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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What more natural than to suppose that the markets of the table-land had their counterpart in the peninsula, and that a great city like Chichen should have had an important tianquiz, which was frequented daily or at stated times by vast multitudes of traffickers, or that provision should have been made for sheltering them against the fierce tropical sun? Moreover, it is the only structure here which could have been used as a market; while its arrangement, the fact that it occupies the centre of the city, favour our assumption. According to Dr. Montano, the Indian word tianquiz, “market,” is tianggi in the Malay language.

Meanwhile, our squeezes and our explorations had been going on pari passu; the former consisting of impressions taken from the best preserved and most interesting monuments. The labour was now brought to a satisfactory termination, and our thoughts were directed to the packing and safe transport of so many precious objects. When this was accomplished, I entrusted the freight to some picked men to convey it to Pisté, whither we should follow.

All the time we had been at Chichen we had looked, but in vain, for Colonel Triconis’ promised visit. We regretted it all the more as through his kindness we had obtained our escort, which had proved so helpful in our work. Our saddle and pack-horses had arrived from Citas; we were at the foot of the pyramid, putting the last hand to the loading, when the Colonel rode up. To shake hands, to tender our thanks for his civility, was all we had time to do before we all set out for Pisté, where we parted: Colonel Triconis to return to Valladolid, and we to Citas.

In the order of our march the squeezes went first, forming immense rolls covered with tarpaulin. We followed in silence, and our band had all the appearance of a funeral procession conveying the sacred ornaments of the priests of olden time.

We reached Citas without accident, and two days later were in Merida.

CHAPTER XIX.

KABAH AND UXMAL.

Departure for Ticul—Uayalceh—Mucuiche—Sacalun—An Old Souvenir—Ticul—Excavations at S. Francisco—Failure—Yucatec Vases—Entertainment at the Hacienda of Yokat—A Sermon in Maya—Hacienda of Santa Anna—Important Remains—The Ruins of Kabah—Monuments Surveyed—First Palace—Ornamental Wall—Cisterns—Inner Apartments—Second Palace—Great Pyramid—Ancient Writers Quoted—Stephens’ Drawings.

The road to Kabah, our next stage, passing by Ticul, lies as usual through a flat tract of land, varied here and there by plantations of henequen and maize. We reach the hacienda of Uayalceh about nine o’clock, where we make a stay of a few hours to breakfast, visit the plantations and the house, consisting of an immense pile of building surrounded by cloisters, reared on an elevated eminence, presumably the site of an Indian palace; it being doubtful whether the Spanish builder would have gone to the enormous cost of constructing so vast an esplanade. A gallery, extending over the whole length of the building, is reached by twenty steps, where a hammock, comfortable arm-chairs, and a writing-desk raised on a platform are found, from which the mayor-domo can watch unobserved the proceedings of the establishment. This hacienda works its own henequen, employing some 1,200 hands; a strict discipline is observed, and apart from the monotonous chant of the youngsters, the low murmuring of the women, no sound is heard save that of the machinery or the wheel at the Noria, in constant movement for the requirements of the whole establishment. It is altogether a lively and interesting scene.

The large enclosure fronting the house is planted with bananas, the whole zapotee family, cocoa and orange-trees growing to the size of ilexes, alternated with roses and the rich variety of the tropical flora, filling the air with their sweet, penetrating fragrance, and extending to a wood which surrounds the factory.

Our excellent breakfast is served in a portion of the cool open cloister, washed down with a bottle of Spanish wine and a delicious cup of coffee. We pay our moderate bill, proffer our thanks to the mayor-domo for his civility, and resume our march, alighting at the hacienda of Mucuiche to visit a cenoté, and reach Sacalun late in the afternoon, where we stop awhile to rest our hot, panting mules.

It was formerly a place of some importance; but its chief attraction lies in its cenoté, 65 feet deep. Steps with a balustrade lead to the surface of the water, while the great stalactites which hang down from the vault and almost meet the stalagmites rising from the ground, form an imposing and weird scene. Yet it was here that I experienced the most charming adventure that I met in the whole course of my travels; and, although two-and-twenty years have elapsed, the dear, sweet remembrance of that day is as fresh as ever.

I was on my way to Uxmal, when through some egregious stupidity of the driver I was obliged to put up here for the night. There was of course no inn, and I found a bed at a poor widow’s, who took in casual travellers like myself. The accommodation was of the scantiest: a hammock, a small table, a chair or two, was all the furniture of a room which was at the same time the kitchen, the parlour, and the sleeping chamber. The widow apologised for having nothing better to offer, but it was easy to guess from her noble manners and appearance, that she had known better days. I watched my dinner being prepared; the table neatly laid, everything so scrupulously clean, that I could have found it in my heart to be indulgent had the cooking been execrable, but all was as good and nice as would have satisfied the most fastidious palate. Two lovely maidens helped their mother and served at table; my eyes sought the younger, whose transparent skin, pearly teeth, hair of raven wing’s blackness, magnificent, languid eyes, fairy-like form moving over the ground with an indescribable undulating movement, moved me body and soul every time she gazed in my direction. Her look of innocence and simplicity added to the charm which seemed to emanate from her whole person, accepting with child-like pleasure my open admiration, while a soft blush spread over her countenance as she met my enraptured gaze. Their story was this:

The hacienda had been burnt down, her husband massacred, and she had been obliged to fly with her little ones to escape a worse fate, to find on their return the place a heap of ruins. She told of their lone, joyless life, of a still darker future, and tears coursed down her cheeks furrowed by care and privations rather than age.

I was young, impulsive, I wished I were rich. Why should I not.... In a moment, ancient monuments, the world, my possible career, all was forgotten in face of these tearful countenances and their undeserved misfortune. Why not accept the love, the happiness, which were offered to me? And how delightful to relieve their misery, to feel that a whole family would be made happy and comfortable by me and through me! All this and a great deal more I expressed, and was amply repaid by the angelic smile of the young girl, and the mother’s grateful acknowledgments. Night, however, brought calm to my disturbed imagination, and I resolved on a speedy flight, as the only means of escape from a too fascinating but dangerous position. The next day I announced my departure, and I never saw her again. And now, after so many years, I was back in the same place again. I sought the house, to find that my youthful love-dream was no longer here, but had gone to live somewhere in a large city. I came away sad at heart, disappointed; yet better so. In two-and-twenty years, Time, in all probability, had not spared her, more than he had me.

Ticul, whither we are bound, is reached in the evening, where, thanks to the kind offices of our friend Don Antonio Fajardo, a house has been secured for our accommodation.

Ticul is built on the lower slopes of the Sierra, which runs in a line from north-west to south-east of the peninsula. It is a small place, with a few good houses and shops; everything has a look of newness, as if built but yesterday, save the church and the monastery falling into decay, in which lived the delightful padrecito Cirillo, whose pleasant gossip has been so charmingly recorded in Stephens’ Journal. Almost the only inhabitable apartment is now occupied by Cirillo’s brother, a dear old fellow, whose cheery, smiling face it is a pleasure to see. We make the “Tienda,” where we have our meals, our receiving-room; our visitors are the schoolmaster, some Government employés, the Mayor, and Dr. Cuevas, an eminent archæologist, who presented me with a stick of zapoté, cut out of a lintel found at Kabah. Our evenings pass pleasantly enough, in agreeable conversation regarding the ruins found in this district.