UXMAL.
From Kabah to Santa Helena—A Maya Village—Uxmal—Hacienda—The
Governor’s Palace—Cisterns and Reservoirs—The Nunnery
and the Dwarf’s House—Legend—General View—“Cerro de
los Sacrificios”—Don Peon’s Charter—Stephens’ Plan and
Measurements—Friederichsthal—Conclusion—Our Return.
From Kabah to Santa Helena we travel at last on a good road, wide
enough to secure us against collisions, smooth enough and shady enough
to make locomotion highly agreeable; a sensation which is increased
rather than diminished on reaching the beautiful native village of
Santa Helena, extending over a wide expanse divided in square blocks
like a modern town. Each dwelling is planted with _ciruelos_, with
orange-trees, a profusion of flowers, and encompassed by a fencing
wall. Near the huts are aerial gardens, made by means of poles fixed in
the ground supporting twined branches covered over with a few inches
of earth, where the cottagers grow flowers and vegetables; while the
yard is occupied by multitudes of cackling hens, quacking ducks, and
grunting pigs. The church stands in the centre of the village, on the
site of an ancient temple.
This hamlet was like a vision of the past, for from all we had seen
and knew, it was easy to conjure up what it had been in former times.
Nor will it seem unnatural that little or no modification should be
observable in an Indian village, if it be considered what powerful
factors are traditions, instincts, and surroundings, particularly with
a rural population. When the Spaniards imposed their religion on the
Mayas, they did so by the sword rather than persuasion; but the natives
retained their culture, their customs, and their national dress,
whereas the conquerors forgot their own language, were modified at the
contact of the subdued race, and adopted their ancient institutions,
the better to replace the caciques.
Yucatan, as we have seen, was under a feudal system of government
before the Conquest, when it was followed by “encomiendas,” giving
the Spaniards the right to enforce the services of the natives to
the number of one or two thousand to each cavalier according to his
importance. The marks of this system are observable in all great
buildings which formerly were a centre or a manor-house; whilst from
the number of pyramids may be surmised the power of the cacique once
the lord of the locality. At the present day, it is true, centres are
few in number, and in consequence of the cruel treatment of the natives
by the conquerors, they have fallen to a tenth of their primitive
numerical strength; yet cities, hamlets, and haciendas are even now
standing witnesses of how far superior was the condition of the Mayas
before the coming of the Europeans. Nothing is changed, save that the
ancient lords have fallen into servile condition, that haciendas and
Moorish-Spanish structures have superseded the princely palaces and
the mansions of the gentry, and that the straight American doorway
and triangular arch are replaced by the Arab-Hispano arch; but if the
ancient palaces are a ruinous mass, the huts of the peasantry cluster
now as of old around the manor-house. Religion alone has changed; the
church has succeeded to the temple without replacing it; the Christian
dogma seems cold and arid to a singularly mystic people, who in the
days of their national life peopled the forests with votive chapels and
mysterious voices.
To continue: we reach safely Sac-Akal, a wretched hacienda lost in a
trackless wilderness, when we disappear in the dense vegetation which
completely invades our path, and after much difficulty we arrive
at the hacienda of Uxmal late in the evening. We are received by
the mayor-domo, Don Perez, and, under the auspices of his charming
daughter, an excellent supper is soon got ready; when, with feet under
the table, and a pleasant talk with our host, the fatigues and harass
of the journey are soon forgotten. The hacienda is no longer the dismal
habitation of former days; on its site is reared an imposing pile of
building, containing lofty apartments, surrounded by open cloisters.
A sugar factory gives employment to a large number of hands, while a
tramway connects it with the sugar plantations, and facilitates the
transport to the mill. All is bustle, movement, and noise; but the
place is now as unhealthy as ever, and the mayor-domo himself is a
martyr to fever and ague.
The ruins are some two thousand yards beyond. We set out the next day
to visit them; but the aspect of these old palaces, which I had looked
forward to visiting with so much anticipation, was most disappointing.
Owing to the vegetation which is suffered to clothe everything with
its thick green mantle, the general outline of the city, nay, an
entire structure, is no longer discernible. From their state of good
preservation some monuments at Uxmal seem to belong to the revival we
noticed at Kabah, and to be more recent than those at Chichen.
The place has been so often visited and written about that we will
limit ourselves with describing the palaces reproduced in our cuts,
noticing, at the same time, any fresh indication in support of our
theory.
The Governor’s Palace, reared on three successive colossal terraces, is
the most extensive, the best known, and the most magnificent monument
of Central America; its ornamentation is in turns simple or very
elaborate. The frieze, which runs in a line of 325 feet, having a row
of colossal heads, divided in panels, filled alternately with grecques
in high relief, and diamond or lattice-work, is most striking in its
effect. The palace looks new, although it has been abandoned for over
three hundred years; and it would be entire had it not been for the
vandalism of its owners, who used the stones of the basement for the
erection of their hacienda.
The youthful appearance of this edifice is obvious to the observer, for
monuments, like men, carry more or less their age on their countenance,
which a thoughtful mind can easily read. Their wrinkles are seen in the
fissures of their walls, in their stones eaten away by the elements,
whilst the moss, the trees, and the lianas mantling over them, complete
their hoary exterior.
[Illustration: THE GOVERNOR’S PALACE, UXMAL.]
A tradition derives the name of Uxmal from a word meaning
“thrice built;” whether the town was demolished and reconstructed,
or whether its monuments were built three times, does not appear.
The latter version would indicate the Indian method of building.
In fact, this is seen in all our drawings of the palace, where the
fallen edifice shows that the inner wall is in a perfect state of
preservation, forming an independent work. These inner walls formed the
apartments of the edifice, and in all probability were perpendicular
to a height of some 6 to 9 feet, when the side walls began to approach
each other so as to form the false vault (triangular arch) of the
double range of apartments of the palace.
This was the shell or first construction. Then the interval between the
arches was filled by layers of stone, whilst the outside walls, resting
on the arches, were solid masonry. This was the second construction.
Then came the third, when the outer walls were covered with tenons and
sculptures. It should be added that this mode of building is applicable
to all stone structures, and may have been generally adopted.
Two cisterns and a picoté are found on the esplanade facing the palace.
The entrance or mouth to each cistern is a circular opening, 9 feet
deep by 16 feet in diameter. Similar excavations are of frequent
occurrence throughout the city of Uxmal and the vicinity, where they
were chiefly used by the lower orders. There were also great artificial
reservoirs, with cisterns at the bottom for collecting rain-water.
The decoration on the main entrance of this palace deserves particular
mention. The wooden lintels have been removed, the projecting cornice
has fallen; but above it the walls were covered with ornamentation
in high relief of infinite skill and magnificence, which, alas! has
been destroyed or carried away by early explorers. Higher still are
three eagles with half-spread wings, followed by a circular pedestal
supporting the mutilated bust of a human figure, without arms, and
whose head, now deficient, was surmounted by a lofty plumed head-dress.
In the plinth are three heads of Roman type, beautifully executed;
while on each side of the main figure are the inscriptions which we
reproduce.
[Illustration: PORTION OF THE GOVERNOR’S PALACE, UXMAL.]
At Uxmal, all the lintels over the doorways are of wood, of which a
large proportion is in a perfect state of preservation—a clear proof
of their recent period. Nor were these the only pieces of wood used
in these buildings: across the ceilings from side to side, and about
mid-height, stretched small wooden beams, the ends of which were
built in the stone-work, as seen by the holes in the walls and the
ends of the beams which have not completely disappeared. We have said
in a former chapter that doors were unknown to the aborigines; here
four rings or stone hooks are found inside the doorways near the top,
from which it is easy to conjecture that a wooden board was placed
inside against the opening, and kept in place by two transversal bars
entering the stone hooks. It is the only place where I have observed
this innovation, which seems to indicate a later epoch for Uxmal.
[Illustration: PLAN OF NUNNERY OF UXMAL (FROM STEPHENS).]
Phallus worship was recognised and practised both on the plateaux and
in Yucatan, and numerous traces have been found everywhere; whilst
here, a collection is to be seen in the Governor’s Palace.
[Illustration: NORTH WING FAÇADE OF THE NUNNERY OF UXMAL.]
The Nunnery is the largest building at Uxmal; if less magnificent than
the Governor’s Palace, its ornamentation is throughout exceedingly
rich, varied, and elaborate. We give Stephens’ plan and measurements.
This monument, supported on three superimposed terraces, forms a
vast quadrangle consisting of four wings of different dimensions,
surrounding a court 258 feet by 214 feet. The southern front is 279
feet long, while the centre is occupied by the main entrance, 10
feet 8 inches wide, with a triangular arch some 20 feet high. This
side is less richly decorated than the rest. Facing this entrance
stands the northern wing, the ornamentation of which is wonderfully
diversified, consisting of grecques, lattice-work, and bas-reliefs,
representing birds and human beings, whilst small porticoes,
intersected by pavilions with the usual superimposed great idols, are
found everywhere. The southern front is reared on a terrace which is
reached by a stairway 264 feet long by 95 feet wide, and about 25 feet
high; it is pierced by thirteen openings, corresponding to a range of
thirteen small apartments two deep. The western wing, almost entirely
destroyed, gives nevertheless a good idea of its fine ornamentation.
It consisted of a frieze divided into panels with the usual devices,
and huge Indian statues in high relief; two immense feathered serpents
wreathed the panels occupying the whole length of the façade, 173
feet from end to end, whilst the heads, and the tails with rattles,
met at the extremities, like those on the table-land. The eastern
wing is entire and almost intact; the front measures 158 feet, having
an elegant frieze composed of stone trellis-work, intersected by
serpentine trophies disposed in fan-like fashion, while towards the top
are symbolic figures admirably treated. This side is severe in design,
more simple, and in better taste than the rest. The Nunnery consisted
of eighty-eight apartments, of all dimensions, varying from 19 feet to
32 feet long.
[Illustration: SHOWING DETAILS OF EASTERN FAÇADE OF THE NUNNERY, UXMAL.]
The Dwarf’s House, also the Casa del Adivino, the Prophet’s House,
is a charming temple crowning a pyramid with a very steep slope 100
feet high. It consists of two parts: one reared on the upper summit,
the other a kind of chapel lower down, facing the town. It was richly
ornamented, and presumably dedicated to a great deity. Two stairways
facing east and west led to these buildings. Padre Cogolludo, who
visited this temple in 1656, is the first to complain of the steep
staircase, which caused his head to swim. He found in one of these
apartments offerings of _cocoa and copal which had been burnt very
recently_; consequently, fifteen years after the Conquest the
natives were still sacrificing to their gods, and practising their
superstitions in their own temples. That these edifices were entire
in Cogolludo’s time is beyond doubt, since the Governor’s Palace, the
eastern and southern sides of the Nunnery, are still standing. They
appeared new to Lizana, who (1616) says: “These buildings are alike
both in style and architecture; all are reared on supporting mounds
(_ku_, plural _kues_), which inclines one to think that they were built
at the same time, by the order of one guiding head, seeing that they
are similar. Some look so new and so clean, their wooden lintels so
perfect, that they do not seem to _have been built more than twenty
years_. These palaces must have _been used as temples and sanctuaries_,
for the dwellings of the natives were thatched, and always in the
depths of the forests.”[149]
[Illustration: THE DWARF’S HOUSE OF UXMAL.]
This quotation is not indicative of very early monuments, while it
shows that the similarity of the monuments was noticed and recorded
by the first explorers; it will not, therefore, appear unnatural that
aided by documents, when we write the history of one monument should be
equivalent to writing the history of all; and that the architectural
manifestations which are identical throughout Central America should
be ascribed to one people, the Toltecs. The culture of a nation is
gauged by their monuments; if so, where are the structures marking the
existence of the Toltecs? Although of great solidity, and not four
hundred years old, had they entirely disappeared at the time of the
Conquest, and are the monuments we now behold the remains of ancient
buildings unknown to them? But such a conclusion is belied by history
and tradition. We will terminate these discussions with a few words
from Cogolludo, who says of these edifices: “_They are about the
same as those in New Spain, described by Torquemada in his ‘Indian
Monarchy._’”[150]
Stephens has a legend relating to the Dwarf’s House, which we
reproduce: “An old woman lived alone in her hut, rarely leaving her
chimney-corner. She was much distressed at having no children; in her
grief, one day she took an egg, wrapped it up carefully in a cotton
cloth, and put it in a corner of her hut. She looked at it every
day with great anxiety, but no change in the egg was observable;
one morning, however, she found the shell broken, and a lovely tiny
creature was stretching out its arms to her. The old woman was in
raptures; she took it to her heart, gave it a nurse, and was so
careful of it, that at the end of a year the baby walked and talked as
well as a grown-up man; but he stopped growing. The good old woman in
her joy and delight exclaimed that the baby should be a great chief.
One day, she told him to go to the king’s palace and engage him in a
trial of strength. The dwarf begged hard not to be sent on such an
enterprise; but the old woman insisted on his going, and he was obliged
to obey. When ushered into the presence of the sovereign, he threw
down his gauntlet; the latter smiled, and asked him to lift a stone of
three arobes (75 lb.). The child returned crying to his mother, who
sent him back, saying: ‘If the king can lift the stone, you can lift
it too.’ The king did take it up, but so did the dwarf. His strength
was tried in many other ways, but all the king did was as easily done
by the dwarf. Wroth at being outdone by so puny a creature, the prince
told the dwarf that unless he built a palace loftier than any in the
city, he should die. The affrighted dwarf returned to the old woman,
who bade him not to despair, and the next morning they both awoke in
the palace which is still standing. The king saw with amazement the
palace; he instantly sent for the dwarf and desired him to collect two
bundles of _cogoiol_ (a kind of hard wood), with one of which he would
strike the dwarf on the head, and consent to be struck in return by his
tiny adversary. The latter again returned to his mother moaning and
lamenting; but the old woman cheered him up, and placing a tortilla
on his head, sent him back to the king. The trial took place in the
presence of all the State grandees; the king broke the whole of his
bundle on the dwarf’s head without hurting him in the least, seeing
which he wished to save his head from the impending ordeal, but his
word had been passed before his assembled court, and he could not well
refuse. The dwarf struck, and at the second blow, the king’s skull was
broken to pieces. The spectators immediately proclaimed the victorious
dwarf their sovereign. After this the old woman disappeared; but in
the village of Mani, fifty miles distant, is a deep well leading to a
subterraneous passage which extends as far as Merida. In this passage
is an old woman sitting on the bank of a river shaded by a great tree,
having a serpent by her side. She sells water in small quantities,
accepting no money, for she must have human beings, innocent babies,
which are devoured by the serpent. This old woman is the dwarf’s
mother.”
Uxmal is the only city where the monuments are so grouped as to make
it possible to take a panoramic view, which the reader can follow one
by one in our drawing. To the left, in the distance, is the “Casa de
la Vieja,” the Old Woman’s House; next comes the Governor’s Palace,
showing the west side and about three-fourths of the edifice; more
in front, to the right, the “Casa de las Tortugas,” Turtle House, so
called from a row of turtles occurring at regular intervals above the
upper cornice. To the rear, a great pyramid crowned by a vast platform,
without monuments, known as “Cerro de los Sacrificios,” Mound of
Sacrifice. It is on the plan of the Mexican temples, which consisted,
like this monument, of a pyramid with small wood chapels containing
idols and the terrible _techcatl_. The Toltecs, who did not practise
human sacrifice, had real temples on the summits of their pyramids,
like those in Yucatan, where they developed this kind of architecture.
Consequently, if human sacrifices are met among the Mayas, they must
be attributed to Mexican influence, and all writers agree that the
monuments devoted to this horrible practice date from the fifteenth
century (1440), and are of Aztec origin.
[Illustration: GENERAL VIEW OF THE RUINS OF UXMAL.]
To the right of this mound is another pyramid, having several stories
like the Castillo at Chichen, and similar monuments at Palenque; it was
crowned by a beautiful temple, now in a very ruined condition. Still to
the right, but more in front, is the curious building known as “Casa
de las Palomas,” Pigeon House, owing to immense peaks terminating the
decorative wall, pierced by large openings arranged in horizontal rows,
which may well have served as a pigeon-house. It should be added that
at Uxmal the decorative wall is only found in the most dilapidated
monuments deficient of any stucco mouldings, showing an earlier epoch.
Fronting these buildings, on the second plan, are more ruins; the most
conspicuous being the Tlachtli or Tennis-court, and the south side of
the Nunnery with its main entrance, which gives access to the inner
court, where traces of pavement are still visible.
An official document given by Stephens will confirm our views
respecting these monuments. Stephens found it among the papers of the
Peon family, in a petition from Don Lorenzo Evia to the King of Spain
(1673), praying a grant of four leagues of land from the buildings of
Uxmal, “since,” he says, “no injury could result to any third person,
but on the contrary very great service to God our Lord, because with
that establishment it would prevent the Indians in those places from
worshipping the devil in the ancient buildings which are there, having
in them their idols, to which they burn copal and perform other
detestable sacrifices, _as they are doing every day notoriously and
publicly_.” And further: “In the place called the edifices of Uxmal
and its lands, the 3rd day of the month of January, 1688,” etc.,[151]
concluding: “In virtue of the power and authority given me by the
Governor, I took the hand of the said Lorenzo, and he walked with me
all over Uxmal and its buildings, opened and shut some doors, cut
within the space some trees, picked up stones and threw them down,
drew water from one of the aguados, and performed other acts of
possession.”
This was 150 years after the Conquest; but by this time the reader must
be convinced that edifices, notably at Uxmal, were inhabited before and
after the coming of Europeans; that they were recent, and that, broadly
speaking, the monuments of Yucatan were the work of the existing race,
erected at various epochs by the Toltec conquerors.[152]
We will end these long discussions by a quotation from Baron
Friedrichsthal, regarding the probable age of these ruins, showing that
our theory was promulgated some forty-three years ago, not only by
Stephens, but also by the illustrious German scholar: “Historians are
unanimous in ascribing all the existing stone structures to the Toltecs
or the Aztecs. The latter, however, did not invade New Spain until the
middle of the thirteenth century, while no traces are found of their
having migrated south. Aztec architecture is quite distinct from the
Toltec, which a comparison of Mexican buildings with those found at
Palenque sufficiently show; the latter being generally ascribed to the
Toltecs by all ancient authorities. The evident analogy which exists
between the edifices at Palenque and the ruins in Yucatan, favours the
assumption of one origin, although different epochs must be assigned
to each, by reason of the progress visible in their treatment. To
fix these epochs with some show of probability seems to us, if not
impossible, at least very difficult. A thorough exploration, supported
by a minute and exhaustive comparison of the standing remains, coupled
with a careful observation of the causes and circumstances which have
produced or contributed to the state of dilapidation wherein these
ruins are found, could alone throw some light across the darkness
which has settled over these monuments for so many centuries.” (This is
exactly what we have done.)
“The solidity of these edifices is not equal to that of monuments of
other nations, which were built throughout the thickness of their walls
with stones of different size; whereas the inside of the American
wall is a rude mixture of friable mortar and small irregular stones.
This heterogeneous composition must have produced the rupture or
dislocation of the outward facing as soon as the whole was under the
influence of atmospheric moisture, and the rapid infiltrations which
were produced by its upper portions. Moreover, the calcareous stone
used in these buildings is considered as a very inferior material,
as seen by the progressive decomposition of those portions of the
buildings which are exposed to the direct influence of the north-east
wind, and the consequent action of the prevailing rain. Nor is this
all. In the wood used in almost all northern structures, examples are
met of resinous wood having lain buried or submerged, in a semi-state
of petrifaction, over a thousand years. Now in the Yucatec ruins the
cornices and lintels of the doorways, of zapoté wood, were exposed to
the open air. This wood, although very hard, not being resinous like
cedar, is attacked by devouring insects. For this reason it does not
seem probable that these woods are more than _six_ or _seven_ hundred
years old. If this supposition be called purely hypothetical, the
thoughtful reader has a perfect right to form his opinion from more
solid data, while I claim the same to express mine; not that I deem
myself infallible—for, says the German proverb, ‘Truth is only attained
after repeated tumbles on the rocks of error.’”[153]
American monuments, considered artistically, are but the rude
manifestations of a semi-barbarous race, which it were idle to endow
with intrinsic value, seeing that their original plans are wanting both
in accuracy and symmetry, while their materials are ill-cut, their
joints far apart even in bas-reliefs, where the intervening spaces are
filled up with cement. Consequently these buildings cannot compare with
Indian, Egyptian or Assyrian monuments; for here we have a nation who
in the whole course of their political life, extending over several
centuries, produced but one note, emitted but one sound; because they
had neither traditions nor a higher civilisation around them to draw
from. And, although here and there some happier mood is seen, whether
in sculpture or cement modelling, their occurrence is too rare ever to
have become general. The chief merit of these buildings lies in their
interest for the archæologist and the intelligent, who are necessarily
few; and this explains the silence of the conquerors respecting them.
How well I remember my servant’s strictures on hearing my exclamation
of delightful surprise as I stood the first time before the Governor’s
Palace: “Well, I can’t, for my part, see anything so wonderful in it;
there isn’t a French bricklayer who couldn’t do quite as well and
better.” François, on his return home, would no more have dreamt of
recounting of the wonderful buildings he had seen in the New World,
than did the Spaniards three hundred years before.
It is with something of the feeling which is experienced at parting
from a long-cherished friend that we take leave of the curious,
barbarous, yet withal charming ruins, thrice visited with delight
ever fresh, with interest all the more vivid that I have succeeded in
lifting the deep shroud which covered them, and if on that account they
are no longer surrounded with mysterious awe, they will not be less
interesting.
We set out, directing our march through Muna, which has a fine well,
seemingly of Indian construction. A native feast is being held, and
here, as throughout the State, it means a grand opportunity for getting
drunk. We push on, sleep at a broken-down hovel called Abala, and the
next day we are once more comfortably settled among our household gods.
[Illustration: INSCRIPTION OF THE GOVERNOR’S PALACE, UXMAL.]