Departure from Ticul.--The Sierra.--Nohcacab.--Ruins of Nohpat.--Return
to Uxmal.--The Campo Santo.--Work of Mr. Waldeck.--General Description
of the Ruins.--Two ruined Edifices.--Great Stone Rings.--House
of the Nuns.--Dimensions, &c.--Courtyard.--Facades.--A lofty
Edifice.--Complicated Ornament.--Painted Facades.--Sculptured
Doorways.--House of the Birds.--Remains of Painting.--An Arch.--House
of the Dwarf.--Building loaded with Ornaments.--Long and narrow
Structure.--Tasteful Arrangement of Ornaments.--Human
Sacrifices.--House of the Pigeons.--Range of Terraces called the Campo
Santo.--House of the Old Woman.--Circular Mound of Ruins.--Wall of the
City.--Close of Description.--Title Papers of Uxmal.--Of the Antiquity
of Uxmal.
The next day was Sunday, which I passed in making preparations for
returning to Uxmal. I had, however, some distraction. In the morning
the quiet of the village was a little disturbed by intelligence of a
revolution in Tekax, a town nine leagues distant. Our sojourn in the
country had been so quiet that it seemed unnatural, and a small
revolution was necessary to make me feel at home. The insurgents had
deposed the alcalde, appointed their own authorities, and laid
contributions upon the inhabitants, and the news was that they intended
marching three hundred men against Merida, to extort an acknowledgment
of independence. Ticul lay in their line of march, but as it was
considered very uncertain whether they would carry this doughty purpose
into execution, I determined not to change my plan.
Doctor Cabot's presence in the village was, of course, generally known,
and though it was rather prejudicial to his reputation as a medical man
to be ill himself he did not fail to have patients. His fame as a curer
of biscos had reached this place, but, fortunately for his quiet, there
was only one squinter among the inhabitants, though his was violent
enough for a whole village. In the afternoon this man applied for
relief. Doctor Cabot told him that his hand was not yet steady enough
to perform the operation, and that I was going away the next day; but
this by no means satisfied him. It happened, however, that a gentleman
present, who was consulting the doctor on some ailment of his own,
mentioned incidentally that one of the doctor's patients at Merida had
lost the eye, though he added that the loss was not ascribed to the
operation, but to subsequent bad treatment. This story, as we afterward
learned, was entirely without foundation, but it had its effect upon
the bisco, who rolled his eye toward the door so violently that the
rest of him followed, and he never came near the doctor again. His only
operation that day was upon the wife of the proprietor of San
Francisco, whose head he laid open, and took out a hideous wen.
I have mentioned the extraordinary stillness of this place. Every
night, however, since my arrival, this stillness had been broken by the
canting, singing tones of a boy calling out the numbers of the loteria.
Preparations were making for a village fete in February; the ground was
already marked out in front of the convent for the Plaza de Toros and
the loteria was adopted as the means of raising money to pay the
expenses. I had not yet attended, and on the last night of my stay in
Ticul I determined to go. It was held in the corridor of the audiencia,
along which hang branches of palm leaves to protect the lights. It was
Sunday evening, and, consequently, the attendance was more numerous
than usual. At the entrance sat the boy, whose voice is even now
ringing in my ears, rattling a bag of balls, drawing them out, and
calling off the numbers. Along the corridor was a rough table with a
row of candles in the centre, and benches on each side were occupied by
the villagers, without distinction of persons, with papers and grains
of corn before them, the same as at Merida. The largest sum called off
was twenty-nine reals. One real was deducted from every dollar for the
particular object of the lottery, and the fund which the boy had
obtained by such a potent use of his voice then amounted to sixty-three
dollars. There were several performers giving out somewhat equivocal
music, without which nothing in that country could go on long, and
occasionally two reals were drawn from the purse for them. All entered
who pleased. There was no regulation of dress or etiquette, but much
quiet courtesy of manner, and it was regarded a mere converzatione, or
place for passing the evening. I remained about an hour. As we crossed
the plaza, the moon lighted up the venerable front of the convent, and
for the last time I slept within its walls.
The next morning I bade farewell to the cura, with an understanding,
that as soon as Doctor Cabot was able to return, the good padre would
accompany him to finish his interrupted visit to us at Uxmal. My time
at Ticul had not been lost. Besides exploring the ruins of San
Francisco, I had received accounts of others from the cura, which
promised to add greatly to the interest of our expedition.
That I might take a passing view of one of these places on my return to
Uxmal, I determined to go back by a different road, across the sierra,
which rises a short distance from the village of Ticul. The ascent was
steep, broken, and stony. The whole range was a mass of limestone rock,
with a few stunted trees, but not enough to afford shade, and white
under the reflection of the sun. In an hour I reached the top of the
sierra. Looking back, my last view of the plain presented, high above
everything else, the church and convent which I had left. I was an hour
crossing the sierra, and on the other side my first view of the great
plain took in the church of Nohcacab, standing like a colossus in the
wilderness, the only token to indicate the presence of man. Descending
to the plain, I saw nothing but trees, until, when close upon the
village, the great church again rose before me, towering above the
houses, and the only object visible.
The village was under the pastoral charge of the cura of Ticul, and in
the suburbs I met his ministro on horseback, waiting, according to the
directions of the former, to escort me to the ruins of Nohpat. At a
league's distance we turned off from the main road, and, following a
narrow path leading to some milpas, in fifteen minutes we saw towering
before us lofty but shattered buildings, the relics of another ruined
city. I saw at a glance that it would be indispensable for Mr.
Catherwood to visit them. Nevertheless, I passed three hours on the
ground, toiling in the hot sun, and at four o'clock, with strong
apprehensions of another attack of fever, I mounted to continue my
journey.
A little before dark I emerged from the woods, and saw Mr. Catherwood
standing on the platform of the Casa del Gobernador, the sole tenant of
the ruins of Uxmal. His Indians had finished their day's work, Bernaldo
and Chaipa Chi had gone, and since Doctor Cabot left he had slept alone
in our quarters. He had a feeling of security from the tranquil state
of the country, the harmless character of the Indians, their
superstitions in regard to the ruins, and a spring pistol with a cord
across the door, which could not fail to bring down any one who might
attempt to enter at night.
It had happened most fortunately for our operations that Mr. Catherwood
had held out. Without any resources or anything to occupy him except
work, he had accomplished an enormous deal, and from being so much
better provided with the comforts of living than at any former time
while exploring ruins, he had continued in good health and spirits.
At dark the Indian arrived with my luggage, sweating at every pore,
having carried it twenty-one miles, for which I paid him three
shillings and sixpence. As he was going away we gave him a roll of
bread, and he asked by signs if he was to carry it to the cura. Being
made to comprehend that he was to eat it himself, he sat down and
commenced immediately, having probably never eaten so much bread before
in his life. We then gave him half a cup of Habanero, some plantains
and a cigar, and, as the dew was heavy, told him to sit by the fire.
When he had finished these we repeated the portion, and he seemed
hardly to believe his good fortune real, but he had an idea that he was
well off, and either from being a stranger, and free from the
apprehensions felt by the Indians of Uxmal, or else from a fancy he had
taken to us, he asked for a costal, a piece of hemp bagging, to sleep
upon. We gave him one, and he lay down by the fire; for a while he
endeavoured to protect his naked body against the moschetoes, and kept
up a continued slapping, lighter or heavier according to the
aggravation, changed his position, and tried the back corridor, but it
was all in vain; and, finally, with a sad attempt at a smile, he asked
for another drink of Habanero and a cigar, and went away.
On the twenty-fourth of December Doctor Cabot returned from Ticul,
bringing back with him Albino, who was still in a rueful plight.
Unfortunately, the cura Carillo was unwell, and unable to accompany
him, but had promised to follow in a few days. On Christmas eve we were
all once more together, and Christmas Day, in spite of ourselves, was a
holyday. No Indians came out to work. Chaipa Chi, who had moved
regularly as the sun, for the first time failed. We had, however, as
visiters, a number of women from the village of Moona. From the top of
the House of the Dwarf we saw them moving toward that of the Nuns, and
went down to receive them. The only males who accompanied them were a
lad about fourteen attending his newly-married wife, and the husband of
the woman I had seen buried, who either had not the spirit for joining
in the festivities at the hacienda, or was putting himself in the way
of repairing his loss.
Unable to do anything at the ruins, I walked down to the hacienda to
see one of our horses which had a sore back. The hacienda was deserted,
but the sound of violins led me to the place where the Indians were
congregated. Preparations were making on a large scale for the evening
feast. The place looked like a butcher's shambles, for they had cut up
what had once composed eight turkeys, two hogs, and I do not know how
many fowls. The women were all busy; Chaipa Chi was lady-patroness, and
up to her elbows in tortillas.
I walked on to the campo santo, for the purpose of carrying away two
skulls which I had selected and laid aside on the charnel pile at the
time of the funeral. I had taken some precautions, for the news of the
carrying off the bones from San Francisco had created some excitement
among the Indians all over the country; and as I had to pass a long row
of huts, I had procured two calabazas, or gourds, for drinking cups,
which I carried in a pocket-handkerchief, and intended to throw away in
the graveyard, and substitute the skulls. On reaching the pile,
however, I found that other hands had been upon it. The skulls I had
selected had been displaced and mingled with the others, so that I
could not identify them. I examined the whole heap, but could recognise
only the huge skull of an African and that of the woman I had seen dug
up. The latter was the skull of a full-blooded Indian, but it had been
damaged by the crowbar; besides, I had seen all her bones and her very
flesh taken piecemeal out of the grave; I had heard so much of her that
she seemed an acquaintance, and I had some qualms of conscience about
carrying her skull away. In fact, alone in the stillness and silence of
the place, something of a superstitious feeling came over me about
disturbing the bones of the dead and robbing a graveyard. I should
nevertheless, perhaps, have taken up two skulls at random, but, to
increase my wavering feeling, I saw two Indian women peeping at me
through the trees, and, not wishing to run the risk of creating a
disturbance on the hacienda, I left the graveyard with empty hands. The
majoral afterward told me that it was fortunate I had done so, for that
if I had carried any away, it would have caused an excitement among the
Indians, and perhaps led to mischief.
The account of our residence at Uxmal is now drawing to a close, and it
is time to bring before the reader the remainder of the ruins; but
before doing so I shall make one remark in regard to the work of Mr.
Waldeck, which was published in folio at Paris in 1835, and, except my
own hurried notice, is the only account that has ever been published of
the ruins at Uxmal. I had this work with me on our last visit. It will
be found that our plans and drawings differ materially from his, but
Mr. Waldeck was not an architectural draughtsman, and he complains that
his drawings were taken from him by the Mexican government. I differ
from him, too, in the statement of some facts, and almost entirely in
opinions and conclusions; but these things occur of course, and the
next person who visits these ruins will perhaps differ in many respects
from both of us. It is proper to say, moreover, that Mr. Waldeck had
much greater difficulties to encounter than we, for at the time of his
visit the ground had not been cleared for a milpa, and the whole field
was overgrown with trees; besides, he is justly entitled to the full
credit of being the first stranger who visited these ruins, and brought
them to the notice of the public.
To return. I have already mentioned the Casa del Gobernador and the
Casa de las Tortugas, or House of the Turtles, the latter of which
stands on the grand platform of the second terrace of the Casa del
Gobernador, at the northwest corner.
Descending from this building, and on a line with the doorway of the
Casa de las Monjas, going north, at the distance of two hundred and
forty feet are two ruined edifices facing each other, and seven feet
apart, as laid down on the general plan of the ruins. Each is one
hundred and twenty-eight feet long, and thirty feet deep, and, so far
as they can be made out, they appear to have been exactly alike in plan
and ornament. The sides facing each other were embellished with
sculpture, and there remain on both the fragments of entwined colossal
serpents, which ran the whole length of the walls.
In the centre of each facade, at points directly opposite each other,
are the fragments of a great stone ring. Each of these rings was four
feet in diameter, and secured in the wall by a stone tenon of
corresponding dimensions. They appear to have been broken wilfully; of
each, the part nearest the stem still projects from the wall, and the
outer surface is covered with sculptured characters. We made
excavations among the ruins along the base of the walls, in hope of
discovering the missing parts of these rings, but without success.
These structures have no doorways or openings of any kind, either on
the sides or at the ends. In the belief that they must have interior
chambers, we made a breach in the wall of the one on the east to the
depth of eight or ten feet, but we found only rough stones, hanging so
loosely together as to make it dangerous for the Indians to work in the
holes, and they were obliged to discontinue.
This excavation, however, carried us through nearly one third of the
structure, and satisfied us that these great parallel edifices did not
contain any interior apartments, but that each consisted merely of four
great walls, filled up with a solid mass of stones. It was our opinion
that they had been built expressly with reference to the two great
rings facing each other in the facades, and that the space between was
intended for the celebration of some public games, in which opinion we
were afterward confirmed.
Passing between these buildings, and continuing in the same direction,
we reach the front of the Casa de las Monjas, or House of the Nuns.
This building is quadrangular, with a courtyard in the centre. It
stands on the highest of three terraces. The lowest is three feet high
and twenty feet wide; the second, twelve feet high and forty-five feet
wide; and the third, four feet high and five feet wide, extending the
whole length of the front of the building.
The front is two hundred and seventy-nine feet long, and above the
cornice, from one end to the other, it is ornamented with sculpture. In
the centre is a gateway ten feet eight inches wide, spanned by the
triangular arch, and leading to the courtyard. On each side of this
gateway are four doorways with wooden lintels, opening to apartments
averaging twenty-four feet long, ten feet wide, and seventeen feet high
to the top of the arch, but having no communication with each other.
The building that forms the right or eastern side of the quadrangle is
one hundred and fifty-eight feet long; that on the left is one hundred
and seventy-three feet long, and the range opposite or at the end of
the quadrangle measures two hundred and sixty-four feet.
These three ranges of buildings have no doorways outside, but the
exterior of each is a dead wall, and above the cornice all are
ornamented with the same rich and elaborate sculpture. On the exterior
of the range last mentioned, the designs are simple, and among them are
two rude, naked figures, which have been considered as indicating the
existence of that same Eastern worship before referred to among the
people of Uxmal.
Such is the exterior of this building. Passing trough the arched
gateway, we enter a noble courtyard, with four great facades looking
down upon it, each ornamented from one end to the other with the
richest and most intricate carving known in the art of the builders of
Uxmal; presenting a scene of strange magnificence, surpassing any that
is now to be seen among its rains. This courtyard is two hundred and
fourteen feet wide, and two hundred and fifty-eight feet deep. At the
time of our first entrance it was overgrown with bushes and grass,
quails started up from under our feet, and, with a whirring flight,
passed over the tops of the buildings. Whenever we went to it, we
started flocks of these birds, and throughout the whole of our
residence at Uxmal they were the only disturbers of its silence and
desolation.
[Engraving 19: Plan of the Monjas]
Among my many causes of regret for the small scale on which I am
obliged to present these drawings, none is stronger than the consequent
inability to present, with all their detail of ornament, the four great
facades fronting this courtyard. There is but one alleviating
circumstance; which is, that the side most richly ornamented is so
ruined that, under any circumstances, it could not be presented entire.
This facade is on the left of the visiter entering the courtyard. It is
one hundred and seventy-three feet long, and is distinguished by two
colossal serpents entwined, running through and encompassing nearly all
the ornaments throughout its whole length. The two plates which follow
represent the only parts remaining.
[Engraving 20: Part of the Facade of the Monjas]
The first exhibits that portion of the facade toward the north end of
the building. The tail of one serpent is held up nearly over the head
of the other, and has an ornament upon it like a turban, with a plume
of feathers. The marks on the extremity of the tail are probably
intended to indicate a rattlesnake, with which species of serpent the
country abounds. The lower serpent has its monstrous jaws wide open,
and within them is a human head, the face of which is distinctly
visible on the stone, and appears faintly in the drawing. From the ruin
to which all was hurrying, Don Simon cared only to preserve this
serpent's head. He said that we might tear and out carry away every
other ornament, but this he intended to build into the wall of a house
in Merida as a memorial of Uxmal.
[Engraving 21: Entwined Serpents over a Doorway]
The second engraving represents the two entwined serpents enclosing and
running through the ornaments over a doorway. The principal feature in
the ornament enclosed is the figure of a human being, standing, but
much mutilated. The bodies of the serpents, according to the
representations of the same design in other parts of the sculpture, are
covered with feathers.
The two engravings represent about one fifth of the whole facade; the
other four fifths were enriched with the same mass of sculptured
ornaments, and toward the south end the head and tail of the serpents
corresponded in design and position with the portion still existing at
the other. Had it been our fortune to reach this place a few years
sooner, we might have seen the whole entire. Don Simon told us that in
1835 the whole front stood, and the two serpents were seen encircling
every ornament in the building. In its ruins it presents a lively idea
of the "large and very well constructed buildings of lime and stone"
which Bernal Dias saw on landing at Campeachy, "with figures of
serpents and of idols painted on the walls."
At the end of the courtyard, and fronting the gate of entrance, is the
facade of a lofty building, two hundred and sixty-four feet long,
standing on a terrace twenty feet high. The ascent is by a grand but
ruined staircase, ninety-five feet wide, flanked on each side by a
building with sculptured front, and having three doorways, each leading
to apartments within.
The height of this building to the upper cornice is twenty-five feet.
It has thirteen doorways, over each of which rose a perpendicular wall
ten feet wide and seventeen feet high above the cornice, making the
whole height forty-two feet from the ground. These lofty structures
were no doubt erected to give grandeur and effect to the building, and
at a distance they appear to be turrets, but only four of them now
remain. The whole great facade, including the turrets, is crowded with
complicated and elaborate sculpture, among which are human figures
rudely executed: two are represented as playing on musical instruments,
one being not unlike a small harp, and the other in the nature of a
guitar; a third is in a sitting posture, with his hands across his
breast, and tied by cords, the ends of which pass over his shoulders.
Of the rest there is nothing which stands out distinct and intelligible
like the serpent, and the whole, loaded as it is with ornament, conveys
the idea of vastness and magnificence rather than that of taste and
refinement.
This building has on curious feature. It is erected over, and
completely encloses, a smaller one of older date. The doorways, walls,
and wooden lintels of the latter are all seen, and where the outer
building is fallen, the ornamented cornice of the inner one is visible.
[Engraving 22: View from the Nuns]
From the platform of the steps of this building, looking across the
courtyard, a grand view presents itself, embracing all the principal
buildings that now tower above the plain, except the House of the
Dwarf. The engraving opposite represents this view. In the foreground
is the inner facade of the front range of the Monjas, with a portion of
the range on each side of the courtyard. To the left, in the distance,
appears the Casa de la Vieja, or of the Old Woman, and, rising grandly
above the front of the Monjas, are the House of the Turtles, that of
the Governor, and the Casa de Palomos, or the House of the Pigeons.
[Engraving 23: East Side of the Courtyard of the Monjas]
The last of the four sides of the courtyard, standing on the right of
the entrance, is represented in the plate opposite. It is the most
entire of any, and, in fact, wants but little more than its wooden
lintels, and some stones which have been picked out of the facade below
the cornice, to make it perfect. It is, too, the most chaste and simple
in design and ornament, and it was always refreshing to turn from the
gorgeous and elaborate masses on the other facades to this curious and
pleasing combination.
The ornament over the centre doorway is the most important, the most
complicated and elaborate, and of that marked and peculiar style which
characterizes the highest efforts of these ancient builders. The
ornaments over the other doorways are less striking, more simple, and
more pleasing. In all of them there is in the centre a masked face with
the tongue hanging out, surmounted by an elaborate headdress; between
the horizontal bars is a range of diamond-shaped ornaments, in which
the remains of red paint are still distinctly visible, and at each end
of these bars is a serpent's head, with the mouth wide open.
[Engraving 24: Southeast Corner of Monjas]
The engraving opposite represents the southeast corner of this
building. The angle exhibits the great face before presented, with the
stone curving upward at the projecting end. On each side is a
succession of compartments, alternately plain, and presenting the form
of diamond lattice-work. In both there is an agreeable succession of
plain and ornamented, and, in fact, it would be difficult, in arranging
four sides facing a courtyard, to have more variety, and at the same
time more harmony of ornament. All these facades were painted; the
traces of the colour are still visible, and the reader may imagine what
the effect must have been when all this building was entire, and
according to its supposed design, in its now desolate doorways stood
noble Maya maidens, like the vestal virgins of the Romans, to cherish
and keep alive the sacred fire burning in the temples.
I omit a description of the apartments opening upon this courtyard. We
made plans of all of them, but they are generally much alike, except in
the dimensions. The number in all is eighty-eight.
[Engraving 25: Interior of an Apartment]
++++++++++
In the range last presented, however, there is one suite different from
all the rest The entrance to this suite is by the centre and principal
doorway, and the engraving opposite represents the interior. It
consists of two parallel chambers, each thirty-three feet long and
thirteen wide; and at each end of both chambers is a doorway
communicating with other chambers nine feet long and thirteen wide. The
doorways of all these are ornamented with sculpture, and they are the
only ornaments found in the interior of any buildings in Uxmal. The
whole suite consists of six rooms; and there is a convenience in the
arrangements not unsuited to the habits of what we call civilized life;
opening as they do upon this noble courtyard, in the dry season, with
nothing to apprehend from vegetation and damp; they would be by far the
most comfortable residence for any future explorer of the ruins of
Uxmal; and every time I went to them I regretted that we could not
avail ourselves of the facilities they offered.
With these few words I take leave of the Casa de las Monjas, remarking
only that in the centre is the fragment of a large stone like that on
the terrace of the Casa del Gobernador, called the Picote, and also
that, induced by the account of Waldeck that the whole was once paved
with sculptured turtles, I passed a morning digging all over the
courtyard below the slight accumulation of earth, and found nothing of
the kind. The substratum consisted of rude stones, no doubt once
serving as a foundation for a floor of cement, which, from long
exposure to the rainy seasons, has now entirely disappeared.
At the back of the last-mentioned range of the Monjas is another, or
rather there are several ranges of buildings, standing lower than the
House of the Nuns, in irregular order, and much ruined.
To the first portion of these we gave the name of the House of the
Birds, from the circumstance of its being ornamented on the exterior
with representations of feathers and birds rudely sculptured. The
preceding engraving represents a part of these ornaments.
The remaining portion consists of some very large rooms, among which
are two fifty-three feet long, fourteen wide, and about twenty high,
being the largest, or at least the widest in Uxmal. In one of them are
the remains of painting well preserved, and in the other is an arch,
which approaches nearer to the principle of the keystone than any we
had yet met with in our whole exploration of ruins. It is very similar
to the earliest arches, if they may be so called, of the Etruscans and
Greeks, as seen at Arpino in the kingdom of Naples, and Tiryns in
Greece. (See engravings in the Appendix.)
From this range of buildings we descend to the House of the Dwarf, also
known by the name of la Casa del Adivino, or the House of the Diviner,
from its overlooking the whole city, and enabling its occupant to be
cognizant of all that was passing around him.
The courtyard of this building is one hundred and thirty-five feet by
eighty-five. It is bounded by ranges of mounds from twenty-five to
thirty feet thick, now covered with a rank growth of herbage, but
which, perhaps, once formed ranges of buildings. In the centre is a
large circular stone, like those seen in the other courtyards, called
the Picote.
[Engraving 27: West Front of the House of the Dwarf]
The plate opposite represents the west front of this building, with the
mound on which it stands The base is so ruined and encumbered with
fallen stones that it is difficult to ascertain its precise dimensions,
but, according to our measurement, it is two hundred and thirty-five
feet long, and one hundred and fifty-five wide. Its height is
eighty-eight feet, and to the top of the building it is one hundred and
five feet. Though diminishing as it rises, its shape is not exactly
pyramidal, but its ends are rounded. It is encased with stone, and
apparently solid from the plain.
A great part of the front presented in the engraving has fallen, and
now lies a mass of ruins at the foot of the mound. Along the base, or
rather about twenty feet up the mound, and probably once reached by a
staircase, now ruined, is a range of curious apartments, nearly choked
up with rubbish, and with the sapote beams still in their places over
the door.
At the height of sixty feet is a solid projecting platform, on which
stands a building loaded with ornaments more rich, elaborate, and
carefully executed, than those of any other edifice in Uxmal. A great
doorway opens upon the platform. The sapote beams are still in their
places, and the interior is divided into two apartments; the outer one
fifteen feet wide, seven feet deep, and nineteen feet high, and the
inner one twelve feet wide, four feet deep, and eleven feet high. Both
are entirely plain, without ornament of any kind, and have no
communication with any part of the mound.
The steps or other means of communication with this building are all
gone, and at the time of our visit we were at a loss to know how it had
been reached; but, from what we saw afterward, we are induced to
believe that a grand staircase upon a different plan from any yet met
with, and supported by a triangular arch, led from the ground to the
door of the building, which, if still in existence, would give
extraordinary grandeur to this great mound.
The crowning structure is a long and narrow building, measuring
seventy-two feet in front, and but twelve feet deep.
The front is much ruined, but even in its decay presents the most
elegant and tasteful arrangement of ornaments to be seen in Uxmal, of
which no idea could be given in any but a large engraving. The emblems
of life and death appear on the wall in close juxta-position,
confirming the belief in the existence of that worship practised by the
Egyptians and all other Eastern nations, and before referred to as
prevalent among the people of Uxmal.
The interior is divided into three apartments, that in the centre being
twenty-four feet by seven, and those on each side nineteen feet by
seven. They have no communication with each other; two have their doors
opening to the east and one to the west.
A narrow platform five feet wide projects from all the four sides of
the building. The northern end is decayed, and part of the eastern
front, and to this front ascends a grand staircase one hundred and two
feet high, seventy feet wide, and containing ninety steps.
[Engraving 28: East Front of the House of the Dwarf]
The engraving opposite represents this front. The steps are very
narrow, and the staircase steep; and after we had cleared away the
trees, and there were no branches to assist us in climbing, the ascent
and descent were difficult and dangerous. The padre Cogolludo, the
historian referred to, says that he once ascended these steps, and
"that when he attempted to descend he repented; his sight failed him,
and he was in some danger." He adds, that in the apartments of the
building, which he calls "small chapels," were the "idols," and that
there they made sacrifices of men, women, and children. Beyond doubt
this lofty building was a great Teocalis, "El grande de los Kues," the
great temple of idols worshipped by the people of Uxmal, consecrated by
their most mysterious rites, the holiest of their holy places. "The
High Priest had in his Hand a large, broad, and sharp Knife made of
Flint. Another Priest carried a wooden collar wrought like a snake. The
persons to be sacrificed were conducted one by one up the Steps, stark
naked, and as soon as laid on the Stone, had the Collar put upon their
Necks, and the four priests took hold of the hands and feet. Then the
high Priest with wonderful Dexterity ripped up the Breast, tore out the
Heart, reeking, with his Hands, and showed it to the Sun, offering him
the Heart and Steam that came from it. Then he turned to the Idol, and
threw it in his face, which done, he kicked the body down the steps,
and it never stopped till it came to the bottom, because they were
_very upright_;" and "one who had been a Priest, and had been
converted, said that when they tore out the Heart of the wretched
Person sacrificed, it did beat so strongly that he took it up from the
Ground three or four times till it cooled by Degrees, and then he threw
the Body, still moving, down the Steps." In all the long catalogue of
superstitious rites that darkens the page of man's history, I cannot
imagine a picture more horribly exciting than that of the Indian
priest, with his white dress and long hair clotted with gore,
performing his murderous sacrifices at this lofty height, in full view
of the people throughout the whole extent of the city.
[Engraving 29: House of the Birds]
From the top of this mound we pass over the Casa del Gobernador to the
grand structure marked on the general plan as the Casa de Palomos, or
the House of the Pigeons, the front of which is represented in the
engraving opposite. It is two hundred and forty feet long; the front is
much ruined, the apartments are filled, and along the centre of the
roof, running longitudinally, is a range of structures built in a
pyramidal form, like the fronts of some of the old Dutch houses that
still remain among us, but grander and more massive. These are nine in
number, built of stone, about three feet thick, and have small oblong
openings through them. These openings give them somewhat the appearance
of pigeon-houses, and from this the name of the building is derived.
All had once been covered with figures and ornaments in stucco,
portions of which still remain. The view presented is in profile, as
the full front could not be exhibited on this scale.
In the centre of this building is an archway ten feet wide, which leads
into a courtyard one hundred and eighty feet long and one hundred and
fifty feet deep. In the centre of the courtyard, and thrown down, is
the same large stone so often mentioned. On the right is a range of
ruined buildings, on the left a similar range, and rising behind it the
high mound represented in the frontispiece; and in front, at the end of
the courtyard, is a range of ruined buildings, with another archway in
the centre. Crossing the courtyard, and passing through this archway,
we ascend a flight of steps, now ruined, and reach another courtyard,
one hundred feet long by eighty-five deep. On each side of this
courtyard, too, is a range of ruined buildings, and at the other end is
a great Teocalis, two hundred feet in length, one hundred and twenty
deep, and about fifty feet high. A broad staircase leads to the top, on
which stands a long narrow building, one hundred feet by twenty,
divided into three apartments.
There was a mournful interest about this great pile of ruins. Entering
under the great archway, crossing two noble courtyards, with ruined
buildings on each side, and ascending the great staircase to the
building on the top, gave a stronger impression of departed greatness
than anything else in this desolate city. It commanded a view of every
other building, and stood apart in lonely grandeur, seldom disturbed by
human footsteps. On going up to it once Mr. Catherwood started a deer,
and at another time a wild hog.
At the northeast angle of this building is a vast range of high, ruined
terraces, facing east and west, nearly eight hundred feet long at the
base, and called the Campo Santo. On one of these is a building of two
stories, with some remains of sculpture, and in a deep and overgrown
valley at the foot, the Indians say, was the burial-place of this
ancient city; but, though searching for it ourselves, and offering a
reward to them for the discovery, we never found in it a sepulchre.
Besides these there was the Casa de la Vieja, or the House of the Old
Woman, standing in ruins. Once, when the wind was high, I saw the
remains of the front wall bending before its force. It is four or five
hundred feet from the Casa del Gobernador, and has its name from a
mutilated statue of an old woman lying before it.
Near by are other monuments lying on the ground, overgrown and half
buried (referred to in the Appendix), which were pointed out to us by
the Indians on our first visit. North of this there is a circular mound
of ruins, probably of a circular building like that of Mayapan. A wall
which was laid to encompass the city is laid down on the plan so far as
it can be traced; and beyond this, for a great distance in every
direction, the ground is strewed with ruins; but with this brief
description I close. I might extend it indefinitely, but I have
compressed it within the smallest possible limits. We made plans of
every building and drawings of every sculptured stone, and this place
alone might furnish materials for larger volumes than these; but I have
so many and such vast remains to present that I am obliged to avoid
details as much as possible. These it is my hope at some future day to
present with a minuteness that shall satisfy the most craving
antiquary, but I trust that what I have done will give the reader some
definite idea of the ruins of Uxmal. Perhaps, as we did, he will
imagine the scene that must have been presented when all these
buildings were entire, occupied by people in costumes strange and
fanciful as the ornaments on their buildings, and possessing all those
minor arts which must have been coexistent with architecture and
sculpture, and which the imperishable stone has survived.
The historic light which beamed upon us at Merida and Mayapan does not
reach this place; it is not mentioned in any record of the conquest.
The cloud again gathers, but even through it a star appears.
The padre Cogolludo says, that on the memorable occasion when his sight
failed as he was going down the steps of the great Teocalis, he found
in one of the apartments, or, as he calls it one of the chapels,
offerings of cacao and marks of copal, used by the Indians as incense,
_burned there but a short time before_; an evidence, he says, _of some
superstition or idolatry recently committed by the Indians of that
place_. He piously adds, "God help those poor Indians, for the devil
deceives them very easily."
While in Merida I procured from Don Simon Peon the title papers to this
estate. They were truly a formidable pile, compared with which the
papers in a protracted chancery or ejectment suit would seem a
billet-doux, and, unfortunately, a great portion of them was in the
Maya language; but there was one folio volume in Spanish, and in this
was the first formal conveyance ever made of these lands by the Spanish
government. It bears date the twelfth day of May, 1673, and is entitled
a testimonial of royal favour made to the Regidor Don Lorenzo de Evia,
of four leagues of land (desde los edificios de Uxmal) from the
buildings of Uxmal to the south, one to the east, another to the west,
and another to the north, for his distinguished merits and services
therein expressed. The preamble sets forth that the Regidor Don Lorenzo
de Evia, by a writing that he presented to his majesty, made a
narrative showing that at sixteen leagues from Merida, and three from
the sierra of the village of Ticul, were certain meadows and places
named Uxmalchecaxek, Tzemehan-Cemin-Curea-Kusultzac, Exmuue-Hixmon-nec,
uncultivated and belonging to the crown, which the Indians could not
profit by for tillage and sowing, and which could only serve for horned
cattle; that the said regidor had a wife and children whom it was
necessary for him to maintain for the service of the king in a manner
conforming to his office, and that he wished to stock the said places
and meadows with horned cattle, and praying a grant of them for that
purpose in the name of his majesty, since 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
performing other detestable sacrifices, as they are doing every day
notoriously and publicly._"
Following this is a later instrument, dated the third of December,
1687, the preamble of which recites the petition of the Captain Lorenzo
de Evia, setting forth the grant above referred to, and that an Indian
named Juan Can had importuned him with a claim of right to the said
lands on account of his being a descendant of the ancient Indians, to
whom they belonged; that the Indian had exhibited some confused papers
and maps, and that, although it was not possible for him to justify the
right that he claimed, to avoid litigation, he, the said Don Lorenzo de
Evia, agreed to give him seventy-four dollars for the price and value
of the said land. The petition introduces the deed of consent, or
quit-claim, of Juan Can, executed with all the formalities required in
the case of Indians (the original of which appears among the other
title papers), and prays a confirmation of his former grant, and to be
put in real and corporeal possession. The instrument confirms the
former grant, and prescribes the formal mode of obtaining possession.
Under the deed of confirmation appears the deed of livery of seisin,
beginning, "In the place called the edifices of Uxmal and its lands,
the third day of the month of January, 1688," &c., &c., and concluding
with these words: "In virtue of the power and authority which by the
same title is given to me by the said governor, complying with its
terms, I took by the hand the said Lorenzo de Evia, and he walked with
me all over Uxmal and its buildings, _opened and shut some doors_ that
had several rooms, cut within the space some trees, picked up fallen
stones and threw them down, drew water from one of the aguadas of the
said place of Uxmal, and performed other acts of possession."
The reader will perceive that we have here two distinct, independent
witnesses testifying that, one hundred and forty years after the
foundation of Merida, the buildings of Uxmal were regarded with
reverence by the Indians; that they formed the nucleus of a dispersed
and scattered population, and were resorted to for the observance of
religious rites at a distance from the eyes of the Spaniards. Cogolludo
saw in the House of the Dwarf the "marks of copal recently burned,"
"the evidence of some idolatry recently committed;" and the private
title papers of Don Simon, never intended to illustrate any point in
history, besides showing incidentally that it was the policy of the
government, and "doing God service," to break up the Indian customs,
and drive the natives away from their consecrated buildings, are
proofs, which would be good evidence in a court of law, that the
Indians were, at the time referred to, openly and notoriously
worshipping El Demonio, and performing other detestable sacrifices in
these ancient buildings. Can it be supposed that edifices in which they
were thus worshipping, and to which they were clinging with such
tenacity as to require to be driven away, were the buildings of another
race, or did they cling to them because they were adapted to the forms
and ceremonies received from their fathers, and because they were the
same in which their fathers had worshipped? In my mind there is but
little question as to the fair interpretation to be put upon these
acts, and I may add that, according to the deed of the notary, but one
hundred and fifty-four years ago the ruined buildings of Uxmal had
"doors" which could be "opened" and "shut."