UXMAL.

From Kabah to Santa Helena—A Maya Village—Uxmal—Hacienda—The Governor’s Palace—Cisterns and Reservoirs—The Nunnery and the Dwarf’s House—Legend—General View—“Cerro de los Sacrificios”—Don Peon’s Charter—Stephens’ Plan and Measurements—Friederichsthal—Conclusion—Our Return.

From Kabah to Santa Helena we travel at last on a good road, wide enough to secure us against collisions, smooth enough and shady enough to make locomotion highly agreeable; a sensation which is increased rather than diminished on reaching the beautiful native village of Santa Helena, extending over a wide expanse divided in square blocks like a modern town. Each dwelling is planted with ciruelos, with orange-trees, a profusion of flowers, and encompassed by a fencing wall. Near the huts are aerial gardens, made by means of poles fixed in the ground supporting twined branches covered over with a few inches of earth, where the cottagers grow flowers and vegetables; while the yard is occupied by multitudes of cackling hens, quacking ducks, and grunting pigs. The church stands in the centre of the village, on the site of an ancient temple.

This hamlet was like a vision of the past, for from all we had seen and knew, it was easy to conjure up what it had been in former times. Nor will it seem unnatural that little or no modification should be observable in an Indian village, if it be considered what powerful factors are traditions, instincts, and surroundings, particularly with a rural population. When the Spaniards imposed their religion on the Mayas, they did so by the sword rather than persuasion; but the natives retained their culture, their customs, and their national dress, whereas the conquerors forgot their own language, were modified at the contact of the subdued race, and adopted their ancient institutions, the better to replace the caciques.

Yucatan, as we have seen, was under a feudal system of government before the Conquest, when it was followed by “encomiendas,” giving the Spaniards the right to enforce the services of the natives to the number of one or two thousand to each cavalier according to his importance. The marks of this system are observable in all great buildings which formerly were a centre or a manor-house; whilst from the number of pyramids may be surmised the power of the cacique once the lord of the locality. At the present day, it is true, centres are few in number, and in consequence of the cruel treatment of the natives by the conquerors, they have fallen to a tenth of their primitive numerical strength; yet cities, hamlets, and haciendas are even now standing witnesses of how far superior was the condition of the Mayas before the coming of the Europeans. Nothing is changed, save that the ancient lords have fallen into servile condition, that haciendas and Moorish-Spanish structures have superseded the princely palaces and the mansions of the gentry, and that the straight American doorway and triangular arch are replaced by the Arab-Hispano arch; but if the ancient palaces are a ruinous mass, the huts of the peasantry cluster now as of old around the manor-house. Religion alone has changed; the church has succeeded to the temple without replacing it; the Christian dogma seems cold and arid to a singularly mystic people, who in the days of their national life peopled the forests with votive chapels and mysterious voices.

To continue: we reach safely Sac-Akal, a wretched hacienda lost in a trackless wilderness, when we disappear in the dense vegetation which completely invades our path, and after much difficulty we arrive at the hacienda of Uxmal late in the evening. We are received by the mayor-domo, Don Perez, and, under the auspices of his charming daughter, an excellent supper is soon got ready; when, with feet under the table, and a pleasant talk with our host, the fatigues and harass of the journey are soon forgotten. The hacienda is no longer the dismal habitation of former days; on its site is reared an imposing pile of building, containing lofty apartments, surrounded by open cloisters. A sugar factory gives employment to a large number of hands, while a tramway connects it with the sugar plantations, and facilitates the transport to the mill. All is bustle, movement, and noise; but the place is now as unhealthy as ever, and the mayor-domo himself is a martyr to fever and ague.

The ruins are some two thousand yards beyond. We set out the next day to visit them; but the aspect of these old palaces, which I had looked forward to visiting with so much anticipation, was most disappointing. Owing to the vegetation which is suffered to clothe everything with its thick green mantle, the general outline of the city, nay, an entire structure, is no longer discernible. From their state of good preservation some monuments at Uxmal seem to belong to the revival we noticed at Kabah, and to be more recent than those at Chichen.

The place has been so often visited and written about that we will limit ourselves with describing the palaces reproduced in our cuts, noticing, at the same time, any fresh indication in support of our theory.

The Governor’s Palace, reared on three successive colossal terraces, is the most extensive, the best known, and the most magnificent monument of Central America; its ornamentation is in turns simple or very elaborate. The frieze, which runs in a line of 325 feet, having a row of colossal heads, divided in panels, filled alternately with grecques in high relief, and diamond or lattice-work, is most striking in its effect. The palace looks new, although it has been abandoned for over three hundred years; and it would be entire had it not been for the vandalism of its owners, who used the stones of the basement for the erection of their hacienda.

The youthful appearance of this edifice is obvious to the observer, for monuments, like men, carry more or less their age on their countenance, which a thoughtful mind can easily read. Their wrinkles are seen in the fissures of their walls, in their stones eaten away by the elements, whilst the moss, the trees, and the lianas mantling over them, complete their hoary exterior.

A tradition derives the name of Uxmal from a word meaning Pg 395
Pg 396
Pg 397 “thrice built;” whether the town was demolished and reconstructed, or whether its monuments were built three times, does not appear. The latter version would indicate the Indian method of building. In fact, this is seen in all our drawings of the palace, where the fallen edifice shows that the inner wall is in a perfect state of preservation, forming an independent work. These inner walls formed the apartments of the edifice, and in all probability were perpendicular to a height of some 6 to 9 feet, when the side walls began to approach each other so as to form the false vault (triangular arch) of the double range of apartments of the palace.

This was the shell or first construction. Then the interval between the arches was filled by layers of stone, whilst the outside walls, resting on the arches, were solid masonry. This was the second construction. Then came the third, when the outer walls were covered with tenons and sculptures. It should be added that this mode of building is applicable to all stone structures, and may have been generally adopted.

Two cisterns and a picotÉ are found on the esplanade facing the palace. The entrance or mouth to each cistern is a circular opening, 9 feet deep by 16 feet in diameter. Similar excavations are of frequent occurrence throughout the city of Uxmal and the vicinity, where they were chiefly used by the lower orders. There were also great artificial reservoirs, with cisterns at the bottom for collecting rain-water.

The decoration on the main entrance of this palace deserves particular mention. The wooden lintels have been removed, the projecting cornice has fallen; but above it the walls were covered with ornamentation in high relief of infinite skill and magnificence, which, alas! has been destroyed or carried away by early explorers. Higher still are three eagles with half-spread wings, followed by a circular pedestal supporting the mutilated bust of a human figure, without arms, and whose head, now deficient, was surmounted by a lofty plumed head-dress. In the plinth are three heads of Roman type, beautifully executed; while on each side of the main figure are the inscriptions which we reproduce.

PORTION OF THE GOVERNOR’S PALACE, UXMAL. PORTION OF THE GOVERNOR’S PALACE, UXMAL. At Uxmal, all the lintels over the doorways are of wood, of which a large proportion is in a perfect state of preservation—a clear proof of their recent period. Nor were these the only pieces of wood used in these buildings: across the ceilings from side to side, and about mid-height, stretched small wooden beams, the ends of which were built in the stone-work, as seen by the holes in the walls and the ends of the beams which have not completely disappeared. We have said in a former chapter that doors were unknown to the aborigines; here four rings or stone hooks are found inside the doorways near the top, from which it is easy to conjecture that a wooden board was placed inside against the opening, and kept in place by two transversal bars entering the stone hooks. It is the only place where I have observed this innovation, which seems to indicate a later epoch for Uxmal.

Phallus worship was recognised and practised both on the plateaux and in Yucatan, and numerous traces have been found everywhere; whilst here, a collection is to be seen in the Governor’s Palace.

The Nunnery is the largest building at Uxmal; if less magnificent than the Governor’s Palace, its ornamentation is throughout exceedingly rich, varied, and elaborate. We give Stephens’ plan and measurements. This monument, supported on three superimposed terraces, forms a vast quadrangle consisting of four wings of different dimensions, surrounding a court 258 feet by 214 feet. The southern front is 279 feet long, while the centre is occupied by the main entrance, 10 feet 8 inches wide, with a triangular arch some 20 feet high. This side is less richly decorated than the rest. Facing this entrance stands the northern wing, the ornamentation of which is wonderfully diversified, consisting of grecques, lattice-work, and bas-reliefs, representing birds and human beings, whilst small porticoes, intersected by pavilions with the usual superimposed great idols, are found everywhere. The southern front is reared on a terrace which is reached by a stairway 264 feet long by 95 feet wide, and about 25 feet high; it is pierced by thirteen openings, corresponding to a range of thirteen small apartments two deep. The western wing, almost entirely destroyed, gives nevertheless a good idea of its fine ornamentation. It consisted of a frieze divided into panels with the usual devices, and huge Indian statues in high relief; two immense feathered serpents wreathed the panels occupying the whole length of the faÇade, 173 feet from end to end, whilst the heads, and the tails with rattles, met at the extremities, like those on the table-land. The eastern wing is entire and almost intact; the front measures 158 feet, having an elegant frieze composed of stone trellis-work, intersected by serpentine trophies disposed in fan-like fashion, while towards the top are symbolic figures admirably treated. This side is severe in design, more simple, and in better taste than the rest. The Nunnery consisted of eighty-eight apartments, of all dimensions, varying from 19 feet to 32 feet long.

The Dwarf’s House, also the Casa del Adivino, the Prophet’s House, is a charming temple crowning a pyramid with a very steep slope 100 feet high. It consists of two parts: one reared on the upper summit, the other a kind of chapel lower down, facing the town. It was richly ornamented, and presumably dedicated to a great deity. Two stairways facing east and west led to these buildings. Padre Cogolludo, who visited this temple in 1656, is the first to complain of the steep staircase, which caused his head to swim. He found in one of these apartments offerings of cocoa and copal which had been burnt very recently; consequently, fifteen years after the Conquest the natives were still sacrificing to their gods, and practising their superstitions in their own temples. That these edifices were entire in Cogolludo’s time is beyond doubt, since the Governor’s Palace, the eastern and southern sides of the Nunnery, are still standing. They appeared new to Lizana, who (1616) says: “These buildings are alike both in style and architecture; all are reared on supporting mounds (ku, plural kues), which inclines one to think that they were built at the same time, by the order of one guiding head, seeing that they are similar. Some look so new and so clean, their wooden lintels so perfect, that they do not seem to have been built more than twenty years. These palaces must have been used as temples and sanctuaries, for the dwellings of the natives were thatched, and always in the depths of the forests.”149

This quotation is not indicative of very early monuments, while it shows that the similarity of the monuments was noticed and recorded by the first explorers; it will not, therefore, appear unnatural that aided by documents, when we write the history of one monument should be equivalent to writing the history of all; and that the architectural manifestations which are identical throughout Central America should be ascribed to one people, the Toltecs. The culture of a nation is gauged by their monuments; if so, where are the structures marking the existence of the Toltecs? Although of great solidity, and not four hundred years old, had they entirely disappeared at the time of the Conquest, and are the monuments we now behold the remains of ancient buildings unknown to them? But such a conclusion is belied by history and tradition. We will terminate these discussions with a few words from Cogolludo, who says of these edifices: “They are about the same as those in New Spain, described by Torquemada in his ‘Indian Monarchy.’”150

Stephens has a legend relating to the Dwarf’s House, which we reproduce: “An old woman lived alone in her hut, rarely leaving her chimney-corner. She was much distressed at having no children; in her grief, one day she took an egg, wrapped it up carefully in a cotton cloth, and put it in a corner of her hut. She looked at it every day with great anxiety, but no change in the egg was observable; one morning, however, she found the shell broken, and a lovely tiny creature was stretching out its arms to her. The old woman was in raptures; she took it to her heart, gave it a nurse, and was so careful of it, that at the end of a year the baby walked and talked as well as a grown-up man; but he stopped growing. The good old woman in her joy and delight exclaimed that the baby should be a great chief. One day, she told him to go to the king’s palace and engage him in a trial of strength. The dwarf begged hard not to be sent on such an enterprise; but the old woman insisted on his going, and he was obliged to obey. When ushered into the presence of the sovereign, he threw down his gauntlet; the latter smiled, and asked him to lift a stone of three arobes (75 lb.). The child returned crying to his mother, who sent him back, saying: ‘If the king can lift the stone, you can lift it too.’ The king did take it up, but so did the dwarf. His strength was tried in many other ways, but all the king did was as easily done by the dwarf. Wroth at being outdone by so puny a creature, the prince told the dwarf that unless he built a palace loftier than any in the city, he should die. The affrighted dwarf returned to the old woman, who bade him not to despair, and the next morning they both awoke in the palace which is still standing. The king saw with amazement the palace; he instantly sent for the dwarf and desired him to collect two bundles of cogoiol (a kind of hard wood), with one of which he would strike the dwarf on the head, and consent to be struck in return by his tiny adversary. The latter again returned to his mother moaning and lamenting; but the old woman cheered him up, and placing a tortilla on his head, sent him back to the king. The trial took place in the presence of all the State grandees; the king broke the whole of his bundle on the dwarf’s head without hurting him in the least, seeing which he wished to save his head from the impending ordeal, but his word had been passed before his assembled court, and he could not well refuse. The dwarf struck, and at the second blow, the king’s skull was broken to pieces. The spectators immediately proclaimed the victorious dwarf their sovereign. After this the old woman disappeared; but in the village of Mani, fifty miles distant, is a deep well leading to a subterraneous passage which extends as far as Merida. In this passage is an old woman sitting on the bank of a river shaded by a great tree, having a serpent by her side. She sells water in small quantities, accepting no money, for she must have human beings, innocent babies, which are devoured by the serpent. This old woman is the dwarf’s mother.”

Uxmal is the only city where the monuments are so grouped as to make it possible to take a panoramic view, which the reader can follow one by one in our drawing. To the left, in the distance, is the “Casa de la Vieja,” the Old Woman’s House; next comes the Governor’s Palace, showing the west side and about three-fourths of the edifice; more in front, to the right, the “Casa de las Tortugas,” Turtle House, so called from a row of turtles occurring at regular intervals above the upper cornice. To the rear, a great pyramid crowned by a vast platform, without monuments, known as “Cerro de los Sacrificios,” Mound of Sacrifice. It is on the plan of the Mexican temples, which consisted, like this monument, of a pyramid with small wood chapels containing idols and the terrible techcatl. The Toltecs, who did not practise human sacrifice, had real temples on the summits of their pyramids, like those in Yucatan, where they developed this kind of architecture. Consequently, if human sacrifices are met among the Mayas, they must be attributed to Mexican influence, and all writers agree that the monuments devoted to this horrible practice date from the fifteenth century (1440), and are of Aztec origin.

To the right of this mound is another pyramid, having several stories like the Castillo at Chichen, and similar monuments at Pg 407
Pg 408
Pg 409 Palenque; it was crowned by a beautiful temple, now in a very ruined condition. Still to the right, but more in front, is the curious building known as “Casa de las Palomas,” Pigeon House, owing to immense peaks terminating the decorative wall, pierced by large openings arranged in horizontal rows, which may well have served as a pigeon-house. It should be added that at Uxmal the decorative wall is only found in the most dilapidated monuments deficient of any stucco mouldings, showing an earlier epoch.

Fronting these buildings, on the second plan, are more ruins; the most conspicuous being the Tlachtli or Tennis-court, and the south side of the Nunnery with its main entrance, which gives access to the inner court, where traces of pavement are still visible.

An official document given by Stephens will confirm our views respecting these monuments. Stephens found it among the papers of the Peon family, in a petition from Don Lorenzo Evia to the King of Spain (1673), praying a grant of four leagues of land from the buildings of Uxmal, “since,” he says, “no injury could result to any third person, but on the contrary very great service to God our Lord, because with that establishment it would prevent the Indians in those places from worshipping the devil in the ancient buildings which are there, having in them their idols, to which they burn copal and perform other detestable sacrifices, as they are doing every day notoriously and publicly.” And further: “In the place called the edifices of Uxmal and its lands, the 3rd day of the month of January, 1688,” etc.,151 concluding: “In virtue of the power and authority given me by the Governor, I took the hand of the said Lorenzo, and he walked with me all over Uxmal and its buildings, opened and shut some doors, cut within the space some trees, picked up stones and threw them down, drew water from one of the aguados, and performed other acts of possession.”

This was 150 years after the Conquest; but by this time the reader must be convinced that edifices, notably at Uxmal, were inhabited before and after the coming of Europeans; that they were recent, and that, broadly speaking, the monuments of Yucatan were the work of the existing race, erected at various epochs by the Toltec conquerors.152

We will end these long discussions by a quotation from Baron Friedrichsthal, regarding the probable age of these ruins, showing that our theory was promulgated some forty-three years ago, not only by Stephens, but also by the illustrious German scholar: “Historians are unanimous in ascribing all the existing stone structures to the Toltecs or the Aztecs. The latter, however, did not invade New Spain until the middle of the thirteenth century, while no traces are found of their having migrated south. Aztec architecture is quite distinct from the Toltec, which a comparison of Mexican buildings with those found at Palenque sufficiently show; the latter being generally ascribed to the Toltecs by all ancient authorities. The evident analogy which exists between the edifices at Palenque and the ruins in Yucatan, favours the assumption of one origin, although different epochs must be assigned to each, by reason of the progress visible in their treatment. To fix these epochs with some show of probability seems to us, if not impossible, at least very difficult. A thorough exploration, supported by a minute and exhaustive comparison of the standing remains, coupled with a careful observation of the causes and circumstances which have produced or contributed to the state of dilapidation wherein these ruins are found, could alone throw some light across the darkness which has settled over these monuments for so many centuries.” (This is exactly what we have done.)

“The solidity of these edifices is not equal to that of monuments of other nations, which were built throughout the thickness of their walls with stones of different size; whereas the inside of the American wall is a rude mixture of friable mortar and small irregular stones. This heterogeneous composition must have produced the rupture or dislocation of the outward facing as soon as the whole was under the influence of atmospheric moisture, and the rapid infiltrations which were produced by its upper portions. Moreover, the calcareous stone used in these buildings is considered as a very inferior material, as seen by the progressive decomposition of those portions of the buildings which are exposed to the direct influence of the north-east wind, and the consequent action of the prevailing rain. Nor is this all. In the wood used in almost all northern structures, examples are met of resinous wood having lain buried or submerged, in a semi-state of petrifaction, over a thousand years. Now in the Yucatec ruins the cornices and lintels of the doorways, of zapotÉ wood, were exposed to the open air. This wood, although very hard, not being resinous like cedar, is attacked by devouring insects. For this reason it does not seem probable that these woods are more than six or seven hundred years old. If this supposition be called purely hypothetical, the thoughtful reader has a perfect right to form his opinion from more solid data, while I claim the same to express mine; not that I deem myself infallible—for, says the German proverb, ‘Truth is only attained after repeated tumbles on the rocks of error.’”153

American monuments, considered artistically, are but the rude manifestations of a semi-barbarous race, which it were idle to endow with intrinsic value, seeing that their original plans are wanting both in accuracy and symmetry, while their materials are ill-cut, their joints far apart even in bas-reliefs, where the intervening spaces are filled up with cement. Consequently these buildings cannot compare with Indian, Egyptian or Assyrian monuments; for here we have a nation who in the whole course of their political life, extending over several centuries, produced but one note, emitted but one sound; because they had neither traditions nor a higher civilisation around them to draw from. And, although here and there some happier mood is seen, whether in sculpture or cement modelling, their occurrence is too rare ever to have become general. The chief merit of these buildings lies in their interest for the archÆologist and the intelligent, who are necessarily few; and this explains the silence of the conquerors respecting them. How well I remember my servant’s strictures on hearing my exclamation of delightful surprise as I stood the first time before the Governor’s Palace: “Well, I can’t, for my part, see anything so wonderful in it; there isn’t a French bricklayer who couldn’t do quite as well and better.” FranÇois, on his return home, would no more have dreamt of recounting of the wonderful buildings he had seen in the New World, than did the Spaniards three hundred years before.

It is with something of the feeling which is experienced at parting from a long-cherished friend that we take leave of the curious, barbarous, yet withal charming ruins, thrice visited with delight ever fresh, with interest all the more vivid that I have succeeded in lifting the deep shroud which covered them, and if on that account they are no longer surrounded with mysterious awe, they will not be less interesting.

We set out, directing our march through Muna, which has a fine well, seemingly of Indian construction. A native feast is being held, and here, as throughout the State, it means a grand opportunity for getting drunk. We push on, sleep at a broken-down hovel called Abala, and the next day we are once more comfortably settled among our household gods.