YUCATAN, MERIDA, AND THE MAYA RACE.
Early Account of Yucatan—First Explorers: F. Hernandez
de Cordova, Juan de Grijalva—Cortez—Railroad—Henequen
Estate—Merida—Historical Jottings—Destruction of
all the Documents by the Historian Landa—Municipal
Palace—Cathedral—The Conqueror’s House—Private Houses—Market
Place—Maya Race—Types—Manners and Customs of the
Mayas—Deformation and Tattooing—Meztizas—Dwellings—Suburbs.
We will next proceed to the study of the Toltec branch which penetrated
the Yucatan peninsula by Patonchan, and from which the reigning family
of the Cocomes were descended.
The main harbour on the north-east coast was formerly Sisal, but the
requirements of an increasing trade have moved it on to Progreso, where
we cast anchor in a gale of wind which obliged us to remain five or
six miles outside, to keep clear of the shoals which make this coast
dangerous. We land with considerable difficulty at last, and are not
sorry to get rid of the unpleasant sensation known as sea-sickness. The
peninsula has no rivers and no water, and is of calcareous formation;
flat and barren to the north, where the soil is but few inches deep;
more hilly and productive towards the centre, because of its older
formation; it rises to the south to the Sierra Madre, which runs
through Central America.
The direction of Yucatan is from north to south, between the eighth and
twelfth degree longitude east of Mexico, and between the eighteenth and
twenty-second degree of latitude. The first to mention it is Columbus,
who, on July 30th, 1502, finding himself at Pine Island, saw a large
barque manned by twenty-four rowers, having a cacique and family on
board, dressed in the costume known since as Yucatec; the boat was
freighted with cacao, tortillas, and a beverage made of Indian corn,
wooden swords with blades of obsidian, copper axes, and cotton tissues
as soft as silk, dyed in brilliant hues.
[Illustration:
JOURNEY TO YUCATAN and to the country of THE LACANDONS by D.
Charnay 1882 ]
A reasonable doubt may be entertained as to this canoe, said to have
measured 8 feet wide, having come from Yucatan, a country by its nature
exceedingly dry, arid, stony, and without rivers, circumstances hardly
favourable to making sailors of its inhabitants; moreover, copper axes
and obsidian blades were scarce among the Mayas, and the Spaniards,
under Grijalva, never met them until they reached Tabasco.[101] It
seems, therefore, probable, that the canoe came from Tabasco, a region
civilised like Yucatan, intersected by large rivers, clad with an
exuberant vegetation, noble cedar and mahogany trees, from which to
build capacious boats. As for the dress, it is nearly the same as that
worn by the Mayas; but what is even more significant is that cocoa
is one of the chief productions of Tabasco, and is only known as an
importation in Yucatan,[102] except indeed towards Patonchan, where, at
the time of the Conquest, the vegetation was as vigorous, and cacao as
extensively cultivated as in Tabasco. The Maya language was common to
both districts. Had Columbus followed the canoe, he would have added to
his own the glory Cortez achieved later; at all events he had been the
first to discover the central regions of America.
The first to visit Yucatan was Vincente Yanez Pinzon, who with Diaz
Solis, in 1505, coasted the eastern side, without, however, identifying
it. In 1511, Valdivia was wrecked on the Alacranes reefs on his way
to Cuba; he and his crew effected a landing, when the only survivors
of the ill-usage of the natives were Gonzalo Guerrero and Geronimo de
Aguilar, of whom I shall speak later. In 1517, Cordova sailed along the
northern coast, where he observed great cities and high pyramids; he
landed at Campeche, and saw stately temples, having serpentine walls
in relief, similar to that of the great temple in Mexico, dedicated to
Cukulcan (Quetzalcoatl). He landed at Patonchan or Champeton, when the
natives massacred fifty-seven of his companions. It would seem strange
that Cortez, in all his encounters with the natives of the Uplands,
should have had so few casualties, were it not known that they strove
to take their enemies alive that they might offer them on the altar
of their deities. To this prevailing custom Cortez twice owed his
life during the siege of Mexico, but as he was being led away to be
sacrificed to their war-god he was both times rescued by his companions.
In Yucatan and Tabasco, where Aztec influence was of recent date, the
introduction of human sacrifice comparatively new, the natives killed
rather than captured their enemies; and this explains the great losses
sustained by the Spaniards in the peninsula, and is another proof of
Toltec teachings in these districts.
In 1518, Grijalva landed at Cozumel, when he perceived on the opposite
coast a city supposed to be Tuloom-Pamal or Paamul; he followed the
route of his predecessor and halted in the Islands of Sacrificios and
Uluo, opposite the site of future Vera Cruz; and lastly Cortez, who, in
1519, found here Aguilar and further on in Tabasco Marina.
The name of Yucatan is variously derived from _Chacnuitan; Tectecan,
tectetan_, “we don’t understand,” from a misunderstanding by the
Spaniards when the natives were questioned about the name of their
country; or from _Yuca-Tan_, “land of yuca,” not to be confounded
with the yuca of our gardens, for the former yielded a substance out
of which the Spaniards made _cazabe_, bread; and _Ciu-Than_, “say
yourself,” or, according to Landa, _Ulumil y etel Ceh_, “land of
turkeys and deer.” Another authority, Ramesal, believes the name to
be derived from Tectetan-Ylatli and Teloquitan;[103] Cogolludo adopts
these various appellations, remarking that as the country was named
after its chief city, it differed at each successive epoch, being
in ancient times Mayapan, but in the time of the writer Campeche.
Ternaux-Compans declares that from the fall of Mayapan to the coming
of the Spaniards, the country had no general name, but was severally
called after each province, as district of Choaca, Bakhalal, Campeche,
etc.; but there is little doubt that the name of Yucatan, at the
coming of Europeans and afterwards, was Maya. However that may be, we
will turn to the monuments, which afford a far surer guide whereon to
construct a history of this country so rich in works of “los antiguos.”
[Illustration: PANORAMIC VIEW OF MERIDA.]
Progreso is a miserable hamlet surrounded by low-lying swamps; here the
luggage is examined, but in our case only _pro formâ_, and we are glad
to resume our seats and to steam out of this unhealthy zone, although
the country we traverse, on which nothing grows save brambles and
brushwood, is no less flat or monotonous. We come presently to immense
estates of _henequen_, a kind of agave, having long narrow leaves,
yielding a solid shining thread, which is hardly known out of American
markets; patches of verdure, bananas, palm-trees, and maritime pines,
betray now and again a private residence, while smoking mills show the
factories where the henequen is being prepared ready for exportation.
Were it not for the mysterious spirit of “los antiguos,” which seems to
fill the whole country, the landscape to a less enthusiastic explorer
must appear dreary and melancholy in the extreme. We pass eminences on
our right on which once stood noble temples; these remains carry me
back to the time when I first visited these parts, and when these ruins
fixed my resolve to make archæology the business of my life. Next came
a few straggling hamlets; groups of dark women in short petticoats,
and naked urchins, gaze on us with wondering eyes as they stand at the
entrance of their huts while we speed along. We reach Merida after a
run of three hours over a distance of ten leagues, where we learn that
no hotel or house is to be found, and it is only after searching the
whole place that we can at last secure a room of some fifteen feet
square, in which my two companions and myself have to settle down.
There is but one atrociously bad restaurant where to get any kind of
food; our thoughts, however, are taken up with exploring the ruins
rather than with a good _maître d’hôtel_; we find, besides, a small
Anglo-American colony, and in their midst our abominable fare is soon
forgotten.
Francisco de Montejo, who founded Merida, had occupied Chichen in
1527, but had been compelled to abandon it and seek reinforcements in
Mexico. On his return he was enabled, through a traitorous cacique,
to establish himself here, and built Merida in 1542. The conquest of
Yucatan was longer and beset with greater difficulties than that of
Mexico; here the Spaniards were continually threatened by a warlike
population, ever on the alert to raise the standard of rebellion.
The history of this people can only be read on the monuments they
have left, which have given rise to so many divergent hypotheses. Yet
documents were not wanting, and had the religious zeal of the men of
that time been less ill-judged, they would have found in the various
and multiform manuscripts, in the charts or maps, in the idols, in
the pottery and living traditions, ample and reliable materials from
which to write an exhaustive history of the Maya civilisation. But the
Spaniards were more careful to demolish than to preserve. Zumarraga,
Bishop of Mexico, destroyed all the Aztec annals he could lay his
hand upon, and Landa, Bishop of Merida, made an auto-da-fé of all
the monuments he could collect, having done which, he set himself to
writing his history, “De las Cosas de Yucatan.”[104]
All there now remains for us are mere gleanings, the interpretation
of certain passages in this very Landa, in Cogolludo and Herrera,
and above all by a careful comparison between these monuments and
bas-reliefs with those we already know; for with their help only can
we hope to reconstruct a past which becomes more familiar the more it
is studied. These monuments have been endowed with fabulous antiquity;
whereas, on the strength of my explorations, I assert that they are
comparatively recent.
Merida stands on the site of ancient _Ti-hoo_ or _T-hoo_, one of the
chief cities of the peninsula; but nothing positive is known, and
tradition is almost silent respecting it. If we are to believe the
Spaniards, it had long been abandoned on their arrival; but this is
not borne out by facts, for although they beheld a dense vegetation
amidst the pyramids, the edifices on their summits were entire;[105]
moreover, Montejo was able to quarter his troops here, as well as
the Indian contingent from Mani. Furthermore, Eligio Ancona, the
modern Yucatec historian, describes a celebrated sanctuary known as
_H-Chun-Caan_, “The centre and foundation of heaven,” which was the
object of great veneration; it follows therefore that its imposing
ceremonies were presided over by revered and powerful priests, that
the temples and palaces in Merida were standing after the arrival of
the Spaniards,[106] although not in the vast proportions assigned to
them by the Abbé Brasseur, whose lively imagination is apt to lead him
astray.
[Illustration: MONTEJO’S HOUSE, MERIDA.]
Merida was built with the materials of the Indian city, and like
all the Spanish places of the New World, is but a huge chess-board,
with streets running at right angles, consisting of square blocks of
buildings. The centre is occupied by a large plaza, having a waterless
fountain and gardens, the flowers of which are perishing for want
of water; as for the young trees planted about, they doubtless will
afford shade to future generations; for the present the glare of
this open space is intolerable. When I visited it some twenty years
ago, if not so symmetrical it was certainly more picturesque. In the
plaza are found the municipal palace and the cathedral, of monumental
proportions for a place of 30,000 souls; it numbered, probably, only
the third of this when it was built in 1598. Its erection cost the
pious Meridans £60,000, equivalent at the present day to fifteen times
that sum, but it is doubtful if even with its greater population so
large a sum could now be raised. The front, 179 feet wide, is occupied
by a central pavilion in which the principal entrance intervenes,
ornamented by an indifferent Corinthian portico, over which, at a
height of some 97 feet, a great vaulted arch supports an elegant
gallery; on each side of the pavilion are two steeples with a number
of galleries narrowing in upward succession, forming with their
balustrades a pleasing contrast to the plain façade. The interior
of the church, 289 feet long, is imposing; it consists of three naves
with round arches, supported by twelve immense columns, and twenty of
like dimensions imbedded in the walls. Small chapels run along the
sides, and the structure altogether bears the impress of solidity which
is so conspicuous a feature of the conquerors’ work. To the south of
the square stands Montejo’s house, bearing the date of 1541; it is the
oldest in Merida, and an interesting specimen of that epoch. It may
be worthy of mention that the sculptures in this house are as defaced
as those of the Indian monuments, which seems to indicate similarity
of date. The pillars on each side of the entrance bear aloft two
Spanish soldiers, whilst on the first floor, by the window, knights
armed cap-à-pie are standing on two recumbent Indians, personating
the subjugation of the race. The façade with its columns, statues,
arabesques, and shields, is a fair specimen of American Renaissance;
but if the composition was Spanish, the work, probably, was due to
Indian hands, for at the time of its erection the Spaniards were a
handful of soldiers or adventurers, whose pride would not have suffered
them to do any manual labour.
[Illustration: CATHEDRAL.]
Artisans were plentiful among the Mayas, who have interspersed their
country with so many remarkable monuments, and whose building aptitude
is notable even at the present day. Beside these edifices the town,
with very few exceptions, is an assemblage of low houses having but
the ground floor, while all the windows are stoutly grated to secure
the inmates against housebreakers. But the impression produced by this
unpromising exterior soon gives place to agreeable surprise on being
introduced into spacious apartments opening on the “patio,” encompassed
by Moorish cloisters. The patios are planted with flowers, shrubs,
and palm-trees, which, towering above the terraced roofs, break the
monotonous lines of the town panorama. Our cut shows Don Alvaro Peon’s
house with its charming gallery on the first floor.
[Illustration: DON ALVARO PEON’S HOUSE.]
All movement and life centre towards the market-place, where Spaniards,
Indians, and Meztizos are seen in their picturesque costumes; sellers
are crying out their goods, consisting of pottery and baskets, the
facsimiles of those we bought at Tula; somewhat further we come across
some natives bending under heavy loads of “ramon,” the green twigs
of a particular tree, affording the only forage in a country without
grass. Here young caballeros are stopped by cumbrous carts taking up
the whole street with their enormous bales of henequen; further on,
women in snowy white costumes sit in long rows, offering with a pretty
grace their small stock-in-trade spread before them. Among this motley
crowd I spied a diminutive “aguador” looking so bonnie that I wished
to take his photograph, making his less favoured companions envious
thereat.[107]
[Illustration: FRUIT SELLERS.]
The Mayas, both in type and language, are unlike both the surrounding
tribes and those of the plateaux; they are said to be an ancient race,
but this assumption is based on no positive proof. Cogolludo believes
the first inhabitants to have come from Cuba; and Agassiz, who studied
these tribes in their respective homes, leans to the same opinion.
Traditions and ancient writers, confirmed in modern times by Humboldt,
all are unanimous in asserting that this country was invaded towards
the end of the eleventh and the beginning of the twelfth century by
the Toltecs.[108] Granted their building genius, seeing that both the
architecture and the decorations of the edifices correspond to the
descriptions left by historians respecting Toltec palaces and temples
of the Uplands, we are in a position to affirm that there was no other
civilisation in Central America except the Toltec civilisation, and
that if another existed, our having met with no trace of it gives us
the right to deny it altogether.
When two civilisations come in contact, the outcome is a mixture of
both which is easy of recognition. Take as an instance India after
the Mohammedan Conquest, where Indo-Arabic monuments are notable to
the most inexperienced eye. If, therefore, Yucatan had possessed an
indigenous civilisation, we should certainly have found monuments or
ruins indicating as much; or if destroyed by time, we should have
found others of a composite character, showing the fusion of the two
races, whereas nothing of the kind occurs, and the older monuments,
or those which appear so, are in no respect different from the more
recent or Toltec ones. Consequently the Mayas, who were peculiarly
well fitted for receiving a superior culture, had their share in the
artistic manifestations to be met with through the length and breadth
of the peninsula, and being the stronger nationality they opposed a
stouter and longer resistance to the hated invaders. Even now, after
three centuries of degrading oppression, a Maya, or Maya-Toltec,
preserves distinctive characteristics by which he can be singled out
from among a number of different nationalities, nor would it be easy to
find among the rural classes of Europe men of a better build, or with
more intelligent and open countenances. Their heads are round, their
eyes black, their noses arched, their ears and mouth small, they are
deep-chested, straight-jawed, with round chin and sound square teeth,
their hair is black, straight, and coarse, their complexion reddish
brown.
[Illustration: MAYA TYPES.]
The form of government was monarchical and almost absolute; below were
the nobles, the priests, the people, and the slaves. Such a partition,
amounting to almost castes, presupposes an anterior conquest. The
lands were divided between the crown, the nobility, the temples, and
the people. The division was by no means equal, by far the greater
proportion being appropriated by the king, the aristocracy, and the
temples. The lands of the people were the common property of the
community and not of individuals. Every member of the community had
a portion suitable to his position and requirements, which he was
entitled to hold as long as he cultivated it. As the soil was very
poor, no plough was used in ancient times, nor later by the Spaniards.
Four-fifths of the land was suffered to lie fallow, and every five
years the brushwood was cut down and burnt to manure the ground ready
to receive the Indian corn. The work was chiefly done by men; the women
planting the seed, husking the corn, and doing such light labours as
were suitable to their weaker frames. The peasants were bound to till
the land for their lord, to supply him with game, fish, flowers, salt,
and other comforts, and to accompany him in battle.
The campaigns were short, sharp, and severe; for as commissariat was
unknown, they were generally decided in one engagement, when no pity
was shown the vanquished, no quarter given, and what could not be
plundered was destroyed. This explains the number of ruined cities
which were rebuilt and the new monuments erected after each war.
Diaz remarks that the military dress of the warriors consisted of a
breast-piece made of quilted cotton, which was completely arrow-proof,
and was adopted by the conquerors in place of their heavy steel armour.
Their head-dress was a casque ornamented with rich feathers, prominent
amongst which were the quetzal. The rank and file wore no clothing
except the _maxtli_ in battle, but by painting their faces and bodies
in grotesque patterns of brilliant colours, and covering their heads
with raw cotton, they presented a fierce and gaudy appearance. Painting
the face and body with red, black, and white was universal; on the
return from an expedition the warrior’s paint was substituted for
tattooing. “Stripes, serpents, animals, and birds,” says Cogolludo,
“were the favourite devices for this kind of decoration, according to
their military order; the warrior being entitled to a fresh hieroglyph
after each notable feat of arms, an old veteran came to have his whole
body covered with them.”
Owing to the warm climate the Maya dress was simple and scanty in
the extreme. Men wore almost universally the _maxtli_ (a long strip
of cotton cloth, wound round the loins); children up to two years of
age wore no clothes at all; the baby girls, like those in Java, had a
string round their waist, from which depended a shell, the removal of
which was looked upon as sinful. The dress of the nobles, both men and
women, consisted of loose tunics and flowing mantles dyed in brilliant
and variegated colours. The hair was worn short, cut in a fringe on
the forehead; no beard was allowed, and the few hairs that made their
appearance on the face were immediately extracted. Squinting was
fashionable, and mothers ensured it for their daughters by suffering a
tuft of hair to hang over their eyes. Their ears, nose, and lips were
adorned with jewels. Cranial disfigurement seems to have been confined
to the priests and nobles.[109] According to Landa,[110] four or five
days after birth the child was laid with the face down on a bed of
osiers, and the head compressed between two pieces of wood, one on the
forehead and the other on the back, the boards being kept in place for
several days until the desired cranial flattening was effected. This
Spartan process was often attended with disastrous results. Tamenes
practised this flattening on the forehead only, which was thus better
adapted to the carrying of burdens. Disfigured Tamenes skulls were
found by us at Teotihuacan, and on the pottery of Vera Cruz.
Eligio Ancona draws a mournful picture of the Mayas before the
Conquest: “They were much oppressed by the king, the nobles, and in a
special manner by the restless and ambitious caciques constantly at
war with each other; the education of the youth of both sexes rested
entirely with the priests, the clans of the people were ignorant and
degraded; men were sold in the market or sacrificed on the altars;
women excluded from society and the family circle,” etc. The nation
prospered in spite of it all; the country was densely populated, while
the monuments everywhere attest that the arts flourished.
What have the Spaniards done for them? Have they relieved their misery,
dispelled their ignorance, minimised their vices? The peninsula
counted millions before the Conquest; there are not a hundred thousand
at the present day, and they are more sunk and wretched than at any
time of their existence. For a nation is always found to have the
religion and the Government best suited to its character or degree of
civilisation; let extraneous institutions, whether civil or religious,
however superior, be imposed upon them, they seem only to stultify and
dishearten a people they were not intended for.
[Illustration: MESTIZOS’ HOUSE.]
Meztizas are one of the chief attractions of Merida; they are
looked upon as an inferior caste, but this they seem to accept with
indifference, revenging themselves on society by their attractive
ways, which it is not given to man to resist; for even those who are
not beautiful, and they are few, have a winning grace, a peculiar
charm all their own. To a certain extent this is due to their becoming
costume, which consists in a loose tunic with short sleeves and square
body, leaving arms and neck bare; this tunic, _uipil_, is tastefully
embroidered at the neck, arms, and bottom with red, blue, or green
devices; the under-skirt, _fustan_, is trimmed with rich lace, while
their clustering black hair is set off by a silver arrow; they wear
rings on their fingers, and chains of gold depend from their lovely
necks, often constituting their whole dowry. Meztizos have a quarter at
the outskirts of the town allotted to them, where they inhabit oblong
thatched cottages decorated outside with a diamond pattern showing
where the lines join. It is probable that these huts are identical
with those of the Mayas of ancient days, while there is no doubt as to
the decorations being like the mouldings of the old palaces. A hamac,
one or two trunks to put their clothes in, a _butaca_ or low leather
arm-chair, compose the sole furniture of these poor dwellings. From
a little distance, the Meztizo quarter looks like a cool, pleasant
grove, for each hut stands on ground covering a quarter of an acre
planted with ramon. Meridan ladies are never seen out of doors except
at church, or during their evening drive. Church hours are unusually
early here, beginning at three a.m., when all the bells of the town are
set ringing, to awake, I suppose, a slumbering population.
Meridans are sociable and more conversant with the questions of the day
than might be expected: two scholars, Eligio and Canon Ancona, have
written both of the times preceding and those following the Conquest;
while the rising generation of men is studious, intelligent, and
manly; literary meetings, periodicals, reviews, concerts, theatres,
and dances, keep the population pleasantly occupied. The civility I
experienced with regard to my mission was very welcome and flattering
to my self-respect, the good canon presenting me with an obsidian
sceptre, a marvel of workmanship, now to be seen in the Trocadéro. This
people, unlike the Mexicans of the Uplands, are good men of business,
and what trade or industry the country possesses is entirely in their
own hands. They have the characteristics of a race in its manhood,
enduring, self-possessed, patient, and industrious. The only falling
off noticeable (due to the climate) is a diminution in their stature,
and a disproportionately large female element. Never were their
qualities better tested than during their social war, when they stood
single-handed and succeeded, after years of hard fighting and sore
distress, in recovering their municipal rights.[111]
Their soil may be poor, they may not have mineral wealth like their
neighbours, but their thrift and industrious habits bring their own
reward. It would be interesting to tell the long struggle of this
gallant people to regain their independence; suffice it to say that the
risings of the natives began in 1761, to break forth into a formidable
insurrection in 1846, which has continued with hardly any interruption
to the present day.
[Illustration: A STREET IN MERIDA.]
The Indian, whether his spirit is broken by long oppression, or from
some other cause, seems to shrink and melt away at the approach of
the white man, and to retire more and more from the beaten paths of
civilisation.
The environs of Merida are interspersed with numerous haciendas;
amongst these Ascorra is certainly one of the most picturesque. Three
_norias_, or deep wells, give ample water for the requirements of the
household, the irrigation of the garden, and the plantation.
The house, with its verandah festooned with creepers, its flower-beds,
shrubs, and palms, is a charming picture of beauty and comfort;
multitudes of ducks, mandarins, swans, and flamingoes people the
ponds, while rills of water cool the air and add to the enjoyment of
this lovely spot. Here I noticed for the first time a liana bearing
a curious large flower of 1-1/2 feet long by 9 inches wide, with a
filament of more than 1 foot 9 inches, making over 3 feet altogether.
The colour is bluish green outside, while the inside is like a spring
muslin, with red devices on a dazzling white ground, deepening down
the calyx into a rich red velvet bordered with prone hairs. The bud
resembles a web-footed animal swimming, hence its name _flor de pato_,
“duck’s flower.” It may not improperly be compared to an immense
aristochia. This liana was, I believe, imported from the Antilles; but
nothing is perfect in this world, not even this marvellous flower,
which astonished both Agassiz and myself, for no sooner is it fully
blown than it stinks so abominably that its immediate removal becomes
an imperative necessity.
To lay out this lovely garden, it was necessary to blast the rocks
forming the crust of this country; and as the work is still going on,
it enabled Mr. Agassiz to study its formation, which, like Florida,
belongs to the recent Tertiary epoch. We tarried but one day at
Ascorra, for we wished to visit the Tepich Hacienda, where the largest
henequen factory in these parts is to be seen, worked by machinery,
a great innovation for this country. The exports of this important
industry are reckoned at £600 a year. The want of hands, however,
precludes the possibility for the present of any scheme being mooted to
give it greater extension. The country is not sufficiently favoured to
tempt immigrants; unless it were Malay coolies, who would not suffer
from the climate, and who, moreover, when crossed with Meztizas or
Indian women, would produce a magnificent race.
We resume our seats for Acanceh, formerly a populous centre, as
testified by three great pyramids still extant in the plaza, which
supported ancient temples on their summits. In one of them which
furnished the material for the builders of the station, fine sculptured
blocks, like those employed at Uxmal for building purposes, were found;
together with several funeral objects, fine obsidians, a magnificent
sceptre, in my possession, and vases identical with those we unearthed
at Teotihuacan. These affinities and resemblances between Yucatec
vestiges and those of the Uplands, are of constant occurrence.
[Illustration: HACIENDA OF ASCORRA.]
[Illustration: VOLAN COCHÉ.]