CHICHEN-ITZA.
Chichen-Itza—El Castillo—General Survey—A Maya
City—Aguilar—Historical Jottings—Montejo’s
Expedition—Historians—Their Contradictions—Chichen
Deserted—The Conqueror’s Retreat—The Nunnery—Impressions and
Photographs—Terrestrial Haloes—An Unexpected Visitor—Electric
Telegraph—Akab-Sib—Prison—Caracol—Cenotés—Ruined Temples—The
Temple of the Sacred Cenoté—Tennis-Court—Monuments
Described—Portico—Paintings—Bas-reliefs—New Analogy—The
Tlalocs of Chichen and of the Uplands—Market-place—End of Our
Labours—Col. Triconis.
The ruins of Chichen are two miles east of Pisté, and were used as
pasture for the cattle of the inhabitants, who at stated periods had
the woods cut down, when the monuments were easily distinguished.
It was a favourite place, to the prejudice of the palaces and the
sculptures, which were made the butt by the visitors to shoot at; but
since the destruction of Pisté, nature again reigns supreme; every
sign of the buildings has disappeared, and the jungle has become so
impassable, that twenty men were required to open the old path.
This was not my first visit to Chichen, nevertheless my emotion was
profound on beholding again the gigantic outline of El Castillo, which
we had decided beforehand should be our headquarters, as from its
elevated position it offered many strategical advantages, which would
secure us against surprise. It was with considerable difficulty that we
climbed the steps, which are steep and completely invaded by a vigorous
vegetation; as for our great quantity of baggage, none but nimble,
sure-footed natives could have succeeded in hauling it up on to the
platform of the monument.
Our next thought was how to dispose of ourselves. The interior of El
Castillo consists of a rectangular corridor, running along two-thirds
of the edifice, pierced east, south, and west by three large apertures,
and a gallery giving access to a great hall closed in on every side.
We very stupidly gave up the latter to our men, with the idea that we
should be cooler and have more air in the open gallery, not taking into
consideration that at this altitude, whichever way the wind blew, it
would sweep in upon us in fearful blasts, causing perpetual sneezing,
coughing, and freezing the very life out of us.
The day was spent unpacking and classifying, and at suppertime we
discovered that our cook, who was to have come from Valladolid, had
failed us; food we had in tins, but no water, having left our cantaros
at Citas, so that we were obliged to go without soup, coffee, or our
evening tub.
It may seem unworthy to have been put out by such trivial details with
the grand spectacle we had before us: a glorious moon had risen,
sailing on her course with her brilliant retinue of scintillating
stars, illuminating the vast wooded expanse, like a boundless, heaving
ocean on a calm day; fragments of walls, mounds, eminences, shrouded in
a sombre vegetation, were distinctly visible, which I pointed out one
by one to my companions who, unlike myself, beheld them for the first
time. El Castillo occupies nearly the centre of the ruins; below it to
the east was the Market-place, and two small palaces which belonged
to it; to the north, a stately but ruinous building, the cenoté and
the temple attached; to the north-west, the famous Tennis-court;
to the west and south-west, the Chichan-Chob, the Caracol and the
other cenoté, the Nuns’ Palace, the Akab-Sib; and farther south, the
hacienda, which has long been abandoned.
We were conversing in subdued tones of the mysterious past of this
dead city, which mayhap our studies and explorations would bring to
life again; all was hushed, and the death-like silence was only broken
at regular intervals by the cry of our sentinels; and these very
cries carried us back to the far-gone days, when the city was perhaps
similarly guarded against a sudden inroad from her jealous neighbours.
The morning effects of light and shade were no less beautiful; the
broad level wrapped in a transparent mist, pierced here and there by
the pyramids and the wooded eminences, looked like a whitening sea
interspersed with green islets; while the horizon was gilded with the
brightness of the rising sun, who seemed to create, to raise suddenly
into life all the objects touched with his golden wand; presently, like
a mighty giant he tore asunder and burnt up the white vapour, and lit
up the whole sky.
Meanwhile, our unpacking and our plans for the immediate future are
almost completed; the cantaros have come, and as water is one of our
great requirements, as the cenoté is at some distance, and there are
ninety steps to our abode, ten men are told off for it; other ten are
set to cleaning the place, while an equal number will open up the paths
and clear the monuments we wish to explore.
Here it may be remarked that Yucatan had centres rather than cities;
for the groups of dwellings and palaces we find resemble in no way
our cities of the present day, although they are continually compared
to Spanish places, notably Sevilla, by the conquerors. They consist
everywhere of temples and palaces, either of the reigning prince or
caciques, of public edifices scattered about, apparently at random,
covering a vast area, with cemented roads and gardens intervening,
while the avenues were occupied by the dwellings of dependents and
slaves. This is borne out by Landa, who says: “Before the arrival of
the Spaniards the aborigines lived in common, were ruled by severe
laws, and the lands were cultivated and planted with useful trees. The
centre of their towns was occupied by the temples and squares, round
which were grouped the palaces of the lords and the priests, and so
on in successive order to the outskirts, which were allotted to the
lower classes. The wells, necessarily few, were found close to the
dwellings of the nobles, who lived in close community for fear of their
enemies, and not _until the time of the Spaniards_ did they take to the
woods.”[121]
These last words plainly indicate the sudden desertion of Indian cities
at the coming of the Spaniards.
The word used by Landa is _pueblo_, “hamlet,” meaning, perhaps, town;
at all events, it shows that even after the breaking up of the Maya
empire (from great provinces) into small independent principalities,
the people had preserved their ancient customs. Chichen-Itza, “the
mouth of the wells,” from the two cenotés around which the town was
built, is more recent than Izamal or Aké, but older than Uxmal,
although it belongs, like the latter, to the “cut stone period.”
Our information respecting it is of the vaguest, and Aguilar and
Montejo are equally silent on the subject, while E. Ancona is of
opinion that the greater portion of the writings and documents treating
of the conquest of Yucatan have been lost, or at any rate have escaped
our investigations. Nevertheless, we find in a letter of Montejo to the
King of Spain, April 13th, 1529, published by Brinton, of Philadelphia,
from the unpublished documents and archives of the Indies, this
remarkable passage: “This region is covered with great and beautiful
cities and a dense population” (“ciudades muy frescas,” recent, new).
Could he have expressed more clearly that the cities he had visited
were lately built? Can these places have disappeared and left no
trace? Who were the builders of the noble ruins that have filled with
admiration every one who has visited them?
Unfortunately, whether we consult the traditions collected too late, or
the Perez manuscript with its doubtful dates, we find no certain data
to go upon; in the latter we read that the Toltecs travelled in 360
from Bacalar (Ziyancan) to Chichen; left it in 452 to return in 888,
when they remained until 936; that a governor of Chichen was defeated
in 1258 by a prince of Mayapan, etc.; in fact, a mere roll of obscure
names without any meaning. If we would find an ascertained historical
fact, we must turn to Cogolludo and Landa, who wrote from 1420 to 1460,
where the Chichemec exodus is recorded, corresponding to the capture
and destruction of Mayapan.
The cause of this emigration (or elopement, since there was a lady in
the case) is thus told by Cogolludo: “A king of Chichen, called Canek
(a generic name of the sovereigns of the Iztaes), fell desperately
in love with a young princess, who, whether she did not return his
affection, or whether she was obliged to obey a parent’s mandate,
married a more powerful Yucatec cacique. The discarded lover, unable
to bear his loss, moved by love and despair, armed his dependents and
suddenly fell upon his successful rival; when the gaiety of the feast
was exchanged for the din of war, and amidst the confusion the Chichen
prince disappeared, carrying off the beautiful bride. But conscious
that his power was less than his rival’s, and fearing his vengeance, he
fled the country with most of his vassals.”[122]
Thus runs the legend; the historical fact is that the inhabitants of
Chichen did emigrate, and did establish in the Peten lagoons, one
hundred leagues to the south, a little principality with Tayasal for
its capital, seen by Cortez in his journey to Honduras, and brought
under the Spanish sway as late as 1696. That a whole population should
abandon their native city, is an example of the facility with which
these peoples moved from one place to another at a moment’s notice;
nevertheless, we cannot accept the reasons given by Cogolludo for
this migration, so little in accordance with the deep-seated love of
the Mayas for their country. It is more likely that one or a series
of calamities incident to a primitive race, such as war, pestilence,
famine, more or less periodical among the aborigines, was the true
cause of their migration.
One thing is clear, that Chichen was inhabited scarcely sixty years
before the Conquest, when her monuments were entire; and it is equally
clear that a city possessed of two considerable cenotés, so important
in a country without water, was not left uninhabited, and that the
vacuum left by the exodus was soon filled up, the city preserving
its normal existence down to the time of the Spaniards. I am well
aware that this kind of evidence will not suit people fond of the
marvellous, yet the paucity of documents allows us only a tentative
theory, but it will be our care to collect probabilities in such
vast numbers, knitting them into a cumulative whole by a patient
comparison of monuments, sculptures, bas-reliefs, customs, arms, and
public ceremonies, so as to make the evidence absolute. Had Aguilar,
who was wrecked and made prisoner on this coast, and lived for nearly
eight years as factotum of a powerful cacique, been more observant,
we might have a graphic and thorough description of the public and
private life among the Mayas; but like the rest of his countrymen, his
ideas were turned into quite a different channel, so much so that he
has not even recorded the name of the place where later Cortez found
him. Ancona tells us that the conquest of Yucatan was hastened by
Aguilar, who, when in Mexico with Cortez, persuaded Montejo that “the
region was fertile and covered with magnificent monuments”—words of
paramount importance, since Aguilar could not have mentioned them in
such terms, had they been in ruins or hid away in the woods. It may
also be inferred from the incessant mutual warfare of the caciques,
that the country had lost its unity and was split up into several
provinces, which Herrera says were “eighteen in number covered with
stately edifices.”[123] According to the same authority Montejo had
a return of the whole population taken, that he might apportion them
among his followers, when every one received no less than two or three
thousand.[124] This, however, is obviously a gross exaggeration, for
supposing the 400 soldiers of Montejo to have dwindled down to 300,
the mean population of the district would have amounted to 750,000,
which is quite impossible.[125] At all events, the Spaniards occupied
Chichen-Itza for two years, but nothing is known of their doings,
for Montejo was no writer, nor did he, like Cortez, have chroniclers
to record his deeds. At first the submission of the natives was
complete; but after a time they rallied from the stupor into which the
unparalleled success of the Spaniards had plunged them, and tiring
of ministering to the insatiable wants of the Spanish marauders, who
consumed in one day what would have kept in comfort a native family
for a month, they disappeared, and the Spaniards were soon reduced to
foraging in distant villages. This gave rise to daily skirmishes and a
more active hatred on the part of the Indians against the foreigners,
until at last exasperated, relying moreover on their numerical
strength, they came in great numbers and laid siege to Chichen, during
which the Spaniards lost 150 of their number, while the rest were all
covered with wounds. In this strait, Montejo, despairing of holding
the place much longer, determined to evacuate it; this it was not
easy to do, for the whole country round was occupied by the Indians;
but a pitch-dark night seemed to favour their flight: Montejo took
the precaution of having the horses’ hoofs muffled, not to arouse the
natives’ suspicions respecting their movements, while he left a dog
tied to a pole beneath a piece of meat with a bell attached, which the
animal rang every time he tried to reach the prey, thus keeping the
Indians in the full belief that the enemy was entrenched behind the
walls. Only on the morrow did the natives find out their mistake; they
gave instant but unavailing pursuit, for the Spaniards had several
hours’ start of them and were able to reach the territory of a friendly
cacique, not far from their own ships.
To return to our excavations, “El Palacio de las Monjas,” or Nuns’
Palace, is one of the most important monuments at Chichen-Itza, and
possesses a greater number of apartments than any other. Whether the
name is due to this circumstance, or from its traditionary appellation,
is uncertain; but we know from Mexican writers that it was the custom
among the Aztecs to dedicate girls of noble birth to the service of the
gods, on their attaining the age of twelve or thirteen. Some remained
there until they were about to be married; some few took perpetual
vows; others, on account of some vow they had made during sickness,
or that the gods might send them a good husband, entered the Nunnery
for one, two, three, or four years. They were called deaconesses or
sisters; they lived under the superintendence of staid matrons of
good character, and upon entering the convent, each girl had her hair
cut short. They all slept in one dormitory, and were not allowed to
undress before retiring to rest, that they might always be ready when
the signal was given to rise. They occupied their time with weaving and
embroidering the tapestry and ornamental work of the temple. They rose
in the night to renew the incense in the braziers, a matron leading
the procession; the maidens with eyes modestly cast down filed up to
the altar, and returned in the same manner; they fasted often, and
were required to sweep the temples and keep a constant supply of fresh
flowers on the altars. They did penance for the slightest infringement
of their religious rules by pricking their tongues and ears with the
spines of the maguey plant. Death was the punishment of the Mexican
maiden who violated her vow of chastity.[126]
It has been supposed, from the latter custom, that an order of Vestals,
similar to those in Rome, existed in America, but the analogy is
more apparent than real. According to Clavigero, priesthood was not
binding for life among the Mayas. Of the different male and female
religious orders, those dedicated to Quetzalcoatl deserve particular
mention; their members had to submit to the strictest observances, but
in compensation the people paid them almost divine honours, whilst
their power and influence were boundless. Their chief or superior bore
the name of Quetzalcoatl, and never walked abroad except to visit
some royal personage.[127] Thus the Nunnery may very well have been
both a convent and a priestly abode. It is not a considerable pile,
the façade measuring only some 29 feet by 19 feet 6 inches high,
while its grotesque, heavy ornamentation reminds us in its details
of a Chinese carving. The base up to the first cornice is occupied
by eight large superimposed idols, and four of these figures are
enclosed within two very salient cornices. The door is crowned with a
medallion representing a cacique or priest with the usual head-dress
of feathers, the inscription of the palace and stone spires, some of
which have entirely disappeared, while the outline of the rest is much
defaced. The whole length of the frieze of the north façade has a row
of similar gigantic heads, bearing the general characteristics of the
ornamentation observable throughout this structure. The Nunnery is
typical of the Toltec calli, of which we gave a drawing in our chapter
on Tula. The left wing is but 26 feet wide, by 13 feet deep, and
about 32 feet high; it consists of three cornices, with two friezes
intervening in which the same designs are repeated; the first two
high-reliefs represent stooping figures, one having his body locked
in a tortoise shell, while the centre and the sides of the frieze
are decorated with grotesque figures like those of the main façade,
which, with small variations, are the same throughout the peninsula.
As we have seen in a former chapter, these monstrous masks have been
called elephants by Waldeck and others, who wished to claim a fabulous
antiquity for these monuments, but the types they most resemble are the
Japanese or Chinese. Here, as at Palenque, the upper portion of the
wall is ornamented so as to enhance the effect of height.
The main body of the Nunnery rests on a perpendicular pyramid, the
platform of which is occupied by a solidly constructed building,
intersected with small apartments having two niches facing each other,
traversed by a corridor running from east to west of the pyramid.
Over this is a smaller structure or third story. The first platform
is reached by a steep, broad stairway 50 feet wide, which continues
with additional steps to the second platform, where the apartments of
the ruined building were but cells. The ornamentation of the first
story differs from that of other buildings at Chichen; it consists
of small sunk panels, having in the centre a large rose-like device,
framed with exquisitely moulded stones. The lintels, likewise of
stone, were covered with sculptures and inscriptions now fallen into
decay; we could only collect three, and even these are much defaced.
In this building are curious traces of masonry out of character with
the general structure, showing the place to have been occupied at two
different epochs.
[Illustration: ORNAMENTATION OF THE UPPER STORY OF THE NUNNERY,
CHICHEN-ITZA.]
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.
[Illustration: MAIN FAÇADE OF THE NUNNERY OF CHICHEN-ITZA.]
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.
[Illustration: NORTHERN FAÇADE OF THE NUNNERY OF CHICHEN-ITZA.]
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.
[Illustration: LEFT WING OF THE NUNNERY OF CHICHEN-ITZA.]
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 overrun them, but it was not so in his time.
[Illustration: FAÇADE OF EL CASTILLO, CHICHEN-ITZA.]
[Illustration: TOLTEC COLUMN IN THE CASTILLO.]
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.
[Illustration: YUCATEC CAPITAL AT CHICHEN-ITZA.]
The bas-relief on the capital of the other consists of a standing
figure with upraised arms supporting the entablature; he wears large
bracelets, huge feathers form his head-dress, 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.
[Illustration: DOOR-POSTS IN THE CASTILLO, CHICHEN-ITZA.]
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
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
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.”
[Illustration: BAS-RELIEFS FROM PILLARS OF SANCTUARY OF CHICHEN-ITZA.]
“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.
[Illustration: BAS-RELIEFS WITH INSCRIPTIONS, AKAB-SIB PALACE AT
CHICHEN-ITZA.]
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.
[Illustration: CHICHAN-CHOB, PRISON OF CHICHEN-ITZA.]
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.
[Illustration: SACRED CENOTÉ OF CHICHEN-ITZA.]
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.
[Illustration: SMALL TEMPLE IN THE TENNIS-COURT OF CHICHEN-ITZA.]
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.
[Illustration: BAS-RELIEF IN HALL OF TENNIS-COURT OF CHICHEN-ITZA.]
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.
[Illustration: TIGERS’ BAS-RELIEFS ON PORTION OF TENNIS-COURT OF
CHICHEN-ITZA.]
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 head-dress 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.
[Illustration: DOOR-POSTS OF HALL IN THE TENNIS-COURT OF CHICHEN-ITZA.]
[Illustration: TIZOC’S STONE, IN MEXICO.]
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.
[Illustration: STATUE OF TLALOC FOUND AT CHICHEN-ITZA.]
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.”
[Illustration: STATUE OF TLALOC OF TLASCALA (IN THE MUSEUM OF MEXICO).]
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.
[Illustration: SECOND PALACE OF KABAH.]