AKÉ AND IZAMAL.

Departure—A Family Exploration—“Volan cochÉ”—TixpÉnal and Tixkokob—CenotÉ—Ruins of AkÉ—Historical Rectification—Small Pyramid—Tlachtli—A Large Gallery—Explorations—A Strange Theory—PicotÉ—Architecture of Yucatan at Different Epochs.

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

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

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

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

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

But what is a “cenotÉ”?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But what was this singular structure intended for? If for a covered gallery, the wood or thatch roof has long since disappeared and left no trace. Could it have been a commemorative monument? We know not, save that it is the only monument of the kind in Yucatan, and that its dimensions are far from colossal. Not that theories are wanting; some writers have gone so far as to imagine this monument to have been erected to commemorate periods or reigns, and each block to represent either a ahau-katun, “twenty-four years,” or a century, katun, “fifty-two years.” Now, as there Pg 297
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Pg 299are thirty-six pillars having each ten stones, this monument would be, by the first computation, 8,640 years old, and by the second, 18,720. It is clear that were this the case the first stone would have disappeared long before the last one had been placed, and that the earlier would have looked older than the later ones, whereas the same air of decay is observable in all. It is more simple and consistent to suppose this monument to have been a thatched gallery which was used for games, meetings, or public ceremonies. Its central position as regards other monuments would seem to bear me out. Is a ruin to be interesting only in ratio of its obscurity and antiquity?

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

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

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

“That you were perfectly right.”

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

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

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