AKÉ AND IZAMAL.
Departure—A Family Exploration—“Volan coché”—Tixpénal and
Tixkokob—Cenoté—Ruins of Aké—Historical Rectification—Small
Pyramid—Tlachtli—A Large Gallery—Explorations—A Strange
Theory—Picoté—Architecture of Yucatan at Different Epochs.
On our return from Merida, an expedition to Aké was organised
consisting of the American Consul, Mr. Aymé, his wife, her pet dog
Shuty, and ourselves. Mr. Aymé is an energetic archæologist, well
acquainted with the ruins, so that his offer to accompany us was most
welcome. The ruins of Aké are on a hacienda which belongs to Don
Alvaro Peon, from whom a permit was easily obtained; he furnishing us
besides with a large hamper to supply our wants, which his Chinese cook
was to take to the hacienda.
Journeys in the interior of the peninsula may be performed either
by diligence or “volan coché,” a national vehicle, made entirely of
wood, save the iron tires of the wheels. An oblong box balanced on two
leather springs is placed on a heavy underframe, the bottom of the
carriage lined with a stout flax net, on which is spread a mattress,
to deaden to some extent the jolting of these abominable roads. The
coachman sits in front, while the back is occupied by the baggage; when
the _coché_ has but one occupant, he generally lies full-length on the
mattress; but if not he sits Turkish fashion, which in time becomes
very irksome to one not to the manner born; as to the natives, it seems
to be immaterial how many are packed away in a “volan.” Although well
hung, the swaying of these _cochés_ is truly amazing, especially when
the driver is drunk and sets his mules full gallop; but most wonderful
of all is that nothing ever happens, and in my numerous expeditions I
was only once upset.
Aké lies ten leagues east of Merida, which can be reached by the Izamal
road, through immense estates of agave, leaving on the right two mounds
covered with ruins and passing Tixpénal, a wretched-looking village, as
indeed is the whole country around; but the half-burnt, tumbled-down
hovels are the work of the revolted natives, who in 1846 occupied the
village and set fire to it.
Some three leagues further lies Tixkokob, where we halt to have a cup
of chocolate. The inhabitants are great hammock-makers, and through
the open doors, multicoloured nets may be descried in every stage of
progress. They are the only beds used by the natives, and cost from
half-a-crown to four shillings, but those made at Valladolid are more
expensive. Here we leave the main road for a cross path, when we may
be said to become fully acquainted with a _coché’s_ peculiarities. We
are rocked to and fro in the most alarming manner; we hold on to the
net like grim death, for fear of being pitched out on the stony road or
landed among prickly pears at every turn. It is with a sigh of relief
that we reach Ekmul, long after the curfew has been sounded, and the
place lies wrapped in the silence and deep shadows of night. We found
the hacienda strongly bolted, for the inmates had given us up; but the
loud barking of the dogs brought Don Peon’s mayor-domo, and we were soon
made at home and as comfortable as the somewhat dilapidated nature of
the dwelling would allow.
We were up at early dawn, when we found under the thatched verandah a
number of Don Peon’s servants, with hatchets and _machetes_, awaiting
our orders for clearing the main pyramid, and while so engaged, we
proposed to visit a _cenoté_ lying on the other side of a thick wood
containing various ruins. This hacienda is stocked with horned cattle,
and we were warned to provide against garrapatas, the most terrible
wood-lice in existence. We had taken, or fancied we had taken, all the
precautions which the ingenuity of man, alarmed at the approach of
danger, could devise. But against the voracity of a famished garrapata
what can avail? This insidious insect is invisible in its early youth;
thinner than the thinnest paper, it steals, it creeps in quite easily
between two stitches!
But what is a “cenoté”?
Although Yucatan is uncut by rivers or streams, an immense sheet of
water and ill-defined currents occupy its under surface; these waters
are near the surface along the coast, but low down in the interior
of the peninsula, where the calcareous layer is of great thickness.
Localities where these waters can be reached, whether through the
natural subsidence of the soil or artificial pits, receive the name of
_cenoté_. When the water flows at a slight depth, and the calcareous
layer has only been partly eaten away, there follows an irregular
sinking which forms a cave open from side to side; but when the
crust is thicker, and the stream has a regular course, the soil is
generally corroded in a circular space; and the vault thus formed
lacking support, falls in, when an immense open well is made, as for
instance at Chichen-Itza. Often the crust is so deep, that the soft
parts only crumble down or are carried away, leaving frequently a small
aperture towards the top, fashioning a real grotto with stalactites
and stalagmites, as at Salacun and Valladolid. It sometimes happens
that the calcareous crust is exceedingly thick, when a gigantic
subterraneous passage is formed, as at Bolonchen; in a word, all the
varieties which are produced by the silent work of an undisturbed
stream in a friable soil, may be witnessed. It is worthy of note that
most civilised centres in Yucatan rose around these natural reservoirs;
for the early settlers were probably unacquainted with the means of
sinking artificial wells or cisterns, as they did later at Uxmal.
The Aké cenoté is thirty feet below the surface, and belongs to the
early series of these natural phenomena. It forms a gigantic vault
slightly curved, to which the accidents of the rock give a picturesque
and grand aspect. The bottom is occupied by an extensive piece of clear
fresh water, peopled by a multitude of small fish some three inches
long, while thousands of swallows flit about, filling the whole place
with their joyous twitter.
We left the cenoté to come back through the woods, spying out if
peradventure we could perceive any ruins from under their deep,
green shroud, brushing unwittingly past the trailing branches of the
trees, suffocating literally in our well-closed garments; no unusual
sensation, no unseemly irritation had as yet alarmed us. Shuty was
the first to show that all was not well with her. We had already
noticed some signs of uneasiness as we emerged from the cenoté; she
would suddenly stop, to nibble her paws, or perform some extraordinary
gymnastic feat; gyrating, running, and barking joyously at the empty
space.
We came presently to some very intricate parts of the wood, when the
somewhat fictitious gaiety of Shuty turned into groans of acute agony,
rolling madly on the grass, biting herself, and howling lamentably
until her mistress took her into her arms, to find her alive with
garrapatas, as indeed we all were; there was nothing for it but to
return to the hacienda as quickly as possible, and institute a minute
and conscientious investigation. A complete change of clothes became
necessary, ere we could sit down to the very excellent breakfast
prepared for us by Don Peon’s cook; as for Mrs. Aymé and Shuty, they
did not venture on the perils of another exploration in the fated woods.
Here I again noticed the same curious phenomenon I had observed at
Palenque with regard to concentric circles in the trees; on the great
pyramid which Don Peon had caused to be cleared only six months before,
and which was now thickly covered with young shoots our men were fast
demolishing, I counted no less than seven or eight circles on the twigs.
The ruins of Aké are hardly known; Stephens, their only visitor besides
myself, calls the gallery “colossal, the ruins of the palace ruder,
older, and more cyclopean in aspect than any he had previously seen.”
Quoting Cogolludo, apparently from memory, he adds that the Spaniards
halted at a place called Aké, where a great battle was fought; had he
read Cogolludo properly, he would have seen that the place meant could
not be Aké, which lay out of the line of march of the conquerors. We
have had occasion to observe before that Montejo landed on the eastern
coast of Yucatan at a place now opposite to Valladolid, where he
took possession of the country; various other points are also given,
but it is certain that he made his way to Coni in Chiapas, halted at
Coba, and continued his march to Ce-Aké, where he had to fight the
Indians for two days; hence he directed his course to Chichen-Itza,
which he wished to colonise, because “its great buildings made it
easy of defence.”[112] This was in 1527; but Ce-Aké was thirty-five
leagues east of the ruins of another Aké, once a populous centre,
as shown by fifteen or twenty pyramids of all dimensions, crowned
with ruinous palaces, scattered over a space of about half a square
mile. The largest are grouped so as to form a rectangle, encircling
a vast courtyard, the centre of which is occupied by a large stone
of punishment called _picoté_, of universal use before and after the
Conquest, and still found at Uxmal and various other places. An old
Indian of Tenosiqué assured me that such a stone was standing some
thirty years ago in the plaza. The culprit was stripped and tied to
the _picoté_ previous to receiving the bastinado. This custom still
prevails at Tumbala, an Indian village lying between Palenque and S.
Christobal. According to the Indian moral code, punishment makes a
man clean, and I have seen natives who, to have a clear conscience,
requested a punishment no one dreamt of inflicting.
[Illustration: PLAN OF THE RUINS OF AKÉ.
No. 1, Small Pyramid. No. 2, Tlachtli, Tennis-court. No. 3,
Large Gallery. No. 4, Ruined Palaces. No. 5, Akabna. No. 6,
Xnuc. No. 7, Succuna. No. 8, Picoté. No. 9, Various Ruins.]
The plan we give is, unfortunately, very incorrect, but such as it
is it will enable the reader to follow out our description of the
ruins. To the north-west is a three-storeyed pyramid like those at
Palenque, built with large blocks laid together without mortar, about
40 feet high, crowned by a small structure whose roof has crumbled away
but whose walls are still standing. We recognise the same style of
structure we observed at Tula and Teotihuacan, a style we shall meet
again both in Yucatan and in the district of the Lacandones. It may
be stated that pyramids with esplanades, both here and at Palenque,
although built with large stones, are smaller than those of the
monuments in other places, and if the blocks were laid in mortar it has
crumbled away like the cement which formed the outer surface.
[Illustration: SMALL PYRAMID OF AKÉ.]
The dimensions of this structure are so diminutive that it cannot have
been anything but a temple, forming part of the next monument which it
commands. The latter from its rectangular arrangement recalls to mind
the so-called fortresses at Tula and Teotihuacan, which were in reality
_tlachtli_, “tennis-courts.”
The third monument has given rise to many conjectures; it is a large
pyramid with an immense staircase, presenting a new and extraordinary
feature, entirely different from all we have seen in Yucatan. Was this
a specimen of a different civilisation, or simply a particular building
which belonged to an earlier epoch?—were the questions which presented
themselves to my somewhat bewildered imagination. This strange
monument is surmounted by thirty-six pillars (only twenty-nine are
still standing) each 4 feet square, and from 14 to 16 feet high. These
pillars are arranged in three parallel rows 10 feet apart from north
to south, and 15 from east to west; whilst the esplanade supporting
them is 212 feet long by 46 feet wide, rounded off at the extremities
like the Hunpitoc pyramid at Izamal looking north-south. Each pillar
is composed of ten square stones 3 ft. 10 in. on one side, varying in
thickness from 1 ft. 3 in. to 1 ft. 6 in. A gigantic staircase with
steps some 4 ft. 7 in. to 6 ft. 7 in. long and about 1 ft. to 1 ft. 6
in. thick, leads to the summit.
It was urged that all these monuments had been constructed with
uncemented stones, as neither cement nor mortar were found at Aké.
This, however, is an error, for I observed that the builders used
stones cut on the side facing the outer surface of the pillars, leaving
the inner sides uncut; and as they did not perfectly fit one into
another, but left cavities sometimes 3 inches deep, they were filled
up with fragments of stone rubble which I found, and the whole was no
doubt smoothed and polished over with mortar or cement.[113]
[Illustration: GREAT PYRAMID AND GALLERY OF AKÉ.]
But what was this singular structure intended for? If for a covered
gallery, the wood or thatch roof has long since disappeared and left
no trace. Could it have been a commemorative monument? We know not,
save that it is the only monument of the kind in Yucatan, and that
its dimensions are far from colossal. Not that theories are wanting;
some writers have gone so far as to imagine this monument to have been
erected to commemorate periods or reigns, and each block to represent
either a _ahau-katun_, “twenty-four years,” or a century, _katun_,
“fifty-two years.” Now, as there are thirty-six pillars having each
ten stones, this monument would be, by the first computation, 8,640
years old, and by the second, 18,720. It is clear that were this the
case the first stone would have disappeared long before the last one
had been placed, and that the earlier would have looked older than
the later ones, whereas the same air of decay is observable in all.
It is more simple and consistent to suppose this monument to have
been a thatched gallery which was used for games, meetings, or public
ceremonies. Its central position as regards other monuments would
seem to bear me out. Is a ruin to be interesting only in ratio of its
obscurity and antiquity?
[Illustration: PILLARS OF THE GREAT GALLERY OF AKÉ.]
After the pyramid, we visited the ruin known as _Akabna_, “House of
Darkness,” in which the rooms still standing are perfectly dark; for
the only light they receive is from a door communicating with other
apartments. Here we again find the _boveda_, the corbel roof, the
pointed arch observed in previous buildings. The Aké vault is built
with large rough blocks, which has caused these monuments to be called
cyclopean, an appellation hardly deserved, for cyclopean structures
were built with far larger blocks, irregular in shape, yet fitting so
well that it would be impossible to introduce the slightest object
between the joints, whilst the stones employed in the constructions
at Aké are uniform, consisting of thick uncut slabs, with large gaps
intervening. This I observed to Mr. Aymé: “You hold that Aké structures
were built without mortar or cement, and that no sculpture or
decoration of any kind have been found, but I lay down as a principle,
that it is altogether impossible, without wishing to deny the very
novel features of the phenomenon we are confronted with; and nothing
except the most irrefragable proofs will bring me from my position of
total denial, for I am convinced that the builders would not have left
structures so important unfinished. If these stones fitted originally,
the gaps which are noticeable would be the work of time, and this
were to give them an impossible and incredible antiquity, since the
slabs are rounded off or sharp at the edges as if quarried yesterday;
further, both in the interior or facing the walls, they are exactly in
the same condition, from which I conclude that all were originally laid
in cement, and coated over in the usual manner.”
Soon after this conversation we visited the ruin called _Knuc_, “Owl’s
Palace,” and on reaching the top of the great pyramid, the first
thing I noticed was a very pretty bas-relief of cement, consisting of
diamonds and flattened spheres, of the kind met at Palenque. This
relief formed the right side of a frame, topped by figures, traces of
which were still discernible; below the projecting cornice was a thick
coating of plaster, filling the joints, well smoothed and polished on
the surface, and also a coating of paint on the wall.
“Well,” I said to my companion, Mr. Aymé, “what do you say now?”
“That you were perfectly right.”
And, indeed, this discovery proved that the monuments could no longer
be considered the work of a different race, a different civilisation,
or a hoary antiquity. In effect, their cement decorations are similar
to those of the older edifices in Tabasco and many in Yucatan. I shall
therefore distinguish the Aké period under three heads: the _cement
epoch_, the _cement_ and _cut stone_, and the _cut stone only_, when
the builders used only the latter in their decorations, examples of
which are to be found in the later edifices at Uxmal and Kabah.
The Aké builders lived in a country where the calcareous layer was
taken up in sheets varying from 10 inches to 1 foot 7 inches thick.
They used them exactly as they came from the quarry, thus saving great
expenditure in labour. When the shell of a structure was run up, it
was thickly plastered over, painted, and ornamented with mouldings
in relief. This explains at once why the stones on the pillars of
the gallery and the blocks of the grand stairway are irregular.
The discovery of the bas-relief and cornice filled me with joyful
expectation, but although I was indefatigable in visiting the Succuna
and other nameless pyramids, I brought to light nothing more of the
kind; everything had crumbled away. Here are also found the typical
superimposed layers of cement, which we mentioned in various places
inhabited by the Toltecs.
To sum up, Aké seems to belong to the early times of the Toltec
invasion in Yucatan; an epoch which may not improperly be termed
Maya-Toltec, as the civilisation in Tabasco and Chiapas may be termed
Tzendal-Toltec, and that of Guatemala, Guatemalto-Toltec.
[Illustration: CEMENTED BAS-RELIEF OF AKÉ.]
[Illustration: SQUARE OF TUNKAS.]