid repetition and
confusion, I shall in the following remarks, however, correct this
error and speak of each building in its proper location. 2d. Sawkins
found five standing columns in the eastern building, _d_, four of
which supported parts of a wall, while the other standing apart was
taller than the rest; now the columns supporting the wall may have
been the piers between the doorways--but only _three_ of these were
standing in 1806 (see _Dupaix_, pl. xxxi.); and the taller column
standing apart agrees well enough with the truth, except that there
were _two_ of them standing in 1859. (See _Charnay_, _Ruines Amer._,
phot. xii.) On the west our explorer correctly found everything
obliterated, and the 'crumbling and indistinct walls' which he found
on the south may have been part of palace No. 2. 3d. Coming now to the
northern building, Sawkins found in the front 4 doorways, so narrow
and low that only one person at a time could enter, and that only by
stooping; during the next 20 years these doorways grew remarkably in
size, and decreased in number, since Charnay's photograph shows 3
doorways with standing human figures in two of them, not obliged to
stoop or much pressed for elbow room, as may be seen in the copy I
have given. 4th. Sawkins found all the adornments removed from this
facade; they were perhaps replaced before Charnay's visit. 5th. In the
interior, A of the plan, Sawkins found niches in the end walls not
seen by any other visitor. 6th. The six columns represented by Martin
and Dupaix as standing in the centre of this apartment, had all been
removed (!) at the time of Sawkins' visit. It was a strange freak of
the camera to picture them all in place 20 years later. 7th. But
Charnay's photographic apparatus had yet other repairs to make, for in
the northern wing, C, the walls of the interior apartments had all
disappeared, and even the interior surface of the outer walls, which
enclosed the quadrangle, had no mosaic work, but the panels presented
only 9 long recesses in three tiers on each side. Mr Sawkins' plates
are two in number; one of them presents a general view of this palace
from the west, and although faulty, indicates that the artist may have
actually visited Mitla; the other is a rear view of the northern
building, gives a tolerably correct idea of the construction of the
walls, and may possibly have been made up from the large plate in
Kingsborough's work. I have no more space to devote to Sawkins. He may
have been already 'shown up' by some critic whose writings have
escaped my notice. It is proper to add that as Col. Mayer apparently
consulted only Humboldt's description of Mitla, it is not at all
strange that this zealous investigator and usually correct writer was
deceived by a pretended explorer.

[VII-54] _Dupaix_, pl. xxxii., fig. 81, where the dimensions are
6-1/2 x 33-1/2 varas. Carriedo's, or Muehlenpfordt's, plan, pl. ii.,
makes the court 114x135 feet, and the western building 128.9 feet on
the inside; on page 495, and on another plan, it is implied that the
eastern mound never bore any building.

[VII-55] _Ilustracion Mej._, tom. ii., p. 495.

[VII-56] _Mueller_, _Reisen_, tom. ii., p. 280.

[VII-57] _Charnay_, _Ruines Amer._, phot. xiii.-xvi.; _Dupaix_, p. 33,
pl. xxxiii., fig. 82-3; _Kingsborough_, vol. v., pp. 258-9, vol. vi.,
pp. 450-1, vol. iv., pl. xxx., fig. 84; _Lenoir_, in _Antiq. Mex._,
tom. ii., <DW37>. i., pp. 53, 16; _Muehlenpfordt_, in _Ilustracion Mej._,
p. 500, pl. vi.; _Tempsky's Mitla_, pp. 250-1.

[VII-58] _Dupaix_, 2d exped., pp. 32-3, pl. xxxiv.-v., fig. 82;
_Kingsborough_, vol. v., p. 259, vol. vi., p. 451, vol. iv., pl.
xxxii.-iii., fig. 86-7, ground plan, and section showing mosaic work;
_Ilustracion Mej._, tom. ii., pp. 495-500, pl. iv., v., ix. Humboldt,
_Vues_, tom. ii., pp. 278-82, places the gallery erroneously under the
northern wing of palace No. 1, with an entrance in the floor of the
column chamber. _Murguia_, in _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, tom. vii.,
pp. 170-3, from Burgoa, about the caves on which the palaces were
built. _Mueller_, _Reisen_, tom. ii., p. 280; _Tempsky's Mitla_, pp.
250-1; _Fossey_, _Mex._, p. 369; _Charnay_, _Ruines Amer._, pp. 264-5;
_Mayer's Observations_, p. 30, with cuts from Dupaix. _Lenoir_, in
_Antiq. Mex._, tom. ii., <DW37>. i., p. 53. 'Un appartement souterrain
qui a 27 metres de long, et 8 de large.' _Humboldt_, _Essai Pol._, p.
264.

[VII-59] _Charnay_, _Ruines Amer._, p. 263, phot. iii.-iv.; _Dupaix_,
2d exped., pp. 33, 35-6, pl. xxxvi., fig. 83; _Kingsborough_, vol. v.,
p. 259, vol. vi., p. 451, vol. iv., pl. xxxiv., fig. 88, this plan
differs from the one given above in making the passage _d_ straight.
_Ilustracion Mej._, tom. ii., p. 496.

[VII-60] _Dupaix_, pl. xxxvii., fig. 84; _Kingsborough_, vol. iv., pl.
xxxv., fig. 89. The latter plan represents three doorways in each of
the buildings fronting on the northern court, C. See also references
of preceding note.

[VII-61] _Dupaix_, pp. 34, 39, pl. xxxlx-xl., xliii-iv., fig. 86-7,
91-2; _Kingsborough_, vol. v., pp. 260-1, vol. vi., pp. 451-3, vol.
iv., pl. xxxvii-ix., fig. 91-4; _Lenoir_, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. ii.,
<DW37>. i., pp. 55-6; _Charnay_, p. 263, phot. ii.; _Muehlenpfordt_, in
_Ilustracion Mej._, tom. ii., p. 496; Fossey, _Mexique_, pp. 368-9,
locates these pyramidal groups east and north, instead of south and
west of palace No. 1. He also mentions a granite block, or altar, 4-1/2
feet long and one foot thick.

[VII-62] _Dupaix_, p. 34, pl. xxxviii., fig. 85; _Kingsborough_, vol.
v., p. 259, vol. vi., p. 451, vol. iv., pl. xxxvi., fig. 90.
Kingsborough's plate represents the walls as mostly fallen. _Lenoir_,
in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. ii., <DW37>. i., p. 53.

[VII-63] _Dupaix_, pp. 40-1, pl. xliv.-v., fig. 93-4, view of hill,
and plan copied above. _Kingsborough_, vol. v., p. 265, vol. vi., p.
455, vol. iv., pl. xl.-i., fig. 95; _Lenoir_, p. 56. Dupaix's plates
are copied in _Mosaico Mex._, tom. ii., pp. 281-4, and _Armin_, _Alte
Mex._, p. 290; _Fossey_, _Mex._, p. 370. Plate from Sawkins' drawing,
different from that of Castaneda, but of course unreliable, in
_Mayer's Observations_, p. 32, pl. iv.

[VII-64] _Dupaix_, 2d exped., pp. 41-3; _Tylor's Anahuac_, p. 139.

[VII-65] _Dupaix_, 2d exped., pp. 37-8, pl. xli.-ii., fig. 88-90;
_Kingsborough_, vol. v., p. 254, vol. vi., p. 447, vol. iv., pl.
xxvi., fig. 78-80; _Lenoir_, in _Antiq. Mex._, pp. 23-4, 55;
_Tempsky's Mitla_, p. 254.

[VII-66] _Burgoa_, _Geog. Descrip._, fol. 257-60; _Id._, in _Soc. Mex.
Geog., Boletin_, tom. vii., p. 170, et seq., pp. 271-2; _Id._, in
_Ilustracion Mej._, tom. ii., p. 494; _Id._, in _Brasseur de
Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iii., pp. 21-30. Brasseur says
that the temple built over a subterranean labyrinth was called
Yohopehelichi Pezelao, 'supreme fortress of Pezelao.' Built under
Toltec influence. _Id._, tom. i., pp. 304-5, tom. iii., p. 9. Sacked
by the Aztecs about 1494, and the priests carried as captives to
Mexico. _Id._, tom. iii., p. 358; _Tylor's Anahuac_, p. 139. Buildings
of different age. _Dupaix_, 2d exped., pp. 34-5; _Charnay_, _Ruines
Amer._, pp. 252-3, 265; _Humboldt_, _Vues_, tom. ii., p. 279.

[VII-67] _Humboldt_, _Vues_, tom. ii., pp. 284-5. 'Les palais
funeraires de Mitla reproduisent en certains cas l'ordonnance des
demeures chinoises.' _Charnay_, _Ruines Amer._, p. iii. The ruins of
Mitla 'nous paraissent appartenir a la civilisation quichee, quoique
posterieurs a ceux de l'Yucatan. La perfection de l'appareil, les
parements verticaux des salles avec leurs epines de colonnes portant
la charpente du comple, l'absence complete d'imitation de la
construction de bois dans la decoration exterieure ou interieure,
l'ornementation obtenue seulement par l'assemblage des pierres sans
sculpture, donnent aux edifices de Mitla un caractere particulier qui
les distingue nettement de ceux de l'Yucatan et qui indiquerait aussi
une date plus recente.' _Viollet-le-Duc_, in _Id._, pp. 100-1.

[VII-68] Lovato's report was published with two of the nine plates
which originally accompanied it in the _Museo Mex._, tom. iii., p.
329-35, and, without the plates in _Diccionario Univ._, tom. ix., pp.
697-700. Mueller, _Reisen_, tom. ii., pp. 251-4, gives an account which
seems to have been made up mostly from Lovato's report, although he
may have personally visited the ruins. A short description, also from
the _Museo Mex._, may be found in _Mayer's Mex. Aztec_, vol. ii., p.
217, and _Id._, _Observations_, pp. 25-6.

[VII-69] _Museo Mex._, tom. i., p. 136. Lovato's exploration was made
by the order of Gen. Leon, and the account furnished for publication
by Sr J. M. Tornel. In describing the Temple, the three flights of
stairs are said to have 10, 8, and 6 steps, respectively, which does
not agree with the plate as copied above. Mueller gives the number of
small buildings, or dwellings, whose foundations are visible as 120
instead of 130; he also gives in his dimensions metres instead of
varas, which would increase them in English feet in the proportion of
92 to 109. He further states that the structures face the cardinal
points.

[VII-70] _Unda_, in _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, 2da epoca, tom. i., p.
30; _Museo Mex._, tom. i., p. 250.

[VII-71] _Dupaix_, 2d exped., p. 14, pl. xix., fig. 55;
_Kingsborough_, vol. v., p. 244, vol. vi., p. 442, vol. iv., pl.
xvii., fig. 55; _Lenoir_, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. ii., <DW37>. i., p. 47.

[VII-72] _Museo Mex._, tom. i., pp. 249, 401, with plates of the rings
and 7 stone relics.

[VII-73] _Dupaix_, 2d exped., pp. 15-16, pl. xix.-xx., fig. 56-63;
_Kingsborough_, vol. v., pp. 244-5, vol. vi., pp. 442-3, vol. iv., pl.
xvii.-xviii., fig. 56-63. Respecting the jasper figures M. Dupaix
says: 'Le nombre de celles qu'on trouve dans les sepultures de la
nation zapoteque est infini. Elles ont deux a trois pouces de haut;
elles sont presque toutes de forme triangulaire, quadrangulaire, ou
prismatique, et sont sculptees en jaspe vert fonce, ayant
invariablement la meme attitude semblable a celle d'Iris ou d'Osiris,
dont les petites idoles etaient destinees a accompagner les momies
egyptiennes.' The hole in the back part of each is drilled in a curved
line. _Lenoir_, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. ii., <DW37>. i., pp. 47-8.

[VII-74] _Munoz_, _Estadistica del Distrito de Hidalgo_, in
_Guerrero_, _Memoria presentada a la H. Legislatura, por el
Gobernador, Fran. O. Arce_, 1872, pp. 45, 150, 272.




CHAPTER VIII.

ANTIQUITIES OF VERA CRUZ.

     PHYSICAL FEATURES OF THE STATE -- EXPLORATION AND REPORTS
     -- CAXAPA AND TUXTLA -- <DW64> HEAD -- RELICS FROM ISLAND
     OF SACRIFICIOS -- EASTERN <DW72> REMAINS -- MEDELIN --
     XICALANCO -- RIO BLANCO -- AMATLAN -- ORIZAVA -- CEMPOALA
     -- PUENTE NACIONAL -- PASO DE OVEJAS -- HUATUSCO --
     FORTIFICATIONS AND PYRAMIDS OF CENTLA -- EL CASTILLO --
     FORTRESS OF TLACOTEPEC -- PALMILLAS -- ZACUAPAN --
     INSCRIPTION AT ATLIACA -- CONSOQUITLA FORT AND TOMB --
     CALCAHUALCO -- RUINS OF MISANTLA OR MONTE REAL -- DISTRICT
     OF JALANCINGO -- PYRAMID OF PAPANTLA -- MAPILCA -- PYRAMID
     AND FOUNTAIN AT TUSAPAN -- RUINS OF METLALTOYUCA -- RELICS
     NEAR PANUCO -- CALONDRAS, SAN NICOLAS, AND TRINIDAD.


Passing now to the eastern or gulf coast, I shall devote the present
chapter to the antiquities of Vera Cruz, the ancient home of the
Totonacs in the north, and the Xicalancas and Nonohualcos in the
south. Vera Cruz, with an average width of seventy miles, extends from
the Laguna de Santa Ana, the western boundary of Tabasco, to the mouth
of the River Panuco, a distance of about five hundred miles. Its
territory is about equally divided lengthwise between the low
malarious tierra caliente on the immediate gulf shore, and the eastern
<DW72> of the lofty sierra that bounds the Mexican plateau. Two or
three much-traveled routes lead inland from the port of Vera Cruz
towards the city of Mexico, and travelers make haste to cross this
plague-belt, the lurking-place of the deadly vomito, turning neither
to the right nor left to investigate the past or present. A railroad
now completed renders the transit still more direct and rapid than
before. Away from these routes the territory of this state is less
known than almost any other portion of the Mexican Republic, although
a portion of the southern Goatzacoalco region has been pretty
thoroughly explored by surveyors of the Tehuantepec interoceanic
routes, and by an unfortunate French colonization company that settled
here early in the present century. The mountain <DW72>s and plateaux
twenty-five or thirty miles inland are, however, fertile and not
unhealthy, having been crowded in ancient times with a dense
aboriginal population, traces of whose former presence are found in
every direction. Most of our information respecting the antiquities of
this state is derived from the reports of Mexican explorers, only one
or two of whom have in most cases visited each of the many groups of
ruins. These explorers have as a rule fallen into a very natural,
perhaps, but at the same time very unfortunate error in their
descriptions; for after having displayed great energy and skill in the
discovery and examination of a ruin, doubtless forming a clear idea of
all its details, they usually compress these details into the space of
a few paragraphs or a few pages, and devote the larger part of their
reports to essays on the Toltec, Chichimec, or Olmec history--subjects
on which they can throw no light. They neglect a topic of the deepest
interest, concerning which their authority would be of the very
greatest weight, for another respecting which their conclusions are
for the most part valueless.

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: RELICS AT SACRIFICIOS ISLAND.]

The ruins of an aboriginal city are mentioned at Caxapa, between the
volcano of Tuxtla and the coast in the southern part of the
state.[VIII-1] In the vicinity of Tuxtla, at the south-western base
of the volcano, a colossal granite head, six feet high, was found by a
laborer in 1862, while making a clearing for a milpa. The head was
photographed, and a copy of the plate published by the Mexican
Geographical Society, together with an accompanying text prepared by
J. M. Melgar. A copy of the plate is given in the cut. The most
noticeable peculiarity in this head is the <DW64> cast of the features,
and Senor Melgar devotes his article to the <DW64> race, which as he
supposes lived in America before the coming of the Spaniards.[VIII-2]

  [Illustration: Ethiopian Head of Granite.]

  [Illustration: Earthen Vase--Isle of Sacrificios.]

  [Illustration: White Marble Vase--Vera Cruz.]

On the island of Sacrificios, in the harbor of Vera Cruz, one
author[VIII-3] states that remains of the ancient temple are visible.
This is probably an error, but numerous small relics have been dug up
on the island. Many of the relics were articles of pottery, one of
which of very peculiar form is shown in the cut from Waldeck. This,
like most of the other articles found here, is preserved in the Museum
of Mexico, and was sketched by Mayer and by Waldeck. Mr Tylor
pronounces it not the work of the natives before the Conquest, in fact
a fraud, "one of the worst cases I ever noticed." There is no doubt of
the accuracy of the drawing, and Sr Gondra assured Col. Mayer, as the
latter informs me, that the relic is an authentic one.[VIII-4] Workmen
engaged in laying the foundations of the modern fort found, at a depth
of six feet, vases of hard material, which in the opinion of M.
Baradere resembled vases that have been brought from Japan.[VIII-5]
Col. Mayer gives cuts of thirteen relics dug from a subterranean
chamber or grave in 1828. Two of these were of white marble or
alabaster, and one of them is shown in the cut. M. Dumanoir made an
excavation also in 1841, finding a sepulchre containing well-preserved
human skeletons, earthen vases painted and etched, idols, images,
bracelets, teeth of dogs and wild beasts, and marble, or alabaster,
urns. Plates of many of the relics have been published.[VIII-6]

  [Sidenote: REMAINS ON THE EASTERN <DW72>.]

From the city of Vera Cruz two main routes of travel lead inland
toward the city of Mexico. The first extends north-westward via
Jalapa, and the second south-westward via Orizava. After crossing the
first lofty mountain barrier which divides the coast from the interior
plateaux, the roads approach each other and meet near Puebla. On the
eastern <DW72>, the roads with the mountain range, which at this point
extends nearly north and south, form a triangle with equal sides of
about eighty miles, at the angles of which are the cities of Vera
Cruz, Jalapa, and Orizava, or more accurately points ten or fifteen
miles above the two latter. This comparatively small triangular area,
round which so many travelers have passed in their journey to Anahuac,
is literally covered with traces of its aboriginal population, in the
shape of pottery, implements, foundation stones of dwellings,
fortifications, pyramids, and graves. I quote the following from an
article on the antiquities of Vera Cruz, written in 1869, for the
Mexican Geographical Society, by Carlos Sartorius:

"On the eastern <DW72> of the lofty volcanic range, from the Peak of
Orizava to the Cofre de Perote, at an average elevation of two to five
thousand feet above the level of the gulf, there exist innumerable
traces of a very numerous indigenous population before the Conquest.
History tells us nothing respecting this part of the country,
distinguished for its abundant supply of water, its fertility, and its
delightful and healthy climate." "For an extent of fifteen to twenty
leagues, from east to west, there was not a span of earth that was not
cultivated, as is proved by numberless remains.... The whole country
is formed into terraces by stone walls, which follow all the
variations of the surface with the evident object of preventing the
washing away of the soil. Sometimes the terraces are ten or twelve
yards wide, at others hardly one yard. The small ravines called
_rayas_ served for innumerable water-tanks, built of rocks and clay,
or of stone and mortar, these dams being also covered with a coating
of hard cement. It is evident that a numerous population took
advantage of every inch of land for cultivation, using the water
gathered in the tanks during the rainy season for irrigation, possibly
effected by hand by means of earthern vessels. In the more sterile
portions of the land, on the top of hills which have no soil are seen
the foundations of dwellings, all of stone without mortar, arranged in
streets or in groups. They always form an oblong rectangle and face
the cardinal points. They are found in clearing heavy forests as well
as on open tracts, and the fact that oaks a metre in diameter are
found within the enclosure of the walls, proves that many centuries
have passed since the population disappeared. In many parts are found
groups of pyramids, of various sizes and degrees of preservation. The
largest, of stone, are fifty feet and over in height, while the
smallest are not over ten or twelve. The last seem to be tombs; at
least several that we opened contained skeletons in a very decomposed
state, with earthen utensils like those now made by the natives,
arrow-heads of obsidian and bird-bone, doubtless the supplies given to
the dead for their journey." One contained an elegant burial urn,
bearing ornamental figures in relief, containing ashes and fragments
of human bones, and covered first with small pebbles, and then with
stone flags. "The region which we subjected to our investigation
comprehends the <DW72> of the sierra to the coast between Orizava and
Jalapa. At an elevation of four or five thousand feet there are many
springs, which at a short distance form ravines in a soil composed of
conglomerates or, further south, of lime. In their course the ravines
unite and form points sometimes with vertical walls of considerable
height. As the water-courses do not follow a straight line, but wind
about, the erosion of the current above the meeting of the ravines
destroys a great portion of the dividing ridge, so that above there
remains only a narrow pass, the ridge afterwards assuming greater
width until the end is reached. This play of nature occurs in the
region of which we are speaking, at many points and with great
uniformity, almost always at the same level of two thousand to
twenty-five hundred feet. The natives selected these points, strong by
nature, fortifying them by art so ingeniously as to leave no doubt as
to their progress in military art.... Some of them are almost
inaccessible, and can be reached only by means of ladders and ropes.
They all have this peculiarity in common, that, besides serving for
defense, they enclose a number of edifices destined for
worship,--teocallis and traces of very large structures, such as
residences, quarters, or perhaps palaces of the priests and rulers. In
some of them there are springs and remains of large artificial tanks;
in others, aqueducts of stone and mortar, to bring water from distant
springs." Sr Sartorius then proceeds to the description of particular
ruins, of which more hereafter.[VIII-7]

  [Sidenote: TRACES OF ABORIGINAL POPULATION.]

Mr Hugo Finck, a resident for twenty-eight years in the region under
consideration, in which he traveled extensively to collect botanical
specimens, contributed the following general remarks to the
Smithsonian Report for 1870: "There is hardly a foot of ground in the
whole state of Vera Cruz [the author refers particularly to the region
about Cordova, Huatusco, and Mirador] in which, by excavation, either
a broken obsidian knife, or a broken piece of pottery is not found.
The whole country is intersected with parallel lines of stones, which
were intended during the heavy showers of the rainy season to keep the
earth from washing away. The number of those lines of stones shows
clearly that even the poorest land, which nobody in our days would
cultivate, was put under requisition by them.... In this part of the
country no trace of iron or copper tools has ever come under my
notice. Their implements of husbandry and war were of hard stone, but
generally of obsidian and of wood. The small mounds of stones near
their habitations have the form of a parallelogram, and are not over
twenty-seven inches high. Their length is from five to twelve yards,
their width from two to four. On searching into them nothing is found.
A second class of mounds is round, in the form of a cone, always
standing singly. They are built of loose stones and earth, and of
various sizes; some as high as five yards, with a diameter of from
five to twenty yards. Excavation made in them brought to light a large
pot of burned clay filled with ashes, but in general nothing is found.
The third class of mounds, also built of loose stones and earth, have
the form of a parallelogram, whose smaller sides look east and west,
and are from five to six yards high, terminating at the top in a level
space of from three to five yards in width, the base being from eight
to twelve yards. They are found from fifteen to two hundred yards
long. Sometimes several are united, forming a hollow square, which
must have been used as a fortress. Others again have their outer
surface made of masonry, but still the inside is filled up with loose
stones and earth. Near river-beds, where stones are very abundant,
these tumuli are largest. Principally in this latter class, idols,
implements of husbandry and war are discovered, sometimes lying quite
loose, and at others imbedded in hollow square boxes made of masonry.
The last-described mounds form the transition to those constructions
which are altogether built of solid masonry.... One peculiarity of the
last-mentioned ruins is, that they are all constructed at the junction
of two ravines, and used as fortresses, on account of their
impregnability. Most of the larger barrancas have precipitous sides
from three hundred to one thousand feet deep, which guarded the
inhabitants on their flank, so that nothing more was required than to
build a wall, leaving a small entrance in the middle, as a passage,
which could be barricaded in time of war.... Such constructions can be
seen to this day in tolerable good condition. The interior of these
fortified inclosures is in general large, sometimes holding from four
to five square miles, and could be put under cultivation in case of a
siege. The wall is in general from four to five yards high, and has on
the inside terraces with steps to lead to the top. At other places
there is a series of semicircular walls, the front one lower than the
following, and a passage between each to permit one person at a time
to pass from one to the other. The innermost wall is sometimes
perforated with loopholes through which arrows could be thrown. Quite
a number of ruins are found inside the fortification, as mounds,
altars, good level roads with a foundation of mortar. Most of these
monuments have good preserved steps leading to the top. In some very
small pots of burning clay are found filled with ashes."[VIII-8]

The preceding quotations are sufficient to give a clear idea of the
ruins in their general features, and leave only such particular
remains as have been made known through the labors of different
explorers to be described. Some ten or twelve of the peculiar
fortified places alluded to above have been more or less fully
described, but as there is no even tolerably accurate topographical
map of this region, it is utterly impossible to locate them. Each
stream, ravine, bluff, hill, and mountain of all the labyrinth, has
its local name; indeed, some of them seem to have two or three, but
most of them have no place on the maps. It is consequently quite
possible that the same ruins have been described under more than one
name. I shall present each group as it is described by the explorer,
giving when possible the distance and bearing from some point laid
down on the map which accompanies this volume.

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: AMATLAN AND ORIZAVA.]

Before treating of these ruins, however, I shall mention some
miscellaneous relics, from the region under consideration, found at
well-known towns, or in their vicinity. Colonel Albert S. Evans dug
two terra-cotta images from a grave at Medellin, about eight miles
south-west of Vera Cruz, in 1869. They seem to represent a male and
female, and are now in the collection of Mr C. D. Voy, of Oakland,
California. Near the same town, on the Rio Jamapa, are to be seen,
Brasseur tells us, the ruins of one of the two ancient cities called
Xicalanco; and also that the traces of an ancient city may yet be seen
under the water between the city of Vera Cruz and the fort of San Juan
de Ulloa.[VIII-9] About forty-five miles south-east of Cordova,
between that town and the bridge over the Rio Blanco, Dupaix found a
hard stone of dark blue color, artificially worked into an irregular
spherical form, about six feet in diameter, and so carefully balanced
that it could be made to vibrate by a slight touch. A number of small
shallow holes were formed on the surface. A similar stone is placed
two leagues to the eastward, and they are supposed by Dupaix to have
served as boundary marks. Teololinga is the name by which the natives
call them.[VIII-10] Also in the neighborhood of Cordova, at Amatlan
de los Reyes, certain traces of a temple are vaguely mentioned by the
same traveler; and on a wooded hillside near by is a cave, in which
have been found fragments of carved stone and pottery, including a
squatting trunk and legs, and a head carved from the same kind of
stone that constitutes the walls of the cave. The latter relic is
shown in the cut. The form of the head seems to have nothing in common
with the ordinary aboriginal type.[VIII-11]

  [Illustration: Stone head from Amatlan.]

  [Illustration: Sacrificial Yoke from Orizava.]

At Orizava two relics were seen, one of them a triangular stone five
feet thick and ninety feet in circumference, used in modern times as
the floor of a native's cabin. On one of the triangular surfaces was
incised in rude outline a colossal human figure twenty-seven feet
high, standing with legs spread apart and arms outstretched. A girdle
appears at the waist, plumes decorate the head, and the mouth is wide
open. On one side a fish stands on its tail; on the other is a rabbit
with ten small circles, very likely expressing some date after the
Aztec manner,--ten tochtli. Some carvings not described were noticed
on the edges also. The other relic was a kind of yoke carved from
green jasper and supposed to have been used in connection with the
Aztec sacrifices. It is shown in the cut according to Castaneda's
drawing. The original yoke was carried by Dupaix to Mexico and
deposited in one of the antiquarian collections there, where it was
afterwards sketched by Mayer and Gondra.[VIII-12] Near Jalapa, Rivera
states that a serpent fifteen feet long and nine feet broad, may be
seen carved in the rock.[VIII-13] Half a day's journey from Vera Cruz
towards Mexico, at a point which he calls Rinconado, Robert Tomson saw
"a great pinacle made of lime and stone, fast by a riuer side, where
the Indians were wont to doe their sacrifices vnto their
gods."[VIII-14] About the location of Cempoala, a famous city in the
time of the Conquest, there has been much discussion. Lorenzana says
that the place "still retains the same name; it is situated four
leagues from Vera Cruz, and the extent of its ruins indicates its
former greatness." Rivera tells us, however, that "to-day not even the
ruins of this capital of the Totonac power remain," although some
human bones have been dug up about its site.[VIII-15]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Illustration: Pyramid near Puente Nacional.]

  [Sidenote: RUINS AT PUENTE NACIONAL.]

Passing now to the labyrinth of ruins within the triangular area
extending from the peaks of Orizava and Perote to the coast, I begin
with those in the vicinity of the Puente Nacional, where the road from
Vera Cruz to Jalapa crosses the Rio de la Antigua. These remains are
located on the summit of a forest-covered hill over a hundred feet
high, on the bank of the river some two leagues from the bridge. They
were discovered in 1819 or 1820 by a priest named Cabeza de Vaca, and
in November, 1843, J. M. Esteva, to whom the priest related his
discovery, made an exploration, and as a result published a
description with two plates in the _Museo Mexicano_. On the uneven
surface of the hill-top stands a pyramid of very peculiar form, shown
in the cut, which is an ichnographic plan of the structure. It is
built of stone and mortar, the former probably in hewn blocks,
although the text is not clear on this point. The height varies from
thirty-three to forty-two feet, according to the inequalities of the
ground. The circumference is not far from three hundred English feet,
while the summit platform measures about fifty-five by forty-four
feet. On all sides except the eastern the <DW72> is divided into six
stories, or steps, about one foot wide and seven feet high at the base
but diminishing towards the top, making the ascent much steeper than
that of most aboriginal pyramids that we have met hitherto. The
eastern side is all taken up by a stairway about sixty-three feet
wide, consisting of thirty-four steps. This stairway, as is more
clearly shown in Esteva's view of this side than in my cut, is
arranged in the form of a cross.

On the western base is the entrance to a gallery which penetrates the
body of the pyramid; it was obstructed by fallen stones, but Esteva
succeeded in exploring the passage far enough to convince himself that
the interior was divided into several apartments. At some distance
from the pyramid were noticed the foundations of a wall.[VIII-16]

Mr Lyon mentions the existence of ruins--which he did not visit--in
this vicinity on the edge of a plateau, at the north side of the
valley, about a mile and a half to the right of the road, and only a
short distance from Paso de Ovejas. "All that remains are the traces
of streets and inclosures, and an assemblage of pyramidical elevations
of earth and stones of various sizes, some of them forty feet in
height." Sr Sartorius reports very extensive ruins on the right bank
of the Antigua, some leagues west of Consoquitla, near Tuzamapa, from
the material of which the 'puente nacional' was constructed. An old
native also reported that a spiral stairway formerly led down to the
bottom of the barranca. Whether the two groups of ruins last mentioned
are identical with that described by Esteva, it is impossible to
determine; quite likely they are distinct remains.[VIII-17]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: FORTIFICATIONS OF CENTLA.]

Some twenty-five or thirty miles northward from Cordova, in the
vicinity of Huatusco, and stretching northward from that town, is a
line of fortified places, nearly every junction of two ravines bearing
more or less extensive remains. One of the most extensive of these
works is that known as Centla, a few leagues north-east of Huatusco.
The ruins are said to have been discovered by rancheros in 1821.
Ignacio Iberri saw them in 1826, but published no description. An
explorer whose name is not given visited the locality in 1832, and
furnished information from which Sr Gondra published an account,
illustrated with plates, in 1837. Sr Sartorius made an exploration of
Centla in 1833, but his description, also accompanied with plates,
was not published until 1869.[VIII-18]

  [Sidenote: FORTRESS OF CENTLA.]

Two ravines, running from east to west, with precipitous sides from
three hundred to a thousand feet high, approach so near to each other
as to leave only space for a passage about three feet wide, and this
narrow pass is made still stronger by protecting walls not
particularly described. The barrancas then diverge and again converge,
forming an oval table of about four hundred acres, across which, from
east to west is excavated a ditch, or protected road, about seventeen
feet wide and from eight to eleven feet deep, leading to the second
narrow pass, where the ravines again approach each other.[VIII-19]

This second pass is about twenty-eight feet wide from the brink of the
northern to that of the southern precipice.[VIII-20] This pass is
fortified by defensive works of the strongest character, the plan of
which is shown in the cut on the following page. The only entrance is
through the narrow passage only three feet wide, shown by the arrows,
beginning at the southern brink, passing between two stone pyramids,
A, and E, D, C, and then along the northern brink to the plateau
beyond, the issue into the latter being guarded additionally by three
smaller pyramids. The chief pyramid on the right of the entrance is
built of stone and mortar in three stories, or terraces, C, D and E,
respecting the arrangement of which the plan[VIII-21] is not
altogether satisfactory; but each story is reached by a stairway on
the east, and on the summit are parapets pierced with loopholes for
the discharge of weapons. This structure is also flanked on the south,
where the descent for a short distance is less precipitous than
elsewhere, by a terraced wall at B. The left hand fortification, A, is
described by Gondra as a simple wall, but according to Sartorius and
the plan it is also a pyramid, with stairway on the east and parapets
on the summit. It has apparently only one story, and is lower than its
companion, but its front has an additional protection in the form of a
ditch eleven feet wide and five and a half feet deep, excavated in the
solid rock, the position of which is shown by the dotted line _a_,
_a_.[VIII-22]

  [Illustration: Fortifications of Centla.]

Beyond the narrow fortified pass that has been described, the
southern ravine again diverges and forms a semicircle before joining
that on the north, forming thus a peninsular plateau a mile and a half
long, and somewhat less than three quarters of a mile wide, covered
with soil of great fertility, and divided in two parts by the waters
of a spring, whose waters flow through the centre. Since its discovery
this fertile table has been settled and cultivated by modern farmers,
some twenty families of whom--whether native or Spanish is not
stated--were living here in 1832. The whole surface was covered with
traces of its former inhabitants, but most of the monuments in the
cultivated portions have been destroyed by the settlers, who used the
stones for buildings and fences. In other parts, covered with a forest
at the time of exploration, extensive remains were found in good
preservation, besides the fortresses at the entrance. Pyramids of
different dimensions, standing singly and in groups, together with
foundations of houses and sculptured fragments, were scattered in
every direction enveloped in the forest growth.

  [Illustration: Type of Pyramids at Centla.]

The pyramids are all built of rough stones, clay, and earth, faced on
the outside with hewn blocks from eighteen inches to two feet long,
laid in mortar. The stone seems to have been brought from the bottom
of the ravines, and it is said that no lime is procurable within a
distance of fifteen or twenty miles. Sartorius gives a plate
representing one of the pyramids, which he states to be a type of all
those at Centla, and indeed of all in this region, and which is
copied in the cut. The stairways are generally on the west, and the
niches at the sides are represented as having arched tops and as
occupied by idols. Some of the smaller mounds have been found to
contain human skeletons lying north and south, and from one of them a
farmer claimed to have dug a number of green stone beads. Sartorius
claims to have found in connection with one of the pyramids an altar
having a concavity on the top, and a canal leading to a receptacle at
the foot of the mound; he also mentions a very elegant vase, six by
four inches, found under a stone flag, near the altar. Gondra speaks
of a large square or court, level and covered with a coat of hard
polished cement; he also claims that six columns of stone and mortar
were seen, twelve feet high, standing at the bottom of a ravine.

  [Illustration: El Castillo at Huatusco.]

  [Sidenote: RUINS AT HUATUSCO.]

Dupaix in his first exploring tour visited Huatusco, and states that
at a distance of half a league down the river from the modern town was
found a group of ruins known as the Pueblo Viejo. These ruins were on
the <DW72> of a hill, and on the summit stood the pyramid shown in the
cut, known as El Castillo. The height of this Castle is about
sixty-six feet, and according to Dupaix's text the base is two
hundred and twenty-one feet square, but, according to Castaneda's
drawing, copied above, each side is not over seventy-five
feet.[VIII-23] The foundation, or pyramid proper, is built in three
stories, being about thirty-seven feet high. A broad stairway, with
solid balustrade, leads up the western front. On the summit platform
stands a building in three stories, with walls about eight feet thick,
which, at least on the exterior, are not perpendicular but <DW72>
inward. The lower story has but one doorway, that at the head of the
stairway; it forms a single hall, in the centre of which are three
pillars, which sustained the beams of the floor above, pieces of the
beams being yet visible. The two upper stories seem to have had no
doors or windows. Dupaix says that on the summit was a platform three
feet thick, yet as the roof was fallen, he probably had little or no
authority for the statement. The interior of the whole structure was a
rubble of stone and mortar, and the facing of hewn blocks regularly
laid. The whole exterior surface, at least of the superimposed
structure, was covered with a polished coating of plaster, and a
peculiar ornament is seen in each side of the second story, in the
form of a large panel, containing regular rows of round stones
imbedded in the wall. El Castillo, if we may credit Dupaix's account
of it, must be regarded as a very important monument of Nahua
antiquity, by reason of the edifice, in a tolerable state of
preservation, found on the summit of the pyramid. These upper
structures with interior apartments have in most instances entirely
disappeared. In connection with these ruins Dupaix found a coiled
serpent carved from hard stone; a fragment of terra-cotta with
decorations in relief; and a fancifully modeled skull, the material of
which is not stated.[VIII-24]

  [Sidenote: FORTRESS OF TLACOTEPEC.]

Sartorius mentions a 'castle,' with towers and teocallis, situated on
a frightful cliff between two barrancas, three leagues from Huatusco,
distinct from Centla, and some leagues further southward.[VIII-25]
Clavigero says that in his time the ancient fortress of Quauhtochco,
or Guatusco, was still standing, surrounded with lofty walls of solid
stone, which could only be entered by means of many high and narrow
steps.[VIII-26] Sr Iberri applies the name El Castillo to the ruins
visited by him in 1826, but it is evident from his slight description
that he refers to Centla.[VIII-27] It is clear that at least two and
probably more groups of remains are indicated by the different
authorities cited.

       *       *       *       *       *

The following are mentioned as the localities of undescribed ruins,
several of them belonging to what seems to be a line of ancient
fortifications extending northward from the vicinity of Huatusco:
Cotastla, Matlaluca, Capulapa, Tlapala, Poxtla, Xicuintla, and
Chistla.[VIII-28] The fortress of Tlacotepec is located four leagues
east of Jolutla, between the Rio de la Antigua and Paso de Ovejas, six
thousand varas west of and a quarter of a league above the houses of
the hacienda of Mirador, separated by a deep ravine from San Martin on
the south--a location which might possibly be clear enough with the
aid of a good map, or to a person perfectly familiar with the
topography of the country. The position of the fortified plateau is
similar to that of Centla, and a ditch, generally fourteen feet deep
and from sixteen to eighteen feet wide, leads over the hills for
several leagues to the entrance of the plateau. This ditch, however,
seems only to be excavated in the earth, and disappears in several
places where the solid rock is encountered.[VIII-29] At the terminus,
towards the fortifications, the ditch widens into a rectangular
excavation, one hundred and eight by two hundred and seventy-six feet,
surrounded with an embankment formed of the earth thrown out. The
defensive works which guard the passage between the ravines, and the
extensive ruins of temples and dwellings on the plateau beyond, are
described only by Sartorius, and his text, plan, and sketch, all fail
to convey any clear notion respecting the arrangement and details of
these remains. The following, however, are the principal features
noted:--A wall twenty-eight feet high across the entrance to the
plateau; two small towers in pyramidal form on the narrow pass; a
building called the castle, apparently somewhat similar to the
fortifications at Centla; a line of pyramids, serving as a second line
of defense; a ditch excavated in the solid rock; another group of
pyramids protected by a semicircular wall; an excavation apparently
intended as a reservoir for water, covering two thousand square yards,
the bottom of which is literally covered with fragments of pottery,
and on the banks of which are the foundations of many dwellings; a
number of temple pyramids, like the type at Centla shown in a
preceding cut, one of them having the so-called blood-canal; an
earthen receptacle at the foot of the altar, filled with earth, in
which were found two human skulls; the foundations of an edifice two
hundred yards long, having along its whole length "a corridor of
cement with hewn stone at its sides, forming one or two steps;" a
small pyramid formed from the living rock of the cliff, at the very
edge of the precipice where the ravines meet; and finally,
arrow-heads, lance-heads, and knives of obsidian, which are found at
every step, and are even dug up from under the roots of large
trees.[VIII-30]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Illustration: Rock Inscription at Atliaca.]

  [Sidenote: REMAINS ABOUT MIRADOR.]

A few leagues eastward from Tlacotepec on the same barranca, are two
forts known as Palmillas, separated by a deep ravine. One of them was
used by the Mexican forces under General Victoria in the war of
independence; the other has the remains of an aqueduct which brought
water from a point over a league distant.[VIII-31] At Zacuapan, near
Mirador, and five leagues from Huatusco, according to Heller, are
remains of the ordinary type, including terraced walls, parapets with
loopholes, a plaza with plastered pavement in the centre of which
stands a pyramid, a cubical structure or altar on the very verge of
the precipice, and the usual scattered pottery and implements. Six
miles south of Mirador the same traveler mentions some baths, on a
rock near which is the inscription shown in the cut.[VIII-32] Also in
the vicinity of Mirador, at the junction of two tributaries of the
Santa Maria, is the fortress of Consoquitla, similar to the others. A
line of plastered pyramidal structures is mentioned, in one of the
smallest of which was a tomb three by six feet lying north and south
and covered with large stone flags. Within the tomb was a skeleton,
together with earthen boxes filled with arrow-heads and bird-bones.
Some large idols are also said to have been found here, and on the
summit platform of some of the pyramids were the marks of upright
beams, which seem to have supported wooden buildings.[VIII-33]
Calcahualco, 'ruined houses,' is also on one of the tributaries of the
Santa Maria. A parapeted wall fifty-five feet long protects the
entrance, and could only be crossed by the aid of ropes or ladders.
The wall seems to stand in an excavation, so that its top is about on
a level with the original surface of the plateau. Within the
fortifications is a large pyramid surrounded by smaller ones and by
the foundations of houses; and another excavation, a hundred yards
long and twenty-five in width, is vaguely mentioned as of unknown use.
A mile and a half further south-east are some ruins in the bottom of a
ravine. A wall nine feet high rises from the water's edge, and on it
stand a row of round monolithic columns, which seem to have supported
a stone architrave.[VIII-34] Mr Tylor noticed some remains by the
roadside, at the eastern foot of Orizava, as he was traveling towards
San Antonio de Abajo.[VIII-35]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: RUINS OF MISANTLA.]

Northward from the triangular area, the remains of which I have
described, ruins seem to be no less abundant, and accounts of them no
less unsatisfactory. The remains known by the name of Misantla, from a
modern pueblo near by, are located some twenty-five or thirty miles
north-eastward of Jalapa, near the headwaters of the Rio Bobos. They
are sometimes called Monte Real, from the name of one of the hills in
the vicinity. They were discovered accidentally by men searching for
lost goats, and visited by Mariano Jaimes in 1836; in October of the
same year, I. R. Gondra, from information furnished by the discoverers
and Jaimes, and from certain newspaper accounts, wrote and published a
very perplexing description, illustrated with a plan and two views. In
the same or the following year J. I. Iberri made an official
exploration of Misantla, or Monte Real, and his report, also
illustrated with many plates, and rivaling that of Gondra in its
unsatisfactory nature, was published in 1844. Not only are the two
accounts individually to a great extent unintelligible, but neither
they nor their accompanying illustrations seem to have any
well-defined resemblance to each other.[VIII-36]

The site of the ruins seems to be a ravine-bounded plateau, somewhat
similar to those already described, the approach to which is guarded
by a wall. This wall extends not only across the pass, but down one of
the <DW72>s, which is not so steep as to be naturally inaccessible to
an enemy. According to Iberri the wall is a natural vein of porphyry,
artificially cut down in some parts, and built up by the addition of
blocks of stone in others, measuring three yards high and two in
width. The same explorer, after passing the wall and climbing with
much difficulty to a point about two hundred and fifty feet higher,
found a pyramid standing on a terraced hill, on the terraces of which
were various traces of houses and fortifications. The pyramid was
built of porphyry and basalt in blocks of different sizes, laid in
mortar, was thirty-three feet square at the base and seventeen feet
high, and had a narrow stairway on one side at least. On the summit
platform were traces of apartments of rough stones and mortar; also a
canal nine inches square, leading to the exterior. The first wall
mentioned by Gondra in the approach to the ruins, was one of large
stones in poor mortar, mostly fallen; it seemed to form a part of
walls that bounded a plaza of nearly circular form, in the centre of
which stood the pyramid. This edifice was forty-seven by forty-one
feet at the base, twenty-eight feet high, and was built in three
stories; the lower story had a central stairway on the front, the
second had stairways on the sides, while on the third story the steps
were in the rear. There are also some traces of a stairway on the
front of the second story. The whole surface is covered with trees,
one of which is described as being about fourteen feet high, and over
eight feet in diameter. The only resemblance in the two views of this
pyramid, is the representation of a tree on the summit in each;
between the two plans there is not the slightest likeness; and so far
as Iberri's third figure is concerned, it seems to resemble nothing in
heaven above, the earth beneath, or the waters under the earth. Both
authors agree on the existence of many house-foundations of stone
without mortar, extending the whole length of the plateau. According
to Iberri these houses were eleven by twenty-two feet, some of them
divided in several apartments, standing on the terraces of the hill,
only a foot and a half apart, along regular streets about six feet
wide. The walls are of hewn stone without mortar, and none remained
standing over three feet high. Gondra represents the houses as
extending in three and four straight and parallel rows for over two
miles on the plateau, with a wall of masonry running the whole length
on the south. At various points on the summit and <DW72>s of the hill
tombs are found, containing seated skeletons and relics of obsidian
and pottery. One of these tombs, as represented by Gondra, is shown in
the cut, in which the arched doorway has a very suspicious look.

  [Illustration: Tomb at Misantla.]

The miscellaneous relics found in connection with the ruins and in the
tombs include pottery, metates, slabs with sculptured grecques,
hieroglyphics, and human figures in relief, stone images of different
sizes up to eighteen inches, representing human figures seated with
elbows on the knees, and head raised; and finally an obsidian tube, a
foot in diameter and eighteen inches long, very perfectly turned,
together with similar earthen tubes with interior compartments. Such
is all the information I am able to glean from the published accounts
and plates respecting Misantla, in the vicinity of which town other
groups of ruins are very vaguely mentioned.

In the same range of mountains, in the district of Jalancingo, walls
of hewn stone, with well-preserved subterranean structures containing
household idols, are mentioned as existing at Mescalteco; also some
remains at Pueblo Viejo and Jorse, those of the latter including a
remarkable stone statue of marble. This reported relic is said to
have represented a naked woman clasping a bird in her arms. The lower
parts of the woman are missing, and the bird much mutilated, but the
prefect of Jalancingo says in his report, "it would be easy to
complete the figure into Jupiter-swan fondling Leda."[VIII-37]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Illustration: Pyramid of Papantla.]

  [Sidenote: RUINS OF PAPANTLA.]

About a hundred and fifty miles north-westward from Vera Cruz, fifty
miles in the same direction from the ruins of Misantla, forty-five
miles from the coast, and four or five miles south-west from the
pueblo of Papantla, stands the pyramid shown in the cut, known to the
world by the name of the pueblo, Papantla, but called by the Totonac
natives of the region, El Tajin, the 'thunderbolt.' It was
accidentally discovered in March, 1785, by one Diego Ruiz, who was
exploring this part of the county in an official capacity, with a view
to prevent the illegal raising of tobacco; and from his report a
description and copper-plate engraving were prepared and published in
the _Gaceta de Mexico_.[VIII-38] Humboldt described but did not visit
the pyramid. He states that Dupaix and Castaneda explored and made
drawings of it, but neither description nor plates appear in the work
of these travelers.[VIII-39] The German artist Nebel visited Papantla
about 1831, and made a fine and doubtless perfectly accurate drawing,
from which the cut which I have given has been copied.[VIII-40]

The pyramid stands in a dense forest, apparently not on a naturally or
artificially fortified plateau like the remains further south. Its
base is square, measuring a little over ninety feet on each side, and
the height is about fifty-four feet; the whole structure was built in
seven stories, the upper story being partially in ruins.[VIII-41]
Except the upper story, which seems to have contained interior
compartments, the whole structure was, so far as known, solid. The
material of which it was built is sandstone, in regularly cut blocks
laid in mortar--although Humboldt, perhaps on the authority of Dupaix,
says the material is porphyry in immense blocks covered with
hieroglyphic sculpture--the whole covered on the exterior surface with
a hard cement three inches thick, which also bears traces of having
been painted. According to the account in the _Gaceta_, the stones
that form the tops of the many niches shown in the cut are from five
and a half to seven feet long, four to five and a half wide, and four
to nine inches thick. Respecting the stairway nothing can be said in
addition to what is shown in the cut. It leads up the eastern <DW72>,
and is the only means of ascent to the summit. It is divided by solid
balustrades into five divisions, only two of which extend
uninterruptedly to the upper story, while the central division can
hardly have been used at all as a stairway.[VIII-42]

The niches shown in my cut extend entirely round the circumference of
each story, except where interrupted on the east by the stairways.
Each niche is about three feet square and two feet deep, except those
in the centre of the eastern front, which are smaller. Their whole
number seems to have been three hundred and twenty-one, according to
Nebel's plate, without including those that may have occurred on the
seventh story.[VIII-43]

  [Sidenote: RUINS OF MAPILCA.]

Only slight mention is made of any scattered or movable relics at
Papantla. It is said that fragments of ruins are scattered over an
area of half a league from the pyramid, but no exploration has been
made. A small golden idol is reported by Gondra to have been found
here, very like a terra-cotta image of Quetzalcoatl, from Culhuacan,
of which a cut will be given in the next chapter. Bausa speaks of a
stone trough found on the summit of the pyramid, ruins of houses in
regular streets in the vicinity, and immense sculptured blocks of
stone.

  [Illustration: Sculptured Granite Block--Mapilca.]

Mr Nebel also visited another locality where remains were discovered,
south-eastward from Papantla towards the Tecolutla river, near the
rancho of Mapilca. Here in a thick forest were several pyramids in a
very advanced stage of dilapidation and not described. There were also
seen immense blocks of granite scattered in the forest. The one
sketched by Nebel and shown in the cut is twenty-one feet long, and
covered with ornamental sculpture in low relief: it rested on a kind
of pavement of irregular narrow stones. Another explorer, who saw the
ruins in 1828, found the remains of twenty houses, one of them seventy
paces long, with walls still standing to the height of ten feet. Most
of them were only six feet high, and the small amount of debris
indicated that only part of the original height was of stone.[VIII-44]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Illustration: Pyramid of Tusapan.]

  [Sidenote: RUINS OF TUSAPAN.]

On a low hill some forty miles west of Papantla, at the foot of the
cordillera, enveloped in an almost impenetrable forest, is another
group of ruins, called Tusapan, known only from the drawings and
slight description of Nebel. The only structure which remains standing
is shown in the cut. It consists of a pyramid thirty feet square at
the base, and bearing a building in a tolerable state of preservation.
Except the doorposts, lintels, and cornices, the whole structure is
said to be built of irregular fragments of limestone; but if this be
true, it is evident from the drawing that the whole was covered with a
smooth coat of plaster. The building on the summit contains a single
apartment twelve feet square, with a door at the head of the stairway.
The apartment contains a block, or pedestal, which may have served for
an altar, or to support an idol; and it has a pointed ceiling similar
in form to the exterior. It is unfortunate that we have no further
details respecting this ceiling, since it would be interesting to know
if it was formed by overlapping stones as in the Maya ruins,
particularly as this is one of the very few remaining specimens of the
aboriginal arch in Nahua territory. From the large number of stone
blocks and other debris found in the vicinity it is supposed that the
pyramid represented in the cut was not the grandest at Tusapan.
Several filled-up wells, and numerous fragments of stone images of
human and animal forms much mutilated were also noticed.

  [Illustration: Fountain in the Living Rock--Tusapan.]

The water which supplied the aboriginal inhabitants of the place,
seems to have come from a spring located on the side of a precipitous
mountain; and at the base of the cliff, where the water reached the
plain, was the very remarkable fountain shown in the cut, artificially
shaped from the living rock. The cut is an exact fac-simile of Nebel's
plate, except that the surroundings, which add much to its interest,
are necessarily omitted. I quote Nebel's brief description in full.
"Among the ruins of Tusapan is found the grotesque fountain here
represented. The whole monument consists of a statue nineteen feet
high, sculptured in the living rock. The clothing indicates clearly a
woman, seated, resting her head on the left arm, which is supported by
her knee. The head seems to be adorned with feathers and precious
stones. Among the plumes behind is a hollow intended to receive the
waters of a neighboring spring (which no longer exists). The water ran
through the whole figure and out under the petticoats in the most
natural manner, whence it was conducted in a canal of hewn stone to
the town near by."[VIII-45]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: RUINS OF METLALTOYUCA.]

The Mesa de Metlaltoyuca is on the Tuxpan River, about twelve leagues
south-west from the port of Tuxpan, twenty-two leagues north-east of
Tulancingo, and probably in the state of Vera Cruz, although very near
the boundary. The table-land is very extensive, and is covered
throughout most of its extent by a thick forest. Juan B. Campo,
Sub-Prefect of Huauchinango, discovered a group of ruins here, and
gave a description of his discoveries in a report dated June 27,
1865.[VIII-46] His account is very general, alluding to the ruins of a
great city, whose streets were paved with polished stones, a fine
stone palace plastered and painted, all surrounded by a wall fifteen
feet thick and ten feet high, with a great gate, covered way, stone
bastions, etc., etc. Immediately after the publication of Campo's
report, Ramon Almaraz, chief of a Mexican scientific commission,
engaged with other engineers in surveying for a road in this region,
spent five days in the exploration of the ruined city, preparing
plans and other drawings, and also taking some photographic views. His
report, very far from being full and satisfactory, illustrated with
several plates, was published in the government reports for the year
mentioned.[VIII-47]

  [Illustration: Plan--Ruins of Metlaltoyuca.]

The name, Metlaltoyuca, according to Galicia Chimalpopoca, signifies
'place fortified with solid stones,' but Sr Linares attributes to the
word a different derivation, and makes it mean 'land of the
maguey.'[VIII-48] Almaraz says: "A succinct account of the ruins might
be given by saying that they consist of pyramids built of hewn blocks
of sandstone, partially covered with a good hydraulic cement, as will
be seen by the chemical analysis which will be given,[VIII-49] and of
some tumuli, and remains of edifices of slight elevation." The
arrangement of the remains is shown in the plan; only a few of the
structures indicated on the plan are mentioned in the description, and
of those few very little is said. The space covered by the ruins is in
rectangular form, about two hundred and fifty by five hundred yards,
and is located in the south-western portion of the mesa. The chief
structure, _a_ of the plan, stands at the north-west corner, and its
northern and western walls, four hundred and eighty-five and one
hundred and ninety-four feet respectively, meet at an angle of 87 deg.
30'; on the other sides the walls are irregular, forming many angles,
and in the interior there are walls which divided the enclosed area
into several compartments. There are, according to the text, traces of
walls, in some places five or six feet high, extending from the ends
of the main structure and inclosing the other works, but not shown in
the plan. Some steps and also water-tanks were found in connection
with the corner walls. Campo also found two doors blocked up with
stone slabs. There are several truncated pyramids, the largest of
which, at _b_, is thirty-six feet high, and one hundred and thirty-one
feet square at the base. It is built in six stories, and has traces of
the buildings which formerly occupied its summit. All the structures
are built of brick-shaped blocks of sandstone, very nicely cut, and
laid in mud.[VIII-50] On the surface of the cement, which covers all
the buildings to a thickness of over an inch, painted figures are
seen.

  [Illustration: Section of a Mound--Metlaltoyuca.]

A remarkable feature at Metlaltoyuca is the existence of the parallel
mounds at _c_, of the plan. As nearly as can be ascertained from the
drawings and text, they are about one hundred and forty feet long,
twenty feet wide, and ten or twelve feet high. The interior is filled
with loose stones and earth, and the surface is covered with somewhat
irregular brick-shaped blocks, laid in mud or clay, and apparently
covered with cement. The cut shows a transverse section of one of the
mounds, and indicates a near approach to the principle of the regular
key-stone arch, although as the interior was filled to the top, there
is no evidence that the arch was intentionally self-supporting. Some
traces of hieroglyphic paintings were found on the mortar which
covered a part of these mounds.[VIII-51]

Something over two miles north-west of the ruins described, at the
only point where the mesa is accessible on the northern side, is a
double stone wall guarding the passage. The outer wall is three or
four hundred yards long, thirteen feet high, and fifty feet thick at
the base, diminishing towards the top. The inner wall is of smaller
dimensions. The same system of defensive works is repeated on the
opposite side of the mesa. The only movable relics found were, the
figure of a female bearing a sculptured cross, a representation of a
mummy closely wrapped as if for burial and having features of a
different type from those ordinarily found in Aztec idols, and the
form of a man with arms crossed and legs bent, sculptured on a slab,
all of the same sandstone of which the buildings were constructed.
According to Campo, another smaller group of remains has been seen
farther south, towards the Mesa de Amistlan. Two idols of porous
basalt and numerous arrow-heads of obsidian are reported at Guautla,
twenty-five or thirty miles north-west of Metlaltoyuca.[VIII-52]

  [Illustration: Limestone Statue from Panuco.]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: RELICS AT PANUCO]

In the northern extremity of the state, in the region about Panuco,
small relics are said to be very abundant. A list of thirty specimens
collected by Mr Francis Vecelli during a survey of the Panuco River,
some of them doubtless belonging to the state of Tamaulipas, across
the river, is given by Mr Vetch in the Journal of the London
Geographical Society. They are mostly of limestone and represent human
figures, for the most part females, rudely sculptured and wearing
peculiar head-dresses. The foreheads are represented as high and
broad, the lips thick, and the cheek-bones high. The sculpture is
rude, and nearly every one of the images has a long unshaped base or
tenon, as if intended to be fixed in a wall. A front and rear view of
one of these images are shown in the cut.[VIII-53] In the town itself,
idols, heads, obsidian arrow-heads, and fragments of ancient pottery,
some of it glazed, are often washed out by the heavy rains. Mr Lyon
speaks of "several curious ancient toys and whistles, with one small
terra cotta vase very beautifully carved with those peculiar
flourishes introduced in the Mexican manuscripts," also "an antique
flute of a very compact red clay, which had once been polished and
painted. It had four holes, and the mouth part was in the form of a
grotesque head." Flutes occur both single and double, with two, three,
and four holes. Earthen representations of birds, toads, and other
animals are frequently found either whole or in fragments. West of the
town five or six mounds from thirty to forty feet high are vaguely
mentioned.[VIII-54] Buried in the ground in a ravine near the town,
and resting on the stone walls of a dilapidated sepulchre, Mr Norman
claims to have found a stone slab seven feet long, wider at one end
than the other, but two feet and a half in average width, one foot
thick, and bearing on one side the sculptured figure of a man. Dressed
in a flowing robe, with girdle, sandal-ties on his feet, and a
close-fitting cap on his head, he lies with crossed arms. The face is
Caucasian in feature, and the work is very perfectly executed. For the
authenticity of so remarkable a relic Mr Norman is hardly a sufficient
authority. Two small images, probably of terra cotta, were presented
by Mr Norman to the New York Historical Society.[VIII-55]

At the Calondras Rancho, some twenty-five miles from Panuco, a large
oven-like chamber is reported on the <DW72> of a hill, which contains
large flat stones used for grinding maize. The ruins at Chacuaco,
three leagues south of the town, are said to cover about three square
leagues. Mr Norman also gives cuts of two clay vases from the same
locality, one of them having a <DW64> face, very likely of modern
origin. San Nicolas, five leagues, and Trinidad six leagues south-west
of Panuco, are other places where ruins are reported to
exist.[VIII-56]

FOOTNOTES:

[VIII-1] _Muehlenpfordt_, _Mejico_, tom. ii., p. 32; _Mexikanische
Zustaende_, tom. i., p. 31.

[VIII-2] _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, 2da epoca, tom. i., pp. 292-7,
tom. iii., pp. 104-9, with two plates representing the colossal head,
and several other relics from some locality not mentioned.

[VIII-3] _Ottavio_, in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1833, tom. lix.,
p. 64.

[VIII-4] _Waldeck_, _Palenque_, pl. xlix.; _Tylor's Anahuac_, pp.
230-1.

[VIII-5] _Antiq. Mex._, tom. i., <DW37>. ii., p. 35.

[VIII-6] _Mayer's Mex. as it Was_, pp. 93-7; _Id._, _Mex. Aztec,
etc._, vol. ii., p. 272, with 3 cuts; _Id._, in _Schoolcraft's Arch._,
vol. vi., p. 588, pl. vi., fig. 5, 6, 8, 11, 12; _Gondra_, in
_Prescott_, _Hist. Conq. Mex._, tom. iii., pp. 82-4, pl. xv., plate of
a vase.

[VIII-7] _Sartorius_, _Fortificaciones Antiguas_, in _Soc. Mex. Geog.,
Boletin_, 2da epoca, tom. i., pp. 818-27.

[VIII-8] _Finck_, in _Smithsonian Rept._, 1870, pp. 373-5. Mr Tylor,
in traveling northward towards Jalapa, speaks of 'numerous remains of
ancient Indian mound-forts or temples which we passed on the road.'
_Anahuac_, p. 312.

[VIII-9] _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Palenque_, p. 33.
'_Chalchiuhcuecan_, ou le pays des coquilles vertes. On voit encore
des debris de la ville de ce nom, sous les eaux qui s'etendent de la
ville de la Vera Cruz au chateau de San-Juan-de-Ulloa.' _Id._, _Hist.
Nat. Civ._, tom. i., p. 143. Ruins of the ordinary type are reported
outside the triangular area, in the Sierra de Matlaquiahuitl or del
Gallego, running south from the Rio Jamapa to San Juan de la Punta.
_Sartorius_, in _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, 2da epoca, tom. i., p.
820.

[VIII-10] _Dupaix_, 1st exped., pp. 7-8, pl. viii., fig. 8;
_Kingsborough_, vol. v., p. 214, vol. vi., p. 425, vol. iv., pl. iv.,
fig. 10; _Lenoir_, in _Antiq. Mex._, p. 28. Kingsborough's text
represents this relic as 16 leagues from Orizava instead of Cordova.

[VIII-11] _Dupaix_, 1st exped., p. 7, pl. vi., vii., fig. 6, 7;
_Kingsborough_, vol. v., pp. 213-14, vol. vi., pp. 424-5, vol. iv.,
pl. iv., fig. 8, 9; _Lenoir_, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. ii., <DW37>. i., pp.
22, 27-8.

[VIII-12] _Dupaix_, 1st exped., p. 5, pl. iv-v., fig. 4-5;
_Kingsborough_, vol. v., pp. 212-13, vol. vi., pp. 423-4; vol. iv.,
pl. iii., fig. 6-7; _Lenoir_, pp. 18, 22, 26-7.

[VIII-13] _Historia de Jalapa_, Mex. 1869, tom. i., p. 7.

[VIII-14] _Hakluyt's Voy._, vol. iii., p. 453.

[VIII-15] Note in _Cortes_, _Despatches_, p. 39; _Rivera_, _Hist.
Jalapa_, Mex., 1869, tom. i., p. 39. Cempoala is located on some maps
on the coast a few leagues north of Vera Cruz; there is also a town of
the name in Mexico.

[VIII-16] _Esteva_, in _Museo Mex._, tom. ii., pp. 465-7, with plan
and view. Respecting the circumference of the structure, Esteva's text
says: 'la media circunferencia de la base, tomada desde el escalon o
cuerpo A. B. C., (letters which do not appear in his plate) pues mas
abajo no se podia tomar con esactitud, es de ciento cincuenta y seis
pies castellanos.' I have taken the circumference from the plan. The
material Esteva states to be 'cal, arena, y piedras grandes del rio,'
but the view indicates that hewn stone is employed, or at least that
the whole structure is covered with a smooth coating of cement in
perfect preservation. Esteva's account is also published in the
_Diccionario Univ. de Geog._, tom. x., pp. 166-8, and a slight
description from the same source in _Mayer's Mex. Aztec, etc._, vol.
ii., pp. 203-4.

[VIII-17] _Lyon's Journal_, vol. ii., p. 209; _Sartorius_, in _Soc.
Mex. Geog., Boletin_, 2da epoca, tom. i., p. 826. Muehlenpfordt,
_Mej._, tom. ii., p. 89, also mentions the Paso de Ovejas remains.

[VIII-18] _Iberri_, in _Museo Mex._, tom. iii., p. 23. Gondra's
account in _Mosaico Mex._, tom. ii., pp. 368-72, with two views and a
plan. Sartorius' description in _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, 2da epoca,
tom. i., pp. 821-2, tom. ii., p. 148, with two views apparently the
same as by Gondra, an additional side and front view of a pyramid, and
a plan which bears no likeness to Gondra's, representing perhaps a
different part of the ruins. According to this author the ruins were
first made known in 1829 or 1830. The two accounts are very perplexing
to the student, sometimes resembling each other so closely that one is
ready to believe that Sartorius was the explorer from whom Gondra
obtained his information and drawings, in other parts so different as
to indicate that different ruins are referred to. I am inclined to
believe that Gondra's information did in part refer to some other ruin
in the same region. Gondra's account is also printed in _Diccionario
Univ. Geog._, tom. ix., pp. 565-8. Brief mention in _Rivera_, _Hist.
Jalapa_, Mex. 1869, tom. i., pp. 389-90.

[VIII-19] Respecting the first narrow pass, the oval table, and the
ditch, Sartorius says nothing. He mentions such a ditch, however, in
connection with the ruins of Tlacotepec, as we shall see. It is quite
possible that the features mentioned do not belong to Centla at all.

[VIII-20] 10 varas according to Sartorius; Gondra says 15.

[VIII-21] Copied from Sartorius, with the addition of the shading
only.

[VIII-22] The views given by Gondra and Sartorius are of the pyramid
A, from the east, and of the terrace walls at B, from the west. The
latter also gives a view of the small pyramid _b_, from the north. The
plan given by Gondra bears no resemblance to the other. It may
represent ruins in other parts of the plateau; it may be a faulty
representation made up from the explorer's description of the works
that have been described; or, what is, I think, more probable, it may
refer to some other group of ruins in the vicinity. It represents a
collection of pyramids and buildings, bounded on both the east and
west by walls, one of which has an entrance close to the brink of the
precipice, while the other had no opening till one was made by the
modern settlers.

[VIII-23] 'Ochenta varas en cuadro.' Perhaps it should read _feet_
instead of varas. The plate makes the front slightly over 24 varas.

[VIII-24] _Dupaix_, 1st exped., pp. 8-9, pl. ix-xi., fig. 9-12;
_Kingsborough_, vol. v., pp. 215-16, vol. vi., pp. 425-6, vol. iv.,
pl. v-vi., fig. 11-15. The skull is mentioned and sketched only in
Kingsborough's edition. _Lenoir_, pp. 23, 29. Slight mention of these
ruins from Dupaix, in _Mosaico Mex._, tom. ii., pp. 373-4; _Klemm_,
_Cultur-Geschichte_, tom. v., p. 157; _Warden_, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom.
ii., pp. 67-8.

[VIII-25] _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, 2da epoca, tom. i., p. 821.

[VIII-26] _Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. ii., p. 150; _Bradford's
Amer. Antiq._, p. 104.

[VIII-27] _Museo Mex._, tom. iii., p. 23.

[VIII-28] _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, 2da epoca, tom. i., p. 822;
_Mosaico Mex._, tom. ii., pp. 368, 372; _Smithsonian Rept._, 1870, p.
374.

[VIII-29] This may possibly be the ditch referred to by Gondra in his
account of Centla.

[VIII-30] _Sartorius_, in _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, 2da epoca, tom.
i., pp. 822-4, with plan and view, the latter giving no information.

[VIII-31] _Id._, p. 824.

[VIII-32] _Heller_, _Reisen_, pp. 61, 72-3, 76-7, with cut.

[VIII-33] _Sartorius_, in _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, 2da epoca, tom.
i., pp. 825-6.

[VIII-34] _Id._, pp. 821, 824-5, with a sketch which amounts to
nothing.

[VIII-35] _Anahuac_, p. 297.

[VIII-36] _Mosaico Mex._, tom. i., pp. 102-5. Gondra's account of the
location is as follows: 'En la serrania al Norte de Jalapa, y distante
de aquella ciudad de diez a once leguas, se encuentra en el canton de
Misantla el cerro llamado del Estillero, a cuya falda se descubre una
montana terminada por una meseta muy angosta, de cerca de legua y
media de largo, y aislada por barrancos profundos y acantilados, y por
despenaderos inaccessibles; rodeada por los cerros del Estillero,
Magdalenilla, el Chamuscado, el Camaron y el Conejo por la parte del
Oeste; por el Monte Real acia el Este, y lo restante por la elevada
cuesta de Misantla.... La unica parte algo accesible para subir a la
meseta de la montana donde se hallan las ruinas, esta acia la falda
del Estillero.... Al comenzar la meseta, bajando por la falda del
cerro del Estillero, lo primero que se observa es un paredon demolido
hecho de gruesas piedras,' etc. Gondra's account was reprinted in the
_Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, tom. ii., p. 220-3. Iberri's account is
found in the _Museo Mex._, tom. iii., pp. 21-4. Respecting the
location he says:--'El cerro conocido de la Magdalena, degradando su
altura en picos porfiriticos que afectan figuras conicas o
piramidales, ... forma un grupo de montanas sumamente escabrosas, que
se dividen como radios en ramas estrechadas por barrancas profundas y
escarpadas de porfido.... En una de estas ramas se hallan las
referidas ruinas, cuya entrada esta cerrada por un muro,' etc. Account
made up from Gondra, with cut probably from same source in _Mayer's
Mex. Aztec_, vol. ii., pp. 200-3; _Id._, _Mex. as it Was_, pp. 250-1.
Slight mention by Muehlenpfordt, _Mej._, tom. ii., p. 88, who thinks
the ruin may be identical with that of Tusapan. Same account in
_Mexicanische Zustaende_, tom. i., p. 142.

[VIII-37] _Muehlenpfordt_, _Mej._, tom. ii., pp. 88-9; _Mexikanische
Zustaende_, tom. i., pp. 142-3.

[VIII-38] _Gaceta de Mexico_, July 12, 1785, tom. i., pp. 349-51.
Location 'por el rumbo del Poniente de este pueblo, a dos leguas de
distancia, entre un espeso bosque.' This original account was printed
later in _Diccionario Univ. Geog._, tom. x., pp. 120-1; it was also
translated into Italian, and printed in _Marquez_, _Due Antichi
Monumenti_, Rome, 1804, p. 3, also accompanied by the plate.

[VIII-39] _Humboldt_, _Vues_, tom. i., pp. 102-3; _Id._, _Essai Pol._,
p. 274; _Id._, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. i., <DW37>. ii., p. 12. Humboldt's
account translated by Gondra, in _Prescott_, _Hist. Conq. Mex._, tom.
iii., pp. 39-40, says it is the forest that is called Tajin, that the
ruin was discovered by hunters, and pronounces the plate in the
_Gaceta_ very faulty.

[VIII-40] _Nebel_, _Viage Pintoresco_. The drawing is geometric rather
than in perspective, and the author's descriptive text in a few
details fails to agree exactly with it. Jose M. Bausa gives a slight
description in _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, tom. v., p. 411, without
stating the source of his information. He locates the ruin 2-1/2 leagues
south-west of the pueblo. This author states that Carlos M. Bustamante
published a good account of the ruin in 1828, in his _Revoltijo de
Nopalitos_. Other accounts of Papantla made up from the preceding
sources, are as follows:--_Mayer's Mex. Aztec_, vol. ii., pp. 196-7,
with cut after Nebel; _Id._, _Mex. as it Was_, pp. 248-9; _Id._, in
_Schoolcraft's Arch._, vol. vi., p. 583, pl. xi.; _Baldwin's Anc.
Amer._, pp. 91-2; _Conder's Mex. Guat._, tom. i., p. 227; _Fossey_,
_Mex._, pp. 317-18; _Hassel_, _Mex. Guat._, pp. 238-9; _Larenaudiere_,
_Mex. Guat._, p. 45; _De Bercy_, _Travels_, tom. ii., p. 237;
_Bradford's Amer. Antiq._, pp. 79-80; _Muehlenpfordt_, _Mejico_, tom.
ii., p. 88; _Mexicanische Zustaende_, p. 142; _Bingley's Trav._, pp.
259-60; _Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact._, vol. i., p. 256; _Armin_,
_Heutige Mex._, pp. 96-7, with cut; _Malte-Brun_, _Precis de la
Geog._, tom. vi., p. 462; _Mueller_, _Amerikanische Urreligionen_, p.
459; _Priest's Amer. Antiq._, pp. 276-8; _Wappaeus_, _Geog. u. Stat._,
p. 154; _Wilson's Mex. and its Religion_, pp. 246-7.

[VIII-41] The dimensions in Nebel's text are, 120 feet square and 85
feet high, which must be an error, since the author says that the
stairway in the plate may be used as a scale, each step being a foot;
and measuring the structure by that scale it would be something over
90 feet square at the base and about 54 feet high. The _Gaceta_ says
that the base is 30 varas (83 English feet) square, and the steps in
sight were 57 in number. Humboldt calls the pyramid 25 metres (82
feet) square and 18 metres (59 feet) high, or, in _Essai Pol._, 16 to
20 metres. Bausa, _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, tom. v., p. 411, calls
the height 93 feet, with 53 steps.

[VIII-42] Bausa says the pyramid faces the north. The _Gaceta_ account
represents the stairway as 10 or 12 varas wide. The plate represents
the lateral narrow stairways as single instead of double, and the
niches as not extending entirely across the wide central stairway.
Only six stories are shown in the plate, terminating in a summit
platform on which stand two small altar-like structures at the head of
the lateral stairways. Nebel speaks simply of a 'double stairway.'
Humboldt agrees with the plate in the _Gaceta_.

[VIII-43] The _Gaceta's_ text says 342, but its own figures correctly
added make the number 378 as is pointed out by Marquez; and the plate
accompanying the same account makes the number 309. Fossey says 360
niches. Humboldt made the number 378, which he supposed to relate to
the signs of the Toltec civil calendar.

[VIII-44] _Nebel_, _Viage Pintoresco_; _Cassel_, in _Nouvelles Annales
des Voy._, 1830, tom. xlv., pp. 336-7; _Mayer's Mex. Aztec_, vol. ii.,
p. 198; _Id._, _Mex. as it Was_, pp. 246-7.

[VIII-45] _Nebel_, _Viage Pintoresco_; _Mayer's Mex. Aztec_, vol. ii.,
pp. 199-200; _Id._, _Mex. as it Was_, pp. 247-8; _Armin_, _Alte Mex._,
p. 43; Bausa, in _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, tom. v., pp. 411-12,
locates Tusapan 14 leagues south-west of Papantla.

[VIII-46] The original of this report I have not seen; a translation,
however, was published in the _San Francisco Evening Bulletin_, of Feb.
20, 1866.

[VIII-47] _Mex., Mem. del Ministro del Fomento_, 1865, p. 234, etc. It
was also published in a separate pamphlet. _Almaraz_, _Mem. acerca de
los Terrenos de Metlaltoyuca_, pp. 28-33. Mention by Garcia y Cubas, a
companion of Almaraz, in _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, 2da epoca, tom.
i., p. 37.

[VIII-48] _Chimalpopoca_, in _Almaraz_, _Mem._, p. 28; _Linares_, in
_Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, 3ra epoca, tom. i., p. 103.

[VIII-49] The analysis is as follows:--quartzy sand, 31.00; silex,
13.00; aluminia and iron, 2.60; carbonate of lime, 48.00; magnesia,
2.50; moisture, 2.00; loss, 0.90. _Almaraz_, _Mem._, p. 30.

[VIII-50] 'De las dimensiones que usan hoy para hacer los arboles de
tierra.' I am unable to say what such dimensions amount to in English
measurement.

[VIII-51] A plate showing these paintings is given by Almaraz.

[VIII-52] _Burkart_, _Mexiko_, tom. i., p. 51.

[VIII-53] _Vetch_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. vii., pp. 1-11,
with plate.

[VIII-54] _Lyon's Journal_, vol. i., pp. 57-61.

[VIII-55] _Norman's Rambles by Land and Water_, pp. 145-51, 164;
_Mayer's Mex. Aztec_, tom. i., pp. 193-6.

[VIII-56] _Lyon's Journal_, vol. i., pp. 61-2; _Norman's Rambles_, pp.
149-50. Slight mention of relics in this region, in _Muehlenpfordt_,
_Mejico_, tom. ii., p. 72; _Bradford's Amer. Antiq._, pp. 112-13.




CHAPTER IX.

ANTIQUITIES OF THE CENTRAL PLATEAUX.

     ANAHUAC -- MONUMENTS OF PUEBLA -- CHILA, TEOPANTEPEC,
     TEPEXE, TEPEACA, SAN ANTONIO, QUAUHQUELCHULA, AND SANTA
     CATALINA -- PYRAMID OF CHOLULA -- SIERRA DE MALINCHE --
     SAN PABLO -- NATIVIDAD -- MONUMENTS OF TLASCALA -- LOS
     REYES -- MONUMENTS OF MEXICO -- CUERNAVACA, XOCHICALCO,
     CASASANO, OZUMBA, TLACHIALCO, AHUEHUEPA, AND MECAMECAN --
     XOCHIMILCO, TLAHUAC, XICO, MISQUIQUE, TLALMANALCO, AND
     CULHUACAN -- CHAPULTEPEC, REMEDIOS, TACUBA, AND MALINALCO
     -- CITY OF MEXICO -- TEZCUCO -- TEZCOCINGO -- TEOTIHUACAN
     -- OBSIDIAN MINES -- TULA -- MONUMENTS OF QUERETARO --
     PUEBLITO, CANOAS, AND RANAS -- NAHUA MONUMENTS.


The monuments of the Mexican tierra templada, of Anahuac and the
adjoining plateaux, next claim our attention. The territory in
question is bounded on the south and east by that treated in the two
preceding chapters--Oajaca and Guerrero on the south toward the
Pacific, and Vera Cruz on the east toward the gulf. The present
chapter will carry my antiquarian survey to a line drawn across the
continent from Tampico to the mouth of the Zacatula river, completing
what has been regarded as the home of the Nahua civilized nations,
with the exception of the Tarascos in Michoacan, and leaving only a
few scattered monuments to be described in the broad extent of the
northern states of the republic. On most of the maps extant the
territory whose monuments I have now to describe, is divided into the
states of Mexico, Puebla, Tlascala, and Queretaro, to which have been
added in later years Morelos and Hidalgo, formed chiefly, I believe,
from the old state of Mexico. In my description, however, I shall pay
but little attention to state lines, locating each group of
antiquities by its distance and bearing from some well-known point.
Respecting the physical features of this central Nahua region, enough
has been said in the preceding volumes; I consequently begin at once
the description of antiquarian relics, dealing first with those found
in Puebla and Tlascala, starting in the south and proceeding
northward.

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Illustration: Section of Chila Tomb.]

  [Sidenote: REMAINS AT CHILA.]

At Chila, in the extreme southern part of Puebla, is a hill known as
La Tortuga, on which is built an unterraced pyramid eighty-eight feet
square at the base, fifty-five feet high, with a summit platform fifty
feet square. It is built of hewn stone and covered, as it appears from
Castaneda's drawing, with cement. The exterior surface is much broken
up by the trees that have taken root there. A stairway leads up the
western front. Near the north-eastern corner of the mound is an
entrance leading down by seven stone steps to a small tomb about
eleven feet below the surface of the ground and not under the mound.
At the foot of the steps is an apartment measuring five and a half
feet long and high, and four feet wide, with a branch, or gallery,
four feet long and a little less than three feet wide and high, in the
centre of each of the three sides, thus giving the whole tomb in its
ground plan the form of a cross. Its vertical section is shown in the
cut. There is certainly a general resemblance to be noted in this
tomb-structure to those at Mitla; the interior is lined with hewn
blocks laid in lime mortar and covered with a fine white plaster, the
plaster on the ceiling being eight or nine inches thick. The discovery
of human bones in the lateral galleries leaves no doubt respecting the
use to which the subterranean structure was devoted.[IX-1]

At Tehuacan el Viejo, two leagues eastward of the modern town of
Tehuacan, in the south-eastern part of the state, were found ruins of
stone structures not particularly described.[IX-2] At San Cristoval
Teopantepec, a little native settlement north-westward of the remains
last mentioned, is another hill which bears a pyramid on its top. A
road cut in the rocky sides leads up the hill, and on the summit,
beside the pyramid, traces of smooth cement pavements and other
undescribed remains were noticed. The pyramid itself from a base fifty
feet square rises about sixty-seven feet in four receding stories with
sides apparently sloping very slightly inward toward the top, the
fourth story being moreover for the most part in ruins. The most
remarkable feature of this structure is its stairway, which is
different from any yet noticed, and similar to that of the grand
teocalli of Mexico-Tenochtitlan as reported by the conquerors. It
leads up diagonally from bottom to top of each story on the west, not,
however, making it necessary to pass four times round the pyramid in
order to reach the summit, as was the case in Mexico, since in this
ruin the head of each flight corresponds with the foot of the one
above, instead of being on the opposite side of the pyramid. The
whole is built of stone and mortar, only the exterior facing being of
regular blocks, and no covering of cement is indicated in Castaneda's
drawing.[IX-3]

  [Sidenote: TEPEXE AND TEPEACA.]

At Tepexe el Viejo, on the Zacatula River, some sixteen leagues
south-east of the city of Puebla, Dupaix discovered, in 1808, a
structure which he calls a fortification. It was located on a rocky
height, surrounded by deep ravines, and the rough nature of the
ground, together with the serpents that infest the rocks, prevented
him from making exact measurements. There are traces of exterior
enclosing walls, and within the enclosed area stands a pyramid of hewn
stone and lime mortar, in eight receding stories. A fragment of a
circular stone was also found at Tepexe, bearing sculptured figures in
low relief, which indicate that the monument may have borne originally
some resemblance to the Aztec calendar-stone, to be mentioned
hereafter. Another round stone bore marks of having been used for
sharpening weapons.[IX-4]

At Tepeaca and vicinity four relics were found:--1st. A bird's,
perhaps an eagle's, head sculptured in low relief within a triple
circle, together with other figures, on a slab about a foot square;
apparently an aboriginal coat of arms. 2d. A stone head eighteen
inches high, of a hard, reddish material; the features are very
regular down to the mouth, below which all is deformed. 3d. A
sculptured slab, built into a wall, shown only in Kingsborough's
plate. 4th. A feathered serpent coiled into a ball-like form, six feet
in diameter. It was carved from a red stone, and also painted red,
resting on a cubical pedestal of a light- stone.[IX-5]

At San Antonio, near San Andres Chalchicomula, on the eastern boundary
of the state, a pyramid stands on the summit of a rocky hill. The
pyramid consists of three stories, with sides sloping at an angle of
about forty-five degrees, is about twenty-five feet in height, and has
a base fifty-five feet square. A stairway about ten feet wide, with
solid balustrades, leads up the centre of the western front; and on
the top, parts of the walls of a building still remained in 1805. This
summit building was said to have been in a good state of preservation
only twelve years before. The material is basalt, in blocks about two
by five feet, according to Dupaix's plate, laid in mortar, and all but
the lower story covered with cement.[IX-6]

  [Illustration: Stone Monster's Head.]

At Quauhquelchula, near Atlixco, in the western part of the state,
Dupaix noticed four relics of antiquity. 1st. A rattlesnake eight feet
and a half long, and about eight inches in diameter, sculptured in
high relief on the flat surface of a hard brown stone. 2d. A hard
veined stone of various colors, four feet high and ten feet and a half
in circumference, carved into a representation of a monster's head
with protruding tusks, a front view of which is given in the cut. The
rear is flat and bears a coat of arms, made up of four arrows or
spears crossing a circle, with other inexplicable figures. 3d. Another
coat of arms, three lances across a barred circle, carved in low
relief on the face of a boulder. 4th. A human face, larger than the
natural size, on the side of another boulder, and looking towards the
town.[IX-7] At the town of Atlixco a very beautifully worked and
polished almond-shaped agate was seen.[IX-8]

  [Illustration: Serpent-Cup--Santa Catalina.]

On the hacienda of Santa Catalina, westward from Atlixco, was found
the coiled serpent shown in the cut. The material is a black porous
volcanic stone, and the whole seems to form a cup, to which the head
of the serpent served as a handle. Another relic from this locality
was a masked human figure of the same stone.[IX-9]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: PYRAMID OF CHOLULA.]

About ten miles west of the city of Puebla de los Angeles, and in the
eastern outskirts of the pueblo of Cholula, is the famous pyramid
known throughout the world by the name of Cholula. The town at its
base was in aboriginal times a large and flourishing city, and a great
religious centre. The day of its glory was in the Toltec period,
before the tenth century of our era, and tradition points for the
building of the pyramid to a yet more remote epoch, when the Olmecs
were the masters of the central plateaux. Several times during the
religious contests that raged between the devotees of rival deities,
the temple of Cholula was destroyed and rebuilt. Its final destruction
dates from the coming of the Spaniards, who, under Hernan Cortes,
after a fierce hand-to-hand conflict on the <DW72>s of the pyramid,
maddened by the desperate resistance of the natives, elated by
victory, or incited by fanatical religious zeal and avarice, sacked
and burned the magnificent structure on the top of the mound. Since
the time of the Conquistador, after the fierce spirit of the Spaniards
had expended its fury on this and other monuments reared in honor of
heathen gods, the mound was allowed to remain in peace, save the
construction of a winding road leading up to a modern chapel on the
summit, where services are performed in which the great Quetzalcoatl
has no share.[IX-10]

Since 1744, when the historian Clavigero rode up its side on
horseback, this pyramid has been visited by hundreds of travelers, few
tourists having left Anahuac without having seen so famous a monument
of antiquity, so easily accessible from the cities of Mexico and
Puebla. Humboldt's description, made from a personal exploration in
1803, is perhaps the most complete that was ever published, and most
succeeding visitors have deemed it best to quote his account as being
better than any they could write from their own observations. Dupaix
and Castaneda, and in later times Nebel, also examined and made
drawings of Cholula. The four or five views of the mound that have
been published differ greatly from each other, accordingly as the
artist pictured the monument as he saw it or attempted to restore it
more or less to its original form. Humboldt's drawing, which has been
more extensively copied than any other, contrary to what might be
expected from his text, was altogether a restoration, and bore not the
slightest resemblance to the original as he saw it, since Clavigero
found it in 1744, "so covered with earth and shrubs that it seems
rather a natural hill than an edifice," and there is no reason to
suppose that at a later date it assumed a more regular form.[IX-11]

For the past two centuries, at least, the condition and appearance of
the mound has been that of a natural conical hill, rising from the
level of a broad valley, and covering with its circular base an area
of over forty acres.[IX-12] On closer examination, however, traces of
artificial terraces are noted on the <DW72>s, and excavations have
proven that the whole mound, or at least a very large portion of
it--for no excavation has ever been made reaching to its centre--is of
artificial construction. By the careful surveys of Humboldt and others
the original form and dimensions have been clearly made known. From a
base about fourteen hundred and forty feet square, whose sides face
the cardinal points, it rose in four equal stories to a height of
nearly two hundred feet, having a summit platform of about two hundred
feet square.[IX-13] Humboldt in 1803 found the four terraces tolerably
distinct, especially on the western <DW72>; Evans in 1870 found the
lower terrace quite perfect, but the others traceable only in a few
places without excavation.

The material of which the mound was constructed is adobes, or
sun-dried bricks, generally about fifteen inches long, laid very
regularly with alternate layers of clay. From its material comes the
name Tlalchihualtepec, 'mountain of unburnt bricks,' which has been
sometimes applied to Cholula. An old tradition relates that the adobes
were manufactured at Tlalmanalco, and brought several leagues to their
destination by a long line of men, who handed them along singly from
one to another. Humboldt thought some of the bricks might have been
slightly burned. Respecting the material which constitutes the
alternate layers between the bricks, called clay by Humboldt, there
seems to be some difference of opinion between different explorers.
Col. Brantz Mayer, a careful investigator, says the adobes are
interspersed with small fragments of porphyry and limestone; and Mr
Tylor speaks of them as cemented with mortar containing small stones
and pottery. Evans tells us that the material is adobe bricks and
layers of lava, still perfect in many places. The historian Veytia by
a personal examination ascertained the material to be "small stones of
the kind called _guijarros_, and a kind of bricks of clay and straw,"
in alternate layers.[IX-14] Beaufoy claims to have found the pyramid
faced with small thin hewn stones, one of which he carried away as a
relic--a very wonderful discovery certainly, when we consider that
other very trustworthy explorers, both preceding and following
Beaufoy, found nothing of the kind. Mr Heller could not find the stone
facing, but, as he says, he did find a coating of mortar as hard as
stone, composed of lime, sand, and water.[IX-15] Many visitors have
believed that the pyramid is only partially artificial, the
adobe-work having been added to a smaller natural hill. This is,
however, a mere conjecture, and there are absolutely no arguments to
be adduced for or against it. The truth can be ascertained only by the
excavation of a tunnel through the mound at its base, or, at least,
penetrating to the centre. It is very remarkable that such an
excavation has never been made, either in the interests of scientific
exploration or of treasure-seeking.

Bernal Diaz, at the time of the Conquest, counted a hundred and twenty
steps in a stairway which led up the <DW72> to the temple, but no
traces of such a stairway have been visible in more modern times.
There are traditions among the natives, as is usually the case in
connection with every work of the antiguos, of interior galleries and
apartments of great extent within the mound; such rumors are doubtless
without foundation. The Puebla road cuts off a corner of the lower
terrace, and the excavation made in building the road not only showed
clearly the regular interior construction of the pyramid, but also
laid bare a tomb, which contained two skeletons with two idols in
basalt, a collection of pottery, and other relics not preserved or
particularly described, although the remains of the tomb itself were
examined by Humboldt. The sepulchre was square, with stone walls
supported by cypress beams. The dimensions are not given, but the
apartment is said to have had no traces of any outlet. Humboldt claims
to have discovered a peculiar arrangement of the adobes about this
tomb, by which the pressure on its roof was diminished.

It is very evident that the pyramid of Cholula contains nothing in
itself to indicate its age, but from well-defined and doubtless
reliable traditions, we may feel very sure that its erection dates
back to an epoch preceding the tenth century, and probably preceding
the seventh. Humboldt shows that it is larger at the base than any of
the old-world pyramids, over twice as large as that of Cheops, but
only slightly higher than that of Mycerinus. "The construction of the
teocalli recalls the oldest monuments to which the history of the
civilization of our race reaches. The temple of Jupiter Belus, which
the mythology of the Hindus seems to designate by the name of Bali,
the pyramids of Meidoum and Dahchour, and several of the group of
Sakharah in Egypt, were also immense heaps of bricks, the remains of
which have been preserved during a period of thirty centuries down to
our day."[IX-16]

The historical annals of aboriginal times, confirmed by the Spanish
records of the Conquest, leave no doubt that the chief object of the
pyramid was to support a temple; the discovery of the tomb with human
remains may indicate that it served also for burial purposes. It is by
no means certain, however, that the mound was in any sense a monument
reared over the two bodies whose skeletons were found; for besides the
position of the skeletons in a corner of the pyramid, indicating in
itself the contrary, there is the possibility that the bodies were
those of slaves sacrificed during the process of building, and
deposited here from some superstitious motive. It will require the
discovery of tombs near the centre of this immense mound to prove that
it was erected with any view to use as the burial place of kings or
priests.[IX-17] Wilson, always a sceptic on matters connected with
Mexican aboriginal civilization, pronounces the pyramid of Cholula
"the finest Indian mound on this continent; where the Indians buried
the bravest of their braves, with bows and arrows, and a drinking cup,
that they might not be unprovided for when they should arrive at the
hunting-grounds of the great spirit." "It is sufficiently wasted by
time to give full scope to the imagination to fill out or restore it
to almost any form. One hundred years ago, some rich citizen constructed
steps up its side, and protected the sides of his steps from falling
earth by walls of adobe, or mud-brick; and on the west side some adobe
buttresses have been placed to keep the loose earth out of the village
street. This is all of mans labor that is visible, except the work of
the Indians in shaving away the hill which constitutes this pyramid.
As for the great city of Cholula, it never had an existence."[IX-18]
At a short distance from the foot of the large pyramid, two smaller
ones are mentioned by several visitors; one of which is doubtless a
portion of the chief mound separated by the road that has been already
mentioned. One of them is described by Beaufoy as having perpendicular
sides, and built of adobes nine inches square and one inch thick; the
second was much smaller and had a corn-patch on its summit. Cuts of
the two small mounds are given by the same explorer. Bullock claims to
have found on the top of one of the detached masses a ditch and wall
forming a kind of figure-eight-formed enclosure one hundred feet long,
in which were many human bones. Evans has a theory that the small
mounds were formed of the material taken from the larger one in
shaping its terraces. Latrobe says that many ruined mounds may be seen
from the summit; in fact, that the whole surface of the surrounding
plain is broken by both natural and artificial elevations. Ampere was
led by his native guide, through a misunderstanding, to a flat-topped
terraced hill, still bearing traces of a pavement, at a locality
called Zapotecas.[IX-19]

The only miscellaneous Cholulan relics of which I find a mention, are
three described by Dupaix and sketched by Castaneda. They were, a
stone head, said to have originally been the top of a column; a
quadrangular block, with incised hieroglyphics on one of its faces;
and a mask of green jasper, reported to have been dug from the
pyramid.[IX-20]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: REMAINS AT NATIVIDAD.]

On the summit of the Sierra de Malinche, which forms the boundary
between Puebla and Tlascala, the existence of ruined walls and
pyramids, with fragments of stone images, is mentioned without
description.[IX-21] At San Pablo del Monte two kneeling naked females
in stone, modestly covering the breasts with the hands, were sketched
by Castaneda.[IX-22] Of an important group of remains in the vicinity
of Natividad, between Puebla de los Angeles and Tlascala, a very
unintelligible account has been written by Cabrera, for the Mexican
Geographical Society. The ruins seem to cover a hill, different
localities on the <DW72>s of which are called Mixco, Xochitecatl,
Tenexotzin, Hueyxotzin, and Cacaxtlan. The western <DW72> has gigantic
terraces, and among other relics five vertical stones called
_huitzocteme_, supposed to have been used for sacrificial purposes.
They are two varas high and three fourths of a vara wide. On the
northern <DW72> a concavity of stone and mud is mentioned, whose bottom
is strewn with pottery and obsidian weapons. At Cacaxtlan, the site of
the principal fortress in the wars between Tlascala and Mexico, are
ditches and subterranean passages running in all directions. The chief
ditch extends from north to south across the hill; it is about
twenty-eight feet wide and eleven or twelve feet deep, with
embankments formed of the earth thrown out. The subterranean passages
are believed to penetrate the heights of Cacaxtlan. One has an opening
among the rocks on the north, beginning at the cave of Ostotl; another
begins on the east at San Miguel del Milagro, having for an entrance a
square hole five or six yards deep, from the bottom of which it
extends horizontally in a semicircular course; the third opening is on
the south, and its top is supported by columns left in the volcanic
stone; and finally, the fourth subterranean passage sends out vapor
when it is about to rain. This is all I can glean from Cabrera's
account--in fact, rather more than I can fully understand.[IX-23]
Dupaix found at Natividad two wooden teponastles, or aboriginal
musical instruments, similar to the one found at Tlascala by the same
explorer and shown in the accompanying cut. The former were, however,
less elaborately carved; the latter was three feet long and five
inches in diameter, the cut showing a side and end view. Other relics
found by Dupaix in the city of Tlascala and vicinity, are the
following:--a lance-head, nine inches long, of green flint; a small
stone statue, nine or ten inches in height, representing a seated
female, whose head bears a strong resemblance to some of the Palenque
profiles; a mask of green agate a little smaller than the natural size
of the face, pronounced by Dupaix the finest specimen of sculpture
seen in America; an earthen vase called _popocaxtli_, used in
ceremonies in honor of the dead, found in connection with some human
bones; two mutilated human heads carved from a gray stone; and a
masked, bow-legged idol of stone, twenty-four inches high, standing on
a small pedestal, covering the breasts with the hands.[IX-24]

  [Illustration: Teponastle from Tlascala.]

  [Sidenote: ABORIGINAL BRIDGES.]

At Pueblo de los Reyes, northward from Tlascala, on the road to San
Francisco, two aboriginal bridges over a mountain stream were sketched
by Castaneda. One is eleven feet high and thirty-seven feet wide; the
other fifty-five feet high and thirty-three feet wide; each being over
a hundred feet in length. They are built of large irregular stones in
mortar. The conduits through which the stream passes are from four to
six feet wide and high, one of them having a flat top, while in the
other two large blocks meet and form an obtuse angle. On the top of
the bridges at the sides are parapets of brick four or five feet high,
pierced at intervals to allow water to run from the road; and at each
of the four corners stands a circular, symmetrical, ornamental
obelisk, or pillar, over forty feet high, of stone and mortar, covered
with burned bricks. It is quite probable that the brick-work of these
bridges, if not the whole structure, is to be referred to Spanish
rather than to aboriginal times. Sr Almaraz sketched at Xicotepec, in
the north, some fifty miles west of Papantla, a teponastle of
iron-wood, gracefully carved and brilliantly polished.[IX-25]

The famous wall that was found by Cortes, extending along the
frontier of Tlascala, has been spoken of in another part of this work.
Brasseur de Bourbourg tells us that many remains of this wall are still
visible, and some other authors vaguely speak to the same effect; but
as no modern traveler describes or locates these remains, I think it
altogether likely that the statements referred to may be simply echoes
of those made by the early writers, who represented the ruins of the
wall as visible in the years immediately following the Conquest.[IX-26]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: RELICS AT CUERNAVACA.]

Passing westward into the state of Mexico, and beginning again in the
south, I find a notice in a Mexican government report, of ruins at
Tejupilco, in the south-west, about sixty miles westward of
Cuernavaca. The remains are noticed especially on the hill of
Nanchititla, consisting of buildings standing on regular streets yet
traceable, and built of very thin blocks, or slates, of stone without
mortar. In the valley of San Martin Luvianos, in the same region, a
subterranean apartment with polished sides of cement, discovered in
1841, contained quantities of carbonized maize.[IX-27] At Zacualpan,
midway between Cuernavaca and Tejupilco, and some leagues further
south, flint spear-heads, stone masks, and other relics not specified
are said by the same authority to have been found in a cave.[IX-28] A
peculiarity of the aboriginal relics found by Dupaix at Cuernavaca and
vicinity was that all consisted of sculptured figures on the surface
of large naturally shaped boulders. The first was an immense lizard
over eight feet long and a foot and a half thick, carved in high
relief on the top of a rough block. Four small circular projections
are seen on the side of the rock below the animal. On the southern
face of another isolated boulder was sculptured in low relief the coat
of arms shown in the cut, which, in its principal features of a circle
on parallel arrows or lances, is very similar to others that have been
mentioned.[IX-29] On the flag that projects from the upper part of the
circle, a Maltese cross is seen, and the bird's head above is
pronounced of course by Dupaix to be that of an eagle.[IX-30] On the
opposite, or northern, side of the same boulder are sculptured the
figures shown in the cut. The left hand figure, thirteen inches high,
may in connection with the small circles be a record of a
date--thirteen calli. M. Lenoir, however, on account of the column
shown within the building, believes the whole may be an emblem of
phallic worship, the column being a phallus and the building its
shrine or temple. The sculpture on both sides of this rock is
described as having been executed with great care and clearness.
Somewhat less than a league south of the city is another isolated
rock, said to have served as a boundary mark to the ancient
Quauhnahuac, 'place of the eagle,' of which the modern name Cuernavaca
is a corruption. On the face of this rock is carved in rather high
relief the figure represented in the cut, which, in consideration of
the aboriginal meaning of the name, and the purpose served by the
stone, may be regarded as an eagle. The material is a fine gray stone,
the bird is thirty-five inches high, and the boulder, or its locality,
is called by the natives Quauhtetl, 'stone eagle.'[IX-31]

  [Illustration: Coat of Arms--Cuernavaca.]

  [Illustration: Boulder-Sculptures at Cuernavaca.]

  [Illustration: Eagle of Cuernavaca.]

  [Sidenote: RUINS OF XOCHICALCO.]

The ruins of Xochicalco, doubtless the finest in Mexico, are about
fifteen miles 13 deg. west of south from Cuernavaca, and about
seventy-five miles south-west from the city of Mexico. The first
published description was written by Alzate y Ramirez, who visited the
locality in 1777, and published his account with illustrative plates
as a supplement to his Literary Gazette in November, 1791.[IX-32]
Humboldt made up his account from that of Alzate; Dupaix and Castaneda
included Xochicalco in their first exploration; Nebel visited and
sketched the ruins in 1831; and finally an account, perhaps the most
complete extant, written from an exploration in 1835 by order of the
Mexican government, was published in the _Revista Mexicana_.[IX-33]

  [Sidenote: RUINS OF XOCHICALCO.]

Xochicalco, the 'hill of flowers,'[IX-34] is a natural elevation of
conical form, with an oval base over two miles in circumference,
rising from the plain to a height of nearly four hundred feet.[IX-35]
Mr Latrobe claims to have found traces of paved roads, of large stones
tightly wedged together, one of them eight feet wide, leading in
straight lines towards the hill from different directions. The account
in the _Revista_ mentions only one such causeway running towards the
east. A ditch, more or less filled up and overgrown with shrubbery, is
said to extend entirely round the base of the hill, but its depth and
width are not stated; perhaps in the absence of more complete
information its existence should be considered doubtful.

  [Illustration: Subterranean Galleries--Xochicalco.]

Very near the foot of the northern <DW72> are the entrances to two
tunnels or galleries, one of which terminates at a distance of
eighty-two feet; at least, it was obstructed and could not be explored
beyond that point. The second gallery, cut in the solid limestone of
the hill, about nine feet and a half wide and high, has several
branches running in different directions, some of them terminated by
fallen debris, others apparently walled up intentionally. The floors
are paved to the thickness of a foot and a half with brick-shaped
blocks of stone, the walls are also in many places supported by
masonry, and both pavement, walls, and ceiling are covered with lime
cement, which retains its polish and shows traces in some parts of
having had originally a coating of red ochre. The principal gallery,
after turning once at a right angle, terminates at a distance of
several hundred feet in a large apartment about eighty feet long, in
which two circular pillars are left in the living rock to support the
roof. The accompanying cut is Castaneda's ground plan of the galleries
and subterranean apartment, _a_ being the entrance on the north; _b_
the termination of main gallery; _c_, _k_, the branch gallery; _e_ and
_d_, obstructed passages; _g_, _g_, the room and _f_, _f_, the
pillars. The scale of the plan is about fifty feet to the inch, but
the dimensions, according to the scale, are doubtless inaccurate.
According to the plan the galleries are only a little over four feet
wide; and the apartment thirty-three by thirty-nine feet. Alzate's
plan agrees with it so far as it goes; the _Revista_ gives no plan,
and its description differs in some respects, so far as the
arrangement of the galleries is concerned, from the cut.[IX-36] In the
top of the room at the south-east corner, at _h_, is a dome-like
structure, a vertical section of which is shown at _j_ of the
preceding cut, six feet in diameter and six feet high, lined with
stone hewn in curved blocks, with a round hole about ten inches in
diameter extending vertically upward from the top. It has been
generally believed that this passage leads up to the pyramid on the
top of the hill, to be described later; but it will be seen that if
the hill be two miles in circumference, or even half that size, the
galleries are not nearly long enough to reach the centre under the
pyramid. Nebel fancied that the hole in the cupola was so situated
that the rays of the sun twice a year would penetrate from above and
strike an altar in the subterranean hall. The natives report other
passages in the hill besides the one described, and believe that one
of them leads to Chapultepec, near the city of Mexico.

  [Sidenote: THE HILL OF FLOWERS.]

Passing now from the interior to the outer surface of the 'hill of
flowers,' we find it covered from top to bottom with masonry. Five
terraces, paved with stone and mortar, and supported by perpendicular
walls of the same material, extend in oval form entirely round the
whole circumference of the hill, one above the other. Neither the
width of the paved platforms nor the height of the supporting walls
has been given by any explorer, but each terrace, with the
corresponding intermediate <DW72>, constitutes something over seventy
feet of the height of the hill. The terrace platforms have sometimes
been described, without any authority, as a paved way leading round
and round the hill in a spiral course to the summit. Dupaix speaks of
a road about eight feet wide, which leads to the summit, but no other
explorer mentions any traces of the original means of ascent. Each
terrace wall, while forming in general terms an ellipse, does not
present a regular line, but is broken into various angles like the
bastions of a fortification. The pavements all <DW72> slightly towards
the south-west, thus permitting the water to run off readily.
According to the plans of Alzate and Castaneda there are two
additional terraces where a spur projects from the hill at the
north-eastern base. Latrobe is the only authority on the intermediate
<DW72>s between the terraces, which he says are occupied with
platforms, bastions, and stages one above another. It is evident from
all accounts that the whole surface of the hill, very likely shaped to
some extent artificially, was covered with stone work, and that
defense was one object aimed at by the builders. The _Revista_
represents the terrace platforms as additionally fortified by the
perpendicular supporting walls projecting upward above their level,
forming what may perhaps be termed a kind of parapet.

On the summit is a level platform measuring two hundred and
eighty-five by three hundred and twenty-eight feet.[IX-37] According
to Alzate, Humboldt, Dupaix, and other early authorities--except
Nebel, who is silent on the subject--this plaza is surrounded by a
wall. Dupaix says the wall is built of stones without mortar, is five
feet and a half high, and two feet and nine inches thick. Alzate
represents the wall as perpendicular only on the inner side, being in
fact a projection of the upper terrace <DW72>, forming a kind of
parapet, and making the plaza a sunken area. Latrobe also speaks of
the plaza as a hollow square, and Alzate's representation is probably
a correct one; for the author of the account in the _Revista_ says
that the wall described by previous visitors could not be found; and
moreover, that there was no room for it on the north between the
central pyramid and "one of the solid stone masses, or _caballeros_,
that surround the platform," the _caballeros_, which may perhaps in
this connection be translated 'parapets,' being doubtless the same
structures that the others describe as a wall.

  [Sidenote: PYRAMID OF XOCHICALCO.]

In this plaza, cultivated in later years as a cornfield, there are
several mounds and heaps of stones not particularly described; and
near the centre is a pyramid, or rather the lower story of one, with
rectangular base, the sides of which, exactly or very nearly facing
the cardinal points, measure sixty-five feet from east to west, and
fifty-eight feet from north to south. The lower story, which in some
parts is still standing to its full height, is divided into what may
be termed plinth, frieze, and cornice, and is about sixteen feet
high.[IX-38]

  [Illustration: Pyramid of Xochicalco.]

In the centre of one of the facades is an open space, something over
twenty feet wide, bounded by solid balustrades, and probably occupied
originally by a stairway, although it is said that no traces of steps
have been found among the debris. The cut, from Nebel, shows the front
of the pyramid on one side of the opening, being the eastern portion
of the northern front, according to Nebel, who locates the stairway on
the north, or the northern part of the western front, according to the
_Revista_, which speaks of the opening as being on the west.

The pyramid, or at least its facing, is built of large blocks of
granite or porphyry,[IX-39] a kind of stone not found within a
distance of many leagues. The blocks are of different sizes, the
largest being about eleven feet long and three feet high, and few
being less than five feet in length. They are laid without mortar, and
so nicely is the work done that the joints are scarcely perceptible.
The cut shows one of the facades, probably the northern, from
Castaneda's drawing, which corresponds almost exactly to that given by
Alzate. So far as the details of the sculpture are concerned it is
probably not very trustworthy. The preceding cut, from Nebel, is
perhaps the only reliable drawing in this respect that has been
published. The whole exterior surface seems to have been covered with
sculptured figures in low relief, apparently executed after the stones
were put in place, since one figure extends, with the greatest
exactitude at the joints, over several blocks of stone.[IX-40]

  [Illustration: Pyramid of Xochicalco.]

I translate from the _Revista_ the following remarks about the
sculptured figures: "At each angle, and on each side, is seen a
colossal dragon's head, from whose great mouth, armed with enormous
teeth, projects a forked tongue; but in some the tongue is horizontal,
while in others it falls vertically; in the first it points towards a
sign which is believed to be that of water, and in the others towards
different signs or emblems.... Some have pretended to see in these
dragons images of crocodiles; but nothing certain can be known of
these fantastic figures which have no model in nature.... On the two
sides still standing there are two figures of men larger than the
natural size, seated cross-legged in the eastern fashion, wearing
necklaces of enormous pearls, rich ornaments, and a head-dress out of
all proportion, with long flowing plumes. In one hand they hold a kind
of sceptre, and the other is placed on the breast; a hieroglyphic of
great size, placed in the middle of each side, separates the two
figures, whose heads are turned, on the east side, one north and the
other south, while on the north side both face the west. The frieze
which surrounds this story presents a series of small human figures,
also seated in the eastern manner, with the right hand crossed on the
breast, and the left resting on a curved sword, whose hilt reminds us
of ancient swords; a thing the more worthy of attention since no
people descended from the Toltecs or Aztecs has made use of this kind
of arms. The head-dress of these small figures, which closely resemble
those mentioned before, is always disproportionately large, and this
circumstance, which is found in all the Egyptian mythologic fables, is
considered in the latter an emblem of power or divinity. With the
human figures are seen various signs, some of which seem allegorical
and others chronologic, so far as may be judged from their conformity
with those employed in the Aztec paintings.... Another sign,
apparently of a different nature, is often repeated among the figures;
it is a dragon's mouth, open and armed with teeth, as in the large
reliefs, from which projects instead of a tongue a disk divided by a
cross.... It has also been thought (Alzate) that dances are
represented on the frieze of Xochicalco, but its perfect preservation
makes such an error inexcusable, and figures seated with legs crossed
and hands on a sword, exclude any idea of sacred or warlike dances,
and suggest only mythologic or historical scenes. Over the frieze was
a cornice adorned with very delicate designs in the form of _oalmetas_
or meandres in the Greek style." The cut shows one of the bas-reliefs
on a larger scale than in the preceding illustrations. There is, as
Nebel observes, a certain likeness between these sculptured designs
and the stucco reliefs of Palenque, although in the architectural
features of the monument, and of the base on which it rests, there
seems to be no analogy whatever with any of the southern ruins.

  [Illustration: Bas-Relief from Xochicalco.]

On the summit of this lower structure a few sculptured foundation
stones of a second story were found yet in place, the walls being two
feet and three inches from the edge of the lower, except on the west,
where the space is four feet and a half. According to the report of
the inhabitants of the vicinity, the structure had originally five
receding stories, similar to the first in outward appearance, which
were all standing as late as 1755, making the whole edifice probably
about sixty-five feet high. It is said to have terminated in a
platform, on the eastern side of which stood a large block, forming a
kind of throne, covered with hieroglyphic sculpture. The proprietors
of neighboring sugar-works were the authors of the monument's
destruction, the stone being of a nature suitable for their furnaces,
and none other being obtainable except at a great distance. Alzate
puts on record the name of one Estrada as the inaugurator of this
disgraceful work of devastation.[IX-41] Several restorations of the
pyramid of Xochicalco have been attempted on paper, that by the artist
Nebel being probably the only one that bears any likeness to the
original; and even his sketch, so far as the sculptured designs are
concerned, must be regarded as extremely conjectural, having as a
foundation only a few scattered blocks and the reports of the 'oldest
inhabitant.' At the Paris international exhibition in 1867 a structure
was built and exhibited in the Champs de Mars, purporting to be a
fac-simile of this monument; but judging from a cut published in a
London paper, it might with equal propriety have been exhibited as a
model of any other ruin in the new or old world.[IX-42]

The second story seems to have had interior apartments, with three
doorways at the head of the grand stairway. On the summit of the lower
story, according to the _Revista_, is a pit, perhaps a covered
apartment originally, measuring twenty-two feet square, and nearly
filled with fragments of stone, some of them sculptured, which were
not removed. It is of course possible that there exists some means of
communication between this apartment and the subterranean galleries of
the hill below.

East of the hill of Xochicalco, on the road to Miacatlan, an immense
stone was said to have been found serving as a kind of cover to a
hole, perhaps the entrance to a subterranean gallery, on the face of
which was sculptured an eagle tearing a prostrate native Prometheus.
It was broken up and most of the pieces carried away, but Alzate saw
one fragment containing a part of the sculptured thigh, from which
perhaps with the aid of his imagination and his knowledge of Grecian
mythology the good padre prepared a drawing of the whole, which he
published. Later visitors have not even seen a fragment of so
wonderful a relic. Mr Tylor speaks of a small paved oval space
somewhere in connection with the ruin, in which he found fragments of
a clay idol. There are no springs of water on or near the hill.

The _Revista_ says, "adjoining this hill is another higher one, also
covered with terraces of stone-work in form of steps. A causeway of
large marble flags led to the top, where there are still some
excavations and among them a mound of large size. Nothing further in
the way of monuments is to be seen on the lower (part of the?) hill
except a granite block, which may be the great square stone mentioned
by Alzate, which served to close the entrance to a subterranean
gallery, situated east of the principal monument." There are also some
traces of one terrace indicated on Castaneda's view of the larger
hill. On the sculptured facades of the pyramid, all have found traces
of color in sheltered places, and have concluded that the whole
surface was originally painted red, except the author of the account
in the _Revista_, who thinks that the groundwork of the reliefs only
was covered with a  varnish, as was the usage in Egypt.
Loewenstern claims to have found in the vicinity of Xochicalco the
foundation of many aboriginal dwellings.

A slight resemblance has been noted in some of the sculptured human
figures, seated cross-legged, to the Maya sculptures and stucco
reliefs of Central America; a few figures, like that of the rabbit,
may present some analogies to Aztec sculptures, many specimens of
which will be shown in the present chapter; the very fact of its
being a pyramid in several stories, gives to Xochicalco a general
likeness to all the more important American ruins; the terraces on the
hill-<DW72>s have their counterparts at Quiotepec and elsewhere; the
absence of mortar between the facade-stones is a feature also of
Mitla; still as a whole the monument of Xochicalco stands alone; both
in architecture and sculpture it presents strong contrasts with Copan,
Uxmal, Palenque, Mitla, Cholula, Teotihuacan, or the many pyramids of
Vera Cruz. There is no definite tradition referring the origin of this
monument to any particular pre-Aztec period, save the universal modern
tradition among the natives referring everything wonderful to the
Toltecs. It is not, moreover, improbable that the pyramid was built by
a Nahua people during the Aztec period; for it must be remembered
first that all the grand temples in Anahuac--the Aztec territory
proper--have disappeared since the Conquest, so that a comparison of
such buildings with that of Xochicalco is impossible; and second, that
the Aztecs were superior to the nations immediately surrounding them
in war rather than art, so that it would be by no means surprising to
find a grander temple in Cuernavaca than in the valley of Mexico. The
Aztec sculpture on such monuments as have been found in the city of
Mexico if different from, is not inferior to that at Xochicalco, and
there is no reason whatever to doubt the ability of the Aztecs to
build such a pyramid. Still there remains of course the possibility of
a pre-Aztec antiquity for the building on the hill of flowers, and of
Maya influence exerted upon its builders.[IX-43]

  [Sidenote: REMAINS IN THE SOUTH-EAST.]

  [Illustration: Sculptured stone--Casasano.]

In the south-eastern part of the state from Yahualica northward to
Mecamecan, relics have been discovered, mostly by Dupaix, in several
localities. At Yahualica, near Huautla, there are tombs, with stone
images, human remains, pottery, and metates, also some metallic relics
not described.[IX-44] At Xonacatepec was seen a mask of about the
natural size, carved very neatly from a whitish translucent
stone.[IX-45] At the sugar plantation of Casasano, in the same region,
a somewhat remarkable relic was a stone chest, of rectangular base,
larger at the bottom than at the top, with a cover fitting like that
of a modern chest. It was cut from a grayish stone, and when found by
laborers engaged in digging a ditch, is said to have been filled with
stone ornaments. At the same place was seen a circular stone, three
feet in diameter and nine inches thick, sculptured in geometric
figures on one side, as shown in the preceding cut.[IX-46]

Another similar stone of the same thickness, and about three feet and
a half in diameter, was built into a modern wall at Ozumba. These
geometrically carved circular blocks are of not infrequent occurrence
on the Mexican plateaux; of their use nothing is known, but they seem
to bear a vague resemblance to the Aztec calendar and sacrificial
stones to be described later. Another class of circular blocks, from
two to three feet in diameter, with curves and various ornamental
figures sculptured on one face, are also of frequent occurrence.
Several of this class will be mentioned and illustrated in connection
with the relics of Xochimilco. Two of them were seen by Dupaix at
Chimalhuacan Tlachialco, near Ozumba, together with two small idols of
stone. At Ahuehuepa, in the same region, was a statue which had lost
the head and the legs below the knees; a hieroglyphic device is seen
on the breast, and a small cord passes round the waist, and is tied in
a bow-knot in front. Two fragments of head-dresses carved in red stone
were found at the same place. A few miles east of the village of
Mecamecan is an isolated rock of gray granite, artificially formed
into pyramidal shape as shown in the cut. It is about twelve feet high
and fifty-five feet in circumference, having rudely cut steps, which
lead up the eastern <DW72>. Dupaix conjectures that this monument was
intended for some astronomic use, and that the man sculptured on the
side is engaged in making astronomical observations, the results of
which are expressed by the other figures on the rock. The only
possible foundation for the opinion is the resemblance of some of the
signs to those by which the Aztecs expressed dates.[IX-47]

  [Illustration: Pyramidal stone--Mecamecan.]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: REMAINS IN ANAHUAC.]

  [Sidenote: REMAINS AN XOCHIMILCO.]

Entering now the valley of Mexico, we find many localities on the
banks, and islands of Lake Chalco where relics of the ancient
inhabitants have been brought to light. At Xochimilco on the western
shore of the lake, Dupaix mentions the following:--1st. A stone block
with regular sides, on one of which about three feet square are
sculptured two concentric circles, as large as the space permits, with
smaller circles outside of the larger, at each corner of the block.
2d. A crouching monster of stone thirty inches high, which apparently
served originally for a fountain or aqueduct, the water flowing
through the mouth. 3d. A semi-spherical pedestal of limestone, broken
in two pieces, three feet high, and decorated on the curved surface
with oval figures radiating from the centre. 4th. A lizard thirty
inches long, sculptured on a block which is built into a modern wall.
5th. A coat of arms, also on a block in a wall, consisting of a circle
on parallel lances like some already described. Within the circle is a
very perfect Maltese cross, hanging from the lower part is a fan-like
plume, and elsewhere on the smooth faces of the stone are nine very
peculiar knots or tassels. 6th. A kind of flat-fish three feet eight
inches long, carved from a bluish gray stone. 7th. A coiled serpent in
red porphyry, a foot and a half in diameter, and nine feet long if
uncoiled. This relic is shown in the cut. 8th. Two death's heads in
stone. 9th. A rabbit in low relief on a fragment of stone. 10th. An
animal in red stone on a cubic pedestal of the same material. 11th. A
stone image of a seated female. 12th. An idol with a man's head and
woman's breasts. 13th. Ten sculptured blocks, the faces of which are
shown in the following cut, and which would seem to have served only
for decorative purposes. Most of them have rough backs, evidently
having been taken from ancient walls; and many of these and other
similar blocks found in this region had tenons like that shown in fig.
9 of the cut. Fig. 7 shows one of the several death's heads found at
Xochimilco.

  [Illustration: Coiled Serpent--Xochimilco.]

  [Illustration: Sculptured Stones--Xochimilco.]

  [Illustration: Sculptured Vase--Tlahuac.]

At Tlahuac, or Cuitlahuac, were seen two circular stones something
over three feet in diameter and half as thick, of black porous
volcanic material. Each had a circular hole in the centre, rude
incised figures on the faces, and a tenon at one point of the
circumference. They strongly remind me of the rings in the walls of
the so-called gymnasium at Chichen in Yucatan. Another relic was a
cylindrical stone of a hard gray material, of the same dimensions as
the preceding, but without a supporting tenon. The circular faces were
plain, but the sides, or rim, were decorated with circles, bands, and
points symmetrically arranged and sculptured in low relief. And
finally there was found at Tlahuac the very beautiful vase of hard
iron-gray stone shown in the cut. It is eight feet four inches in
circumference on the outside, one foot nine inches in diameter on the
inside, and elaborately sculptured in low relief on both the exterior
and interior surface. In Kingsborough's edition of Dupaix's work it is
stated that the two causeways which led to the town across the waters
of Lake Chalco are still in good preservation, five or six yards wide
and of varying height, according to the depth of the water. In the
report of the Ministro de Fomento in 1854 there is also a mention of a
dike built to keep the waters of the lake from Mexico. Another dike,
serving also as a causeway at Tulyahualco is mentioned in the same
report.

At Xico, on an island in Lake Chalco, there are some traces of an
aboriginal city, in the shape of foundation walls of masonry, stone
terraces, and what is very important if authentic, well-burned bricks
of different forms and dimensions. In the Mexican government report
referred to, the foundations of a palace are alluded to.

At Misquique, on another of the lake islands Dupaix found the
following objects left by the antiguos:--1st. A sculptured monster's
head, with a tenon for insertion in a wall. 2d. A large granite vase,
circular in form, four feet and a half in diameter, three feet and a
half high, sculptured on the upper rim, painted on the inside, and
polished on the outer surface. It rests on a cylindrical base, smaller
than the vase itself, and is used in modern times as a baptismal font.
3d. A mill-stone shaped block, with a tenon, very similar to those
found at Tlahuac, except that the sculptures on the face are evidently
in low relief in this case. 4th. An animal called by Dupaix a coyote,
sculptured on the face of a block. 5th. A cylindrical stone twenty-one
inches in diameter and twenty-eight in height, round the circumference
of which is sculptured, or apparently merely incised, a serpent. 6th.
A square block with concentric circles and other figures, similar to
those at Xochimilco. 7th. Another block with a spiral figure. 8th. A
very finely formed head of gray veined stone, furnished with a tenon
at the back of the neck. 9th. Three small and rudely formed images,
one of green jasper and two of a red stone.

  [Illustration: Animal in Stone--Tlalmanalco.]

  [Sidenote: TLALMANALCO AND CULHUACAN.]

At Tlalmanalco were four small idols in human form, three of which
were built into a modern wall; two heads, one of which is of
chalchiuite; three of the ornamental blocks, one bearing clearly
defined cross-bones; and the nondescript animal in gray stone shown in
the cut. Also at Tlalmanalco, in the official report already several
times cited, mention is made of three fallen pyramids, one of which
was penetrated by a gallery, supposed to have been intended for burial
purposes.

  [Illustration: Terra-Cotta Idol--Culhuacan.]

Culhuacan, on the north-eastern bank of the same lake, is a small
village which retains the name of the city which once occupied the
site, famous in the annals of Toltec times. Veytia tells us that in
his time some vestiges of the ancient capital were still visible; and
Gondra describes a clay idol found at Culhuacan, and shown in the cut,
as an image of Quetzalcoatl, giving, however, no very clear reasons
for his belief. This relic is fourteen inches high, thirteen inches
wide, and is preserved in the Mexican Museum.[IX-48]

The relics discovered in Anahuac at points westward from the lakes, I
shall describe without specifying in my text the exact locality of
each place referred to. At Chapultepec there is a tradition that
statues representing Montezuma and Axayacatl were carved in the living
rock of the cliff; and these rock portraits are said to have remained
many years after the Conquest, having been seen by the distinguished
Mexican scientist Leon y Gama. Brasseur de Bourbourg even claims to
have seen traces of them, but this may perhaps be doubted. One was
destroyed at the beginning of the eighteenth century by order of the
over-religious authorities; but the other remained in perfect
preservation until the year 1753, when it also fell a victim to
anti-pagan barbarism. The immense cypresses or _ahuehuetes_ that still
stand at the foot of Chapultepec, 'hill of the grasshopper,' are said
to have been large and flourishing trees before the coming of the
Spaniards.[IX-49]

  [Sidenote: HILL OF OTONCAPOLCO.]

A few miles from the celebrated church of Nuestra Senora de los
Remedios, is a terraced stone-faced hill, similar perhaps in its
original condition to Xochicalco, except that the terraces are more
numerous and only three or four feet high. Although, only a short
distance from the capital in an easily accessible locality, only two
writers have mentioned its existence--Alzate y Ramirez in 1792 and
Loewenstern in 1838. The former calls the hill Otoncapolco, and his
article in the _Gaceta de Literatura_ is mainly devoted to proving
that this was the point where Cortes fortified himself after the
'noche triste,' instead of the hill on which the church of Remedios
stands, as others in Alzate's time believed. The author, who visited
the place with an artist, says, "I saw ruins, and hewn stones of great
magnitude, all of which proves to the eye that this was a
fortification, or as the historians say, a temple, because they
thought that everything made by the Indians had some connection with
idolatry; it is sure that in the place where the celebrated sanctuary
stands, there is not found the slightest vestige of fortress or
temple, while on the contrary, all this is observed at Otoncapolco."
This with the remark that this monument, although not comparable to
Xochicalco, yet merits examination, is all the information Padre
Alzate gives us; and Loewenstern adds but little to our knowledge of
the monument. He found debris of sculptured stone, obsidian, vases,
and pottery; also the ruins of a castle two-thirds up the <DW72>, in
connection with which was found a flat stone over six feet long,
bearing a sculptured five-branched cross--a kind of coat of arms. The
hill is from two hundred and sixty to three hundred and twenty-five
feet high, has a square summit platform, and the whole surface of its
<DW72>s was covered with stone-work, now much displaced, in the shape
of steps, or terraces, between three and four feet high. At one point
the explorer found, as he believed, the entrance to a subterranean
passage, into which he did not enter but inserted a pole about nine
feet.[IX-50]

At Tacuba, the ancient Tlacopan, Bradford mentions the "ruins of an
ancient pyramid, constructed with layers of unburnt brick," and
Loewenstern speaks of broken pottery and fragments of obsidian. The
latter author also claims to have seen near the church of Guadalupe
the foundations of many small dwellings which constituted an
aboriginal city.[IX-51] At Malinalco, near Toluca, two musical
instruments, _tlamalhuilili_, are mentioned. They were carved from
hard wood and had skin stretched across one end, being three feet long
and eighteen inches in diameter.[IX-52] Mr Foster gives a cut of a
tripod vase in the Chicago Academy of Sciences, which was dug up near
San Jose. "It is very symmetrically moulded, and is ornamented by a
series of _chevrons_ or small triangles. This chevron mode of
ornamentation appears to have been widely prevalent."[IX-53]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: CITY OF MEXICO.]

In describing the relics which have been discovered from time to time
in the city of Mexico, the ancient Aztec capital, I shall make no
mention for the present of such objects, preserved in public and
private antiquarian collections in that city, as have been brought
from other parts of the state or republic. When the locality is known
where any one of this class of relics was found I shall describe it
when treating of antiquities in that locality. The many relics whose
origin is unknown will be alluded to at the end of this chapter. Since
all who have visited Mexico or written books about that country,
almost without exception, have had something to say of antiquities and
of the collections in the National Museum, as well as of the relics
belonging strictly to the city, I shall economize space and avoid a
useless repetition by deferring a list of such authorities to my
account of the miscellaneous relics of the Mexican Republic at the end
of the chapter, referring for my present purpose only to the more
important authorities, or such as contain original information or
illustrations.

No architectural monuments whatever remain within the city limits.
The grand palaces of the Aztec monarchs, the palatial residences of
the nobility, the abodes of wealth and fashion, like the humbler
dwellings of the masses, have utterly disappeared; monuments reared in
honor of the gods have not outlasted the structures devoted to trade;
the lofty teocalli of the blood-thirsty Huitzilopochtli, like the
shrines of lesser and gentler deities, has left no trace.

Movable relics in the shape of idols and sculptured stones are not
numerous, although some of them are very important. No systematic
search for such monuments has ever been made, and those that have been
brought to light were accidentally discovered. Some sculptured blocks
of the greatest antiquarian value have been actually seen in making
excavations for modern improvements, and have been allowed to remain
undisturbed under the pavements and public squares of a great city!
There can be no doubt that thousands of interesting monuments are
buried beneath the town. The treasures of the Plaza Mayor will perhaps
be some day brought out of their retirement to tell their story of
aboriginal times, but hundreds of Aztec divinities in stone will sleep
on till doomsday. It is unfortunate that these gods of other days
cannot regain for a time the power they used to wield, turn at least
once in their graves, and shake the drowsy populace above into a
realization of the fact that they live in the nineteenth century.

The three principal monuments of Mexico Tenochtitlan are the
Calendar-Stone, the so-called Sacrificial Stone, and the idol called
Teoyaomiqui. They were all dug up in the Plaza Mayor where the great
teocalli is supposed to have stood, and where they were doubtless
thrown down and buried from the sight of the natives at the time of
the Conquest. In the years 1790 to 1792 the plaza was leveled and
paved by order of the government, and in the excavations for this
purpose and for drainage the three monuments were discovered, the
Calendar-Stone and the idol very near the surface, and the third relic
at a depth of twenty-five or thirty feet.

The Calendar-Stone was a rectangular parallelopipedon of porphyry,
thirteen feet one inch and a half square, three feet three inches and
a half thick, and weighing in its present mutilated state twenty-four
tons. The sculptured portion on one side is enclosed in a circle
eleven feet one and four-fifths inches in diameter. These are the
dimensions given by Humboldt, who personally examined the stone, and
agree almost exactly with those given by Leon y Gama, who examined and
made drawings of the monument immediately after its discovery. Gama
pronounced the material to be limestone, which provoked a sharp
controversy between him and Padre Alzate, the latter calling the
material, which he tested by means of acids, a volcanic rock.
Humboldt's opinion is of course decisive in such a matter. The centre
of the circle does not exactly correspond with that of the square, and
Gama concludes from this circumstance that the stone had a companion
block which might be found near the place where this was found.[IX-54]

  [Sidenote: THE CALENDAR-STONE.]

  [Illustration: Aztec Calendar-Stone.]

The stone has been for many years built into the wall of the cathedral
at the base, where it is exposed to the view of all passers-by, and to
the action of the elements. While lying uncovered in the plaza it was
considerably mutilated by the natives, who took the opportunity of
manifesting their horror of the ancient gods, by pelting with stones
this relic of their paganism. Parts of the stone were also broken off
when it was thrown down and buried by the conquistadores. Fortunately
the sculptured portions have been but slightly injured, and are shown
in the cut. The plates published by Gama, Humboldt, Nebel, Mayer, and
others, are all tolerably accurate; except that they were drawn to
represent the stone correctly on the plate or block, and of course
reversed in printing. The origin of this error is probably to be found
in the fact that nearly all have copied Gama's plate. In my cut the
error is corrected and the sculptured figures agree exactly with
Charnay's photograph.[IX-55] These figures are the symbols of the
Aztec calendar, many of which are well understood, while others are of
unknown or disputed signification. The calendar has been sufficiently
explained in a preceding volume, and I shall not enter upon its
elucidation here. The sculpture is in low relief, very accurately
worked, and the circle which encloses it projects, according to Mayer,
seven inches and a half, according to Gama and Nebel about three
inches, and the rim of the circle is also adorned with sculptures not
shown in the cut. Respecting the excellence of the sculpture Humboldt
says: "the concentric circles, the divisions, and the subdivisions
without number are traced with mathematical exactitude; the more we
examine the details of this sculpture, the more we discover this taste
for repetitions of the same forms, this spirit of order, this
sentiment of symmetry, which, among half-civilized peoples, take the
place of the sentiment of the beautiful."

No stone like that from which the Calendar-Stone is hewn, is found
within a radius of twenty-five or thirty miles of Mexico, and this may
be regarded as the largest block which the natives are known to have
moved over a long distance. Prescott tells us that the stone was
brought from the mountains beyond Lake Chalco, and was dropped into
the water while being transported across one of the causeways. There
is no reason to attribute this monument to any nation preceding the
Aztecs, although the calendar itself was the invention of an older
people. Wax models of this and other relics, described by Mr Tylor as
very inaccurate, are sold in Mexico; and a plaster cast, taken by Mr
Bullock in 1823, was exhibited in London.[IX-56]

  [Illustration: Sacrificial Stone--Mexico.]

  [Sidenote: THE SACRIFICIAL STONE.]

The Sacrificial Stone, so called, is a cylindrical block of porphyry,
nine feet and ten inches in diameter, three feet seven and one fourth
inches thick. This also was dug from the Plaza Mayor, was carried to
the courtyard of the University, where it has lain ever since, much of
the time half covered in the ground, and where different visitors have
examined it. The cut, which I have copied from Col. Mayer's drawing,
shows the sculpture which covers one side of the stone, the other side
being plain. The name of Sacrificial Stone, by which it is generally
known, probably originated from the canal which leads from the centre
to the edge, and which was imagined to have carried off the blood of
sacrifices; but the reader will notice at once that this stone bears
not the slightest resemblance to the altars on which the priests cut
out the hearts of their human victims, as described in a preceding
volume. Some authors, among whom is Humboldt, believe this to be the
_temalacatl_, or gladiatorial stone, on which captives were doomed to
fight against great odds until overcome and put to death. The
bas-relief sculptures, the central concavity, the canal, and the
absence of any means of securing the foot of the captive, are very
strong arguments against this use of the cylinder. A smooth surface
would certainly be desirable for so desperate a conflict, and the
sculptured figures on the rim, or circumference, soon to be noticed,
show that the plain side of the stone was not in its original position
uppermost. Gama, the first to write about the monument, pointed out
very clearly the objections to the prevailing ideas of its aboriginal
purpose. He claimed that the stone was, like the one already
described, a calendar-stone, on which was inscribed the system of
feast-days. The strongest objection to this theory was the existence
of the central concavity and canal, which, however, Gama considers not
to have belonged to the monument at all, but to have been added by the
ruder hands of those who wished to blot out the face of the sun which
originally occupied the centre. Latrobe also says, "I have but little
hesitation in asserting that the groove in the upper surface formed no
part of the original design;" but Col. Mayer, who has carefully
examined this relic, tells me that the canal presents no signs
whatever of being more recent than the other carving, and it must be
admitted that the Spaniards would hardly have adopted this method of
mutilation. Tylor suggests that this was a sacrificial altar, but used
for offerings of animals. Fossey speaks of it as a 'triumphal stone.'
But in alluding to these theories I am departing somewhat from my
purpose, which is to give all the information extant respecting each
relic as it exists.

  [Illustration: Sculpture on the Sacrificial Stone.]

The whole circumference of the stone is covered with sculptured
figures, consisting of fifteen groups. Each group contains two human
figures, apparently warriors or kings, victor and vanquished,
differing but little in position or insignia in the different groups,
but accompanied by hieroglyphic signs, which may express their names
or those of their nations. Two groups as sketched by Nebel are shown
in the cut. According to Gama these sculptured figures represent by
the thirty dancers the festivities celebrated twice each year on the
occasion of the sun passing the zenith; and also commemorate, since
the festivals were in honor of the Sun and of Huitzilopochtli, the
battles and victories of the Aztecs, the hieroglyphics being the names
of conquered provinces, and most of them legible.[IX-57]

The idol of which the cut on the opposite page shows the front, was
the first to be brought to light in grading the Plaza Mayor in August,
1790. It is an immense block of bluish-gray porphyry, about ten feet
high and six feet wide and thick, sculptured on front, rear, top, and
bottom, into a most complicated and horrible combination of human,
animal, and ideal forms. No verbal description could give the reader
any clearer idea of the details of this idol than he can gain from the
cuts which I present, following Nebel for the front, and Gama for the
other views. Gama first expressed the opinion, in which other authors
coincide, that the front shown in the opposite cut represents the
Aztec goddess of death, Teoyaomiqui, whose duty it was to bear the
souls of dead warriors to the House of the Sun--the Mexican
Elysion.[IX-58]

  [Illustration: Huitzilopochtli, God of War.]

  [Illustration: Teoyaomiqui, Goddess of Death.]

  [Illustration: Mictlantecutli, God of Hell.]

  [Sidenote: THE GODDESS OF DEATH.]

The following cut is a rear view of the idol, and represents,
according to Gama, Huitzilopochtli, god of war and husband of the
divinity of gentler sex, whose emblems are carved on the front.[IX-59]
The bottom of this monument bears the sculptured design shown in the
following cut, which is thought to represent Mictlantecutli, god of
the infernal regions, the last of this cheerful trinity, goddess of
death, god of war, and god of hell, three distinct deities united in
one idol, according to the Aztec catechism. The sculptured base,
together with the side projections, _a_, _a_, of the cut showing the
front, prove pretty conclusively that this idol in the days when it
received the worship and sacrifices of a mighty people, was raised
from the ground or floor, and was supported by two pillars at the
sides; or possibly by the walls of some sacred enclosure, the space
left under the idol being the entrance. The next cut shows a profile
view of the idol, and also a representation of the top. This idol also
was removed to the University, and until 1821 was kept buried in the
courtyard, that it might not kindle anew the aboriginal
superstitions.[IX-60]

  [Sidenote: THE GODDESS TEOYAOMIQUI.]

  [Illustration: Profile of Teoyaomiqui.]

  [Illustration: Top of the Idol.]

A monument similar in form and dimensions to the Sacrificial Stone,
was found in the Plaza Mayor during certain repairs that were being
made, and although it was again covered up and allowed to remain, Sr
Gondra made a drawing of the upper sculptured surface, which was
published by Col. Mayer, and is copied in the cut. The surface
presented the peculiarity of being painted in bright colors, yellow,
red, green, crimson, and black, still quite vivid at the time of its
discovery. Sr Gondra believed this to be the true gladiatorial stone,
but the sculptured surface would hardly agree with this theory. Mayer
notes as a peculiarity "the open hand which is sculptured on a shield
and between the legs of some of the figures of the groups at the
sides" not shown in the cut. Gama also speaks of a painted stone found
in June, 1792, in the cemetery of the Cathedral, which was left in the
ground, and which he says evidently formed the entrance to the temple
of Quetzalcoatl.[IX-61]

  [Illustration: Stone buried in Plaza of Mexico.]

Another relic found during the excavations in January, 1791, was a
kind of tomb, six feet and a half long and three feet and a quarter
wide, built of slabs of _tetzontli_, a porous stone much used for
building-purposes in Mexico, filled with sand, which covered the
skeleton of some animal like a coyote, together with clay vases and
bells of cast bronze. It was perhaps the grave of some sacred animal.
Gama also mentions an image of the water god _Tlaloc_, of a common
black stone, three feet long and one foot wide; he also vaguely speaks
of several other relics not particularly described, and even found
some remains in digging the foundations of his own house.[IX-62]

  [Illustration: Burial Vase--Tlatelulco.]

  [Sidenote: TLATELULCAN VASE.]

The plaza of Tlatelulco is nearly as prolific in ancient monuments as
the Plaza Mayor. Here was found the beautiful earthen burial vase
shown in the cut. It is twenty-two inches high, fifteen inches and a
half in diameter, covered with a circular lid, also shown in the cut,
and when found was full of human skulls. The beauty of this vase can
only be fully appreciated by a glance at the original, or at the
sketch in Col. Mayer's album made by himself from the original in the
Museum at Mexico, and showing the brilliant colors, blue, red, and
yellow, with which it is adorned. The author says, "in many respects,
it struck me as belonging to a higher grade of art than anything in
the Museum, except, perhaps, the obsidian carvings, and one or two of
the vases." Gondra mentions another burial casket, carved from basalt
and of rectangular form.[IX-63]

  [Illustration: Head of Goddess Centeotl.]

The head shown in the cut, taken from the _Mosaico Mexicano_, measures
twenty-nine by thirty-six inches, and is carved from a block of
serpentine, a stone rarely found in Mexico. It was dug up near the
convent of Santa Teresa in 1830, and has been supposed to represent
the Aztec Goddess Centeotl. The bottom being covered with sculpture,
it seems that the monument is complete in its present state. Another
serpentine image of somewhat peculiar form, is shown in an original
sketch in the Album of Col. Mayer, who says, "it appears to have been
a charm or talisman, and in many respects resembles the bronze figures
which were found at Pompeii, and are preserved in the Secret Museum
at Naples." It was found at Tlatelulco, and is preserved in the
Mexican Museum.[IX-64]

  [Sidenote: MISCELLANEOUS RELICS.]

Mr Bullock speaks of several relics not mentioned by any other
visitor:--"In the cloisters behind the Dominican convent is a noble
specimen of the great serpent-idol, almost perfect, and of fine
workmanship. This monstrous divinity is represented in the act of
swallowing a human victim, which is seen crushed and struggling in its
horrid jaws." The corner-stone of the Lottery Office he described as
"the head of the serpent-idol," not less than seventy feet long, when
entire. Under the gateway of a house opposite the mint was a fine
life-size recumbent statue found in digging a well. A house on a
street corner on the south-east side of the plaza rested on an altar
of black basalt, ornamented with the tail and claws of a
reptile.[IX-64] Mayer dug up in the courtyard of the University two
feathered serpents, of which he gives cuts, as well as of several
other relics found within the city limits, including the 'perro mudo,'
a stone image of one of the dumb dogs bred by the Aztecs, and a seated
human figure known as the 'indio triste.'[IX-65]

  [Illustration: Aztec Musical Instrument.]

Mr Christy's London collection of American antiquities contains, as
we are told by Mr Tylor, a number of bronze hatchets, dug up in the
city of Mexico.[IX-66] Sr Gondra gives plates of nine Mexican musical
instruments, one of which of very peculiar construction was found in
the city, and is shown in the preceding cut. The top shaped like a
coiled serpent is of burned clay, resting on the image of a tortoise
carved from wood, and that on a base of tortoise-shell. The whole is
about twelve inches high.[IX-67] And finally I give a cut which
represents part of a block built into the wall of the Convent of
Concepcion, as sketched by Sr Chavero, who joins to his plate some
remarks on the meaning of the hieroglyphic sculpture.[IX-68]

  [Illustration: Sculptured Block in Convent Wall.]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Illustration: Stone Basin from Tezcuco.]

  [Sidenote: RUINS OF TEZCUCO.]

Tezcuco, the ancient rival of Mexico, across the lake eastward,
formerly on the lake shore, but now by the retirement of the water
left some miles inland, has, notwithstanding her ancient rank in all
that pertained to art, left no monuments to compare with those taken
from the Plaza Mayor of Mexico. But unlike the latter city Tezcuco yet
presents traces, and traces only, of her aboriginal architectural
structures. Fragments of building-material are found wherever
excavations are made, and the material of the old city is said to have
been extensively used in the construction of the modern, so that plain
or sculptured stone blocks, shaped by the aborigines, are often seen
in modern walls in different parts of the town. In the southern part
of the city are the foundations of several large pyramids, apparently
built of adobes, burnt bricks, and cement, since the materials named
all occur among the debris. The foundations show the structures to
have been originally about four hundred feet square, but of course
supply no further information respecting their form. These pyramids
were three in number at the time of Mayer's visit, standing in a line
from north to south, and strewn with fragments of pottery, idols, and
obsidian knives. Tylor found traces, barely visible, of two large
teocallis; he also speaks vaguely of some burial mounds, and states
that there is a Mexican calendar-stone built into the wall of one of
the churches. In the north-west part of the town Mayer found another
shapeless heap of bricks, adobes, and pottery, overgrown with magueys.
On the top were several large basaltic slabs, squared and lying north
and south. The rectangular stone basin with sculptured sides shown in
the cut, was found in connection with this heap and preserved in the
Penasco collection in Mexico. Also in this heap of debris, according
to Mayer, Mr Poinsett found in 1825 an arched sewer or aqueduct built
of small stone blocks laid in mortar, together with a 'flat arch' of
very large blocks over a doorway. I find no mention of these remains
in Mr Poinsett's book. Bradford states that, "lying neglected under a
gateway, an idol has been observed nearly perfect, and representing a
rattlesnake," painted in bright colors. Mr Latrobe found a stone idol,
perhaps the same, in 1834, and Nebel gives a sketch of a most
interesting relic, said to have come from Tezcuco, and shown in the
cut. It was the custom of the Aztec priests at certain times to wear
the skin of sacrificed victims.[IX-69] This figure seems to represent
a priest thus clad. It is carved from basalt, and was half the natural
size, the natural skin being painted a bright red, and the outer one
a dirty white. A collection of Tezcucan relics seen by Tylor in 1856,
contained, 1st. A nude female figure four or five feet high, well
formed from a block of alabaster. 2d. A man in hard stone, wearing a
mask which represents a jackals head. 3d. A beautiful alabaster box
containing spherical beads of green jade, as large as pigeons' eggs
and brilliantly polished.[IX-70]

  [Illustration: Skin-clad Aztec Priest.]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: HILL OF TEZCOCINGO.]

About three miles eastward from Tezcuco is the isolated rocky hill
known as Tezcocingo, which rises with steep <DW72>s in conical form to
the height of perhaps six hundred feet above the plain. A portion of
one side of the hill, beginning at a point probably on the
south-eastern <DW72>, is graded very much as if intended for a modern
railroad, forming a level terrace round a part of the circumference.
From the termination of the grading, an embankment with level summit,
variously estimated at from sixty to two hundred feet high, connects
this hill with another three quarters of a mile distant, the side of
which is likewise graded into a terrace thirty feet wide and a mile
and a half long, extending two thirds round the circumference; and
then another embankment stretches away towards the mountains ten or
fifteen miles distant, although no one seems to have recorded any
attempt to explore its whole extent. The object of both grading and
embankments was to support an aqueduct or pipe ten inches in diameter,
which is still in very good preservation at several points. Waddy
Thompson brought away a piece of the water-pipe as a relic, and he
pronounces the material to be a very hard plaster made of lime and
small portions of a soft red stone. "It is about two feet wide, and
has a trough in the centre about ten inches wide. This trough is
covered with a convex piece of the same plaster, which being placed
upon it when the plaster was soft, seems to be all one piece, making
together a tube of ten inches in diameter, through which the water
flowed from the distant mountains to the basin, which it enters
through a round hole about the size of one made with a two-inch auger.
No plasterer of the present day can construct a more beautiful piece
of work; it is in its whole extent as smooth as the plastering on a
well-finished wall, and is as hard as stone." Mayer tells us that the
aqueduct was made of baked clay, the pipes being as perfect as when
they were first laid. He also seems to imply that along the graded
terraces the water was conducted in a ditch, or canal, instead of the
regular pipes. But Tylor, on the other hand, says "the channel of the
aqueduct was made principally of blocks of the same material
[porphyry], on which the smooth stucco that had once covered the
whole, inside and out, still remained very perfect."

  [Illustration: Montezuma's Bath.]

  [Sidenote: MONTEZUMA'S BATH.]

At the termination of the aqueduct on the eastern <DW72> of Tezcocingo,
on the brink of a precipitous descent of two hundred feet to the
plain, is the work shown in the cut, from Mayer, hewn from the living
rock of reddish porphyry, and popularly known as Montezuma's Bath.
There was of course no reason whatever to attach this name to it, for
although it is possible, if not probable, that it may have been used
for a bath, it is very certain that it never belonged to Montezuma,
but rather to Nezahualcoyotl or some other of the Tezcucan
kings.[IX-71] The circular basin in the centre is four feet and a half
in diameter, and three feet deep, and the circular aperture through
which it received water from the aqueduct, is shown in the cut,
together with what seem to be seats cut in the rock. Respecting this
monument Col. Mayer says: "Its true use, however, is perfectly evident
to those who are less fanciful or antiquarian than the generality of
visiters. The picturesque view from this spot, over a small plain set
in a frame of the surrounding mountains and glens which border the
eastern side of Tescocingo, undoubtedly made this recess a favorite
resort for the royal personages at whose expense these costly works
were made. From the surrounding seats, they enjoyed a delicious
prospect over the lovely but secluded scenery, while, in the basin, at
their feet, were gathered the waters of a neighboring spring,
[implying that the basin and aqueduct were not connected] which,
whilst refreshing them after their promenade on the mountain, gurgled
out of its stony channel and fell in a mimic cascade over the
precipitous cliff that terminated their path. It was to this shady
spot that they no doubt retired in the afternoon, when the sun was hot
on the west of the mountain, and here the sovereign and his court, in
all probability, enjoyed the repose and privacy which were denied them
amid the bustle of the city."

Accounts of the other remains at Tezcocingo are somewhat confused. On
the northern <DW72> is another recess, bordered by seats cut in the
living rock, and leading to a perpendicular cliff on which a calendar
is said to have been carved, but destroyed by the natives in later
days. Traces of a spiral road winding up to the summit were found by
Mayer. Tylor reports a terrace round the hill near the top, some
sculptured blocks on the summit, and a second circular bath. Bullock
speaks of "ruins of a very large building--the cemented stones
remaining in some places covered with stucco, and forming walks and
terraces, but much encumbered with earth fallen from above.... As we
descended our guide showed us in the rock a large reservoir for
supplying with water the palace, whose walls still remained eight feet
high; and as we examined farther, we found that the whole mountain had
been covered with palaces, temples, baths and hanging gardens."
Beaufoy saw a mass of porphyry on the summit, which had been fashioned
artificially and furnished with steps. The whole surface, overgrown
with nopal-bushes, abounds in fragments of pottery, obsidian, cement,
and stone.[IX-72]

  [Sidenote: BOSQUE DEL CONTADOR.]

North-westward from Tezcuco on the level plain is the Bosque del
Contador, a grove of _ahuehuetes_, or cypresses, arranged in a double
row and enclosing a square area of about ten acres, whose sides face
the cardinal points. The trees are between five and six hundred in
number, some of them forty to fifty feet in circumference, and are
supposed to date from a time preceding the conquest. The ground on
which they stand is firm and somewhat raised above the level of the
surrounding plain, which itself is but little above the waters of the
lake. The enclosed area, however, is soft, miry, and impassable. It is
uncertain whether this area was originally an inland lake surrounded
by trees, or an island grove in the waters of the lake. From the
north-west corner of the square a double row of similar trees extends
some distance westward, and near its termination is a <DW18> and a
walled tank full of water; at the north-east corner, a rectangular
mass of porphyry is said to project above the surface and to be
surrounded by a ditch; and from this point some traces of a causeway
may be seen extending towards the east. Small stone idols, articles of
pottery, and various small relics have been dug up in and about this
grove, which was not improbably a favorite promenade of the Chichimec,
or Acolhuan monarchs.[IX-73]

On the hacienda of Chapingo, about a league south of Tezcuco, an
ancient causeway was found in excavating, at a depth of four feet
below the surface, the cedar piles of which were in a good state of
preservation. Under the causeway was the skeleton of a mastodon, and
similar skeletons are said to have been found at other points in the
valley of Mexico.[IX-74]

  [Illustration: Bridge at Huejutla.]

At Huejutla, also in the vicinity of Tezcuco, a wall was still
standing as late as 1834, which was nearly thirty feet high, between
five and six feet thick, and built of stone and mortar. From bottom to
top the wall was divided into five distinct divisions distinguished by
the arrangement of the stones. The widest of these divisions was built
of cylindrical and oval stones, the rounded ends of which projected
symmetrically. The wall terminates on the east at a ravine, which is
crossed by a bridge of a single span, twenty feet long and forty feet
high. The span is an arch of peculiar construction, being formed of
stone slabs, set on edge, and the interstices filled with mortar. The
irregularities of the stones and the firmness of the mortar support
the structure, forming a near approach to the regular arch as shown in
the cut from Tylor. Its antiquity has been doubted, but the near
approximation to the keystone arch seems to be the only argument
against the theory that it was built by the natives, and as we have
seen a very similar arch in the mounds of Metlaltoyuca, there seems to
be no good reason to attribute it to the Spaniards. This is probably
the bridge known as the Puente de los Bergantines, where Cortes is
said to have launched his brigantines which rendered so efficient
service in the siege of Mexico. The fact that it is set askew instead
of crossing the ravine at right angles with the banks adds greatly to
the difficulty of its construction. Near this place there are also
some heaps of debris, which according to Bullock could be identified
in 1823 as small adobe pyramids; and the foundations of a building and
two reservoirs, one of the latter in good preservation and covered
with rose- cement, were mentioned. Beaufoy tells us that in
1826 a serpent's head carved in stone protruded from the ground near
the modern church. A stone column, seven feet high, was among the
relics seen; it had a well-carved pyramidal piece of hornblende on its
top. Two idols of stone were brought away, one of them described by
Latrobe as "an ugly monster of an idol in a sitting posture, deftly
carved in a hard volcanic substance."[IX-75]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: RUINS OF TEOTIHUACAN.]

Not quite two miles north-east from the little village of San Juan,
and about twenty-five miles in the same direction from Mexico, on the
road to Otumba, are the ruins of Teotihuacan, 'city of the gods,' to
which, according to Brasseur, the names Veitioacan, 'city of signals,'
and Toltecat are sometimes applied in the native traditional
annals.[IX-76] These monuments stand on a plain which <DW72>s gently
towards the south, and are included in a rectangular space of about a
third of a mile from east to west and a mile and a half from north to
south, extending from the Tulancingo road on the north to the Otumba
road on the south, with, however, some small mounds outside of the
limits mentioned. By reason of its nearness to Mexico, Teotihuacan,
like Cholula, has naturally had hundreds of visitors in modern times,
and is more or less fully described by all the early chroniclers.
Humboldt, Bullock, Beaufoy, Ward, Latrobe, Mayer, Thompson, Tylor, and
many other actual visitors have written accounts, which still others
have quoted; but by far the most complete and reliable account, which
is also the latest, is that given in the report of a scientific
commission appointed by the Mexican government in 1864, accompanied by
plates prepared from careful measurements and photographic views. I
have used this report as my chief authority, carefully noting,
however, all points respecting which other authorities differ.[IX-77]

  [Illustration: Plan of Teotihuacan.]

The annexed cut, reduced from that of Almaraz, shows clearly, on a
scale of about twenty-five hundred and fifty feet to an inch, the plan
of the different monuments. I shall describe them in the following
order:--1st. The Pyramid of the Moon, A of the plan; 2d. The Pyramid
of the Sun, B; 3d. The Road of the Dead, CD; 4th. The Citadel, E; 5th.
The scattered mounds and miscellaneous relics.

  [Sidenote: HOUSE OF THE MOON.]

The first pyramid, Metztli Itzacual, 'house of the moon,' [I find no
word in Molina's Vocabulary corresponding at all to _Itzacual_ with
the meaning of 'house.' It may be a compound of _calli_ incorrectly
written] the most northern of the remains, measures four hundred and
twenty-six feet north and south, and five hundred and eleven feet east
and west at the base, has a summit platform of about thirty-six by
sixty feet, and is a hundred and thirty-seven feet high, the sides
facing almost exactly the cardinal points.[IX-78] The <DW72> of the
sides, according to Beaufoy's observations, is at an angle of about
forty-five degrees. The pyramid, as seen from a little distance, bears
much resemblance to a natural hill, being overgrown with shrubbery;
still the regular original outlines and angles are much more apparent
here than in the case of Cholula, already described, as is proven by
the photographs taken by the Mexican commission. A terrace, three feet
wide, is plainly visible at a height of sixty-nine feet from the base,
but a close examination shows there were originally three of these
terraces, dividing the pyramid into four stories, except on the east,
which has no terrace, and where the commission mentioned claim to have
found traces of a zigzag road leading up the <DW72>, as shown in the
plan. None but the authority referred to have discovered the zigzag
path, and no other explorers note that the terraces were interrupted
on one side of the pyramid. Humboldt states that the space between the
terraces was divided into smaller grades, or steps, about three feet
high, still visible, and also that there still remained parts of a
stairway of large blocks of hewn stone. Mr Tylor also says, not
referring to this pyramid particularly: "As we climbed up their sides,
we could trace the terraces without any difficulty, and even flights
of steps." There is hardly any other American monument respecting
which the best authorities differ so essentially.[IX-79]

  [Sidenote: HOUSE OF THE MOON.]

The material of the structure has generally been described as a
conglomerate of small irregular stones and clay, encased, according to
Humboldt and most other writers, in a wall of the porous volcanic
rock, tetzontli; or this facing covered with a coating of stucco,
which is salmon-, light blue, streaked, and red, according to
the views of different observers. The Mexican commissioners disagree
with all previous explorers by doing away altogether with the facing
of hewn stone, and representing the facing to consist of different
conglomerates arranged in successive layers, as follows:--1st, small
stones from eight to twelve inches in diameter, with mud, forming a
layer of about thirty-two inches; 2d, fragments of volcanic tufa as
large as a man's fist, also in mud, to the thickness of sixteen
inches; 3d, small grains of tetzontli, of the size of peas, with mud,
twenty-eight inches thick; 4th, a very thin and smooth coat of pure
lime mortar. These layers are repeated in the same order nine times,
and are parallel to the <DW72>s of the pyramid, which would make the
thickness of the superficial facing about sixty feet. There have been
no excavations sufficiently deep to show what may be the material in
the centre. Almaraz states that a somewhat different order and
thickness of the strata was observed in certain excavations, or
galleries, to be described later; but none of these galleries are
described as of sufficient depth to penetrate the facing of sixty
feet, and the exact meaning of the report in question it is very
difficult to determine. I give in a note, however, what others have
said of the building-material.[IX-80]

The excavation, or gallery, already referred to, extends about
twenty-five feet on an incline into the pyramid from an entrance on
the southern <DW72>, between the second and third terraces according to
Mayer, about sixty-nine feet above the base according to Almaraz. It
is large enough to permit the passage of a man on hands and knees, and
at its inner termination are two square wells, walled with blocks of
volcanic tufa three inches thick, or, as Mayer says, of adobes,--about
five feet square, and one of them fifteen feet deep. No relics
whatever have been found in connection with gallery or wells; Almaraz
speaks of the former as simply excavations by treasure-hunters, and
mentions only one well, without stating its location with respect to
the gallery. Mr Loewenstern states that the gallery is a hundred and
fifty-seven feet long, increasing in height to over six feet and a
half, as it penetrates the pyramid; that the well is over six feet
square, extending apparently down to the base and up to the summit;
and that other cross galleries are blocked up by debris. Still lower
on this <DW72>, at the very base according to the plan, is a small
mound like those scattered over the plain to be described later. Mr
Bullock claims to have found on the summit, in 1823, walls of rough
stones, eight feet high and three feet thick, forming a square
enclosure fourteen by forty-seven feet, with a doorway on the south,
and three windows on each side. This author's unsupported statements
may be taken always with some allowance for the play of his
imagination.

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: HOUSE OF THE SUN.]

Some eight hundred and seventy-five yards south of the House of the
Moon, between it and the Rio San Juan, at B of the plan, stands the
Tonatiuh Itzacual, or 'house of the sun,' also called sometimes in
tradition, according to Brasseur and Veytia, Tonacatecuhtli, 'god of
subsistence.' In material, form, and construction, it is precisely the
same, so far as my authorities go, as its northern companion; indeed,
many of the remarks which I have quoted in the preceding description,
were applied by the authors to both pyramids alike. Its dimensions
are, however, considerably larger, and its sides vary about sixteen
degrees from the cardinal points. It measures at the base seven
hundred and thirty-five feet from east to west, and is two hundred and
three feet high. Beaufoy estimated the size of the summit platform at
sixty by ninety feet.[IX-81]

This pyramid is in better condition than the other, and the three
terraces are plainly visible, although as before no one but Almaraz
has discovered that they do not extend completely round the four
sides, and the latter author states that the zigzag path on the
eastern <DW72> is much more clearly defined and makes more angles than
that on the House of the Moon. Beaufoy found a path leading up the
<DW72> at the north-west corner, and Humboldt's remarks about a
stairway of stone blocks may apply to this pyramid as well as to the
other. Bullock states that the second terrace is thirty-eight feet
wide. There are no traces of buildings on the summit or of galleries
in the interior, but this, like the other pyramid, has a small mound
on one of its sides near the base, and this mound seems to have
embankments connecting it with the road on the west. The House of the
Sun is also surrounded on the north, south, and east, according to the
report of the Mexican commission, by the embankment _a_, _b_, _c_,
_d_, which is a hundred and thirty feet wide on the summit, and twenty
feet high, with sloping sides, widening out at the extremities, _a_
and _d_, into unequal rectangular platforms. It is certainly very
remarkable that among the many visitors to Teotihuacan no one had
found any traces of this embankment before 1864.

Twelve hundred and fifty yards still further south across the stream
is the Texcalpa, 'citadel,' 'palace,' or 'stone house,' as it is
called, or defined, by different writers. The Citadel is a
quadrangular enclosure, whose sides measure twelve hundred and
forty-six and thirteen hundred and thirty-eight feet respectively, or
nine hundred and eighty-four feet square according to Linares, and are
exactly parallel with those of the Pyramid of the Sun. The enclosing
walls, or embankments, are two hundred and sixty-two feet thick and
thirty-three feet high, except on the west side, where it is but
sixteen feet high; their material not being mentioned, but presumably
the same as that of the pyramids. A cross-embankment of smaller
dimensions divides the square area into two unequal parts, and on its
centre stands a smaller pyramid, said by Linares to be ninety-two feet
high, in ruins, having traces of a stairway, or path, on its eastern
<DW72>. Two small mounds stand at the western base of the small
pyramid, one is found in the western enclosure, and fourteen,
averaging twenty feet in height, are symmetrically arranged on the
summit of the main embankments, as shown in the plan. The Citadel in
some of its features seems to bear a slight resemblance to the works
at Tenampua, in Honduras, and at Monte Alban, in Oajaca.[IX-82]

  [Sidenote: PATH OF THE DEAD.]

Just south of the House of the Moon a line of mounds, C D, forms
nearly a circular enclosure about six hundred feet in diameter, with a
small mound in the centre. From this area two parallel lines of mounds
extend south 15 deg. west, parallel also with the sides of the House of
the Sun and Citadel, for two hundred and fifty rods to the Rio San
Juan, forming an avenue two hundred and fifty feet wide, called by the
natives, as in the Toltec traditions, Micaotli, 'path of the
dead.'[IX-83] The mounds that form this avenue are of conical or
semispherical form, and of different dimensions, the largest being
over thirty feet in height. They are built of stone fragments, earth,
and clay, and stand close together, so as to resemble in some parts a
continuous embankment. Six cross-embankments divide the southern part
of the Path of the Dead into compartments, three of which have a mound
in their centre. Linares represents the avenue as extending four or
five miles beyond the House of the Moon, to the Cerro de Tlaginga; and
Mayer in his plan terminates it on the south at a point opposite the
House of the Sun, where it is crossed by the modern path.

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: MOUNDS OF TEOTIHUACAN.]

Besides the mounds, or _tlalteles_ that form the Path of the Dead,
there are numerous others of the same form and material--being, so far
as known, mere heaps of stone and earth--scattered over the plain,
some of them in lines or groups, with an approach to regularity, and
others with no apparent arrangement. They vary in height from four or
five to twenty-five or thirty feet. Respecting these tlalteles I quote
from Almaraz as follows: "In them many excavations have been made,
causing most of the dilapidation which is noted; some of them executed
for scientific purposes in search of archaeological objects; others
made by ignorant and rapacious persons, impelled by a hope of finding
falsely reported treasures: Neither have there been wanting, and this
is the cause of most of the destruction, persons of evil intentions
who undertake to demolish the ruins in order to obtain the hewn blocks
of porphyry which are used in the construction of their barbarous
dwellings; and they do not even preserve the blocks, but break and
destroy them; in this manner have perished relics truly precious.
Almost under my eyes there were taken from one of the tlalteles eight
hewn blocks four by three and a half feet; the outer faces were
sculptured, representing a strange and grotesque figure, with the head
of a serpent and of some other fierce animal, like a tiger or lion;
they were curved on the outside, and all must have formed a circular
monument seventeen feet in diameter; they were broken up without pity,
although I was able to make a drawing of one of them. In the same
tlaltel were other sculptured stones.... In the houses of San Juan de
Teotihuacan are seen some of these sculptures built into the walls,
and in the Ventilla, near the ruins, I have seen stones representing
in my opinion a serpent.... Of all the objects of this class the most
notable is a monolith found among the debris of a tlaltel, and of
which I give a drawing [see next page.] It is a parallelopipedon ten
feet and a half high, and five feet and a half wide and thick,"
weighing, according to the author's calculations, over fifteen tons.
"I had an excavation made in one of the smallest, and found four walls
meeting at right angles and forming a square; they are inclined, and
within are found some steps which are parallel to it [the square]; in
the upper part of these, begin four other walls also inclined,
containing a little room:--I thought it was a tomb, although I have
some doubts about its true object."[IX-84] The people of the vicinity
said that in one of the mounds there had been found a stone box
containing a skull, beads, and various curious relics of beryl,
serpentine, heliotrope, and obsidian. They also claimed to have found
quantities of gold-dust and gold vases.

  [Illustration: Monolith from a Teotihuacan Mound.]

Humboldt speaks of hundreds of these mounds arranged in streets
running exactly east and west and north and south from the pyramids.
Mayer's plan represents a square area partly enclosed by a line of
tlalteles north-east of the House of the Moon. According to Latrobe,
the mounds extend for miles towards Tezcuco; and Waddy Thompson is
confident that they are the ruins of an ancient city nearly as large
as Mexico. The Citadel he calls the public square of twenty acres with
a stone building in the centre, and he also finds traces of several
other smaller squares. The streets are marked by large piles of rock
resembling--except in size--potato-hills, formed by falling buildings.
In the opinion of this author it is simply absurd to suppose these
heaps to have been formed as separate mounds. Thompson also found a
number of circular niches two feet in diameter on the bank of a ravine
west of the other remains.[IX-85]

  [Illustration: The Fainting-Stone at Teotihuacan.]

Mayer found, near _i_ of the plan--as nearly as can be determined by
his plan, which differs considerably in detail from the one I have
given--a globular mass of granite nineteen feet eight inches in
circumference; also, near _m_, the stone block shown in the cut. It is
ten feet and a half long, five feet wide, lies exactly east and west,
and is found in the centre of a group of small mounds. The cut shows
the sculpture on the face turned toward the south, that on the top and
north being very indistinct. At _b_ of the cut is a hollow described
as three inches deep at the sides, and six at top and bottom.
Notwithstanding Col. Mayer's opinion to the contrary, it is most
natural to regard this monument as an overturned pillar. The natives
believe that whoever sits or reclines on this stone will immediately
faint.[IX-86]

  [Sidenote: MISCELLANEOUS RELICS.]

At the time of the Conquest statues of the sun and moon are reported
to have been found on the summits of their respective pyramids. The
gold plates which are said to have covered or decorated these idols
were of course immediately appropriated by the Spanish soldiers, and
the idols themselves broken by order of the priests. Gemelli Careri
claims to have seen fragments of their arms and legs at the base of
the pyramid, and Ramon del Moral assured Veytia that he had found the
colossal head of the statue of the moon, and that the pedestal still
remained in place; Veytia, however, could find no traces of such
relics in 1757, although Ixtlilxochitl and Boturini both claim to have
seen them.[IX-87] Mayer claims to have found well-defined traces of an
ancient road covered with cement, between the ruins and the village.
The whole surfaces of the pyramids, mounds, and much of the
surrounding plain, are literally strewn with the fragments of pottery
and obsidian; and small terra-cotta heads are offered to the visitor
in great quantities for sale, by the natives, who pick them up among
the ruins, or perhaps manufacture them when their search is not
sufficiently fruitful. Many of these heads have been brought away and
sketched, and they are very similar one to another. One of them,
sketched by Mr Vetch, is shown in the cut.[IX-88]

  [Illustration: Terra-Cotta Head--Teotihuacan.]

The ruins of Teotihuacan, like the pyramid of Cholula, contain no
internal evidences of their age. Its building is attributed in
different records to the Toltecs, Olmecs, and Totonacs, in the very
earliest period of Nahua supremacy. The name Teotihuacan is one of the
very earliest preserved in Nahua annals, and there can be but little
doubt that the pyramids are older than that of Cholula, or that they
were built at least as early as the sixth century, the commencement of
what is regarded as the Toltec era in Anahuac. The pyramids themselves
served, according to tradition, as places of sepulture, but not
altogether for this purpose, for Teotihuacan is spoken of as a great
centre of religious worship and priestly rites, a position it would
not have held had it been simply a burial place. It is altogether
probable that the houses of the Sun and Moon served the double purpose
of tombs and shrines, although there is no proof that any temples
proper ever stood on the summit as at Cholula. These structures are
said to have served as models for the Aztec teocallis of later times.
Don Lucas Alaman, a distinguished Mexican statesman and author,
believed that the numerous terra-cotta heads already spoken of were
relics distributed by the priests to the crowds of pilgrims that
assembled at the shrines.[IX-89]

At Otumba few relics of antiquity seem to have been discovered; Mayer,
however, gives a cut of a pillar ornamented with geometric sculptured
figures, which is said to have been found by Mr Poinsett. At Tizayuca,
a little north of the lake, a low hill is spoken of with a small hole
in the top, whence issues continually a current of air; I know not
whether there are evidences of anything artificial about this curious
phenomenon of more than doubtful authenticity. The same authority also
mentions some ruined buildings on the hacienda of San Miguel.[IX-90]
Brasseur de Bourbourg tells us that the ruins of Quetzalcoatl's temple
at Tulancingo were visible long after the Conquest, and also speaks of
a subterranean palace called Mictlancalco, and a stone cross
discovered on Mount Meztitlan. Veytia also speaks of the cross of
Meztitlan, sculptured together with a moon on a lofty and almost
inaccessible cliff; and Chaves barely mentions relics of antiquity not
described very definitely.[IX-91]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: OBSIDIAN MINES.]

At the Cerro de las Navajas, near Monte Jacal, about midway between
Real del Monte and Tulancingo, are the mines or quarries from which
the natives of Anahuac are believed to have obtained the large
quantities of obsidian used by them in the manufacture of their
implements and weapons. The mines are described as openings three or
four feet in diameter and one hundred and ten to one hundred and forty
feet in extent, probably horizontal, with side drifts wherever the
obsidian is of a desirable quality and most abundant. Large quantities
of the material are found in fragments of different shapes and sizes,
which throw some light on the manner in which the Aztecs manufactured
their knives and other implements.[IX-92] In the vicinity of Actopan,
at Mixquiahuala, we are told in a Mexican government report already
often quoted, that clay relics are frequently discovered.[IX-93] At
Atotonilco el Grande, south of Guautla, Mr Burkart found pieces of
obsidian of many-sided pyramidal form, from which knives had
apparently been split off by the natives in ancient times. The art of
working this intractable material has been practically lost in modern
times.[IX-94]

At Zacualtipan, in the north-eastern portion of Mexico, a very
peculiar monument is described, consisting of a house excavated from a
single stone. A doorway on the south, with columns at its sides, leads
to an apartment measuring about twelve by seven and a half feet, and
ten feet and a half high. The room contains the remains of a kind of
altar and a sculptured cross. A stone bench extends round the sides,
being two feet high and one foot wide. This main room is connected by
a doorway on the west with another very narrow one, in the south end
of which is what is described as a kind of stone bed measuring three
by six feet, all of the same stone. Another stone near by has a bath,
so-called, and still another, known as Caparrosa, has an inscription
painted in red. These remains are of so extraordinary a character,
that in the absence of confirmation the report must be considered
doubtful or erroneous. At Tecomal, north of Lolotla, a stone is
mentioned six feet high, which has six steps leading up to the summit,
where is an oval hole a yard and a half deep.[IX-95] At Monte Penulco
Mr Latrobe speaks of some remains probably of Spanish origin, like
many others that are attributed to the antiguos.[IX-96]

       *       *       *       *       *

Near San Juan de los Llanos, in the extreme north-eastern part of the
state, some forty leagues from the city of Mexico, the existence of a
ruined city was reported late in the eighteenth century on apparently
good authority; but I find no later mention of it. The description
bears some resemblance to that of Metlaltoyuca, discovered in 1865,
just across the line in Vera Cruz, twenty-five or thirty miles
north-east from San Juan. The two groups of remains may be identical,
or the earlier report may refer to other monuments, many of which very
probably exist yet undiscovered in that densely wooded district. The
ruined city near San Juan was described in 1786, by Sr Canete, as
covering an area of one league by three fourths of a league, surrounded
by walls of hewn stone laid without mortar, five to eight feet high
and very thick. A street running from east to west was paved with
volcanic stone, worn smooth, and guarded by battlements, or side walls.
Several ruined temples, sculptured blocks of stone, stone metates and
other implements, stone statues of men and animals--including a
lion--were found here, but all of a rather coarse workmanship. A tall
pine was growing on the summit of one of the temples, and there seemed
to be some evidence that the town had been abandoned for want of a
supply of water.[IX-97]

  [Sidenote: REMAINS AT TULA.]

  [Illustration: Earthen Vase--Tula.]

At Tula, north-west of the city of Mexico, the ancient Tollan, the
Toltec capital, we are told that extensive ruins remained at the time
of the Conquest,[IX-98] but very few relics have survived to the
present time, although some of the few that have been found here are
of a somewhat extraordinary character. The cut shows both sides of an
earthen vase from Tula, which, as Mayer says, is "of exquisitely
grained and tempered material, and ornamented with figures in
_intaglio_, resembling those found on the monuments in Yucatan."[IX-99]
Villa-Senor y Sanchez, one of the early Spanish writers, names Tula as
one of the many localities where giants' bones had been found.[IX-100]
A commission from the Mexican Geographical Society, composed of Drs
Manfred and Ord,--the latter an old resident of California, who takes
a deep interest in the antiquities and history of the Pacific
States--with Mr Porter C. Bliss,--whose large collection of Mexican
works, with some curious relics of antiquity, has been lately added to
my library--and Sr Garcia y Cubas, made an exploration of Tula and
vicinity in 1873, bringing to light some interesting monuments, of
which an illustrated account was published in the Boletin of the
society. The cut shows a very curious double column of basalt,
somewhat over eight feet high. The sculptured knots are interpreted by
the commissioners mentioned as the _tlalpilli_, or periods of thirteen
years. None of them occur on the reverse of the column. Other relics
discovered by this party included half of what seemed to be a kind of
calendar-stone, a large animal in basalt or monster idol, and some
hieroglyphic sculptures on the cliff of the Cerro de la Malinche.
There were also found the three fragments shown in the cut, which are
interesting as showing an aboriginal method of forming columns not
elsewhere met with in America, a round tenon on one part fitting
closely into a hole in the next. The largest of the three parts shown
is four feet long and two and three fourths feet in diameter. The
material is basalt and the sculpture is said to be well done. Most of
the Tula relics were found at the Cerro del Tesoro, west of the modern
village.[IX-101]

  [Illustration: Basaltic Column--Tula.]

  [Illustration: Parts of a Column--Tula.]

Gondra speaks of fine pieces of basalt and other stone, about nine
feet long, recently discovered on the hacienda of Tlahuililpan near
Tula, leaving it to be inferred that the blocks were artificially
shaped if not sculptured.[IX-102] Another author says that on the same
hacienda an idol six feet high has been found,[IX-103] and mentions
some ruins of dwellings about Jacala in the Tula district, especially
at Santa Maria de los Alamos and Cerro Prieto, and also a pillar in
the middle of the Rio de Montezuma.[IX-104] Other remains vaguely
reported to exist in this part of the state include a subterranean
arch at Huehuetoca, between Mexico and Tula, built by the natives to
keep the water from the capital; and a group of ruins at Chilcuautla,
among which are those of a temple of stone and mortar, and a pyramid
fifty-five feet long and seven feet high, with steps in a good state
of preservation.[IX-105]

       *       *       *       *       *

Still further north-west in the state of Queretaro, three groups of
antiquities are reported, but very inadequately described. At Pueblito
a league and a half south of the city of Queretaro, said to have been
a favorite resort for Mexican tourists and invalids in the last
century, there stood on a natural elevation, in 1777, the foundations
of a large rectangular building. The walls were built of stones laid
in clay, and were not, when visited, standing above the level of the
ground, one or two feet having been, however, brought to light by
excavation. On the east and west of the main building were two smaller
ones, from which many idols and other relics, including round polished
stones pierced through the centre, are said to have been taken. A
pavement of clay is also spoken of in connection with these ruins. On
the same elevation stood an artificial sugar-loaf-shaped mound, built
of alternate layers of loose stones and mud, having at its summit a
level mesa thirty-three feet in diameter. It is said that many idols,
sculptured fragments, pedestals, architectural decorations, and flint
arrow-heads from Pueblito, were sent to enrich collections in the city
of Mexico. The only writer on the subject, Sr Morfi, attempts some
descriptions of the sculpture, but as is usual with such accounts
unaccompanied by cuts, they convey no idea whatever of the subjects
treated. Certain adobe ruins of doubtful antiquity were also shown to
the author mentioned.[IX-106]

  [Sidenote: CANOAS AND RANAS.]

In the Sierra de Canoas, between thirty and forty miles north-east of
Queretaro, is a steep hill known as Cerro de la Ciudad, the summit of
which is very strongly fortified. A lithographic plate showing a
general view of the hill is given in a Mexican government report, but
I do not copy it because the view is too distant to show anything
further than what has already been said; namely, that the hill is
steep, and the summit covered with strong stone fortifications.
Another plate shows simply the arrangement of the stones, which are
brick-shaped blocks, whose dimensions are not given, laid in a mortar
of reddish clay and lime. There are in all forty-five defensive works
on the hill, including a wall about forty feet in height, and a
rectangular platform with an area of five thousand square feet. Some
large trees, one of them three hundred years old by its rings, are
growing over the ruins. It is very unfortunate that we have no ground
plan of these fortifications.[IX-107]

Two or three leagues north-west of the ruins last mentioned is the
rancheria of Ranas, situated in a small valley enclosed by hills on
every side, on the summits of most of which are still to be seen
traces of an ancient population. The fortifications on these hills
seem to resemble, so far as may be determined by the slight accounts
extant, those of the barranca-girt peninsular plateaux of Vera Cruz.
One hill-summit on the north has a pyramid sixty-five feet square at
the base, with four stairways leading to the top. Near the pyramid is
a burial mound, or _cuicillo_, in which with a human skeleton were
found marine shells, pottery, and beads. The cuicillos are numerous
throughout the whole region, and marine shells are of frequent
occurrence in them. From a mound in the vicinity of San Juan Del Rio
some idols were taken as well.[IX-108]

From an article read before the Mexican Geographical Society by Sr
Ballesteros in 1872, I quote the following extracts: "What all down to
the present time called cities (Canoas and Ranas), are only the
fortified points which guarded the city proper, which was situated
between the two at the point called Ranas, where was the residence of
the monarch. In a region absolutely broken up and cut in all
directions by enormous barrancas, caused by the sinking of whole
mountains, the settlement could not be symmetrically laid out, but was
scattered, as it is still found, in the bottom of ravines, on the
<DW72>s and tops of the hills for many leagues." A small lake, and a
perennial spring are supposed to have been the attractions of this
locality in the eyes of the ancient people. "On all the hills about
are still seen vestiges of their monuments, particularly what are
called cuicillos, scattered in every direction from the pueblo of El
Doctor to the banks of the streams that drain the valley opposite
Zimapan, and even to that of Estorax. Although beforehand I believed
that the capital was situated in the central part of Ranas, still this
idea was rather vague; but now I think I may be sure of it, since I
have found a place surrounded with little elevations, with all the
signs of a circular plaza, with many remains of monuments, which have
been destroyed through ignorance and greed. In my presence were
destroyed the last remains of a cuicillo to found a house, the work
not being checked by the presence of the bodies of a man and woman,
whose skulls, which I wished to remove, were reduced to dust by the
simple touch of the hand. This circumstance may serve to-day as a
proof that the cuicillos are nothing but mortuary monuments erected
over the sepulchres of persons of rank, more or less grand according
to the power of the pueblo, or of the relatives of the deceased." "The
idea of a remote antiquity is proved by the presence of the remains of
very large oaks which sprang up among the edifices, grew and died, and
from the ashes of which others equally large have grown up and cover
to-day the majestic remains with their shade." "The summit of the hill
on which it [the fortification] was founded is somewhat over a quarter
of a league long, and between wall and wall there is room for three
thousand men without crowding. The terrible sinking of the mountains
cut down the cliffs, which are perpendicular on the north to a height
of over eleven hundred feet. On the brow of the cliff was built the
superimposed wall of stone, of a very considerable thickness, and
terraced on the interior where the warriors were sheltered. On the
highest part of the wall there is a kind of tower, the height of which
from the bottom of the ravine is not less than sixteen hundred and
fifty feet. The hill has only one entrance, but at the same time it
has three projecting points which impeded the enemy from approaching
in sufficient numbers to make an assault. At this same point is the
tower which was perhaps the residence of the chief of the fortress,
the view from which commanded the only two roads by which the enemies
could approach." "The two fortifications (Canoas and Ranas) are about
two leagues distant one from the other, and throughout the whole
extent are seen the remains of the settlement, which territory the
natives still inhabit. That of Canoas guards the entrance of Zimapan
by way of Santo Domingo and Maconi; and that of Ranas protects the
approach to Cadereyta and Pinal de Amoles."[IX-109]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: MISCELLANEOUS REMAINS.]

I have now mentioned all the relics of antiquity that have been found
in stated localities within the central Mexican region, which was to
constitute the geographical basis of this chapter. Besides these
relics, however, there are very many others in antiquarian
collections, public or private, in different parts of the world,
respecting which all that is known is that they are Mexican, that is,
were brought from some part of the Mexican Republic, or even from the
northern Central American states. Probably a larger part did actually
originate in that part of the Republic which has been treated of in
the present and the two preceding chapters. Very few, if any, came
from the broad northern regions, whose few scattered remains will form
the subject of the following chapter. Neither do the general remarks
of different writers on Mexican antiquities refer, except very
slightly, to any northern monuments; consequently I may introduce here
better than elsewhere such miscellaneous matter as would naturally
come at the close of my description of Nahua antiquities.

  [Sidenote: THE MEXICAN MUSEUM.]

The collections in the city of Mexico, embracing relics of aboriginal
times gathered at different dates from all parts of the country, are
described by travelers as very rich, but little cared for. The public
collections were gradually united in the National Museum, where it is
to be supposed they are still preserved and cared for under government
auspices. M. de Waldeck at one time undertook the work of publishing
lithographic plates of the relics in the Museum, but never completed
it, and so far as I know no systematic catalogue has ever been given
to the public. Every visitor to the city has had something to say of
these monuments, but most have given their attention to the
calendar-stone, and a few other well-known and famous objects. Many
copies have been made by traveling artists, and such is the source
whence many of the cuts in the preceding pages have been taken.
Respecting the various private collections of Mexico, frequently
changing hands, and scattered more or less to foreign lands at every
succeeding revolution, I do not deem it important to notice them in
this place, especially as I have no information about their present
number and condition, or the effects of the French intervention.

M. de Fossey represents the Museum as containing "a hundred masks of
obsidian, of serpentine, and of marble; a collection of vases of
marble and clay; implements in clay, in wood, and in stone; metallic
mirrors; amulets and ornaments in agate, coral, and shell," all in
great confusion.[IX-110] Mr Mayer gives perhaps the most complete
account of the monuments gathered in this and some other collections
in the city of Mexico, illustrated by many cuts besides those which I
have had occasion to copy or to mention in describing the monuments of
particular localities. I make some quotations from this author
respecting miscellaneous objects. "In the city of Mexico I constantly
saw serpents, carved in stone, in the various collections of
antiquities. One was presented to me by the Conde del Penasco, and the
drawings below represent the figures of two 'feathered serpents,'
which, after considerable labor I disinterred (I may say,) from a heap
of dirt and rubbish, old boxes, chicken-coops, and decayed fruit, in
the court-yard of the University." "The carving with which they are
covered is executed with a neatness and gracefulness that would make
them, as mere ornaments, worthy of the chisel of an ancient sculptor."
"On the benches around the walls, and scattered over the floor, are
numberless figures of dogs, monkeys, lizards, birds, serpents, all in
seemingly inextricable confusion and utter neglect." A mortar of
basalt with a coiled serpent round the rim, and a beautifully cut
human head of the same material. "In the adjoining cases [of the
Museum] are all the smaller Mexican antiquities, which have been
gathered together by the labor of many years, and arranged with some
attention to system. In one department you find the hatchets used by
the Indians; the ornaments of beads of obsidian and stone worn round
their necks; the mirrors of obsidian; the masks of the same material,
which they hung at different seasons before the faces of their idols;
their bows and arrows, and arrow-heads of obsidian, some of them so
small and beautifully cut, that the smallest birds might be killed
without injuring their plumage. In another department are the smaller
idols of the ancient Indians, in clay and stone, specimens of which,
together with the small domestic altars and vases for burning incense,
are exhibited in the following [IX-7] drawings. Many of these figures
were doubtless worn suspended around the neck, or hung on the walls of
houses, as several are pierced with holes, through which cords have
evidently passed. In the next place is a collection of Mexican vases
and cups, most of which were discovered ... in the Island of
Sacrificios," and have consequently been already mentioned. There
follow cuts of an axe and two pipes; nine small clay idols; and seven
musical instruments. Sixteen cuts of objects from the Penasco
collection are also given.[IX-111]

  [Illustration: Bronze Bells--Christy Collection.]

Mr Tylor tells us that the Uhde collection at Heidelberg is a far
finer one than that in Mexico, except in the department of
picture-writings; it contains a large number of stone idols and
trinkets, pipes, and calendars. The Christy collection in London is
particularly rich in small sculptured figures, many of them from
Central America. It includes the squatting female figure carved from
hard black basalt, fifteen inches high and seven and a half inches
wide, described by Humboldt as an Aztec priestess;[IX-112] and also
bronze needles and the bronze bells shown in the cut, which I take
from Tylor. The same author also describes and illustrates various
other relics seen by him in Mexican and European collections. These
include stone and obsidian knives, spear-heads, and arrow-heads; heads
and small idols in terra cotta; pottery, consisting of vases, altars,
censers, rattles, flageolets, and whistles; and masks of obsidian,
stone, wood, and terra-cotta. Respecting obsidian relics Mr Tylor
says, "Anyone who does not know obsidian may imagine great masses of
bottle-glass, such as our orthodox ugly wine bottles are made of, very
hard, very brittle, and--if one breaks it with any ordinary
implement--going, as glass does, in every direction but the right
one." "Out of this rather unpromising stuff the Mexicans made knives,
razors, arrow- and spear-heads, and other things, some of great
beauty. I say nothing of the polished obsidian mirrors and ornaments,
nor even of the curious masks of the human face that are to be seen in
collections, for these were only laboriously cut and polished with
jewelers' sand, to us a common-place process." "We got several
obsidian maces or lance-heads--one about ten inches long--which were
taper from base to point, and covered with taper flutings; and there
are other things which present great difficulties." "The axes and
chisels of stone are so exactly like those found in Europe that it is
quite impossible to distinguish them. The bronze hatchet-blades are
thin and flat, slightly thickened at the sides to give them strength,
and mostly of a very peculiar shape, something like a "T",
but still more resembling the section of a mushroom cut vertically
through the middle of the stalk."[IX-113] These supposed hatchets
were, according to some authorities, coins. They are extremely light
to be used as hatchets. "Many specimens are to be seen of the red and
black ware of Cholula." "The terra-cotta rattles are very
characteristic. They have little balls in them which shake about, and
they puzzled us much as the apple-dumpling did good King George, for
we could not make out very easily how the balls got inside. They were
probably attached very slightly to the inside, and so baked and then
broken loose." A cut is given of a brown lava mask from the Christy
collection, which seems to have some sculptured figures on the
inside.[IX-114]

  [Illustration: Mosaic Knife--Christy Collection.]

  [Sidenote: MOSAIC WORK.]

There are three very remarkable mosaic relics in the Christy
collection, one of which is the knife represented in the cut, which I
take from Waldeck's fine  plate, although most of the
information respecting these relics comes from Tylor. The blade is of
a semi-translucent chalcedony found in the volcanic regions of Mexico.
The uncolored cut gives but a faint idea of the beauty of the handle,
which is covered with a complicated mosaic work of a bright green
turquoise, malachite, and both white and red shell. It is certainly
most extraordinary to find a people still in the stone age, as is
proved by the blade, able to execute so perfect a piece of work as the
handle exhibits. Two masks of the same style of workmanship are
preserved in the same collection. "The mask of wood is covered with
minute pieces of turquoise--cut and polished, accurately fitted, many
thousands in number, and set on a dark gum or cement. The eyes,
however, are acute-oval patches of mother-of-pearl; and there are two
small square patches of the same on the temples, through which a
string passed to suspend the mask; and the teeth are of hard white
shell. The eyes are perforated, and so are the nostrils, and the upper
and lower teeth are separated by a transverse chink.... The face,
which is well-proportioned, pleasing, and of great symmetry, is
studded also with numerous projecting pieces of turquoise, rounded and
polished." The wood is the fragrant cedar or cypress of Mexico. The
knife handle is "sculptured in the form of a crouching human figure,
covered with the skin of an eagle, and presenting the well-known and
distinctive Aztec type of the human head issuing from the mouth of an
animal." "The second mask is yet more distinctive. The incrustation of
turquoise-mosaic is placed on the forehead, face, and jaws of a human
skull.... The mosaic of turquoise is interrupted by three broad
transverse bands, on the forehead, face, and chin, of a mosaic of
obsidian similarly cut (but in larger pieces) and highly polished,--a
very unusual treatment of this difficult and intractable material, the
use of which in any artistic way, appears to have been confined to the
Aztecs (with the exception, perhaps, of the Egyptians). The eye-balls
are nodules of iron-pyrites, cut hemispherically and highly polished,
and are surrounded by circles of hard white shell, similar to that
forming the teeth of the wooden mask. The Aztecs made their mirrors of
iron-pyrites polished, and are the only people who are known to have
put this material to ornamental use." These mosaic relics, and two
similar but damaged masks at Copenhagen, are probably American, if not
Aztec; but this cannot be directly proved; for while something is
known of their European history, their origin cannot be definitely
ascertained.[IX-115]

  [Illustration: Image of Huitzilopochtli.]

  [Sidenote: THE AZTEC HUITZILOPOCHTLI.]

The image shown in the following cut is given by Sr Gondra as
representing the Aztec deity Huitzilopochtli, although he gives no
reason for the opinion; nor does he name the material, or dimensions
of the relic. Sr Chavero also speaks of several images of the same
god, in his possession or seen by him. They are of sandstone, granite,
marble, quartz, and one of solid gold. Several had a well-defined
beard.[IX-116] Gondra gives plates of many weapons, implements of
sculpture and sacrifice, funeral urns, and musical instruments. The
_macana_, an Aztec aboriginal weapon, shown in the cut, is copied from
one of his plates. The material is probably a basaltic stone.[IX-117]

  [Illustration: An Aztec Macana.]

In 1831 a report was made to the French Geographical Society on a
collection of drawings of Mexican antiquities executed by M. Franck.
This collection embraced drawings of about six hundred objects, most
of them from the National Museum in Mexico; eighty in the museum of
the Philosophical Society at Philadelphia; forty in the Penasco
collection in Mexico, and others belonging to Castaneda and other
private individuals. They were classified as follows: one hundred and
eighty figures of men and women; fifty-five human heads in stone or
clay; thirty masks and busts; twenty heads of different animals;
seventy-five vases; forty ornaments; six bas-reliefs; six fragments;
thirty-three flageolets and whistles; and a miscellaneous collection
of weapons, implements, and divers objects.[IX-118]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.]

  [Illustration: Aztec Flageolet.]

  [Illustration: Terra-Cotta Musical Instrument.]

Sixteen specimens of Mexican relics, in the possession of M.
Latour-Allard in Paris, are represented by Kingsborough unaccompanied
by explanations. The objects are mostly sculptured heads, idols, and
animals. Bullock also gives plates of six Mexican idols, about which
nothing definite is said; Humboldt pictures an idol carried by him
from Mexico to Berlin; and Nebel's plates show about thirty
miscellaneous relics, in addition to those that have been already
mentioned. Humboldt also gives an Aztec hatchet of green feldspath or
jade, which has incised figures on its surface. He remarks that he
never has found this material 'in place' in Mexico, although axes made
of it are common enough.[IX-119] The two musical instruments shown in
the cuts are taken from Waldeck's plates. Their material is terra
cotta.[IX-120] Other miscellaneous cuts and descriptions are given in
the work of the German traveler Mueller, and in the appendix to the
German translation of Del Rio and Cabrera.[IX-121] Jose Maria
Bustamante told Mr Lyon of an obsidian ring, carried away by Humboldt,
which was perforated round the circumference so that a straw
introduced at one side would traverse the circle and come out again at
the same opening.[IX-122] The two idols shown in the cut were copied
by Kingsborough's artist in the British Museum. The figures of the cut
are one sixth of the original size.[IX-123] Prescott tells us that "a
great collection of ancient pottery, with various other specimens of
Aztec art, the gift of Messrs Poinsett and Keating, is deposited in
the cabinet of the American Philosophical Society, at Philadelphia," a
list of the relics having been printed in the _Transactions_ of that
Society.[IX-124]

  [Illustration: Aztec Idols--British Museum.]

  [Illustration: Phallic Relic in National Museum.]

  [Sidenote: HIEROGLYPHIC SCULPTURES.]

The preceding cut represents a serpentine relic preserved in the
National Museum, and shown to Col. Mayer--from whose album I copy
it--by Sr Gondra as a 'cosa muy curiosa.'

  [Illustration: Serpentine Hieroglyphic Block.]

Four interesting sculptured stones are represented and their
inscriptions interpreted by Sr Ramirez, in a Spanish edition of
Prescott's work. The first is a cylinder twenty-six inches long,
eleven inches in diameter, representing a bundle of straight sticks
bound with a double rope at each end. There are hieroglyphic
sculptures on one side and both ends, which are interpreted by Sr
Ramirez as a record of the feast which was celebrated at the last
'binding up of the years' in 1507. The second is a block of black lava
thirteen and a half by twelve and a half inches, bearing a serpent
carved in low relief. The third is a similar block somewhat larger,
with a sculptured inscription, supposed to represent the date of
November 28, 1456. The fourth monument is that shown in the cut. It is
a block of green serpentine, measuring thirty-eight by twenty-six
inches. According to the meaning attributed to the sculptures by
Ramirez, the lower inscription is the year 8 Acatl, or 1487; the upper
part shows the day 7 Acatl, or February 19. The left hand figure is
supposed to represent Ahuitzotl, and that on the right Tizoc. The
event commemorated by the whole sculpture is thought to be the
dedication of the great temple of Mexico, begun by Tizoc and completed
by Ahuitzotl. The same block is shown in one of Waldeck's
plates.[IX-125] I may also notice a small collection of Mexican relics
in my possession, obtained by Porter C. Bliss during his travels in
the country. This collection includes a grotesque mask of clay; a head
of terra-cotta, eight inches high and six inches wide, including
head-dress; a small head carved from limestone; a wooden teponaztli; a
copper coin or hatchet; five terra-cotta faces, whose dimensions are
generally about two inches; six fragments of pottery, mostly
ornamented with raised and indented figures--one with raised figures
added after the vessel was completed, one with painted figures, one
glazed, and one apparently engraved; and seven fragments, some of
which seem to have been handles or legs of large vessels.

I close my description of Mexican Antiquities with the two following
quotations, somewhat at variance with the matter contained in the
preceding pages. "This, like other American countries, is of too
recent civilization to exhibit any monuments of antiquity."[IX-126] "I
am informed by a person who resided long in New Spain and visited
almost every province of it, that there is not, in all the extent of
that vast empire, any monument or vestige of any building more ancient
than the conquest, nor of any bridge or highway, except some remains
of the causeway from Guadaloupe to the gate of Mexico."[IX-127] I give
in a note a list of authorities which contain descriptions more or
less complete of Mexican relics, but no information in addition to
what has been presented.[IX-128]

  [Sidenote: NAHUA MONUMENTS.]

No general view or resume of Nahua monuments seems necessary here, nor
are extensive concluding remarks called for, in addition to what has
been said in connection with particular groups of monuments, and to
the conclusions which the reader of the preceding pages will naturally
form. The most important bearing of the monuments as a whole is as a
confirmation of the Nahua civilization as it was found to exist in
the sixteenth century, reported in the pages of the conquerors and
early chroniclers, and as it has been exhibited in a preceding volume.
That there were exaggerations in the reports that have come down to us
is doubtless true, as it is very natural; but a people who could
execute the works that have been described and pictured in this and
the two preceding chapters, were surely far advanced in many of the
elements of what is termed civilization. And all this they did, it
must be remembered, while practically still in their 'stone age;' for
although copper was used by them, it has been seen that implements of
that metal but rarely occur in the list of relics described. It is
doubtful if any known people ever advanced so far under similar
circumstances--that is in their 'stone age,' or in the earlier stages
of their 'bronze age'--as did the Nahuas and Mayas of this continent.

Not only do the northern monuments confirm the reported culture
existing at the Conquest, but they agree, so far as they go, with the
traditional annals of Anahuac during the centuries preceding the
coming of the Spaniards. Teotihuacan and Cholula differ from any works
of the later Nahua epochs; while Xochicalco and Mitla are far superior
to any known works of the Aztecs proper. All remains sustain the
traditions that the Aztecs were superior to their neighbors chiefly in
the arts of war, and that the older inhabitants were more devoted to
the arts of architecture and sculpture, if not more skillful in the
practice of them, than their successors. Still, this must not be
understood to indicate anything like a permanent deterioration, or the
beginning of a backward march of civilization, whose march is ever
onward, although making but little account of centuries or
generations.

  [Sidenote: NAHUA AND MAYA RELICS.]

The comparison of Nahua with Maya monuments is a most interesting
subject, into the details of which I do not propose to enter. In the
use of the pyramidal structure, common to both branches of American
civilized nations, and in a few sculptured emblems there is doubtless
a resemblance; but this likeness is utterly insufficient to support
what has been in the past a favorite theory among writers on the
subject;--namely, that of a civilized people migrating slowly
southward, and leaving behind them traces of a gradually improving but
identical culture. The resemblances in question have in my opinion
been greatly exaggerated, and are altogether outnumbered and
outweighed by the marked contrasts, which, as they exist between the
monuments of Yucatan and Chiapas, and those of Mexico and Vera Cruz,
do not need to be pointed out to one who has studied the preceding
descriptions. It is true that the best architectural specimens of
Nahua art have been entirely destroyed, still there is no reason to
doubt that if they could be partially restored they would resemble the
structures of Vera Cruz, or at best, Xochicalco, rather than those of
Uxmal and Palenque.

The differences between the northern and southern remains, while far
more clearly marked than the resemblances, and constituting a much
more forcible argument against than in favor of the theory that all
American peoples are identical, must yet not be regarded as in any way
conclusive in the matter; for it may be noticed that the likeness is
very vague between the Nicaraguan idols of stone and those carved by
the hands of the northern Aztecs. Yet the peoples were doubtless
identical in blood and language, as the divinities which the
respective artists attempted to symbolize in stone were the same. The
reader will probably agree with me in the conclusion that, while a
comparison of northern and southern monuments is far from proving or
disproving the original identity of the Civilized Races of the Pacific
States, yet it goes far to show, in connection with the evidence of
language, tradition, and institutions, a Nahua and a Maya culture,
progressing in separate paths,--though not without contact, friction,
and intermingling,--during a long course of centuries.

FOOTNOTES:

[IX-1] _Dupaix_, 2d exped., p. 14, pl. xviii., fig. 53-4;
_Kingsborough_, vol. v., p. 243, vol. vi., p. 442, vol. iv., pl. xvi.,
fig. 53-4; _Lenoir_, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. ii., <DW37>. i., p. 47.

[IX-2] 'No subsisten de el sino unas grandes ruinas de templo y
caserias de cal y canto, situadas en ladera de unos cerritos.'
_Dupaix_, 1st exped., p. 5; _Kingsborough_, vol. v., p. 211, vol. vi.,
p. 423.

[IX-3] _Dupaix_, 1st exped., p. 4, pl. iii., fig. 3; _Kingsborough_,
vol. v., p. 211, vol. vi., p. 422, vol. iv., pl. ii., fig. 5. 'On y
monte, du cote de l'ouest, par une rampe tracee de gauche a droite
pour le premier etage, de droite a gauche pour le second, et ainsi de
suite jusqu'au dernier.' _Lenoir_, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. ii., <DW37>.
i., p. 26; _Klemm_, _Cultur-Geschichte_, tom. v., p. 157.

[IX-4] _Dupaix_, 3d exped., p. 5, pl. i., ii., fig. 1-3;
_Kingsborough_, vol. v., pp. 285-6, vol. vi., p. 467, vol. iv., pl.
i., ii., fig. 1-3. According to Dupaix's plate the sides and summit
platform are covered with plaster. Kingsborough's plate omits the
coating of plaster and shows the remains of a ninth story. A scale
attached to the latter plate would indicate that the pyramid has a
base of 150 feet and is about 75 feet high. _Lenoir_, p. 69.

[IX-5] _Dupaix_, 1st exped., pp. 3-4, pl. i.-ii., fig. 1, 2; 2d
exped., p. 51, pl. lxi., fig. 117; _Kingsborough_, vol. v., pp.
209-10, vol. vi., pp. 421-2, vol. iv., pl. i., fig. 1-4; _Lenoir_, in
_Antiq. Mex._, tom. ii., <DW37>. i., pp. 22, 25-6, 63.

[IX-6] _Dupaix_, 1st exped., p. 10, pl. xii., fig. 13; _Kingsborough_,
vol. v., p. 217, vol. vi., p. 426, vol. iv., pl. vi., fig. 16;
_Lenoir_, p. 30. Kingsborough's plate makes the blocks of stone much
smaller than the other, shows no plaster, and represents the walls of
the summit building as still standing. Kingsborough also incorrectly
translates 'antes de San Andres,' 'formerly San Andres.' _Klemm_,
_Cultur-Geschichte_, tom. v., p. 157.

[IX-7] _Dupaix_, 1st exped., pp. 12-13, pl. xvii-xxii., fig. 19-24;
_Kingsborough_, vol. v., pp. 219-20, vol. vi., pp. 427-8, vol. iv.,
pl. ix.-xi., fig. 21-4; _Lenoir_, pp. 31-3.

[IX-8] _Dupaix_, p. 11, pl. xvii., fig. 18, not in Kingsborough.

[IX-9] _Dupaix_, 1st exped., p. 13, pl. xxiii.-iv., fig. 25-6;
_Kingsborough_, vol. v., p. 220, vol. vi., p. 428, vol. iv., pl. xii.,
fig. 25-6; _Lenoir_, p. 33.

[IX-10] On the building and history of the pyramid, see, among many
others, _Veytia_, _Hist. Ant. Mej._, tom. i., pp. 18-19, 155-6,
199-205; _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iv., pp.
182-3.

[IX-11] _Clavigero_, _Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. ii., pp. 33-4;
_Humboldt_, _Essai Pol._, pp. 239-40; _Id._, _Vues_, tom. i., pp.
96-124, pl. iii. (fol. ed. pl. vii., viii.); _Id._, in _Antiq. Mex._,
suppl. pl. ii.; _Dupaix_, 1st exped., p. ii., pl. xvi., fig. 17;
_Kingsborough_, vol. v., p. 218, vol. iv., pl. viii., fig. 20. It is
to be noted that there is not the slightest resemblance between the
two editions of Castaneda's drawing. _Nebel_, _Viage Pintoresco_, with
large  plate. Other visitors to Cholula, whose accounts contain
more or less original information, are:--Poinsett, 1822, _Notes_, pp.
57-9; Bullock, 1823, _Mexico_, pp. 111-15--no plate, although the
author made a drawing; Ward, 1825, _Mexico_, vol. ii., p. 269;
Beaufoy, 1826, _Mexican Illustr._, pp. 193-5, with cuts; Latrobe,
1834, _Rambler in Mex._, p. 275; Mayer, 1841, _Mexico as it Was_, p.
26; _Mex. Aztec_, vol. ii., p. 228, with cut; _Id._, in _Schoolcraft's
Arch._, vol. vi., p. 582; Thompson, 1842, _Recollections of Mex._, p.
30; Tylor, 1856, _Anahuac_, pp. 274-7; Evans, 1869, _Our Sister
Republic_, pp. 428-32, with cut. Still other references on the
subject, containing for the most part nothing except what is gathered
from the preceding works, are:--_Robertson's Hist. Amer._ (8vo. ed.
1777), vol. i., p. 268; _Gondra_, in _Prescott_, _Hist. Conq. Mex._,
tom. iii., pp. 37-45, pl. vi.; _Antiq. Mex._, tom. i., <DW37>. ii., p.
70; _Lafond_, _Voyages_, tom. i., pp. 137-8; _Armin_, _Heutige Mex._,
pp. 63, 68, 72; _Wilson's Mex. and her Religion_, pp. 95-9; _Amer.
Antiq. Soc., Transact._, vol. i., p. 256, etc., from _Humboldt_, with
cut; _Baldwin's Anc. Amer._, p. 90; _Baril_, _Mex._, p. 193;
_Beltrami_, _Mexique_, tom. ii., pp. 283-8; _DeBercy_, _L'Europe et
L'Amer._, tom. ii., p. 235, etc.; _Brackett's Brigade in Mex._, pp.
154-5; _Bradford's Amer. Antiq._, pp. 76-7; _Brasseur de Bourbourg_,
_Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. i., p. 301, et seq.; _Calderon de la Barca's
Life in Mex._, vol. ii., p. 97; _Chevalier_, _Mex._, pp. 55-6; _Id._,
_Mex. Ancien et Mod._, pp. 174-9; _Combier_, _Voyage_, pp. 385-6;
_Dally_, _Sur les Races Indig._, p. 17; _Davis' Anc. Amer._, p. 9;
_Donnavan's Adven._, p. 98; _D'Orbigny_, _Voyage_, p. 331; _Fossey_,
_Mex._, p. 111; _Hassel_, _Mex. Guat._, p. 246; _Heller_, _Reisen_,
pp. 131-2; _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1835, tom. lxv., pp. 363-4;
_Delafield's Antiq. Amer._, p. 57; _Jourdanet_, _Mexique_, p. 20;
_Larenaudiere_, _Mex. Guat._, pp. 24, 45-6, plate from Dupaix;
_Loewenstern_, _Mexique_, pp. 48-9; _Malte-Brun_, _Precis de la Geog._,
tom. vi., pp. 461-2; _Marmier_, _Voyageurs_, tom. iii., pp. 328-9;
_Mexico, Country, etc._, p. 14; _Mex. in 1842_, pp. 80-1; _Mexico, A
Trip to_, pp. 59-60; _Mill's Hist. Mex._, p. 140; _Muehlenpfordt_,
_Mejico_, tom. ii., pp. 232-3, 236; _Mueller_, _Amerikanische
Urreligionen_, pp. 458-9, 581; _Pages_, _Nouveau Voy._, tom. ii., pp.
385-7; _Prescott's Mex._, vol. i., p. 60, vol. ii., pp. 6-8, 26, vol.
iii., p. 380; _Shepard's Land of the Aztecs_, p. 128; _Saturday Mag._,
vol. v., pp. 175-6; _Scherr_, _Trauerspiel_, pp. 29-30; _Stapp's
Prisoners of Perote_, pp. 107-8; _Thuemmel_, _Mexiko_, pp. 261-2;
_Tudor's Nar._, vol. ii., pp. 208-9; _Vigneaux_, _Souv. Mex._, p. 531;
_Wappaeus_, _Geog. u. Stat._, pp. 32, 36, 180, 182; _Warden_,
_Recherches_, pp. 66-7; _Willson's Amer. Hist._, pp. 60-1, 73;
_Yonge's Mod. Hist._, p. 38; _Frost's Pict. Hist._, pp. 37-8;
_Hermosa_, _Manual Geog._, pp. 140-1; _Taylor's Eldorado_, vol. ii.,
p. 181; _Wortley's Trav._, pp. 230-1, etc.; _McCulloh's Researches in
Amer._, p. 252; _Gemelli Careri_, in _Churchill_, _Col. Voy._, vol.
iv., p. 519; _Escalera_ and _Llana_, _Mej. Hist. Descrip._, pp. 205-6;
_Klemm_, _Cultur-Geschichte_, tom. v., p. 156; _Alcedo_,
_Diccionario_, tom. i., p. 550; _Democratic Review_, vol. xxvii., p.
425, vol. xxvi., pp. 546-7, vol. xi., p. 612; _Mansfield's Mex. War_,
p. 207; _Macgillivray's Life Humboldt_, pp. 292, 312-13; _Conder's
Mex. Guat._, vol. i., pp. 258-9, plate from Humboldt; _Prichard's Nat.
Hist. Man_, vol. ii., p. 509.

[IX-12] 'The large mound of earth at Cholula which the Spaniards
dignified with the name of temple, still remains, but without any
steps by which to ascend, or any facing of stone. It appears now like
a natural mount, covered with grass and shrubs, and possibly it was
never anything more.' _Robertson's Hist. Amer._, vol. i., p. 269. 'A
le voir de loin, on seroit en effet tente de le prendre pour une
colline naturelle couverte de vegetation.' 'Elle est tres-bien
conservee du cote de l'ouest, et c'est la face occidentale que
presente la gravure que nous publions.' _Humboldt_, _Vues_, tom. i.,
pp. 104-5.

[IX-13] The dimensions of base, height, and summit platform
respectively, as given by different authorities, are as follows:
439x54x64-3/4 metres, _Humboldt_; 530x66 varas, _Nebel_; 1069x204x165
feet, _Mayer_, according to a careful measurement by a U. S. official
in 1847; 40 varas square by actual measurement! _Dupaix_; 1423x177x208
feet, _Prescott_; 1425x177x175 feet, _Latrobe_; 1301x162x177 feet,
_Poinsett_; About 200 feet high, _Tylor_; 1310x205 feet, _Wilson_;
1335x172 feet, _Foster's Pre-Hist. Races_, p. 345; 1355x170 feet,
_Ampere_, _Promenade_, tom. ii., pp. 374-80; 1388x170 feet, summit
13285 sq. feet, _Heller_, _Reisen_, pp. 131-2; said to cover an area
of over 43 acres and to be 179 feet high, but it seems much smaller
and higher. _Evans' Our Sister Rep._, pp. 428-32.

[IX-14] _Veytia_, _Hist. Ant. Mej._, tom. i., pp. 155-6.

[IX-15] _Heller_, _Reisen_, pp. 131-2.

[IX-16] _Humboldt_, _Vues_, tom. i., pp. 127-8.

[IX-17] Foster, _Pre-Hist. Races_, p. 345, believes, on the contrary,
that the pyramid was erected with the sole object of enshrining in an
interior chamber of stone two corpses, showing that 'the industry of
the great mass of the population was at the absolute command of the
few.'

[IX-18] _Wilson's Mex. and its Relig._, pp. 95, 99. See a restoration
of Cholula, by Mothes, in _Armin_, _Heutige Mex._, pp. 63, 68, 72.

[IX-19] _Ampere_, _Promenade_, tom. ii., pp. 373, 380. 'On decouvre
encore, du cote occidental, vis-a-vis du Cerro de Tecaxete et de
Zapoteca, deux masses parfaitement prismatiques. L'une de ces masses
porte aujourd'hui le nom d'Alcosac ou d'Istenenetl, l'autre celui du
Cerro de la Cruz; la derniere, construite en pise, n'est elevee que de
15 metres.' _Humboldt_, _Essai Pol._, pp. 240-1.

[IX-20] _Dupaix_, 1st exped., pp. 10-11, pl. xiii.-v., fig. 14-16;
_Kingsborough_, vol. v., p. 218; vol. vi., p. 427, vol. iv., pl.
viii., fig. 17-18; _Lenoir_, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. ii., <DW37>. i., pp.
23, 30.

[IX-21] _Dupaix_, 2d exped., p. 52.

[IX-22] _Dupaix_, 2d exped., pp. 52-3, pl. lx., lxii., fig. 118-19;
_Kingsborough_, vol. v., p. 279, vol. vi., p. 464, vol. iv., pl. lii.,
fig. 120-1; _Lenoir_, in _Antiq. Mex._, p. 63.

[IX-23] _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, tom. ii., pp. 265-6.

[IX-24] _Dupaix_, 2d exped., pp. 53-5, pl. lxii.-vii., fig. 120-8;
_Kingsborough_, vol. v., pp. 279-81, vol. vi., pp. 464-5, vol. iv.,
pl. lii.-liv., fig. 121-5; _Lenoir_, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. ii., <DW37>.
i., pp. 64-6.

[IX-25] _Dupaix_, 2d exped., pp. 55-56, pl. lxviii.-ix., fig. 129-30;
_Kingsborough_, vol. v., p. 282, vol. vi., p. 466, vol. iv., pl. lv.,
fig. 129-30; _Lenoir_, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. ii., <DW37>. i., pp. 66-7;
_Larenaudiere_, _Mex. Guat._, pl. vii., from Dupaix; _Almaraz_, _Mem.
Metlaltoyuca_, p. 33, lithograph without description.

[IX-26] 'On voit encore beaucoup de restes de cette grande muraille,
conserves avec d'autant plus de soin qu'il s'y trouve des quartiers de
roc de plus de vingt pieds d'epaisseur.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_,
_Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iv., p. 135; _Lorenzana_, in _Cortes_, _Hist.
N. Espana_, pp. vi.-vii.; _Bradford's Amer. Antiq._, pp. 104-5.
Additional references to slight notices of ruins and relics in the
region about Tlascala, containing no available information, are as
follows: _Camargo_, in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1843, tom.
xcviii., pp. 135-7; _Helps' Span. Conq._, vol. ii., p. 423;
_Muehlenpfordt_, _Mejico_, tom. ii., pp. 238, 240. The _Historical
Magazine_, vol. x., pp. 308-10, has an extract from a Mexican
newspaper, in which reference is made to an official report of a
prefect of the department, announcing the discovery of two magnificent
cities. They were probably identical with some of the ruins already
described in Vera Cruz.

[IX-27] _Mex., Anales del Ministerio de Fomento_, 1854, tom. i., p.
691.

[IX-28] _Id._, p. 694.

[IX-29] Pp. 467-9 of this volume.

[IX-30] Respecting the figures within the circle, Dupaix, 1st exped.,
p. 14, says 'la parte derecha dividida en dos cuarteles. En el
superior aparece como un plano de ciudad a la orilla de un lago (cual
puede ser la de Chalco).' 'Au-dessus est une tete, que Dupaix designe
comme celle d'un aigle, mais que je crois etre une piece d'armure,
savoir, un casque ou morion.' _Lenoir_, _Antiq. Mex._, tom. ii., <DW37>.
i., p. 34.

[IX-31] 'Il semble porter, a la partie anterieure de l'aile, le baton
augural, ce qui lui donnerait un caractere religieux. L'aigle, embleme
du Mexique, etait affecte a Vitzlipuztli, et cette seule circonstance
donne de l'importance a cette representation, qui a donne son nom au
lieu ou elle fut trouvee: _Quautetl_ ou _aigle de pierre_. Dans toute
l'Antiquite, l'aigle fut mis au rang des oiseaux sacres. Il etait
affecte, en Grece, a Jupiter, et en Egypte, a Osiris. C'etait
l'_accipiter_ ou epervier qui, selon Aelien, etait l'image, du dieu
_Horus_, ou d'Apollon. A Thebes, au solstice d'hiver, on placait cet
oiseau sur l'autel d'Osiris; il etait richement pare, mitre ou
courronne du _pschent_, et portant sur l'epaule le baton pastoral,
dans la meme position que l'aigle Mexicain que nous avons sous les
yeux. Ceci est digne de remarque.' _Lenoir_, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom.
ii., <DW37>. i., p. 35. On the Cuernavaca sculptures see _Dupaix_, 1st
exped., pp. 13-14, pl. xxvii-xxx., fig. 29-32; _Kingsborough_, vol.
v., pp. 221-2., vol. vi., p. 429, vol. iv., pl. xiii-v., fig. 29-31;
_Mex., Anales del Ministerio de Fomento_, 1854, tom. i., p. 549.

[IX-32] _Descripcion de las Antiguedades de Xochicalco_, supplement to
_Gaceta de Literatura_, Nov. 1791, also reprint of _Id._, tom. ii.;
also preliminary mention in _Id._, February 8, 1791, tom. ii., p. 127.
Dr Gamarra made a compendium of the MS. before its publication, and
sent the same to Italy. An Italian translation of Alzate's account was
published with the original plates in _Marquez_, _Due Antichi
Monumenti_, pp. 14-29, and re-translated from Marquez, in _Dupaix_,
1st exped., pp. 18-20.

[IX-33] _Humboldt_, _Vues_, tom. i., pp. 129-37, (fol. ed. pl. ix.);
_Id._, _Essai Pol._, pp. 189-90; _Id._, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. i.,
<DW37>. ii., pp. 15-17. 'M. Humboldt, ... n'a-t-il pas suivi a la lettre
l'inexacte description de la pyramide de Xochicalco par le P. Alzate,
et n'a-t-il pas fait dans le dessin qu'il donne de ce monument, une
seconde edition des erreurs de son modele?' _Waldeck_, _Voy. Pitt._,
p. 69; _Nebel_, _Viage Pintoresco_, pl. ix.-x., xix.-xx.; _Revista
Mexicana_, tom. i., pp. 539-50, reprinted in _Diccionario Univ.
Geog._, tom. x., pp. 938-42; _Dupaix_, 1st exped., pp. 14-18, pl.
xxxi.-ii., fig. 33-6; _Kingsborough_, vol. v., pp. 222-4, vol. iv.,
pl. xv.-vi.; _Lenoir_, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. ii., <DW37>. i., pp. 35-6.
Tylor pronounces Castaneda's drawings grossly incorrect. Other
accounts by visitors, are found in _Latrobe's Rambler_, pp. 241-3;
_Mayer's Mex. as it Was_, pp. 180-7; _Id._, _Mex. Aztec, etc._, vol.
ii., pp. 283-5, with cuts; _Id._, in _Schoolcraft's Arch._, vol. vi.,
pp. 583-4, pl. xi.; _Tylor's Anahuac_, pp. 183-95; _Loewenstern_,
_Mexique_, pp. 208-12, 273-81. Other references to compiled accounts
are:--_Prescott's Mex._, vol. iii., pp. 403-4; _Carbajal_, _Hist.
Mex._, tom. i., pp. 203-4; _Armin_, _Das Heutige Mex._, pp. 98-9, cut;
_Baldwin's Anc. Amer._, pp. 89-90; _Hartmann_, _Californien_, tom.
ii., p. 86; _Fossey_, _Mex._, pp. 302-3; _Brasseur de Bourbourg_,
_Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. i., p. 329; _Larenaudiere_, _Mex. Guat._, pp.
46-9, plate; _Bradford's Amer. Antiq._, pp. 78-9; _Malte-Brun_,
_Precis de la Geog._, tom. vi., p. 460; _Democratic Review_, vol. xi.,
p. 612; _Baril_, _Mexique_, p. 70; _Cortes' Despatches_, p. 244;
_Priest's Amer. Antiq._, pp. 276-7; _Macgillivray's Life of Humboldt_,
p. 308; _Delafield's Antiq. Amer._, p. 58; _Frost's Pict. Hist. Mex._,
pp. 49-53, cut; _Norman's Rambles in Yuc._, p. 171; _Frost's Great
Cities_, pp. 295-300, cut; _Conder's Mex. Guat._, vol. i., pp. 339-40;
_Illustrated London News_, June 1, 1867, cut.

[IX-34] Xochicalco, 'castle of flowers,' according to _Diccionario
Univ. Geog._, tom. x., p. 938.

[IX-35] Alzate's barometrical observations, as reckoned by himself,
made the height 289 feet; from the same observations Humboldt makes it
384; 279 feet, _Dupaix_; 369, _Nebel_; about 400, _Tylor_; about 333,
_Revista Mex._

[IX-36] According to the _Revista_, the gallery leads south 193 feet
(_a_, _b_, of plan 83 feet), then west 166 feet (not on plan), and
terminates in what seems and is said by the natives to be an
intentional obstruction. 83 feet from the entrance (_a_, _c_, of plan
16-1/2 feet) a branch leads east 138 feet (_c_, _k_, of plan 81 feet) to
the room. I have no doubt that these dimensions are more accurate than
Dupaix's. The _Revista_ account of the room, so far as it is
intelligible, agrees well enough with the plan.

[IX-37] These are the dimensions given in the _Revista_, 100 by 87
metres. Dupaix, 1st exped., p. 15, says 89 by 102 varas.

[IX-38] Dimensions in English feet--length east and west, width north and
south, and height of 1st story, always in the same order--according to
different authorities:--64-1/2 by -- by 16 feet, _Nebel_, plate; 69 by 61
by --, _Dupaix_; -- by 43 by 9-1/2, _Id._, plate; 58 by 69 by 11,
_Alzate_ and _Humboldt_; 63 by 58 by 19, _Revista Mex._ The side shown
in Dupaix's plate as 43 feet may be the northern or southern, instead
of the eastern or western, according as the stairway is on the north
or west.

[IX-39] 'Porfido granitico,' _Revista Mex._, p. 548. 'Basalto
porfirico,' _Nebel_. Basalt, _Loewenstern_, _Mex._, pp. 209-10. 'La
calidad de piedra de esta magnifica arquitectura es de piedra
vitrificable, y por la mayor parte de aquella piedra con que forman
las muelas o piedras para moler trigo: tambien hay de color
blanquecino, siendo de notar, que en muchas leguas a la redonda no se
halla semejante calidad de piedra.' _Alzate_, p. 8.

[IX-40] Kingsborough's edition of Castaneda's drawing bears not the
slightest likeness to that in the _Antiq. Mex._, copied above. It is
possible that the latter was made up at Paris from Alzate's plate.

[IX-41] 'El primer destruidor, comparable al zapatero que quemo el
templo de Diana Efesina, fue un fulano Estrada; su atrevimiento
permanezca en oprobio para con los amantes de la antiguedad.'
_Alzate_, p. 8. Humboldt, _Vues_, tom. i., p. 132, gives 1750 as the
date when the five stories yet remained in place.

[IX-42] _London Illustrated News_, June 1, 1867. Alzate and Mayer also
give restorations.

[IX-43] 'A part ce monument, Mexico ne possede intact et debout aucun
vestige de constructions antiques.' _Waldeck_, _Voy. Pitt._, p. 72.
'No se puede poner en duda el destino absolutamente militar de estos
trabajos, ni rehusarse a creer que tuvieron por objeto especial la
defensa del monumento que encerraban, cuya importancia puede
apreciarse, atendiendo a los medios empleados para su seguridad.'
'Todos los viageros convienen en la nobleza de la estructura y en la
regularidad de proporciones del monumento. La inclinacion de las
paredes, la elegancia del friso y la cornisa, _son de un efecto
notable_.' In the sculptures 'se hallan proporciones regulares, y
mucha espresion en las cabezas y en el adorno de las figuras; mientras
que en las otras (Aztec) no se descubren sino vestigios de barbarie.
Las estatuas aztecas, informes y desproporcionadas, en nada
manifiestan la imitacion de la naturaleza; y si en ellas se observa
frecuentemente una ejecucion algo correcta, con mas frecuencia se ven
todavia cabezas desmedidas, narices ecsageradas y frentes deprimidas
hasta la estravagancia.' _Revista Mex._, tom. i., pp. 539, 542, 549.
'Les naturels du village voisin de Tetlama possedent une carte
geographique construite avant l'arrivee des Espagnols, et a laquelle
on a ajoute quelques noms depuis la conquete; sur cette carte, a
l'endroit ou est situe le monument de Xochicalco, on trouve la figure
de deux guerriers qui combattent avec des massues, et dont l'un est
nomme Xochicatli, et l'autre Xicatetli. Nous ne suivrons pas ici les
antiquaires mexicains dans leurs discussions etymologiques, pour
apprendre si l'un de ces guerriers a donne le nom a la colline de
Xochicalco, ou si l'image des deux combattans designe simplement une
bataille entre deux nations voisines, ou enfin si la denomination de
_Maison des fleurs_ a ete donnee au monument pyramidal, parce que les
Tolteques, comme les Peruviens, n'offroient a la divinite que des
fruits, des fleurs et de l'encens.' _Humboldt_, _Vues_, tom. i., pp.
135-6.

[IX-44] _Mex._, _Anales del Ministerio de Fomento_, 1854, tom. i., p.
649.

[IX-45] _Dupaix_, 2d exped., p. 13, pl. xvii., fig. 52;
_Kingsborough_, vol. v., p. 243, vol. vi., p. 442, vol. iv., pl. xv.,
fig. 52; _Lenoir_, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. ii., <DW37>. i., p. 46.

[IX-46] _Dupaix_, 1st exped., p. 13, pl. xxv.-vi., fig. 27-8;
_Kingsborough_, vol. v., p. 221, vol. vi., pp. 428-9, vol. iv., pl.
xii., fig. 27-8; _Lenoir_, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. ii., <DW37>. i., pp.
33-4.

[IX-47] _Dupaix_, 2d exped., pp. 11-13, pl. xv.-vii., fig. 44-51;
_Kingsborough_, vol. v., pp. 241-3, vol. vi., p. 441, vol. iv., pl.
xiii.-xv., fig. 44-51; _Lenoir_, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. ii., <DW37>. i.,
pp. 45-6; _Baldwin's Anc. Amer._, pp. 122-3--with a remark that
'telescopic tubes' have been found in Mississippi mounds and in Peru.

[IX-48] _Dupaix_, 2d exped., pp. 3-11, pl. i.-xiv., fig. 1-43;
_Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq._, vol. v., pp. 228-40, vol. vi., pp.
432-40, vol. iv., pl. i.-xii., fig. 1-43; _Lenoir_, _Parallele_, pp.
37-45; _Mexico, Anales del Ministerio de Fomento_, 1854, tom. i., pp.
477, 486, 500, 502, 521; _Veytia_, _Hist. Ant. Mej._, tom. i., p. 21;
_Gondra_, in _Prescott_, _Hist. Conq. Mex._, tom. iii., pp. 66-9, pl.
xii.

[IX-49] _Leon y Gama_, _Dos Piedras_, pt. ii., p. 80; _Lyon's
Journal_, vol. ii., p. 113; _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat.
Civ._, tom. iv., p. 11; _Montanus_, _Nieuwe Weereld_, p. 268;
_Prescott's Mex._, vol. i., p. 142; _Thuemmel_, _Mexiko_, pp. 124-5;
_Ward's Mexico_, vol. ii., pp. 230-1; _Latrobe's Rambler_, p. 176.

[IX-50] _Alzate y Ramirez_, _Gacetas_, Oct. 2, 1792, reprint, tom.
ii., pp. 457-9; _Loewenstern_, _Mexique_, pp. 260-5, and scattered
remarks, pp. 273-81; _Id._, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xi., p.
107.

[IX-51] _Bradford's Amer. Antiq._, p. 78, with reference to _Latrobe_;
_Loewenstern_, _Mexique_, pp. 258-60; _Baril_, _Mexique_, p. 70.

[IX-52] _Mexico, Anales del Ministerio de Fomento_, 1854, tom. i., pp.
241-2.

[IX-53] _Foster's Pre-Hist. Races_, p. 244.

[IX-54] 4 by 4 by 1 metres, circle 3.4 metres in diameter. _Humboldt_,
_Vues_, tom. ii., p. 85, (or 3.04 metres, 9 feet 6-1/2 inches, according
to _Antiq. Mex._) 'La nature de cette pierre n'est pas calcaire, comme
l'affirme M. Gama, mais de porphyre trappen gris-noiratre, a base de
wacke basaltique. En examinant avec soin des fragments detaches, j'y
ai reconnu de l'amphibole, beaucoup de cristaux tres alonges de
feldspath vitreux, et, ce qui est assez remarquable, des paillettes de
mica. Cette roche, fendillee et remplie de petites cavites, est
depourvue de quarz, comme presque toutes les roches de la formation de
trapp. Comme son poids actuel est encore de plus de quatre cent
quatre-vingt-deux quintaux (24,400 kilogrammes).' _Id._, in _Antiq.
Mex._, tom. i., <DW37>. ii., p. 22, supl. pl. v.; _Id._, _Vues_, tom. i.,
p. 332, et seq., tom. ii., pp. 1, et seq., 84, pl. viii. (fol. ed.,
pl. xxiii.). 4-1/2 by 4-1/2 by 1 varas, diameter of circle a little
over 4 varas. 'La figura de esta piedra debio ser en su origen un
paralelepipedo rectangulo, lo que manifiesta bien (aunque la faltan
algunos pedazos considerables, y en otros partes esta bastante
lastimada) por los angulos que aun mantiene, los que demuestran las
extremidades que permanecen menos maltratadas.' _Leon y Gama_, _Dos
Piedras_, pt. i., pp. 92, 2-3; _Id._, _Saggio Astron._, Rome, 1804. p.
130. Reply to Alzate's criticism, _Id._, pt. ii., pp. 24-5. See
_Alzate y Ramirez_, _Gacetas_, tom. ii., p. 421. Original weight as it
came from the quarry nearly 50 tons. _Prescott's Mex._, vol. i., p.
142. Dug up on Dec. 17, 1790. _Gondra_, in _Prescott_, _Hist. Conq.
Mex._, tom. iii., pp. 47-54, pl. viii. 11 feet 8 inches in diameter.
_Mayer's Mex. as it Was_, pp. 126-8. 12 feet in diameter, of porous
basalt. _Bullock's Mexico_, pp. 333-4. 'Basalto porfirico,' circle 9
feet in diameter. _Nebel_, _Viaje_. 11 feet diameter. _Fossey_,
_Mexique_, p. 217. 27 feet in circumference. _Bradford's Amer.
Antiq._, p. 109.

[IX-55] _Charnay_, _Ruines Amer._, phot. i.

[IX-56] Additional references on the Calendar-Stone:--_Tylor's
Anahuac_, pp. 238-9; _Mayer's Mex. Aztec, etc._, vol. i., p. 117,
cuts; Id., in _Schoolcraft's Arch._, vol. vi., p. 590, with plate;
_Gallatin_, in _Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact._, vol. i., pp. 70,
94-103, 114.

[IX-57] _Leon y Gama_, _Dos Piedras_, pt. ii., pp. 46-73. Discovered
December 17, 1791; 3 varas, 1 pulgada, 4-1/2 lineas in diameter; 1 vara,
1 pulgada high; material a hard, dark-, fine grained stone,
which admits of a fine polish. Humboldt gives the dimensions 3 metres
diameter, 11 decimetres high; he also says the groups are 20 in
number. _Vues_, tom. i., pp. 315-24, (fol. ed. pl. xxi.); _Id._, in
_Antiq. Mex._, tom. i., <DW37>. ii., pp. 20-1, suppl. pl. iv., showing
the rim. Nebel, _Viaje_, gives plates of upper surface,--showing,
however, no groove--all the groups on the rim, and one group on a
larger scale. He says the material is 'basalto porfirico,' and the
dimensions 9x3 feet. Bullock, _Mexico_, pp. 335-6, says, 25 feet in
circumference. He also took a plaster cast of this stone. A mass of
basalt 9 feet in diameter, and 3 feet high, believed by the author to
be in reality a sacrificial stone. _Mayer's Mex. as it Was_, pp.
119-22; _Id._, _Mex. Aztec, etc._, vol. i., pp. 114-15; _Id._, in
_Schoolcraft's Arch._, vol. vi., p. 586, with plates and cuts in each
work. According to Fossey, _Mexique_, p. 214, the sculptured figures
represent a warrior as victorious over 14 champions. 'I think that it
is the best specimen of sculpture which I have seen amongst the
antiquities of Mexico.' _Thompson's Mex._, p. 122; _Latrobe's
Rambler_, pp. 171-2; _Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq._, vol. v., p. 340,
vol. iv., pl. unnumbered; _Tylor's Anahuac_, p. 224; _Bradford's Amer.
Antiq._, p. 108; _Prescott_, _Hist. Conq. Mex._, tom. i., p. 85, with
plate.

[IX-58] See vol. iii., pp. 396-402, of this work, for a resume of
Gama's remarks on this idol.

[IX-59] Respecting the god Huitzilopochtli, see vol. iii., pp.
288-324, of this work.

[IX-60] 3.0625 by 2 by 1.83 varas; of sandstone: '156 de las piedras
arenarias que describe en su mineralogia el Senor Valmont de Bomare,
dura, compacta, y dificil de extraer fuego de ella con el acero;
semejante a la que se emplea en los molinos.' _Leon y Gama_, _Dos
Piedras_, pt. i., pp. 1-3, 9-10, 34-44, with 5 plates. Reply to
Alzate, _Gacetas_, tom. ii., p. 416, who pronounced the stone a kind
of granite. _Id._, pt. ii., pp. 8-10. 'Plus de trois metres de hauteur
et deux metres de largeur.' 'La pierre qui a servi a ce monument, est
une _wakke_ basaltique gris bleuatre, fendillee et remplie de
feldspath vitreux.' 'En jetant les yeux sur l'idole figuree ... telle
qu'elle se presente ... on pourrait d'abord etre tente de croire que
ce monument est un _teotetl_, _pierre divine_, une espece de betyle,
orne de sculptures, une roche sur laquelle sont graves des signes
hieroglyphiques. Mais, lorsqu'on examine de plus pres cette masse
informe, on distingue, a la partie superieure, les tetes de deux
monstres accoles; et l'on trouve, a chaque face, deux yeux et une
large gueule armee de quatre dents. Ces figures monstrueuses
n'indiquent peut-etre que des masques: car, chez les Mexicains, on
etoit dans l'usage de masquer les idoles a l'epoque de la maladie d'un
roi, et dans toute autre calamite publique. Les bras et les pieds sont
caches sous une draperie entouree d'enormes serpents, et que les
Mexicains designoient sous le nom de _cohuatlicuye_, _vetement de
serpent_. Tous ces accessoires, surtout les franges en forme de
plumes, sont sculptes avec le plus grand soin.' _Humboldt_, _Vues_,
tom. ii., pp. 148-61, (fol. ed., pl. xxix.); _Id._, _Antiq. Mex._,
tom. i., <DW37>. ii., pp. 25-7, suppl. pl. vi., fig. 9. 9 feet high.
_Nebel_, _Viaje_, with large plate. Dug up for Bullock, who made a
plaster cast in 1823. _Bullock's Mexico_, pp. 337-42. Description with
plates in _Mayer's Mex. Aztec, etc._, vol. i., pp. 108-11; _Id._,
_Mex. as it Was_, pp. 109-14; _Id._, in _Schoolcraft's Arch._, vol.
vi., pp. 585-6, pl. viii. 5 feet wide and 3 feet thick. 'The most
hideous and deformed that the fancy can paint.' _Latrobe's Rambler_,
pp. 171, 175-6; _Tylor's Anahuac_, pp. 221-3; _Fossey_, _Mexique_, p.
214.

[IX-61] _Mayer's Mex. as it Was_, pp. 123-4; _Leon y Gama_, _Dos
Piedras_, pt. ii., p. 73-4.

[IX-62] _Humboldt_, _Vues_, tom. ii., p. 158; _Id._, in _Antiq. Mex._,
tom. i., <DW37>. ii., p. 27; _Leon y Gama_, _Dos Piedras_, pt. i., pp.
11-12, pt. ii., pp. 73-111.

[IX-63] _Mayer_, in _Schoolcraft's Arch._, vol. vi., p. 589, pl. vi.;
_Id._, _Mex. as it Was_, pp. 100-1; _Id._, _Mex. Aztec, etc._, vol.
ii., p. 274; _Gondra_, in _Prescott_, _Hist. Conq. Mex._, tom. iii.,
pp. 89-90, pl. xvi.

[IX-64] _Mosaico Mex._, tom. iii., pp. 402-3, with plates; _Calderon
de la Barca's Life in Mex._, vol. i., p. 203; _Mayer's Mex. as it
Was_, pp. 85-8, 97; _Id._, in _Schoolcraft's Arch._, vol. vi., pl. v.,
fig. 3.

[IX-64] _Bullock's Mexico_, pp. 326-8. Plates of six other relics,
perhaps found in the city.

[IX-65] _Mayer's Mex. as it Was_, pp. 31-2, 85-8. 'Indio triste' also
in _Mosaico Mex._, tom. iii., pp. 165-8.

[IX-66] _Anahuac_, p. 138.

[IX-67] _Gondra_, in _Prescott_, _Hist. Conq. Mex._, tom. iii., pp.
103-8, pl. xxi-ii.

[IX-68] _Chavero_, in _Gallo_, _Hombres Ilustres_, Mex. 1873, tom. i.,
p. 151.

[IX-69] See vol. iii., pp. 355-7, 413-15, of this work.

[IX-70] Brasseur de Bourbourg, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iv., pp. 303-5,
speaks of 'les murs gigantesques de ses palais, les statues mutilees,
a demi enfonces dans le sol, les blocs enormes de basalte et de
porphyre sculptes, epars dans les champs de Tetzcuco.' Bullock,
_Mexico_, pp. 381-7, 399-400, says, 'you pass by the large aqueduct
for the supply of the town, still in use, and the ruins of several
stone buildings of great strength.... Foundations of ancient buildings
of great magnitude.... On entering the gates, to the right are seen
those artificial tumuli, the teocalli of unburnt brick so common in
most Indian towns.' The site of the palace of the kings of Tezcuco
extended 300 feet on sloping terraces with small steps; some terraces
are still entire and covered with cement. It must have occupied some
acres of ground, and was built of huge blocks of basalt 4 or 5 by 2-1/2
or 3 feet. 'The raised mounds of brick are seen on all sides, mixed
with aqueducts, ruins of buildings of enormous strength, and many
large square structures nearly entire.... Fragments of sculptured
stones constantly occur near the church, the market-place, and
palace.' Both Brasseur and Bullock are somewhat given to exaggeration,
and they also refer, probably, to other remains in the vicinity yet to
be described. 'The ruins of tumuli, and other constructions of unbaked
bricks, intermingled with platforms and terraces of considerable
extent, are still to be traced; and it is asserted, that many of the
Spanish edifices are constructed out of the ruins of the Teocallis.'
_Latrobe's Rambler_, pp. 184-5. Other authorities on Tezcuco: _Nebel_,
_Viaje_; _Mayer's Mex. as it Was_, p. 221; _Id._, _Mex. Aztec, etc._,
vol. ii., pp. 274-6; _Id._, in _Schoolcraft's Arch._, vol. vi., pl.
v., fig. 7; _Tylor's Anahuac_, pp. 96, 150, 236, 262-3, with cuts;
_Bradford's Amer. Antiq._, pp. 76, 83, 110; _Beaufoy_, in _Antiq.
Mex._, tom. ii., <DW37>. ii., pp. 70-1; _Mexico_, _Anales del Ministerio
de Fomento_, 1854, tom. i., pp. 448-9, 719; _Willson's Amer. Hist._,
p. 73; _Conder's Mex. Guat._, vol. i., p. 332; _Hassel_, _Mex. Guat._,
p. 132.

[IX-71] On Nezahualcoyotl's country palace at Tezcocingo, see vol.
ii., pp. 168-73, of this work.

[IX-72] Bath 12 by 8 feet, with well in centre 5 feet in diameter and
4 feet deep, surrounded by a parapet 2-1/2 feet high, 'with a throne or
chair, such as is represented in ancient pictures to have been used by
the kings.' _Bullock's Mexico_, pp. 390-3. 'His majesty used to spend
his afternoons here on the shady side of the hill, apparently sitting
up to his middle in water like a frog, if one may judge by the height
of the little seat in the bath.' _Tylor's Anahuac_, pp. 152-3;
_Beaufoy's Mex. Illustr._, pp. 194-5; _Id._, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom.
ii., <DW37>. ii., p. 70. The aqueduct 'is a work very nearly or quite
equal in the labor required for its construction to the Croton
Aqueduct.' _Thompson's Mex._, pp. 143-6; _Mayer's Mex. Aztec, etc._,
vol. ii., pp. 276-8; _Id._, _Mex. as it Was_, pp. 86, 233-4, with the
cut copied, another of the aqueduct, and a third representing an idol
called the 'god of silence;' _Ward's Mexico_, vol. ii., pp. 296-7;
_Prescott's Mex._, vol. i., pp. 182-4; _Loewenstern_, _Mexique_, pp.
252-3; _Vigne's Travels_, vol. i., p. 27; _Frost's Pict. Hist. Mex._,
pp. 54-8; _Id._, _Great Cities_, pp. 302-4.

[IX-73] _Tylor's Anahuac_, pp. 155-6; _Mayer's Mex. Aztec, etc._, vol.
ii., pp. 278-9; _Latrobe's Rambler_, pp. 190-1.

[IX-74] _Latrobe's Rambler_, p. 192.

[IX-75] _Bullock's Mexico_, pp. 395-9. This author also speaks of a
'broad covered way between two huge walls which terminate near a
river,' on the road to Tezcuco. _Beaufoy's Mex. Illustr._, pp. 196-7,
cut of idol; _Latrobe's Rambler_, pp. 184-5; _Tylor's Anahuac_, pp.
153-4, with cut of bridge; _Ward's Mexico_, vol. ii., p. 296; _Mexico,
Anales del Ministerio de Fomento_, 1854, tom. i., p. 615; _Conder's
Mex. Guat._, vol. i., p. 335; _Aubin_, in _Brasseur de Bourbourg_,
_Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. i., p. 355; _Bradford's Amer. Antiq._, pp. 78,
85; _Beaufoy_, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. ii., <DW37>. ii., pp. 69-70.

[IX-76] _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. i., pp.
148-51.

[IX-77] _Almaraz_, _Apuntes sobre las Piramides de San Juan
Teotihuacan_, in _Id._, _Mem. de los Trabajos ejecutados por la
Comision de Pachuca_, 1864, pp. 349-58. Linares, _Soc. Mex. Geog.,
Boletin_, 3ra epoca, tom. i., pp. 103-5, wrote an account which seems
to be made up from the preceding. See also: _Clavigero_, _Storia Ant.
del Messico_, tom. ii., pp. 34-5; _Humboldt_, _Essai Pol._, tom. i.,
pp. 187-9; _Id._, _Vues_, tom. i., pp. 100-2; _Id._, in _Antiq. Mex._,
tom. i., <DW37>. ii., pp. 11-12; _Bullock's Mexico_, pp. 411-18, with
pl.; _Beaufoy's Mex. Illustr._, pp. 189-93, with cut; _Ward's Mexico_,
vol. ii., pp. 214-15, 295; _Latrobe's Rambler_, pp. 194-217; _Mayer's
Mex. Aztec, etc._, vol. ii., p. 279; _Id._, in _Schoolcraft's Arch._,
vol. vi., p. 583; _Thompson's Mex._, pp. 139-43; _Tylor's Anahuac_,
pp. 96, 141-4; _Garcia_, in _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, tom. viii.,
pp. 198-200. The preceding authorities are arranged chronologically:
the following are additional references:--_Nouvelles Annales des
Voy._, 1831, tom. li., pp. 238-9; _Veytia_, _Hist. Ant. Mej._, tom.
i., pp. 239-40, 247-9; _Fossey_, _Mexique_, pp. 315-16; _Brasseur de
Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. i., pp. 15, 148-51, 197-8;
_Gemelli Careri_, in _Churchill's Col. Voyages_, vol. iv., p. 514;
_Bullock's Across Mex._, pp. 165-6; _Loewenstern_, _Mexique_, pp.
248-50, 272-81; _Heller_, _Reisen_, p. 157; _Tudor's Nar._, vol. ii.,
pp. 277-9; _Gondra_, in _Prescott_, _Hist. Conq. Mex._, tom. iii., pp.
38-41; _Chevalier_, _Mexique_, p. 51; _Nebel_, _Viaje_, plates of
terra-cotta heads; _Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact._, vol. i., pp. 254-5;
_Bradford's Amer. Antiq._, pp. 80-1; _Conder's Mex. Guat._, vol. i.,
pp. 336-9; _Calderon de la Barca's Life in Mex._, vol. i., pp. 236-7;
_Hassel_, _Mex. Guat._, p. 131; _Mueller_, _Amerikanische
Urreligionen_, p. 459; _Prichard's Nat. Hist. Man_, vol. ii., p. 509;
_Delafield's Antiq. Amer._, pp. 56-7; _Wappaeus_, _Geog. u. Stat._, p.
186; _McCulloh's Researches in Amer._, pp. 252-3; _Garcia y Cubas_, in
_Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, 2da epoca, tom. i., p. 37; _Klemm_,
_Cultur-Geschichte_, tom. v., p. 155; _Frost's Pict. Hist. Mex._, pp.
53-4; _Id._, _Great Cities_, pp. 298-303; _Lafond_, _Voyages_, tom.
i., pp. 138-9; _Larenaudiere_, _Mex. et Guat._, pp. 24, 44-5;
_Malte-Brun_, _Precis de la Geog._, tom. vi., p. 460; _Willson's Amer.
Hist._, p. 598; _Mexico, Anales del Ministerio de Fomento_, 1854, tom.
i., pp. 530-1, 719; _Baril_, _Mexique_, p. 70; _Muehlenpfordt_,
_Mejico_, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 269; _Beaufoy_, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom.
ii., <DW37>. ii., pp. 69-70; _Shepard's Land of the Aztecs_, pp. 103-5;
_Vigne's Travels_, vol. i., p. 28; _Album Mex._, tom. i., pp. 117-18.

[IX-78] These are the dimensions given by Almaraz, except those of the
summit platform, which are only an estimate by Beaufoy. The following
are the dimensions as given by different authors: 130 by 156 by 42
metres. _Almaraz_; 44 metres high. _Humboldt_, according to
measurements of Sr Oteyza; 360 by 480 by 150 feet. _Gemelli Careri_;
---- by 645 by 170 feet. _Heller_; 130 by 156 by 44 metres. _Linares_.
Others take the dimensions generally from Humboldt.

[IX-79] 'On les prendrait pour ces turgescences terrestres qu'on
trouve dans les lieux jadis bouleverses par les feux souterrains.'
_Fossey_, _Mexique_, p. 315. Veytia, _Hist. Ant. Mej._, tom. i., pp.
247-9, says the pyramid was round instead of rectangular, and that it
had three terraces, although in Boturini's time no traces of them
remained. 'It required a particular position whence to behold them,
united with some little _faith_, in order to discover the pyramidal
form at all.' _Tudor's Nar._, vol. ii., p. 277. 'To say the truth, it
was nothing but a heap of earth made in steps like the pyramids of
Egypt; only that these are of stone.' _Gemelli Careri_, in
_Churchill's Col. Voyages_, vol. iv., p. 514. 'Ils formoient quatre
assises, dont on ne reconnoit aujourd'hui que trois.' 'Un escalier
construit en grandes pierres de taille, conduisoit jadis a leur cime.'
'Chacune des quatres assises principales etoit subdivisee en petits
gradins d'un metre de haut, dont on distingue encore les arretes.'
_Humboldt_, _Essai Pol._, tom. i., p. 188. Mayer, _Mex. as it Was_, p.
223, says that three stories are yet distinctly visible. 'The line
from base to summit was broken by three terraces, or perhaps four,
running completely round them.' _Tylor's Anahuac_, pp. 142-3.

[IX-80] 'Leur noyau est d'argile melee de petites pierres: il est
revetu d'un mur epais de _tezontli_ ou amygdaloide poreuse.'
_Humboldt_, _Vues_, tom. i., pp. 101-2. 'On y reconnoit, en outre, des
traces d'une couche de chaux qui enduit les pierres par dehors.'
_Id._, _Essai Pol._, tom. i., p. 157. 'In many places, I discovered
the remains of the coating of cement with which they were incrusted in
the days of their perfection.' _Mayer's Mex. as it Was_, p. 223.
'Arcilla y piedras,' covered with a conglomerate of tetzontli and mud,
and a coating of polished lime, which has a blue tint. _Linares_, in
_Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, 3ra epoca, tom. i., pp. 103-5. 'En argile
... avec revetement en pierre.' _Chevalier_, _Mexique_, p. 50. 'No
trace of regular stone work or masonry of any kind.' _Bullock's Across
Mex._, p. 165. Originally covered with a white cement bearing
inscriptions. _Glennie_, according to _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._,
1831, tom. li., pp. 238-9. Built of clay and stone. _Heller_,
_Reisen_, p. 157. Salmon- Stucco. _Latrobe._ Unhewn stones of
all shapes and sizes. _Thompson._ Stones and pebbles, faced with
porous stone. _Garcia._ Adobes, stones, clay, and mortar, with a
casing of hewn stone and smooth stucco. _Tylor._ A conglomerate of
common volcanic stones and mud mortar with the faces smoothed.
_Beaufoy._ Masses of falling stone and masonry, red cement, 8 or 10
inches thick, of lime and pebbles. _Bullock._ 'It is true, that on
many parts of the ascent masses of stone and other materials, strongly
cemented together, announce the devices and workmanship of man; but on
penetrating this exterior coating nothing further was perceptible than
a natural structure of earth' like any natural hill with many loose
stones. An American engineer who had made excavations confirmed the
idea that the pyramids were natural, although artificially shaped.
_Tudor's Nar._, vol. ii., p. 278.

[IX-81] Humboldt's dimensions, according to Oteyza's measurements are,
208 metres (682 feet) long and 55 metres (180 feet) high. 645 feet
square, _Bullock_; 480 by 600 feet, _Beaufoy_; 182 feet square,
_Garcia_; 221 feet high, _Mayer_; 221 feet high, _Thompson_. Round,
297 varas in diameter, 270 varas (745 feet!) high, _Veytia_, according
to Boturini's measurements; 60 metres high, _Loewenstern_; 720 by 480
by 185 feet, _Gemelli Careri_.

[IX-82] See pp. 74, 380, of this volume.

[IX-83] Linares, _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, 3ra epoca, tom. i., pp.
103-5, calls it Mijcahotle. Brasseur, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. i., pp.
148-51, applies the name to the whole plain, called by the Spaniards
Llano de los Cues.

[IX-84] _Almaraz_, _Apuntes_, pp. 354-5, with plate.

[IX-85] 'It is certain, that where they stand, there was formerly a
great city, as appears by the vast ruins about it, and by the grots or
dens, as well artificial as natural.' _Gemelli Careri_, in
_Churchill's Col. Voyages_, vol. iv., p. 514. Ruins of streets and
plazas. _Linares_, in _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, 3ra epoca, tom. i.,
p. 104.

[IX-86] _Mayer's Mex. as it Was_, pp. 222-5, with cut. Thompson,
_Mex._, p. 140, alluding probably to the same monument, locates it 'a
few hundred yards from the pyramids, in a secluded spot, shut closely
in by two small hillocks,' pronounces it undoubtedly a sacrificial
stone, and estimates the weight at 25 tons. Beaufoy also speaks of an
unsculptured sacrificial stone 11 by 4 by 4 feet. 'Une fort grande
pierre semblable a une tombe, couverte d'hieroglyphes.' _Fossey_,
_Mexique_, p. 316. 'A massive stone column half buried in the ground.'
_Bullock's Across Mex._, p. 166.

[IX-87] _Veytia_, _Hist. Ant. Mej._, tom. i., pp. 239-40, 247-9;
_Gondra_, in _Prescott_, _Hist. Conq. Mex._, tom. iii., p. 39;
_Gemelli Careri_, p. 514. Bullock, _Across Mex._, p. 165, says he saw
as late as 1864, on the summit of the House of the Moon, an altar of
two blocks, covered with white plaster evidently recent, with an
aperture in the centre of the upper block, supposed to have carried
off the blood of victims.

[IX-88] _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. vii., p. 10. 'One may shut his
eyes and drop a dollar from his hand, and the chances are at least
equal that it will fall upon something of the kind.' _Thompson's
Mex._, p. 140. Plates of 12 terra-cotta heads in _Nebel_, _Viaje_.
Cuts of 8 heads, some the same as Nebel's, in _Mayer's Mex. as it
Was_, p. 227.

[IX-89] Sr Antonio Garcia y Cubas, a member of the commission whose
description of Teotihuacan I have used as my chief authority, has
since published an _Ensayo de un Estudio comparativo entre las
Piramides Egipcias y Mexicanas_, Mexico, 1871, which I have received
since writing the preceding pages. He gives the same plan and view
that I have used, also a plan of the Egyptian pyramids in the plain of
Ghizeh, and a plate representing part of a human face in stone from
Teotihuacan. The author made some additional observations subsequently
to the exploration of the commission, and gives the following
dimensions, which vary somewhat from those I have given, especially
the height: Sun--232 by 220 by 66 metres; summit, 18 by 32 metres;
<DW72>, north and south 31 deg. 3', east and west 36 deg.; direction, E.
to W. southern side, 83 deg. N.W.; direction, N. to S. eastern side,
7 deg. N.E. Direction, 'road of the dead' 8 deg. 45' N.E.; line through
centres of the two pyramids, 10 deg. N.W. Moon--156 by 130 by 46 metres;
eastern <DW72>, 31 deg. 30, southern <DW72>, 36 deg.; summit, 6 by 6
metres; direction, north side, 88 deg. 30' N.W., east side, 1 deg. 30'
N.E. The author thinks the difference in height may result from the
fact that the ground on which the pyramids stand <DW72>s towards the
south, and the altitude was taken in one case on the south, in the
other on the north.

The following quotation contains the most important opinion advanced
in the essay in question:--'The pyramids of Teotihuacan, as they exist
to-day, are not in their primitive state. There is now a mass of loose
stones, whose interstices covered with vegetable earth, have caused to
spring up the multitude of plants and flowers with which the faces of
the pyramids are now covered. This mass of stones differs from the
plan of construction followed in the body of the monuments, and
besides, the falling of these stones, which has taken place chiefly on
the eastern face of the Moon, has laid bare an inclined plane
perfectly smooth, which seems to be the true face of the pyramid. This
isolated observation would not give so much force to my argument if it
were not accompanied by the same circumstances in all the monuments.'
The <DW72> of these regular smooth surfaces of the Moon is 47 deg.,
differing from the <DW72> of the outer surface. The same inner smooth
faces the author claims to have found not only in the pyramids, but in
the tlalteles, or smaller mounds. Sr Garcia y Cubas thinks that the
Toltecs, the descendants of the civilized people that built the
pyramids, covered up these tombs and sanctuaries, in fear of the
depredations of the savage races that came after them.

Respecting miscellaneous remains at Teotihuacan the author says, 'The
river empties into Lake Tezcuco, with great freshets in the rainy
season, its current becoming at such times very impetuous. Its waters
have laid bare throughout an immense extent of territory, foundations
of buildings and horizontal layers of a very fine mortar as hard as
rock, all of which indicates the remains of an immense town, perhaps
the Memphis of these regions. Throughout a great extent of territory
about the pyramids, for a radius of over a league are seen the
foundations of a multitude of edifices; at the banks of the river and
on both sides of the roads are found the horizontal layers of lime;
others of earth and mud, of tetzontli and of volcanic tufa, showing
the same method of construction; on the roads between the pyramids and
San Juan are distinctly seen traces of walls which cross each other at
right angles.' He also found excavations which seem to have furnished
the material for all the structures.

As to the chief purpose for which the _ensayo_ was written, the author
claims the following analogies between Teotihuacan and the Egyptian
pyramids: 1. The site chosen is the same. 2. The structures are
oriented with slight variation. 3. The line through the centres of the
pyramids is in the 'astronomical meridian.' 4. The construction in
grades and steps is the same. 5. In both cases the larger pyramids are
dedicated to the sun. 6. The Nile has a 'valley of the dead,' as in
Teotihuacan there is a 'street of the dead.' 7. Some monuments of each
class have the nature of fortifications. 8. The smaller mounds are of
the same nature and for the same purpose. 9. Both pyramids have a
small mound joined to one of their faces. 10. The openings discovered
in the Moon are also found in some Egyptian pyramids. 11. The interior
arrangement of the pyramids is analogous.

[IX-90] _Mexico, Anales del Ministerio de Fomento_, 1854, tom. i., pp.
382-3; _Mayer's Mex. Aztec, etc._, vol. ii., p. 282.

[IX-91] _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. i., p. 258;
_Veytia_, _Hist. Ant. Mej._, tom. i., pp. 171-5; _Chaves_, _Rapport_,
in _Ternaux-Compans_, _Voy._, serie ii., tom. v., p. 300.

[IX-92] _Tylor's Anahuac_, pp. 96, 100, with cut of a knife or
spear-head; _Burkart_, _Mexico_, tom. i., pp. 124-5. Loewenstern speaks
of the obsidian mines of Guajolote, which he describes as ditches one
or two metres wide, and of varying depth; having only small fragments
of the mineral scattered about. _Mexique_, p. 244.

[IX-93] _Mexico, Anales del Ministerio de Fomento_, 1854, tom. i., p.
277.

[IX-94] _Burkart_, _Mexico_, tom. i., p. 51.

[IX-95] _Mexico, Anales del Ministerio de Fomento_, 1854, tom. i., pp.
623-4, 719; _Huasteca_, _Noticias_, pp. 48-9, 69.

[IX-96] _Latrobe's Rambler_, p. 75.

[IX-97] _J. F. R. Canete_, in _Alzate y Ramirez_, _Gaceta de
Literatura_, Feb. 20, 1790; also in _Id._, reprint, tom. i., pp.
282-4. Sr Alzate y Ramirez, editor of the _Gaceta_, had also heard
from other sources of ruins in the same vicinity.

[IX-98] _Prescott's Mex._, vol. i., p. 13.

[IX-99] _Mayer_, in _Schoolcraft's Arch._, vol. vi., p. 588, pl. iii.,
fig. 1, 2.; _Id._, _Mex. Aztec, etc._, vol. ii., p. 268; _Id._, _Mex.
as it Was_, pp. 107-8.

[IX-100] _Theatro_, tom. i., pp. 86-7.

[IX-101] _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, 3ra epoca, tom. i., pp. 185-7,
with 10 fig.

[IX-102] _Gondra_, in _Prescott_, _Hist. Conq. Mex._, tom. iii., p.
94.

[IX-103] _Mexico_, _Anales del Ministerio de Fomento_, 1854, tom. i.,
p. 263.

[IX-104] _Id._, p. 334.

[IX-105] _Id._, pp. 417, 299-300.

[IX-106] _Morfi_, _Viage_, in _Doc. Hist. Mex._, serie iii., tom. iv.,
pp. 312-14. Alegre, _Hist. Comp. de Jesus_, tom. ii., p. 164, also
speaks of some small mounds at Pueblito.

[IX-107] _Mexico_, _Mem. de la Sec. Justicia_, 1873, pp. 216-17, two
plates.

[IX-108] _Id._, p. 217.

[IX-109] _Ballesteros_, in _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, 2da epoca, tom.
iv., pp. 774-8.

[IX-110] _Fossey_, _Mexique_, pp. 213-14.

[IX-111] _Mayer's Mex. as it Was_, pp. 31-2, 84-5, 87-106, 272-9;
_Id._, _Mex. Aztec, etc._, vol. ii., pp. 265-74; _Id._, in
_Schoolcraft's Arch._, vol. vi., pl. i.-vii.

[IX-112] _Humboldt_, _Vues_, tom. i., pp. 51-6, plate of front and
rear; _Id._, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. i., <DW37>. ii., pp. 9-10, suppl.,
pl. i. Remarks on the statue by Visconti, in _Id._, p. 32; Plates in
_Larenaudiere_, _Mex. et Guat._, pl. xxviii., p. 48; _Prescott_,
_Hist. Conq. Mex._, tom. i., p. 389; and _Delafield's Antiq. Amer._,
p. 61.

[IX-113] See p. 382, for a cut of a similar article.

[IX-114] _Tylor's Anahuac_, pp. 95-103, 110, 195, 225-6, 235-6.

[IX-115] _Waldeck_, _Palenque_, p. viii., pl. xliv.; _Tylor's
Anahuac_, pp. 110, 337-9. Mr Tylor notes that in an old work,
_Aldrovandus_, _Musaeum Metallicum_, Bologna 1648, there were drawings
of a knife and wooden mask with mosaic ornamentation, but of a
different design.

[IX-116] _Prescott_, _Hist. Conq. Mex._, tom. iii., p. 70, pl. xiii.;
_Chavero_, in _Gallo_, _Hombres Ilustres_, tom. i., pp. 146-7;
_Gilliam's Trav._, pp. 44-5.

[IX-117] _Prescott_, _Hist. Conq. Mex._, tom. iii., pp. 82, 87, 99,
101, pl. xv.-xx.

[IX-118] _Soc. Geog., Bulletin_, tom. v., No. 95, p. 116, No. 98, p.
283, et seq.; _Warden_, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. i., <DW37>. ii., pp.
36-40.

[IX-119] _Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq._, vol. iv., unnumbered plates
following those of Castaneda; _Bullock's Mexico_, p. 326; _Humboldt_,
_Vues_, tom. ii., pp. 207, 146, (fol. ed. pl. xl., xxviii.); _Id._, in
_Antiq. Mex._, tom. i., <DW37>. ii., pp. 25-7, suppl., pl. vii., fig. 10,
pl. vi., fig. 8; _Nebel_, _Viaje_.

[IX-120] _Waldeck_, _Palenque_, pl. lvi.; other miscellaneous relics,
pl. iii.-v., xliii., xlv.-vi., lv.

[IX-121] _Mueller_, _Reisen_, tom. ii., p. 292, et seq.; _Cabrera_,
_Beschreibung einer alten Stadt_, appendix.

[IX-122] _Lyon's Journal_, vol. ii., p. 119.

[IX-123] _Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq._, vol. iv.

[IX-124] _Prescott's Mex._, vol. i., p. 143; _Amer. Phil. Soc.,
Transact._, vol. iii., p. 510.

[IX-125] _Ramirez_, _Notas_, in _Prescott_, _Hist. Conq. Mex._, tom.
ii., suppl., pp. 106-24; _Waldeck_, _Palenque_, pl. liii.

[IX-126] _Bigland's View of the World_, vol. v., p. 523.

[IX-127] _Robertson's Hist. Amer._, vol. i., p. 269.

[IX-128] _Ampere_, _Prom. en Amer._, tom. ii., pp. 266-7, 287-92;
_Armin_, _Das Alte Mex._, pp. 47-50; _Andrews' Illust. W. Ind._, pp.
73-4; _Beaufoy's Mex. Illustr._, pp. 198-9; _Bonnycastle's Span.
Amer._, vol. i., p. 52; _Bradford's Amer. Antiq._, pp. 108-13;
_Brownell's Ind. Races_, pp. 50-4; _Calderon de la Barca's Life in
Mex._, vol. i., p. 93, vol. ii., p. 136; _Chambers' Jour._, 1834, vol.
ii., pp. 374-5, 1838, vol. vi., pp. 43-4; _Chevalier_, _Mexique_, p.
10; _Id._, _Mex. Ancien et Mod._, pp. 50-3, 453-4; _Conder's Mex.
Guat._, vol. i., p. 272; _Cortes' Despatches_, pp. 82-3, 265;
_Democratic Review_, vol. xi., pp. 611-13; _Davis' Anc. Amer._, pp.
6-7; _Delafield's Antiq. Amer._, pp. 30, 56, 61; _Domenech_, _Jour._,
pp. 289, 371; _D'Orbigny_, _Voyage_, p. 336; _Edinburgh Review_, July,
1867; _Elementos de Geog. Civil_, p. 29; _Evans' Our Sister Rep._, pp.
330-3; _Frost's Pict. Hist. Mex._, pp. 44-6; _Gilliam's Trav._, pp.
95-9; _Gordon's Hist. and Geog. Mem._, pp. 45-6; _Id._, _Ancient
Mex._, vol. i., pp. 201-8; _Gregory's Hist. Mex._, p. 17; _Grone_,
_Briefe_, pp. 91-2, 96-7; _Heller_, _Reisen_, pp. 148-50; _Helps'
Span. Conq._, vol. i., pp. 288-90, vol. ii., p. 141; _Hazart_,
_Kirchen-Geschichte_, tom. ii., p. 499; _Hill's Travels_, vol. ii.,
pp. 238-42; _Hist. Mag._, vol. iv., p. 271; _Kendall's Nar._, vol.
ii., p. 328; _Klemm_, _Cultur-Geschichte_, tom. v., pp. 5-6, 8, 17-19,
137-43, 153-63; _Larenaudiere_, _Mex. et Guat._, pp. 30, 44, 46-50,
53, 264, 326-7; _Lang's Polynesian Nat._, pp. 218-24; _Latrobe's
Rambler_, pp. 168-76; _Lempriere's Notes in Mex._, pp. 88-9; _Linati_,
_Costumes_, pl. 29; _Loewenstern_, _Mexique_, p. 106, et seq., _Lyon's
Journal_, vol. ii., pp. 119-21; _Malte-Brun_, _Precis de la Geog._,
tom. vi., pp. 293, 295, 406, 446, 460; _McSherry's El Puchero_, pp.
154-5; _Mexique, Etudes Hist._, p. 7; _Mexico, Mem. de la Sec.
Estado_, 1835, pp. 42-4; _Mexikanische Zustaende_, pp. 372-6; _Mexico,
Trip to_, p. 66; _Mexico, Stories of_, pp. 87, 105; _Mexico in 1842_,
pp. 86-7; _Monglave_, _Resume_, pp. 5, 11-13, 57-8; _Morton's Crania
Amer._, p. 149; _Moxo_, _Cartas Mej._, pp. 86, 90-3, 132, 349-59;
_Montanus_, _Nieuwe Weereld_, p. 219; _Muehlenpfordt_, _Mejico_, tom.
i., p. 229, tom. ii., pt. ii., pp. 295, 318-19, 352; _Mueller_,
_Amerikanische Urreligionen_, pp. 45, 457-9, 463-4, 466-8, 498-9,
543-5, 549-62, 642-6; _Norman's Rambles in Yuc._, pp. 277-80; _Id._,
_Rambles by Land and Water_, pp. 199-210; _Nott and Gliddon's Indig.
Races_, pp. 184-7; _Pimentel_, _Mem. sobre la Raza Indigena_, pp.
9-10, 54-5; _Prescott's Mex._, vol. iii., pp. 402-4; _Prichard's
Researches_, vol. v., pp. 345-8; _Poinsett's Notes Mex._, pp. 73-6,
111; _Priest's Amer. Antiq._, pp. 255-7; _Ranking's Hist. Researches_,
pp. 353-62, 401-3; _Ruxton's Adven. Mex._, p. 47; _Id._, in _Nouvelles
Annales des Voy._, 1850, tom. cxxvi., pp. 45-6; _Saturday Magazine_,
vol. vi., p. 42; _Simon's Ten Tribes_, pp. 155, 157, 196, 283; _Soc.
Mex. Geog., Boletin_, 2da epoca, tom. i., p. 37; _Shuck's Cal.
Scrap-Book_, p. 657; _Tayac_, in _Comite d'Arch. Amer._, 1866-7, p.
142; _Taylor's Eldorado_, vol. ii., pp. 159-60; _Thompson's Mex._, pp.
116-17, 213; _Thuemmel_, _Mexiko_, pp. 134-5, 182-3, 246-7, 330;
_Tudor's Nar._, vol. ii., pp. 239-40, 253-5; _Waldeck_, _Voy. Pitt._,
p. 72; _Wappaeus_, _Geog. u. Stat._, pp. 186, 188, 192, 196; _Wise's
Los Gringos_, pp. 255-6; _Willson's Amer. Hist._, pp. 73-4, 87-9;
_Wortley's Trav._, pp. 194-8; _Young's Hist. Mex._, p. 21.




CHAPTER X.

ANTIQUITIES OF THE NORTHERN MEXICAN STATES.

     THE HOME OF THE CHICHIMECS -- MICHOACAN -- TZINTZUNTZAN,
     LAKE PATZCUARO, TEREMENDO -- ANICHE AND JIQUILPAN --
     COLIMA -- ARMERIA AND CUYUTLAN -- JALISCO -- TONALA,
     GUADALAJARA, CHACALA, SAYULA, TEPATITLAN, ZAPOTLAN,
     NAYARIT, TEPIC, SANTIAGO IXCUINTLA, AND BOLANOS --
     GUANAJUATO -- SAN GREGORIO AND SANTA CATARINA -- ZACATECAS
     -- LA QUEMADA AND TEUL -- TAMAULIPAS -- ENCARNACION, SANTA
     BARBARA, CARMELOTE, TOPILA, TAMPICO, AND BURRITA -- NUEVO
     LEON AND TEXAS -- COAHUILA -- BOLSON DE MAPIMI, SAN
     MARTERO -- DURANGO -- ZAPE, SAN AGUSTIN, AND LA BRENA --
     SINALOA AND LOWER CALIFORNIA -- CERRO DE LAS TRINCHERAS IN
     SONORA -- CASAS GRANDES IN CHIHUAHUA.


A somewhat irregular line extending across the continent from
north-east to south-west, terminating at Tampico on the gulf and at
the bar of Zacatula on the Pacific, is the limit which the progress
northward of our antiquarian exploration has reached, the results
having been recorded in the preceding chapters. The region that now
remains to be traversed, excepting the single state of Michoacan, the
home of the Tarascos, is without the limits that have been assigned to
the Civilized Nations, and within the bounds of comparative savagism.
The northern states of what is now the Mexican Republic were inhabited
at the time of the Conquest by the hundreds of tribes, which, if not
all savages, had at least that reputation among their southern
brethren. To the proud resident of Anahuac and the southern plateaux,
the northern hordes were Chichimecs, 'dogs,' barbarians. Yet several
of these so-called barbarian tribes were probably as far advanced in
certain elements of civilization as some of the natives that have been
included among the Nahuas. They were tillers of the soil and lived
under systematic forms of government, although not apparently much
given to the arts of architecture and sculpture. Only one grand pile
of stone ruins is known to exist in the whole northern Chichimec
region, and the future discovery of others, though possible, is not, I
think, very likely to occur. Nor are smaller relics, idols and
implements, very numerous, except in a few localities; but this may be
attributed perhaps in great degree to the want of thorough
exploration. A short chapter will suffice for a description of all the
monuments south of United States territory, and in describing them I
shall treat of each state separately, proceeding in general terms from
south to north. A glance at the map accompanying this volume will show
the reader the position of each state, and each group of remains, more
clearly than any verbal location could do.

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: TARASCAN MONUMENTS.]

The civilized Tarascos of Michoacan have left but very few traces in
the shape of material relics. Their capital and the centre of their
civilization was on the shores and islands of Lake Patzcuaro, where
the Spaniards at the time of the Conquest found some temples described
by them as magnificent.[X-1] Beaumont tells us that the ruins of a
'plaza de armas' belonging traditionally to the Tarascos at
Tzintzuntzan, the ancient capital, were still visible in 1776, near
the pueblo of Ignatzio, two leagues distant. Five hundred paces west
of the pueblo a wall, mostly fallen, encloses a kind of plaza,
measuring four hundred and fourteen by nine hundred and thirty feet.
The wall was about sixteen feet thick and eighteen in height, with
terraces, or steps, on the inside. In the centre were the foundations
of what the author supposes to have been a tower, and west of the
enclosed area were three heaps of stones, supposed to be burial
mounds. Two idols, one in human form, lacking head and feet, the other
shaped like an alligator, were found here, carved from a stone called
_tanamo_, much like the tetzontli. The same author says, "respecting
the ruins of the palace of the Tarascan kings, according to the
examination which I lately made of these curiosities, I may say that
eastward of this city of Tzintzuntzan, on the <DW72> of a great hill
called Yaguarato, a hundred paces from the settlement, are seen on the
surface of the ground some subterranean foundations, which extend from
north to south about a hundred and fifty paces, and about fifty from
east to west, where there is a tradition that the palace of the
ancient kings was situated. In the centre of the foundation-stones are
five small mounds, or cuicillos, which are called stone _yacatas_, and
hewn blocks, over which an Indian guardian is never wanting, for even
now the natives will not permit these stones to be removed." "On the
shores of Lake Siraguen are found ancient monuments of the things
which served for the pleasure of the kings and nobles, with other
ruined edifices, which occur in various places."[X-2] Tzintzuntzan is
on the south-eastern shore of the lake, some leagues northward from
the modern Patzcuaro. Lyon in later times was told that the royal
palace and other interesting remains were yet to be seen on the lake
shores, but he did not visit them.[X-3]

  [Sidenote: TEREMENDO AND ANICHE.]

Another early writer, Villa-Senor y Sanchez, says that in 1712 he,
with a companion, entered what seemed a cavern in a deep barranca at
Teremendo, eight leagues south-west of Valladolid, or Morelia. "There
were discovered prodigious aboriginal vaults, bounded by very strong
walls, rendered solid by fire. In the centre of the second was a bench
like the foot of an altar, where there were many idols, and fresh
offerings of copal, and woolen stuffs, and various figures of men and
animals." It was found according to this author that the builders had
constructed walls of loose stones of a kind easily melted, and then by
fire had joined the blocks into a solid mass without the use of
mortar, continuing the process to the roof. The outside of the
structure was overgrown with shrubs and trees.[X-4]

       *       *       *       *       *

At Aniche, an island in Lake Patzcuaro, Mr Beaufoy discovered some
hieroglyphic figures cut on a rock; and at Irimbo about fifty miles
east of Morelia, he was shown some small mounds which the natives
called fortifications, although there was nothing to indicate that
such had been their use.[X-5] In the mountains south-east of Lake
Chapala, in the region of Jiquilpan, Sr Garcia reports the remains of
an ancient town, and says further that opals and other precious stones
well worked have been obtained here.[X-6] Humboldt pictures a very
beautiful obsidian bracelet or ring, worked very thin and brilliantly
polished; and another writer mentions some giants' bones, all found
within the limits of Michoacan.[X-7]

       *       *       *       *       *

At the time when official explorations were undertaken by Dupaix and
Castaneda in the southern parts of New Spain, it seems that officials
in some northern regions also were requested by the Spanish government
to report upon such remains of antiquity as might be known to exist.
The antiquarian genius to whom the matter was referred in Colima, then
a department of Michoacan, but now an independent state, made a
comprehensive report to the effect that he "had not been able to hear
of anything except an infinite number of edifices of ruined towns,"
and some bones and other remains apparently of little importance,
which had been taken from excavations on the hacienda of Armeria and
Cuyutlan, and which seemed to have been destroyed and covered up by
volcanic eruptions. If this archaeologist had found more than 'an
infinite number' of ruins, it might possibly have occurred to him to
describe some of them.[X-8] Nothing more is known of Colima
antiquities.

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: PYRAMID OF TEPATITLAN.]

At Tonala, probably just across the Colima line northward in the state
of Jalisco, the report sent in reply to the inquiry just spoken of,
mentioned a hill which seemed to be for the most part artificial, and
in which excavations revealed walls, galleries, and rooms. Similar
works were said to be of frequent occurrence in that region. In
digging for the foundations of the Royal Hospital at Guadalajara,
"there was found a cavity, or subterranean vault, well painted, and
several statues, especially one which represents an Indian woman in
the act of grinding corn." It was hollow, and probably of clay. Near
Autlan, in the south-west, there were said to exist some traces of
feet sculptured in the rock, one at the ford called Zopilote, and
another on the road between Autlan and Tepanola. Near Chacala, still
further south, "there is a tank, and near it a cross well carved, and
on its foot certain ancient unknown letters, with points in five
lines. On it was seen a most devoted crucifix. Under it are other
lines of characters with the said points, which seemed Hebrew or
Syriac." This information comes from an old author, and is a specimen
of the absurd reports of the Christian gospel having been preached at
various points in these regions, which are still believed to a
considerable extent by a certain class of the people of Mexico.[X-9]

An author who wrote in 1778 states that between Guadalajara and
Sayula, and four leagues north-east of the latter town, "there is a
causeway of stone and earth, about half a league long, across the
narrowest part of a marsh, or lagoon. There is a tradition that the
gentiles built it in ancient times. On most parts of its shores this
marsh has little heaps of pottery in fragments, very wide and thick,
and there can still be found figures of large vessels, and also
foundations and traces of small houses of stone. Tradition relates
that the antiguos of different nations came here to make salt, and
that they had several bloody fights, of which many traces appear in
the shape of black transparent flints worked into arrow-points."[X-10]

Mr Loewenstern discovered near Tepatitlan, some fifty miles north-east
of Guadalajara, a pyramid described as somewhat similar to those of
Teotihuacan, but smaller, its exact dimensions not being given, but
the height being estimated at from ninety to a hundred and thirty
feet. It was built in three stories of earth, sand, and pebbles, and
bore on its summit a dome-shaped mound. The pyramid at the base was
encased with large stones; whether or not they were in hewn blocks is
not stated, but the stones lying about indicated that the whole
surface had originally borne a stone facing. The form of the base was
quadrangular, but time and the cultivation of the whole surface as a
cornfield, had modified the original form and given the structure an
octagonal conformation with not very clearly defined angles. It
requires additional evidence to prove that this supposed pyramid was
not a natural hill like Xochicalco with some artificial improvement.
The hill is called Cerrito de Montezuma, the custom of applying this
monarch's name to every relic of antiquity being even more common in
the northern regions than in other parts of the country. The author of
_Cincinnatus' Travels_, mentions a 'mound' at Zapotlan, about fifty
miles east of Guadalajara, which is five hundred feet high. He does
not expressly state that it is artificial, and a gentleman familiar
with the locality tells me that it is not generally so regarded,
having the appearance of a natural grass-covered hill.[X-11]

In the northern part of the state, in the region of Tepic, the
Spaniards seem to have found grander temples, a more elaborate
religious system, and a civilization generally somewhat more advanced
than in most other parts of the north or north-west. Still no
well-defined architectural monuments are reported on good authority in
modern times. It is to the earlier writers that we must go for
accounts of any extensive remains, and such accounts in all cases
probably refer to the buildings which the Spaniards found still in use
among the natives; and the old writers were ready to seize upon every
scrap of rumor in this direction, that they might successfully trace
the favorite southward course of the Aztecs to Anahuac. Hervas says
that "there have been found and still exist in Nayarit ruins of
edifices which by their form seem to be Mexican, and the natives say
that the Mexicans built them when they were in Nayarit."[X-12] This
was another of the regions where some wandering apostle preached the
gospel in aboriginal times, and the 'cross of Tepic' was one of the
celebrated Christian relics. Some wonderful foot-prints in the stone
are also among the reported relics.[X-13] A temple of hewn stone,
situated on a rocky hill, ascended by a winding road, was found at
Xuchipiltepetl by the Spanish explorers in 1841; and Villa-Senor
describes a cave where the natives were wont to worship the skeleton
of an ancient king gaily appareled and seated in state upon a
throne.[X-14] Finally Prichard informs us that "near Nayarit are seen
earthen mounds and trenches."[X-15]

  [Sidenote: SANTIAGO IXCUINTLA.]

A writer in the Boletin of the Mexican Geographical Society describes
the temple at Jalisco as it was found by the first Spaniards; and
another in the _Nouvelles Annales des Voyages_ states that the village
of Jalisco, about a league from Tepic, is built on the ruins of the
ancient city, and that "in making excavations there are found utensils
of every kind, weapons and idols of the Mexican divinities."[X-16]
After all, the only definite account extant of relics found in this
part of the state is that by Sr Retes. He says that the northern bank
of the Rio Grande, or Tololotlan, contains numerous remains for three
or four hundred miles, consisting chiefly of stone and clay images and
pottery, and occurring for the most part on the elevated spots out of
the reach of inundations. The part of this region that has been most
explored, is the vicinity of Santiago Ixcuintla, twenty-five or thirty
miles from the mouth of the river. On the <DW72> of a hill four leagues
north-west of Santiago, at the foot of Lake San Juan, was found a
crocodile of natural size carved from stone, together with several
dogs or sphinxes, and some idols, which the author deems similar to
those of the Egyptians. Human remains have been found in connection
with the other relics, and most of the latter are said to have been
sent to enrich European collections by rich foreign residents of
Tepic. The objects consist of idols in human and animal forms, axes,
and lances, the pottery being in many cases brightly . The cut
shows six of the thirty-eight relics pictured in the plates given by
Retes. Fig. 1, 2, are the heads of small stone idols, the first head
being only two inches in height. Fig. 3 is a head of what the author
calls a sphinx. Fig. 4 is an earthen-ware mold for stamping designs on
cloth or pottery; there are several of these represented in the
collection. Fig. 5 is an earthen jar six inches high, of a material
nearly as hard as stone. Many of the jars found are very similar to
those now made and used in the same region. Fig. 6 is an earthen idol
four inches high. Among the other objects is a flint lance-head with
notches like saw-teeth on the sides.[X-17] Similar relics, but of
somewhat ruder style and coarser material, have been found at a
locality called Abrevadero, about eighteen miles south of Santiago
towards Tepic.[X-18] At Bolanos, some distance east from Santiago, on
a northern branch of the same river, Lyon obtained, by offering
rewards to the natives, "three very good stone wedges or axes of
basalt." Bones of giants were reported at a distance of a day's
journey. At the same distance southward "there is said to be a cave
containing several figures or idols in stone."[X-19]

  [Illustration: Relics from Santiago, Jalisco.]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: ANTIQUITIES OF GUANAJUATO.]

Respecting the antiquities of Guanajuato Sr Bustamante states that the
only ones in the state are some natural caves artificially improved,
as in the Cerro de San Gregorio, on the hacienda of Tupataro; and some
earthen mounds in the plains of Bajio, proved to be burial mounds.
Under the earth and a layer of ashes the skeleton lies with its head
covered by a little brazier of baked clay, and accompanied by arrows,
fragments of double-edged knives, obsidian fragments, bird-bone
necklaces strung on twisted bird-gut, smooth stones, some small
semi-spheres of baked clay with a hole in the centre of each, and a
few grotesque idols.[X-20]

Castillo describes a small human head, brought from the mines of
Guanajuato, the material of which was a "concretion of quartz and
chalcedony for the most part, sprinkled with fine grains of gold, and
a little pyrites, of a whitish color, but partly stained red by the
oxide of iron." This head, it seems, was claimed by some to be a
petrifaction, but the author is of a contrary opinion, although he
believes there is nothing artificial about it except the mouth.[X-21]
Finally Berlandier describes two pyramids near the pueblo of Santa
Catarina, in the vicinity of the city of Guanajuato. They are square
at the base, face the cardinal points, and are built of pieces of
porphyry laid in clayey earth. The eastern pyramid is twenty-three
feet high, thirty-seven feet square at the base, with a summit
platform fifteen feet square. The corresponding dimensions of the
western mound are eighteen, thirty-seven, and fifteen feet. They are
only fifteen or twenty feet apart, and are joined by an embankment
about five feet high.[X-22]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: RUINS OF QUEMADA.]

The most important and famous ruins of the whole northern region are
those known to the world under the name of Quemada, in southern
Zacatecas. The ruins are barely mentioned by the early writers as one
of the probable stations of the migrating Aztecs; and the modern
explorations which have resulted in published descriptions were made
between 1826 and 1831, although Manuel Gutierrez, parish priest of the
locality in 1805, wrote a slight account which has been recently
published.[X-23] Capt. G. F. Lyon visited Quemada in 1826, and
published a full description, illustrated with three small cuts, in
his journal.[X-24] Gov. Garcia of Zacatecas ordered Sr Esparza in 1830
to explore the ruins. The latter, however, by reason of other duties
and a fear of snakes, was not able to make a personal visit, but
obtained a report from Pedro Rivera who had made such a visit. The
report was published in the same year.[X-25]

Mr Berghes, a German mining engineer, connected with the famous Veta
Grande silver mines, made a survey of the ruins in 1831, for Gov.
Garcia, and from the survey prepared a detailed and presumably
accurate plan of the works, which was afterwards published by Nebel,
and which I shall copy in this chapter. Mr Burkart, another engineer,
was the companion of Berghes, and also visited Quemada on several
other occasions. His published account is accompanied by a plan
agreeing very well with that of Berghes, but containing fewer
details.[X-26] Nebel visited Quemada about the same time.[X-27] His
plates are two in number, a general view of the ruins from the
south-west, and an interior view of one of the structures, besides
Berghes' plan. His views, so far as I know, are the only ones ever
published.[X-28]

The location is about thirty miles southward of the capital city of
Zacatecas, and six miles northward of Villanueva. The stream on which
the ruins stand is spoken of by Burkart as Rio de Villanueva, and by
Lyon as the Rio del Partido. The name Quemada, 'burnt,' is that of a
neighboring hacienda, about a league distant towards the south-west.
I do not know the origin of the name as applied to the hacienda, but
there is no evidence that it has any connection with the ruins. The
local name of the latter is Los Edificios. The only other name which I
have found applied to the place is Tuitlan. Fr Tello, in an
unpublished history of Nueva Galicia written about 1650, tells us that
the Spaniards under Capt. Chirinos "found a great city in ruins and
abandoned; but it was known to have had most sumptuous edifices, with
grand streets and plazas well arranged, and within a distance of a
quarter of a league four towers, with causeways of stone leading from
one to another; and this city was the great Tuitlan, where the Mexican
Indians remained many years when they were journeying from the
north."[X-29] This ruined city was in the region of the modern town of
Jerez, and without much doubt was identical with Quemada. Sr Gil
applies the same name to the ruins. Others without any known authority
attempt to identify Quemada with Chicomoztoc, 'the seven caves' whence
the Aztecs set out on their migrations; or with Amaquemecan, the
ancient Chichimec capital of the traditions. Gil rather extravagantly
says, "these ruins are the grandest which exist among us after those
of Palenque; and on examining them, it is seen that they were the
fruit of a civilization more advanced than that which was found in
Peru at the time of the Incas, or in Mexico at the time of
Montezuma."[X-30]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: LOS EDIFICIOS OF QUEMADA.]

The Cerro de los Edificios is a long narrow isolated hill, the summit
of which forms an irregular broken plateau over half a mile in length
from north to south, and from one hundred to two hundred yards wide,
except at the northern end, where it widens to about five hundred
yards. The height of the hill is given by Lyon as from two to three
hundred feet, but by Burkart at eight to nine hundred feet above the
level of the plain. In the central part is a cliff rising about thirty
feet above the rest of the plateau. From the brow the hill descends
more or less precipitously on different sides for about a hundred and
fifty feet, and then stretches in a gentler <DW72> of from two to four
hundred yards to the surrounding plain. On the <DW72> and skirting the
whole circumference of the hill, except on the north and north-east,
are traces of ancient roads crossing each other at different angles,
and connected by cross roads running up the <DW72> with the works on
the summit. Berghes' plan of Quemada is given on the following page,
on which the roads spoken of are indicated by the dotted lines marked
H, H, H, etc. This plan and Burkart's plan and description are the
only authorities for the existence of the roads running round the
hill, Lyon and other visitors speaking only of those that diverge from
it; but it is probable that Berghes' survey was more careful and
thorough than that of the others, and his plan should be accepted as
good authority, especially as the other accounts agree with it so far
as they go.[X-31]

  [Illustration: Plan of the Ruins at Quemada.]

One of the roads, which turns at a right angle round the south-western
<DW72>, has traces of having been enclosed or raised by walls whose
foundations yet remain; and from it at a point near the angle a raised
causeway ninety-three feet wide extends straight up the <DW72>
north-eastward to the foot of the bluff. The walls supposed to have
raised those south-western roads are not spoken of by Burkart or shown
on his plan; Lyon speaks of certain walls here which he considers
those of an enclosed area of some six acres. From a point near the
junction of the road and causeway three raised roads, paved with rough
stones extend, according to Lyon, in perfectly straight lines S.W.,
S.S.W., and S.W. by S. The first terminates in an artificial mound
across the river towards the hacienda of Quemada;[X-32] the second
extends four miles to the Coyote Rancho; and the third is said by the
natives to terminate at a mountain six miles distant. Two similar
roads thirteen or fourteen feet wide extend from the eastern <DW72> of
the hill, one of them crossing a stream and terminating at a distance
of two miles in a cuicillo, or heap of stones. Burkart found some
evidence that the heap constituted the ruins of a regular structure or
pyramid; and Rivera locates the cuicillo on the summit of the Sierra
de Palomas. He also speaks of a road running west from the
north-western part of the hill to the small hills of San Juan, on the
Zacatecas road. Of the other roads radiating from the hill I have no
farther information than the fact that they are laid down in the
plan.[X-33]

At all points in the whole circumference where the natural condition
of the <DW72> is not in itself a sufficient barrier to those seeking
access to the summit plateau, the brow of the hill is guarded by walls
of stone, marked B on the plan for the northern portions, and
indicated generally by the black lines in the south. Indeed the
northern end of the mesa, where the approach is somewhat less
precipitous than elsewhere, is continuously guarded by such a wall,
from nine to twelve feet thick and high, enclosing an irregular
triangular area with sides of about four hundred and fifty yards: this
area being divided by another wall into two unequal portions.

The most numerous and extensive ruins are on the southern portion of
the hill, where a larger part of the uneven surface is formed into
platforms or terraces by means of walls of solid masonry. One of these
supporting walls is double--that is, composed of two walls placed in
contact side by side, one having been completed and plastered before
the other was begun, the whole structure being twenty-one feet high
and of the same thickness.[X-34] On the platforms thus formed are a
great number of edifices in different degrees of dilapidation. Any
attempt on my part to describe these edifices in detail from the
information afforded by the authorities available could not be
otherwise than confusing and unsatisfactory. There is probably no ruin
in our territory, the verbal description of which would present so
great difficulties, even if the accounts of the original explorers
were perfectly comprehensive, as they are not; for perhaps more than
three fourths of the structures shown on the plan are not definitely
spoken of by any author. I will, however, give as clear a description
as possible, referring the reader to the plan and to one view which I
shall copy, the only satisfactory one ever published.

Near each end of the wide causeway already mentioned are two
comparatively small masses of ruins. One of them appears to have been
a square stone building thirty-one feet square at the base and of the
same height; the others, now completely in ruins, may perhaps have
been of similar dimensions, so far as may be judged by the debris. In
the centre of the causeway, perhaps at F of the plan, although
described as nearer the bluff, is a heap of stone over a star-shaped
border or pavement. On the lower part of the mesa, at the extreme
southern end and also near the head of the causeway, at A iv of the
plan, is a quadrangular space measuring two hundred by two hundred and
forty feet,[X-35] and bounded, at least on the north and east, by a
stone terrace or embankment four or five feet high and twenty feet
wide, the width of which is probably to be included in the dimensions
given.[X-36] Mr Burkart states that near the inner edge of this
terrace is a canal a foot deep and wide, covered with stone flags. On
the outer edge of the terrace, on the eastern side, stands a wall
eight feet thick and eighteen feet high. Mr Lyon thinks the other
sides were always open, but Burkart speaks of the wall as having
originally enclosed the square, and having been torn down on three
sides, which seems much more probable. At one point on the eastern
terrace stands a round pillar nineteen feet in circumference and of
the same height as the wall, or eighteen feet. There are visible
traces of nine other similar pillars, seemingly indicating the former
presence of a massive column-supported portico.

Adjoining this enclosure on the east, with only a narrow passage
intervening, is another, R of the plan, measuring according to
Burkart's measurement, which agrees very nearly with that of Berghes,
one hundred by one hundred and thirty-eight feet,[X-37] with walls
still perfect, eighteen feet high and eight feet thick, in connection
with which no terraces are mentioned, although Rivera speaks of steps
on the west. Within the walls, twenty-three feet from the sides and
nineteen and a half from the ends, is a line of eleven pillars--Lyon
says fourteen, and Rivera ten--each seventeen feet in circumference
and of the same height as the walls. There can be little doubt that
these columns once sustained a roof. Mr Berghes in one of his
excavations in 1831 is said, by Nebel, to have found an ancient roof
supported by a column, and showing exactly the method followed by the
builders. The roof was made of large flat stones, covered with mortar
and supported by beams. It is not quite clear how an excavation on
the hill could show such a room, but there is little room to doubt
that the roof-structure was similar to that described. Near this
second enclosure--and west of it, as is said, but that would be hardly
possible--Rivera speaks of a circular ruin sixteen and a half feet in
diameter, with five steps leading up to the summit, on which some
apartments were still traceable.

From the level platform in front of the two main structures described,
a causeway, beginning with a stairway and guarded at the sides by
walls for much of its length, leads northward up the <DW72>. About
three hundred yards in this direction, possibly at the point marked F
on this causeway, is a pyramid in perfect preservation, about fifty
feet square at the base, also fifty feet high, with a flat summit.
Near this is another pyramid, only twelve feet square and eighteen
feet high, but standing on a terrace fifty by one hundred feet. Two
bowl-shaped circular pits, eight feet in diameter, with fragments of
pottery and traces of fire; a square building ten by eight feet on the
inside, with walls ten feet high; and a simple mound of stones eight
feet high, are the miscellaneous remains noted in this part of the
hill.

The most extensive and complicated ruins are found between the steep
central height and the western brow of the hill, where there is a
perpendicular descent of a hundred and fifty feet. On this central
height itself there are no ruins, but passing nearly round its base
are terraced roads twenty-five feet wide, with perpendicular walls
only partially artificial. Of the extensive group of monuments on the
platform of the south-western base of the central height, only the
portion about A ii, of the plan, has been definitely described, and
the description, although clear enough in itself, does not altogether
agree with the plan. Here we have a square enclosure similar to the
one already described in the south at A iv. Its sides are one hundred
and fifty feet, bounded by a terrace three feet high and twelve feet
wide, with steps in the centre of each side. Back of the terrace on
the east, west, and south sides stand walls eight or nine feet in
thickness and twenty feet high. The north side of the square is
bounded by the steep side of the central cliff, in which steps or
seats are cut in some parts in the solid rock, and in others built up
with rough stones. In the centre of this side, and partially on the
terrace, is a truncated pyramid, with a base of thirty-eight by
thirty-five feet, and nineteen feet high, divided into several
stories--five according to Nebel's drawing, seven according to Lyon's
statement.[X-38]

In front of the pyramid, and nearly in the centre of the square,
stands a kind of altar or small pyramid seven feet square and five
feet high. A very clear idea of this square is given in the following
cut from Nebel's drawing. It presents an interior view from a point on
the southern terrace. The pyramid in five stories, the central altar,
the eastern terrace with its steps, and standing portions of the walls
are all clearly portrayed. The view, however, disagrees very
essentially with the plan in representing extensive remains northward
from the enclosure on the upper <DW72>, where, according to Berghes'
plan, no ruins exist. There is an entrance in the centre of the
eastern wall, another in the western, and two on the south. These
entrances do not seem to be in the form of doorways, but extend,
according to the drawing, to the full height of the walls. That on the
east is thirty feet wide and leads to an adjoining square with sides
of two hundred feet and walls still perfect. The arrangement of these
two adjoining squares is much like that of those at A iv in the south,
but in the northern structures there are no pillars to be seen.

  [Illustration: Interior of Los Edificios.]

The opening through the western wall leads to the entrance to a cave,
reported to be of great extent, but not explored by any visitor on
account of the ruined condition of the passage leading to it--or, as
Gutierrez says, because the wind issues constantly from the entrance
with such force that no one can enter with lights. The mouth of the
subterranean passage is on the brink of the western precipice; the
walls were plastered, and the top supported by cedar beams. Strangely
enough the structure at A iii, so clearly defined on the plan, is not
described at all. It seems to be very similar to the enclosures
described.

The ruins on the northern part of the plateau are similar in character
to those in the south, but fewer in number. Among them are square
terraced enclosures like those already mentioned; a pyramid with
sloping sides, and eighteen feet square at the summit; a square
building sixteen feet square at the base and sixteen feet high; and
two parallel stone mounds thirty feet long.

On the lower southern <DW72>s the foundation-stones of numerous
buildings are found, and many parts of the adjoining plain are strewn
with stones similar to those employed in the construction of the
edifices above. There is now no water on the hill, but there are
several tolerably perfect tanks, with a well, and what seem to be the
remains of aqueducts.

The material of which all the works described are built is the gray
porphyry of this and the neighboring hills, and Burkart states that
the building-stone of Los Edificios was not quarried in the hill on
which they stand, but brought from another across the valley. The
nature of the stone permits it to be very easily fractured into slabs,
and those employed in the buildings are of different sizes, but rarely
exceeding two or three inches in thickness and not hewn. They are laid
in a mortar of reddish clay mixed with straw, in which one visitor
found a corn-husk. The mortar, according to Burkart, is of an inferior
quality,--although others represent it as very good--and on the outer
walls and in all exposed situations is almost entirely washed out.
Except this washing-out of the mortar, time and the elements have
committed but slight ravages at Quemada, the dilapidation of the
buildings being due for the most part to man's agency, since most of
the buildings of the neighboring hacienda have been constructed of
blocks taken from Los Edificios. Lyon found some evidence that the
walls were originally plastered and whitened.

A large circular stone from ten to thirteen feet in diameter and from
one to three in thickness, according to different observers, on the
surface of which were sculptured representations of a hand and foot,
was found at the western base of the hill, or as Burkart says, at the
eastern base. The editor of the _Museo Mexicano_ also speaks of a
sculptured turtle bearing the figure of a reed, the Aztec _acatl_. No
other miscellaneous relics whatever have been found. Nothing
resembling inscriptions, hieroglyphics, or even architectural
decorations, is found in any part of the ruins. Obsidian fragments,
arrow and spear heads, knives, ornaments, heads and idols of terra
cotta and stone, pottery whole or in fragments, human remains and
burial deposits, some or all of which are strewn in so great abundance
in the vicinity of most other American ruins, are here utterly
wanting; or at least the only exceptions are a few bits of porphyry
somewhat resembling arrow-heads, and some small bits of pottery found
by Lyon in the circular pit on the summit.

       *       *       *       *       *

The works which have been described naturally imply the existence in
this spot at some time in the past of a great city of the plain, of
which the Cerro de los Edificios was at once the fortified citadel and
temple. The paved causeways may be regarded as the principal streets
of the ancient city, on which the habitations of the people were built
of perishable material, or as constructed for some purely religious
purpose not now understood. Mr Burkart suggests that the land in the
vicinity was once swampy, and the causeways were raised to ensure a
dry road. An examination of their foundation should settle that
point, as a simple pavement of flat stones on the surface of a marsh
would not remain permanently in place. As simple roads, such
structures were hardly needed by barefooted or sandaled natives,
having no carriages or beasts of burden; and it seems most reasonable
to believe that they had a connection with religious rites and
processions, serving at the same time as main streets of a city.

The ruins of Quemada show but few analogies to any of the southern
remains, and none whatever to any that we shall find further north. As
a strongly fortified hill, bearing also temples, Quemada bears
considerable resemblance to Quiotepec in Oajaca; and possibly the
likeness would be still stronger if a plan of the Quiotepec
fortifications were extant. The massive character, number, and extent
of the monuments show the builders to have been a powerful and in some
respects an advanced people, hardly less so, it would seem at first
thought, than the peoples of Central America; but the absence of
narrow buildings covered by arches of overlapping stones, and of all
decorative sculpture and painting, make the contrast very striking.
The pyramids, so far as they are described, do not differ very
materially from some in other parts of the country, but the location
of the pyramids shown in the drawing and plan within the enclosed and
terraced squares seems unique. The pillars recall the roof structures
of Mitla, but it is quite possible that the pillars at Quemada
supported balconies instead of roofs; indeed, it seems improbable that
these large squares were ever entirely covered. The walls of Los
Edificios are higher as a rule than those of other American ruins, and
the absence of windows and regular doorways is noticeable. The total
want of idols in structures so evidently built, at least partially,
for religious purposes, is also a remarkable feature, as is the
absence of the usual pottery, implements, and weapons. The peculiar
structure, several times repeated, of two adjoining quadrangular
spaces enclosed, or partially so, by high walls, and one of them
formed by a low terrace into a kind of square basin, containing
something like an altar in its centre, is a feature not elsewhere
noted. There can hardly be any doubt that these and other portions of
the Edificios were devoted to religious rites.

While Quemada does not compare as a specimen of advanced art with
Uxmal and Palenque, and is inferior so far as sculpture and decoration
are concerned to most other Nahua architectural monuments, it is yet
one of the most remarkable of American ruins, presenting strong
contrasts to all the rest, and is well worthy of a more careful
examination than it has ever yet received. Such an examination is
rendered comparatively easy by the accessibility of the locality, and
would, I have no doubt, be far from unprofitable in an antiquarian
point of view. Los Edificios, like Copan and Palenque, have, so far as
has yet been ascertained, no place in the traditional annals of the
country, yet they bear no marks of very great antiquity; that is,
there is more reason to class them with Xochicalco, Quiotepec, Monte
Alban, and the fortified towns of Vera Cruz, than with the cities of
Yucatan and Chiapas, or even the pyramids of Teotihuacan and Cholula.

       *       *       *       *       *

At San Juan Teul, nearly a hundred miles southward from Quemada, the
Spaniards found a grand aboriginal temple when they first came to this
part of the country; and Frejes, an early writer, says, "there are
ruins of a temple and of dwellings not far from the present pueblo."
There is, however, no later information respecting this group of
remains. At a place called Tabasco, about fifty miles from Quemada,
Esparza mentions the discovery of some stone axes. No other
antiquities have been definitely reported in the state of Zacatecas,
although Arlegui tells us that the early missionaries were much
troubled, and hindered in their work of conversion by the constant
discovery of idols and temples concealed in the mountains.[X-39]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: AGUASCALIENTES AND SAN LUIS POTOSI.]

I have no record of any relics of antiquity in the state of
Aguascalientes: San Luis Potosi has hardly proved a more fruitful
field of archaeological research. Mayer gives a cut representing a
stone axe from this state; Cabrera reports some ancient tombs, or
cuicillos,--which he calls _cuiztillos_; the word being written
differently by different authors, and as applied to different
states--in the suburbs of the city of San Luis Potosi; and according
to a newspaper report two idols and a sacrificial basin, cut from a
concrete sandstone, were found in the sierra near the city and brought
to New Orleans. One of the idols was of life size, had two faces and a
hole for the insertion of a torch in its right hand; the basin was two
feet in diameter, and held by intertwined serpents.[X-40]

       *       *       *       *       *

In southern Tamaulipas relics are quite abundant and of a nature very
much the same as that of those which have already been described south
of the Rio Panuco, the boundary line between Tamaulipas and Vera Cruz.
At Encarnacion, in the vicinity of Tampico, Mr Furber reports the
stone idol shown in front and profile view in the cut. The sculpture
is described as rude, and with the idol, three feet high, were dug up
several implements and utensils.[X-41] Near a small salt lake between
Tula and Santa Barbara, Mr Lyon found a ruined pyramidal mound of hard
earth or clay, faced with flat unhewn stones, with similar stones
projecting and forming steps leading up the <DW72> on one side. This
pyramid is thirty paces in circumference at the base, and is divided
by a terrace into two stories, the lower of which is twenty feet high,
and the upper in its present state ten feet. Some stone and
terra-cotta images have been taken from this mound, and another much
smaller but similar structure is reported to exist somewhere in the
same vicinity.[X-42]

  [Illustration: Idol from Tamaulipas.]

On the Tamissee River, which flows into Tampico Bay, traces of ancient
towns have been found in two localities near the Carmelote Creek. They
consist of scattered hewn blocks of stone, covered with vegetable mold
and overgrown with immense trees and rank vegetation. At one of these
localities the remains include seventeen large earthen mounds, with
traces of a layer of mortar at the bottom. In them have been found
broken pottery, rudely carved images of natural size in sandstone, and
idols and heads in terra cotta. Mr Norman gives cuts representing two
of these heads.[X-43]

  [Sidenote: TOPILA REMAINS.]

In the south-western part of the state, in the Topila hills, near a
creek of the same name, is a large group of remains at a locality
known as Rancho de las Piedras. Mr Norman, who spent a week in their
examination, is the only authority for these remains, and as he was
obliged to work alone and unaided, his examination was necessarily
superficial. Over an area several miles square the ground is strewn
with hewn blocks of stone and fragments of pottery and obsidian. Many
of the blocks bear decorative sculptured figures. A female face carved
from a block of fine dark reddish sandstone, was brought away by Mr
Norman and presented to the New York Historical Society. It is shown
in the cut. The face is of life size, very symmetrical in its form,
and of a Grecian type. Another monument sketched by the explorer was a
stone turtle, six feet long, with a human head. The sculpture,
especially of the turtle's shell, is described as very fine; the whole
rests on a large block of concrete sandstone, and is called by the
finder the American Sphinx. This relic was somewhat damaged, but the
features of the human face seemed of a Caucasian rather than a native
type.

  [Illustration: Stone Face--Topila Ruins.]

  [Illustration: Colossal Head--Topila Ruins.]

The Topila ruins include twenty mounds, both circular and square, from
six to twenty-five feet in height, built of earth and faced with
uniform blocks of sandstone, eighteen inches square and six inches
thick. The facings had for the most part fallen, and that invariably
inward in the smaller mounds, indicating perhaps their original use as
tombs. Many of the blocks are scattered through the forest in places
where the mounds had entirely disappeared. Of all the mounds only one
has any trace of a terrace, and in that one it is very faint; and
there is no evidence that mortar was employed in laying the stones.
The largest covered about two acres, and bore on its summit a wild
fig-tree one hundred feet high. At its base is a circular wall of
stone, the top of which is even with the surface of the
ground--perhaps a well--and which is filled with stones and broken
pottery. Its top is covered with a circular stone four feet and nine
inches in diameter and seven inches thick, with a hole in its centre
and some ornamental lines sculptured on its upper surface. Another
round stone, twelve feet in diameter and three feet thick, on the
front of which is carved a colossal human head, is shown in the cut.
The author speaks vaguely of "vast piles of broken and crumbling
stones, the ruins of dilapidated buildings, which were strewed over a
vast space;" and his cuts of the relics which I have copied show in
the background, not included in my copies, regular walls of hewn
stone. Mr Norman regards this group as the remains of a great city,
the site of which is now covered by a heavy forest. In another
locality, seven miles further north-west on the Topila Creek, and a
few miles from the Panuco River, is another group of circular mounds,
one of them twenty-five feet high, and the lower portions faced with
flat hewn stones. Hewn blocks of various forms and sizes are also
scattered about the locality, but none of them are sculptured.[X-44]
Lyon tells us that "remains of utensils, statues, weapons, and even
skeletons," have been often found in digging for the foundations of
new buildings in the vicinity of Tampico, or Tamaulipas. He made
drawings, which he did not publish, of two very perfect basalt idols,
and mentioned also some bone carvings and terra-cotta idols found in
this region.[X-45] In northern Tamaulipas I find only one mention of
aboriginal monuments, and that at Burrita, about twenty miles east
from Matamoras, respecting which locality Berlandier says, "on a small
hill which is seen two or three hundred paces from the rancho of
Burrita are found in abundance (as the rancheros say) the bones of
ancient peoples."[X-46]

  [Sidenote: BOLSON DE MAPIMI.]

  [Sidenote: BURIAL CAVES.]

Nuevo Leon, adjoining Tamaulipas on the west, is another of the states
within whose limits no antiquities have been reported; and in Texas on
the north almost the same absence of aboriginal remains is to be
remarked, although one group of rock-inscriptions will be noted in a
future chapter at Rocky Dell creek, in the north-western part of the
state bordering on New Mexico. In the region bordering on the valley
known as the Bolson de Mapimi, comprising parts of the states of
Coahuila, Durango, and Chihuahua, the natives at some time in the past
seem to have deposited their dead in natural caves, and several of
these burial deposits of great extent have been discovered and
reported. None of them are accurately located by any traveler or
writer, nor is it possible to tell in which of the three states any
one of them should be described. As antiquities, however, these burial
caves do not require a long notice. The one of which most has been
written is that discovered by Juan Flores in 1838. The entrance to the
cave was at the foot of a hill, and within were seated round the walls
over a thousand mummies "dressed in fine blankets, made of the fibres
of lechuguilla, with sandals, made of a species of liana, on their
feet, and ornamented with  scarfs, with beads of seeds of
fruits, polished bones, &c.," as Wizlizenus says. Muehlenpfordt tells
us that Flores to find this cave traveled eastward from the Rancho San
Juan de Casta, which is eighty-six leagues northward from Durango.
Another traveler heard of several of these caves, and that the remains
found were of gigantic size. Mayer gives a report that in latitude 27
deg. 28' there are a multitude of caverns excavated from solid rock,
bearing inscribed figures of animals and men, the latter dressed like
the ancient Mexicans. Some of them were described by Fr Rotea as
fifteen by thirty feet, and identical probably with Chicomoztoc, the
famous 'seven caves.' A writer in _Silliman's Journal_, referring
perhaps to the same cave, extends the number of mummies from a
thousand to millions, and speaks of necklaces of marine shells. Mr
Wilson locates one of these mummy-deposits on the western <DW72> of a
high mountain overlooking the ancient pueblo of Chiricahui, in
Chihuahua probably. Several rows of bodies, dried and shrunken but not
decayed, were exposed by an excavation for saltpetre. Each body sewn
up in a strong well-woven cloth, and covered again with sewn
palm-leaves, lay on its back on two sticks, with knees drawn up to
chin, and feet toward the mouth of the cavern. The cave was a hundred
feet in circumference and thirty or forty feet high, and the bottom
for a depth of twenty feet, at least, was composed of alternate
layers of bodies, and of earth and pebbles. The preservation is
thought to be attributable to the dryness of the air and the presence
of saltpetre. Parts of the mummies, of the wrapping-cloths, bone beads
and beads of blue stone, with parts of a belt and tassels, were
presented to the California Academy of Natural Sciences in July, 1864.
Sr Avila describes two of these caves situated in the vicinity of San
Lorenzo, about thirty-five leagues west of Parras, in Coahuila. One
had to be entered from the top by means of ropes, and the other had
some of its rocks artificially cut and painted. In both of these
deposits bones were found instead of mummies, but they were as in the
other cases wrapped in cloth and gaily decked with beads, sticks, and
tassels. Hair was found on some of the heads, and a white hand was
noticed frequently painted on the walls. Padre Alegre speaks of the
existence of caves in this region, with human remains, and painted
characters on the cliffs. Respecting the latter, Padre Ribas says "the
cliffs of that hill and of the caves were marked with characters and a
kind of letters, formed with blood, and in some places so high that
nobody but the devil could have put them there, and so permanent that
neither the rains nor winds had erased or diminished them."[X-47]

Besides the burial caves, the only account I find of any antiquities
in the state of Coahuila, is contained in the following quotation, of
rather doubtful authenticity, perhaps, respecting some remains on the
hacienda of San Martero, about twenty-six miles from Monclova. "The
spot bears every appearance of having once been a populous city.
Stone foundations are to be seen, covering many acres. Innumerable
columns and walls rise up in every direction, composed of both
limestone and sandstone. The columns are built in a variety of shapes,
some round, others square, and bear every imprint of the work of human
hands.... For miles in the vicinity, the basin is covered with broken
pottery of burnt clay, fantastically painted and ornamented with a
variety of inexplicable designs."[X-48]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: REMAINS IN LA BRENA.]

In Durango, besides the sepulchral deposits alluded to, Ribas in his
standard and very rare work on the 'triumphs of the faith' in the
northern regions, mentions the existence of idols, columns, and the
ruins of habitations at Zape, in the central part of the state; and
Larios tells us that in the vicinity of the church which was being
built in his time, there were found at every step burial vases,
containing ashes and human bones, stones of various colors, and, most
wonderful of all, statues or images of men and animals, one resembling
a priest.[X-49] At San Agustin, between the city of Durango and San
Juan del Rio, Arlegui notes the existence of some bones of giants. The
good padre did not rely in making his statement on mere reports, but
saw with his own eyes a jaw-tooth which measured over eight inches
square, and belonged to a jaw which must, according to his
calculations, have measured nine feet and a half in the
semicircle.[X-50] In the volcanic region extending south-eastward from
the city of Durango, known as La Brena, there are large numbers of
very curious natural caves, the bottoms of which are covered with a
thick layer of fine dust, containing much saltpetre. In this dust, Sr
Jose Fernando Ramirez discovered various antiquarian relics, which he
deposited in the National Museum of Mexico. The only one specially
mentioned was a very small stone turtle, not over half an inch in
diameter, very perfectly carved from a hard material. The region of La
Brena has always been a land of mystery popularly supposed to contain
immense concealed treasure, the localities of the deposits being
marked by small heaps of stones which occurred frequently in
out-of-the-way places not covered by the torrent of lava. Most of
these stone heaps, perhaps altars or burial places of the ancient
inhabitants, have been destroyed by the treasure-seekers, always
without yielding the sought-for deposits of gold or silver. The only
other relics of aboriginal times in La Brena are certain small
cup-shaped excavations in the living rock, supposed to have been used
originally for offerings to the deities worshiped by the
natives.[X-51]

       *       *       *       *       *

I find no record of any ancient monuments in Sinaloa, and across the
gulf in the state of Lower California, with the exception of some
idols, said to have been brought to the priests by the natives they
were attempting to convert, and a smooth stone about six feet long,
bearing a kind of coat of arms and some inscribed characters,[X-52]
the only accounts of antiquities relate to cave and cliff paintings
and inscriptions, which have never been copied, and concerning which
consequently not much can be said. Clavigero says that the Jesuits
found, between latitude 27 deg. and 28 deg., "several great caves
excavated in living rock, and painted with figures of men and women
decently clad, and of several kinds of animals. These pictures, though
rude, represented distinctly the objects. The colors employed in them
were obtained, as may be plainly seen, from the mineral earths which
are found about the volcano of Virgenes." The paintings were not the
work of the natives found in possession of the country, at least so
the Spaniards decided, and it was considered remarkable that they had
remained through so many centuries fresh and uninjured by time. The
colors were yellow, red, green, and black, and many designs were
placed so high on cliffs that it seemed necessary to some of the
missionaries to suppose the agency of the giants that were in 'those
days.' Indeed, giants' bones were found on the peninsula, as in all
other parts of the country, and the natives are said to have had a
tradition that the paintings were the work of giants who came from the
north. Clavigero mentions one cave whose walls and roof formed an arch
resting on the floor. It was about fifteen by eighty feet, and the
pictures on its walls represented men and women dressed like Mexicans,
but barefooted. The men had their arms raised and spread apart, and
one woman wore her hair loose and flowing down her back, and also had
a plume. Some animals were noted both native and foreign. One author
says they bore no resemblance to Mexican paintings. A series of red
hands are reported on a cliff near Santiago mission in the south, and
also, towards the sea, some painted fishes, bows, arrows, and obscure
characters. A rock-inscription near Purmo, thirty leagues from
Santiago, seemed to the Spanish observer to contain Gothic, Hebrew,
and Chaldean letters. From all that is known of the Lower California
rock-paintings and inscriptions, there is no reason to suppose that
they differ much from, or at least are superior to, those in the New
Mexican region, of which we shall find so many specimens in the next
chapter. It is not improbable that these ruder inscriptions and
pictures exist in the southern country already passed over, to a much
greater extent than appears in the preceding pages, but have remained
comparatively unnoticed by travelers in search of more wonderful or
perfect relics of antiquity.[X-53]

  [Sidenote: CERRO DE LAS TRINCHERAS.]

Only one monument is known in Sonora, and that only through newspaper
reports. It is known as the Cerro de las Trincheras, and is situated
about fifty miles south-east of Altar. An isolated conical hill has a
spring of water on its summit, also some heaps of loose stones. The
sides of the cerro are encircled by fifty or sixty walls of rough
stones; each about nine feet high and from three to six feet thick,
occurring at irregular intervals of fifty to a hundred feet. Each
wall, except that at the base of the hill, has a gateway, but these
entrances occur alternately on opposite sides of the hill, so that to
reach the summit an enemy would have to fight his way about
twenty-five times round the circumference. One writer tells us that
Las Trincheras were first found--probably by the Spaniards--in 1650;
according to another, the natives say that the fortifications existed
in their present state long before the Spaniards came; and finally Sr
C. M. Galan, ex-governor of Sinaloa and Lower California, a gentleman
well acquainted with all the north-western region, informs me that
there is much doubt among the inhabitants of the locality whether the
walls have not been built since the Spanish Conquest. Sonora also
furnished its quota of giants' bones.[X-54]

       *       *       *       *       *

There are three or four localities in the state of Chihuahua where
miscellaneous remains are vaguely mentioned in addition to the burial
caves already referred to in the extreme south-east. Hardy reports a
cave near the presidio of San Buenaventura, from which saltpetre is
taken for the manufacture of powder, and in which some arrows have
been found, with some curious shoes intended for the hoof of an
animal, arranged to be tied on heel in front, with a view of
misleading pursuers. The cave is very large, and the natives have a
tradition of a subterranean passage leading northward to the Casas
Grandes, over twenty miles.[X-55] Lamberg mentions the existence of
some remains at Corralitos, and announces his intention to explore
them.[X-56] Garcia Conde says that ancient works are found at various
points in the state, specifying, however, only one of them, which
consists of a spiral parapet wall encircling the sides of a hill from
top to bottom, near the canyon of Bachimba.[X-57]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: CASAS GRANDES OF CHIHUAHUA.]

One celebrated group of ruins remains to be described in this
chapter--the Casas Grandes of northern Chihuahua. These ruins are
situated on the Casas Grandes River,--which, flowing northward,
empties into a lake near the United States boundary,--about midway
between the towns of Janos and Galeana, and one hundred and fifty
miles north-west of the city of Chihuahua. They are frequently
mentioned by the early writers as a probable station of the migrating
Aztecs, but these early accounts are more than usually inaccurate in
this case. Robertson found in a manuscript work a mention of the Casas
Grandes as "the remains of a paltry building of turf and stone,
plastered over with white earth or lime."[X-58] Arlegui, in his
_Chronica_, speaks of them as "grand edifices all of stone well-hewn
and polished from time immemorial." So nicely joined were the blocks
of stone that they seemed to have been 'born so,' without the slightest
trace of mortar; but the author adds that they might have been joined
with the juice of some herbs or roots.[X-59] Clavigero, who claims to
have derived his information from parties who had visited the
ruins,--since the hostile attitude of the Apaches at the time of his
own residence in the country made a visit impracticable--was the first
to give any definite idea of these monuments, although he also falls
into several errors. He says: "This place is known by the name of
Casas Grandes on account of a vast edifice still standing, which
according to the universal tradition of the people was built by the
Mexicans in their pilgrimage. This edifice is constructed according to
the plan of those in New Mexico, that is composed of three stories and
a terrace above them, without doors in the lower story. The entrance
to the edifice is in the second story; so that a ladder is
required."[X-60]

Sr Escudero examined the ruins in 1819, and describes them as "a group
of rooms built with mud walls, exactly oriented according to the four
cardinal points. The blocks of earth are of unequal size, but placed
with symmetry, and the perfection with which they have lasted during a
period which cannot be less than three hundred years shows great skill
in the art of building. It is seen that the edifice had three stories
and a roof, with exterior stairways probably of wood. The same class
of construction is found still in all the independent Indian towns of
Moqui, north-east from the state of Chihuahua. Most of the rooms are
very small with doors so small and narrow that they seem like the
cells of a prison."[X-61] A writer in the _Album Mexicano_, who
visited the Casas Grandes in 1842, wrote a description which is far
superior to anything that preceded it.[X-62] Mr Hardy visited the
place, but his account affords very little information;[X-63] and Mr
Wizlizenus gives a brief description evidently drawn from some of the
earlier authorities and consequently faulty.[X-64] Finally Mr Bartlett
explored the locality in 1851, and his description illustrated with
cuts is by far the most satisfactory extant. From his account and that
in the _Album_ most of the following information is derived.[X-65]

  [Illustration: Casas Grandes--Chihuahua.]

The ruined casas are about half a mile from the modern Mexican town of
the same name, located in a finely chosen site, commanding a broad
view over the fertile valley of the Casas Grandes or San Miguel river,
which valley--or at least the river bottom--is here two miles wide.
This bottom is bounded by a plateau about twenty-five feet higher, and
the ruins are found partly on the bottom and partly on the more
sterile plateau above. They consist of walls, generally fallen and
crumbled into heaps of rubbish, but at some points, as at the corners
and where supported by partition walls, still standing to a height of
from five to thirty feet above the heaps of debris, and some of them
as high as fifty feet, if reckoned from the level of the ground. The
cuts on this and the opposite pages represent views of the ruins from
three different standpoints, as sketched by Mr Bartlett.

  [Sidenote: CASAS GRANDES.]

  [Illustration: Casas Grandes--Chihuahua.]

The material of the walls is sun-dried blocks of mud and gravel, about
twenty-two inches thick, and of irregular length, generally about
three feet, probably formed and dried in situ. Of this material and
method of construction more details will be given in the following
chapter on the New Mexican region, where the buildings are of a
similar nature. The walls are in some parts five feet thick, but were
so much damaged at the time of Mr Bartlett's visit that nothing could
be ascertained, at least without excavation, respecting their finish
on either surface. The author of the account in the _Album_ states
that the plaster which covers the blocks is of powdered stone, but
this may be doubted. There is no doubt, however, that they were
plastered on both interior and exterior, with a composition much like
that of which the blocks were made; Escudero found some portions of
the plaster still in place, but does not state what was its
composition. The remains of the main structure, which was rectangular
in its plan, extend over an area measuring about eight hundred feet
from north to south, and two hundred and fifty from east to
west.[X-66] Within this area are three great heaps of ruined walls,
but low connecting lines of debris indicate that all formed one
edifice, or were at least connected by corridors. On the south the
wall, or the heaps indicating its existence, is continuous and
regular; of the northern side nothing is said; but on the east and
west the walls are very irregular, with many angles and projections.

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Illustration: Ground Plan--Casas Grandes.]

The ground plan of the whole structure could not be made out, at least
in the limited time at Mr Bartlett's disposal. He found, however, one
row of apartments whose plan is shown in the cut. Each of the six
shown is ten by twenty feet, and the small structure in the corner of
each is a pen rather than a room, being only three or four feet high.
In the _Album_, the usual dimensions of the rooms are given as about
twelve and a half by sixteen and a half feet; one very perfect room,
however, being a little over four feet square. Bartlett found many
rooms altogether too small for sleeping apartments, some of great
size, whose dimensions are not given, and several enclosures too large
to have been covered by a roof, doubtless enclosed courtyards. One
portion of standing wall in the interior had a doorway narrower at the
top than at the bottom, and two circular openings or windows above it.
The explorer of 1842 speaks of doorways long, square, and round, some
of them being walled up at the bottom so as to form windows.

       *       *       *       *       *

Not a fragment of wood or stone remained in 1851; nor could any holes
in the walls be found which seemed to have held the original
floor-timbers; and consequently there was no way of determining the
number of stories. In 1842, however, a piece of rotten wood was found,
over a window as it seems; and the people in the vicinity said they
had found many beams. No traces of any stairway was, however, visible.
No doubt the earlier accounts spoke of wooden stairways, or ladders,
because such means of entrance were commonly used in similar and more
modern buildings in New Mexico; later writers converted the
conjectures of the first visitors into actual fact; hence the
galleries of wood and exterior stairways spoken of by Wizlizenus and
others.

It is difficult to determine where the idea originated that the
structure had three stories; for the walls still standing in places to
a height of fifty feet, notwithstanding the wear of three centuries at
least, would certainly indicate six or seven stories rather than
three. These high walls are always in the interior, and the outer
walls are in no part of a sufficient height to indicate more than one
story. The general idea of the structure in its original condition,
formed from the descriptions and views, is that of an immense central
pile--similar to some of the Pueblo towns of New Mexico, and
particularly that of Taos, of which a cut will be given in the
following chapter--rising to a height of six or seven stories, and
surrounded by lower houses built about several courtyards, and
presenting on the exterior a rectangular form. Notwithstanding the
imperfect exploration of this ruin and its advanced state of
dilapidation, the reader of the following chapter will not fail to
understand clearly what this Casa Grande was like when still
inhabited; for there is no doubt that this building was used for a
dwelling as well as for other purposes, and this may be regarded as
the first instance in the northward progress of our investigation
where any remains of authentic aboriginal dwellings have been met.

  [Illustration: Ground Plan--Casas Grandes.]

  [Sidenote: BROKEN POTTERY.]

About one hundred and fifty yards west of the main building and
somewhat higher on the plateau, are seen the foundations of another
structure of similar nature and material, indicating a line of small
apartments built round an interior court, according to the ground plan
shown in the cut, the whole forming a square with sides of about one
hundred and fifty feet. There are some other heaps in the vicinity
which may very likely represent buildings, of whose original forms,
however, they convey no idea, besides some remains of what seemed to
Mr Bartlett to be very evidently those of modern Spanish buildings.
Between the two buildings described there are three mounds or heaps of
loose stones each about fifteen feet high, which have not been opened.
Escudero, followed by Garcia Conde, states that throughout an extent
of twenty leagues in length and ten leagues in width in the valleys of
the Casas Grandes and Janos, mounds are found in great numbers--over
two thousand, as estimated in the _Album_--and that such as have been
opened have furnished painted pottery, metates, stone axes, and other
utensils. One visitor thought that one of the mounds presented great
regularity in its form and had a summit platform.

  [Illustration: Pottery from Casas Grandes.]

  [Illustration: Pottery from Casas Grandes.]

  [Illustration: Pipe from Casas Grandes.]

Escudero and Hardy report the existence of an aqueduct or canal which
formerly brought water from a spring to the town. The following cut
shows specimens of broken pottery found in connection with the ruins.
The ornamentation is in black, red, or brown, on a white or reddish
ground. The material is said to be superior in texture to any
manufactured in later times by the natives of this region. The whole
valley for miles around is strewn with such fragments. Unbroken
specimens of pottery are not abundant, as is naturally the case in a
country traversed continually by roving bands of natives to whom it is
easier to pick up or dig out earthen utensils than to manufacture or
buy them. Three specimens were however found by Mr Bartlett, and are
shown in the cut. Mr Hardy also sketched a vase very similar to the
first figure of the cut, and he speaks of "good specimens of earthen
images in the Egyptian style, which are, to me at least, so perfectly
uninteresting, that I was at no pains to procure any of them."
According to the _Album_, some idols had been found by the inhabitants
among other relics, and the women claimed to have discovered a
monument of antiquity which was of practical utility to themselves, as
well as of interest to archaeologists--namely, a jar filled with bear's
grease! The pipe shown in the cut, has a suspiciously modern look,
although included in Bartlett's plate of Chihuahuan antiquities.

  [Sidenote: FORTRESS AT CASAS GRANDES.]

The inhabitants pointed out to Bartlett, on the top of a high
mountain, some ten miles south-west of the ruins described, what they
said was a stone fortress of two or three stories. Escudero describes
this monument, which he locates at a distance of only two leagues, as
a watch-tower or sentry-station on the top of a high cliff; and says
that the southern <DW72> of the hill has many lines of stones at
irregular intervals, with heaps of loose stones at their extremities.
This is probably, in the absence of more definite information the more
credible account. The _Album_ represents this monument as a fortress
built of great stones very perfectly joined, though without the aid of
mortar. The wall is said to be eighteen or twenty feet thick, and a
road cut in the rock leads to the summit. At this time, 1842, the
works were being destroyed for the stone they contained. Clavigero
speaks of the hill works as "a fortress defended on one side by a high
mountain, and on other sides by a wall about seven feet thick, the
foundations of which yet remain. There are seen in this fortress
stones as large as millstones; the beams of the roofs are of pine, and
well worked. In the centre of the vast edifice is a mound, built as it
seems, for the purpose of keeping guard and watching the enemy."
Clavigero evidently confounds the two groups of ruins, and from his
error, and a similar one by others, come the accounts which represent
the Casas Grandes as built of stone. He mentions obsidian mirrors
among the relics dug up here, probably without any authority. The cut
from Bartlett shows a stone metate found among the ruins.

  [Illustration: Metate from Casas Grandes.]

So far as any conclusions or comparisons suggested by this Chihuahuan
ruin are concerned, they may best be deferred to the end of the
following chapter. The Casas Grandes, and the ruins of the northern or
New Mexican group, should be classed together. They were the work of
the same people, at about the same epoch.

FOOTNOTES:

[X-1] _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iv., p. 58.

[X-2] _Beaumont_, _Cron. Mechoacan_, MS., pp. 45-6. Ihuatzio, probably
the true name of the town called by Beaumont Ignatzio, 'recuerda por
sus antiguedades (la Piramide aun no destruida, que les servia de
plaza de armas: otras _Yacatas_, o sepulcros de sus Reyes: las
reliquias de una torre que fabrico su primer fundador antes venir los
Espanoles, y la _via_, calle o camino de _Querendaro_, que comunicaba
con la Capital) tristes memorias de la grandeza michuacana.'
_Michuacan_, _Analisis Estad., por J. J. L._, p. 166.

[X-3] _Lyon's Journal_, vol. ii., pp. 71-2. 'Some relics of the
Tarascan architecture are said to be found at this place, but we do
not possess any authentic accounts or drawings of them.' _Mayer's Mex.
Aztec, etc._, vol. ii., p. 291. Mention in _Muehlenpfordt_, _Mejico_,
tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 369; _Wappaeus_, _Geog. u. Stat._, p. 167.

[X-4] _Villa-Senor y Sanchez_, _Theatro_, tom. ii., pp. 70-1; mention
in _Hassel_, _Mex. Guat._, p. 154.

[X-5] _Beaufoy's Mex. Illustr._, p. 199.

[X-6] _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, 2da epoca, tom. iv., p. 559.

[X-7] _Humboldt_, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. i., <DW37>. ii., p. 30, suppl.,
pl. vii., fig. 13; _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, tom. viii., p. 558.

[X-8] _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, 2da epoca, tom. iii., p. 277.

[X-9] _Gutierrez_, in _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, 2da epoca, tom.
iii., pp. 277-80.

[X-10] _Rico_, in _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, 2da epoca, tom. iii., p.
183.

[X-11] _Loewenstern_, _Mexique_, pp. 265-7, 280, 344; _Id._, in
_Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1840, tom. lxxxvi., pp. 119-20; _Id._,
in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xi., p. 104; _Cincinnatus'
Travels_, p. 259.

[X-12] _Hervas_, _Catalogo_, tom. i., p. 311.

[X-13] _Florencia_, _Origen de los Santuarios_, p. 8; _Padilla_,
_Conq. N. Galicia_, MS., pp. 217-19.

[X-14] _Acazitli_, in _Icazbalceta_, _Col. de Doc._, tom. ii., pp.
313-14; _Villa-Senor y Sanchez_, _Theatro_, tom. ii., pp. 269-70.

[X-15] _Nat. Hist. Man_, vol. ii., p. 515.

[X-16] _Gil_, in _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, tom. viii., p. 496;
_Ternaux-Compans_, in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1842, tom. xcv.,
p. 295; same account in _Mofras_, _Explor._, tom. i., p. 161.

[X-17] _Retes_, in _Museo Mex._, 2da epoca, tom. i., pp. 3-6.

[X-18] _Id._, p. 6.

[X-19] _Lyon's Journal_, vol. i., pp. 322-3.

[X-20] _Bustamante_, in _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, tom. i., pp. 56-7.

[X-21] _Castillo_, in _Id._, 2da epoca, tom. iv., pp. 107-8.

[X-22] _Berlandier and Thovel_, _Diario_, p. 25.

[X-23] _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, 2da epoca, tom. iii., pp. 278-9,
preceded by an account quoted from Torquemada.

[X-24] _Lyon's Journal_, vol. i., pp. 225-44.

[X-25] _Esparza_, _Informe_, pp. 56-8. The same report also published
in 1843, in the _Museo Mex._, tom. i., p. 185, et seq., with some
remarks by the editor, who saw the ruins in 1831. The article also
includes a quotation from _Frejes_, _Conquista de Zacatecas_, an
attempt to clear up the origin and history of the ruined city, and a
plate reduced from Nebel.

[X-26] _Burkart_, _Aufenthalt_, tom. ii., pp. 97-105.

[X-27] _Viaje._ His Mexican trip began in 1831, _Soc. Geog.,
Bulletin_, tom. xv., No. 95, p. 141, and Burkart met him in Zacatecas
some time before 1834.

[X-28] Other accounts containing no additional information, and made
up, except one or two, from the authorities already mentioned:--_Gil_,
in _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, tom. viii., pp. 441-2; _Mayer's Mex. as
it Was_, pp. 240-6; _Id._, _Mex. Aztec, etc._, vol. ii., pp. 317-23,
Lyon's description and Nebel's plate; _Id._, in _Schoolcraft's Arch._,
vol. vi., p. 581; _Bradford's Amer. Antiq._, pp. 90-5; _Muehlenpfordt_,
_Mejico_, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 492; _Wappaeus_, _Geog. u. Stat._, p.
204; _Frost's Pict. Hist. Mex._, pp. 58-66; _Id._, _Great Cities_, pp.
304-12, cuts; _Rio_, _Beschreib. einer alt. Stadt_, appendix, pp.
70-5.

[X-29] _Tello_, _Fragmentos_, in _Icazbalceta_, _Col. de Doc._, tom.
ii., p. 344.

[X-30] _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, tom. viii., pp. 441-2, 496;
_Frejes_, in _Museo Mex._, tom. i., pp. 186-9; _Lyon's Journal_, vol.
i., p. 243.

[X-31] The explanation of the plan by the lettering given in Nebel's
work is as follows: A i., A ii., A iii., A iv. Temples and structures
connected therewith. B. Enclosing walls. C. Walls supporting terraces.
D. Pyramids in the interior of temples. E. Isolated Pyramids. F. Ruins
of dwellings. G. Stairways. H. Ancient roads. J. Kind of a 'plaza de
armas.' K. Fortifications. L. Small stairways leading to the court of
the temple. M. A small altar. N. Ancient foundations. O. Batteries in
the form of flat roofs (azoteas). P. Modern cross on the summit of the
hill. Q. Well. R. Large hall with 11 columns to support the roof. S.
Two columns. T. Rock. U. Stream.

[X-32] Rivera, pp. 56-8, says that the causeway leading toward the
hacienda runs S.E.

[X-33] _Frejes_, in _Museo Mex._, tom. i., p. 186, speaks of 'tres
calzadas de seis varas de ancho que por lineas divergentes corren al
mediodia algunas leguas hasta perderse de vista.'

[X-34] _Lyon._ According to the _Museo Mex._, tom. i., p. 187, it is 5
or 6 varas high and 10 thick.

[X-35] Burkart gives the dimensions as 194 by 232 Rhenish feet,
somewhat larger than English feet; Rivera says 35 or 40 varas square.
This author also noticed on the <DW72> of the hill before reaching the
steepest part, a pyramid about 20 feet high and 11 feet square, now
truncated but apparently pointed in its original condition. This was
probably the heap of stones mentioned above.

[X-36] Burkart implies that the terrace extends entirely round the
square, forming a sunken basin 4 or 5 feet deep; and this is probably
the case, as it agrees with the plan of some other structures on the
hill.

[X-37] Lyon says 137 by 154 feet; Rivera, 50 to 60 varas, with walls 8
to 9 varas high.

[X-38] Burkart gives the dimensions of the pyramid as 30 feet square
and 30 feet high; and of the altar in front as 6 feet square and 6
feet high.

[X-39] 'Tiene este pueblo [Teul] por cabeza un cerro al principio
cuadrado como de pena tajada, y arriba otro cerro redondo, y encima
del primero hay tanta capacidad que caben mas de veinte mil indios....
En este monte estaba una sala, en donde estaba su idolo, que llamaban
el Teotl ... tiene mas una pila de losas de junturas de cinco varas de
largo y tres de ancho, y mas ancha de arriba que de abajo.... Esta
pila tiene dos entradas; la una en la esquina que mira al Norte, con
cinco gradas, y la otra que mira en esquina al Sur, con otras cinco:
no lejos de esta pila, como dos tiros de arcabuz, estan dos
montecillos que eran los osarios de los indios que sacrificaban.'
_Tello_, in _Icazbalceta_, _Col. de Doc._, tom. ii., pp. 362-4; _Id._,
in _Beaumont_, _Cron. Mechoacan_, MS., p. 300; description of the
temple, _Gil_, in _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, tom. viii., p. 497;
mention of ruins, _Frejes_, in _Museo Mex._, tom. i., p. 186; stone
axes, _Esparza_, _Informe_, p. 7; concealed temples and idols,
_Arlegui_, _Chron. Zacatecas_, p. 95.

[X-40] _Mayer's Mex. as it Was_, p. 98; _Cabrera_, in _Soc. Mex.
Geog., Boletin_, 2da epoca, tom. iv., p. 24; _Annual Scien. Discov._,
1850, p. 361.

[X-41] _Furber's Twelve Months Volunteer_, pp. 387-8.

[X-42] _Lyon's Journal_, vol. i., pp. 141-2.

[X-43] _Norman's Rambles by Land and Water_, pp. 169-70.

[X-44] _Norman's Rambles by Land and Water_, pp. 121-37.

[X-45] _Lyon's Journal_, vol. i., pp. 21, 28, 114. Mention of
Tamaulipas antiquities from Norman and Lyon, in _Mayer's Mex. Aztec,
etc._, vol. ii., pp. 207-9; _Id._, in _Schoolcraft's Arch._, vol. vi.,
p. 581. Newspaper account of some relics of Christianity, in
_Cronise's California_, p. 30.

[X-46] _Berlandier and Thovel_, _Diario_, p. 151.

[X-47] _Wizlizenus' Tour_, pp. 69, 70. This author says the bodies are
supposed to belong to the Lipans. _Muehlenpfordt_, _Mejico_, tom. ii.,
pt. ii., p. 518; _Severn's Journal_, vol. xxx., p. 38; _Mayer's Mex.
as it Was_, pp. 239-40; _Id._, _Mex. Aztec, etc._, vol. ii., p. 333;
_Silliman's Jour._, vol. xxxvi., p. 200; _Cal. Acad. Nat. Sciences_,
vol. iii., pp. 160-1; _Pac. Monthly_, vol. xi., p. 783; _Nouvelles
Annales des Voy._, 1839, tom. lxxxi., pp. 126-7; _Lempriere's Notes in
Mex._, p. 135; _Avila_, in _Album Mex._, tom. i., pp. 465-8; _Alegre_,
_Hist. Comp. de Jesus_, tom. i., p. 418; _Ribas_, _Hist. de los
Triumphos_, p. 685.

[X-48] _Donnavan's Adven._, pp. 30-1.

[X-49] _Larios_, in _Alegre_, _Hist. Comp. de Jesus_, tom. ii., pp.
54-5; _Ribas_, _Hist. de los Triumphos_, p. 583; _Orozco y Berra_,
_Geografia_, p. 318.

[X-50] _Arlegui_, _Chron. Zacatecas_, pp. 6, 67.

[X-51] _Ramirez_, _Noticias Hist. de Durango_, pp. 6-9; _Id._, in
_Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, tom. v., pp. 10-11.

[X-52] _Doc. Hist. Mex._, serie iv., tom. v., pp. 213, 254.

[X-53] _Clavigero_, _Storia della Cal._, tom. i., pp. 107-9; _Doc.
Hist. Mex._, serie iv., tom. v., pp. 213, 254; _Taylor_, in _Cal.
Farmer_, Dec. 21, 1860, Nov. 22, 1861, Jan. 10, 1862; _Hesperian_,
vol. iii., p. 530.

[X-54] _San Francisco Evening Bulletin_, July 16, 1864; _Cal. Farmer_,
March 20, 1863, April 4, 1862; _Doc. Hist. Mex._, serie iii., tom.
iv., pp. 626-7.

[X-55] _Hardy's Trav._, p. 467.

[X-56] _Lamberg_, in _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, tom. iii., p. 25.

[X-57] _Garcia Conde_, _Ensayo sobre Chihuahua_, p. 74.

[X-58] _Robertson's Hist. Amer._, vol. i., p. 269.

[X-59] _Arlegui_, _Chron. Zacatecas_, pp. 104-5. Same in _Padilla_,
_Conq. N. Galicia_, MS., pp. 484-5.

[X-60] _Clavigero_, _Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. i., p. 159;
_Heredia y Sarmiento_, _Sermon_, pp. 89-90.

[X-61] _Escudero_, _Noticias Estad. del Estado de Chihuahua_, pp.
234-5; repeated in _Garcia Conde_, _Ensayo sobre Chihuahua_, p. 74;
_Orozco y Berra_, _Geografia_, pp. 110-11.

[X-62] _Album Mex._, tom. i., pp. 374-5.

[X-63] _Hardy's Trav._, pp. 465-6.

[X-64] _Wizlizenus' Tour_, pp. 59-60.

[X-65] _Bartlett's Pers. Nar._, vol. ii., pp. 347-64. Other compiled
accounts may be found in _Mayer's Mex. Aztec, etc._, vol. ii., p. 339;
_Armin_, _Das Heutige Mex._, pp. 269-70; _Moellhausen_, _Tagebuch_, pp.
312-13; _Muehlenpfordt_, _Mejico_, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 525;
_Thuemmel_, _Mexiko_, p. 347; _Ranking's Hist. Researches_, pp. 282-3;
_Wappaeus_, _Geog. u. Stat._, p. 216; _Willson's Amer. Hist._, p. 561;
_Gordon's Ancient Mex._, vol. i., p. 105; _Gregory's Hist. Mex._, p.
71.

[X-66] Although the dimensions in the _Album_ are given as 414 by 1380
feet, probably including some structures reckoned by Bartlett as
detached.




CHAPTER XI.

ANTIQUITIES OF ARIZONA AND NEW MEXICO.

     AREA ENCLOSED BY THE GILA, RIO GRANDE DEL NORTE, AND
     COLORADO -- A LAND OF MYSTERY -- WONDERFUL REPORTS AND
     ADVENTURES OF MISSIONARIES, SOLDIERS, HUNTERS, MINERS, AND
     PIONEERS -- EXPLORATION -- RAILROAD SURVEYS --
     CLASSIFICATION OF REMAINS -- MONUMENTS OF THE GILA VALLEY
     -- BOULDER-INSCRIPTIONS -- THE CASA GRANDE OF ARIZONA --
     EARLY ACCOUNTS AND MODERN EXPLORATION -- ADOBE BUILDINGS
     -- VIEW AND PLANS -- MISCELLANEOUS REMAINS, ACEQUIAS, AND
     POTTERY -- OTHER RUINS ON THE GILA -- VALLEY OF THE RIO
     SALADO -- RIO VERDE -- PUEBLO CREEK -- UPPER GILA --
     TRIBUTARIES OF THE COLORADO -- ROCK-INSCRIPTIONS, BILL
     WILLIAMS FORK -- RUINED CITIES OF THE COLORADO CHIQUITO --
     RIO PUERCO -- LITHODENDRON CREEK -- NAVARRO SPRING -- ZUNI
     VALLEY -- ARCH SPRING -- ZUNI -- OJO DEL PESCADO --
     INSCRIPTION ROCK -- RIO SAN JUAN -- RUINS OF THE CHELLY
     AND CHACO CANYONS -- VALLEY OF THE RIO GRANDE -- PUEBLO
     TOWNS, INHABITED AND IN RUINS -- THE MOQUI TOWNS -- THE
     SEVEN CITIES OF CIBOLA -- RESUME, COMPARISONS, AND
     CONCLUSIONS.


Crossing the boundary line between the northern and southern
republics, and entering the territory of the Pacific United States, I
shall present in the present chapter all that is known of antiquities
in Arizona and New Mexico. An area approximating somewhat the form of
a right-angle triangle, with a base of four hundred miles and a
perpendicular of three hundred, includes all the remains in this
region. The valley of the Rio Gila, with those of its tributary
streams, is the southern boundary, or base, stretching along the
thirty-third parallel of latitude; the Rio Grande del Norte, flowing
southward between the one hundred and sixth and one hundred and
seventh meridians, forms with its valley the eastern limit or
perpendicular; while on the north and west the region is bounded by
the Rio Colorado as a hypothenuse, albeit a very winding one. The
latter river might, however, be straightened, thus improving
materially the geometrical symmetry of my triangle, without
interfering much with ancient remains, as will be seen when the relics
of the Colorado section are described.

       *       *       *       *       *

The face of the country is made up of fertile valleys, precipitous
canyons, rugged mountains, and desert table-lands, the latter
predominating and constituting a very large portion of the area.
Arizona and New Mexico since first they became known to the outside
world, have always had, as they still have, more or less of the
mysterious connected with them. Here have been located for over three
hundred years the wonderful peoples, marvelous cities, extensive
ruins, mines of untold wealth, unparalleled natural phenomena, savages
of the most bloodthirsty and merciless character, and other marvels,
that from the narratives of adventurers and missionaries have found
their way into romance and history. This was in a certain sense the
last American stronghold of the mysterious as connected with the
aborigines, where the native races yet dispute the progress of a
foreign civilization.

And the wondrous tales of this border land between civilization and
savagism, always exaggerated, had nevertheless much foundation in
fact. The Pueblo tribes of New Mexico and the Moquis of Arizona are a
wonderful people when we consider the wall of savagism which envelopes
them; their towns of many-storied structures are better foundations
than usually exist for travelers' tales of magnificent cities; ruins
are abundant, showing that the pueblo nations were in the past more
numerous, powerful, and cultured, than Europeans have found them; rich
mines are now worked, and yet richer ones are awaiting development;
few greater natural curiosities have been seen in America than the
canyon of the Colorado, with perpendicular sides in some places a mile
in height; and the Apaches are yet on the war-path, making a trip
through the country much more dangerous now than at the time when the
Spaniards first visited it.

Although a large part of these states is still in the possession of
the natives, and no official or scientific commission has made
explorations which were especially directed to its antiquarian
treasures, yet the labors of the priest, hunter, immigrant, Indian
fighter, railroad surveyor, and prospector, have left few valleys,
hills, or canyons, mountain passes or desert plains unvisited. While it
is not probable that all even of the more important ruins have been
seen, or described, we may feel very sure, here as in Yucatan, from
the uniformity of such monuments as have been brought to light, that
no very important developments remain to be made respecting the
character, or type, of the New Mexican remains.

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: EXPLORATION OF NEW MEXICO.]

This country was first visited by the Spaniards in the middle of the
sixteenth century. The part known to them as New Mexico, and to which
their efforts as conquistadores and missionaries were particularly
directed, was the valley of the Rio Grande and its tributary streams,
but the whole district was frequently crossed and recrossed by the
padres down to the latter part of the seventeenth century. Reports of
large cities and powerful nations far in the north reached Mexico
through the natives as early as 1530; Cabeza de Vaca, ship-wrecked on
the coast of the Mexican gulf, wandered through the regions south of
and near New Mexico, in 1535-6; roused by the shipwrecked soldier's
tale, Fr Marco de Niza penetrated at least into Arizona from Sinaloa
in 1539, and was followed by Vasquez de Coronado, who reached the
Pueblo towns on the Rio Grande in 1540; Antonio de Espejo followed the
course of the great river northward to the Pueblos in 1583, and in
1598 New Mexico was brought altogether under Spanish rule by Juan de
Onate. In 1680 the natives threw off the yoke by revolt, but were
again subdued fifteen years later, and the Spaniards retained the
power, though not always without difficulty until 1848, when the
territory came into the possession of the United States. The archives
of the missions are said to have been for the most part destroyed in
the revolt of 1680, and consequently their history previous to that
date is only known in outline; since 1680 the annals are tolerably
clear and complete. The diaries of the Spanish pioneers have been,
most of them, preserved in one form or another, and show that the
authors visited many of the ruins that have attracted the attention of
later explorers, and also that they found many of the towns inhabited
that now exist only as ruins. Their accurate accounts of towns still
standing and inhabited attest, moreover, their general veracity as
explorers.

It is, however, to the explorations undertaken under the authority of
the United States government, for the purpose of surveying a
practicable route for an interoceanic railroad, and also to establish
a boundary line between American and Mexican territory, that we owe
nearly all our accurate descriptions of the ancient monuments of this
group. These exploring parties, as well as the military expeditions
during the war with Mexico, were accompanied by scientific men and
artists, whose observations were made public in their official
reports, together with illustrative plates. They generally followed
the course of the larger rivers, but the ruins discovered by them show
a remarkable similarity one to another, and consequently the reports
of trappers and guides respecting remains of similar type on the
smaller streams, may be generally accepted as worthy of more implicit
confidence than can generally be accorded to such reports.

In this division of Pacific States antiquities, which may be spoken of
as the New Mexican group, we shall find, 1st, the remains of ancient
stone and adobe buildings in all stages of disintegration, from
standing walls with roofs and floors to shapeless heaps of debris or
simple lines of foundation-stones; 2d, anomalous structures of stone
or earth, the purpose of which, either by reason of their advanced
state of ruin or of the slight attention given them by travelers, is
not apparent; 3d, traces of aboriginal agriculture in the shape of
_acequias_ and _zanjas_, or irrigating canals and ditches; 4th,
pottery, always in fragments; 5th, implements and ornaments of stone
and shell, not numerous; and 6th, painted or engraved figures on
cliffs, boulders, and the sides of natural caverns.

  [Sidenote: MOUTH OF THE COLORADO.]

About the mouth of the Colorado there are no authentic remains of
aboriginal work dating back beyond the coming of the Spaniards,
although Mr Bartlett found just below the mouth of the Gila traces of
cultivation, which seemed to him, judging from the growth of trees
that covered them, not to be the work of the present tribes in the
vicinity. I find also an absurd newspaper report--and no part of the
Pacific States has been more prolific of such reports than that now
under consideration--of a wonderful ruined city of hewn stone
somewhere about the head of the Gulf of California. This city included
numerous dwellings, circular walls of granite, sculptured
hieroglyphics, and seven great pyramids, not unlike the famous Central
American cities of Palenque and Copan. Some rude figures scratched or
painted on the surface of a boulder, seen by a traveler, have been
proved by experience to be ample foundation for such a rumor.[XI-1]

  [Illustration: Boulder-Sculptures on the Gila.]

  [Sidenote: ROCK-INSCRIPTIONS OF THE GILA.]

Ascending the Rio Gila eastward from its junction with the Colorado,
for some two hundred miles we find nothing that can be classed with
ancient monuments except natural heaps of large boulders at two
points, the flat sides of which are "covered with rude figures of men,
animals, and other objects of grotesque forms, all pecked in with a
sharp instrument." The accompanying cut shows some of these
boulder-sculptures as they were sketched by Bartlett in 1852. Some of
them seemed of recent origin, while many were much defaced by
exposure, and apparently of great age. The newer carvings in some
cases extend over the older ones, and many are found on the under
side of the rocks, where they must have been executed before they
fell to their present position. The locality of the sculptured rocks
is shown on the map; the first is about fifty miles east of Fort Yuma,
and the second twenty miles west of the big bend of the Gila, both on
the south bank. Two additional incised figures are given in the
following cut from Froebel's sketches, since the author thinks that
Bartlett may have selected his specimens with a view to strengthen his
theory that the figures are not hieroglyphics with a definite
meaning.[XI-2]

  [Illustration: Boulder-Sculptures on the Gila.]

Between the Pima villages and the junction of the San Pedro with the
Gila, stands the most famous ruin of the whole region--the Casa
Grande, or Casa de Montezuma, which it is safe to say has been
mentioned by every writer on American antiquity. Coronado during his
trip from Culiacan to the 'seven cities' in 1540, visited a building
called Chichilticale, or 'red house,' which is supposed with much
reason to have been the Casa Grande. The only account of Coronado's
trip which gives any description of the building is that of Castaneda,
who says, "Chichilticale of which so much had been said [probably by
the guides or natives] proved to be a house in ruins and without a
roof; which seemed, however, to have been fortified. It was clear that
this house, built of red earth, was the work of civilized people who
had come from far away." "A house which had long been inhabited by a
people who came from Cibola. The earth in this country is red. The
house was large; it seemed to have served as a fortress."[XI-3]

Father Kino heard of the ruin while visiting the northern missions of
Sonora in the early part of 1694. He was at first incredulous, but the
information having been confirmed by other reports of the natives, he
visited the Casa Grande later in the same year, and said mass within
its walls. Since Kino was not accompanied at the time by Padre Mange,
his secretary, who usually kept the diary of his expeditions, no
definite account resulted from this first visit.[XI-4]

In 1697, however, Padre Kino revisited the place, in company this time
with Mange, who in his diary of the trip wrote what may be regarded as
the first definite description.[XI-5]

  [Sidenote: CASA GRANDE OF THE GILA.]

Padre Jacobo Sedelmair visited the Casa Grande in 1744, but in his
narrative he copies Mange's account. He went further, however, and
discovered other ruins.[XI-6]

  [Sidenote: AUTHORITIES ON THE CASA GRANDE.]

Lieut C. M. Bernal seems to have been military commandant in Kino's
expedition, and he also describes the ruin in his report.[XI-7] Padres
Garces and Font made a journey in 1775-6, under Capt. Anza, to the
Gila and Colorado valleys, and thence to the missions of Alta
California and the Moqui towns. Both mention the ruin in their
diaries, the latter giving quite a full account. I know not if Padre
Font's diary has ever been printed, but I have in my collection an
English manuscript translation from the original in the archives at
Guadalajara,--perhaps the same copy from which Mr Bartlett made the
extracts which he printed in his work.[XI-8] Font's plan is not given
with the translation, but in Beaumont's _Cronica de Mechoacan_, a very
important work never published, of which I have a copy made from the
original for the Mexican Imperial Library of Maximilian, I find a
description of the Casa Grande, which appears to have been quoted
literally from Font's diary, and which also contains the ground plan
of the ruined edifice. I shall notice hereafter its variations from
the plan which I shall copy.[XI-9] A brief account was given in the
_Rudo Ensayo_, written about 1761, and by Velarde in his notice of the
Pimeria, written probably toward the close of the eighteenth century;
but neither of these descriptions contained any additional
information, having been made up probably from the preceding.[XI-10]

Finally the Casa Grande has been visited, sketched, and described by
Emory and Johnston, connected with Gen. Kearny's military expedition
to California in 1846; by Bartlett with the Mexican Boundary
Commission in 1852; and by Ross Browne in 1863.[XI-11]

The descriptions of different writers do not differ very materially
one from another, Bartlett's among the later, and Font's of the
earlier accounts being the most complete. From all the authorities I
make up the following description, although the extracts which I have
already given include nearly all that can be said on the subject. The
Casa Grande stands about two miles and a half south of the bank of the
Gila;--that is all the early writers call the distance about a league;
Bartlett and Emory say nothing of the distance, and Ross Browne says
it is half an hour's ride. The Gila valley in this region is a level
bottom of varying width, with nearly perpendicular banks of earth.
Opposite the ruin the bottom is about a mile wide on the southern bank
of the river, and the ruin itself stands on the raised plateau beyond,
surrounded by a thick growth of mesquite with an occasional pitahaya.
The height and nature of the ascent from the bottom to the plateau at
this particular point are not stated; but from the fact that acequias
are reported leading from the river to the buildings, it would seem
that the ascent must be very slight and gradual.

The appearance of the ruins in 1863 is shown in the cut as sketched by
Ross Browne. Other sketches by Bartlett, Emory, and Johnston, agree
very well with the one given, but none of them indicate the presence
of the mesquite forest mentioned in Mr Bartlett's text. The material
of the buildings is adobe,[XI-12] that is, the ordinary mud of the
locality mixed with gravel. Most writers say nothing of its color,
although Bernal in 1697 pronounced it 'white clay,' and Johnston also
says it is white, probably with an admixture of lime, which, as he
states, is abundant in the vicinity. Mr Hutton, a civil engineer well
acquainted with the ruins, assured Mr Simpson that the surrounding
earth is of a reddish color, although by reason of the pebbles the
Casa has a whitish appearance in certain reflections. This matter of
color is of no great importance except to prove the identity of the
building with Castaneda's Chichilticale, which he expressly states to
have been built of red earth.[XI-13] The material instead of being
formed into small rectangular or brick-shaped blocks, as is customary
in all Spanish American countries to this day, seems in this
aboriginal structure to have been molded--perhaps by means of wooden
boxes--and dried where it was to remain in the walls, in blocks of
varying size, but generally four feet long by two feet in width and
thickness. The outer surface of the walls was plastered with the same
material which constituted the blocks, and the inner walls were
hard-finished with a finer composition of the same nature, which in
many parts has retained its smooth and even polished surface. Adobe is
a very durable building-material, so long as a little attention is
given to repairs, but it is really wonderful that the walls of the
Casa Grande have resisted, uncared for, the ravages of time and the
elements for over three hundred years of known age, and of certainly a
century--perhaps much more--of pre-Spanish existence.

  [Illustration: Casa Grande of the Gila.]

The buildings that still have upright walls are three in number, and
in the largest of these both the exterior and interior walls are so
nearly perfect as to show accurately not only the original form and
size, but the division of the interior into apartments. Its dimensions
on the ground are fifty feet from north to south, by forty feet from
east to west. The outer wall is about five feet thick at the base,
diminishing slightly towards the top, in a curved line on the
exterior, but perpendicular on the inside.[XI-14] The interior is
divided by partition walls, slightly thinner than the others, into
five apartments, as shown in the accompanying ground plan taken from
Bartlett. Font's plan given by Beaumont agrees with this, except that
additional doors are represented at the points marked with a dot, and
no doorway is indicated at _a_. The three central rooms are each about
eight by fourteen feet, and the others ten by thirty-two feet, as
nearly as may be estimated from Bartlett's plan and the statements of
other writers.[XI-15] The doors in the centre of each facade are three
feet wide and five feet high, and somewhat narrower at the top than at
the bottom, except that on the western front, which is two by seven or
eight feet. There are some small windows, both square and circular in
the outer and inner walls. The following cut shows an elevation of the
side and end, also from Bartlett.[XI-16]

  [Illustration: Ground Plan of the Casa Grande.]

  [Illustration: Elevations of the Casa Grande.]

Remains of floor timbers show that the main walls were three stories
high, or, as the lower rooms are represented by Font as about ten
English feet high, about thirty feet in height; while the central
portion is eight or ten feet--probably one story--higher. Mr Bartlett
judged from the mass of debris within that the main building had
originally four stories; but as the earliest visitors speak of three
and four stories--some referring to the central, others apparently to
the outer portions--there would seem to be no satisfactory evidence
that the building was over forty feet high, although it is possible
that the outer and inner walls were originally of the same height.
Respecting the arrangement of apartments in the upper stories, there
is of course no means of judging, all the floors having fallen. There
may, however, have been additional partition walls resting on the
floors, and these may have helped to make up the debris noticed by Mr
Bartlett. The floors were evidently supported by round timbers four or
five inches in diameter, inserted in the walls and stretching across
the rooms at regular intervals. The holes where the beams were placed,
and in many cases the ends of the beams themselves are still visible.
At the time of Padre Kino's visit one floor in an adjoining ruin was
still perfect, and was formed by cross-sticks placed upon the round
floor-timbers and covered with a thick cake of mud, or adobe.[XI-17]
No marks of any cutting instrument were noticed by any visitor except
Mr Browne, who says "the ends show very plainly marks of the blunt
instrument with which they were cut--probably a stone hatchet."[XI-18]
The timbers, of cedar, or _sabino_, show by their charred ends that
the interior was ruined by fire; and Johnston found other evidences
that the walls had been exposed to great heat.[XI-19] Nothing seems
more natural than that the building should have been burned by some
band of Apaches. No traces of stairways have been found even by the
earliest visitors; so that the original means of communication with
the upper stories may be reasonably supposed to have been wooden
ladders, still used by the Pueblo natives in buildings not very unlike
what this must originally have been. Mr Bartlett and also Johnston
found and sketched some rude figures painted in red lines on the
smooth wall of one apartment, but which had disappeared at the time of
Mr Browne's visit.

The descriptions of successive explorers show clearly the gradually
increasing effects of time and the elements on this ruin; from
Browne's sketch it would seem that the walls, undermined at the base
by the yearly rains, as is always the case with neglected adobe
structures, must soon fall; although I learned from a band of Arizona
natives who visited San Francisco in 1873 that the Casa was still
standing. When the adobe walls have once fallen, they will require but
one or two seasons to crumble and become reduced to a shapeless mound
of mud and gravel; as has been the case with most of the eleven other
buildings reported here by the first comers, and the existence of
which there is no reason to doubt.

Of the additional casas seen by Kino and others no particular
description was given, save that Font describes one of them as
measuring twenty-six by eighteen feet on the ground. Only two of them
show any remains of standing walls, one on the south-west and the
other on the north-east of the Casa Grande. The standing portions of
the former seemed to indicate a structure similar in plan to the chief
edifice, although much smaller; the latter is of still smaller
dimensions and its remains convey no idea of its original form. "In
every direction," says Mr Bartlett, "as far as the eye can reach, are
seen heaps of ruined edifices, with no portions of their walls
standing," and Mange, Kino, and Font observed also shapeless heaps
covering the plain for a distance of two leagues.

Father Font found "ruins indicating a fence or wall which surrounded
the house and other buildings," mentioning a ruin in the south-west
angle which had divisions and an upper story. This corner structure
may be the same that has been mentioned as standing south-west of the
Casa Grande, and Font very likely mistook the heaps of fallen houses
for the remains of a wall, since no such wall was seen by Kino and
Mange. The dimensions of this supposed wall, four hundred and twenty
feet from north to south, and two hundred and sixty feet from east to
west, were erroneously applied by Arricivita and Humboldt, followed by
others, to the Casa Grande itself, an error which has given a very
exaggerated idea of the size of that edifice.[XI-20]

Traces of acequias are mentioned by all as occurring frequently in the
vicinity, especially in the Gila bottom between the ruins and the Pima
villages. No plan or accurate description of these irrigating works
has been given. Probably they were simple shallow ditches in the
ground, still traceable at some points. Mange describes the main canal
as twenty-seven feet wide, ten feet deep, capable of carrying half the
water of the Gila, and extending from the river for a circuit of three
leagues round the ruins. Considering the general conformation of the
bottom and plateau in this part of the Gila valley, it seems
impossible that a canal ten, or even twenty, feet deep could have
reached the level of the river, or that so grand an acequia should
have escaped the notice of later explorers.

  [Sidenote: MISCELLANEOUS REMAINS.]

The miscellaneous remains near the Casa Grande, besides the mounds
formed by fallen houses, the irrigating ditches, and the fragments of
pottery strewn over the adjacent country in the greatest profusion,
are two in number. The first is a circular embankment, three hundred
feet in circumference, situated about six hundred feet north-west from
the chief ruin. Its height and material are not stated, but it is
undoubtedly of the surrounding earth. Johnston considers it a
filled-up well; while Bartlett pronounces the circle a simple corral,
or enclosure for stock, although of course it could not have been
built in aboriginal times for such a purpose. The second monument is
only a few yards north of the circle, and is described by Johnston,
the only one who mentions its existence, as a terrace measuring about
three hundred by two hundred feet and five feet high. Resting on the
terrace is a pyramid only eight feet high, but having a summit
platform seventy-five feet square, affording from the top a broad view
up and down the valley. A more complete survey of this pyramid would
be very desirable, not that there is any reason to question Mr
Johnston's reliability as an explorer, but because, as will be seen,
this mound, if it be not like the rest, formed by fallen adobe walls,
together with the circular embankment, present a marked contrast to
all other monuments of the New Mexican group.[XI-21]

Sedelmair and Velarde speak rather vaguely of a reservoir, or tank,
six leagues southward of the Gila, which was one hundred and ten by
one hundred and sixty-five feet, with walls of adobe 'or of
masonry.'[XI-22]

A few miles further up the river, westward from the Casa Grande, and
on the opposite or northern side Padre Kino's party saw a ruined
edifice, and three men were sent across to examine it. They found some
walls over three feet thick still standing, and other heaps of ruins
in the vicinity showing that a large town had once stood on the site.
Emory found there only a "pile of broken pottery and foundation
stones of the black basalt, making a mound about ten feet"
high.[XI-23] Still farther west, near the Pima villages, Johnston
found another circular enclosure, and also what he calls a mound,
ninety by a hundred and fifty feet, and six feet high, having a low
terrace of sixty by three hundred feet on the eastern side, all
covered with loose basaltic rocks, dirt, and pottery. I consider it
not impossible that this mound was formed by the walls of a building
which assumed a symmetrical shape in falling.[XI-24] Sedelmair speaks
of a group of ruins on the southern bank of the river, twelve leagues
below the Casa Grande; but no later writer mentions such
remains.[XI-25]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: REMAINS IN THE SALADO VALLEY.]

The principal tributary of the Gila from the north is the Rio Salado,
or Salinas, the mouth of which is below the Casa Grande, and into
which, near its mouth, flows the Rio Verde, or San Francisco. The
Spaniards seem not to have ascended these streams; or at least not to
have discovered any ruins in their valleys. The guides, however,
reported to the missionaries the existence of ruins on the Rio Verde,
in the north, similar to those on the Gila.[XI-26] Sedelmair also
discovered in 1744, the ruins of a large edifice and several smaller
ones in the space between the Gila and Salado.[XI-27] Velarde speaks
of ruined buildings of three stories at the junction of the rivers
Salado and Gila, and other remains at the junction of the Salado and
Verde.[XI-28]

A guide reported to Emory a casa in the Salado valley, complete except
the floors and roof, of large dimensions, with glazed walls, and the
imprint of a naked foot in the adobe.[XI-29] One of four stone axes
shown in a cut to be given later, was found in this valley and
sketched by Whipple.[XI-30] The Salado ruins between the Gila and
Verde, on the south bank, about thirty-five miles from the mouth, were
examined by Mr Bartlett. They are built on the plateau beyond the
river bottom, and are exclusively of adobe. They are very numerous,
but consist for the most part of shapeless heaps indicating the
location of buildings and long lines of walls. In only two instances
did portions of standing walls remain; being in one case the ruins of
an adobe building over two hundred feet long and from sixty to eighty
feet wide, facing the cardinal points, and, so far as could be judged
by the debris, three or four stories high; the others were about two
hundred yards distant, and represented a smaller structure. There are
traces of a wall which appears to have surrounded the larger building.
From the top of the principal pile, similar heaps of ruins may be seen
in all directions, including a range of them running north and south
at a distance of about a mile eastward. The latter were not visited,
but were said by the natives to be similar in every respect to the
others. A small circular enclosure, whose dimensions are not given,
was seen among the ruins, and there were also excavations along the
sides of some of the heaps, as if they had furnished the material for
the original structures. In the river bottom irrigating canals are of
frequent occurrence, one of them from twenty to twenty-five feet wide
and four to five feet deep, formed by cutting down the bank of the
plateau, along which it extends for many miles. The whole vicinity of
the ruins, as in the Gila Valley, is strewn with fragments of earthen
ware. These earthen ware fragments are of a very uniform character
throughout the New Mexican region, and will be illustrated in another
part of this chapter.[XI-31]

Trappers and natives report that these remains continue indefinitely
up the valleys of both the Salado and Verde. Mr Leroux, who served as
guide to several of the United States military expeditions, passed up
the Verde valley in 1854 on his way from the Gila to the Colorado
Chiquito, keeping a diary, a part of which has been printed.[XI-32] He
claims to have found the river banks covered in many places with ruins
of stone buildings and broken pottery. The walls were of solid masonry
still standing from ten to twenty feet high in two stories, three feet
thick and from fifty to seventy-five feet long. Except in material the
structures were not unlike the Casa Grande of the Gila, and were
generally situated in the most fertile parts of the valley, surrounded
by traces of acequias; although in one instance the ruins of a town
were ten miles from the nearest water. A complete change of building
material within so short a distance is somewhat extraordinary, but
there is no other reason to doubt the accuracy of this report. These
ruins are not very far from Prescott in the north, and Fort McDowell
in the south, and I regret not having been able to obtain from
officers in the Arizona service the information which they must have
acquired respecting those remains, if they actually exist, during the
past ten or fifteen years.[XI-33]

  [Sidenote: PUEBLO CREEK AND THE UPPER GILA.]

Whipple describes some ruins discovered by him in 1854 on Pueblo Creek
and other small streams which form the head waters of the Verde. They
consist of what seem to have been two fortified settlements, and a
third separate fortification. The first was an irregular stone
enclosure on the top of a hill three or four hundred feet high. The
walls were from eight to ten feet high, and the interior was divided
by partition walls five feet thick into different compartments. On the
<DW72>s of the hill were traces of adobe walls with the usual abundance
of broken pottery. The second was located in a fertile spot on a fork
of the Pueblo Creek, and consisted of a mass of stones, six feet thick
and several feet high, forming a square enclosure "five paces in the
clear." The third work is situated about eight miles further west, and
commands what is known as Aztec Pass. It is an enclosure one hundred
feet long, twenty-five feet wide at one end and twenty at the other,
the walls being four feet thick and five feet in height. In the
absence of any definite statement on the subject these northern
fortifications are presumed to be of rough, or unhewn, stones without
mortar.[XI-34]

  [Illustration: Typical Plan of Gila Structures.]

  [Illustration: Plan of a Gila Structure.]

  [Sidenote: LABYRINTH ON THE GILA.]

  [Illustration: Plan of Labyrinth on the Gila.]

From the mouth of the San Pedro, which joins the Gila about forty
miles eastward of the Casa Grande, up the Gila valley eastward, ruins
of ancient edifices are frequently found on both banks of the river.
Emory says "wherever the mountains did not impinge too close on the
river and shut out the valley, they were seen in great abundance,
enough, I should think, to indicate a former population of at least
one hundred thousand; and in one place there is a long wide valley,
twenty miles in length, much of which is covered with the ruins of
buildings and broken pottery." The remains consist uniformly of lines
of rough amygdaloid stones rounded by attrition, no one of which
remains upon another, apparently the foundations upon which were
erected adobe walls that have altogether disappeared. The plan of the
buildings as indicated by their foundations was generally rectangular;
many of them were very similar to the modern Spanish dwellings, as
shown in the accompanying cut; but a few were circular or of irregular
form. One of them just below the junction of the Santo Domingo, on an
isolated knoll, was shaped as in the following cut, with faces of from
ten to thirty feet. Besides the traces of what seem to be dwellings,
there were also observed, an enclosure or circular line of stones,
four hundred yards in circumference; a similar circle ninety yards in
circumference with a house in the centre; an estufa with an entrance
at the top; some well-preserved cedar posts; and some inscribed
figures on the cliffs of an arroyo, similar to those lower down the
river, of which cuts have been given. The native Pimas reported to the
Spaniards in early times the existence of a building far up the Gila,
the labyrinthine plan of which they traced on the sand, as shown in
the cut. Emory and Johnston found these traces of aboriginal towns in
at least twelve places on the Gila above the San Pedro, the largest
being at the mouth of a stream flowing from the south-east, probably
the Santo Domingo. I find no mention of ruins on any of the smaller
tributaries of the Gila above the Casa Grande, though it seems very
probable that such ruins may exist, similar to those on the main
stream. A painted stone, a beaver-tooth, and marine shells were the
miscellaneous relics found by Johnston among the ruins, besides the
usual large quantities of broken pottery. Emory speaks of a few
ornaments, principally immense well-turned beads of the size of hens'
eggs, also fragments of agate and obsidian. The latter explorer gives
a plate of rock-hieroglyphics of doubtful antiquity, and Froebel also
sketched certain inscriptions on an isolated rock. Six or eight
perfectly symmetrical and well-turned holes about ten inches deep and
six or eight inches wide at the top were noticed, and supposed to have
served for grinding corn.[XI-35]

Having presented all that is known of antiquities upon the Gila and
its tributaries, I pass to the Colorado, the western and northern
boundary of the New Mexican territory. The banks of the Colorado
Canyon, for the river forms no valley proper, are for the most part
unexplored, and no relics of antiquity are reported by reliable
authorities; indeed, from the peculiar nature of this region, it is
not likely that any ruins ever, will be found in the immediate
vicinity of the river.[XI-36]

On Bill Williams' Fork there is a newspaper report, resting on no
known authority, of walls enclosing an area some eight hundred feet in
circumference, still perfect to the height of six or eight
feet.[XI-37] The only other traces of the former inhabitants found on
this stream are painted cave and cliff pictures or hieroglyphics. Two
caves have their walls and the surrounding rocks thus decorated; they
are about a mile apart, near the junction of the Santa Maria, and one
of them is near a spring. Many of the inscriptions appear very
ancient, and some were painted on cliffs very difficult of access. The
cut shows a specimen from the sketches made by Moellhausen. The streak
which crosses the cut in the centre, extends to the left beyond the
other figures, and only half its length is shown. This streak is red
with white borders; the other figures are red, purple, and
white.[XI-38]

  [Illustration: Rock-Paintings--Bill Williams' Fork.]

  [Sidenote: TRIBUTARIES OF THE COLORADO.]

Leaving Bill Williams' Fork, and passing the Pueblo Creek ruins
already described, which are not far distant, I follow the routes of
Sitgreaves, Ives, and Whipple, north-westward to the Colorado
Chiquito, a distance of about one hundred miles, striking the river at
a point a hundred miles above its supposed junction with the main
Colorado. In this region we again find numerous ruined buildings with
the usual scattered pottery, respecting which our knowledge is derived
from the explorers just named. The ruins occur at all prominent
points, both near the river and away from it towards the west, at
intervals of eight or nine miles, the exact location not being
definitely fixed. The material employed here is stone, and some of
the houses were three stories high. A view of one ruin as sketched by
Sitgreaves is shown in the cut. On a rocky eminence were found by
Whipple stone enclosures, apparently for defense. According to Mr
Sitgreaves the houses resembled in every particular, save that no
adobe was used, the inhabited Pueblo towns of New Mexico. His
description, like that of Moellhausen and Whipple, would doubtless be
much more complete and satisfactory, had they not previously seen the
Pueblo towns and other ruins further east. Some of the ruins are far
from water, and Sitgreaves suggests that the lava sand blown from the
neighboring mountains may have filled up the springs which originally
furnished a supply.

  [Illustration: Ruin on the Colorado Chiquito.]

  [Illustration: Vases from the Colorado Chiquito.]

The cut from Whipple shows two vases found here, restored from
fragments. This is one of the rarest kinds of pottery found in the
region, and is said by Whipple not to be manufactured by any North
American Indians of modern times. It is seldom , the
ornamentation being raised or indented, somewhat like that on molded
glassware, and of excellent workmanship. The material is light-
and porous, and the vases are not glazed. The ordinary fragments of
earthen ware found on this river will be represented in another part
of this chapter. Some very rude and simple rock-inscriptions were
noticed, and a newspaper writer states that the names of Jesuit
priests who visited the place in the sixteenth century are inscribed
on the rocks. Some additional and not very well-founded reports of
antiquities are given in a note.[XI-39]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: REMAINS ON THE COLORADO CHIQUITO.]

At a bend in the river, about forty miles above the ruins last
mentioned, are the remains of a rectangular stone building, measuring
one hundred and twenty by three hundred and sixty feet, and standing
on an isolated sandstone hill. The walls are mostly fallen, but some
of the standing portions are ten feet thick, and seem to contain
small apartments. Many pine timbers are scattered about in good
preservation, and two posts twelve feet in height still remain
standing.[XI-40]

Some twenty-five miles still farther up the Rio Puerco flows into the
Colorado Chiquito from the north-east, and at the junction of the two
streams Moellhausen noticed some remains which he does not
describe.[XI-41] Twelve miles up the Puerco valley, on the banks of a
small tributary, called Lithodendron Creek, were scattered fragments
of pottery, and remains of stone houses, one of the walls extending
several feet below the present surface of the ground. Still farther up
the Puerco and five miles south of the river, at Navajo Spring,
scattered pottery and arrow-heads are the only remaining trace of an
aboriginal settlement, no walls being visible. On a neighboring hill,
however, was noticed a circular depression in the earth forty paces in
diameter. The cut from Moellhausen represents some of the aboriginal
inscriptions on Puerco River.[XI-42]

  [Illustration: Rock-Inscriptions on Rio Puerco.]

  [Sidenote: REMAINS ON THE RIO ZUNI.]

Forty or fifty miles farther south-east, the Colorado Chiquito
receives the waters of the Rio Zuni, flowing from the north-east in a
course nearly parallel to that of the Puerco. Aboriginal inscriptions
and pictures are found on the sandstone cliffs which border on the
stream wherever a smooth surface is presented, but no buildings occur
for a distance of about fifty miles, until we come to within eight
miles of the Pueblo town of Zuni, where the table-lands about Arch
Spring are covered with ruins, which were seen, although not
described, by Sitgreaves and Whipple. All the ruins of the Zuni valley
seem, however, to be of the same nature--stone walls laid in mud
mortar, and in a very dilapidated condition. The cut from Whipple
shows also a sample of the rock-inscriptions about Arch Spring.[XI-43]
Zuni is a Pueblo town still inhabited, and I shall have something
further to say of it in connection with the Pueblo towns of the Rio
Grande and its tributaries, for the purpose of comparing the inhabited
with the ruined structures.

  [Illustration: Rock-Inscriptions at Arch Spring.]

  [Illustration: Zuni Vases.]

Two or three miles south-east of Zuni, on the south side of the river,
is an elevated level mesa, about a mile in width, bounded on every
side by a precipitous descent of over a thousand feet to the plain
below. The mesa is covered with a growth of cedar, and in one part are
two sandstone pillars of natural formation, which from certain points
of view seem to assume human forms. Among the cedars on the mesa,
"crumbling walls, from two to twelve feet high, were crowded together
in confused heaps over several acres of ground." The walls were
constructed of small sandstone blocks laid in mud mortar, and were
about eighteen inches thick. They seemed, however, to rest on more
ancient ruins, the walls of which were six feet in thickness. At
various points on the winding path, by which only the top can be
reached, there are stone battlements which guard the passage. A
supposed altar was found in a secluded nook near the ruins, consisting
of an oval excavation seven feet long, with a vertical shaft two feet
high at one end, a flat rock, and a complicated arrangement of posts,
cords, feathers, marine shells, beads, and sticks, only to be
understood from a drawing, which I do not reproduce because the whole
altar so-called is so evidently of modern origin and use. These ruins
are commonly called Old Zuni, and were doubtless inhabited when the
Spaniards first came to the country.[XI-44] The cut from Whipple shows
two vases found at what is called a sacred spring near Zuni. Of the
first the discoverer says: "the material is a light- clay,
tolerably well burnt, and ornamented with lines and figures of a dark
brown or chocolate color. A vast amount of labor has been spent on
decorating the unique lip. A fine borderline has been drawn along the
edge and on both sides of the deep embattled rim. Horned frogs and
tadpoles alternate on the inner surface of the turrets, while one of
the latter is represented on the outside of each. Larger frogs or
toads are portrayed within the body of the vessel." One of these
figures is presented in the cut enlarged. The second vase is five
inches deep, ten inches in diameter at the widest part, and eight
inches at the lips. Both outer and inner surface bear a white glazing,
and there are four projections of unknown use, one on each side. The
decorations are in amber color, and the horned or tufted snakes, shown
above the vase, are said to be almost unique in America.[XI-45]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: OJO DEL PESCADO.]

At and near some springs called Ojo del Pescado, on the head-waters of
this stream, some twelve miles above Zuni, there are at least four or
five ruined structures, or towns. They are similar in character to the
other ruins. Two of them near the spring have an elliptical shape, as
shown by the lines of foundation-stones, and are from eight hundred to
a thousand feet in circumference. The houses seem to have been built
around the periphery, forming a large interior court. These towns are
so completely in ruins that nothing can be ascertained of the details
of their construction, except their general form, and the fact that
they were built of stones and mud. About a thousand yards down the
river from the springs are ruins covering a space one hundred and
fifty by two hundred yards, and in much better preservation than those
mentioned, though of the same nature. The material was flat stones and
cement, and the walls are standing in places to the height of two
stories. Moellhausen tells us that the roofs and fire-places were still
standing at the time of his visit. Simpson describes a ruin as being
two miles below the spring, and which may possibly be the same last
mentioned. The buildings were originally two stories high and built
continuously about a rectangular area three hundred by four hundred
feet. In the interior of the enclosed court was seen a square estufa,
twelve by eighteen feet, and ten feet high, with the roof still
perfect. The cut shows some of the rock-inscriptions at Ojo del
Pescado.[XI-46]

  [Illustration: Rock-Inscriptions--Ojo del Pescado.]

  [Sidenote: EL MORO, OR INSCRIPTION ROCK.]

  [Illustration: Inscriptions--El Moro.]

  [Illustration: Plan of El Moro.]

About eighteen miles south-east of the sources of the Zuni River, but
belonging as properly in this valley as any other, is a sandstone rock
known as Inscription Rock, or to the Spaniards as El Moro, from its
form. It is between two and three hundred feet high, with steep sides,
which on the north and east are perpendicular, smooth, white, and
covered near the base with both Spanish and native inscriptions.
Specimens of the latter, as copied by Simpson, are shown in the cut.
The former were all copied by the same explorer, but of course have no
connection with the subject of this volume: they date back to 1606,
but make no reference to any town or ruins upon or about the rock. The
ascent to the summit is on the south and is a difficult one. The cut
shows a plan of El Moro made by Moellhausen, the locality of the
inscriptions being at _a_ and _b_. The summit area is divided by a
deep ravine into two parts, on each of which are found ruins of large
edifices. Those on the southern--or, according to Simpson, on the
eastern--division, B of the plan, form a rectangle measuring two
hundred and six by three hundred and seven feet, standing in some
places from six to eight feet high. According to Simpson the walls
agree with the cardinal points, but Whipple states the contrary. The
walls are faced with sandstone blocks six by fourteen inches and from
three to eight inches thick, laid in mud-mortar so as to break joints;
but the bulk of the wall is a rubble of rough stones and mud. Two
ranges of rooms may be traced on the north and west sides, and the
rubbish indicates that there were also some apartments in the interior
court. Two rooms measured each about seven by eight feet. A circular
estufa thirty-one feet in diameter was also noticed, and there were
cedar timbers found in connection with the ruined walls; one piece,
fifteen inches long and four inches in diameter was found still in
place, and bore, according to Whipple, no signs of cutting tools. The
remains across the ravine, A of the plan, are of similar nature and
material, and the north wall stands directly on the brink of a
precipice, being complete to a height of eight feet. There is a spring
furnishing but a small amount of water at the foot of the cliff at
_d_. Fragments of pottery are abundant here as elsewhere.[XI-47]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: RUINS OF CHELLY CANYON.]

This completes my account of remains on the Colorado Chiquito, and I
pass to the next and last tributary of the Colorado within the
territory covered by this chapter--the San Juan, which flows in an
eastwardly course along the boundary line between Arizona and New
Mexico on the south, and Utah and Colorado on the north. The valley of
the main San Juan has been but very slightly explored, but probably
contains extensive remains, judging from what have been found on some
of its tributaries. Padres Dominguez and Escalante went in 1776 from
Santa Fe north-westward to Utah Lake, and noticed several ruins which
it is impossible to locate, before crossing the Colorado. I shall have
occasion in the following chapter to notice some important ruins
lately discovered on the northern tributaries of the San Juan, in the
southern part of Colorado and Utah.[XI-48]

The two chief tributaries of the San Juan from the south are the
Chelly and Chaco, flowing through deep canyons in the heart of the
Navajo country. On both of these streams, particularly the latter,
very important ruins have been discovered and described by Mr Simpson,
who explored this region in 1849.

The Chelly canyon for a distance of about twenty-five miles is from one
hundred and fifty to nine hundred feet wide, from three hundred to
five hundred feet deep, and its sides are almost perpendicular.
Simpson explored the canyon for eight miles from its mouth, which does
not correspond with the mouth of the river. In a branch canyon of a
character similar to that of the main stream he found several small
habitations formed by building walls of stone and mortar in front of
overhanging rocks. Some four miles up the main canyon he saw on a shelf
fifty feet high and only accessible by means of ladders a small ruin
of stone, much like those on the Chaco yet to be described. Seven
miles from the mouth another ruin was discovered on the north side as
shown in the cut. It was built partly on the bottom of the canyon, and
partly like the one last mentioned, on a shelf fifty feet high with
perpendicular sides. The walls measure forty-five by a hundred and
forty-five feet, are about eighteen feet high in their present state,
and are built of sandstone and mortar, having square openings or
windows. A circular estufa was also found in connection with these
cliff-dwellings. Fragments of pottery were not lacking, and specimens
were sketched by Mr Simpson.[XI-49]

  [Illustration: Ruin in the Chelly Canyon.]

Eastward from the Chelly, at a distance of about a hundred miles, is
the Chaco, a parallel tributary of the San Juan, on which are found
ruins perhaps the most remarkable in the New Mexican group. Lieut.
Simpson is the only one who has explored this valley, or at least who
has left a record of his exploration. The ruins are eleven in number,
situated with one exception on the north bank of the stream, within a
distance of twenty-five miles in latitude 36 deg. and longitude 108 deg.

  [Sidenote: RUINS OF THE CHACO.]

  [Illustration: Ruins of the Pueblo Pintado.]

  [Illustration: Section of Wall--Chaco Ruins.]

The cut shows a general view of the ruin called by the guide Pueblo
Pintado, the first one discovered in coming from the south. The name
of this ruin, like those of the others, is doubtless of modern origin,
being Spanish, and there is little reason to believe that the native
names of some of the others are those originally applied to the
inhabited towns. The material of all the buildings is a fine hard gray
sandstone, to which in some instances exposure to the air has imparted
a reddish hue. The blocks are cut very thin, rarely exceeding three
inches in thickness. They are laid without mortar very carefully, so
as to break joints, and the chinks between the larger blocks are
filled with stone plates, sometimes not over one fourth of an inch
thick. In one instance, the Pueblo Penasco Blanco, stones of different
thickness are laid, in alternate layers, producing the appearance of a
kind of mosaic work, executed with great care and skill, and forming a
very smooth surface. The backing and filling of the walls are of
irregular and various sized blocks laid in mud, no trace of lime being
discoverable. The wall of the Pueblo Pintado was found by excavation
to extend at least two feet below the surface of the ground. The walls
are between two and three feet thick at the base, but diminish towards
the top by a jog of a few inches on the inside at each successive
story. The walls of the Pueblo Pintado are still standing in some
parts to the height of twenty-five to thirty feet, and are shown by
the marks of floor timbers to have had at least three stories. The
flooring was supported by unhewn beams from six to eleven inches in
diameter--but uniform in the same room--stretching across from wall to
wall as in the Gila ruins. Over these beams were placed smaller
transverse sticks, which in the Pueblo Pintado seem to have been
placed some little distance apart; but in some other ruins where the
flooring remained perfect, the transverse sticks were laid close
together, the chinks were filled with small stones, and the whole
covered with cedar strips, although there was evidence that a coating
of mud or mortar was used in some instances; and there was one room
where the floor was of smooth cedar boards seven inches wide and three
fourths of an inch thick, squarely cut at the sides and ends, and
apparently worn smooth by the friction of flat stones. The beams
generally bore marks of having been cut off by the use of some blunt
instrument. The cut illustrates the manner in which the walls diminish
in thickness from story to story, _a_, _a_, _a_; the position of the
beams, _b_, _b_, _b_; the transverse poles, _c_, _c_, _c_; and the
flooring above, _d_, _d_, _d_.

  [Sidenote: RUINS OF THE CHACO CANYON.]

  [Illustration: Ground Plan--Pueblo Hungo Pavie.]

  [Illustration: Ground Plan--Pueblo Bonito.]

  [Sidenote: THE PUEBLO BONITO.]

The ground plan of the Chaco structures shows three tiers--but in one
case at least four tiers--of apartments built round three sides of a
courtyard, which is generally rectangular, in some cases has curved
corners, and in one building--the Penasco Blanco--approximates to the
form of a circle. The fourth side of the court is in some ruins open,
and in others enclosed by a wall extending in a curve from one
extremity of the building to the other. The following cuts show the
ground plans of two of the ruins, the Pueblo Hungo Pavie, 'crooked
nose,' and Pueblo Bonito. The circumference of five of these buildings
is respectively eight hundred and seventy-two, seven hundred,
seventeen hundred, thirteen hundred, and thirteen hundred feet; the
number of rooms still traceable on the ground floor of the same
buildings is seventy-two, ninety-nine, one hundred and twelve, one
hundred and twenty-four, and one hundred and thirty-nine. These
apartments are from five feet square to eight by fourteen feet. A room
in the Pueblo Chettro Kettle was seven and a half by fourteen feet,
and ten feet high. The walls were plastered with a red mud, and
several square or rectangular niches of unknown use were noticed. The
supporting beams of the ceiling were two in number, and the transverse
poles were tied at their ends with some wooden fibre, and covered with
a kind of cedar lathing. Ropes hung from the timbers. A room in the
Pueblo Bonito is shown in the cut.

  [Illustration: Interior of Room--Pueblo Bonito.]

This room is unplastered, and the sides are constructed in the same
style as the outer walls. The transverse poles are very small, about
an inch in diameter, laid close together, very regular, and resemble
barked willow. It was another room in this ruin which had the smooth
boards in connection with its ceiling.[XI-50]

The doors by which the rooms communicate with each other and with the
courtyard are very small, many of them not exceeding two and a half
feet square. There are no doors whatever in the outer walls, and no
windows except in the upper stories. The larger size of the windows
and of the inner doors indicate that the rooms of the upper stories
were larger than below. In some cases the walls corresponding to the
second or third stories had no windows. In one case lower story
windows were found walled up. The tops, or lintels, of the doors and
windows were in some cases stone slabs, in others small timbers bound
together with withes, and in a few they are reported to have been
formed by overlapping stones very much like the Yucatan arch; a
specimen is shown in the cut.

  [Illustration: Arch of Overlapping Stones.]

The highest walls still standing at the time of Simpson's visit had
floor-timbers, or their marks, for four stories, but it is not
impossible that some of the buildings may have had originally five or
six stories. The outer walls were in every case perpendicular to their
full height, showing that the houses were not built in receding
terraces, or stories, on the outside, as is the case with many of the
inhabited Pueblo towns, and with the Casa Grande on the Gila. There
can be no doubt that they were so terraced on the interior or court;
at least in no instance were the inner walls sufficiently high to
indicate a different arrangement, and it is hardly possible that all
the ranges were of the same height, leaving without light most of the
thousand rooms which they would contain if built on such a plan. There
were no traces of stairways or chimneys seen. The whole number of
apartments in the Pueblo Bonito, supposing it to have been built on
the terrace plan, must have been six hundred and forty-one. The cut on
the next page shows a restoration of one of the Chaco ruins, taken
from Mr Baldwin's work, and modeled after a similar one by Mr Kern, a
companion of Simpson, although Mr Kern made an error of one story in
the height. I have no doubt of the general accuracy of this
restoration, and it may be regarded as nearly certain that access to
the upper rooms was gained from the court by means of ladders, each
story forming a platform before the doors of the one next above.

Each ruin has from one to seven circular structures, called estufas in
the inhabited Pueblo towns, sunk in the ground and walled with stone.
Several of these are shown in the two ground plans that have been
given. They occur both in the courtyards and underneath the rooms.
Some were divided into compartments, and one, in the Pueblo Bonito,
was sixty feet in diameter and twelve feet deep, being built in two,
and possibly three, stories.

  [Illustration: Restoration of Pueblo Hungo Pavie.]

  [Illustration: Pottery--Chaco Canyon.]

Near some of the larger buildings are smaller detached ruins, of which
no particular description is given. In one place there is an
excavation in the side of a cliff, enclosed by a front wall of stone
and mortar. In another locality there is an isolated elliptical
enclosure of stone and mortar, eight by sixteen feet, and divided into
two compartments. Near one of the ruins, in the northern wall of the
canyon, about twelve feet from the base, are three circular holes two
feet in diameter, with smaller ones between them, all in a
horizontal line, with a vertical line of still smaller holes leading
up the cliff to one of the larger ones. Mr Simpson was unable to
explore this singular excavation, and its use is unknown; it may be a
room or fortress excavated from the solid rock. There are also some
hieroglyphics on the face of the cliff under the holes. The quarries
which furnished the stone for some of the buildings were found, but no
description of them is given. Hieroglyphics on boulders were found at
a few points. The pottery found among the Chaco ruins is illustrated
by the cut. Black and red seem to be the only colors employed. The
Chaco canyon, although wider than that of the Chelly, is bounded by
precipitous sides, and the ruins are generally near the base of the
cliff. The Pueblo Pintado is built on a knoll twenty or thirty feet
high, about three hundred yards from the river. The buildings do not
exactly face the cardinal points.[XI-51]

  [Sidenote: PUEBLO REMAINS ON THE RIO GRANDE.]

I now come to the last division of the present group, the
perpendicular of our triangle, the Rio Grande del Norte and its
tributaries. This valley, the New Mexico proper of the Spaniards, when
first visited in the sixteenth century, was thickly inhabited by an
agricultural semi-civilized people, dwelling in towns of stone and mud
houses several stories in height. Respecting the number, names, and
exact locality of these towns the early accounts are somewhat vague,
but many of them can be accurately traced by means of an examination
of authorities which would be out of place here. From the first
discovery by Cabeza de Vaca, Marco de Niza, and Francisco Vasquez de
Coronado, the general history of the country is clear; and we still
find the same semi-civilized people living in similar towns under
similar institutions, although they, like the towns in which they
live, are greatly reduced in number. Some of the inhabited Pueblo
towns are known by name, location, and history, to be identical with
those which so excited the admiration of the Spaniards; and there is
every reason to believe that all are so, except a few that may have
been built during the Spanish domination. The inhabited Pueblo towns,
or those inhabited during the nineteenth century, are about twenty in
number, although authors disagree on this point, some calling Pueblos
what others say are merely Mexican towns; but the distinction is not
important for my present purpose.[XI-52] The important fact is, that
the Spaniard found no race of people in New Mexico which has since
become extinct, nor any class of towns or buildings that differed from
the Pueblo towns still inhabited.

Besides the towns still inhabited there are many of precisely the same
materials and architecture, which are in ruins. Such are Pecos,
Quivira, Valverde, San Lazaro, San Marcos, San Cristobal, Socorro,
Senacu, Abo, Quarra, Rita, Poblazon, old San Felipe, and old Zuni.
Some of these were abandoned by the natives at a very recent date;
some have ruined Spanish buildings among the aboriginal structures;
some may be historically identified with the towns conquered by the
first European visitors. These facts, together with the absence of any
mention of ruins by the first explorers, and the well-known diminution
of the Pueblos in numbers and power, make it perfectly safe to affirm
that the ruins all belong to the same class, the same people, and
about the same epoch as the inhabited towns. This conclusion is of
some importance since it renders it useless to examine carefully each
ruin, and the documents bearing on its individual history, and enables
the reader to form a perfectly clear idea of all the many structures
by carefully studying a few.

While the Pueblo towns cannot be regarded as objects of great
mystery, as the work of a race that has disappeared, or as a station
of the Aztecs while on their way southward, yet they are properly
treated as antiquities, since they were doubtless built by the native
races before they come in contact with the Spaniards. They occupy the
same position with respect to the subject of this volume as the
remains in Anahuac, excepting perhaps Cholula and Teotihuacan; or
rather they have the same importance that the city of Tlacopan would
have, had the Spaniards permitted that city to stand in possession of
its native inhabitants.

  [Sidenote: PUEBLO TOWNS OF NEW MEXICO.]

An account of the Pueblo buildings has been given in another volume of
this work,[XI-53] and I cannot do better here than to quote from good
authorities a description of the principal towns, both inhabited and
in ruins. Of Taos Mr Abert says, "One of the northern forks of the
Taos river, on issuing from the mountains, forms a delightful nook,
which the Indians early selected as a permanent residence. By gradual
improvement, from year to year, it has finally become one of the most
formidable of the artificial strongholds of New Mexico. On each side
of the little mountain stream is one of those immense 'adobe'
structures, which rises by successive steps until an irregular
pyramidal building, seven stories high, presents an almost impregnable
tower. These, with the church and some few scattering houses, make up
the village. The whole is surrounded by an adobe wall, strengthened in
some places by rough palisades, the different parts so arranged, for
mutual defence, as to have elicited much admiration for the skill of
the untaught engineers." Of the same town Davis says, "It is the best
sample of the ancient mode of building. Here there are two large
houses three hundred or four hundred feet in length, and about one
hundred and fifty feet wide at the base. They are situated upon
opposite sides of a small creek, and in ancient times are said to have
been connected by a bridge. They are five and six stories high, each
story receding from the one below it, and thus forming a structure
terraced from top to bottom. Each story is divided into numerous
little compartments, the outer tiers of rooms being lighted by small
windows in the sides, while those in the interior of the building are
dark, and are principally used as store-rooms.... The only means of
entrance is through a trap-door in the roof, and you ascend, from
story to story, by means of ladders upon the outside, which are drawn
up at night." The same writer gives the following cut of Taos.[XI-54]

  [Illustration: Pueblo of Taos.]

The houses of Laguna are "built of stone, roughly laid in mortar, and,
on account of the color of the mortar, with which they are also faced,
they present a dirty yellowish clay aspect. They have windows in the
basement as well as upper stories; selenite, as usual, answers the
purpose of window-lights."[XI-55]

"High on a lofty rock of sandstone ... sits the city of Acoma. On the
northern side of the rock, the rude boreas blasts have heaped up the
sand, so as to form a practical ascent for some distance; the rest of
the way is through solid rock. At one place a singular opening, or
narrow way, is formed between a huge square tower of rock and the
perpendicular face of the cliff. Then the road winds round like a
spiral stair way, and the Indians have, in some way, fixed logs of
wood in the rock, radiating from a vertical axis, like steps.... At
last we reached the top of the rock, which was nearly level, and
contains about sixty acres. Here we saw a large church, and several
continuous blocks of buildings, containing sixty or seventy houses in
each block, (the wall at the side that faced outwards was unbroken,
and had no windows until near the top: the houses were three stories
high). In front each story retreated back as it ascended, so as to
leave a platform along the whole front of the story: these platforms
are guarded by parapet walls about three feet high." Ladders are used
for first and second stories but there are steps in the wall to reach
the roof.[XI-56] Mr Gregg tells us that San Felipe is on "the very
verge of a precipice several hundred feet high," but Simpson states
that "neither it nor Sandia is as purely Indian in the style of its
buildings as the other pueblos."[XI-57]

Santo Domingo "is laid out in streets running perpendicularly to the
Rio Grande. The houses are constructed of _adobes_, (blocks of mud, of
greater or less dimensions, sun-dried;) are two stories in height, the
upper one set retreatingly on the lower, so as to make the superior
covering of the lower answer for a terrace or platform for the upper;
and have roofs which are nearly flat. These roofs are made first of
transverse logs which pitch very slightly outward, and are sustained
at their ends by the side walls of the building; on these, a layer of
slabs or brush is laid; a layer of bark or straw is then laid on
these; and covering the whole is a layer of mud of six or more inches
in thickness. The height of the stories is about eight or nine
feet."[XI-58]

"On my visit to the pueblo of Tesuque we entered a large square,
around which the dwellings are erected close together, so as to
present outwardly an unbroken line of wall to the height of three
stories. Viewed from the inner square it presents the appearance of a
succession of terraces with doors and windows opening upon them....
This general description is applicable to all the Pueblo villages,
however they may differ in size, position, and nature of the
ground--some being on bluffs, some on mesas, and most of those in the
valley of the Rio Grande on level ground."[XI-59]

Zuni, "like Santo Domingo, is built terrace-shaped--each story, of
which there are generally three, being smaller, laterally, so that one
story answers in part for the platform of the one above it. It,
however, is far more compact than Santo Domingo--its streets being
narrow, and in places presenting the appearance of tunnels, or covered
ways, on account of the houses extending at these places over them.
The houses are generally built of stone, plastered with mud,"--has an
adobe Catholic church.[XI-60]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: THE MOQUI TOWNS.]

The seven Moqui towns in Arizona, situated in an isolated mountainous
region about midway between the Colorado Chiquito and the Chelly
canyon, in latitude 35 deg. 50', and longitude 110 deg. 30', are very
similar to the Pueblo towns of the Rio Grande. They were probably
visited by the earliest Spanish explorers, and have a claim to as
great an antiquity as any in the whole region. Lieut. Ives visited
the Moquis in 1858, and his description is the best extant; from it I
quote as follows: "I discovered with a spy-glass two of the Moqui
towns, eight or ten miles distant, upon the summit of a high bluff
overhanging the opposite side of the valley. They were built close to
the edge of the precipice.... The outlines of the closely-packed
structures looked in the distance like the towers and battlements of
a castle." "The face of the bluff, upon the summit of which the town
was perched, was cut up and irregular. We were led through a passage
that wound among some low hillocks of sand and rock that extended
half-way to the top.... A small plateau, in the centre of which was a
circular reservoir, fifty feet in diameter, lined with masonry, and
filled with pure cold water. The basin was fed from a pipe connecting
with some source of supply upon the summit of the mesa.... Continuing
to ascend we came to another reservoir, smaller, but of more elaborate
construction and finish.... Between the two the face of the bluff had
been ingeniously converted into terraces. These were faced with neat
masonry, and contained gardens, each surrounded with a raised edge so
as to retain water upon the surface. Pipes from the reservoirs
permitted them at any time to be irrigated. Peach trees were growing
upon the terraces and in the hollows below. A long flight of stone
steps, with sharp turns that could easily be defended, was built into
the face of the precipice, and led from the upper reservoir to the
foot of the town." "The town is nearly square, and surrounded by a
stone wall fifteen feet high, the top of which forms a landing
extending around the whole. Flights of stone steps led from the first
to a second landing, upon which the doors of the house open." "The
room was fifteen feet by ten; the walls were made of adobes; the
partitions of substantial beams; the floor laid with clay. In one
corner were a fireplace and chimney. Everything was clean and tidy.
Skins, bows and arrows, quivers, antlers, blankets, articles of
clothing and ornament, were hanging from the walls or arranged upon
shelves. Vases, flat dishes, and gourds filled with meal or water
were standing along one side of the room. At the other end was a
trough divided into compartments, in each of which was a sloping
stone slab two or three feet square for grinding corn upon. In a
recess of an inner room was piled a goodly store of corn in the ear."

"We learned that there were seven towns; that the name of that which
we were visiting was Mooshahneh. A second smaller town was half a mile
distant; two miles westward was a third.... Five or six miles to the
north-east a bluff was pointed out as the location of three others,
and we were informed that the last of the seven, Oraybe, was still
further distant, on the trail towards the great river." "Each pueblo
is built around a rectangular court, in which we suppose are the
springs that furnish the supply to the reservoirs. The exterior walls,
which are of stone, have no openings, and would have to be scaled or
battered down before access could be gained to the interior. The
successive stories are set back, one behind the other. The lower rooms
are reached through trap-doors from the first landing. The houses are
three rooms deep, and open upon the interior court." "He led the way
to the east of the bluff on which Oraybe stands. Eight or nine miles
brought the train to an angle formed by two faces of the precipice. At
the foot was a reservoir, and a broad road winding up the steep
ascent. On either side the bluffs were cut into terraces, and laid
out into gardens similar to those seen at Mooshahneh, and, like them,
irrigated from an upper reservoir. The whole reflected great credit
upon Moquis ingenuity and skill in the department of engineering. The
walls of the terraces and reservoirs were of partially dressed stone,
well and strongly built, and the irrigating pipes conveniently
arranged. The little gardens were neatly laid out."[XI-61]

       *       *       *       *       *

Thus we see that a universal peculiarity of the Pueblo towns is that
the lower stories are entered by ladders by way of the roof. Their
location varies from the low valley to the elevated mesa and
precipitous cliff; their height from one to seven stories, two stories
and one terrace being a common form. Most of them recede in successive
terraces at each story from the outside, but Tesuque, and perhaps a
few others, are terraced from the interior court. The building
material is sometimes adobe, but generally stone plastered with mud.
The exact construction of the walls is nowhere stated, but they are
presumably built of roughly squared blocks of the stone most
accessible, laid in mud. With each town is connected an estufa, or
public council-chamber and place of worship. This is in some cases
partly subterranean, and its walls are covered with rude paintings in
bright colors.[XI-62]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: PUEBLO OF PECOS.]

  [Illustration: Ruins of Pecos.]

Of the ruined Pueblo towns no extended description is necessary,
since they present no contrasts with those still inhabited which have
been described. Pecos was formerly one of the most important, and was
still inhabited in the early part of the present century. The cut
copied from Emory for Mr Baldwin's work, represents a portion of the
ruins, which include Spanish and aboriginal structures, both of adobe.
Emory noticed large well-hewn timbers. Davis says the ruins of the
village cover two or three hundred yards, and include large blocks of
stone, square and oblong, weighing over a ton, with marks of having
been laid in mortar. Hughes speaks of the traces of a stone wall eight
feet high, which once surrounded this Pueblo town. Kit Carson told Mr
Meline that he found the town still inhabited in 1826. It was here
that in former times was kept burning the everlasting fire which
formed part of the religious rites in honor of their deity, or,
according to the modern account, of Montezuma. There is no evidence,
however, that the aborigines in ancient times had any deity, or
monarch of that name; it is quite certain that they did not hear of
the Aztec monarch Montezuma many centuries before he began to reign;
just possible that they did hear of his fame a few years before the
Spaniards came to New Mexico; but altogether probable that they first
heard the name of Montezuma, of the Aztec people, and of their former
migration southward, from the Spaniards themselves, or their native
companions.[XI-63]

With the Quivira located by Thomas Gage and other early writers and
map-makers, "on the most Western part of America just over against
Tartary," as with the great city of Quivira which Francisco Vasquez de
Coronado sought and has been popularly supposed to have found, I have
at present nothing to do. It should be noted, however, that the latter
Quivira was not one of the Pueblo towns of the Rio Grande, but a town
of wigwams on the plains in the far north-east. The ruined town of
Quivira or Gran Quivira, east of the Rio Grande, entirely distinct
from that of Coronado, includes, like Pecos, a Spanish church among
its ruins. The buildings are of hewn stone and of great extent. Gregg
speaks of an aqueduct leading to the mountains eight or ten miles
distant, the nearest water. This town was very likely, like many
others, ruined at the revolt of 1680. Abo, Quarra, Laguna, and the
rest, present no new features. There are, moreover, on the Puerco
River--a tributary of the Rio Grande, and not that of the Colorado
Chiquito already mentioned--many traces of Pueblo buildings which have
no definite names.[XI-64]

  [Sidenote: SEVEN CITIES OF CIBOLA.]

  [Illustration: Rock-Inscriptions--Rio Grande.]

The cut shows some rock-inscriptions copied by Froebel in the valley
of the Rio Grande. In the Sierra de los Mimbres, towards the source of
the Gila, are some old copper mines, and connected with them an adobe
fort with round towers at the corners, but I do not know that these
works have ever been considered of aboriginal origin. In a newspaper I
find the remarkable statement that "from the volcanic cones of the
Cerrillos was furnished, a great part, if not all, the Chalchiuite, so
much worn for ornament, and so highly prized by the ancient
Mexicans.... The ancient excavations made in search of it are now
distinctly visible, and seem to have been carried to the depth of two
hundred feet or more."[XI-65]

The ruins of Old Zuni have already been described, and there is no
reason to doubt that both these and the other remains on the Zuni
River, represent towns that were inhabited when the Spaniards first
came northward. Indeed it is almost certain that they, together with
the Pueblo town of Zuni, represent Coronado's famous 'seven cities' of
Cibola. Most writers have so decided, as Gallatin, Squier, Whipple,
Turner, Kern, and Simpson.[XI-66] The course and distance of
Coronado's march from the Gila agrees more exactly with Zuni than with
any other town; the location of the 'seven cities' within four leagues
together, in a very narrow valley between steep banks, as also their
position with respect to the Rio del Lino, Colorado Chiquito,
correspond very well with the Zuni ruins; Coronado's Granada, on a
high bluff, with a "narrow winding way," was quite probably Old Zuni;
Cibola is said to have been the first town reached in coming across
the desert from the south-west, and the last left in returning; the
positions of Tusayan, a province of seven villages, five days' journey
north-west from Cibola, and of Acuco, five days eastward, agree very
well with the location of the Moqui towns and of Acoma with respect to
Zuni. Finally we have Espejo's statement that he visited the province
of Zuni, twenty-five leagues west of Acoma; that it was called Zuni by
the natives and Cibola by the Spaniards; that Coronado had been there;
and that he found there not only crosses and other emblems of
Christianity, but three Christians even. Coronado left three men at
Cibola, and their statements to Espejo respecting the identity of
Cibola and Zuni, must be regarded as conclusive.[XI-67]

  [Sidenote: GENERAL RESUME.]

New Mexican antiquities, divided as at the beginning of the chapter
into six classes, may be briefly considered, en resume, as follows:
1st. "Remains of ancient stone and adobe buildings in all stages of
disintegration, from standing walls with roofs and floors, to
shapeless heaps of debris, or simple lines of foundation-stones." This
first class of remains has received most attention in the preceding
pages, and little need be said in addition. It has been noted that
adobe is the material used almost exclusively in the Gila and other
southern valleys, as in Chihuahua, while further north stone is
preferred. The most important fact to be noted is that all the ruins,
without exception, are precisely identical in plan, architecture, and
material with the Pueblo towns now inhabited or known to have been
inhabited since the coming of the Spaniards. Many of them,
particularly those of the Chaco canyon, may have been much grander
structures and have displayed a higher degree of art than the modern
towns, but they all belong to the same class of buildings.

2d. "Anomalous structures of stone or earth, the purpose of which,
either by reason of their advanced state of ruin, or of the
comparatively slight attention given them by travelers, is not
apparent." Such remains, which have been described as far as possible
wherever they have appeared, are: I. Fortifications, like the stone
enclosures on the Pueblo Creek and head-waters of the Rio Verde; and
the battlements guarding the path of ascent to Old Zuni. Many of the
ruined towns were, moreover, effectually fortified by the natural
position in which they were built. II. Mound-like structures and
elevations. These include the low terraced pyramid reported on the
Gila near the Casa Grande, and another of like nature on the north
side of the river; the shapeless heaps of earth and stones in the Gila
and Salinas valleys, most of which are doubtless the remains of
fallen walls, but some of which may possibly have a different origin
and design; and some small heaps of loose stones on the Gila at the
mouth of the Santo Domingo. It is noticeable that no burial mounds, of
so common occurrence in many parts of America, have been found here;
and no pyramids or mounds presumably connected in any way with
religious rites, indeed, nothing of the nature of temples or altars,
save the estufas still in common use. III. Excavations. These are, a
reservoir with stone walls measuring forty by sixty yards, reported by
the early writers near the Casa Grande on the Gila; a circular
depression forty paces in diameter on the north bank of the Gila, and
a similar one at Navajo Spring near the Rio Puerco of the West; a
triangular depression at the mouth of the Santo Domingo; quarries of
sandstone near some of the Chaco ruins, and pits in the Salinas,
whence the earth for building is supposed to have been taken; and the
circular holes that penetrate the canyon walls of the Chaco. IV.
Enclosures for various or unknown purposes. Such is the circular
enclosure a hundred yards in circumference near the Casa Grande, and
another north of the river; the structure indefinitely reported as a
labyrinth up the Gila from the Casa Grande; a small round enclosure on
the Salado; an elliptical enclosure of stone and mortar, eight by
sixteen feet, and divided into two compartments, in the Chaco canyon;
and the large and irregular lines of foundation-stones in the Gila
Valley above the San Pedro. It will be observed that there is very
little of the mysterious connected with these remains of the second
class, and a great part of that little would probably disappear as a
result of a more careful exploration.

3d. "Traces of aboriginal agriculture, in the shape of acequias and
zanjas, or irrigating canals and ditches." Such remains have been
noticed in connection with many of the ruins, particularly in the
south, and require no further remarks. So far as described, they are
nothing but simple ditches dug in the surface of the ground, of
varying depth and length. The earlier reports of canals with walled
sides are very probably unfounded.

  [Illustration: New Mexican Stone Axes.]

4th. "Implements and ornaments." These are not numerous, include no
articles of any metal whatever, and do not differ materially from
articles now in use among the Pueblo Indians. Such relics have been
found scattered among the debris of the fallen walls, and not taken
from regular excavations; consequently no absolute proof exists that
they are the work of the builders, though there can be little room for
doubt on that point. The wandering tribes that have occupied the
country in modern times are much more likely to have sought for and
carried away relics of the original inhabitants, than to have
deposited among the ruins articles made by the modern Pueblo Indians.
A detailed account of each relic would be useless, but among the
articles that have been found are included,--I. Implements of stone.
Metates, or corn-grinders, generally broken, were found at various
points on the Gila, Salado, and among the ruins near Pecos. Stone
axes, are shown in the cut from Whipple, of which No. 4 was found on
the Salado, where implements called hoes, and a stone pestle, are
also reported. A stone axe was also found on the Colorado Chiquito.
Arrow-heads of obsidian were picked up at Old Zuni, on the Colorado
Chiquito, on the Rio Puerco of the west, and at Inscription Rock; of
carnelian on the Colorado Chiquito; of agate and jasper on the Rio
Puerco; and of quartz near Pecos and on Pueblo Creek. Ross Browne
heard of bone awls having been dug up at the Casa Grande. II.
Ornaments. Sea-shells were found at the Casa Grande, on the north bank
of the Gila, and in the Salado valley; also on the Gila, a bead of
blue marble finely turned, an inch and a quarter long; and another
bead of the size of a hen's egg; also a painted stone not described,
and a beaver's tooth. Several green stones, like amethysts, were found
on the Salado; fragments of quartz crystal at the Casa Grande; of
agate and obsidian among the Gila mines; and of obsidian on Pueblo
Creek. Clay balls from the size of bullets to grape-shot, many of them
stuck together, are reported on doubtful authority.[XI-68]

5th. Pottery, the most abundant class of relics, found strewn over the
ground in the vicinity of every ruin in this group. It is always in
fragments, no whole article of undoubted antiquity having ever been
found. This is natural enough, perhaps, since only the surface has
been examined, and the roaming tribes of Indians would not be likely
to leave anything of use or value; excavation may in the future bring
to light whole specimens. But although the absence of whole vessels is
not strange, the presence of fragments in so great abundance is very
remarkable, since no such tendency to their accumulation is noticed
about the inhabited Pueblo towns. It would seem as if the inhabitants,
forced to abandon their houses in haste, had deliberately broken all
their very large stock of earthen ware, either to prevent its falling
into the hands of enemies, or from some superstitious custom. The
fragments are very like one to another in all parts of the New Mexican
region, and in quality and ornamentation nearly identical with the
ware still manufactured and used by the Pueblos. It has been noticed,
however, that the older pottery is superior generally in material and
workmanship to the modern; and also in the southern valleys it is
found painted on the inside as well as outside, contrary as is said to
the present usage. Very few fragments show anything like glazing. The
painted ornamentation consists in most instances of stripes or
angular, more rarely of curved, lines, in black, white, and red.
Painted representations of any definite objects, animate or inanimate,
are of very rare occurrence. Some specimens are, however, not painted,
but decorated with considerable skill by means of raised or indented
figures. I have given cuts of many specimens, and the thirty-five
figures on the next page from different localities will suffice to
explain the nature and uniformity of New Mexican pottery.[XI-69]

  [Illustration: New Mexican Pottery.]

6th. "Painted or engraved figures on cliffs, boulders, and the sides
of natural caverns." These figures have been mentioned whenever they
occurred, and some of them illustrated. There are additional paintings
in a rocky pass between Albuquerque and Laguna, mentioned and copied
by Moellhausen, and both paintings and sculptures in Texas at Sierra
Waco, thirty miles east of El Paso, and at Rocky Dell Creek, in lat.
35 deg., 30', long. 102 deg., 30'.[XI-70] In another volume of this
work,[XI-71] something has been said of hieroglyphic development, of
the different classes of picture-records, and their respective value.
The New Mexican rock-inscriptions and paintings, such of them as are
not mere idle sketches executed without purpose by the natives to
while away the time, belong to the lower classes of representative and
symbolic picture-writing, and are utterly inadequate to preserve any
definite record far beyond the generation that executed them. Most of
them had a meaning to the artist and his tribe at the time they were
made; it is safe to suppose that no living being to-day can interpret
their meaning, and that they never will be understood. The similar
figures painted on the walls of modern estufas,[XI-72] the natives
will not, probably cannot, explain. Mr Froebel, in opposition to Mr
Bartlett's theory that the figures are meaningless, very justly says:
"Many circumstances tend to disprove that these characters were
originally nothing but the results of an early attempt at art. In the
first place, the similarity of the style, in localities a thousand
miles apart, and its extreme peculiarity, preclude every idea of an
accidental similarity. One cannot imagine how the same recurring
figures should have been used over and over again, unless they had a
conventional character, and were intended to express something."[XI-73]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: CONCLUSIONS.]

I conclude this division of my work by a few general remarks,
embodying such conclusions respecting the New Mexican ruins as may be
drawn from the ruins themselves, without reference to the mass of
speculation, tradition, and so-called history, that has confused the
whole subject since first the missionary padres visited and wrote of
this region, and sought diligently, and of course successfully, for
traditions respecting the Asiatic origin of the Americans, and the
southern migration of the Aztecs from the mysterious regions of the
Californias to Anahuac. These conclusions are not lengthy or numerous,
and apply with equal force to the Casas Grandes of Chihuahua, outside
of the geographical limits of this chapter.

1. The ruined structures offer but little internal evidence of their
age. There is not even the slight aid of forest growth found in nearly
all other parts of America. The different buildings show very
different degrees of dilapidation it is true, but to what extent in
each case the ravages of time have been assisted by the roaming
Apaches and other savages, it is impossible to decide. The Casas
Grandes of Chihuahua are much more dilapidated than the similar Casa
Grande of the Gila; but, although both are built of mud, a slight
difference in the quality of the mud employed, with the more abundant
rains of Chihuahua, would account for the better condition of the Gila
remains, and prevent us from assigning necessarily a greater antiquity
to those of Chihuahua. It is known as a historical fact that the
southern buildings were not only in ruins at the coming of the
Spaniards in the middle of the sixteenth century, but had been so long
in that condition that the native knowledge respecting them had passed
into the state of a tradition and a superstition. Certainly not less
than a century would suffice for this. Of the northern ruins very many
are known to have been inhabited and flourishing towns when the
Spaniards came. That any were at that time in ruins is not proven,
though possible.

2. The material relics of the New Mexican group bear no resemblance
whatever to either Nahua or Maya relics in the south. It has been
constantly stated and repeated by most writers, that all American
aboriginal monuments, the works of the Mound-Builders of the
Mississippi, the ruins of New Mexico and Arizona, the Casas Grandes of
Chihuahua, the Edificios of Zacatecas, the pyramids of Anahuac and the
central plateaux, Mitla, Palenque, the cities of Yucatan, and finally
Copan, all belong evidently to one class and present one type; that
all are such as might reasonably be attributed to the same people in
different periods of their civilization. It is even customary for
travelers and writers to speak without hesitation of Aztec ruins and
relics in Arizona, as if there were no longer any doubt on the
subject. So far as the New Mexican link in the chain is concerned, I
most emphatically deny the resemblance, on grounds which the reader of
the preceding pages already fully understands. I can hardly conceive
of structures reared by human hands differing more essentially than
the two classes in question. In the common use of adobes for
building-material; in the plain walls rising to a height of several
stories; in the terrace structure, absence of doors in the lower
story, and the entrance by ladders; in the absence of arched ceilings
of overlapping blocks, of all pyramidal structures, of sculptured
blocks, of all architectural decorations, of idols, temples, and every
trace of buildings evidently designed for religious rites, of burial
mounds and human remains; and in the character of the rock-inscriptions
and miscellaneous relics, not to go farther into details, the New
Mexican monuments present no analogies to any of the southern remains.
I do not mean to express a decided opinion that the Aztecs were not,
some hundreds or thousands of centuries ago, or even at a somewhat
less remote period, identical with the natives of New Mexico, for I
have great faith in the power of time and environment to work
unlimited changes in any people; I simply claim that it is a manifest
absurdity to suppose that the monuments described were the work of the
Aztecs during a migration southward, since the eleventh century, or of
any people nearly allied in blood and institutions to the Aztecs as
they were found in Anahuac.

3. Not only do the ruins of this group bear no resemblance to those of
the south, but they represent in all respects buildings like those
still inhabited by the Pueblo tribes and the Moquis, and do not differ
more among themselves than do the dwellings of the peoples mentioned.
Every one of them may be most reasonably regarded as the work of the
direct ancestors of the present inhabitants of the Pueblo towns, who
did not differ to any great extent in civilization or institutions
from their descendants, though they may very likely have been vastly
superior to them in power and wealth. Consequently there is not a
single relic in the whole region that requires the agency of any
extinct race of people, or any other nations--using the word in a
somewhat wider signification than has sometimes been given to it in
the preceding volumes--than those now living in the country. Not only
do the remains not point in themselves to any extinct race, but if
there were any traditional or other evidence indicating the past
agency of such a race, it would be impossible to reconcile the
traditional with the monumental evidence except by the supposition
that the Pueblos are a foreign people who took possession of the
abandoned dwellings of another race, whose institutions they imitated
to the best of their ability; but I do not know that such a theory has
ever been advanced. I am aware that this conclusion is sadly at
variance with the newspaper reports in constant circulation, of
marvelous cities, the remnants of an advanced but extinct
civilization, discovered by some trapper, miner, or exploring
expedition. I am also aware of the probability that many ruins in
addition to those I have been able to describe, have been found by
military officials, government explorers, and private individuals
during the past ten years; and I hope that the appearance of this
volume may cause the publication of much additional information on the
subject,--but that any of the newly discovered monuments differ in
type from those previously known, there is much reason to doubt. Very
many of the newspaper accounts referred to relate to discoveries made
by Lieut. Wheeler's exploring party during the past two or three
years. Lieut. Wheeler informs me that the reports, so far as they
refer to the remains of an extinct people, are without foundation,
and that his observations have led him to a conclusion practically the
same as my own respecting the builders of the ruined Pueblo towns.

  [Sidenote: THE ANCIENT PUEBLO TOWNS.]

4. It follows that New Mexico, Arizona, and northern Chihuahua were
once inhabited by agricultural semi-civilized tribes, not differing
more among themselves than do the Pueblo tribes of the present time;
the most fertile valleys of the region were cultivated by them, and
were dotted by fine town-dwellings of stone and adobe, occupied in
common by many families, similar but superior to the present Pueblo
towns. At least a century, probably much longer, before the Spaniards
made their appearance, the decline of this numerous and powerful
people began, and it has continued uninterruptedly down to the present
time, until only a mere remnant in the Rio Grande and Moqui towns is
left. Before the Spaniards came all the southern towns, on the Gila
and its tributaries, had been abandoned; since that time the decline
of the northern nations, which the Spaniards found in a tolerably
flourishing condition, is a matter of history. The reason of the
decline this is hardly the place to consider, but it is doubtless to
the inroads of outside warlike and predatory tribes like the Apaches
that we must look for the chief cause. It is not impossible that
natural changes in the surface of the region, such as the drying-up of
springs, streams, or lakes, may have also contributed to the same
effect. These changes, however, if such took place, were probably
gradual in their operation; for the location of the ruins in what are
still in most cases among the most fertile valleys, either in the
vicinity of water, or at least of a dried-up stream, and their absence
in every instance in the absolutely desert tracts, show pretty
conclusively that the towns were not destroyed suddenly by any natural
convulsion which radically changed the face of the country. It is not
difficult to imagine how the agricultural Pueblo communities,
weakened perhaps at first by some international strife which forced
them to neglect the tillage of their land, and hard pressed by more
than usually persistent inroads from bands of Apaches who plundered
their crops and destroyed their irrigation-works, visited perchance by
pestilence, or by earthquakes sent by some irate deity to dry up their
springs, were forced year by year to yield their fair fields to the
drifting sands, to abandon their southern homes and unite their forces
with kindred northern tribes; till at last came the crowning blow of a
foreign invasion, which has well nigh extinguished an aboriginal
culture more interesting and admirable, if not in all respects more
advanced, than any other in North America.

FOOTNOTES:

[XI-1] _Cal., Past, Pres. and Future_, p. 145.

[XI-2] _Bartlett's Pers. Nar._, vol. ii., pp. 195, 206; _Froebel_,
_Aus Amer._, tom. ii., p. 468; _Id._, _Cent. Amer._, pp. 519-24;
_Emory's Reconnoissance_, pp. 82, 89-91, with plate.

[XI-3] _Castaneda_, in _Ternaux-Compans_, _Voy._, serie i., tom. ix.,
pp. 40-1, 161-2. Two other accounts of the trip were written--one by
Juan Jaramillo, which may be found in the same volume of
Ternaux-Compans' work; and the second by Coronado himself, an Italian
translation of which appeared in _Ramusio_, _Navigationi_, tom. iii.,
fol. 359, et seq., and an English translation in _Hakluyt's Voy._,
vol. iii., p. 373, et seq. For an abstract of the trip and discussion
about the location of the route, see _Gallatin_, in _Amer. Ethno.
Soc., Transact._, vol. ii.; _Squier_, in _American Review_ for
November, 1848; _Whipple, et al._, in _Pac. R. R. Repts_, vol. iii.;
and _Simpson_, in _Smithsonian Rept._, 1859, p. 309, et seq. The last
is the best article on the subject, and is accompanied by a map. All
the accounts mention the fact that the expedition passed through
Chichilticale, but only the one quoted describes the building.

[XI-4] "Lo apunto en embrion por no haber ido yo a este
descubrimento." _Mange_, in _Doc. Hist. Mex._, serie iv., tom. i., pp.
259, 253, 362-4.

[XI-5] In _Doc. Hist. Mex._, serie iv., tom. i., pp. 282-3. Mange's
description is as follows:--'One of them is a large edifice, the
principal room in the centre being four stories high, and those
adjoining it on its four sides, three stories; with walls two varas
thick, of strong _argamasa y barro_ [that is, the material of which
adobes are made] so smooth on the inside that they resemble planed
boards, and so polished that they shine like Puebla pottery. The
corners of the windows, which are square, are very straight and
without supports or crosspieces of wood, as if made with a mold; the
doors are the same, though, narrow, and by this it is known to be the
work of Indians; it is 36 paces long by 21 wide, and is well built. At
the distance of an arquebuse-shot are seen twelve other buildings half
fallen, also with thick walls; and all the roofs burned out except one
low room, which has round beams apparently of cedar, or sabino, small
and smooth, and over them _otates_ (reeds) of equal size, and a layer
of hard mud and mortar, forming a very curious roof or floor. In the
vicinity are seen many other ruins and stories, and heaps of rubbish
which cover the ground for two leagues; with much broken pottery,
plates, and _ollas_ of fine clay painted in various colors and
resembling the Guadalajara pottery of New Spain; hence it is inferred
that the city was very large and the work of a civilized people under
a government. This is verified by a canal which runs from the river
over the plain, encircling the settlement, which is in the centre,
three leagues in circumference, ten varas wide and four deep, carrying
perhaps half the river, and thus serving as a defensive ditch as well
as to supply water for the houses and to irrigate the surrounding
fields.'

[XI-6] _Sedelmair_, _Relacion_, in _Doc. Hist. Mex._, serie iii., tom.
iv., p. 847. Orozco y Berra, _Geografia_, pp. 108-10, takes this
description from Sedelmair's MS. in the Mexican archives, as being
written by one who was 'almost the discoverer,' but it is a literal
copy of Mange's diary. Mange's diary, so far as it relates to the Casa
Grande, is translated in _Schoolcraft's Arch._, vol. iii., p. 301; and
_Bartlett's Pers. Nar._, vol. ii., pp. 281-2.

[XI-7] 'Y vimos toda la vivienda del edificio que es muy grande de
quatro altos, cuadradas las paredes y muy gruesas como de dos varas de
ancho del dicho barro blanco, y aunque estos jentiles lo han quemado
distintas veces, se ven los quatro altos, con buenas salas, aposentos
y ventanas curiosamente embarradas por dentro y fuera de manera que
estan las paredes encaladas y lisas con un barro algo colorado, las
puertas muy parejas. Tambien hay inmediatas por fuera once casas algo
menores fabricadas con la propia curiosidad de la grande y altas ... y
en largo distrito se ve mucha losa quebrada y pintada; tambien se ve
una sequia maestra de diez varas de ancho y quatro de alto, y un bordo
muy grueso hecho de la misma tierra que va a la casa por un llano.'
_Bernal_, in _Doc. Hist. Mex._, serie iii., tom. iv., p. 804.

[XI-8] Padre Garces says, 'on this river is situated the house which
they call Moctezuma's, and many other ruins of other edifices with
very many fragments of pottery both painted and plain. From what I
afterwards saw of the Moqui, I have formed a very different idea from
that which I before entertained respecting these buildings,' referring
to Padre Font for more details. _Doc. Hist. Mex._, serie ii., tom. i.,
p. 242. Font's account is substantially as follows:--'We carefully
examined this edifice and its ruins; the echnographical plan of which
I here lay down [The plan does not accompany the translation, but I
have the same plan in another MS. which I shall presently mention] and
the better to understand it I give the following description and
explanation. [Here follows an account of the building of the Casa by
the Aztecs when the Devil led them through these regions on their way
to Anahuac]. The site on which this house is built is flat on all
sides and at the distance of about one league from the river Gila, and
the ruins of the houses which composed the town extend more than a
league towards the East and the Cardinal points; and all this land is
partially covered with pieces of pots, jugs, plates, &c., some common
and others painted of different colours, white, blue, red,' &c., very
different from the work of the Pimas. A careful measurement made with
a lance showed that 'the house forms an oblong square, facing exactly
the four Cardinal points ... and round about it there are ruins
indicating a fence or wall which surrounded the house and other
buildings, particularly in the corners, where it appears that there
has been some edifice like an interior castle or watch-tower, for in
the angle which faces towards the S.W. there stands a ruin with its
divisions and an upper story. The exterior place [plaza] extends from
N. to S. 420 feet and from E. to W. 260 feet. The interior of the
house consists of five halls, the three middle ones being of one size
and the two extreme ones longer.' The three middle ones are 26 by 10
feet, and the others 38 by 12 feet, and all 11 feet high. The inner
doors are of equal size, two by five feet, the outer ones being of
double width. The inner walls are four feet thick and well plastered,
and the outer walls six feet thick. The house is 70 by 50 feet, the
walls sloping somewhat on the outside. 'Before the Eastern doorway,
separate from the house there is another building,' 26 by 18 feet,
'without counting the thickness of the walls. The timber, it appears,
was of pine, and the nearest mountain bearing pine is at the distance
of 25 leagues; it likewise bears some mezquite. All the building is of
earth, and according to appearances the walls are built in boxes
[moldes] of different sizes. A trench leads from the river at a great
distance, by which the town was supplied with water; it is now nearly
buried up. Finally, it is perceptible that the Edifice had three
stories, and if it be true what the Indians say it had 4, the last
being a kind of subterranean vault. For the purpose of giving light to
the rooms, nothing is seen but the doors and some round holes in the
middle of the walls which face to the East and West, and the Indians
said that the Prince whom they call the "bitter man" used to salute
the sun through these holes (which are pretty large) at its rising and
setting. No signs of stairs remain, and we therefore suppose that they
must have been of wood, and that they were destroyed when the building
was burnt by the Apaches.' _Font's Journal_, MS., pp. 8-10; also
quoted in _Bartlett's Pers. Nar._, vol. ii., pp. 278-80; also French
translation in _Ternaux-Compans_, _Voy._, serie i., tom. ix., pp.
383-6.

[XI-9] _Beaumont_, _Cron. Mechoacan_, MS., pp. 504-8. See an abridged
account from the same source in _Padilla_, _Conq. N. Galicia_, MS., p.
125; _Arricivita_, _Cronica Serafica_, pp. 462-3.

[XI-10] _Sonora_, _Rudo Ensayo_, pp. 18-9; same also in _Doc. Hist.
Mex._, serie iii., tom. iv., pp. 503-4; _Velarde_, _Descrip. de la
Pimeria_, in _Doc. Hist. Mex._, serie iv., tom. i., pp. 362-3. This
author speaks of 'algunas paredes de un gran estanque, hecho a mano de
cal y canto.' Similar account in _Alegre_, _Hist. Comp. de Jesus_,
tom. ii., pp. 211-12.

[XI-11] _Emory's Reconnoissance_, pp. 81-3; _Johnston's Journal_, in
_Id._, pp. 567-600; _Browne's Apache Country_, pp. 114-24; _Bartlett's
Pers. Nar._, vol. ii., pp. 271-84. Other authorities, containing, I
believe, no original information, are as follows: _Humboldt_, _Essai
Pol._, pp. 297-8; _Baldwin's Anc. Amer._, p. 82; _Mofras_, _Explor._,
tom. ii., p. 361; _Gondra_, in _Prescott_, _Hist. Conq. Mex._, tom.
iii., p. 19; _Mayer's Mex. Aztec, etc._, vol. ii., p. 396, with cut;
_Id._, _Observations_, p. 15; _Id._, _Mex. as it Was_, p. 239;
_Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. ii., p. 197;
_Conder's Mex. Guat._, vol. ii., pp. 68-9; _Buschmann_, _Spuren der
Aztek. Spr._, p. 297; _Cutts' Conq. of Cal._, pp. 186-8; _Domenech's
Deserts_, vol. i., pp. 381-4; _Moellhausen_, _Tagebuch_, pp. 309-14;
_Lafond_, _Voyages_, tom. i., p. 135; _Larenaudiere_, _Mex. et Guat._,
p. 12; _Long's Amer. and W. I._, pp. 180-1; _Malte-Brun_, _Precis de
la Geog._, tom. vi., pp. 453; _Mill's Hist. Mex._, pp. 192-3;
_Monglave_, _Resume_, p. 176; _Muehlenpfordt_, _Mejico_, tom. ii., pt.
ii., pp. 435-6; _Mueller_, _Amerikanische Urreligionen_, p. 532;
_Gallatin_, in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1851, tom. cxxxi., pp.
284-6, 261; _Froebel_, _Aus Amer._, tom. ii., pp. 451-2; _Gordon's
Hist. and Geog. Mem._, pp. 86-7; _Id._, _Ancient Mex._, vol. i., p.
104; _Shuck's Cal. Scrap-Book_, p. 669; _Robinson's Cal._, pp. 93-4;
_Velasco_, in _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, tom. xi., p. 96; _Thuemmel_,
_Mexiko_, p. 347; _DeBercy_, _L'Europe et L'Amer._, pp. 238-9;
_Ruxton_, in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1850, tom. cxxvi., pp. 40,
46, 52; _San Francisco Chronicle_, Jan. 15, 1875; _Schoolcraft's
Arch._, vol. iii., pp. 299-300; _Hughes' Doniphan's Ex._, p. 219.

[XI-12] Adobes are properly sun-dried bricks without any particular
reference to the exact quality or proportions of the ingredients, many
varieties of earth or clay being employed, according to the locality
and the nature of the structure, with or without a mixture of straw or
pebbles. But adobe is a very convenient word to indicate the material
itself without reference to the form and size of its blocks or the
exact nature of its ingredients; and such a use of the word seems
allowable.

[XI-13] _Smithsonian Rept._, 1869, p. 326; _Castaneda_, in
_Ternaux-Compans_, _Voy._, serie i., tom. ix., pp. 41, 161-2.

[XI-14] 36 by 21 paces, _Mange_, in _Doc. Hist. Mex._, serie iv., tom.
i., p. 283; 70 by 50 feet, outer walls 6 feet thick, inner 4 feet,
_Font's Journal_, MS., pp. 8-9; walls between 4 and 5 feet thick,
_Bartlett's Pers. Nar._, vol. ii., p. 272; 60 feet square, _Emory's
Reconnoissance_, p. 81.

[XI-15] Central rooms, 26 by 10 feet; the others 38 by 12 feet.
_Font's Journal_, MS., p. 9.

[XI-16] It will be noticed that although Mr Bartlett speaks of an
entrance in the centre of each side, his plan shows none in the south.
'Il n'existe point de portes au rez-de-chaussee.' _Mofras_, _Explor._,
tom. ii., p. 361.

[XI-17] _Mange_, _Itinerario_, in _Doc. Hist. Mex._, serie iv., tom.
i., pp. 282-3.

[XI-18] _Browne's Apache Country_, p. 118.

[XI-19] _Johnston_, in _Emory's Reconnoissance_, p. 598.

[XI-20] _Arricivita_, _Cronica Serafica_, pp. 462-3; _Humboldt_,
_Essai Pol._, tom. i., p. 297.

[XI-21] _Johnston_, in _Emory's Reconnoissance_, p. 598.

[XI-22] 'Habia tambien seis leguas distante del rio hacia el Sur, un
algive de agua hecho a mano mas que cuadrado o paralelo, grande de
sesenta varas de largo y cuarenta de ancho; sus bordos parecian
paredes o pretil de argamasa o cal y canto, segun lo fuerte y duro del
material, y por sus cuatro angulos tiene sus puertas por donde se
conduce y se recoge el agua llovediza.' _Sedelmair_, _Relacion_, in
_Doc. Hist. Mex._, serie iii., tom. iv., p. 848. 'Se ven algunas
paredes de un gran estanque, hecho a mano de cal y canto, y una
acequia de los mismos materiales.' _Velarde_, in _Id._, serie iv.,
tom. i., p. 362.

[XI-23] 'Paredes muy altas y anchas de mas de una vara, de un genero
de barro blanco muy fuerte, cuadrada, y muy grande.' _Bernal_, in
_Doc. Hist. Mex._, serie iii., tom. iv., p. 801. 'Paredes de dos varas
de grueso, como un castillo y otras a sus contornos, pero todo de
fabrica antigua.' _Mange_, _Itinerario_, in _Id._, serie iv., tom. i.,
p. 282; _Sonora_, _Rudo Ensayo_, p. 19; _Emory's Reconnoissance_, p.
83. Whipple, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._, vol. iii., p. 73, speaks of a
circular depression in the earth at this point.

[XI-24] _Johnston_, in _Emory's Reconnoissance_, p. 600.

[XI-25] _Sedelmair_, _Relacion_, in _Doc. Hist. Mex._, serie iii.,
tom. iv., p. 847. There is no foundation whatever for the statement of
Mofras that in this region 'en faisant des fouilles on trouve encore
des idoles, des poteries, des armes, et des miroirs en pierre poli
nommees itzli.' _Explor._, tom. ii., p. 361.

[XI-26] _Velarde_, in _Doc. Hist. Mex._, serie iv., tom. i., p. 363.

[XI-27] _Sedelmair_, _Relacion_, in _Doc. Hist. Mex._, serie iii.,
tom. iv. p. 847.

[XI-28] _Velarde_, in _Doc. Hist. Mex._, serie iv., tom. i., pp. 348,
363. 'De otros edificios de mas extencion, arte y simetria, he oido
referir al Padre Ygnacio Xavier Keller, aunque no tengo presente en
que paraje de sus Apostolicas carreras.' _Sonora_, _Rudo Ensayo_, pp.
19-20.

[XI-29] _Emory's Reconnoissance_, pp. 87-8, 134; _Johnston_, in _Id._,
p. 600; _Cincinnatus' Travels_, p. 356.

[XI-30] _Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner_, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._, vol.
iii., pp. 45, 47.

[XI-31] _Bartlett's Pers. Nar._, vol. ii., pp. 242-8, with a cut of
one of the heaps of ruins. _Moellhausen_, _Tagebuch_, pp. 308-9. Cuts
of many specimens of pottery from the Gila Valley, in _Johnston_, in
_Emory's Reconnoissance_, pp. 596, 600.

[XI-32] _Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner_, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._, vol.
iii., pp. 14-15.

[XI-33] Mr Leroux also reported to Bartlett the existence in the Verde
valley of heaps of debris like those on the Salado. _Bartlett's Pers.
Nar._, vol. ii., p. 247. Mention of Verde remains. _Warden_,
_Recherches_, p. 79; _Moellhausen_, _Reisen in die Felsengeb._, tom.
ii., pp. 140-2; _Muehlenpfordt_, _Mejico_, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 538.
Pike, _Explor. Trav._, p. 336, says very absurdly, "Those walls are of
a black cement which encreases in stability with age, and bids
defiance to the war of time; the secret of its composition is now
entirely lost."

[XI-34] _Whipple_, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._, vol. iii., pp. 91-4;
_Moellhausen_, _Tagebuch_, pp. 348-9. Moellhausen was the artist
connected with Whipple's expedition.

[XI-35] _Emory's Reconnoissance_, pp. 63-9, 80, 133-4, with cuts and
plates; _Johnston_, in _Id._, pp. 581-96; _Whipple, Ewbank, and
Turner_, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._, vol. iii., p. 23, with cut
illustrating the lines of foundation-stones. _Froebel_, _Aus Amer._,
tom. ii., p. 421; _Id._, _Cent. Amer._, p. 488, with cut of
hieroglyphics. Two plates of  fragments of pottery, in
_Schoolcraft's Arch._, vol. iii., pp. 82-5, vol. vi., p. 68.
Respecting the builders of the ruined structures, see _Garces_,
_Diario_, in _Doc. Hist. Mex._, serie ii., tom. i., pp. 320, 329;
_Castaneda_, in _Ternaux-Compans_, _Voy._, serie i., tom. ix., pp.
161-2; _Sedelmair_, _Relacion_, in _Doc. Hist. Mex._, serie iii., tom.
iv., p. 847. Other references on Gila remains are: _Sonora_, _Rudo
Ensayo_, p. 19, with cut of labyrinth; _Villa-Senor y Sanchez_,
_Theatro_, tom. ii., pp. 375-6; _Fremont_, in _Cal., Past, Pres. and
Future_, p. 144; _Fremont and Emory's Notes of Trav._, p. 46;
_Prichard's Researches_, vol. v., pp. 422-3; _Id._, _Nat. Hist. Man_,
vol. ii., pp. 514-15, 568; _Domenech's Deserts_, vol. i., pp. 382-3;
_Cal. Farmer_, Feb. 28, 1862; _Cincinnatus' Travels_, pp. 355-7;
_Gallatin_, in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1851, tom. cxxxi., pp.
293-4. I find an account going the rounds of the newspapers of a
wonderful group of ruins 'on the Gila some miles east of Florence,'
discovered by Lieut. Ward. They consist of very extensive
fortifications, and other structures built of hewn stone, the walls
being yet twelve feet high, and two towers standing 26 and 31 feet
respectively. Copper and stone implements, golden ornaments and stone
vases were found here. Finally, the whole account is doubtless a hoax.

[XI-36] A writer in the _N. Y. Tribune_,--see _Hist. Mag._, vol. x.,
suppl., p. 95--describes a pyramid on the Colorado River, without
giving the locality. It is 104 feet square, 20 feet high, and has at
present a summit platform. It seems, however, to have been originally
pointed, judging from the debris. The material is hewn stone in blocks
from 18 to 36 inches thick, those of the outer facing being out at an
angle. This report is perhaps founded on some of the ruins on the
Colorado Chiquito yet to be mentioned, or quite as probably it has no
foundation whatever. 'Upon the lower part of the Rio Colorado no
traces of permanent dwellings have been discovered.' _Whipple, Ewbank,
and Turner_, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._, vol. iii., p. 15. Arizona miners
occasionally refer to the ruins of old Indian buildings on the
Colorado, 40 miles above La Paz, on the eastern side, similar in
character to those of the Gila. On Ehrenberg's _Map of Arizona_, 1858,
they are so located, and that is all that is known of them. _San
Francisco Evening Bulletin_, July 14, 1864.

[XI-37] _Cal. Farmer_, March 27, 1863.

[XI-38] _Moellhausen_, _Tagebuch_, p. 376; _Whipple_, in _Pac. R. R.
Rept._, vol. iii., pp. 106-7.

[XI-39] _Sitgreaves' Report, Zuni and Colorado Rivers_, 1853, pp. 8-9;
_Whipple_, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._, vol. iii., pp. 81, 46-50; _Ives'
Colorado Riv._, p. 117, no details; _Moellhausen_, _Tagebuch_, pp.
306-8; _Id._, _Reisen in die Felsengeb._, tom. ii., pp. 148-50, 164-5,
399-401; _Schoolcraft's Arch._, vol. iv., pp. 253, vol. vi., p. 68,
plates of inscriptions; _Hay_, in _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, 2da
epoca, tom. i., p. 29; _Foster's Pre-Hist. Races_, pp. 146-7. A writer
in the _San Francisco Evening Bulletin_, July 3, 1868, says that the
most extensive ruins in Arizona or New Mexico are situated above the
high falls of the Little Colorado, 20 miles north of the San Francisco
Mountains. They extend for miles along the river, and include
well-made walls of hewn stone now standing to the height of six or
eight feet. Both streets and irrigating canals may be traced for
miles. This writer speaks of the Jesuit inscriptions. According to an
article in the _San Francisco Herald_ of 1853, quoted in the _Cal.
Farmer_ of June 22, 1860, Capt. Joseph Walker found some remarkable
ruins on the Colorado Chiquito in 1850. He speaks of 'a kind of a
citadel, around which lay the ruins of a city more than a mile in
length.' The streets were still traceable, running at right angles.
The buildings were all of stone 'reduced to ruins by the action of
some great heat which had evidently passed over the whole country....
All the stones were burnt, some of them almost cindered, others glazed
as if melted. This appearance was visible in every ruin he met with. A
storm of fire seemed to have swept over the whole country and the
inhabitants must have fallen before it.' The central building with
walls 15 or 18 feet long and 10 feet high, of hewn stone, stood on a
rock 20 or 30 feet high, itself fused by the heat. The ruins seen by
Walker were in all probability similar to those described by
Sitgreaves, and the Captain, or the writer of this article, drew
heavily on his imagination for many of his facts.

[XI-40] _Whipple_, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._, vol. iii., p. 76.

[XI-41] _Moellhausen's Journey_, vol. ii., p. 121.

[XI-42] _Whipple_, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._, vol. iii., pp. 73-4;
_Moellhausen_, _Tagebuch_, p. 255.

[XI-43] _Sitgreaves' Zuni Ex._, p. 6; _Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner_,
in _Pac. R. R. Repts_, vol. pp. 71, 39.

[XI-44] _Whipple, et al._, in _Pac. R. R. Repts_, vol. iii., pp. 69,
39-41, 45-6, with view of ruins; _Moellhausen's Journey_, vol. ii., p.
96, cut of altar; _Id._, _Reisen_, tom. ii., pp. 196, 402; _Id._,
_Tagebuch_, pp. 283-4, 278, with cut of altar; _Simpson_, in
_Smithsonian Rept._, 1869, pp. 329-32; _Davis' El Gringo_, p. 128;
_Domenech's Deserts_, vol. i., pp. 211-13; _Barber and Howe's Western
States_, p. 553; _Shuck's Cal. Scrap-Book_, pp. 310-12.

[XI-45] _Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner_, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._, vol.
iii., pp. 45-6.

[XI-46] _Simpson's Jour. Mil. Recon._, pp. 95-7; _Moellhausen's
Journey_, vol. ii., p. 82; _Id._, _Tagebuch_, pp. 275-7; _Whipple,
Ewbank, and Turner_, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._, vol. iii., p. 39. Col.
Doniphan found in 1846 on the head-waters of the Piscao (Pescado,
Zuni?) the ruins of an ancient city, which formed a square surrounded
by double walls of stone 14 feet apart. The space between the walls
was divided into compartments 14 feet square, opening into the
interior. The houses were three stories high, the lower story being
partially subterranean. Large quantities of red cedar, apparently cut
for firewood, were found in connection with the buildings. _Hughes'
Doniphan's Ex._, pp. 197-8. Simpson explored the stream to its source,
and found no ruins except three at Ojo del Pescado, which were
probably the same on which Doniphan's report was founded, although
there is no resemblance in the descriptions.

[XI-47] _Simpson's Jour. Mil. Recon._, pp. 93-109, pl. 60-1, views of
cliff; pl. 65-74, inscriptions; pl. 63, ground plan of building; pl.
64, pottery; cut p. 100, plan of rock. _Whipple, et al._, in _Pac. R.
R. Repts_, vol. iii., pp. 22, 52, 63-4, with plates; _Moellhausen_,
_Tagebuch_, pp. 266-72, pl. of plan and pottery; _Id._, _Journey_,
vol. ii., pp. 68-79, 52, pl.; _Domenech's Deserts_, vol. i., pp.
208-9, 415-18; _Davis' El Gringo_, pp. 422-3; _Foster's Pre-Hist.
Races_, p. 147; _Barber and Howe's Western States_, p. 561.

[XI-48] _Dominguez and Escalante_, _Diario_, in _Doc. Hist. Mex._,
serie ii., tom. i., pp. 400-2. A correspondent of the _San Francisco
Evening Bulletin_, July 8, 1864, says that the San Juan valley is
strewn with ruins for hundreds of miles, some buildings three stories
high of solid masonry still standing. Davis, _El Gringo_, p. 417, had
heard of some ruins on the northern bank of the San Juan, but none
further north. 'The valleys of the Rio de las Animas and San Juan are
strewn with the ruins of cities, many of them of solid masonry. Stone
buildings, three stories high, are yet standing, of Aztec
architecture.' _Baker_, in _Cal. Farmer_, June 19, 1863.

[XI-49] _Simpson's Jour. Mil. Recon._, pp. 74-5, pl. 53-4. Other
slight accounts made up from Simpson: _Domenech's Deserts_, vol. i.,
p. 201; _Annual Scien. Discov._, 1850, p. 362; _Barber and Howe's
Western States_, pp. 559-60, with cut.

[XI-50] Dr Hammond, a companion of Simpson, describes this room as
follows: 'It was in the second of three ranges of rooms, on the north
side of the ruins. The door opened at the base of the wall, towards
the interior of the building; it had never been more than two feet and
a half high, and was filled two-thirds with rubbish. The lintels were
of natural sticks of wood, one and a half to two and a half inches in
diameter, deprived of the bark, and placed at distances of two or
three inches apart; yet their ends were attached to each other by
withes of oak with its bark well preserved. The room was in the form
of a parallelogram, about twelve feet in length, eight feet high, and
the walls, as they stood at the time of observation, seven feet high.
The floor was of earth, and the surface irregular. The walls were
about two feet thick, and plastered within with a layer of red mud one
fourth of an inch thick. The latter, having fallen off in places,
showed the material of the wall to be sandstone. The stone was ground
into pieces the size of our ordinary bricks, the angles not as
perfectly formed, though nearly so, and put up in break-joints, having
intervals between them, on every side, of about two inches. The
intervals were filled with laminae of a dense sandstone, about three
lines in thickness, driven firmly in, and broken off even with the
general plane of the wall--the whole resembling mosaic work. Niches,
varying in size from two inches to two feet and a half square, and two
inches to one and a half feet in horizontal depth, were scattered
irregularly over the walls, at various heights above the floor. Near
the place of the ceiling, the walls were penetrated, and the surfaces
of them perpendicular to the length of the beam. They had the
appearance of having been sawed off originally, except that there were
no marks of the saw left on them; time had slightly disintegrated the
surfaces, rounding the edges somewhat here and there. Supporting the
floor above were six cylindrical beams, about seven inches in
diameter, passing transversely of the room, and at distances of less
than two feet apart--the branches of the trees having been hewn off by
means of a blunt-edged instrument. Above, and resting on these,
running longitudinally with the room, were poles of various lengths,
about two inches in diameter, irregularly straight, placed in contact
with each other, covering all the top of the room, bound together at
irregular and various distances, generally at their ends, by slips
apparently of palm-leaf or marquez, and the same material converted
into cords about one-fourth of an inch in diameter, formed of two
strands, hung from the poles at several points. Above, and resting
upon the poles, closing all above, passing transversely of the room,
were planks of about seven inches wide, and three-fourths of an inch
in thickness. The width of the plank was uniform, and so was the
thickness. They were in contact, or nearly so, admitting but little
more than the passage of a knife blade between them, by the edges,
through the whole of their lengths. They were not jointed; all their
surfaces were level, and as smooth as if planed, excepting the ends;
the angles as regular and perfect as could be retained by such
vegetable matter--they are probably of pine or cedar--exposed to the
atmosphere for as long a time as it is probable these have been. The
ends of the plank, several of which were in view, terminated in lines
perpendicular to the length of the plank, and the plank appears to
have been severed by a blunt instrument. The planks--I examined them
minutely by the eye and the touch, for the marks of the saw and other
instruments--were smooth, and  brown by time or by smoke.
Beyond the plank nothing was distinguishable from within. The room was
redolent with the perfume of cedar. Externally, upon the top, was a
heap of stone and mud, ruins that have fallen from above, immovable by
the instruments that we had along. The beams were probably severed by
contusions from a dull instrument, and their surfaces ground plain and
smooth by a slab of rock; and the planks, split or hewn from the
trees, were, no doubt, rendered smooth by the same means.' _Hammond_,
in _Simpson's Jour. Mil. Recon._, pp. 131-3.

[XI-51] Chaco ruins as discovered by Simpson: Pueblo Pintado, 403 feet
circumference, 3 stories, 54 rooms on ground floor, pp. 34-6, pl. 20,
22, 41; view, specimens of masonry, and of pottery. Rock-inscriptions
at Camp 9, p. 36, pl. 23-5. Pueblo Weje-gi, 13 miles from Pueblo
Pintado, 700 feet in circumference, 99 rooms, walls 25 feet high, pp.
36-7, pl. 26-7; view and ground plan. Pueblo Una Vida, 15-1/2 miles from
Pueblo Pintado, circumference 994 feet, height 15 feet, 2 stories, 4
estufas, pp. 37-8, pl. 28-9; view and ground plan. Pueblo Hungo Pavie,
872 feet circumference, 30 feet high, 4 stories, 72 rooms, 1 estufa,
p. 38, pl. 30-2; plan, pottery, and restoration (all copied above).
Pueblo Chettro Kettle, circumference 1300 feet, 4 stories, 124 rooms,
6 estufas, pp. 38-40, pl. 33-5; plan, interior, hieroglyphics. Pueblo
Bonito, circumference 1300 feet, 4 stories, 139 rooms traceable, 4
estufas, pp. 40-2, 131-3, pl. 36-38, 40-41; view, plan, interior,
pottery, specimen of masonry. Pueblo Arroyo, 100 feet circumference, 2
undescribed ruins near it, p. 42. Pueblo Penasco Blanco, on south side
of river, 1700 feet circumference, 112 rooms, 3 stories, 7 estufas,
pp. 42-3, pl. 41, fig. 2; specimen of masonry. _Simpson's Jour. Mil.
Recon._, pp. 34-43, 131-3. Slight account from Simpson, in _Domenech's
Deserts_, vol. i., pp. 199-200, 379-81, 385; _Annual Scien. Discov._,
1850, pp. 362-3; _Baldwin's Anc. Amer._, pp. 86-9, cut; _Barber and
Howe's Western States_, pp. 556-9, cuts; _Thuemmel_, _Mexiko_, pp.
347-8. A newspaper report of a ruin discovered by one Roberts may be
as well mentioned here as elsewhere, although the locality given is 90
miles within the Arizona line, while the Chaco remains are in New
Mexico. This city was built on a mesa with precipitous sides, and
covered an area of 3 square miles, being enclosed by a wall of hewn
sandstone, still standing in places 6 or 8 feet high. No remains of
timber were found in the city, which must have contained originally
20,000 inhabitants. It was laid out in plazas and streets, and the
walls bore sculptured hieroglyphics. _San Francisco Chronicle_, Dec.
12, 1872. See also _Alta California_, June 26, 1874. I give but few of
these newspaper reports as specimens; a volume might be filled with
them, without much profit.

[XI-52] Davis' list of Pueblo towns is as follows:--Taos, Picoris,
Nambe, Tezuque, Pojuaque, San Juan, San Yldefonso, Santo Domingo, San
Felipe, Santa Ana, Cochiti, Isleta, Silla, Laguna, Acoma, Jemez, Zuni,
Sandia, Santa Clara. _El Gringo_, p. 115. Barreiro, _Ojeada_, p. 15,
adds Pecos, and omits San Juan. Simpson, _Jour. Mil. Recon._, p. 114,
says that Cebolleta, Covero, and Moquino, are not properly Indian
pueblos, but ordinary Mexican towns.

[XI-53] See vol. i., pp. 533-8.

[XI-54] _Abert's New Mex._, in _Emory's Reconnoissance_, p. 457;
_Davis' El Gringo_, pp. 141-2. See also _Gregg's Com. Prairies_, vol.
i., pp. 276-7. This author says there is a similar edifice in the
pueblo of Picuris. _Edwards' Campaign_, pp. 43-4; _Domenech's
Deserts_, vol. i., pp. 191-2. On the Arroyo Hondo 10 miles north of
Taos, Mr Peters, _Life of Carson_, p. 437, speaks of the remains of
the largest Aztec settlement in New Mexico, consisting of small
cobble-stones in mud, pottery, arrow-heads, stone pipes, and rude
tools.

[XI-55] _Simpson's Jour. Mil. Recon._, p. 114.

[XI-56] _Abert's New Mex._, in _Emory's Reconnoissance_, p. 470-1,
with 3 views. The most ancient and extraordinary of all the Pueblos,
on a table of 60 acres, 360 feet above the plain. Identical with
Coronado's Acuco. _Domenech's Deserts_, vol. i., pp. 202-3; _Gregg's
Com. Prairies_, vol. i., pp. 277-8.

[XI-57] _Gregg's Com. Prairies_, vol. i., p. 277; _Simpson's Jour.
Mil. Recon._, p. 121; view of San Felipe, in _Abert's New Mex._, in
_Emory's Reconnoissance_, p. 461.

[XI-58] _Simpson's Jour. Mil. Recon._, pp. 13-4. 'The houses of this
town are built in blocks.' 'To enter, you ascend to this platform by
the means of ladders;' windows in the upper part of the lower story.
_Abert's New Mex._, in _Emory's Reconnoissance_, p. 462, with view;
_Moellhausen's Journey_, p. 231, with view; _Domenech's Deserts_, vol.
i., p. 197.

[XI-59] _Meline's Two Thousand Miles_, pp. 206-7.

[XI-60] _Simpson's Jour. Mil. Recon._, pp. 90-3. 'It is divided into
four solid squares, having but two streets, crossing its centre at
right angles. All the buildings are two stories high, composed of
sun-dried brick. The first story presents a solid wall to the street,
and is so constructed, that each house joins, until one fourth of the
city may be said to be one building. The second stories rise from this
vast, solid structure, so as to designate each house, leaving room to
walk upon the roof of the first story between each building.' _Hughes'
Doniphan's Ex._, p. 195; see also _Whipple_, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._,
vol. iii., pp. 67-8, with view; _Moellhausen's Journey_, p. 97.

[XI-61] _Ives' Colorado Riv._, pp. 119-24, with plates.

[XI-62] 'Each pueblo contains an _estufa_, which is used both as a
council-chamber and a place of worship, where they practice such of
their heathen rites as still exist among them. It is built partly
under ground, and is considered a consecrated and holy place. Here
they hold all their deliberations upon public affairs, and transact
the necessary business of the village.' _Davis' El Gringo_, p. 142.
'In the west end of the town [S. Domingo] is an _estuffa_, or public
building, in which the people hold their religious and political
meetings. The structure, which is built of _adobes_, is circular in
plan, about nine feet in elevation, and thirty-five feet in diameter,
and, with no doors or windows laterally, has a small trap-door in the
terrace or flat roof by which admission is gained.' _Simpson's Jour.
Mil. Recon._, p. 62. Estufa at Jemez, with plates of paintings. _Id._,
pp. 21-2, pl. 7-11.

[XI-63] _Emory's Reconnoissance_, p. 30, with plate; _Abert's New
Mex._, in _Id._, pp. 446-7, 483, with plate; _Davis' El Gringo_, p.
55; _Hughes' Doniphan's Ex._, pp. 74-5; _Meline's Two Thousand Miles_,
pp. 255-8; _Gregg's Com. Prairies_, vol. i., pp. 270-3; _Moellhausen_,
_Reisen in die Felsengeb._, tom. ii., pp. 293-8; _Cutt's Conq. of
Cal._, p. 79; _Domenech's Deserts_, vol. i., pp. 164-5, _Baldwin's
Anc. Amer._, p. 79, with cut.

[XI-64] _Gage's New Survey_, p. 162; _Gregg's Com. Prairies_, vol. i.,
pp. 164-5; _Davis' El Gringo_, pp. 70, 123-7; _Abert's New Mex._, in
_Emory's Reconnoissance_, pp. 488-9; _Domenech's Deserts_, vol. i.,
pp. 182-3; _Wizlizenus' Tour_, p. 25; _Carleton's Ruins of Abo_, in
_Smithsonian Rept._, 1854, pp. 300-15; _Moellhausen_, _Fluechtling_,
tom. i., pp. 718-25, 229, 239, 267-72; _Id._, _Reisen_, tom. ii., pp.
296, 405-6; _Froebel's Cent. Amer._, p. 301; _Id._, _Aus Amer._, tom.
ii., pp. 150-2; _Gallatin_, in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1851,
tom. cxxxi., pp. 298-9. Abert, in _Emory's Reconnoissance_, pp. 466-7,
484, tells us that at Tezique the ruins of the ancient Indian town are
partially covered with the buildings of the modern; also that at
Poblazon, on the Puerco River, the principal ruins of stone are
arranged in a square with sides of 200 yards, but other remains are
scattered in the vicinity, including a circular and one elliptical
enclosure. According to Gregg, _Com. Prairies_, vol. ii., p. 71, the
inhabitants were driven from Valverde, on the Rio Grande, by the
Navajos. Moellhausen, _Journey_, vol. ii., p. 55, speaks of ruins on
rocky heights two miles from Laguna. 'The ruins of what is usually
called _Old San Felipe_ are plainly visible, perched on the edge of
the mesa, about a mile above the present town, on the west side of the
river.' _Simpson's Jour. Mil. Recon._, p. 121.

[XI-65] _Froebel_, _Aus Amer._, tom. ii., pp. 166, 469; _Johnston_, in
_Cutts' Conq. of Cal._, p. 183; _Newberry_, in _Cal. Farmer_, April
10, 1863.

[XI-66] Abert, _New Mex._, in _Emory's Reconnoissance_, pp. 489-92,
identifies Cibola with Acoma and the six adjoining Pueblo towns; and
Morgan, in _N. Amer. Review_, April, 1869, with the Chaco ruins.

[XI-67] See _Castaneda_, in _Ternaux-Compans_, _Voy._, serie i., tom.
ix., pp. 42, 69-71. 'Veynte y quatro leguas de aqui, hazia el
Poniente, dieron con vna Prouincia, que se nombra en lengua de los
naturales Zuny, y la llaman los Espannoles Cibola, ay en ella gran
cantidad de Indios, en la qual estuuo Francisco Vasquez Coronado, y
dexo muchas Cruzes puestas, y otras sennales de Christianidad que
siempre se estauan en pie. Hallaron ansi mesmo tres Indios Christianos
que se auian quedado de aquella jornada, cuyos nombres eran Andres de
Cuyoacan, Gaspar de Mexico, y Antonio de Guadalajara, los quales
tenian casi oluidada su mesma lengua, y sabian muy bien la delos
naturales, aunque a pocas bueltas que les hablaron se entendieron
facilmente.' _Espejo_, _Viaje_, in _Hakluyt's Voy._, vol. iii., p.
387. Hakluyt says the narrative is from _Mendoza_, _Hist. China_,
Madrid, 1586; but nothing of the kind appears in the Spanish edition
of that work, 1596, or in the Italian edition of 1586.

[XI-68] _Emory's Reconnoissance_, pp. 82, 133; _Abert's New Mex._, in
_Id._, p. 484; _Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner_, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._,
vol. iii., pp. 45, 47; _Whipple_, in _Id._, pp. 64, 69, 73, 76, 91;
_Bartlett's Pers. Nar._, vol. ii., pp. 245-7; _Browne's Apache
Country_, p. 118; _Cal. Farmer_, June 22, 1860.

[XI-69] _Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner_, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._, vol.
iii., pp. 48-9; also _Whipple_, in _Id._, pp. 64-5, 69, 73, 76, 81. Of
the cut given above, fig. 2, 5, 8, 9, 11, 13-4, 17, 21, 24, 28, 31-2,
are from the Colorado Chiquito; fig. 22, 27, are from Zuni, and
modern; fig. 34, from the Cosnino caves, the ornaments having been put
on after the vessel had hardened; fig. 25, 29, 30, 35, are not
painted, but incrusted or indented. 'It is a singular fact, that,
although some of the most time-worn carvings upon rocks are of animals
and men, ancient pottery contains no such representations. Upon one
fragment, indeed, found upon Rio Gila, was pictured a turtle and a
piece of pottery picked up near the same place was moulded into the
form of a monkey's head. These appeared to be ancient, and afforded
exceptions to the rule.' _Id._, p. 65. Cut of a fragment and
comparison with one found in Indiana. _Foster's Pre-Hist. Races_, pp.
249-50.

[XI-70] _Moellhausen's Journey_, vol. i., p. 264, vol. ii., p. 52, with
pl.; _Id._, _Tagebuch_, pp. 168-70; _Bartlett's Pers. Nar._, vol. i.,
pp. 170-6; _Domenech's Deserts_, vol. i., pp. 161-2, 419-20.

[XI-71] See vol. ii., p. 533, et seq.

[XI-72] See _Simpson's Jour. Mil. Recon._, pp. 20-2, pl. 7-11.

[XI-73] _Froebel's Cent. Amer._, p. 521.




CHAPTER XII.

ANTIQUITIES OF THE NORTHWEST.

     GENERAL CHARACTER OF NORTH-WESTERN REMAINS -- NO TRACES OF
     EXTINCT OR OF CIVILIZED RACES -- ANTIQUITIES OF CALIFORNIA
     -- STONE IMPLEMENTS -- NEWSPAPER REPORTS -- TAYLOR'S WORK
     -- COLORADO DESERT -- TRAIL AND ROCK-INSCRIPTIONS --
     BURIAL RELICS OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA -- BONES OF GIANTS --
     MOUNDS IN THE SATICOY VALLEY -- NEW ALMADEN MINE --
     PRE-HISTORIC RELICS IN THE MINING SHAFTS -- STONE
     IMPLEMENTS, HUMAN BONES, AND REMAINS OF EXTINCT ANIMAL
     SPECIES -- VOY'S WORK -- SAN JOAQUIN RELICS -- MERCED
     MOUNDS -- MARTINEZ -- SHELL MOUNDS ROUND SAN FRANCISCO
     BAY, AND THEIR CONTENTS -- RELICS FROM A SAN FRANCISCO
     MOUND -- ANTIQUITIES OF NEVADA -- UTAH -- MOUNDS OF SALT
     LAKE VALLEY -- COLORADO -- REMAINS AT GOLDEN CITY --
     EXTENSIVE RUINS IN SOUTHERN COLORADO AND UTAH -- JACKSON'S
     EXPEDITION -- MANCOS AND ST ELMO CANYONS -- IDAHO AND
     MONTANA -- OREGON -- WASHINGTON -- MOUNDS ON BUTE PRAIRIE
     -- YAKIMA EARTH-WORK -- BRITISH COLUMBIA -- DEANS'
     EXPLORATIONS -- MOUNDS AND EARTH-WORKS OF VANCOUVER ISLAND
     -- ALASKA.


Ruins of the New Mexican Pueblo type, described in the preceding
chapter, extend across the boundary lines of New Mexico and Arizona,
and have been found by travelers in southern Utah and Colorado; stone
and bone implements similar to those used by the natives when the
first Europeans came and since that time, are frequently picked up on
the surface or taken from aboriginal graves in most parts of the
whole northern region; a few scattered rock-inscriptions are reported
in several of the states; burial mounds and other small earth-heaps of
unknown use are seen in many localities; shell mounds, some of them of
great size, occur at various points in the coast region, as about San
Francisco Bay and on Vancouver Island, and they probably might be
found along nearly the whole coast line; and the mining shafts of
California have brought to light human remains, implements wrought by
human hands, and bones of extinct animals, at great depths below the
surface, evidently of great age. With the preceding paragraph and a
short account of the ruins of Colorado, I might consistently dispose
of the antiquities of the Northwest.

There has not been found and reported on good authority a single
monument or relic which is sufficient to prove that the country was
ever inhabited by any people whose claims to be regarded as civilized
were superior to those of the tribes found by Europeans within its
limits. It is true that some implements may not exactly agree with
those of the tribes now occupying the same particular locality, and
some graves indicate slight differences in the manner of burial, but
this could hardly be otherwise in a country inhabited by so many
nations whose boundaries were constantly changing. Yet I have often
heard the Aztec relics of California and Oregon very confidently
spoken of. It is a remarkable fact that to most men who find a piece
of stone bearing marks of having been formed by human hands, the very
first idea suggested is that it represents an extinct race, while the
last conclusion arrived at is that the relic may be the work of a
tribe still living in the vicinity where it was found.

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: CALIFORNIAN RELICS.]

California has within her limits large quantities of native utensils
and many burial deposits, some of which doubtless date back to the
time when no European had yet set foot in the country. A complete
description of such relics, illustrated with cuts of typical specimens
from different sections of the state, would be of great value in
connection with the account of the Californian tribes given in a
preceding volume; but unfortunately the material for such description
and cuts are utterly wanting, and will not be supplied for many years.
Officers and assistants connected with the U. S. Coast Survey and
other government exploring expeditions, are constantly, though slowly,
gathering relics for the national collection, and a few individuals
acting in an unofficial capacity have examined certain localities and
described the aboriginal implements found therein through trustworthy
mediums. But most of the discoveries in this direction are recorded
only in newspaper accounts, which, in a large majority of cases, offer
no guarantee of their authenticity or accuracy. Many are self-evident
hoaxes; many others are doubtless as reliable as if published in the
narrative of the most trust-worthy explorer or in the transactions of
any learned society; but to decide upon the relative merits of the
great bulk of these accounts is altogether impossible, to say nothing
of the absence of drawings, which, after all, are the only
satisfactory description of miscellaneous relics. I therefore deem it
not advisable to fill the pages of a long chapter with a compilation
of the almost innumerable newspaper items in my possession, useless
for the most part to antiquarians, and comparatively without interest
to the general reader. Dr Alex. S. Taylor has already made quite a
complete compilation of the earlier accounts in Californian newspapers,
which he published in the _California Farmer_ in 1860-3. Without, as a
rule, going into details, I shall present a brief resume of what has
been written about Californian relics of aboriginal times, giving in
full only a few reports of undoubted authenticity.[XII-1]

Brasseur de Bourbourg tells us that in the distant north "was found
anciently a city named Tula, the ruins of which are thought to have
been found in the valley, still so little explored, of Tulares. The
Americans have announced in their newspapers the discovery of these
Californian ruins, but can one credit the reports?" Brasseur possibly
alludes in the paragraph quoted to certain reports circulated about
1853, which announced the discovery, somewhere in the desert of the
Colorado on the California side, of a ruined bridge of stone, where no
river had run for ages, together with an immense pyramid, and other
grand remains. These reports seem to have originated in the
correspondence of a Placerville newspaper; but whether they were
manufactured in the office of the paper, or were actually sent in by
some roaming prospector of an inventive turn of mind, does not
appear.[XII-2]

  [Sidenote: COLORADO DESERT.]

Mr Blake found in the Colorado desert "several long, path-like
discolorations of the surface, extending for miles in nearly straight
lines, which were Indian trails. The only change which was produced
appeared to be the removal or dimming of the polish on the pebbles.
There was no break in the hard surface, and no dust. That the
distinctness of the trail was made by the removing of the polish only,
became evident from the fact that figures and Indian hieroglyphics
were traced, or imprinted, on the surface adjoining the path,
apparently by pounding or bruising the surface layer of the pebbles.
These trails seemed very old, and may have endured for many
generations."[XII-3] A writer in the _Bulletin_ mentions a road which
extends from the mouth of the Coahuila Valley of San Gorgonio Pass,
beginning at Noble's ranch, eastwardly across the desert in almost a
straight line, to the mouth of the Colorado Canyon. The earth is worn
deep, and along its course the surface is strewn with broken pottery.
In many of the soft rocks the imprints of the feet of men and animals
are still plainly visible. The road is not much over a foot wide, and
from it branch off side paths leading to springs or other sources of
water.[XII-4] The only other remains in the desert of which I find any
record are some rock-inscriptions at Pah Ute Creek, located about
thirty miles west from the Mojave villages. Mr Whipple gives a drawing
of the inscriptions, which bear a strong resemblance in their general
character, as might be expected, to those which have been found in so
many localities in the New Mexican region.[XII-5]

The vertical face of a granite cliff at San Francisquito Pass, near a
spring, was covered with carved characters, probably similar to those
last described. One of the characters resembled a long chain, with a
ball at one end, surrounded by rays like those employed in our
representations of the sun; another was like in form to an anchor.
Well-worn ancient foot-paths, old reservoirs, and other undescribed
relics are reported in the vicinity of Owen's lake and river.[XII-6]
Painted figures in blue, red, and white, are reported, together with
some Spanish inscriptions of a date preceding 1820, in Painted Rock
Valley, four days' journey east by south from Tejon Pass, also in the
canada of the San Juan arroyo, which empties into the Salinas River
near the mission of San Miguel. In the former case the figures are
painted on a blue grayish rock, about twenty feet square and hollowed
out in bowl shape.[XII-7]

  [Sidenote: BURIAL RELICS IN THE SOUTH.]

  [Illustration: Relics from Southern California.]

Mr Paul Schumacher, engaged in the service of the United States Coast
Survey, has taken great interest in Californian aboriginal relics,
which he has collected for the Smithsonian Institution at Washington.
In the vicinity of San Luis Obispo, between points Sal and San Luis,
he examined during the past year four graves or burial deposits, known
as _nipomo_, _walckhe_, _kesmali_, _temeteti_. These graves furnished
some three hundred human skeletons, or rather about that number were
examined, and also quite a large number of domestic utensils, weapons,
and ornaments. Among these relics great uniformity is observed,
indicating that all the graves belonged to the same tribe of natives.
Nine specimens are shown in the cut on the opposite page, made from Mr
Schumacher's drawings. Fig. 1, 2, and 9, represent large cooking-pots,
globular or pear-shaped, and hollowed out of magnesian mica. The
circular opening of fig. 9, having a small and narrow rim, measures
only five inches in diameter, while the greatest diameter of the pot
is eighteen inches. Near the edge of the opening this vessel is only a
quarter of an inch thick, but the thickness increases regularly
towards the bottom, where it is an inch and a quarter. Sandstone
mortars of different dimensions, but of similar forms, were found in
great abundance with the other utensils, one of the largest of which
is shown in fig. 8. This is sixteen inches in diameter and thirteen
in height. The smallest are only an inch and a half high, and three
inches in diameter. The pestles are of the same material, and their
form is shown in fig. 3. There was moreover, quite an assortment of
what seem to be cups, measuring from one and a quarter to six inches
in diameter, and neatly worked out of serpentine, the surface of which
was brightly polished. Specimens are shown in fig. 5 and 7. Another
similar one, the smallest found, was enclosed in three shells, in a
very curious manner, as shown in fig. 6. In this enclosed cup was a
quantity of what is described as paint; and traces of the same
material were found in all the cups, indicating that they were not
used to contain food. Fig. 4 represents a plate which is presumably of
stone, although the cut would seem to indicate a shell. These domestic
implements deposited by the aborigines with their dead were rarely
broken, and when they were so, the breakage was caused in every
instance by the pressure of the soil or other superimposed objects.
One peculiar circumstance in connection with these relics was that
some broken mortars and pestles were repaired by the use of asphaltum
as a cement. All the relics collected by Mr Schumacher, as well as
those which I have copied, are preserved in the National Museum at
Washington.[XII-8] The same explorer is now engaged in making an
examination of the islands of the Santa Barbara Channel, where it is
not improbable that many interesting relics may be discovered. Mr
Taylor heard from a resident of San Buenaventura that "in a recent
stay on Santa Rosa Island, in 1861, he often met with the entire
skeletons of Indians in the caves. The signs of their rancherias were
very frequent, and the remains of metates, mortars, earthen pots, and
other utensils very common. The metates were of a dark stone, and
made somewhat after the pattern of the Mexican. Extensive caves were
often met with which seemed to serve as burial places of the Indians,
as entire skeletons and numerous skulls were plentifully scattered
about in their recesses." Some very wonderful skulls are also reported
as having been found on the islands, furnished with double teeth all
the way round the jaw.[XII-9]

  [Sidenote: MISCELLANEOUS REMAINS.]

Miscellaneous relics reported on authority varying from indifferent to
bad at different points in the southern part of the state, are as
follows: In 1819 an old lady saw a gigantic skeleton dug up by
soldiers at Purisima on the Lompock rancho. The natives deemed it a
god, and it was re-buried by direction of the padre. Taheechaypah pass
and the mission of San Buenaventura are other localities where
skeletons of extraordinary size have been found. The old natives at
San Luis Rey have seen in the mountain passes tracks of men and
animals in solid rock. These tracks were made, those of the men at
least, by their fathers fleeing from some convulsion of nature which
occurred not many generations back. Nine miles north of Santa Barbara
on the Dos Pueblos rancho, some small mounds only two or three feet
high have been seen on the point of the mesa overlooking the sea. Mr
Carvalho claims to have dug from a small mound near Los Angeles the
bones of a mastodon, including four perfect teeth, one of which
weighed six pounds. Miss Saxon speaks of high mounds in the vicinity
of rivers, said to have been once the site of villages so located for
protection against floods.[XII-10]

In the plain at the mouth of the Saticoy River, twelve miles below San
Buenaventura, and five or six miles from the sea, are reported two
mounds, regular, rounded, and bare of trees. One of them is over a
mile long and two hundred feet high, and the other about half as
large. If the report of their existence is correct, there seems to be
no evidence that they are of artificial formation, except their
isolated position on the plain, and a native tradition that they are
burial-places. One writer suggests that they are the graves of a
people, or of their kings, whose cities are buried beneath the waters
of the Santa Barbara Channel. The site of the cities presents some
obstacles to exploration, and the details of their construction are
not fully known. Twenty miles farther up the Saticoy is a group of
small mounds, ten or twelve in number and five or six feet high. They
"seem to have been water-worn or worked out by running water all
around the mounds so as to isolate each one." Near these mounds, on
the Cayetano rancho, is a field of some five hundred acres, divided by
parallel ridges of earth, and having distinct traces of irrigating
ditches, supplied by a canal which extends two or three miles up the
Sespe arroyo. It is said that the present inhabitants of this region,
both native and Spanish, have no knowledge of the origin of these
agricultural works.[XII-11]

It is said that the New Almaden quicksilver mines were worked by the
natives for the purpose of obtaining vermilion, long before the coming
of the Spaniards. The excavation made by the aboriginal miners was
long supposed to be a natural cavern, extending about one hundred feet
horizontally into the hill, until some skeletons, rude mining tools,
and other relics of human presence revealed the secret.[XII-12]

In various localities about Monterey, in addition to the usual mortars
and arrow-heads, holes in the living rock, used probably as mortars
for pounding acorns and seeds, are reported by Taylor; and the Santa
Cruz 'skull cave' is spoken of as 'noted throughout the country' for
having furnished bones now preserved in the Smithsonian
Institution.[XII-13]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: REMAINS FROM THE MINES.]

One of the most interesting classes of Californian antiquities is that
which includes aboriginal remains discovered in the mining counties,
at considerable depths below the surface of the ground. The stone
implements thus found are not in themselves particularly interesting,
or different from those which have been found under other
circumstances; nor do they include any specimens which indicate the
former existence of any race more advanced than that found in the
country by Europeans. But the chief importance of these antiquities
consists in the great depth at which some of them have been found, and
in the fact that they have been found in connection with the fossil
bones of animals belonging to species now no longer existing in the
country. The existence of the work of human hands buried hundreds of
feet beneath the many successive layers of different rocks and earths,
might not necessarily imply a greater age than one dating a few
centuries before the coming of the Spaniards; although few would be
willing to admit, probably, that natural convulsions so extensive have
taken place at so recent an epoch. But when the work of human hands is
shown to have been discovered in connection with the bones of
mastodons, elephants, horses, camels, and other animals long since
extinct, and that they have been so found there seems to be sufficient
proof, it is hardly possible with consistency to deny that these
implements date from a remote antiquity. Newspaper items describing
relics of this class are almost numberless; a few of the specimens
have fallen into the hands of scientific men, who have carefully
examined and described them; but a great majority, even of such
implements as have not been completely overlooked by the miner who dug
or washed them from their deep resting-places, have been lost after
exciting a momentary curiosity, and their important testimony lost to
science. Mr C. D. Voy of Oakland has shown much energy and interest in
the examination of stone implements and fossils from the mines. The
relics themselves have of course been found in almost every instance
by miners in their search for gold; but Mr Voy has personally visited
most of the localities where such discoveries were reported, and seems
to have taken all possible pains to verify the authenticity of the
discoveries, having in many cases obtained sworn statements from the
parties who made them. An unpublished manuscript written by this
gentleman is entitled _Relics of the Stone Age in California_, and is
illustrated with many photographs of specimens from his own and other
collections. This work, kindly furnished me by Mr Voy, is probably the
most complete extant on the subject, and from it I take the following
descriptions. The author proceeds by counties, first describing the
geology of each county, and then the relics of whose existence he has
been able to learn, and the localities where they were found. Except a
brief statement in a few cases of the depth at which stone remains
were found, and of the strata that covered them, I shall not touch
upon the geologic formation of the mining region. Nor does a
particular or scientific description of the fossil remains come within
the scope of my work. A brief account of the stone implements and the
positions in which they have been discovered will suffice.

  [Illustration: Stone Mortar--Kincaid Flat.]

  [Sidenote: TUOLUMNE COUNTY.]

Of all the counties Tuolumne has apparently proved the richest in
antiquarian remains. From the mining tunnels which penetrate Table
Mountain there was taken in 1858 a stone mortar holding two quarts, at
a depth of three hundred feet from the surface, lying in auriferous
gravel under a thick strata of lava. In 1862 another mortar was found
at a depth of three hundred and forty feet, one hundred and four of
which were composed of lava, and eighteen hundred feet from the mouth
of the tunnel. This relic is in Mr Voy's collection, accompanied by a
sworn statement of the circumstances of its finding. Dr Snell is said
to have had in his possession in 1862 a pendant or shuttle of
silicious slate, similar to others of which I shall give a cut;
spear-heads six or eight inches long, and broken off at the hole where
they were attached to the shaft; and a scoop, or ladle, of steatite.
These relics were found under Table Mountain at the same depth as the
preceding, together with fossil bones of the mastodon and other
animals, and are preserved in the Smithsonian Institute and in the
museum of Yale College. The cut represents a stone mortar and pestle,
found at Kincaid Flat in clayey auriferous gravel, sixteen or twenty
feet below the surface, where many other stone implements, with bones
of the mastodon, elephant, horse, and camel, have been found at
different times. A bow handle, or shuttle, of micaceous slate found
here will be shown in another cut with similar relics from a different
locality.[XII-14]

At Shaw's Flat, with bones of the mastodon, a stone bead of calc-spar,
two inches long and the same in circumference, was taken from under a
strata of lava at a point three hundred feet from the mouth of the
tunnel. The granite mortar shown in the cut, holding about a pint,
came from the same mining town.

  [Illustration: Granite Mortar--Shaw's Flat.]

  [Illustration: Granite Mortar--Gold Springs Gulch.]

  [Illustration: Granite Dish--Gold Springs Gulch.]

At Blanket Creek, near Sonora, stone relics and bones of the mastodon
were found together in 1855.[XII-15] Wood's Creek was another locality
where stone relics with fossil bones, including those of the tapir,
are reported to have been dug out at a depth of twenty to forty feet.
The mortar and pestle shown in the cut is one of many stone implements
found, with fossil bones, at Gold Springs Gulch, in 1863, at a depth
of sixteen feet in auriferous gravel, like the most of such relics. It
is twelve and a half inches in diameter, weighs thirty pounds, and
holds about two quarts. The cross-lines pecked in on the sides with
some sharp instrument, are of rare occurrence if not unique. Among the
other implements found here, are what Mr Voy describes as "discoidal
stones, or perhaps spinal whorls. They are from three to four inches
in diameter, and about an inch and a half thick, both sides being
concave, with centre perforated. It has been suggested that these
stones were used in certain hurling games." They are of granite and
hard sandstone. The author has heard of similar relics in Ohio,
Denmark, and Chili. Another relic, found at the same place in 1862,
with the usual bones under twenty to thirty feet of calcareous tufa,
is a flat oval dish of granite, eighteen inches and a half in
diameter, two or three inches thick, and weighing forty pounds. It is
shown in the cut, and, like the preceding, is preserved in Mr Voy's
cabinet, now at the University of California. Texas Flat was another
locality where fossil bones were found with fresh-water
shells.[XII-16]

  [Sidenote: CALAVERAS COUNTY.]

Calaveras County has also yielded many interesting relics of a past
age, of the same nature as those described in Tuolumne.[XII-17] The
famous 'Calaveras skull' was taken from a mining shaft at Altaville,
at a depth of one hundred and thirty feet beneath seven strata of lava
and gravel.[XII-18] The evidence was sufficient to convince Prof.
Whitney and other scientific men that this skull was actually found as
claimed, although on the other hand some doubt and not a little
ridicule have been expressed about the subject. Many stone mortars
and mastodon-bones have been found about Altaville and Murphy's, but
not under lava.[XII-19]

At San Andres, in 1864, according to sworn statements in Mr Voy's
possession, large stone mortars were taken from a layer of cemented
gravel six feet thick, lying under the following strata:--coarse
sedimentary volcanic material, five feet; sand and gravel, one hundred
feet; brownish volcanic ash, three feet; cemented sand, four feet;
blueish volcanic sand, fifteen feet. At the Chili Gulch, near
Mokelumne Hill, the skull of a rhinoceros is reported to have been
found in 1863.[XII-20]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: STONE HAMMERS.]

  [Illustration: Mortar from Shingle Springs.]

  [Illustration: Stone Hammer--Spanish Flat.]

The mortar shown in the cut was found in gravel at a depth of ten
feet, at Shingle Springs in El Dorado County. At Georgetown and
vicinity there were found at different dates, large stone dishes very
similar to that at Gold Springs Gulch, shown in a preceding cut;
grooved stones like those at Spanish Flat, soon to be mentioned; and
mortars resembling that at Kincaid Flat. At Spanish Flat were found
several oval stones with grooves round their circumference, as shown
in the preceding cut, and weighing from a pound and a half to two
pounds. They were apparently used as hammers or weapons by fitting a
withe handle round them at the groove. Many other mortars and stone
implements were taken from the same locality, including two pendants,
shuttles, or bow-handles, very well worked from greenstone, five or
six inches long, and about one inch thick in the middle. These two
relics, together with a similar one from Table Mountain before alluded
to, are shown in the cut. At Diamond Spring mortars were found at a
depth of a hundred feet, and both fossil bones and stone relics have
been taken from time to time from the mines about Placerville.[XII-21]

  [Illustration: Stone Implements--Spanish Flat.]

In Placer County, mastodon bones are reported at Rockland, and stone
mortars and other implements at Gold Hill and Forest Hill. One dish at
the latter place was much like that at Gold Springs Gulch, shown in a
preceding cut.[XII-22]

In Nevada County stone implements have been found at different dates,
from ten to eighty feet below the surface, at Grass Valley, Buckeye
Hill, Myer's Ravine, Brush Creek, and Sweetland.[XII-23]

Fossil bones of extinct animals and stone implements like those that
have been described, and which I do not deem it necessary to mention
particularly, since such mention would be but a repetition of what has
been said, with a list of depths and localities, have been found,
according to Mr Voy's explorations, in Butte County at New York Flat,
Oroville, Bidwell's Bar, and Cherokee Flat; in Stanislaus about
Knights Ferry; in Amador at Volcano, Little Grass Valley, Jackson,
Pokerville, Forest Home, and Fiddletown; in Siskiyou at Trench Bar, on
Scott River, at Yreka, and Cottonwood; in Trinity about Douglas City;
in Humboldt, at Ferndale and Humboldt Point; in Merced at Snelling on
Dry Creek; in Mariposa, at Horse Shoe Bend, Hornitos, Princetown,--a
mortar thirty-six inches in diameter--Buckeye Ravine, Indian Gulch,
and Bear Creek; in Fresno at Buchanan Hollow and Millerton; and at
several points not specified in Tulare and Fresno.[XII-24]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Illustration: Relic from San Joaquin Valley.]

  [Sidenote: MISCELLANEOUS MINE RELICS.]

The cut shows a stone relic discovered in digging a well in the San
Joaquin Valley, imbedded in the gravel thirty feet below the surface.
"The material is sienite and the instrument is ground and polished so
as to display in marked contrast the pure white of the feldspar and
the dark-green or black of the hornblende. It is in the form of a
double-cone, one end terminating in a point, while the other end is
blunted, where it is pierced with a hole which instead of being a
uniform gauge, is rimmed out, the rimming having been started from the
opposite sides. In examining this beautiful relic, one is led almost
instinctively to believe that it was used as a plummet for the purpose
of determining the perpendicular to the horizon. So highly-wrought a
stone would hardly have been used as a sinker for a fishing-net: it
may have been suspended from the neck as a personal ornament. When we
consider its symmetry of form, the contrast of colors brought out by
the process of grinding and polishing, and the delicate drilling of
the hole through a material so liable to fracture, we are free to say
it affords an exhibition of the lapidary's skill superior to anything
yet furnished by the Stone Age of either continent," at least such is
Mr Foster's conclusion. Prof. Whitney states that he has two or three
similar implements, and that they are generally regarded as sinkers
for use in fishing.[XII-25] Mr Taylor tells us that he saw in 1852, on
a high mesa, probably a league in circumference, on or near the Merced
River, thousands of small mounds, five or six feet high, and
apparently of earth only.[XII-26] Capron says that on the plains of
San Joaquin "are found immense mounds of earth, which present
evidences of their great antiquity. It is supposed that they were
thrown up, by the Indians, for observatories, from which to survey the
floods, or as places of resort for safety when the plains became
suddenly inundated, and the ranging hunters were caught far in the
interior."[XII-27] In the banks of a creek near Martinez, resting on
yellow clay, under five feet of surface soil, a mortar and pestle were
recently found by some boys, according to a local newspaper. The
mortar was about sixty inches in circumference, and weighed nearly two
hundred pounds. "It has the form of a slightly flattened well-rounded
duck egg; and has evidently been artificially shaped in exterior form,
as well as in the bowl, and looks as fresh as if it had but yesterday
been turned off from the Indian sculptor's hands, while the polish of
the pestle is smooth and lustrous, as if it had been in daily use for
the hundred or two years, at least, that it must have been lying under
the inverted mortar, as shown by the level of five-feet accumulations
of the valley-surface stratum of soil above the yellow clay upon which
it was found, together with the partially-decomposed remains of a
human frame."[XII-28]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: SHELL MOUNDS.]

  [Sidenote: SAN FRANCISCO RELICS.]

  [Illustration: Relics from a Shell-Mound--San Francisco.]

Only one class of Californian antiquities remains to be mentioned--the
shell mounds. They are probably very numerous, and a thorough
examination of their contents could hardly fail to be here as it has
proved in Europe, a source of very important results in connection
with ethnological studies. Little or nothing has been done in the way
of such an examination, although a few mounds have been opened in
excavating for roads or foundations of buildings. These few have
yielded numerous stone, bone, and shell implements and ornaments,
together with human remains, as is reported, but the relics have been
for the most part lost or scattered, and submitted to no scientific
examination and comparison. Dr Yates sent to the Smithsonian
Institute, in 1869, a collection of relics taken from mounds in
Alameda County. It is not expressly stated that these were shell
mounds, although I have heard of the existence of several in that
county. This collection included, "stone pestles, perforators or awls,
sinkers, a phallus, spindles, a soapstone ladle, stone mortar and
pestle, pipe bowls, shell and perforated stone ornaments, an ancient
awl and serrated implements of bone."[XII-29] A very large shell mound
is reported near San Pablo, in Contra Costa County. It is said to be
almost a mile long and a half a mile wide, and its surface is covered
with shrubbery. The shells composing this mound are those of the
oyster, clam, and mussel, all having been exposed to the action of
fire, and nearly all broken. Fragments of pottery made of red clay are
found on the surface and near the top.[XII-30] Many smaller shell
mounds are reported in the vicinity of San Mateo, and one has been
opened in making a road at Saucelito during the present year,
furnishing many stone relics, of which I have no particular
description. Quite a number of mounds are known to exist on the
peninsula of San Francisco, several being in the vicinity of the silk
factory on the San Bruno road. One of them covered an area of two
acres, was at least twenty-five feet deep, and from it were taken
arrow-heads, hammers, and many other relics. One of these shell
mounds, near the old Bay View race track is being opened by Chinamen
engaged in preparation for some building, as I write this chapter. Mr
James Deans, of whose explorations I shall have more to say when
treating of the antiquities of British Columbia, has brought me a
large number of stone and bone relics taken from this deposit, the
different classes of which are illustrated in the accompanying cut.
Fig. 1 is an awl of deer-bone, and fig. 2 is another implement of the
same material, curiously grooved at the end. These bone implements
occur by thousands, being from three to eight inches in length. Fig.
3, 4, are perhaps stone sinkers, or as is thought by some, weights
used in weaving, symmetrically formed, the former from diorite, the
latter from sandstone, and not polished. Fig. 3 is four inches long,
and an inch and a half in its greatest diameter. Hundreds of these
pear-shaped weights are found in the mounds, but the end is usually
broken off, as is the case with fig. 4. Fig. 5 is an implement carved
from a black clayey slate, and has a brightly polished surface. It is
four inches long, one inch in diameter at the larger end, and three
quarters of an inch at the smaller. It is hollow, but the bore
diminishes in size regularly from each end, until at a point about an
inch and a half from the smaller end it is only a quarter of an inch
in diameter. I have no idea what purpose this implement was used for,
unless it served as a handle for a small knife or awl, or possibly as
a pipe.

       *       *       *       *       *

Such is the rather fragmentary and unsatisfactory information I am
able to present respecting aboriginal relics in California. Doubtless
there are many relics, and valuable scraps of information respecting
the circumstances of their discovery, in the possession of
individuals, of which no mention is made in this chapter--indeed, I
expect to hear of a hundred such cases within a month after the
appearance of this volume; but many years must necessarily elapse
before a satisfactory and comprehensive account of the antiquities of
our state can be written, and in the meantime there is a promising
field for patient investigation. The difference, after all, between
this chapter and many of those that precede it, in respect to
thoroughness, is more apparent than real; that is, it results
naturally from the nature of north-western remains. For if there were
architectural monuments, pyramids, temples, and fortifications, or
grand sculptured idols and decorations, in California and her sister
states, there is no doubt that such monuments would have been ere this
more thoroughly explored than those of Palenque; and on the other
hand, respecting the only classes of antiquities found in the
Northwest, there yet remains as much or more to learn in Mexico and
Central America as in the Pacific United States.

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: ANTIQUITIES OF NEVADA.]

Respecting the antiquities of Nevada, I have only the following
account of a ruined city in the south-eastern part of the state,
discovered by what is spoken of as the 'Morgan Exploring Expedition,'
and described by a correspondent of the _New York Tribune_. "On
October fifteenth, in the centre of a large valley we discovered some
Indian salt works, but there were no signs of their having been lately
used. In the southern section of the same valley, was a curious
collection of rocks, mounds and pillars, covering several acres in
extent and resembling the ruins of an ancient city. We saw some
remnants of what had once been arches, with keystones still perfect,
and a number of small stone pillars constructed with a peculiar kind
of red mortar or cement, set upright about twenty feet apart, as if
they had been used to support an aqueduct for conveying water from a
large stream half a mile distant, into the outskirts of the city. In
some places the lines of streets were made distinctly visible by the
great regularity of the stones. These streets were now covered with
sand many feet deep, and seemed to run at right angles to each other.
Some of the stones had evidently been cut into squares with hard
tools, although their forms had been nearly destroyed by centuries of
time. The impression forced upon our minds was that the place had been
once inhabited by human beings somewhat advanced in civilization. Many
traders noticed the existence of similar ruins in other sections of
the country between the Rocky and Sierra Nevada Mountains. They may
probably be the sites of once flourishing fields and habitations of
the ancient Aztecs."[XII-31] It is just possible that the New Mexican
type of ruins extends across into Nevada as it is known to into Utah
and Colorado, and that a group of such remains was the foundation of
the report quoted. It is quite as likely, however, that the report is
groundless.

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: SALT LAKE VALLEY.]

Mr Rae examined a group of burial mounds in the Salt Lake Valley,
Utah, and took from them "flint spear heads, flint arrow-heads, stone
implements and fragments of rude pottery." These mounds had the
appearance of natural sand-hills, as the people in the vicinity
supposed them to be.[XII-32] An article in the _Salt Lake Telegraph_
is the only other authority that I find on these mounds, and this does
not specify their locality. "The mounds, as they exist to-day, do not
exhibit much uniformity, but this can be accounted for by the
disintegrating action of rains and winds, to which they have been so
long subject. Immediately north, south and west of the largest barrow,
traces can be seen of others now all but obliterated, and the locality
bears unmistakable evidences of once being the site of very extensive
earthworks. In one mound or barrow only, the largest, were remains
found, and they were exposed on or very near the surface of the sandy
soil, in one or two large hollows near the centre. The other barrows
were destitute, at least on the surface, but what there may be below
it is hard to say. Of all the relics, except those of charred bone,
which are comparatively plentiful, and some in a state of
petrifaction, that of pottery is the most abundant, and to this day
some of it retains a very perfect glaze. Much of it, however, is
rough, and from the specimens we saw, the art does not appear to have
attained to so high a degree of perfection as among the ancient
nations that inhabited the Mississippi and Ohio valleys. The largest
piece of pottery seen was not above three inches square, and it
appeared, as did all the other pieces, to have formed a portion of
some rounded vessel, probably a cinerary urn or something of that
kind. Other articles were seen, such as a fragment of pearly shell,
several other shells, a white cylindrical bead, a small ring probably
a bead also, and a stone knife." There were also several nicely shaped
arrow-heads, of obsidian, agate, rock-crystal, carnelian, and flint.
Granite mills are mentioned in addition to the other relics.[XII-33]
The same authority speaks of an extensive fortification or entrenched
camp at the head of <DW53>'s Canyon, about twenty miles south-west of
Salt Lake City. The works are now from four to eight feet high, and
the places of entrance are distinctly marked.

  [Illustration: Rock-Inscriptions--Utah.]

  [Sidenote: ROCK-INSCRIPTIONS.]

Remy and Brenchley note the finding of  pottery at Cedar City,
indicating "that the Mormon city is built on the site of a
considerable city belonging to the Aztecs," for there is no state
anywhere in the north where the Aztecs did not live at some time or
other. Whole specimens of pottery are not found, but the fragments are
said to show a high degree of perfection; the same authors claim that
furnaces for the manufacture of pottery are still seen, and further
say: "At some miles to the north as well as to the south of Cedar,--to
the north near Little Salt Lake, to the south near Harmony,--are to be
seen great rocks covered over with glyphic inscriptions, some portions
of which, sketched at random, are accurately represented in our
engraving. These inscriptions or figures are coarsely executed; but
they all represent objects easy of recognition, and for the most part
copied from nature."[XII-34] From Carvalho I quote that "on Red Creek
canyon, six miles north of Parowan there are very massive, abrupt
granite rocks, which rise perpendicularly out of the valley to the
height of many hundred feet. On the surface of many of them,
apparently engraved with some steel instrument, to the depth of an
inch, are numerous hieroglyphics, representing the human hand and
foot, horses, dogs, rabbits, birds and also a sort of zodiac. These
engravings present the same time-worn appearance as the rest of the
rocks; the most elaborately engraved figures were thirty feet from the
ground. I had to clamber up the rocks to make a drawing of them. These
engravings evidently display prolonged and continued labor, and I
judge them to have been executed by a different class of persons than
the Indians, who now inhabit these valleys and mountains--ages seem to
have passed since they were done. When we take into consideration the
compact nature of the blue granite and the depth of the engravings,
years must have been spent in their execution. For what purpose were
they made? and by whom, and at what period of time? It seems
physically impossible that those I have mentioned as being thirty feet
from the valley, could have been worked in the present position of the
rocks. Some great convulsion of nature may have thrown them up as
they now are. Some of the figures are as large as life, many of them
about one-fourth size." The same author reports the remains of an
adobe town a mile further down the canyon, with implements--remains
said to have been found there by the first Mormons that came to the
valley.[XII-35] Mr Foster quotes from a Denver paper an item recording
the discovery of a mound in southern Utah, which yielded relics
displaying great artistic skill;[XII-36] and finally I take from Mr
Schoolcraft's work cuts showing inscriptions on a cliff in a locality
not clearly specified.[XII-37] Some remains in the south-eastern
corner of the state I shall mention in connection with those of
Colorado.

  [Illustration: Rock-Inscriptions--Utah.]

       *       *       *       *       *

About half a mile west of Golden City, Jefferson County, Colorado, Mr
Berthoud reports to the Smithsonian Institution the existence of some
ancient remains, at the junction of two ravines. They consist of a
central mound of granitic sand not over twelve inches high, with
traces of five or six shallow pits about it; all surrounded by traces
of a wall consisting of a circle of moss-covered rough stones
partially imbedded in the soil. South of the central mound is also a
saucer-shaped pit, measuring twelve feet in width and from fifteen to
eighteen inches in depth. At this point buffalo-bones and fragments of
antlers are plentiful, and pieces of flint with plates of mica have
also been discovered.[XII-38] Mr Farnham speaks of a ruined city
covering an area of one mile by three fourths of a mile, with streets
crossing at right angles, buildings of rough trap rock in cement, a
mound in the centre, and much glazed pottery--all this on the north
bank of the Colorado, four hundred miles up the river, and as likely
to be in the territory of Colorado as anywhere.[XII-39] Mr Foster
quotes from a Denver newspaper a report of large granite blocks, of
the nature of 'dolmens' standing in an upright position, on the summit
of the Snowy Range;[XII-40] and Taylor had heard through the
newspapers of pyramids and bridges in this territory.[XII-41]

       *       *       *       *       *

There remain to be described in this part of the country only the
remains of aboriginal structures in the south-western corner of
Colorado and the south-eastern corner of Utah, remains which, although
made known to the world only through a three or four days' exploration
by a party of three men, are of the greatest interest and importance.
They are found in the valleys or canyons of the rivers Mancos and
McElmo, northern tributaries of the San Juan, on the southern
tributaries of which river are the ruins, already described, of the
Chaco and Chelly canyons.

  [Sidenote: JACKSON'S EXPEDITION.]

In September, 1874, Mr W. H. Jackson and Mr Ingersoll, connected with
the United States Geological and Geographical Survey party, guided by
Capt. John Moss, an old resident perfectly familiar with the country
and its natives, descended both the canyons referred to, for the
express purpose of examining ancient structures reported to exist
there. Notwithstanding the brief duration of their exploration, as
they understood their business and had a photographic apparatus along,
their accounts are extremely complete and satisfactory. Mr Ingersoll
published an account of the trip in the _New York Tribune_ of Nov. 3,
1874; and Mr Jackson in the Bulletin of the Survey, printed by
government.[XII-42] The latter account was accompanied by fourteen
illustrations, and Prof. J. V. Hayden, Geologist in charge of the
Survey, has had the kindness to furnish me also with the original
photographs made during the expedition.

The Rio Mancos rises in the Sierra La Plata, and flows south-westward,
at first through a park-like valley, then cuts a deep canyon through
the Mesa Verde, and finally traverses an open plain to join the San
Juan. In the valley between the mountains and the mesa, there are
abundant shapeless mounds of debris, which on examination are found to
represent blocks of square buildings and circular enclosures all of
adobe, very similar apparently to what we have seen in the Salado
valley of Arizona. There is another resemblance to the southern
remains in the shape of indented and painted pottery, strewn in great
abundance about every mound, in fragments rarely larger than a
dollar,--not a greenback, but a silver dollar, the former being no
standard for archaeological comparisons. I shall make no further
mention of pottery; the reader may understand that in this whole
region, as in Arizona and New Mexico, it is found in great quantities
about every ruin that is to be mentioned.

  [Sidenote: RIO DE LOS MANCOS.]

The canyon through the Mesa Verde is on an average two hundred yards
wide, and from six hundred to a thousand feet deep, with sides
presenting, as Mr Jackson says, "a succession of benches, one above
the other, and connected by the steep <DW72>s of the talus. Side-canyons
penetrate the mesa, and ramify it in every direction, always
presenting a perpendicular face, so that it is only at very rare
intervals that the top can be reached." Mr Ingersoll says: "Imagine
East River a thousand or twelve hundred feet deep, and drained dry,
the piers and slips on both sides made of red sandstone, and extending
down to that depth, and yourself at the bottom, gazing up for human
habitations far above you. In such a picture you would have a
tolerable idea of this Canyon of the Rio Mancos." For four or five
miles after entering the canyon, the shapeless heaps of adobe debris
were of frequent occurrence on the banks of the stream. The general
characteristic was "a central mass considerably higher and more
massive than the surrounding lines of subdivided squares. Small
buildings, not more than eight feet square, were often found standing
alone apparently." The high central portion suggests a terraced
structure like the Casa Grande of the Gila. One of the buildings on
the bottom, measuring eight by ten feet, was of sandstone blocks,
about seven by twelve inches, and four inches thick, laid in what
seemed to be adobe mortar. Somewhat further down the adobe ruins were
found often on projecting benches, or promontories of the cliff, some
fifty feet above the stream. Here they were circular, with a
depression in the centre, and generally in pairs. Cave-like crevices
along the seams were often walled up in front, so as to enclose a
space sometimes twelve feet long, but oftener forming "cupboard-like
inclosures of about the size of a bushel-basket." A small square,
formed by rough stone slabs, set up endways in the earth, was also
noticed.

  [Illustration: Cliff House--Mancos Canyon.]

The first stone building particularly described, and one of the most
wonderful found during the trip, is that shown in the cut. The most
wonderful thing about it was its position in the face of the cliff
several hundred feet above the bottom, on a ledge ten feet wide and
twenty feet long, accessible only by hard climbing with fingers and
toes inserted in crevices, or during the upper part of the ascent by
steps cut in the steep <DW72> by the aborigines. The cliff above
overhangs the ledge, leaving a vertical space of fifteen feet. The
building occupies only half the length of the ledge, and is now twelve
feet high in front, leaving it uncertain whether it originally
reached the overhanging cliff, or had an independent roof. The ground
plan shows a front room six by nine feet, and two rear rooms each five
by seven, projecting on one side so as to form an L. There were two
stories, as is shown by the holes in the walls and fragments of
floor-timbers. A doorway, twenty by thirty inches and two feet above
the floor, led from one side of the front room to the esplanade, and
there was also a window about a foot square in the lower story, and a
window or doorway in the second story corresponding to that below.
Opposite this upper opening was a smaller one opening into a reservoir
holding about two hogsheads and a half, and formed by a semicircular
wall joining the cliff and the main wall of the house. A line of
projecting wooden pegs led from the window down into the cistern.
Small doorways afforded communication between the apartments. The
front portion was built of square and smoothly faced sandstone blocks
of different sizes, up to fifteen inches long and eight inches thick,
laid in a hard grayish-white mortar, very compact and hard, but
cracked on the surface like adobe mortars. The rear portions were of
rough stones in mortar, and the partition walls were like the exterior
front ones, and seemed to have been rubbed smooth after they were
laid.

The interior of the front rooms was plastered with a coating of a firm
cement an eighth of an inch thick,  red, and having a white
band eight inches wide extending round the bottom like a base-board.
There were no other signs of decoration. The floor was the natural
rock of the ledge, evened up in some places with cement. The lintel of
the upper doorway or window was of small straight cedar sticks laid
close together, and supporting the masonry above; the other lintels
seem to be of stone. A very wonderful feature of this structure was
that the front wall rests on the rounded edge of the precipice,
sloping at an angle of forty-five degrees, and the esplanade, or
platform, at the side of the house was also leveled up by three
abutments resting on this <DW72>, where "it would seem that a pound's
weight might slide them off."

  [Sidenote: TOWERS ON THE RIO MANCOS.]

  [Illustration: Ground Plan--Mancos Tower.]

  [Illustration: Round Tower--Mancos Canyon.]

The cut shows the ground plan of a round stone tower of peculiar form.
The diameter is twenty-five feet, and that of the inner circle twelve
feet,[XII-43] the walls being eighteen and twelve inches thick,
standing in places fifteen feet high on the outside and eight feet on
the inside. This tower stands in the centre of a group of faintly
traced remains extending twenty rods in every direction. The stones of
which it was built are irregular in size, laid in mortar, and chinked
with small pieces. The cut presents a view of this tower. The next cut
illustrates the small cliff-houses very common in the walls of the
canyon. This and its companions are from fifty to a hundred feet above
the trail; it is five by fifteen feet and six feet high, the blocks
composing the walls being very regular and well laid. Some of these
houses were mere walls in front of crevices in the cliff. So strong
are the structures that in one place a part of the cliff had become
detached by some convulsion, and stood inclined at quite an angle,
taking with it a part of one of the walls, but without overthrowing
it. Small apertures are so placed in all these cliff-structures as to
afford a look-out far up and down the valley. Rude inscriptions are
scratched on the cliff in many places, bearing a general resemblance
to those farther south, of which I have given many illustrations.

  [Illustration: Cliff-Dwelling--Mancos Canyon.]

One of the most inaccessible of the cliff-buildings is shown in the
cut. It is eight hundred feet high, and can only be reached by
climbing to the top of the mesa, and creeping on hands and knees down
a ledge only twenty inches wide. The masonry was very perfect, the
blocks sixteen by three inches, ground perfectly smooth on the inside
so as to require no plaster. The dimensions were about five by fifteen
feet, and seven feet high. The aperture serving as doorway and window
was twenty by thirty inches and had a stone lintel. Near by but higher
on the ledge was another ruder building. These raised structures were
invariably on the western side of the canyon, but those on the bottom
were scattered on both sides of the river.

  [Illustration: Cliff-Dwelling--Mancos Canyon.]

On the bottom "the majority of the buildings were square, but many
round, and one sort of ruin always showed two square buildings with
very deep cellars under them and a round tower between them, seemingly
for watch and defence. In several cases a large part of this tower was
still standing." One of these typical structures is shown in the
following cut. It is twelve feet in diameter, twenty feet high, with
walls sixteen inches thick. The window facing northward is eighteen by
twenty-four inches. The two apartments adjoining the tower, the
remains of which are shown in the cut, are about fifteen feet square.
They seem to have been originally underground structures, or at least
partially so.

  [Illustration: Watch-Tower--Mancos Canyon.]

At the outlet of the canyon the river turns westward, flowing for a
time nearly parallel with the San Juan, which it joins very nearly at
the corner of the four territories. Many groups of walls and heaps
were visible in the distance down the valley, but the explorers left
the river at this point and bore away to the right along the foot of
the mesa until they reached Aztec Spring, very near the boundary line.
"Immediately adjoining the spring, on the right, as we face it from
below, is the ruin of a great massive structure of some kind, about
one hundred feet square in exterior dimensions; a portion only of the
wall upon the northern face remaining in its original position. The
debris of the ruin now forms a great mound of crumbling rock, from
twelve to twenty feet in height, overgrown with artimisia, but showing
clearly, however, its rectangular structure, adjusted approximately to
the four points of the compass. Inside this square was a circle, about
sixty feet in diameter, deeply depressed in the centre, and walled.
The space between the square and the circle appeared, upon a hasty
examination, to have been filled in solidly with a sort of
rubble-masonry. Cross-walls were noticed in two places; but whether
they were to strengthen the walls or had divided apartments could only
be conjectured. That portion of the outer wall remaining standing was
some forty feet in length and fifteen in height. The stones were
dressed to a uniform size and finish. Upon the same level as this
ruin, and extending back, I should think, half a mile, were grouped
line after line of foundations and mounds, the great mass of which was
of stone, but not one remaining upon another. All the subdivisions
were plainly marked, so that one might, with a little care, count
every room or building in the settlement. Below the above group, some
two hundred yards distant, and communicating by indistinct lines of
debris, was another great wall, inclosing a space of about two hundred
feet square. Only a small portion was well enough preserved to enable
us to judge, with any accuracy, as to its character and dimensions;
the greater portion consisting of large ridges flattened down so much
as to measure some thirty or more feet across the base, and five or
six feet in height. This better preserved portion was some fifty feet
in length, seven or eight feet in height, and twenty feet thick, the
two exterior surfaces of well-dressed and evenly-laid courses, and the
centre packed in solidly with rubble-masonry, looking entirely
different from those rooms which had been filled with debris, though
it is difficult to assign any reason for its being so massively
constructed. It was only a portion of a system extending half a mile
out into the plains, of much less importance, however, and now only
indistinguishable mounds. The town built about this spring was nearly
a square mile in extent, the larger and more enduring buildings in the
centre, while all about were scattered and grouped the remnants of
smaller structures, comprising the suburbs."

  [Sidenote: CANYON OF THE McELMO.]

  [Illustration: Tower on the McElmo, Colorado.]

  [Illustration: Round Tower on the McElmo.]

Four miles from the spring is the McElmo, a small stream, dry during a
greater part of the year. At the point where the party struck this
stream, portions of walls, and heaps of debris in rectangular order
were scattered in every direction; among which two round towers were
noticed, one of them with double walls, like that on the Mancos, but
larger, being fifty feet in diameter. Following down the McElmo canyon
aboriginal vestiges continue abundant, including cliff-dwellings like
those that have been described, but only forty or fifty feet above
the valley, and also the square tower shown in first cut. It stands on
a square detached block of sandstone forty feet in height. The walls
of this building were still fifteen feet high in some places, and
there were also traces of walls about the base of the rock. Another
double-walled round tower fifty feet in diameter found near the one
last named is shown in the second cut.

  [Illustration: Building on the McElmo--Utah.]

  [Sidenote: RUINS ON THE McELMO.]

Still further down the canyon, across the boundary line into Utah,
ruins continue abundant. A red sandstone butte standing in the middle
of the valley, one hundred feet high and three hundred long, has
traces of masonry on its summit, apparently intended to form a level
platform, and on one side, at mid-height, the structures shown in the
cut. The upper wall is eighteen feet long and twelve feet high, and
the blocks composing it are described as more regularly cut than any
before seen. The only access to the summit of the butte was by
climbing through the window of the building. Other remains, including
many circular depressions of considerable depth, and a square tower
with one round corner, are scattered about near the base of this
butte, or _cristone_. The next cut shows one of the cave-dwellings
near by, formed by walling up the front of a recess in the cliff.

  [Illustration: Cave-Dwelling on the McElmo.]

  [Sidenote: ABORIGINAL TRADITION]

The tradition relating to the whole, and particularly to this
locality, obtained by Capt. Moss from one of the old men among the
Moquis, is rendered by Mr Ingersoll as follows:--"Formerly the
aborigines inhabited all this country we had been over as far west as
the head waters of the San Juan, as far north as the Rio Dolores, west
some distance into Utah, and south and south-west throughout Arizona,
and on down into Mexico. They had lived there from time
immemorial--since the earth was a small island, which augmented as its
inhabitants multiplied. They cultivated the valley, fashioned whatever
utensils and tools they needed, very neatly and handsomely out of clay
and wood and stone, not knowing any of the useful metals, built their
homes and kept their flocks and herds in the fertile river bottoms,
and worshiped the sun. They were an eminently peaceful and prosperous
people, living by agriculture rather than by the chase. About a
thousand years ago, however, they were visited by savage strangers from
the North, whom they treated hospitably. Soon these visits became more
frequent and annoying. Then their troublesome neighbors--ancestors of
the present Utes--began to forage upon them, and at last to massacre
them and devastate their farms; so, to save their lives at least,
they built houses high upon the cliffs, where they could store food
and hide away till the raiders left. But one Summer the invaders did
not go back to their mountains as the people expected, but brought
their families with them and settled down. So driven from their homes
and lands, starving in their little niches on the high cliffs, they
could only steal away during the night, and wander across the
cheerless uplands. To one who has traveled these steppes, such a
flight seems terrible, and the mind hesitates to picture the suffering
of the sad fugitives.

"At the christone they halted and probably found friends, for the rocks
and caves are full of the nests of these human wrens and swallows.
Here they collected, erected stone fortifications and watch-towers,
dug reservoirs in the rocks to hold a supply of water, which in all
cases is precarious in this latitude, and once more stood at bay.
Their foes came, and for one long month fought and were beaten back,
and returned day after day to the attack as merciless and inevitable
as the tide. Meanwhile the families of the defenders were evacuating
and moving south, and bravely did their protectors shield them till
they were all safely a hundred miles away. The besiegers were beaten
back and went away. But the narrative tells us that the hollows of the
rocks were filled to the brim with the mingled blood of conquerors and
conquered, and red veins of it ran down into the canyon. It was such a
victory as they could not afford to gain again, and they were glad
when the long fight was over to follow their wives and little ones to
the South. There in the deserts of Arizona, on well-nigh
unapproachable isolated bluffs, they built new towns, and their few
descendants--the Moquis--live in them to this day, preserving more
carefully and purely the history and veneration of their forefathers,
than their skill or wisdom." One watch-tower in this region was built
on a block of sandstone that had rolled down and lodged on the very
brink of a precipice overlooking the whole valley.

  [Illustration: Ruined Pueblo on the Hovenweep.--Utah.]

  [Sidenote: HOVENWEEP RUINS.]

From the McElmo Mr Jackson and his party struck off westward to a
small stream called the Hovenweep, eight or ten miles distant. Here
they found a ruined town, of which a general view is given in the cut.
Mr Jackson's description is as follows: "The stream referred to sweeps
the foot of a rocky sandstone ledge, some forty or fifty feet in
height, upon which is built the highest and better-preserved portions
of the settlement. Its semicircular sweep conforms to the ledge; each
little house of the outer circle being built close upon its edge.
Below the level of these upper houses, some ten or twelve feet, and
within the semicircular sweep, were seven distinctly-marked
depressions, each separated from the other by rocky debris, the lower
or first series probably of a small community-house. Upon either
flank, and founded upon rocks, were buildings similar in size and in
other respects to the large ones on the line above. As paced off, the
upper or convex surface measured one hundred yards in length. Each
little apartment was small and narrow, averaging six feet in width and
eight feet in length, the walls being eighteen inches in thickness.
The stones of which the entire group was built were dressed to nearly
uniform size and laid in mortar. A peculiar feature here was in the
round corners, one at least appearing upon nearly every little house.
They were turned with considerable care and skill; being two curves,
all the corners were solidly bound together and resisted the
destroying influences the longest." The following cut presents a
ground plan of this Hovenweep Pueblo town, and terminates the account
of one of the most interesting antiquarian explorations of modern
times.

  [Illustration: Ground Plan--Town on the Hovenweep.]

I append a few brief quotations from the diary of Padres Dominguez and
Escalante, who penetrated probably as far as Utah Lake in early times,
referring to three places where ruins were seen, two of which cannot
readily be located. On the Dolores River "on the southern bank of the
river, on a height, there was anciently a small settlement of the same
plan as those of the Indians of New Mexico, as is shown by the ruins
which we examined." A ruin is also located on this river at the
southern bend, on the U. S. map of 1868. On the Rio de San Cosme, "we
saw near by a ruin of a very ancient town, in which were fragments of
metates, and pottery. The form of the town was circular as shown by
the ruins now almost entirely leveled to the ground." In the canyon of
Santa Delfina "towards the south, there is quite a high cliff, on
which we saw rudely painted three shields, and a spear-head. Lower
down on the north side we saw another painting which represented in a
confused manner two men fighting, for which reason we named it the
Canyon Pintado."[XII-44]

       *       *       *       *       *

In Idaho and Montana I have no record of ancient remains, save a cliff
at Pend d'Oreille Lake, on which are painted in bright colors, images
of men, beasts, and pictures of unknown import. The natives are said
to regard the painted rock with feelings of great superstition and
dread, regarding the figures as the work of a race that preceded their
own in the country.[XII-45]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Illustration: Rock-Carvings--Columbia River.]

In Oregon aboriginal remains, so far as reported, are hardly more
abundant. The artist of the U. S. Exploring Expedition sketched three
specimens of cliff-inscriptions on the Columbia River, which are shown
in the cut. Mr Pickering thinks that the figures present some
analogies to the sculptures reported by Humboldt on the
Orinoco.[XII-46] Mr Abbot noted "a few rude pictures of men and
animals scratched on the rocks" of Mptolyas canyon.[XII-47] Lord speaks
of little piles of stones about natural pillars of conglomerate, on
Wychus Creek, but these were doubtless the work of modern Snake
Indians, who left the heaps in honor of the spirits represented by the
pillars.[XII-48] A gigantic human jaw is reported to have been dug up
near Jacksonville in 1862;[XII-49] and finally Lewis and Clarke found
a village of the Echeloots built "near a mound about thirty feet above
the common level, which has some remains of houses on it, and bears
every appearance of being artificial."[XII-50]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: ANTIQUITIES OF WASHINGTON.]

In Washington, besides some shell ornaments and arrow-heads of flint
and other hard stone dug by Mr Lord from a gravel bank near the old
Fort Walla Walla, and some rude figures mostly representing men carved
and afterwards painted on a perpendicular rock between the Yakima and
Pisquouse, pointed out by a native to Mr Gibbs,[XII-51] there seem to
be remains of antiquity in only two localities. The first are the
mounds on Bute Prairie, south of Olympia. They were first found, or
mentioned, by Wilkes in the U. S. Exploring Expedition, in 1841, who
describes them as thousands in number arranged in fives like the 'five
spots' on a playing card, formed by scraping together the surface
earth, about thirty feet in diameter and six or seven feet high. Three
of them were opened, but proved to contain nothing but a pavement of
round stones in the centre and at the bottom, resting on the subsoil
of red gravel. The natives said that the medicine men in later times
were wont to gather herbs from their surface, as being more potent to
work their cures than those growing elsewhere. Since Wilkes' visit the
newspapers have reported the discovery of a large mound at the south
end of the prairie, twenty-five miles from Olympia, which is three
hundred feet high and nine hundred feet in diameter at the base. These
later reports state also that all the small mounds opened in recent
times have been found to contain remains of pottery and "other
curious relics, evidently the work of human hands."[XII-52]

The second locality where remains are found is on the lower Yakima
River, where Mr Stephens saw an earth-work consisting of two
concentric circles of earth about three feet high with a ditch between
them. The outer circle is eighty yards in diameter, and within the
inner one are about twenty cellars, or excavations, thirty feet across
and three feet deep, like the cellars of modern native houses
scattered over the country without, however, any enclosing circles.
These works are located on a terrace about fifteen feet high, bounded
on either side by a gulley.[XII-53]

       *       *       *       *       *

In British Columbia, some sculptured stones are reported to have been
found at Nootka Sound, in which a fancied resemblance to the Aztec
Calendar-Stone was noticed; also during the voyage of the 'Sutil y
Mexicana,' a wooden plank was found on the coast bearing painted
figures, which I have copied in the cut, although I do not know that
the plank has any claims to be considered a relic of antiquity.[XII-54]

  [Illustration: Painted Board--British Columbia.]

  [Sidenote: DEANS' EXPLORATIONS.]

Other British Columbian antiquities consist of shell mounds, burial
mounds, and earth-works, chiefly confined to Vancouver Island, and
known to me through the investigations and writings of Mr James Deans.
Mr Deans has lived long in the country, is perfectly familiar with it
and its natives, and has given particular attention to the subject of
antiquities. He makes no great pretensions as a writer, but has made
notes of his discoveries from time to time, and has furnished his
manuscripts for my use under the title of _Ancient Remains in
Vancouver Island and British Columbia_. Like other explorers, he has
not been able to resist the temptation to theorize without sufficient
data on questions of ethnology and the origin of the American
aborigines, but his speculations do not diminish the value of his
explorations, and are far from being as absurd as those of many
authors who are much better known.

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: VANCOUVER ISLAND.]

Burial mounds on Vancouver Island are of two classes, according as
they are constructed chiefly of sand and gravel or of stones. One of
the first class opened by Mr Deans in 1871, will illustrate the
construction of all. It was located on the second terrace from the
sea, the terraces having nearly perpendicular banks of fifty and sixty
feet respectively. By a carefully cut drift through the centre, it was
ascertained to have been made in the following manner. First, a circle
sixteen feet in diameter was marked out, and the top soil cleared off
within the circle; then a basin-shaped hole, six feet in diameter,
smaller at the bottom than at the top, was dug in the centre, in which
the skull, face down, and the larger unburned bones were placed and
covered with six inches of earth. On the layer of earth rested a large
flat stone, on which were heaped up loose stones, the heap extending
about a foot beyond the circumference of the central hole. Outside of
this heap, on the surface, a space two feet wide extending round the
whole circumference was sprinkled with ashes, and contained a few
bones also. Outside of this space again, large stones two or three
feet long were set up in the ground like pillars, five feet apart,
round the circumference; and finally the earth dug from the central
hole, or receptacle for the bones, was thrown into the outer circle,
and gravel and sand added to the whole until the mound was five feet
high, having a rounded form. Four smaller mounds, six and ten feet in
diameter, were opened in the same group, showing the same mode of
construction, but somewhat less order.

The second class, or stone mounds, which are much more numerous than
those of earth, differ but little from the others in their
construction, except that the final additions to the mound were of
stones instead of earth, and the stones about the circumference were
flat and set up close together. A piece of quartz sometimes
accompanies the bones, but no other relics are found. When the
skeleton is deposited face down, as is usually the case, the skull is
placed toward the south, or when in a sitting position, it faces the
south, seeming in some cases to have been burned where it sat. In a
few instances the skeleton, when it was but little burned, was lying
on the left side. The human bones invariably crumbled at a touch, and
the author states that this method of burial is altogether unknown to
the present inhabitants, who say their ancestors found them as they
are.

The mounds are often overgrown with large pine, arbutus, or oak trees;
in one case an oak had forced its way up through the stones in its
growth, reached its full size, decayed, and the stones had fallen back
over the stump. They are often in groups, and in such cases the
central one is always most carefully constructed, and a remarkable
circumstance is that sometimes the surrounding heaps contain only
children's bones. Of course this suggests a sacrifice of children or
slaves at a chief's funeral, although there may be some other
explanation. Some stones weighing a ton are found over the human
remains. Traces of cedar bark or boards are found in some of the
cairns, in which the bones were apparently enclosed; and in a few
others a small empty chamber was formed over the flat covering stone.

Near Comox, one hundred and thirty miles north-west of Victoria, a
group of mounds were examined in 1872-3, and found to be built of sea
sand and black mold, mixed with some shells. They were from five to
fifty yards in circumference. In one by the side of a very large skull
was deposited a piece of coal; and in another with a very peculiar
flattened skull was a child's tooth. Both these skulls are said to
have been covered with baked clay, and are now in the collection of
the Society of Natural History in Montreal. One mound in this vicinity
is fifty feet high and of oval shape. In its centre only a few feet
below the surface were found burnt skeletons of children not over
twelve years old, which seemed to have been enclosed in a box of
cedar--of which only a brown dust remains--and covered with two feet
of stones and one foot of shells. There is a spring of fine water some
fifty yards from this mound, of which, from superstitious motives no
Indian will drink. One rectangular cairn, ten by twelve feet, was
found, but even in this the central receptacle was circular. The body
in this mound showed no signs of burning, the head pointed northward,
and a pencil-shaped stone sharp at both ends was deposited with the
human remains.

       *       *       *       *       *

Shell mounds are described as very abundant throughout Vancouver
Island, and also on the mainland, and all are composed of species of
shells still common in the coast waters. One at Comox covers three
acres, and is from two to fourteen feet deep. The relics discovered in
mounds of this class include stone hammers; arrow-points of flint,
slate, and of a hard green stone; spear-heads, knives, needles, and
awls, of stone and bone, one of the knives being sixteen inches long
and of whale-bone; bone wedges, sometimes grooved; and finally stone
mortars, comparatively few in number, since acorns and seeds were not
apparently a favorite article of food. Human skeletons also occur in
the shell mounds. At Comox a skeleton is said to have been found with
a bone knife broken off in one of the bones. A shell bracelet was
taken from a mound at Esquimalt; and from another was dug a stone dish
or paint-pot, carved to represent a man holding a mountain sheep. The
man was the handle on one side, the sheep's head on the other, and the
cup was hollowed out in the sheep's back. Mr Deans believes he can
distinguish two distinct types of skulls in Vancouver Island--the
'long-headed' in the older cairns, and the 'broad-headed' in the shell
mounds and modern graves: and this distinction is independent of
artificial flattening, which it seems was practiced in a majority of
cases on skulls of both types.

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: EARTH-WORKS.]

In addition to the mounds, Mr Deans states that earth-works very
similar to those found in the eastern states are found at many
localities in British Columbia. Indeed, he has sent me several plans,
cut from Squier's work on the antiquities of New York, which by a
simple change in the names of creeks and in the scale would represent
equally well the north-western works. At Beacon Hill, near Victoria, a
point one hundred feet high extends three hundred feet into the sea;
an embankment with a ditch still six feet deep, stretches across on
the land side and protects the approach; there are low mounds on the
enclosed area, the remnants of ancient dwellings, and down the steep
banks are heaps of shells, with ashes, bones of sea-fowl, deer, elk,
and bears, among which are some spear and arrow points, needles, etc.
On the summit of Beacon Hill, near by, are burial cairns of the usual
type.

Another earth-work was examined by Mr Deans at Baines Sound and Deep
Bay. This was an oval embankment surrounded at the base by a ditch,
close to the water on the bay side, but now seventy yards from
high-water mark on the side next the sound, although originally at the
water edge. From the bottom of the ditch to the top of the embankment
or mound is forty feet, and at the summit a parapet bank now four feet
high encloses an area of over an acre. On the sound side is an opening
from which a road runs down the <DW72> of the mound and across the
ditch by a kind of earthen bridge. Excavation showed a depth of nine
feet of shells, ashes, and black loam. Many burial mounds are
scattered about which have not been opened.

I am inclined to regard Mr Deans' reports as trustworthy, although of
course additional authorities are required before the accuracy of his
observations respecting the burial mounds, and the existence of
earthworks bearing a strong resemblance, as he claims, to those of the
eastern states can be fully accepted. Respecting the mounds I quote in
a note from Mr Forbes, the only other authority I have been able to
find on the subject.[XII-55]

In Alaska I find no record of any antiquities whatever, although many
curious specimens of aboriginal art, made by the natives still
inhabiting the country since the coming of Europeans, have been
brought away by travelers. Cook saw in the country several artificial
stone hillocks, which seemed to him of great antiquity, but he also
noted that each native added a stone to burial heaps on passing; and
Schewyrin and Durnew found on one of the Aleutian Islands three round
copper plates bearing letters and leaf-work, said to have been thrown
up by the sea; but I suppose there is no evidence that they were of
aboriginal origin.[XII-56]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: CONCLUSION.]

Thus have I gone over the whole extent of the Pacific States from the
southern isthmus to Bering Strait, carefully examining, so far as
written records could enable me to do so, every foot of this broad
territory, in search for the handiwork of its aboriginal inhabitants.
Practically I have given in the preceding pages all that has been
written on the subject. Before a perfect account of all that the
Native Races have left can be written, before material relics can
reveal all they have to tell about the peoples whose work they are, a
long and patient work of exploration and study must be performed--a
work hardly commenced yet even in the thickly populated centres of old
world learning, and still less advanced naturally in the broad new
fields and forests of the Far West. In this volume the general reader
may find an accurate and comprehensive if not a very fascinating
picture of all that aboriginal art has produced; the student of
ethnological topics may found his theories on all that is known
respecting any particular monument here spread before him, rather than
on a partial knowledge derived by long study from the accounts in
works to which he has access, contradicted very likely in other works
not consulted,--and many a writer has subjected himself to ridicule by
resting an important part of his favorite theory on a discovery by
Smith, which has been proved an error or a hoax by Jones and Brown;
the antiquarian student may save himself some years of hard labor in
searching between five hundred and a thousand volumes for information
to which he is here guided directly, even if he be unwilling to take
his information at second hand; and finally, the explorer who proposes
to examine a certain section of the country, may acquaint himself by a
few hours' reading with all that previous explorers have done or
failed to do, and by having his attention specially called to their
work will be able to correct their errors and supply what they have
neglected.

If the work in this volume shall prove to have been sufficiently well
done to serve, in the manner indicated above, as a safe foundation for
systematic antiquarian research in the future, the author's aim will
be realized and his labor amply repaid.

FOOTNOTES:

[XII-1] 'Since the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, down to
the present moment, relics of a lost race have been exhumed from
beneath the surface of terra firma in various parts of the continent.
While every section of the United States has produced more or less of
these ancient remnants, California has, perhaps, yielded more in
proportion to the extent of territory, than any other part of the
Union.' _Carpenter_, in _Hesperian_, vol. v., p. 357.

[XII-2] _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. i., p. 179;
_San Francisco Evening Bulletin_, Feb. 11, 1862; _Cal. Farmer_, Dec.
14, 1860.

[XII-3] _Blake_, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._, vol. v., p. 117.

[XII-4] _San Francisco Evening Bulletin_, Feb. 11, 1862.

[XII-5] _Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner_, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._, vol.
iii., p. 42.

[XII-6] _Blake_, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._, vol. v., pp. 56-7; _Cal.
Farmer_, March 28, 1862, Dec. 21, 1860. Also pottery, painted and
carved cliff-inscriptions, and lines of large stones on the hill-tops.
_Alta California_, July, 1860.

[XII-7] _San Francisco Evening Bulletin_, Feb. 11, 1862. 'On the South
Tule river, twelve miles from the valley, is what is called the
Painted Rock--a smooth flat rock horizontally supported by
perpendicular walls on either side about seven feet from the ground,
with a surface of 200 square feet smooth and level on the walled sides
on which is painted in no very artistic style, representations of
animals, reptiles, and birds, and rude paintings of men, women, and
children. The painting has without doubt been done by the present race
of Indians. None of the Indians now living, however, have any
knowledge or tradition by whom or when it was done. This rock and the
remains of their habitations in many localities on the different
streams, are the only indications of their long occupancy of this
valley.' _Maltby_ (Indian Agent at Tule River), letter of Aug. 10,
1872, MS. Painted figures in a large cave near the hot springs of
Tularcitos hills, east of Monterey; also on headwaters of the San Juan
or Estrella creek. _Cal. Farmer_, April 5, 1860.

[XII-8] _Schumacher_, _Some Articles found in Ancient Graves of
California_, MSS., presented by the author.

[XII-9] _Taylor's Indianology_, in _Cal. Farmer_, Jan. 17, 1862, March
9, 1860.

[XII-10] _San Francisco Evening Bulletin_, Jan. 22, 1864; _Cal.
Farmer_, May 23, 1862, March 6, 1863; _Carvalho's Incid. of Trav._, p.
249; _Saxon's Golden Gate_, p. 126; _Wimmel_, _Californien_, p. 13.

[XII-11] _San Francisco Evening Bulletin_, Feb. 11, 1862; _Cal.
Farmer_, March 28, 1862, March 6, 1863.

[XII-12] _Lord's Nat._, vol. i., p. 209. 'A quantity of round stones,
evidently from the brook, was found in a passage with a number of
skeletons; the destruction of life having been caused undoubtedly by
the sudden caving in of the earth, burying the unskilled savages in
the midst of their labors.' _Pioneer_, vol. ii., p. 221.

[XII-13] _Taylor_, in _Cal. Farmer_, April 20, 1860; _Wimmel_,
_Californien_, pp. 27-8.

[XII-14] 'In 1857, Dr. C. F. Winslow sent to the Boston Natural
History Society, the fragment of a human cranium found in the "pay-dirt"
in connection with the bones of the mastodon and elephant, one hundred
and eighty feet below the surface of Table Mountain, California. Dr.
Winslow has described to me all the particulars in reference to this
"find," and there is no doubt in his mind, that the remains of man and
the great quadrupeds were deposited contemporaneously.' _Foster's
Pre-Hist. Races_, pp. 52-4.

[XII-15] Elephant's tusk five or six feet long, found in 1860, ten
feet below the surface, and fifteen inches above the ledge in
auriferous sand; also, five years before, many human skeletons, one of
which was twice the usual size, with stone mortars and pestles.
_Sonora Democrat_, Dec. 1860; _Cal. Farmer_, Dec. 21, 1860; _San
Francisco Evening Bulletin_, Jan. 22, 1864.

[XII-16] Other reported relics in Tuolumne county are as follows:--A
tooth of an animal of the elephant specie, twelve feet below surface,
under an oak three feet in diameter, at Twist's Ranch, near Mormon
Creek, found in 1851. _Hutchings' Cal. Mag._, vol. ii., p. 248, with
cut. 'A tolerably well executed representation of a deer's foot, about
six inches long, cut out of slate, and a tube about an inch in
diameter, and five inches in length, made of the same material, and a
small, flat, rounded piece of some very hard flinty rock, with a
square hole in the center. They are all highly polished, and perfectly
black with age. What gives a peculiar interest to these relics is the
fact that they were found thirty feet below the surface, and over the
spot where they were found a huge pine, the growth of centuries, has
reared its lofty head.' These relics were found at Don Pedro's Bar in
1861. _Cal. Farmer_, June 14, 1861, from _Columbia Times_, May, 1861.
'An Indian arrow-head, made of stone, as at the present day, was
lately picked up from the solid cement at Buckeye Hill, at a depth of
80 feet from the surface, and about one foot from the bed-rock.'
_Taylor_, in _Cal. Farmer_, Nov. 9, 1860; _Hist. Mag._, vol. v., p.
52; _San Francisco Evening Bulletin_, Oct. 6, 1864.

[XII-17] 'An immense number of skulls were found by Captain Moraga in
the vicinity of a creek, which, from that circumstance, was called
Calaveras, or the river of skulls. The story was, that the tribes from
the Sierras came down to the valley to fish for Salmon. To this the
Valley Indians objected, and, as the conflict was irrepressible, a
bloody battle was fought, and three thousand dead bodies were left to
whiten the banks with their bones. The county in which the river rises
assumed its name.' _Tuthill's Hist. Cal._, p. 303.

[XII-18] 1, Black lava, 40 feet; 2, gravel, 3 feet; 3, light lava, 30
feet; 4, gravel, 5 feet; 5, light lava, 15 feet; 6, gravel, 25 feet;
7, dark brown lava, 9 feet; 8, (in which the skull was found) gravel,
5 feet; 9, red lava, 4 feet; 10, red gravel, 17 feet. _Cal. Acad. Nat.
Sciences_, vol. iii., pp. 277-8. 'This skull, admitting its
authenticity, carries back the advent of man to the Pliocene Epoch,
and is therefore older than the stone implements of the drift-gravel
of Abbeville and Amiens, or the relics furnished by the cave-dirt of
Belgium and France.' _Foster's Pre-Hist. Races_, pp. 52-4.

[XII-19] 'It was late in the month of August (the 19th), 1849, that
the gold diggers at one of the mountain diggings called Murphy's, were
surprised, in examining a high barren district of mountain, to find
the abandoned site of an antique mine. "It is evidently," says a
writer, "the work of ancient times." The shaft discovered is two
hundred and ten feet deep. Its mouth is situated on a high mountain.
It was several days before preparations could be completed to descend
and explore it. The bones of a human skeleton were found at the
bottom. There were also found an altar for worship and other evidences
of ancient labor.... No evidences have been discovered to denote the
era of this ancient work. There has been nothing to determine whether
it is to be regarded as the remains of the explorations of the first
Spanish adventurers, or of a still earlier period. The occurrence of
the remains of an altar, looks like the period of Indian worship.'
_Schoolcraft's Arch._, vol. i., p. 105.

[XII-20] Skulls obtained from a cave in Calaveras County, by Prof.
Whitney, and sent to the Smithsonian Institute. They showed no
differences from the present Indians, who probably used the cave as a
burial place. _Smithsonian Rept._, 1867, p. 406. Petrified mammoth
thigh-bone, three and a half feet long, two and a quarter feet in
circumference, weighing fifty-four pounds, found at a depth of
thirty-five feet, at Murphy's Flat. _Cal. Farmer_, May 23, 1862, from
_San Andres Independent_. An arrastra or mill, such as is now used in
grinding quartz, with a quantity of crushed stone five feet below
surface near Porterfield. _Id._, Nov. 30, 1860, May 16, 1862. At
Calaveritas large mortars two or three feet in diameter, with pestles,
in the ancient bed of the river; at Vallecito human skulls in
post-diluvial strata over fifty feet deep; at Mokelumne Hill obsidian
spear-heads; at Murphy's mammoth bones forty feet deep. _Pioneer_,
vol. iii., p. 41; _San Francisco Herald_, Nov. 24, from _Calaveras
Chronicle_.

[XII-21] _San Francisco Evening Bulletin_, Jan. 22, 1864; _Wimmel_,
_Californien_, p. 13.

[XII-22] 'An ancient skillet, made of lava, hard as iron, circular,
with a spout and three legs, was washed out of a deep claim at Forest
Hill, a few days since. It will be sent to the State Fair, as a
specimen of crockery used in the mines several thousand years ago.'
_Grass Valley National_, Sept. 1861, in _San Francisco Evening
Bulletin_, Jan. 22, 1864. Same implement apparently found at Coloma in
1851, 15 feet below the surface, under an oak-tree not less than 1000
years old. _Carpenter_, in _Hesperian_, vol. v., p. 358.

[XII-23] 'J. E. Squire, informs me that a strange inscription is found
on the rocks a short distance below Meadow Lake. The rocks appear to
have been covered with a black coating, and the hieroglyphics or
characters cut through the layer and into the rock. This inscription
was, probably, not made by the present tribe inhabiting the lower part
of Nevada County. It may have been done by Indians from the other side
of the mountains, who came to the lake region near the summit to fish;
or it may have still a stranger origin.' _Directory Nevada_, 1857. A
human fore-arm bone with crystallized marrow, imbedded in a petrified
cedar 63 feet deep, at Red Dog. _Grass Valley National_, in _San
Francisco Evening Bulletin_, Jan. 22, 1864.

[XII-24] Two hand mills (mortars) taken from the bank of the Yuba
River at a depth of 16 feet. 'They are all made from a peculiar kind
of stone, which has the appearance of a combination of granite and
burr-stone.' The pestles are usually of gneiss. _Taylor_, in _Cal.
Farmer_, Dec. 14, 1860, May 9, 1862. At McGilvary's, Trinity Co., was
discovered in 1856, 10 feet below the surface, 'an Indian skull
encased in a sea shell, five by eight inches, inside of which were
worked figures and representations, both singular and beautiful,
inlaid with a material imperishable, resembling gold, which would not,
in nice, ingenious workmanship, disgrace the sculptor's art of the
present day.' _San Francisco Evening Bulletin_, Jan. 22, 1864, from
_Trinity Democrat_, 1856. Slate tubes dug up near Oroville. _Taylor_,
in _Cal. Farmer_, Nov. 2, 1860. A collar-bone taken from the gravel of
the 'great blue lead' not less than 1000 feet below the forest-covered
surface, in 1857. _Hutchings' Cal. Mag._, vol. ii., p. 417. Mammoth
bones at Columbia, Stanislaus Co., 35 feet deep; and a hyena's tooth
at Volcano, Amador Co., at a depth of 60 feet. _Pioneer_, vol. iii.,
p. 41. Some 30 different instances of the discovery of fossil remains
by miners have been noted in the California papers since 1851. _Cal.
Farmer_, May 23, 1862; also four well-known cases of giant human
remains. _Id._, March 20, 1863. An immense block of porphyry whose
sides and top are carved with rude mystic figures, in the Truckee
Valley. 'I noticed one cluster of figures in a circle, having in its
centre a rude representation of the sun, surrounded by about a dozen
other figures, one of which exhibited a quite truthful representation
of a crab, another like an anchor with a large ring, and still another
representing an arrow passing through a ring.' _Marysville Democrat_,
April, 1861, in _Cal. Farmer_, June 14, 1861.

[XII-25] _Foster's Pre-Hist. Races_, pp. 54-6.

[XII-26] In _Cal. Farmer_, March 6, 1863.

[XII-27] _Capron's Hist. Cal._, p. 75.

[XII-28] _Martinez Contra Costa Gazette._

[XII-29] _Smithsonian Rept._, 1869, p. 36.

[XII-30] _Foster's Pre-Hist. Races_, pp. 163-4.

[XII-31] _San Francisco Evening Bulletin_, Oct. 19, 1869.

[XII-32] _Rae's Westward by Rail_, pp. 162-4.

[XII-33] _Salt Lake Telegraph_, quoted in _San Francisco Evening
Bulletin_, Oct. 9, 1868.

[XII-34] _Remy and Brenchley's Journey_, vol. ii., pp. 364-5.

[XII-35] _Carvalho's Incid. of Trav._, pp. 206-7.

[XII-36] _Foster's Pre-Hist. Races_, p. 152.

[XII-37] _Schoolcraft's Arch._, vol. iii., p. 493.

[XII-38] _Smithsonian Rept._, 1867, p. 403.

[XII-39] _Farnham's Life in Cal._, pp. 316-17.

[XII-40] _Foster's Pre-Hist. Races_, p. 152.

[XII-41] _Taylor_, in _Cal. Farmer_, June 22, 1860.

[XII-42] _Bulletin of the U. S. Geol. and Geog. Survey of the
Territories_, 2d series, No. 1., Washington, 1875.

[XII-43] Ingersoll gives these dimensions as 33 and 22 feet
respectively, and speaks of three equi-distant doorways, apparently
alluding to the same structure.

[XII-44] _Doc. Hist. Mex._, serie ii., tom. i., pp. 391-2, 434-5,
444-5.

[XII-45] _Stevens_, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._, vol. xii., p. 150; _Id._,
in _Ind. Aff. Rept._, 1854, p. 222.

[XII-46] _Pickering's Races_, in _U. S. Ex. Ex._, vol. ix., pp. 41-2.

[XII-47] _Abbot_, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._, vol. vi., p. 94.

[XII-48] _Lord's Nat._, vol. i., p. 296.

[XII-49] _Taylor_, in _Cal. Farmer_, March 20, 1863; _San Francisco
Evening Bulletin_, Jan. 22, 1864.

[XII-50] _Lewis and Clarke's Trav._, p. 369.

[XII-51] _Lord's Nat._, vol. ii., pp. 102-3, 260; _Gibbs_, in _Pac. R.
R. Rept._, vol. i., p. 411.

[XII-52] _U. S. Ex. Ex._, vol. iv., pp. 334, 441-2; _Foster's
Pre-Hist. Races_, pp. 151-2; _Portland Herald_, Sept. 27, 1872; _San
Francisco Morning Call_, Sept. 28, 1872.

[XII-53] _Stevens_, in _Ind. Aff. Rept._, 1854, pp. 232-3; _Id._, in
_Schoolcraft's Arch._, vol. vi., pp. 612-13; _Gibbs_, in _Pac. R. R.
Rept._, vol. i., pp. 408-9; _Taylor_, in _Cal. Farmer_, May 8, 1863.

[XII-54] _Buschmann_, _Spr. N. Mex. u. der Westseite des b.
Nordamer._, p. 333; _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, p. 73.

[XII-55] 'In such localities, the general feature of the landscape is
very similar to many parts of Devonshire, more especially to that on
the eastern escarpment of Dartmoor, and the resemblance is rendered
the more striking by the numerous stone circles, which lie scattered
around.... These stone circles point to a period in ethnological
history, which has no longer a place in the memory of man. Scattered
in irregular groups of from three or four, to fifty or more, these
stone circles are found, crowning the rounded promontories over all
the South Eastern end of the Island. Their dimensions vary in diameter
from three to eighteen feet; of some, only a simple ring of stones
marking the outline now remains. In other instances the circle is not
only complete in outline, but is filled in, built up as it were, to a
height of three to four feet, with masses of rock and loose stones,
collected from amongst the numerous erratic boulders, which cover the
surface of the country, and from the gravel of the boulder drift which
fills up many of the hollows. These structures are of considerable
antiquity, and whatever they may have been intended for, have been
long disused, for, through the centre of many, the pine, the oak, and
the arbutus have shot up and attained considerable dimensions--a full
growth. The Indians when questioned, can give no further account of
the matter, than that, "it belonged to the old people," and an
examination, by taking some of the largest circles to pieces, and
digging beneath, throws no light on the subject. The only explanation
to be found, is in the hypothesis, that these were the dwellings of
former tribes, who have either entirely disappeared, or whose
descendants have changed their mode of living, and this supposition is
strengthened by the fact that a certain tribe on the Fraser River,
did, till very recently live, in circular beehive shaped houses, built
of loose stones, having an aperture in the arched roof for entrance
and exit, and that in some localities in upper California the same
remains are found, and the same origin assigned to them.' _Forbes'
Vanc. Isl._, p. 3.

[XII-56] _Cook's Voy. to Pac._, vol. ii., p. 521; _Neue Nachrichten_,
p. 33.




CHAPTER XIII.

WORKS OF THE MOUND-BUILDERS.

     AMERICAN MONUMENTS BEYOND THE LIMITS OF THE PACIFIC STATES
     -- EASTERN ATLANTIC STATES -- REMAINS IN THE MISSISSIPPI
     VALLEY -- THREE GEOGRAPHICAL DIVISIONS -- CLASSIFICATION
     OF MONUMENTS -- EMBANKMENTS AND DITCHES -- FORTIFICATIONS
     -- SACRED ENCLOSURES -- MOUNDS -- TEMPLE-MOUNDS,
     ANIMAL-MOUNDS, AND CONICAL MOUNDS -- ALTAR-MOUNDS, BURIAL
     MOUNDS, AND ANOMALOUS MOUNDS -- CONTENTS OF THE MOUNDS --
     HUMAN REMAINS -- RELICS OF ABORIGINAL ART -- IMPLEMENTS
     AND ORNAMENTS OF METAL, STONE, BONE, AND SHELL -- ANCIENT
     COPPER MINES -- ROCK-INSCRIPTIONS -- ANTIQUITY OF THE
     MISSISSIPPI REMAINS -- COMPARISONS -- CONCLUSIONS.


  [Sidenote: TREATMENT OF FOREIGN REMAINS.]

I announced in an introductory chapter my intention to go in this
volume beyond the geographical limits of my field of labor proper, the
Pacific States, and to include a sketch of eastern and southern
antiquities. I am not sure that this departure from my territory is
strictly more necessary or appropriate in this than in the other
departments of this work;--that is, that the material relics of the
Mississippi Valley and South America have a more direct bearing on the
institutions and history of the Native Races of the Pacific, than do
the manners and customs, mythology, and language of the South American
and eastern tribes. Yet there is this difference, that to have
included the whole American continent in the preceding volumes would
have required a new collection of material, additional time and
research, and an increase of bulk in printed pages, each equal at
least to what has been done; and I believe that the original scope of
my work, and the bulk of that part of it devoted to the Native Races,
is already sufficiently extensive. But in the department of
antiquities, making the present volume of uniform size with others of
the work, I have, I think, sufficient space and material to justify me
in extending my researches beyond the Pacific States; and this seems
to me especially desirable by reason of the fact that all the
important archaeological remains outside of what I term the Pacific
States, may be included in the two groups to which my closing chapters
are devoted, and the present volume may consequently present some
claim to be considered a comprehensive work on American Antiquities.

       *       *       *       *       *

My treatment of the subject in this and the following chapter will,
however, differ considerably from that in those preceding. I have
hitherto proceeded geographically from south to north, placing before
the reader all the information extant, be it more or less complete,
respecting every relic in each locality, and giving besides in every
case the source whence the information was obtained. In this manner
the notes become a complete bibliographical index to the whole
subject, not an unimportant feature, I believe, of this work. In the
broad eastern region bordering on the Mississippi and its tributaries,
a region thickly inhabited, and thoroughly explored by antiquarians,
or at least comparatively so, so numerous are the relics and the
localities where they have been found, that to take them up one after
another for detailed description would require at least a volume; and
these relics, although of great importance, present so little variety
in the absence of all architectural monuments, that such a detailed
account could hardly fail to become monotonous to a degree
unparalleled even in the pages of the present volume. Moreover, the
books and other material in my possession, while amply sufficient, I
think, to furnish a clear idea of the Mississippi and South American
monuments, are of course inadequate to a continuation of the
bibliographical feature referred to. For these reasons I deem it best
to abandon the elaborate note-system hitherto followed, and shall
present a general rather than a detailed view of material relics
outside the Pacific States, formed from a careful study of what I
believe to be the best authorities, and illustrated by the cuts given
in Mr Baldwin's work.[XIII-1]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.]

Material relics of the aboriginal tribes are found in greater or less
abundance throughout the Eastern United States and the Canadas. But
those found in New England and the region east of the Alleghanies,
extending southward to the Carolinas, may be dismissed in an account
so general as the present with the remark that all are evidently the
work of the Indian tribes found in possession of the country, many of
them evidently and others probably having originated at a time
subsequent to the coming of Europeans. But whatever may be decided
respecting their antiquity, it may be regarded as absolutely certain
that none of them point to the existence of any people of more
advanced culture than the red race that came in contact with
Europeans. They consist for the most part of traces of Indian villages
or camps, burial grounds, small stone-heaps, scattered arrow-heads,
and some other rude stone implements.

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: CLASSIFICATION OF REMAINS.]

The great Mississippi Valley system of ancient works, consisting of
mounds and embankments of earth and stone, erected by the race known
as the Mound-builders, extends over a territory bounded in general
terms as follows: on the north by the great lakes; on the east by
western New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia in the north, but farther
south extending to the Atlantic coast and including Florida, Georgia,
and part of South Carolina; on the south by the Gulf of Mexico,
including Texas according to the general statements of most writers,
although I find no definite account of any remains in that state; on
the west by an indefinite line extending from the head of Lake
Superior through the states of Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Indian
Territory, although there are reported some remains farther west,
particularly on the upper Missouri, which have not been thoroughly
explored. The map in the accompanying cut is intended only to show the
reader at a glance the relative position of the states in the
territory of the Mound-builders.

  [Illustration: Map of the Territory of the Mound-Builders.]

Throughout this broad extent of territory, but chiefly on the fertile
river-terraces of the Mississippi and its tributaries, the works of
the ancient inhabitants are found in great abundance, and may be
classified for convenience in description as follows:--I. Embankments
of earth or stone, and ditches, often forming enclosures, which are
subdivided by their location into, 1st, fortifications, and 2d, sacred
enclosures, or such as are supposed to have been connected with
religious rites.

II. Mounds of earth or stone, of varying location, size, form,
material, and contents; divided by their form into, 1st, 'temple
mounds,' of regular outline and large dimensions, having flat summit
platforms, and often terraced sides with graded ascents; 2d,
'animal-mounds,' or those resembling in their ground plan the forms of
animals, birds, or even human beings; and 3d, conical mounds, which
are again subdivided according to their contents into 'altar-mounds'
or 'sacrificial mounds,' 'burial mounds,' and 'anomalous mounds,' or
such as are of mixed or undetermined character.

III. Minor relics of aboriginal art, for the most part taken from the
mounds, including implements and ornaments of metal, stone, shell, and
bone.

IV. Ancient mines, and perhaps a few salt-wells which bear marks of
having been worked by the aborigines.

V. Rock-inscriptions.

These different classes of remains, although sufficiently uniform in
their general character to indicate that the Mound-builders were of
one race, living under one grand system of institutions, still show
certain variations in the relative predominance of each class in
different sections of the territory. The Ohio River and its
tributaries would seem to have been in a certain sense the centre of
the Mound-builders' power, for here the various forms of enclosures
and mounds are most abundant and extensive, and their contents show
the highest advancement of aboriginal art. This section, including
chiefly the state of Ohio, but also parts of Kentucky, Indiana,
Tennessee, Illinois, and Missouri, was the ground embraced in the
explorations of Squier and Davis, by far the best authorities on
eastern antiquities. In the northern region, on the great lakes, on
which Lapham and Pidgeon are the prominent authorities, chiefly in
Wisconsin, but also in Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, and
Minnesota, animal-mounds are the prominent feature, the other classes
of mounds, and the enclosures, being of comparatively rare occurrence.
The animal-mounds occur in the central Ohio region only in a very few
instances, and never, so far as is known, in the south. In the
southern or gulf states the temple-mounds are more numerous in
proportion to other classes than in the north, and enclosures
disappear almost altogether. The southern antiquities have, however,
been comparatively little explored, Mr Jones' late work referring for
the most part only to the state of Georgia.

Throughout the whole region traces of the tribes found by Europeans in
possession of the country are found; and besides the three territorial
divisions already indicated, it is noted that in the north-east, in
western New York and Pennsylvania, the works of the Mound-builders
merge so gradually into those of the later tribes, the only relics
farther east, that it becomes well-nigh impossible to fix accurately
the dividing line.

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: REMAINS IN NEW YORK.]

In many parts of western New York traces are found of Indian fortified
camps, surrounded by rows of holes in the ground, which once supported
palisades, and in all respects similar to those in use among the
Indians of the state in their wars against the whites. There are also
found low embankments of earth, or very rarely of small stones, which
form enclosures or cut off the approach to the weaker side of some
naturally strong position. Such embankments are always on hills, lake
or river terraces, or other high places, and are often protected on
one or more sides by morasses or by streams with steep banks. Their
strong natural position, with due regard to the water supply,
carefully planned means of exit, and in many instances graded roads to
the water, leaves no doubt of their original design as fortifications,
places of refuge and of protection against enemies. The slight height
of the embankments would suggest that they were thrown up to support
palisades; indeed, traces of these palisades have been found in some
cases. The practice of throwing up an embankment at the foot of
palisades, although seemingly a very natural one, does not, however,
seem to have been noticed among the Indian tribes of New York. In
nearly all the enclosures remains of the typical Indian _caches_ are
found, with carbonized maize, and traces of wood and bark; and in and
around them the sites of Indian lodges or towns are seen, indicated by
the presence of decomposed and carbonaceous matter, together with
burned stones, charcoal, ashes, bones, pottery, and Indian implements.
These circumstances go far to prove that all the New York works, if
not built by the Indians, were at least occupied by them after their
abandonment by the Mound-builders, from some of whose works they do
not differ much except in dimensions and regularity of form.

The enclosures vary in extent from three to four acres, the largest
being sixteen acres. The embankments are from one to four feet high,
generally accompanied by an exterior ditch;--the highest is seven or
eight feet from bottom of ditch to top of embankment. Many such works
in a country so long under cultivation have of course disappeared. Mr
Squier ascertained the locality of one hundred of them in New York,
and estimates the original number at not less than two hundred and
fifty.

       *       *       *       *       *

The works of the Mound-builders are almost exclusively confined to the
fertile valleys still best fitted to support a dense population. The
Mississippi and its tributaries have during the progress of the
centuries worn down their valleys in three or four successive
terraces, which, except the lowest, or latest formed, the ancient
peoples chose as the site of their structures, giving the preference
in rearing their grandest cities--for cities there must have been--to
the terrace plains near the junction of the larger streams. On these
plains and their surrounding heights, are found the ancient monuments,
generally in groups which include all or many of the classes named
above; for it is only for convenience in description that the
classification is made; that is, the classification is by no means to
any great extent a geographical one. I have already said that Ohio
was the centre, apparently, of the Mound-builders' power. Northward,
eastward, and perhaps westward from this centre, the works diminish in
extent, fortifications become a more prominent feature, and the
remaining monuments approximate perceptibly to those of the more
barbarous and later peoples. In fact, we find the modifications that
might naturally be expected in a frontier country. Southward from the
Ohio region down the Mississippi Valley, it is a common remark in the
various writings on the subject, that the monuments increase gradually
in magnitude and numbers. This statement seems to have originated,
partially at least, in the old attempt to trace the path of Aztec
migration southward. The only foundation for it is the fact that the
class of mounds called temple-mounds are in the south more numerous in
proportion to those of the other classes. The largest mound and the
most extensive groups are in the north; while the complicated
arrangement of sacred enclosures appears but rarely if at all towards
the gulf. It is not impossible that more extensive explorations may
show that the comparative numbers and size of the large temple-mounds
have been somewhat exaggerated. Yet the claims in behalf of Nahua
traces in the Mississippi region are much better founded than those
that have been urged in other parts of the country; although we have
seen that the chain is interrupted in the New Mexican country, and I
can find no definite record of temple-mounds in Texas. The total
number of mounds in the state of Ohio is estimated by the best
authority at ten thousand, while the enclosures were at least fifteen
hundred.

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: FORTIFICATIONS.]

I begin with the embankments and enclosures. They are found, almost
always in connection with mounds of some class, on the hills
overlooking the valleys, and on the ravine-bounded terraces left by
the current of rapid streams. The first, or oldest, terraces, with
bold banks from fifty to a hundred feet high, furnish the sites of
most of the works; on the lower intermediate terraces, whose banks
range from ten to thirty feet in height, they are also found, though
less frequently than above; while on the last-formed terrace below no
monuments whatever have ever been discovered.

The embankments are simply earth, stones, or a mixture of the two, in
their natural condition, thrown up from the material which is nearest
at hand. There is no instance of walls built of stone that has been
hewn or otherwise artificially prepared, of the use of mortar, of even
rough stones laid with regularity, of adobes or earth otherwise
prepared, or of material brought from any great distance. The material
was taken from a ditch that often accompanies the embankment, from
excavations or pits in the immediate vicinity, or is scraped up from
the surface of the surrounding soil. There is nothing in the present
appearance of these works to indicate any difference in their original
form from that naturally given to earth-works thrown up from a ditch,
with sides as nearly perpendicular as the nature of the material will
permit. Of course, any attempt on the part of the builders to give a
symmetrical superficial contour to the works would have been long
since obliterated by the action of the elements; but nothing now
remains to show that they attached any importance whatever to either
material or contour. Stone embankments are rarely found, and only in
localities where the abundance of the material would naturally suggest
its use. In a few instances clay has been obtained at a little
distance, or dug from beneath the surface.

  [Sidenote: FORTIFIED HILLS.]

Accordingly as they are found on the level plain, or on hill-tops or
other strong positions, enclosures are divided into fortifications and
sacred enclosures. Of the design of the first class there can be no
doubt, and very little respecting many of the second class, although
it is very probable that some of the latter had a different purpose,
not now understood. Naturally some works occur which have some of the
features of both classes. The fortifications are always of irregular
form as determined by the nature of the ground.

  [Illustration: Fortification--Butler Hill.]

A fortification at Butler Hill, near Hamilton, Ohio, is shown in the
cut. The summit of the hill is two hundred and fifty feet above the
river, the enclosing wall is of earth and stones, five feet high,
thirty-five feet thick at the base, and unaccompanied by a ditch,
although there are some pits which furnished the material of the wall.
Two mounds or heaps of rough stones are seen within the enclosure and
one without, the stones of all showing marks of fire.

  [Illustration: Fort Hill, Ohio.]

The next cut shows a work at Fort Hill, Ohio, which seems to unite the
characters of the two classes of enclosures. It measures twenty-eight
hundred by eighteen hundred feet, and is on the second terrace. The
wall along the creek side is of stones and clay, four feet high: the
other main walls are six feet high and thirty-five feet thick, with an
exterior ditch. The walls of the square enclosure at the side are of
clay, present some marks of fire, and have no ditch. Mr Squier
concludes that this was a fortified town rather than a fort like many
others. The walls of the enclosure shown in the following cut, on
Paint Creek, Ohio, are of stone, thirteen hundred feet in
circumference, and have no ditch. The heaps of stones connected with
this work have been exposed to excessive heat, either perhaps by being
used as fire signals, or by the burning of wooden structures which
they supported. In the works at Fort Ancient, on a mesa two hundred
and thirty feet above the Miami River, the embankment is four miles
long in an irregular line round the circumference, and in some parts
eighteen or twenty feet high. There are also some signs of artificial
terraces on the river side of the hill. A line of these defensive
works is found in northern Ohio, with which very few regular mounds or
sacred enclosures are connected. Pidgeon states that a single line of
embankment may be traced for seventeen miles, and that there are three
hundred and six miles of embankment fortifications in the state. It is
quite probable that these embankments originally bore palisades. They
vary in height from three to thirty feet, reckoning from the bottom of
the ditch; but this gives only a very imperfect idea of their original
dimensions, since in some localities the height has been much more
reduced by time than in others, owing to the nature of the material.
In hill fortifications the ditch is usually inside the wall, but when
the defences guard the approach to a terrace-point, the ditch is
always on the outside. The entrances to this class of enclosures are
governed by convenience of exit, accessibility of water, and
facilities for defence. They are usually guarded by overlapping walls
as shown in the cuts that have been presented. Several of the larger
fortifications, however, have a large number of entrances, generally
at regular intervals, which it is very difficult to account for.

  [Illustration: Fort near Bourneville.]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: SACRED ENCLOSURES.]

Other enclosures are classed as sacred, or pertaining in some way to
religious rites, because no other equally satisfactory explanation of
their use can be given. That they were in no sense works of defence is
evident from their position, almost invariably on the most level spot
that could be selected and often overlooked by neighboring elevations.
Unlike the fortifications they are regular in form, the square and
circle predominating and generally found in conjunction, but the
ellipse, rectangle, crescent, and a great variety of other forms being
frequent, and several different forms usually occurring together. A
square with one or more circles is a frequent combination. The angles
and curves are usually if not always perfectly accurate, and the
regular, or sacred, enclosures probably outnumber by many the
irregular ones, although they are of lesser extent. Enclosed areas of
one to fifty acres are common. The groups are of great extent; one at
Newark, Ohio, covers an area of nearly four square miles. A remarkable
coincidence was noticed by Mr Squier in the dimensions of the square
enclosures, five or six of these having been found at long distances
from each other, which measured exactly ten hundred and eighty feet
square. Circles are, as a rule, smaller than the squares with which
they are connected, two hundred to two hundred and fifty feet being a
common size. The largest of the enclosures, with an area of some six
hundred acres, are those reported in the far west and north-west by
early travelers whose reports are not confirmed.

The embankment itself differs from those already described only in
being, as a rule, somewhat lower and narrower, although at Newark one
is thirty feet high, and in being constructed with less exceptions
without the use of stones. The material as before was taken from the
surface, ditches, or from pits, which latter are often described as
wells, and may in some instances have served as such.

The following cut represents a group at Liberty, Ohio, typical of a
large class in the Scioto Valley. The location is on the third
terrace, the embankments of earth are not over four feet high, there
is no ditch, and the earth seems to have been taken exclusively from
pits, which, contrary to the usual custom, are within the enclosure.
The square is one of those already spoken of as agreeing exactly in
dimensions with others at a distance. Additional dimensions are shown
in the cut. The enclosures, both square and round, usually include
several mounds. One at Mound City, square with rounded corners,
covering thirteen acres, has twenty-four sacrificial mounds within its
walls. At Portsmouth, there are four concentric circles, cut by four
broad avenues facing, with slight variation, the cardinal points, and
having a large terraced and truncated mound in the centre. The banks
of one enclosure near Newark measure thirty feet in height from the
bottom of the ditch; the usual height is from three to seven feet.

  [Illustration: Sacred Enclosures--Liberty.]

  [Illustration: Enclosure at Bourneville.]

  [Illustration: Works at Hopeton.]

The circles often have an interior ditch; in some cases, as at
Circleville and Salem, there are two circular embankments one within
the other with a ditch between them; but there is only one instance of
an exterior ditch, in the work at Bourneville, Ohio, shown in the
first cut. The wall is from eight to ten feet high, and the ditch is
shallow. The larger circles have generally a single entrance, which is
usually, but not always, on the east. There are numerous small circles
from thirty to fifty feet in diameter, found in connection with groups
of large enclosures, which have very light embankments and no
entrances. These may very likely be the remains of lodges or camps.
The larger circles are almost invariably connected with squares or
rectangles, which have similar embankments but no ditches. These have
very commonly an entrance at each angle and one in the middle of each
side, but the larger squares have often many more entrances.

  [Illustration: View of Earth-works at Hopeton.]

The second cut shows a group of sacred enclosures at Hopeton, Ohio,
located on the third terrace. The walls of the rectangle are of a
clayey loam, fifty feet thick and twelve feet high, without a ditch.
The summit is wide enough for a wagon road. The walls of the circle
are somewhat lower and composed of clay differing in color from that
found in the vicinity. The two smaller circles have interior ditches.
The cut gives a view of the same works as they appear from the east.
The parallel embankments in the south are one hundred and fifty feet
apart and extend half a mile to the bank of an old river bed. Two
hundred paces north of the large circle, and not shown in the cuts, is
another circle two hundred and fifty feet in diameter.

  [Illustration: Cedar Bank Enclosures.]

The enclosure shown in the next cut is that at Cedar Bank, near
Chillicothe, Ohio, and seems to partake somewhat of the nature of a
fortification. The west side is naturally protected by the river bank,
and the other sides are enclosed by a wall and ditch, each forty feet
wide and five to six feet high or deep. The bed of a small stream
forms a natural ditch for one half of the eastern side. Within the
enclosure in a line with the entrances is a raised platform four feet
high, measuring one hundred and fifty by two hundred and fifty feet,
with graded ways thirty feet wide, leading to the summit. The
parallels outside the enclosure are three or four feet high. The
earth-work in Randolph County, Indiana, is sufficiently explained by
the cut. This work, like the preceding, would seem to have been
constructed partially with a view to defence. The work shown in the
next cut is part of a group in Pike County, Ohio. The circle is three
hundred feet in diameter.

  [Illustration: Parallel Embankments--Piketon.]

  [Illustration: Fortified Square--Indiana.]

  [Illustration: Earth-work in Pike County, Ohio.]

  [Sidenote: EARTH-WORKS.]

The different enclosures of a group are often connected by parallel
embankments. Similar embankments protect the roads leading from
fortified works to the river bank or other source of water. Many are
not connected with any enclosures, though in their vicinity; and in
such cases they are very slight, from seven hundred to eight hundred
feet long, and sixty to eighty feet apart. Some of these parallels
were very likely raised roads instead of enclosed ones, as on the
Little Miami River, where the embankments extend about a quarter of a
mile from two mounds, forming a semicircle round a third, being a rod
wide and only three feet high. At Madison, Louisiana, there is a
raised way three feet high, seventy-five feet wide, and two thousand
seven hundred feet long, with broad excavations three feet in depth
extending on both sides for about two thirds its length. Two parallel
banks at Piketon, Ohio, are shown in the cut. They are ten hundred and
eighty feet long, two hundred and three feet apart at one end, and
two hundred and fifteen at the other; the height on the outside being
from five to eleven feet, but on the inside twenty-two feet at one
end. A modern carriage road now runs between the mounds. From the end
of one of them a slight embankment extends twenty-five hundred and
eighty feet to a group of mounds.

  [Sidenote: DITCHES AND MOUNDS.]

In the north ditches seem never to occur, except with embankments; but
in the south, where embankments are rarely if ever found, ditches, or
moats, are sometimes employed to enclose other works, especially in
Georgia. Such a moat at Carterville communicates with the river,
extends to a pond perhaps artificial, and has two reservoirs, each of
an acre, connected with it. The mounds and other monuments are located
between the river and the moat. I have already spoken of the pits
which furnished earth for the various works, sometimes called wells;
some wells of another class, found in the bed of streams and supplied
with round covers, were found by Mr Squier to be the natural casts of
septaria, or imbedded nodules of hard clay.

       *       *       *       *       *

The mound or heap form is the one most common in American antiquities
as in those of nearly the whole world. Mounds are found throughout the
Mississippi region as before bounded, and beyond its limits in many
directions they merge into the small stone heaps which are known to
have been thrown up by the Indians at road-crossings and over graves.
They are most numerous in the upper Mississippi and Ohio valleys, in
the same region where the embankments also most abound. As I have
said, the number in Ohio alone is estimated at more than ten thousand.
They are almost always found in connection with embankments and other
works of the different classes described, but they are also very
numerous in regions where enclosures rarely or never occur, as in
Wisconsin and in the gulf states. From the central region about the
junction of the Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio, they gradually
diminish in numbers in every direction, and also in size except
perhaps towards the south. They are found in valley and plain, on
hill-side and hill-top; isolated and in groups; within and without
enclosures; and at long distances from other works. By their location
alone no satisfactory classification could possibly be made; still,
when considered in connection with their contents and other
circumstances, their location assumes importance. By their forms the
tumuli are classified as temple-mounds, animal-mounds, and conical
mounds.

  [Sidenote: TEMPLE-MOUNDS.]

Temple-mounds always have level summit platforms, and are supposed to
have once supported wooden structures, although no traces of such
temples remain. A graded road straight or winding, of gentler <DW72>
than the sides of the mound, often leads to the top; and in many cases
the sides have one or more terraces. One in Tennessee, four hundred
and fifty feet in diameter and fifty feet high, has ten clearly marked
terraces, except on the east. The bases assume a variety of forms,
square, rectangular, octagonal, round, oval, etc., but the curves and
angles are always extremely regular. In the north they are usually
within enclosures, but in the south, where they are most numerous,
they have no embankments and are often arranged in groups, the smaller
about a larger central mound. In size the temple-mounds vary from a
height of five feet and a diameter of forty feet to ninety feet in
altitude and a base-area of eight acres. In respect to form, material,
structure, contents, and probable use they admit of no subdivision.
Like the embankments they are made of earth, or rarely of stones,
simply heaped up, with little care in the choice of material and none
at all in the order of deposit.

The largest mound of this, or in fact of any, class is that at
Cahokia, Illinois. Its base measures seven hundred by five hundred
feet. The height is ninety feet. On one end above mid-height is a
terrace platform one hundred and sixty by three hundred and fifty
feet, and the summit area is two hundred by four hundred and fifty
feet, or nearly two acres, the base covering over eight acres. On the
top a small conical mound was found, with some human bones, a deposit
of doubtful antiquity. A mound is described at Lovedale, Kentucky, as
being of octagonal base, five feet high, with sides of a hundred and
fifty feet, three graded ascents, and two conical mounds on its
summit. Mr Jones states that parapet embankments, round the edge of
the summit, sometimes occur on the southern temple-mounds.

  [Illustration: Temple-Mound--Marietta, Ohio.]

At Marietta, Ohio, are four mounds like that shown in the cut, within
a square enclosure. The height of this one is ten feet. The mound at
Seltzerton, Mississippi, forty feet in height, covers nearly six
acres, and has a summit area of four acres, on which are two conical
mounds, also forty feet high and thirty feet in diameter. The base is
surrounded with a ditch ten feet deep, an unusual feature. There are
said to be large adobe blocks in the northern <DW72> of this pyramid,
and the same material is reported in other southern structures. These
reports require additional confirmation.

The Messier Mound, in Early County, Georgia, differs in its location
from most temple-mounds, standing on the summit of a natural hill
which overlooks a broad extent of country. The artificial height is
fifty-five feet, and the summit area sixty-six by one hundred and
fifty-six feet. There are no traces of any means of ascent, and the
<DW72>s are very steep. A ditch extends in a semicircle from corner to
corner at the southern end, and thence down the <DW72> of the hill. An
excavation of two acres, twenty-five feet deep on an average, seems to
have furnished the earth for the mound. A round well, sixty feet in
diameter and forty feet deep is found at one end of the excavation. A
temple-mound in the Nacooche Valley, Georgia, is elliptical in form,
and has a summit area of sixty by ninety feet.

An octagonal mound, forty-five feet high and one hundred and eighty
feet in diameter at the top, is located on a hill-top opposite the
city of Macon; it was formed of earth carried from the valley below. A
temple-mound at Mason's Plantation, on the Savannah River, has been
partly washed away by the water, which reveals along the natural
surface of the ground a stratum a foot thick of charcoal, baked earth,
ashes, broken pottery, shells, and bones of animals and birds, with a
few human bones. The mound, which is of the surrounding alluvial soil,
would seem to have been erected over a spot long occupied as an
encampment. This mound, and another near it, were originally enclosed
by a moat which communicated with the river, and widened on one side
into a broad lagoon.

On Plunkett Creek, Georgia, is a mound of stones which has the
appearance of a temple-mound, having a summit area forty feet in
diameter. Stone is rarely used in structures of this class; perhaps
this was originally a conical mound. There seem to be few large mounds
in the south unaccompanied by ditches, which seem here to have been
introduced where embankments would have been preferred in the north.

In a late number of the _Cincinnati Quarterly Journal of Science_ I
find described, unfortunately only on newspaper authority, a
remarkable temple-mound, near Springfield, Missouri, on a hill three
hundred feet high. It is of earth and stones, sixty two feet high,
five hundred feet in diameter at the base and one hundred and thirty
at the summit. A ditch, two hundred feet wide and five feet deep,
surrounds the base, and is crossed by a causeway, opposite which a
stairway of roughly hewn stones leads up the northern <DW72>. The top
is covered by a platform of stone, in the centre of which lies a stone
ten by twelve feet, and eleven inches thick, hollowed in the middle.
This report without further confirmation must be considered a hoax--at
least so far as the stone steps, pavement, and altar are concerned.

  [Illustration: Mississippi Temple-Mounds.]

The group of temple-mounds shown in the cut is in Washington County,
Mississippi. Others similar in many respects to these are found at
Madison, Louisiana.

Temple-mounds are homogeneous and never stratified in their
construction, and contain no relics; that is, the object in their
erection was simply to afford a raised platform, with convenient means
of ascent.

       *       *       *       *       *

Animal-mounds, the second class, are those that assume in their ground
plan various irregular forms, sometimes those of living creatures,
including quadrupeds, birds, reptiles, fishes, and in a few cases men.
Mounds of this class are very numerous in the north-west, particularly
in Wisconsin, and rarely occur further south, although there are a few
excellent specimens in Ohio. They are most abundant in fertile valleys
and rarely occur on the lake shore. Nine tenths of them are simple
straight, curved, or crooked embankments of irregular form, slightly
raised above the surface, bearing no likeness to any natural object.
In many, fancied to be like certain animals, the resemblance is
imaginary. Those shaped like a tapering club, with two knobs on one
side near the larger end--a very common figure--are called
'lizard-mounds;' add two other protuberances on the opposite side and
we have the 'turtle-mounds.' Yet a few bear a clear resemblance to
quadrupeds, birds, and serpents, and all evidently belong to the same
class and were connected with the religious ideas of the builders.
They are not burial mounds, contain no relics, are but a few feet at
the most above the ground, and are always composed of whitish clay, or
the subsoil of the country. Their dimensions on the ground are
considerable; rude effigies of human form are in some cases over one
hundred feet long; quadrupeds have bodies and tails each from fifty to
two hundred feet long; birds have wings of a hundred feet;
'lizard-mounds' are two and even four hundred feet in length;
straight and curved lines of embankment reach over a thousand feet;
and serpents are equally extensive. They are grouped without any
apparent order together with conical mounds, occasional embankments,
and few enclosures. They often form a line extending over a large
tract. In some cases the animal form is an excavation instead of a
mound, the earth being thrown up on the banks. An embankment in Adams
County, Ohio, on the summit of a hill much like those often occupied
by fortifications, is thought to resemble a monster serpent with
curved body and coiled tail, five feet high, thirty feet wide in the
middle, and over one thousand feet long if uncoiled. The jaws are wide
open and apparently in the act of swallowing an oval mound measuring
one hundred and sixty by eighty feet. On a hill overlooking Granville,
Ohio, is a mound six feet high and a hundred and fifty feet long,
thought to resemble the form of an alligator. Stones are rarely used
with the earth in the construction of animal-mounds, and only in a few
cases has the presence of ashes or other traces of fire been reported.

       *       *       *       *       *

The third class of tumuli includes the conical mounds, mere heaps of
earth and stones, so far as outward appearance is concerned, generally
round, often oval, sometimes square with rounded corners, or even
hexagonal and triangular, in their base-forms, and varying in height
from a few inches to seventy feet, in diameter from three or four to
three hundred feet. A height of from six to thirty feet and a diameter
of forty to one hundred feet would probably include a larger part of
them. Of course the height has been reduced and the base increased by
the action of rains more or less in different localities according to
the material employed. Mounds of this class never have summit
platforms or any means of ascent. They are here as elsewhere in
America much more numerous than other mounds. Although so like one to
another in form, they differ widely in location and contents. They are
found on hill-tops and in the level plain. In the former case they are
either isolated, grouped round fortifications, or extend in long lines
at irregular intervals for many miles, suggesting boundary lines or
fire signals. In the valleys they stand alone, in groups, or in
connection with sacred enclosures. The groups are sometimes
symmetrical, as when a number of mounds are regularly arranged about a
larger central one, or are so placed as to form squares, circles, and
other regular figures; but often no systematic plan is observable.
Also in connection with the enclosures part of them are symmetrically
located with respect to entrances, angles, or temple-mounds; while
others are scattered apparently without fixed order. There are few
enclosures that do not have a mound opposite each entrance on the
inside. A complete survey and restoration would probably show many
mounds to belong to some regular system, that now appear isolated.

The material of the mounds requires no remark in addition to what has
been said of other works. A large majority are simply heaps of the
earth nearest at hand. Stone mounds, or those of mixed materials, are
rare, and are chiefly confined to the hill-top structures. Most of the
earth mounds are homogeneous in structure, but some are regularly and
doubtless intentionally stratified. Some of them in the gulf states
are composed of shells, in addition to the shell-mounds proper formed
by the gradual deposit of refuse shells, the contents of which served
as food.

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: CONTENTS OF THE MOUNDS.]

The contents of the mounds should be divided into two great classes;
those deposited by the Mound-builders, and those of modern Indian or
European origin. The distinction is important, but difficult; and in
this difficulty is to be found the origin of many of the extraordinary
reports and theories. The Indians have always felt a kind of
veneration for the mounds as for something of mysterious origin and
purpose, and have used them as burial places. The Indian habit of
burying with their dead such articles as were prized by them when
living, is well known; as is also the value attached by them to
trinkets obtained by purchase or theft from Europeans. Consequently
articles of European manufacture, such as must have been obtained long
before the country was to any great extent occupied by the whites, are
often dug from the mounds and found elsewhere. The discovery of silver
crosses, gun-barrels, and French dials, does not, however, as Mr
Squier remarks, justify the conclusion that the Mound-builders "were
Catholics, used fire-arms, or spoke French." The mounds are usually
opened by injudicious explorers or by treasure-seekers, who have paid
little attention to the location of the relics found or the condition
of the surrounding soil. Museums and private collections are full of
spurious relics thus obtained. It is certain in some cases, and
probable in many more, that the mounds have been 'salted' with
specimens with a view to their early investigation. Yet many mounds
have been opened by scientific men, who have brought to light curious
relics, surely the work of the Mound-builders. Such relics are found
in the centre of the mounds, on or near the original surface of the
ground, with the surrounding material undisturbed. In the stratified
mounds any disturbance in the soil is easily detected, but with
difficulty in the others. Reports of unusual relics should be regarded
as not authentic unless accompanied by most positive proof.

       *       *       *       *       *

Neither the embankments of sacred enclosures, the temple-mounds, nor
the animal-mounds, have been proved to contain any relics that may be
attributed to the original builders. Many of the conical mounds do
contain such relics, and by their contents or the lack of them, are
divided into altar-mounds, burial mounds, and anomalous mounds.

Altar-mounds are always found within or near enclosures, and each one
is found to contain something like an altar, made of burned clay or
stone. The altars are generally of fine clay brought from some
distance, burned hard sometimes to a depth of twenty inches. They were
not burned before being put in place, but by the action of fires built
upon or round them. Such as were very slightly burned had no relics.
The stone altars are very rare, and are formed of rough slabs, and not
hewn from a single block. They are square, rectangular, round, and
oval; vary in size from two feet in diameter to fifteen by fifty feet,
but are generally from five to eight feet; are rarely over twenty
inches high; rest on or near the surface of the ground, in the centre
of the mound; and have a basin-shaped concavity on the top. The basin
is almost always filled with ashes, in which are the relics deposited
by the Mound-builders. Relics are much more numerous in the altar than
in the burial mounds, but as they are of the same class, both may best
be spoken of together. These altars are probably the structures spoken
of by early explorers and writers as hearths; there are reports that
some of them were made of burnt bricks.

A peculiarity of the altar-mounds is that they are formed of regular
strata of earth, gravel, sand, clay, etc., which are not horizontal,
but follow the curve of the surface. The outer layer is commonly of
gravel. This stratification renders it easy to detect any modern
disturbance of the mounds, and makes the altar relics especially
interesting and valuable for scientific purposes. Over the ashes in
one altar-mound, were found plates of mica and some human bones.
Skeletons are often found near the surface of these mounds, the strata
above them being disturbed; in one case the Indians had penetrated to
the centre and deposited a body on the altar itself. Sir John Lubbock
inclines to the opinion that these were really sepulchral rather than
sacrificial mounds, although he had not personally examined them.
Whatever their use, they certainly constitute a clearly defined class
distinct from all others, and the name altar-mounds is as appropriate
as any other.

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: BURIAL MOUNDS.]

Unstratified mounds, never within enclosures and generally at some
little distance from them, containing human remains in their centres
and undoubtedly erected as places of sepulture, constitute the second
class, and are called burial mounds. The custom of heaping up a mound
over the dead was probably imitated for a long time by the tribes that
followed the Mound-builders, so that the relics from these mounds are
less satisfactory than those found on the altars. In the burial mounds
that may be most confidently ascribed to the Mound-builders, the human
remains are found in a situation corresponding to that of the altars.
They are usually enclosed in a frame-work of logs, a covering of bark
or coarse matting, or a combination of these, which have left only
faint traces. Of the skeleton only small fragments remain, which
crumble on exposure to the air. In some cases there are indications
that the body was burned before burial. Each mound contains, as a
rule, a single skeleton, generally but not always placed east and
west. Where several skeletons are found together, they are sometimes
placed in a circle with the heads towards the centre. The mounds never
contain large numbers of skeletons, and cannot be regarded as
cemeteries, but only as monuments reared over the remains of
personages high in rank. Very few skulls or bones are recovered
sufficiently entire to give any idea of the Mound-builders' physique,
and these few show no clearly defined differences from the modern
Indian tribes. Four or five burial mounds are often found in a group,
the smaller ones in such cases being grouped round a larger central
one, generally in contact with its base. Mr Lapham sketched mounds in
Wisconsin where the body is deposited in a central basin-shaped
excavation in the ground very much like those in Vancouver Island
already described.

Of the eastern burial deposits not connected with the mounds I shall
say very little. It has already been stated that the mounds were in no
sense cemeteries. Only a favored few of what must have been a dense
population were honored by these sepulchral monuments. Obliged to seek
elsewhere the general depositories of the dead, we find them of
various classes in large numbers; but as yet very little has been done
towards identifying any of them as the resting-places of the
Mound-builders. There are many bone-pits, or trenches filled with
human bones, in the mound region; but some of the modern Indians are
well known to have periodically collected and deposited in pits the
bones of their dead. Large numbers of bodies have been found in the
caves of Kentucky and Tennessee, well preserved by the natural
deposits of saltpetre, and wrapped in skins, bark, or feather-cloth;
but the fact that such cloths were made and used by the southern
tribes, renders the origin of these bodies uncertain. Besides the
caves and trenches there are regular cemeteries, some of them very
extensive. Seven of these are reported about Nashville, Tennessee,
within a radius of ten miles, each being about a mile in extent. The
graves are of flat stones, lie in ranges, and contain skeletons much
decayed, with some relics. The coffins, or graves, vary from two to
six feet in length, and the smallest have sometimes been mentioned as
indicating a race of pigmies; it is evident, however, that in such
graves bones were not deposited until the flesh had been removed.
Sometimes there are traces of wooden coffins, in other cases there are
only stones at the head and feet, and often there is no trace of any
coffin. A few graves contain relics similar to those in the
altar-mounds, and were covered with large forest trees when first
seen by Europeans. Yet the comparatively well-preserved skeletons, and
the presence in many cases of iron and relics clearly modern, render
it well-nigh impossible to decide which, if any, of these cemeteries
contain the remains of the Mound-builders.

  [Illustration: Mound at Miamisburg.]

  [Sidenote: ANOMALOUS MOUNDS.]

Mounds of the third class are called anomalous, and include all that
are not evidently either altar or burial mounds, or which have some
of the peculiarities of both classes; for instance, in an elliptical
mound an altar was found in one centre, and a skeleton in the other.
Most prominent among them are the hill-top heaps of earth, or--oftener
than in the plains below--of stone. These have as a rule few original
burial deposits, and no relics; are often near fortifications; and in
many cases bear the marks of fire. Their use cannot be accurately
determined, but they are generally regarded as watch-towers and fire
signal stations. Of course, comparatively few of the whole number of
conical mounds have been explored, but so far as examined they seem to
be about equally divided between the three classes. The mound shown
in the cut is at Miamisburg, Ohio, and its class is not stated. It is
sixty-eight feet high and eight hundred and fifty feet in
circumference. Shell-mounds abounding in relics of aboriginal work are
very numerous in the gulf states.

       *       *       *       *       *

I shall pass briefly over the minor relics of aboriginal art since it
is impossible in this volume to present illustrative cuts of the
thousands of objects that have been found, or even of typical
specimens. Such relics as are incontestably the work of the
Mound-builders include articles of metal, stone, earthen ware, bone,
and shell. They include implements and ornaments, besides which many
are of unknown use. Most of the smaller specimens, whose use is
unknown, are called by Mr Dickeson and others aboriginal coins;
perhaps some of them did serve such a purpose.

The only metals found in the mounds are copper and silver, the latter
only in very small quantities. A few gold trinkets have been reported,
but the evidence is not conclusive that such were deposited by the
Mound-builders. Iron ore and galena occur, but no iron or lead.

Copper is found in native masses, and also hammered into implements
and ornaments. There is no evidence that this metal was ever obtained
from ore by smelting; it was all doubtless worked cold from native
masses by hammering. Concerning the locality where it was procured,
there is little or no uncertainty. The abundant deposits of native
copper about Lake Superior naturally suggest that region as the source
of the copper supply; the discovery of anciently worked mines
strengthens the supposition; and the finding among the mounds of
copper mixed with silver in a manner only found at Lake Superior,
makes the matter a certainty. The modern tribes also obtained some
copper from the same localities. The Mound-builders were ignorant of
the arts of casting, welding, and alloying. They had no means of
hardening their copper tools, being in this respect less advanced than
the Nahuas and Mayas. In fact copper implements are much more rare
than ornaments of the same metal. The implements include axes,
hatchets, adzes, knives, spear-heads, chisels, drills, etc. Ornaments
are in the form of rings, gorgets, medals, bracelets, and beads, with
a large variety of small articles of unknown use, some of them
probably used as money. Very small models of larger implements like
axes are often found, and were doubtless worn as ornaments.

Silver is of much rarer occurrence than copper, was obtained probably
from the same region, and is almost invariably found in the form of
sheets hammered out very thin and closely wrapped about small
ornaments of copper or shell. So nicely is the wrapping done that it
often resembles plating. The gold whose discovery has been reported
has been in the form of beads and so-called coins. Mr Dickeson speaks
confidently of gold, silver, copper, and galena money left by the
Mound-builders. There is no evidence that the use of iron was known,
except the extreme difficulty of clearing forests and carving stone
with implements of stone and soft copper.

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: ABORIGINAL POTTERY.]

  [Illustration: Earthen Vases from the Mounds.]

Specimens of aboriginal pottery are very abundant, although much less
so within the mounds than elsewhere near the surface. Mr Squier says,
"various though not abundant specimens of their skill have been
recorded, which in elegance of model, delicacy, and finish, as also in
fineness of material, come fully up to the best Peruvian specimens, to
which they bear, in many respects, a close resemblance. They far
exceed anything of which the existing tribes of Indians are known to
have been capable." The specimens in the mound-deposits are, with very
few exceptions, broken. The material is usually a pure clay,
sometimes with a slight admixture of pulverized quartz or 
flakes of mica, but such admixtures are much rarer than in modern
specimens. Notwithstanding their great regularity of form and beauty
of finish, none bear signs that the potter's wheel was used in their
construction, and no vessels are glazed by vitrification. They are
decorated with various graceful figures, including those of living
animals, cut in with sharp instruments. A few crucibles, capable of
withstanding intense heat, have been found, also terra-cotta images of
animals and men, and ornaments or coins in small quantities.
Pottery-kilns are found in the south, but that they were the work of
the Mound-builders has not been satisfactorily proven. Specimens of
the finer class of vases are shown in the cut. The first is of pure
clay with a slight silicious mixture. It is five and a half inches
high and six and a half in diameter, not over one sixth of an inch in
uniform thickness, pierced with four holes in the line round the rim,
dark brown or umber in color, and highly polished. The decorative
lines are cut in with a sharp instrument which left no ragged edges.
The second vase is of somewhat smaller size and coarser material; but
more elaborately ornamented and only one eighth of an inch in
thickness.

  [Sidenote: STONE IMPLEMENTS.]

Stone implements are more abundant than those of any other material in
the altar-mounds and elsewhere. They include arrow and spear heads,
knives, axes, hatchets, chisels, and other variously formed cutting
instruments, with hammers and pestles. These are made of quartz and
other hard varieties of stone, all belonging to the mound region
except the obsidian. There is no doubt that obsidian implements were
used by the Mound-builders, and as this material is said not to be
found nearer than Mexico and California, it is perhaps as likely that
the implements were obtained by trade as that they were manufactured
in the country. Neither the obsidian knives, nor other stone weapons,
show any marked differences from those found in Mexico, Central
America, and most other parts of the world. Lance and arrow heads,
finished and in the rough, entire or more frequently broken by the
action of fire, are taken by hundreds and thousands from the
altar-mounds; several bushels of lance-heads of milky quartz were
found in one mound. It is a remarkable fact, however, that no weapons
whatever are found in burial mounds. Beads, rings, and other ornaments
of stone are often found, with a variety of anomalous articles whose
use is more or less imperfectly understood. Besides weapons and
knives, pipes are the articles most abundant, and on which the
Mound-builders expended most lavishly their skill, carving the bowls
into a great variety of beautiful forms, at what must have been an
immense outlay of labor. A remarkable peculiarity of their
pipe-carvings is that accurate representations are given of different
natural objects instead of the rude caricatures and monstrosities in
which savage art usually delights. Nearly every beast, bird, and
reptile indigenous to the country is truthfully represented, together
with some creatures now only found in tropical climates, such as the
lamantin and toucan. The pipes generally consist of a bowl rising from
the centre of the convex side of a curved base, one end of which
serves as a handle and the other is pierced for a stem. They are
always cut from a single piece, the material being generally a hard
porphyry, oftenest red, and strongly resembling in some cases the red
pipe-stone of the Coteau des Prairies. The locality where this pipe
material was obtained is unknown. Many of the sculptured figures show
skillful workmanship and a high polish; I think that many of them are
not inferior to the products of Nahua and Maya skill. Some rude stone
images of unknown use have been found at various points, but I am not
aware that any relics have been authentically reported from the
altar-mounds which indicate that the ancient people were worshipers of
idols. Mica is the mineral most common in both altar and burial
mounds, where it occurs in plates cut into a great variety of forms.
Some of them have been conjectured to have served as mirrors. Bushels
are sometimes deposited in a single mound. Pieces of coal artificially
formed are included by Dickeson among his aboriginal coins.

       *       *       *       *       *

Bones of indigenous animals are found worked into daggers, awls, and
similar implements; or as ornaments in the form of beads. Similar use
was made of the teeth and talons of beasts and birds. Teeth of the
bear, wolf, panther, alligator, and shark, have been found, some of
the latter being fossils, together with large quantities of teeth
resembling those of the whale, but not fully identified.

Five varieties of marine shells, all from the gulf shores, have been
examined, with pearls whose size and numbers prove that they are not
of fresh-water origin. Both are used for ornaments, chiefly in the
form of beads. Pearls are also found in a few instances serving as
eyes for animal and bird sculptures. Some articles of bone and shell
have been mistaken for ivory and accredited with an Asiatic origin,
through ignorance that their material is found on the shores of the
gulf. Many articles found in the mounds, and not perhaps included in
the preceding general description, are interesting, but could only be
described in a detailed account, for which I have no space; but most
relics not thus included are of doubtful authenticity, and a doubtful
monument of antiquity should always be attributed to modern times.

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: ANCIENT MINES.]

The ancient miners have left numerous traces of their work in the
region of Lake Superior. At one place a piece of pure copper weighing
over five tons was found fifteen feet below the surface, under trees
at least four hundred years old. It had been raised on skids, bore
marks of fire, and some stone implements were scattered about. There
is no evidence that the tribes found in possession of the country by
the first French missionaries ever worked these mines, or had any
tradition of a people that had worked them, although both they and
their ancestors had copper knives hammered from lumps of the metal,
which are very commonly found on the surface. All the traditions and
Indian stories of 'mines' may most consistently be referred to these
natural superficial deposits. The ancient mines were for the most part
in the same localities where the best modern mines are worked. Most of
them have left as traces only slight depressions in the surface, the
finding of which is regarded by prospectors as a tolerably sure
indication of a rich vein of copper. The cut represents a section of
one of the veins of copper-bearing rock worked by the ancient miners.
The mass of copper at _a_ weighed about six tons. At the top a portion
of the stone had been left across the vein as a support. Copper
implements, including wedges used in mining as 'gads,' are found in
and about the old mines; with hammers of stone, mostly grooved for
withe handles. Some weigh from thirty to forty pounds and have two
grooves; others again are not grooved at all. In one case remains of a
handle of twisted cedar-roots were found, and much-worn wooden shovels
often occur. There are no enclosures, mounds, or other traces of a
permanent settlement of the Mound-builders in the mining region. It is
probable that the miners came each summer from the south; in fact, it
would have been impossible to work the mines in winter by their
methods.

  [Illustration: Section of an old Copper Mine.]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: ROCK-INSCRIPTIONS.]

Nearly all the coins, medals, stone tablets, etc., that have been
discovered within the region occupied by the Mound-builders, bearing
inscriptions in regular apparently alphabetic characters, may be
proved to be of European origin; and the few specimens that do not
admit of such proof should of course be attributed to such an origin
in the absence of conclusive evidence to the contrary. Rude
delineations of men, animals, and other recognizable objects,
together with many arbitrary, perhaps conventional, characters, are of
frequent occurrence on the walls of caves, on perpendicular
river-cliffs, and on detached stones. They are sometimes incised, but
usually painted. Most bear a strong resemblance to the artistic
efforts of modern tribes; and those which seem to bear marks of a
greater antiquity, have by no means been identified as the work of the
Mound-builders. These eastern rock-inscriptions do not call for
additional remarks, after what has been said of similar carvings in
other regions. Many of the figures have a meaning to those who make
them, but that meaning, as in all writings of this class, perishes
with the artist and his immediate times. Attempts by zealous
antiquaries to penetrate the signification of particular
inscriptions--as that on Dighton Rock, Massachusetts, and other
well-known examples--have failed to convince any but the determined
advocate of such theories as seem to derive support from the so-called
translation. My father saw a stone tablet taken from a stone mound
near Newark, covered with carved characters, which the clergyman of
the town pronounced to be the ten commandments in ancient Hebrew. I
have no doubt that the figures did closely resemble the ancient Hebrew
in one respect at least--that is, in being equally unfamiliar to the
clergyman.

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: CONCLUSIONS.]

Without taking up here the various theories respecting the origin,
history, and disappearance of the Mound-builders, it may be well to
express in a few brief conclusions what may be learned of this people
by an examination of the monuments which they have left.

They were a numerous people, as is sufficiently proved by the
magnitude and geographical extent of their works. They were probably
_one_ people, that is, composed of tribes living under similar laws,
religion, and other institutions. Such variations as are observed in
the monuments are only those that would naturally occur between
central and frontier regions, although the animals-mounds of the
north-west present some difficulties. The Mound-builders were an
agricultural people. Tribes that live by hunting never build extensive
public works, neither would the chase support a sufficiently large
population for the erection of such works. Moreover, the location of
the monuments in the most fertile sections goes far to confirm this
conclusion. Some of the larger enclosures have been supposed,--only by
reason of their size, however,--to have been cultivated fields; and
evident traces of an ancient cultivation are found, although not
clearly referable to the Mound-builders.

There is nothing to show an advanced civilization in the modern sense
of the word, but they were civilized in comparison with the roving
hunter-tribes of later times. They knew nothing of the use of metals
beyond the mere hammering of native masses of copper and silver; they
built no stone structures; they had seemingly made no approach to the
higher grades of hieroglyphic writing. Their civilization as recorded
by its material relics consisted of a knowledge of agriculture;
considerable skill in the art of fortification; much greater skill
than that of the Indians in the manufacture of pottery and the carving
of stone pipes; the mathematical knowledge displayed in the laying-out
of perfect circles and accurate angles, and in the correspondence in
size between different works. Their earth-works show more perseverance
than skill; no one of them necessarily implies the use of mechanical
aids to labor; there is none that a large number of men might not
construct by carrying earth in simple baskets.

All traces of their architecture have disappeared. It has been
suggested that were the temples yet standing on their pyramidal
foundations, they might compare favorably with those of Central
America and Mexico. But the construction of wooden edifices with any
pretensions to grandeur and symmetry, by means of stone and soft
copper tools, seems absolutely impossible; at least such structures
would require infinitely greater skill than that displayed by the
Nahuas and Mayas, and it is more reasonable to suppose that the
temples of the Mound-builders were rude wooden buildings.

The monuments imply a wide-spread religious system under a powerful
priesthood; private devotion manifests itself on a scale less
magnificent, and one involving less hard work. Of their rites we know
nothing. The altar-mounds suggest sacrifice; burned human bones, human
sacrifice. Gateways on the east, and the east and west direction of
embankments and skeletons may connect worship with the sun; but all is
conjecture. No idols, known to be such, have been found; the
cemeteries, if any of them belong to the Mound-builders, show no
uniform usage in burial. The ancient people lived under a system of
government considerably advanced, more than likely in the hands of the
priesthood, but of its details we know nothing. A social condition
involving some form of slavery would be most favorable for the
construction of such works.

The monuments described are not the work of the Indian tribes found in
the country, nor of any tribes resembling them in institutions. Those
tribes had no definite tradition even of past contact with a superior
people, and it is only in the south among the little-known Natchez,
that slight traces of a descent from, or imitation of, the
Mound-builders appear. Most and the best authorities deem it
impossible that the Mound-builders were even the remote ancestors of
the Indian tribes; and while inclined to be less positive than most
who have written on the subject respecting the possible changes that
may have been effected by a long course of centuries, I think that the
evidence of a race locally extinct is much stronger here than in any
other part of the continent.

The monuments are not sufficient in themselves to absolutely prove or
disprove the truth of any one of the following theories: 1st. An
indigenous culture springing up among the Mississippi tribes, founded
on agriculture, fostered by climate and other unknown circumstances,
constantly growing through long ages, driving back the surrounding
walls of savagism, but afterwards weakened by unknown causes, yielding
gradually to savage hordes, and finally annihilated or driven in
remnants from their homes southward. 2d. A colony from the southern
peoples already started in the path of civilization, growing as before
in power, but at last forced to yield their homes into the possession
of savages. 3d. A migrating colony from the north, dwelling long in
the land, gradually increasing in power and culture, constantly
extending their dominion southward, and finally abandoning voluntarily
or against their will, the north for the more favored south, where
they modified or originated the southern civilization.

The last theory, long a very popular one, is in itself less consistent
and receives less support from the relics than the others. The second,
which has some points in common with the first, is most reasonable and
best supported by monumental and traditional evidence. The
temple-mounds strongly resemble in their principal features the
southern pyramids; at least they imply a likeness of religious ideas
in the builders. The use of obsidian implements shows a connection,
either through origin, war, or commerce, with the Mexican nations, or
at least with nations who came in contact with the Nahuas. There are,
moreover, several Nahua traditions respecting the arrival on their
coasts from the north-east, of civilized strangers. There is very
little evidence that the Mound-builders introduced in the south the
Nahua civilization, and none whatever that the Aztec migration started
from the Mississippi Valley, but I am inclined to believe that there
was actually a connection between the two peoples; that the
Mound-builders, or those that introduced their culture, were
originally a Nahua colony, and that these people may be referred to in
some of the traditions mentioned. Without claiming to be able to
determine exactly the relation between the Mound-builders and Nahuas,
I shall have something further to say on this subject in another
volume.

  [Sidenote: ANTIQUITY OF THE MONUMENTS.]

The works were not built by a migrating people, but by a race that
lived long in the land. It seems unlikely that the results attained
could have been accomplished in less than four or five centuries.
Nothing indicates that the time did not extend to thousands of years,
but it is only respecting the minimum time that there can be any
grounds for reasonable conjecture. If we suppose the civilization
indigenous, of course a much longer period must be assigned to its
development than if it was introduced by a migration--or rather a
colonization, for civilized and semi-civilized peoples do not migrate
en masse. Moreover a northern origin would imply a longer duration of
time than one from the south, where a degree of civilization is known
to have existed.

How long a time has elapsed since the Mound-builders abandoned their
works? Here again a minimum estimate only can be sought. No work is
more enduring than an embankment of earth. There is no positive
internal proof that they were not standing one, five, or ten thousand
years ago. The evidences of an ancient abandonment of the works, or
serious decline of the builders' power, are as follows:--1st, the fact
that none of them stand on the last-formed terrace of the rivers, most
on the oldest terrace, and that those on the second bear in some cases
marks of having been invaded by water. The rate of terrace-forming
varies on different streams, and there are no sufficient data for
estimating in years the time required for the formation of any one of
the terraces, at least scientific men are careful not to give a
definite opinion in the matter; but it is evident that each required
a very long period, and the last one a much longer time than any of
the others, on account of the gradual longitudinal leveling of the
river-beds. 2d. The complete disappearance of all wooden structures,
which must have been of great solidity. 3d. The advanced state of
decomposition of human bones in a soil well calculated for their
preservation. Skeletons are found in Europe well preserved at a known
age of eighteen hundred years. 4th. The absence of the Mound-builders
from the traditions of modern tribes. Nothing would seem more likely
to be preserved in mythic or historic traditions than contact with a
superior people, and the mounds would serve to keep the traditions
alive. 5th. The fact that the monuments were covered in the
seventeenth century with primitive forests, uniform with those which
covered the other parts of the country. In this latitude the age of a
forest tree may be much more accurately determined than in tropical
climates; and trees from four to five hundred years old have been
examined in many well-authenticated cases over mounds and embankments.
Equally large trees in all stages of decomposition were found at their
feet on and under the ground, so that the abandonment of the works
must be dated back at least twice the actual age of the standing
trees. It is a fact well known to woodsmen that when cultivated land
is abandoned the first growth is very unlike the original forest, both
in the species and size of the trees, and that several generations
would be required to restore the primitive timber. Consequently a
thousand years must have passed since some of the works were
abandoned. The monuments of the Mississippi present stronger internal
evidence of great antiquity than any others in America, although it by
no means follows that they are older than Palenque and Copan. The
height of the Mound-builders' power should not, without very positive
external evidence, be placed at a later date than the fifth or sixth
century of our era.

FOOTNOTE:

[XIII-1] The chief authorities consulted for this chapter on the
remains of the Mississippi Valley, are the following:

     _Squier and Davis_, _Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi
     Valley_. Washington, 1848. _Squier's Antiquities of the
     State of New York_. _Id._, _Observations on Aboriginal
     Monuments of the Mississippi Valley_. New York, 1847.
     _Id._, _Serpent Symbol_.

     _Atwater's Antiquities of Ohio_, and other accounts in the
     _Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transactions_.

     _Schoolcraft's Archives of Aboriginal Knowledge._

     _Warden_, _Recherches sur les Antiquites de l'Amerique du
     Nord_.

     _Jones' Antiquities of the Southern Indians._

     _Pidgeon's Traditions of Decoodah._

     _Lapham's Antiquities of Wisconsin._ Washington, 1853.

     _Whittlesey's Ancient Mining on the Shores of Lake
     Superior._

     _Bradford's American Antiquities._

     _Foster's Pre-Historic Races._

     _Id._, _Mississippi Valley_.

     _Smithsonian Institution, Reports._

     _Tylor's Researches._

     _American Ethnological Soc., Transactions._

     _Dickeson's Amer. Numismatic Manual._

     _Bancroft, A. A._, _Antiquities of Licking County, Ohio_.
     MS. The writer of this manuscript, my father, was for
     fifty years a resident of Licking County, where he has
     examined more or less carefully about forty enclosures and
     two hundred mounds.




CHAPTER XIV.

PERUVIAN ANTIQUITIES.

     TWO EPOCHS OF PERUVIAN CIVILIZATION -- ABORIGINAL
     GOVERNMENT, RELIGION, AND ARTS -- CONTRASTS -- THE HUACAS
     -- HUMAN REMAINS -- ARTICLES OF METAL -- COPPER IMPLEMENTS
     -- GOLD AND SILVER VASES AND ORNAMENTS -- USE OF IRON
     UNKNOWN -- ABORIGINAL ENGINEERING -- PAVED ROADS --
     PERUVIAN POTTERY -- RUINS OF PACHACAMAC -- MAUSOLEUM OF
     CUELAP -- GRAN-CHIMU -- HUACA OF MISA -- TEMPLE OF THE SUN
     -- REMAINS ON THE ISLAND OF TITICACA -- CHAVIN DE HUANTA
     -- HUANUCO EL VIEJO -- CUZCO -- MONUMENTS OF TIAHUANACO --
     ISLAND OF COATI.


I conclude with a short chapter on Peruvian antiquities, made up for
the most part from the work of Rivero and Tschudi, and illustrated
with the cuts copied from that work for Mr Baldwin's account.[XIV-1]
Ancient Peru included also modern Ecuador, Bolivia, and a large part
of Chili; and the most remarkable monuments of antiquity are
considered the works of a people preceding that found by Pizarro in
possession of the country, and bearing very much the same relation to
the subjects of the Incas as the ancient Mayas bore to the Quiches of
Guatemala, or perhaps the Toltecs to the Aztecs. The Peruvians that
came into contact with the Spaniards were superior in some respects to
the Aztecs. At least equally advanced in the various mechanical and
fine arts, except sculpture and architectural decoration, they lived
under as perfect a system of government, and rendered homage to less
bloodthirsty gods. They kept their records by means of _quipus_, or
knotted strings, a method probably as useful practically as the Aztec
picture-writing, but not so near an approach to an alphabet; while the
more ancient nations have left nothing to compare with the
hieroglyphic tablets of Central America, and the evidence is far from
satisfactory that they possessed any advanced art in writing. It will
be seen from the specimens to be presented that their architecture,
though perhaps more massive than that of Mayas or Nahuas, is not on
the whole of a superior character. The most marked contrasts are found
in the occurrence in Peru of cyclopean structures, the use of larger
blocks of stone, the comparative absence of the pyramidal foundations,
of architectural and hieroglyphic sculpture, and the more extensive
use of adobes as a building-material.

  [Sidenote: METALLIC RELICS.]

  [Illustration: Peruvian Copper Implements.]

  [Illustration: Golden Vase from Peru.]

_Huaca_ is the Peruvian name for any venerated or holy structure, but
is usually applied to the conical mounds of the country, mostly mounds
of sepulture. Thousands of these have been opened and from them have
been taken a great variety of relics, together with preserved mummies
wrapped in native cloth. The relics include implements and ornaments
of metal, stone, bone, shell, and wood. The Peruvians seem to have had
a more abundant supply of metals than the civilized nations of North
America, and to have been at least equally skillful in working them.
The cuts show specimens of copper cutting implements, of which a great
variety are found. Besides copper, they had gold and silver in much
greater abundance than the northern artisans, and the arts of melting,
casting, soldering, beating, inlaying, and carving these metals, were
carried to a high degree of perfection. Every one has read the
marvelous accounts, naturally exaggerated, but still with much
foundation in truth, of the immense quantities of gold obtained by the
Spaniards in Peru; of the room filled with golden utensils by the
natives as a ransom for the Inca Atahuallpa. A golden vase is shown in
the cut. Large quantities of gold have been taken in more modern times
from the huacas, where it was doubtless placed in many cases to keep
it from the hands of the conquerors. Most of the articles have of
course gone to the melting-pot, but sufficient specimens have been
preserved or sketched to show the degree of excellence to which the
Peruvian smiths had attained. The following cut shows a silver vase.
The search for treasure in the huacas still goes on, and is not always
unrewarded. Tin, lead, and quicksilver are said to have been worked by
the natives. Iron ore is very abundant in Peru, but the only evidence
that iron was used is the difficulty of executing the native works of
excavation and cutting stone without it, and the fact that the metal
had a name in the native language. No traces of it have ever been
found. The cut shows two copper tweezers.

  [Illustration: Silver Vase from Peru.]

  [Illustration: Copper Implements from Peru.]

  [Sidenote: ABORIGINAL ROADS.]

Among the most remarkable Peruvian remains are the paved roads which
crossed the country in every direction, especially from north to
south. Two of the grandest highways extended from the region north of
Quito southward to Cuzco, and according to some authors still farther
to Chili. One runs over the mountains, the other chiefly through the
plains. Their length is at least twelve hundred miles, and the grading
of the mountain road presented, as Mr Baldwin believes, far greater
difficulties than the Pacific Railroad. These roads are from eighteen
to twenty-six feet wide, protected at the sides by a thick wall, and
paved generally with stone blocks, but sometimes with a mixture of
cement and fine stone--an aboriginal infringement on the 'Macadam'
process. The highways followed a straight course, and turned aside for
no obstacle. Ravines and marshes were filled up with masonry, and the
solid rock of the mountains was cut away for many miles. But when
rivers were encountered, light suspension bridges seem to have been
resorted to instead of massive stone bridges. It is true that the most
glowing accounts of these roads are found in the writings of the
Conquistadores, and that only ruined portions now remain; but the
reports of Humboldt and others, respecting the remains, leave little
doubt of their former imposing character.

  [Illustration: Peruvian Pottery.]

Articles of pottery, of which three specimens are shown in the cuts,
are at least equal in material and finish to those produced by Nahua
and Maya potters. The finest specimens are vases found in sepulchral
deposits, and many utensils designed for more common use are preserved
by the present inhabitants, and are preferred for their solidity to
the work of modern potters. Small images of human and animal forms in
terra cotta, as in gold and silver, are of even more frequent
occurrence than utensils. There is no evidence that the images were
fashioned with a different purpose here and in the north; some were
simply ornaments, a few probably portraits, others miniature deities,
deposited from superstitious motives with the dead.

  [Illustration: Peruvian Pottery.]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: CITY OF THE INCAS.]

About twenty miles south of Lima, in the valley of Lurin, and
overlooking the sea, are the ruins of Pachacamac, shown in the cut.
This was a city of the Incas, that is, it belonged to the later period
of Peruvian civilization. All the structures were built of adobes, and
are much dilapidated. The Temple of the Sun stands on a hill six
hundred feet high, the upper portion of which shows traces of having
been divided into terraces over thirty feet high and five to eight
feet wide. The adobe wall which surrounds the temple is from eight to
eleven feet thick, and is only standing to the height of four to five
feet. The ruined structures are very numerous, and on one of the inner
walls some traces of red and yellow paint are visible.

  [Illustration: Ruins of Pachacamac.]

In the district of Santo Tomas in the north, at Cuelap, a grand and
peculiar ruin is described by Sr Nieto in an official government
report. A mass--of earth, probably, although not fully examined in the
interior--is faced with a solid wall of hewn stone, and is thirty-six
hundred feet long, five hundred and seventy feet wide, and one hundred
and fifty feet in perpendicular height. On the summit stands another
similar structure six hundred by five hundred feet and also one
hundred and fifty feet high. The lower wall is pierced with three
entrances to an inclined plane leading in a curved line to the summit,
with sentry-boxes at intervals and on the summit. These passages are
six feet wide at the base but only two at the top, and those of the
second story are similar. In both stories there are chambers, in the
walls of which and in the outer walls there are small niches
containing skeletons. Some of the upper chambers are paved with large
flat stones, on each of which lies a skeleton. The report of this
immense structure is probably founded on fact but greatly exaggerated.

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: RUINS OF GRAN-CHIMU.]

  [Illustration: Adobe Walls at Gran-Chimu.]

  [Illustration: Decorations at Gran-Chimu.]

The ruins of Gran-Chimu, in the vicinity of Truxillo, cover an area of
three quarters of a league, and beyond these limits are seven or eight
great enclosures with adobe walls, in some of which are conical
mounds, or huacas, and some traces of buildings. The two principal
structures, called palaces, are surrounded by walls one hundred and
forty feet high, sixteen feet thick at the base, but tapering to three
or four feet at the top. Round one of the palaces the wall is double,
as shown by the section in the cut. The English translation of Rivero,
instead of surrounding one of the palaces with a double wall like the
original, represents one wall as being twice as high and thick as the
other. These walls, like all the structures of Gran-Chimu, are of
adobes nine by eighteen inches, resting on a foundation of rough
stones laid in clay. In connection with the larger palace is a square
containing apartments, the walls of which are a conglomerate of gravel
and clay, smooth, and whitewashed on the interior. There are also
plazas and streets regularly laid out, and a reservoir which by a
subterranean aqueduct was supplied with water from the Rio Moche two
miles distant. This palace--and by palace, a group of edifices within
an enclosure, rather than a single edifice, seems to be meant--has two
entrances, one in the middle of each long side. The second palace is
one hundred and twenty five yards further east, and is also divided by
squares and narrow streets. At one end is the huaca of Misa,
surrounded by a low wall, pierced by galleries and rooms in which have
been found mummies, cloths, gold and silver, implements, and a wooden
idol with pieces of pearl-shell. All the inner walls are built of a
mass of clay and gravel or of adobes. The cut shows specimens of the
ornamentation, which seem to bear outwardly a slight resemblance to
the mosaic work of Mitla, although the method of their construction is
not explained. "Outside of these notable edifices, there is an
infinite number of squares and small houses, some round and others
square, which were certainly dwellings of the lower classes, and
whose great extent indicates that the population must have been very
large." Among the ruins are many truncated conical mounds, or huacas,
of fine gravel, from some of which interesting relics and large
quantities of gold have been taken. The so-called Temple of the Sun is
three quarters of a league east of the city near Moche, in connection
with which are several adobe structures, one of them, perhaps the
temple itself, so far as may be determined by Rivero's vague account,
made worse than vague in the English translation, is a regular pyramid
of adobes. It is four hundred and fourteen by four hundred and thirty
feet at the base, three hundred and forty-five feet wide on the
summit, and over eighty feet high, built in terraces, pierced with a
gallery through the centre, and affording a fine view of the sea and
the city of Truxillo.

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: RUINS OF HUANUCO.]

  [Illustration: Ruin at Titicaca.]

The cut represents a ruin on the Island of Titicaca in the lake of
the same name. These island remains are among the oldest of Peruvian
antiquities, and all the structures are built of hewn stone.
Respecting these ruins we only learn from the explorers that "though
not very imposing" they are well preserved, "with windows and doors,
with posts and thresholds of hewn stone also, these being wider below
than above." Another ruin on the same island is shown in the cut on
the following page.

At Chavin de Huanta the structures are built of hewn stone very
accurately joined without any mortar in sight on the outside, and a
rubble of rough stones and clay on the inside. In a building spoken of
as a fortress there is a covered way with rooms at its sides, all
covered with sandstone blocks about twelve feet long. The walls are
six feet thick, and in the interior is the opening to a subterranean
passage which is said to lead under the river to another building. In
the gallery human bones and some relics were found. The modern town is
built mostly over the ruins of an ancient aqueduct, and a bridge over
the stream is built of three immense stones, each over twenty feet
long, taken from the fort. The ancient people were especially skillful
in the construction of aqueducts, some of which were reported by the
early writers as several hundred miles in length, and a few of which
of less extent are still in actual use.

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: RUINS OF HUANUCO.]

  [Illustration: El Mirador--Huanuco.]

  [Illustration: Ruins at Titicaca.]

The cut represents the Mirador, or look-out, at Huanuco el Viejo.
This structure measures about one hundred by one hundred and sixty
feet at the base, and is about fifteen feet high, in a pyramidal form
without terraces and furnished with a parapet wall enclosing the
summit platform. The foundation is of rough stones, which form two
steps projecting four or five feet, not clearly indicated in the cut.
The walls or facings are of hewn blocks of limestone about four feet
and a half long by a foot and a half thick. The blocks are very
accurately cut and laid in cement. The interior is filled with gravel
and clay, with a concavity in the centre popularly supposed to
communicate by means of a subterranean gallery with the palace some
half a mile distant. From a doorway in the parapet wall on the south
an inclined plane--which seems often to have taken the place of a
stairway in Peru--leads down to the ground. On the wall at each side
of the entrance crouches an animal in stone, so much damaged that its
kind cannot be determined.

  [Illustration: Gateway at Huanuco.]

Another noted ruin at Huanuco is that whose entrance is shown in the
cut. The walls are of round stones irregularly laid in mortar, a kind
of rubble called by the Peruvians _pirca_, but the gateway, shown in
the cut, is built of hewn blocks three varas--as Rivero says, probably
meaning feet--by one and a half. The lintel is one stone block eleven
feet long, and the inclined posts are said to be of one piece,
although the cut indicates that each is composed of four. The animals
sculptured over the gateway at the sides are called monkeys by Rivero.
Within the structure there are five similar gateways shown in the
preceding cut and in the following ground plan. In the interior are
rooms of cut stone, with niches in the walls, an aqueduct, and a
reservoir. The quarries that supplied the stone for the Huanuco
structures are still seen about half a mile away. Many traces of
buildings of round stones in clay are found in the same vicinity.

  [Illustration: Ground Plan--Huanuco.]

Near Chupan, a tower is mentioned on the verge of a precipice
overhanging the Rio Maranon. In the district of Junin there is a line
or system of fortifications on the precipitous cliffs of a ravine,
built mostly of micaceous slate. At Cuzco are some remains of the city
of the Incas, and there is said to be some evidence that this city was
founded on the ruins of another of an earlier epoch; the latter
including part of the fortification of Ollantaytambo, built of stones
cut in irregular forms, some of them of great size, and very neatly
joined.

  [Sidenote: MONUMENTS OF TIAHUANACO.]

The ruins at Tiahuanaco, ten or twelve miles from Lake Titicaca, are
considered among the most ancient in Peru. They include stones from
fifteen to twenty feet high, some cut, others rough, standing in rows.
All the structures were in a very dilapidated condition when the
Spaniards came, and some very large stone statues in human form were
found, with stone columns. One of the most interesting monuments is
the monolithic doorway shown in the cut. The opening is seventy-six
inches high and thirty-eight wide. Rivero and Tschudi represent the
sculptured figures in the small squares as being profiles of the human
face instead of those shown in Baldwin's cut. There were several of
these doorways. Several idols and some very large blocks of cut stone
were dug up in 1846, and the latter used for mill-stones. The blocks
are described as thirty feet long, eighteen feet wide, and six feet
thick, being shaped so as to form a channel when one was placed upon
another.

  [Illustration: Doorway at Tiahuanaco.]

A building on the Island of Coati, in Lake Titicaca, is shown in the
cut. Rivero gives a view and plan of another large palace, consisting
for the most part of a single line of low apartments built round three
sides of a rectangular court, and bearing some resemblance, as Mr
Baldwin remarks, to the Central American structures, except that it
does not rest on a pyramidal foundation. Rock-inscriptions of the same
rude class so often mentioned in the northern continent, occur also in
Peru, although somewhat less frequently, so far as may be judged by
the reports of explorers.

  [Illustration: Ruin on the Island of Coati.]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Sidenote: CONCLUSION.]

The contents of the preceding pages may be sufficient to show the
reader that the resemblance between the southern and northern
monuments, if any resemblance exists, is very faint. The Maya and
Peruvian peoples may have been one in remote antiquity; if so, the
separation took place at a period long preceding any to which we are
carried by the material relics of the Votanic empire, and of the most
ancient epoch of the southern civilization, or even by traditional
annals and the vaguest myths. There seems to be a natural tendency
even among antiquarians to attribute all American civilizations to a
common origin, constantly moving back the date as investigation
progresses. This tendency has much in common with that which so
persistently traces American civilization to the old world, old-world
culture to one centre, the human race to one pair, and the first pair
to a special creation, performed at a definite time and point in Asia.
Be the results of the tendency referred to true or false, it is
evident that superstition has contributed more than science to the
zeal that has supported them.

FOOTNOTE:

[XIV-1] _Rivero and Tschudi_, _Antiguedades Peruanas_, Viena, 1851,
with atlas; _Rivero_, _Antiguedades Peruanas_, Lima, 1841; _Rivero and
Tschudi's Peruvian Antiquities_, N. Y., 1855; this translation is in
many instances very faulty; _Baldwin's Ancient America_, pp. 226-56.


END OF THE FOURTH VOLUME.




      *      *      *      *      *      *




Transcriber's note:

Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have
been preserved. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.

Italics in the footnote citations were inconsistently applied by the
typesetter.

Footnote IV-31: p. 379 is a possible typographical error.

Footnote IV-36 refers to Nebak and Nebah.  One of them may be a
typographical error.

Footnote V-39: linteux should possibly be linteaux.

Footnote VII-57: pp. 53, 16 is a possible typographical error.

Footnote XI-43 is missing a volume number.

Footnote XII-24: "McGilvary's" is a possible typographical error.

Footnotes V-23 and IX-64 are repeated in the text.

Page 294: to fall the trees should possibly be to fell the trees.

The text refers to both Medellin and Medelin, Vera Cruz.



***