KABAH AND UXMAL.
Departure for Ticul—Uayalceh—Mucuiche—Sacalun—An Old
Souvenir—Ticul—Excavations at S. Francisco—Failure—Yucatec
Vases—Entertainment at the Hacienda of Yokat—A Sermon in
Maya—Hacienda of Santa Anna—Important Remains—The Ruins
of Kabah—Monuments Surveyed—First Palace—Ornamental
Wall—Cisterns—Inner Apartments—Second Palace—Great
Pyramid—Ancient Writers Quoted—Stephens’ Drawings.
The road to Kabah, our next stage, passing by Ticul, lies as usual
through a flat tract of land, varied here and there by plantations
of henequen and maize. We reach the hacienda of Uayalceh about nine
o’clock, where we make a stay of a few hours to breakfast, visit the
plantations and the house, consisting of an immense pile of building
surrounded by cloisters, reared on an elevated eminence, presumably
the site of an Indian palace; it being doubtful whether the Spanish
builder would have gone to the enormous cost of constructing so vast an
esplanade. A gallery, extending over the whole length of the building,
is reached by twenty steps, where a hammock, comfortable arm-chairs,
and a writing-desk raised on a platform are found, from which the
mayor-domo can watch unobserved the proceedings of the establishment.
This hacienda works its own henequen, employing some 1,200 hands; a
strict discipline is observed, and apart from the monotonous chant of
the youngsters, the low murmuring of the women, no sound is heard save
that of the machinery or the wheel at the _Noria_, in constant movement
for the requirements of the whole establishment. It is altogether a
lively and interesting scene.
The large enclosure fronting the house is planted with bananas, the
whole zapotee family, cocoa and orange-trees growing to the size of
ilexes, alternated with roses and the rich variety of the tropical
flora, filling the air with their sweet, penetrating fragrance, and
extending to a wood which surrounds the factory.
Our excellent breakfast is served in a portion of the cool open
cloister, washed down with a bottle of Spanish wine and a delicious
cup of coffee. We pay our moderate bill, proffer our thanks to the
mayor-domo for his civility, and resume our march, alighting at the
hacienda of Mucuiche to visit a cenoté, and reach Sacalun late in the
afternoon, where we stop awhile to rest our hot, panting mules.
It was formerly a place of some importance; but its chief attraction
lies in its cenoté, 65 feet deep. Steps with a balustrade lead to the
surface of the water, while the great stalactites which hang down from
the vault and almost meet the stalagmites rising from the ground, form
an imposing and weird scene. Yet it was here that I experienced the
most charming adventure that I met in the whole course of my travels;
and, although two-and-twenty years have elapsed, the dear, sweet
remembrance of that day is as fresh as ever.
I was on my way to Uxmal, when through some egregious stupidity of
the driver I was obliged to put up here for the night. There was of
course no inn, and I found a bed at a poor widow’s, who took in casual
travellers like myself. The accommodation was of the scantiest: a
hammock, a small table, a chair or two, was all the furniture of a room
which was at the same time the kitchen, the parlour, and the sleeping
chamber. The widow apologised for having nothing better to offer, but
it was easy to guess from her noble manners and appearance, that she
had known better days. I watched my dinner being prepared; the table
neatly laid, everything so scrupulously clean, that I could have found
it in my heart to be indulgent had the cooking been execrable, but
all was as good and nice as would have satisfied the most fastidious
palate. Two lovely maidens helped their mother and served at table; my
eyes sought the younger, whose transparent skin, pearly teeth, hair
of raven wing’s blackness, magnificent, languid eyes, fairy-like form
moving over the ground with an indescribable undulating movement, moved
me body and soul every time she gazed in my direction. Her look of
innocence and simplicity added to the charm which seemed to emanate
from her whole person, accepting with child-like pleasure my open
admiration, while a soft blush spread over her countenance as she met
my enraptured gaze. Their story was this:
The hacienda had been burnt down, her husband massacred, and she had
been obliged to fly with her little ones to escape a worse fate, to
find on their return the place a heap of ruins. She told of their lone,
joyless life, of a still darker future, and tears coursed down her
cheeks furrowed by care and privations rather than age.
I was young, impulsive, I wished I were rich. Why should I not....
In a moment, ancient monuments, the world, my possible career,
all was forgotten in face of these tearful countenances and their
undeserved misfortune. Why not accept the love, the happiness, which
were offered to me? And how delightful to relieve their misery, to
feel that a whole family would be made happy and comfortable by me
and through me! All this and a great deal more I expressed, and was
amply repaid by the angelic smile of the young girl, and the mother’s
grateful acknowledgments. Night, however, brought calm to my disturbed
imagination, and I resolved on a speedy flight, as the only means of
escape from a too fascinating but dangerous position. The next day I
announced my departure, and I never saw her again. And now, after so
many years, I was back in the same place again. I sought the house, to
find that my youthful love-dream was no longer here, but had gone to
live somewhere in a large city. I came away sad at heart, disappointed;
yet better so. In two-and-twenty years, Time, in all probability, had
not spared her, more than he had me.
Ticul, whither we are bound, is reached in the evening, where, thanks
to the kind offices of our friend Don Antonio Fajardo, a house has been
secured for our accommodation.
Ticul is built on the lower slopes of the Sierra, which runs in a line
from north-west to south-east of the peninsula. It is a small place,
with a few good houses and shops; everything has a look of newness, as
if built but yesterday, save the church and the monastery falling into
decay, in which lived the delightful padrecito Cirillo, whose pleasant
gossip has been so charmingly recorded in Stephens’ Journal. Almost
the only inhabitable apartment is now occupied by Cirillo’s brother, a
dear old fellow, whose cheery, smiling face it is a pleasure to see.
We make the “Tienda,” where we have our meals, our receiving-room;
our visitors are the schoolmaster, some Government _employés_, the
Mayor, and Dr. Cuevas, an eminent archæologist, who presented me with a
stick of zapoté, cut out of a lintel found at Kabah. Our evenings pass
pleasantly enough, in agreeable conversation regarding the ruins found
in this district.
[Illustration: YUCATEC AND TEOTIHUACAN VASES.]
In this way we learn that the hacienda of S. Francisco, some little
distance from Sacalun, is an ancient Indian centre with two unexplored
mounds, in one of which a skeleton and vases in good preservation were
found some years since. I was seized with the desire to explore these
eminences, but my repeated attempts proved bootless, and I was obliged
to give up the enterprise.
But kind friends here did not wish me to go away empty-handed, so they
sent me some vases which had been unearthed in these mounds, just as I
was sitting down in the evening to record my failure. Two are shown in
our cut, on each side of the central one from Teotihuacan.
The resemblance between the ceramic art of Yucatan and that of the
table-land, is seen at a glance. Their value as works of art is _nil_,
but the peculiar ornamentation, common to all, cannot be over-estimated
from the point of view of our theory. On examining this pottery, it is
found that the potter made the vases with reliefs, which he coloured,
varnished, and baked before he gave them to a carver who sculptured
devices and figures with a flint chisel, as seen on the larger Yucatec
vase, where palms, or, more likely, a symbolical figure was portrayed.
The other is a sitting figure, with a feather head-dress, and tassels
towards the top; whilst the Teotihuacan fragment represents a man in
a stooping posture, a stick or sceptre in his right hand, offering
an indeterminate object with his left to some figure engraved on the
portion of the vase which has disappeared.
Our route to the ruins of Kabah lay through the hacienda of Santa
Anna, to which they properly belong; but a path had to be opened first
through woods and forests, and as the work would take two days at
least, we accepted an invitation to witness an entertainment given by
Don Fajardo at his hacienda of Yokat.
Entertainments are as well attended in this part of the world by this
pleasure-loving people, as in a city. This will last three days,
and will include national dances, bull-fights, high banqueting and
junketing. The owner, with natural pride, shows me the vast proportions
of his noble mansion, which stands at the foot of a hill and is
surrounded by beautiful gardens full of flowers. This being Sunday
we all go to chapel, consisting in a long rambling gallery. Mass is
followed by a sermon in Maya, which to my ear is very soft and pleasing.
The congregation numbers a large proportion of pretty women, all in
their gala dress, kneeling and devout; but at the “Ite missa est,”
they disappear swifter than a flight of birds. I am introduced to the
belles of the impending ball; refreshments are handed round, when
every one of these houris comes up to dip her rosy lips in my glass;
such is the fashion here, which I need hardly say I think a very nice
fashion indeed. The guests are arriving very fast, filling already the
courtyard, and the immense open space fronting the house which has been
turned into a circus. Opposite to this is the ball-room, a leafy bower
of flowering shrubs and evergreens; here and there are booths supplying
thirsty customers with fiery _staventum_ and English beer; and ere long
these people, usually so grave and silent, make the whole place resound
with the hubbub of thousands of voices and peals of merry laughter and
joyful cries. The bulls have come; the circus is invaded by an immense
multitude, all eager to see the sport. For my part, I prefer looking
up at the galleries, crowded with beaming, bewitching Meztizas. Ye
immortals! What faces and what figures! Mother Eve must have been a
Meztiza, who “once beguiled, is ever beguiling.”
Curious enough, in this assemblage, numbering over 2,000 people, hardly
400 men are found. As a fact, this disproportion between the masculine
and feminine element is more or less noticeable in all warm countries,
where the births average five females to two males. This degeneracy
does not apply to the Indian portion of the population, for the civil
wars, in which great numbers of able-bodied men perished, have added,
no doubt, to the feminine excess of the population. It is only fair to
state that this is mere assumption on my part, based on no statistics,
so that the fact may be exaggerated. What the morals of the natives are
in face of a quasi-seraglio life, is a somewhat delicate question not
easily answered. Broadly speaking, it may be said that the Indians are
not a virtuous race; the frequency of these entertainments, extending
over several days or rather nights, is hardly conducive to strict
propriety of demeanour in an impassioned, amorous people. Be that as
it may, this assemblage offers many interesting types for observation:
the lower grades are a cross between the Malay and the Chinese; the
aquiline nose of former times has become flat, the eyes somewhat
sloping up, the lips thick, and the cheek-bones prominent, while wavy
hair indicates an admixture of negro blood; very small hands, with
thumbs so undeveloped as to be almost simian, are also observable.
Wearied of the tumult and the discordant sounds of native music, of
national dances, which, however graceful, pall by their sameness, I set
my face towards Ticul, to look after my men; when to my great relief
I find that the path to the ruins has been cleared, and I can start
whenever I choose. Don Antonio goes with us to the hacienda of Santa
Anna, which is to be our headquarters; whence _volan-cochés_ will
easily take us to Kabah, barely three miles distant. This hacienda was
abandoned like so many others during the social war, and is now being
restored with the material of an important pyramid lying at a short
distance, once crowned by edifices now totally demolished. I notice
square pillars in the detritus in good preservation topped by Doric
capitals, and curiously enough, the angles are cut like the stones of
our pavements, and bear evident traces of a metal instrument.
The road to the ruins has been so incompletely cleared, that we are
in danger of being upset every minute by rocks and trees lying right
over our path. In vain we desire the driver to moderate his speed, to
be more careful, we might as well order the wind to be still; and at
a sharp turn of the road the _volan_ comes with a tremendous crash
against the trunk of a large tree, and we are pitched out; the top of
the carriage is smashed, and with aching bones and a few scratches, we
find our way to the ruins on foot, now fortunately very near.
[Illustration: TRIUMPHAL ARCH OF KABAH (FROM STEPHENS).]
Ancient historians have made no mention whether of Kabah, Sachey,
Labphak, or Iturbide, cities lying thirty or forty leagues south of
Merida. Nevertheless, their rulers are incidentally mentioned under
the general appellation of “_people of the Sierra_.” A glance at the
map will show the position of these cities on the other side of the
mountain range which traverses the peninsula.
Kabah was an important city, to judge from its monuments, which extend
over a large space, consisting of high pyramids, immense terraces,
triumphal arches, and stately palaces.[141] Stephens, who visited the
place in 1842, has given beautiful drawings of its monuments; but the
village, left to itself since the rebellion, has become an impenetrable
forest, making a thorough exploration almost impossible. We were only
able to visit half-a-dozen structures, of which only two are still
standing. But these, coupled with those at Uxmal and Chichen, will
suffice to give a right and complete idea of Yucatec architecture and
civilisation.
The front of the first palace is richly decorated, consisting of large
figures like those at Chichen, and recalling to mind the gigantic
superimposed wooden idols met in the islands of the Pacific. The
ornamentation of this monument is so elaborate that the architecture
entirely disappears under it. Two salient cornices form a frame to
immense friezes which, in their details, would compare favourably
with our proudest monuments. The advanced state of ruin in which
the structure is found, makes it difficult to judge of its original
plan; but enough remains to show how unlike other monuments were the
decorations which extended over the whole façade, some 162 feet.
[Illustration: RUINS OF FIRST PALACE OF KABAH.]
This palace, like all Yucatec monuments, rises on a two-storied
pyramid; fronting it is a vast esplanade, which had a cistern on each
side, while the centre was occupied by a “picoté.” Over the front,
narrowing towards the top, was a decorative wall, usually found in
Indian structures. Another peculiarity of these monuments is their
facing south and west, and north and east, instead of the four cardinal
points. The interior of this edifice has a double range of apartments,
the finest we have as yet seen, measuring 29 feet long by 9 feet wide,
and 19 feet high, supported by half arches of overlapping stones. One
of the inner chambers is entered from the front apartment by three
steps cut from a single block of stone, the lower step taking the form
of a scroll. The walls at the sides, although half demolished, still
show traces of rich decoration, which consisted of the usual device,
whilst the projecting great figures of the façade are also noticeable
on the steps, on each side of which are large round eyes. The mouth
was below. All the apartments, and probably all the monuments, had
their walls painted with figures and inscriptions, as shown in the few
fragments which still remain. “Among the Mayas,” says Viollet-le-Duc,
“painting went hand-in-hand with architecture, supplementing each
other.” A picture as understood among us held a very secondary place,
while outer decorations were all-important in the monuments at Kabah,
which were of brilliant colours, and must have greatly enhanced
the striking effect produced by these semi-barbarous, yet withal
magnificent edifices.
The second palace, 160 yards north-east of the first, is likewise
reared on a pyramid, fronted by an esplanade with two cisterns and
a picoté; it has besides a second plateau, consisting of a range of
ruined apartments. A flight of steps to the centre, supported by a
half-triangular arch, leads to the edifice. This palace is only 16 feet
high, and in strong contrast with the rich, elaborate ornamentation
of the first. Its outer walls are plain, except groups of three short
pilasters each surrounding the edifice above the cornice, forming a
sloping rather than perpendicular frieze, like those at Palenque,
and in most Yucatec monuments. The front, 162 feet, is almost entire
and pierced by seven openings; two have columns and primitive rude
capitals, corresponding to the same number of narrow low apartments.
As usual the ornamental wall is narrowing towards the top, and is
distinctly seen through the vegetation covering the roof.
[Illustration: SHOWING STEPS AND INTERIOR OF FIRST PALACE OF KABAH.]
The rear is a complete ruin. Traces of painting, of which tracings were
made, are still visible in the central chamber. It was here that I
thought I recognised the rude drawing of a horse and his rider, which
was hailed with Homeric laughter; but, although I was mistaken in my
supposition, I was very near the truth, since the fact I erroneously
heralded at Kabah was found in the north. The discovery is due to
S. Salisbury, who, in 1861, whilst exploring a group of mounds and
structures, near the hacienda of Xuyum, fifteen miles north of Merida,
unearthed the remains of _two horses’ heads_, made of very hard chalk,
with bristling hair like a zebra.[142] The work shows considerable
artistic skill, and the explorer thinks that it formed part of some
bas-reliefs which had belonged to the demolished monuments. Indeed, it
is highly probable that these heads were placed on the edifices built
by the natives between Montejo’s departure in 1530 and his return in
1541; proving that the aborigines had skilfully copied the Spanish
horses, and that there was at Xuyum one monument at least similar to
those we know. To comment on this would be sheer loss of time.
To the left of this building is a rectangular pyramid, with several
stories, 162 feet at the base by 113 feet. Four outer staircases led
up from story to story to edifices in an advanced state of ruin,
having apartments extending all round, and doorways, some supported
by columns, while others are mere openings, as shown in our drawing,
which reproduces the north-west side. In this monument and in the
second palace are found for the first time lintels of stone, nearly all
in very good preservation. Historians have told us nothing regarding
Kabah; nevertheless we have some guiding landmarks from which to
reconstruct its history and that of Uxmal, of which in all probability
it was a close ally, since the two cities lie at a distance of five
leagues from each other, and were connected by a plastered road, traces
of which are still visible. Consequently the same fate must have been
common to both. We know that a century before the Conquest the lord
of Mayapan ruled over the whole peninsula, having razed to the ground
the capitals of his vanquished rivals, amongst whom were the caciques
of Uxmal, Kabah, Labna, etc. This king of Mayapan introduced into the
country a force of Mexican soldiers for the maintenance of his
authority;[143] and to ensure the good behaviour of the caciques he
obliged them to reside at his court, where their state of vassalage
was made up to them by a life of great pomp, at the expense of the
sovereign.[144]
[Illustration: NORTH-WEST SIDE OF PYRAMID OF KABAH.]
Now as the Aztec independence only dates from the reign of Itzcoatl
(1426), their conquests and subsequent power cannot be earlier than
the reign of Montezuma I. (1440); it is obvious, therefore, that they
were not in a position to send reinforcements before 1440 to the ruler
of Mayapan. This autocracy lasted but a few years; a coalition of the
people of the Sierra was formed, war broke out, the king of Mayapan was
vanquished, the city captured and sacked, when the hostage caciques
returned to their native provinces. Landa places this event in 1420,
whilst Herrera gives 1460 as the probable date. We think the latter
justifies his chronology, since he writes “that seventy years elapsed
between the fall of Mayapan and the coming of the Spaniards, varied
by years of plenty, storms, pestilence, intestine wars, followed
by twenty years of peace and prosperity down to the arrival of the
Europeans.”[145]
He further states that each cacique took away from Mayapan all the
scientific books they could conveniently carry, and that on their
return home they erected temples and palaces, which is the reason why
so many buildings are seen in Yucatan; that following on the division
of the territory into independent provinces, the people multiplied
exceedingly, so that the whole region seemed but one single city.”[146]
Landa says “the monuments were built by the natives in possession
of the country at the time of the Conquest, since the bas-reliefs
represent them with their types, their arms, and their dress;” and
“that on going through the woods and forests, groups of houses and
palaces of _marvellous construction_ were found.”[147] This is
sufficiently clear, and whether these monuments were inhabited or not
at the coming of the Spaniards, is beside the question. On the other
hand, the prosperity mentioned by Herrera and Landa found expression
in the peculiar monument, which in its original plan represented the
florid style, always observable at the end or the brilliant beginning
of a new art, being the reproduction of an older style, varied by
elaborate ornamentation of questionable taste.
[Illustration: BAS-RELIEFS AT KABAH (FROM STEPHENS).]
It is usual for a nation to commemorate a return to independence by
the erection of triumphal arches, statues, and monuments. That this
was the case at Kabah is shown in the two remarkable bas-reliefs in
our drawings, which were probably part of a monument raised in honour
of the victory obtained by the allied caciques. Like the Tizoc stone,
these bas-reliefs represent a conqueror, in the rich Yucatec costume,
receiving the sword of a captive Aztec; the latter is easily recognised
from his plainer head-dress and the maxtli girding his loins. His
head-dress is identical to those described by Lorenzana in his letters
to Cortez and Charles V., and not unlike those which the Mexican
conquerors sometimes exacted from their vanquished foes. The other
bas-relief has the same characteristics, but the head-dress is even
more significant, for it is fashioned out of the head of an animal like
those of the Mexican manuscripts. In this relief the conqueror spares
the life of the vanquished, bidding him depart in peace. It is obvious,
nay, we affirm, that this is a representation of a battle between
Yucatecs and Mexicans dating somewhere between 1460 and 1470;[148]
since we know that Mayapan was the only city which implored the aid of
the Aztecs, and that after its destruction the inhabitants obtained
permission to establish themselves in the province of Maxcanu, east
of Merida, where their descendants are found to this very day. These
repetitions were necessary to convince a class of archæologists who
claim for these monuments a hoary antiquity.
[Illustration: HACIENDA OF UXMAL.]