Should you visit the ruins of one of these mysterious old cities, you
would see scattered over a large area great edifices in different stages
of decay, which were erected on the level summits of low pyramidal
mounds or platforms. The summits of these mounds are usually of
sufficient extent to furnish space for extensive terraces or "grounds,"
as well as room for the buildings. The edifices were built of hewn stone
laid in a mortar of lime and sand, the masonry being admirable, and the
ornamentation, in most cases, very abundant. The pyramid-foundations of
earth were faced with hewn stone, and provided with great stone
stairways. These, we may suppose, were the most important buildings in
the old city. The ordinary dwellings, and all the other less important
structures, must have been made chiefly of wood or some other material,
which had perished entirely long ago and left no trace, for at present
their remains are no more visible than those of the forest leaves which
grew five hundred years ago.
One explorer of Palenque says: "For five days did I wander up and down
among these crumbling monuments of a city which, I hazard little in
saying, must have been one of the largest ever seen." There is, however,
nothing to show us certainly the actual size of any of these ancient
cities. It is manifest that some of them were very large; but, as only
the great structures made of stone remain to be examined, the actual
extent of the areas covered by the other buildings can not be
determined.
[Illustration: Fig. 25.--Arch of Las Monjas.]
The chief peculiarity of these ruins, that which especially invites
attention, is the evidence they furnish that their builders had
remarkable skill in architecture and architectural ornamentation. All
who have visited them bear witness that the workmanship was of a high
order. The rooms and corridors in these edifices were finely and often
elaborately finished, plaster, stucco, and sculpture being used. In one
room of a great building at Uxmal Mr. Stephens says "the walls were
coated with a very fine plaster of Paris, equal to the best seen on
walls in this country." Speaking of the construction of this edifice, he
says, "throughout, the laying and polishing of the stones are as perfect
as under the rules of the best modern masonry." All the ruins explored
have masonry of the same character. The floors, especially of the courts
and corridors, were made sometimes of flat stones admirably wrought and
finely polished, and sometimes of cement, which is now "as hard as
stone." Mr. Stephens, describing corridors of the "Palace" at Palenque,
says "the floors are of cement, as hard as the best seen in the remains
of Roman baths and cisterns." We give two illustrations of their method
of constructing the arch. Figure 25 shows an arch of Las Monjas, at
Uxmal. Figure 26 shows the most common form of the arch in the older
ruins.
[Illustration: Fig. 26--Common Form of Arch.]
The ornamentation is no less remarkable than the masonry and
architectural finish. It is found on the walls within and without, and
appears in elaborate designs on the heavy cornices. The exterior
ornamentation is generally carved or sculptured on the smooth surface
of the stone, and must have required a vast amount of time and labor, as
well as skillful artists. In some of the ruins inscriptions are
abundant, being found on walls, tablets, and pillars. The general effect
of the exterior decoration is thus described by Mr. Stephens in the
account of his first view of the ruins at Palenque: "We saw before us a
large building richly ornamented with stuccoed figures on pilasters,
curious and elegant; trees growing close to it, and their branches
entering the doors; the style and effect of structure and ornament
unique, extraordinary, and mournfully beautiful." In a description of
the walls around an interior court of a building at Uxmal, we have this
tribute to the artistic skill of the decorators: "It would be
difficult, in arranging four sides facing a court-yard, to have more
variety, and, at the same time, more harmony of ornament."
In some of the ruins, and especially at Copan, there are clusters of
four-sided stone pillars or obelisks varying from twelve to over twenty
feet high. These are elaborately sculptured, and show human figures,
ornamental designs, and many inscriptions. One or two statues have been
discovered, and a statuette twelve inches high is described; "it is made
of baked clay, very hard, and the surface is smooth as if coated with
enamel." At Palenque are remains of a well-built aqueduct; and near the
ruins, especially in Yucatan, are frequently found the remains of many
finely constructed aguadas or artificial lakes. The bottoms of these
lakes were made of flat stones laid in cement, several layers deep. In
Yucatan traces of a very ancient paved road have been found. This road
ran north and south, and probably led to cities in the region now
covered by the great wilderness. It was raised above the graded level of
the ground, and made very smooth.
These antiquities show that this section of the continent was anciently
occupied by a people admirably skilled in the arts of masonry, building,
and architectural decoration. Some of their works can not be excelled by
the best of our constructors and decorators. They were highly skilled,
also, in the appliances of civilized life, and they had the art of
writing, a fact placed beyond dispute by their many inscriptions.
A more particular account of some of these ruins will be given in the
next chapter. Among the more important works relating to them are those
of Stephens and Catherwood, some of the volumes of Mr. Squier, Frederick
Waldeck's work, and a recent French volume by Desire Charnay, which is
accompanied by a folio volume of photographs. Palacios, who described
Copan in 1576, may properly be called the first explorer. A brief
account of Palenque was prepared by Captain Del Rio in 1787, and
published in 1822. Captain Dupaix's folios, in French, with the drawings
of Castenada, contain the first really important memoir on these ruins.
It was prepared in 1807, detained in Mexico during the Mexican
Revolution, and finally published at Paris in 1834-5. The volumes of
Brasseur de Bourbourg are valuable. They relate chiefly to matters not
always understood, and seldom discussed with care, by those who merely
visit and describe the monuments, such as the writing, books, and
traditions of the ancient Mexican and Central American people. His style
is diffuse, sometimes confused, and rather tedious; and some of his
theories are very fanciful. But he has discovered the key to the Maya
alphabet and translated one of the old Central American books. No
careful student of American archaeology can afford to neglect what he has
written on this subject.