Departure from Labphak.--Sugar Ranchos.--Hacienda of
Jalasac.--Cultivation of Sugar.--Another Rancho.--Its neat
Appearance.--Senor Trego's Establishment.--A Well.--Seybo
Trees.--Journey resumed.--Village of Iturbide.--Its Settlement and
rapid Growth.--An Acquaintance.--Oppressive Attentions.--Lunar
Rainbow.--Appearance of the Village.--Mound of Ruins.--Visit to the
Ruins of Zibilnocac.--A Well.--A long Edifice.--Lazy Escort.--An
anxious Host.--Return to the Village.--A prosperous Emigrant.--A
Dinner.--Medical Practice.--Deplorable Condition of the Country in
regard to Medical Aid.--Second Visit to the Ruins.--Front of an
Edifice.--Square Structures.--Interesting Painting.--An ancient
Well.--Mounds.--Vestiges of a great City.
On Thursday, the twenty-fourth of February, we broke up and left the
ruins. A narrow path brought us out into the camino real, along which
we passed several small ranchos of sugar-cane. At eleven o'clock we
reached the hacienda of Jalasac, the appearance of which, after a few
days' burial in the woods, was most attractive and inviting; and here
we ventured to ask for water for our horses. The master made us
dismount, sent our horses to an aguada, and had some oranges picked
from the tree, sliced, and sprinkled with sugar, for ourselves. He told
us that his establishment was nothing compared with Senor Trego's, a
league distant, whom, he said, we, of course, knew, and would doubtless
stop with a few days. Not remembering ever to have heard of Senor Trego
before, we had not formed unalterably any such intention, but it was
manifest that all the world, and we in particular, ought to know Senor
Trego; and we concluded that we would do him the honour of a visit as
we passed through. This gentleman had forty criados, or servants,
engaged in making sugar. And, on entering the sugar region, I may
suggest that Yucatan seems to present some advantages for the
cultivation of this necessary; not in the interior, on account of the
expense of transportation, but along the coast, the whole line from
Campeachy to Tobasco being good for that purpose, and within reach of a
foreign market. The advantages are, first, that slave labour is
dispensed with, and, secondly and consequently, no outlay of capital is
necessary for the purchase of slaves. In Cuba or Louisiana the planter
must reckon among his expenses the interest upon the capital invested
in the purchase of slaves, and the cost of maintaining them. In Yucatan
he has to incur no outlay of capital; Indian labour is considered by
those who have examined into the subject in Cuba, as about the same
with that of the negroes; and by furnishing them constant employment,
Indians can be procured in any numbers at a real per day, which is less
than the interest upon the cost of a negro, and less than the expense
of maintaining him if he cost nothing.
Resuming our journey, at the distance of a league we reached another
rancho, which would have been creditable in any country for its
neatness and arrangement. Our road ran through a plaza, or square, with
large seybo trees in the centre, and neat white houses on all the
sides; and before the door of one of them we saw a horse and cart! an
evidence of civilization which we had not seen till that time in the
country. This could be no other than Senor Trego's. We stopped in the
shade, Senor Trego came out of the principal house, told the servants
to take our horses, and said he had been expecting us several days. We
were a little surprised, but, as we were very uncertain about our
chances for a dinner, we said nothing. Entering the house, we fell into
fine large hammocks; and Senor Trego told us that we were welcome on
our own account, even without the recommendation of the padre Rodriguez
of Xul. This gave us a key to the mystery. The padre Rodriguez had
given us a letter to some one on this road, which we had accidentally
left behind, and did not know the name of the person to whom it was
addressed; but we now remembered that the cura, in speaking of him, had
said deliberately, as if feeling the full import of his words, that he
was rich and his friend; and we remembered, too, that the padre had
frankly read to us the letter before giving it, in which, not to
compromise himself with a rich friend, he had recommended us as worthy
of Senor Trego's best offices upon our paying all costs and expenses;
but we had reason to believe that the honest padre had reversed the
custom of more polished lands, and that his private advices had given a
liberal interpretation to his cautious open recommendation. At all
events, Senor Trego made us feel at once that there was to be no
reserve in his hospitality; and when he ordered some lemonade to be
brought in immediately, we did not hesitate to suggest the addition of
two fowls boiled, with a little rice thrown in.
While these were in preparation, Senor Trego conducted us round to look
at his establishment. He had large sugar-works, and a distillery for
the manufacture of habanera; and in the yard of the latter was a
collection of enormous black hogs, taking a siesta in a great pool of
mud, most of them with their snouts barely above water, a sublime
spectacle for one interested in their lard and tallow, and Senor Trego
told us that in the evening a hundred more, quite equal to these, would
come in to scramble for their share of the bed. To us the principal
objects of interest were in the square, being a well, covered over and
dry, dug nearly to the depth of six hundred feet without reaching
water, and the great seybo trees, which had been planted by Senor Trego
himself; the oldest being of but twelve years' growth, and more
extraordinary for its rapid luxuriance than that before referred to as
existing at Ticul.
At four o'clock we resumed our journey, and toward dark, passing some
miserable huts in the suburbs, we reached the new village of Iturbide,
standing on the outposts of civilization, the great point to which the
tide of emigration was rolling, the Chicago of Yucatan.
The reader may not consider the country through which we have been
travelling as over-burdened with population, but in certain parts,
particularly in the district of Nohcacab, the people did so consider
it. Crowded and oppressed by the large landed proprietors, many of the
enterprising yeomanry of this district determined to seek a new home in
the wilderness. Bidding farewell to friends and relatives, after a
journey of two days and a half they reached the fertile plains of
Zibilnocac, from time immemorial an Indian rancho. Here the soil
belonged to the government; every man could take up what land he
pleased, full scope was offered to enterprise, and an opportunity for
development not afforded by the over-peopled region of Nohcacab. Long
before reaching it we had heard of this new pueblo and its rapid
increase. In five years, from twenty-five inhabitants it had grown into
a population of fifteen or sixteen hundred; and, familiar as we were
with new countries and the magical springing up of cities in the
wilderness, we looked forward to it as a new object of curiosity and
interest.
The approach was by a long street, at the head of which, and in the
entrance to the plaza, we saw a gathering, which in that country seemed
a crowd, giving an indication of life and activity not usual in the
older villages; but drawing nearer, we noticed that the crowd was
stationary, and, on reaching it, we found that, according to an
afternoon custom, all the principal inhabitants were gathered around a
card-table, playing monte; rather a bad symptom, but these hardy
pioneers exhibited one good trait of character in their close attention
to the matter in hand. They gave us a passing glance and continued the
game. Hanging on the outskirts of the crowd, however, were some who,
not having the wherewithal to join in the stakes, bestowed themselves
upon us. Among them was one who claimed us as acquaintances, and said
that he had been anxiously looking for us. He had kept the "run" of us
as far as Bolonchen, but had then lost us entirely, and was relieved
when we accounted for ourselves by mentioning our disappearance in the
woods of Labphak. This gentleman was about fifty, dressed in the light
costume of the place, with straw hat and sandals, and it was no great
recommendation to him when he told us that he had made our acquaintance
at Nohcacab. He was an emigrant from that place, and on a visit when he
saw us there. He claimed Dr. Cabot more particularly as his friend,
and the latter remembered receiving from him some really friendly
offices. He apologized for not being able to show us many attentions at
that place; it was his pueblo, but he had no house there; this was his
home, and here he could make amends. He told us that this was a new
village, and had but few accommodations; the casa real had no doors, or
they were not yet put on. He undertook to provide for us, however, and
conducted us to a house adjoining that of his brother, and belonging to
the latter, on the corner of the plaza. It had a thatched roof, and
perhaps, by this time, the floor is cemented; but then it was covered
with the lime and earth for making the cement, taking a good impression
from every footstep, and throwing up some dust. It was, however,
already in use as a store-room for the shop on the corner, and had
demijohns, water-jars, and bundles of tobacco stowed along the wall;
the middle was vacant, but there was no chair, bench, or table; but by
an energetic appeal to the lookers-on these were obtained.
Our Nohcacab friend was most efficient in his attentions, and, in fact,
constituted himself a committee to receive us; and after repeating
frequently that at Nohcacab, though it was his village, he had no
house, &c., he came to the point by inviting us forthwith to his house
to take chocolate.
Tired of the crowd, and wanting to be alone, we declined, and unluckily
assigned as a reason that we had ordered chocolate to be prepared. He
went away with the rest, but very soon returned, and said that we had
given him a bofetada, or rebuff, and had cheapened him in the
estimation of his people. As he seemed really hurt, we directed our
preparations to be discontinued, and went with him to his house, where
we had a cup of very poor chocolate, which he followed up by telling us
that we must eat at his house during the whole of our stay in the
village, and that we must not spend a cent for la comida, or food. Our
daily expenses at Nohcacab, he said, were enormous; and when we left he
escorted us home, carrying with him a little earthen vessel containing
castor oil with a wick in it, and said we must not spend any money for
candles, and again came to the point by insisting upon our promising to
dine at his house the next day.
In the mean time Albino had inquired him out, and we found that we had
secured a valuable acquaintance. Don Juan was one of the oldest
settlers, and one of the most influential inhabitants. He was not then
in public office, but he was highly connected. One of his brothers was
first alcalde, and another keeper of the gambling-table.
We considered his attentions for the evening at an end, but in a short
time he entered abruptly, and with a crowd at his heels. This time he
was really welcome, for he called us out to look at a lunar rain bow,
which the people, looking at it in connexion with our visit and its
strange objects, considered rather ominous, and Don Juan himself was
not entirely at ease; but it did not disturb the gentlemen around the
gambling-table, who had, in the mean time, to avoid the night air,
moved under the shed of the proprietor, Don Juan's brother and our
landlord.
The next morning a short time enabled us to see all the objects of
interest in the new village of Iturbide. Five years before the plough
had ran over the ground now occupied by the plaza, or, more literally,
as the plough is not known in Yucatan, the plaza is on the ground
formerly occupied by an old milperia, or cornfield. In those ancient
days it was probably enclosed by a bush fence; now, at one corner rises
a thatched house, with an arbour before it, and a table under the
arbour, at which, perhaps, at this moment the principal inhabitants are
playing monte. Opposite, on the other corner, stood, and still stands
if it has not fallen down, a casa de paja (thatched house) from which
the thatching had been blown away, and in which were the undisposed-of
remains of an ox for sale. Along the sides were whitewashed huts, and
on one corner a large, neat house, belonging to our friend Senor Trego;
then a small edifice with a cross in the roof, marking it as a church;
and, finally, an open casa publica, very aptly so called, as it had no
doors. Such are the edifices which in five years have sprung up in the
new village of Iturbide; and attached to each house was a muddy yard,
where large black pigs were wallowing in the mire, the special objects
of their owner's care, soon to become large black hogs, and to bring
ten or twelve dollars a piece in the Campeachy market. But, interesting
as it is to watch the march of improvement, it was not for these we had
come to Iturbide. Within the plaza were memorials of older and better
times, indications of a more ingenious people than the civilized whites
by whom it is now occupied. At one end was a mound of ruins, which had
once supported an ancient building; and in the centre was an ancient
well, unchanged from the time of its construction, and then, as for an
unknown length of time before, supplying water to the inhabitants.
There could be no question about the antiquity of this well; the people
all said that it was a work of the antiguos, and paid respect to it and
valued it highly on that account, for it had saved them the labour and
expense of digging a new one for themselves.
It was about a yard and a quarter wide at the month, and seven or eight
yards in depth, circular, and constructed of stones laid without
plaster or cement of any kind. The stones were all firmly in their
places, and had a polish which with creases made by ropes in the
platform at the top, indicated the great length of time that water had
been drawn from it.
Besides these memorials, from a street communicating with the plaza we
saw a range of great mounds, the ruins of the ancient city of
Zibilnocac, which had brought us to Iturbide.
Don Juan was ready to accompany us to the ruins, and while he was
waiting at our door, one person and another came along and joined him,
until we had an assemblage of all the respectable citizens, apparently
just risen from the gambling-table, of wan and miserable aspect, and,
though they had ponchas wrapped about them, shivering with cold.
On the way to the ruins we passed another ancient well, of the same
construction with that in the plaza, but filled up with rubbish, and
useless. The Indians called it Stu-kum, from a subject familiar to
them, and presenting not a bad idea of a useless well; the word meaning
a calabash with the seeds dried up. A short walk brought us into an
open country, and among the towering ruins of another ancient city. The
field was in many places clear of trees, and covered only with
plantations of tobacco, and studding it all over were lofty ranges and
mounds, enshrouded in woods, through which white masses of stone were
glimmering, and rising in such quick succession, and so many at once,
that Mr. Catherwood, in no good condition for work, said, almost
despondingly, that the labours of Uxmal were to begin again.
Among them was one long edifice, having at each end what seemed a
tower; and, attended by our numerous escort, we approached it first. It
was difficult to imagine what could have procured us the honour of
their company. They evidently took no interest in the ruins, could give
us no information about them, nor even knew the paths that led to them;
and we could not flatter ourselves that it was for the pleasure of our
society. The building before us was more ruined than it seemed from a
distance, but in some respects it differed from all the others we had
seen. It required much clearing; and when this was signified to our
attendants, we found that among them all there was not a single
machete. Generally, on these occasions, there were some who were ready
to work, and even on the look-out for a job; but among these thriving
people there was not one who cared to labour in any capacity but that
of a looker-on. A few, however, were picked out as by general consent
the proper persons to work, upon whom all the rest fell and drove them
to the village for their machetes. At the same time, many of those who
remained took advantage of the opportunity to order their breakfast
sent out, and all sat down to wait. Mr. Catherwood, already unwell,
worried by their chattering, lay down in his poncha on the ground, and
finally became so ill that he returned to the house. In the mean time I
went to the foot of the building, where, after loitering more than an
hour, I heard a movement overhead, and saw a little boy of about
thirteen cutting among the branches of a tree. Half a dozen men placed
themselves within his hearing, and gave him directions to such an
extent that I was obliged to tell them I was competent to direct one
such lad myself. In a little while another lad of about fifteen joined
him, and for some time these boys were the only persons at work, while
lazy beggars were crouching on every projecting stone, industriously
engaged in looking at them. Finally, one man came along with his
machete, and then others, until five were at work. They were occupied
the greater part of the day, but to the last there were some trees,
obstructing the view of particular parts, which I could not get cut
down. All this time the spectators remained looking on as if in
expectation of some grand finale; toward the last they began to show
symptoms of anxiety, and during this time, through the unintentional
instrumentality of Don Juan, I had made a discovery. The fame of the
Daguerreotype, or la machina, had reached their ears, greatly
exaggerated. They, of course, knew but little about it, but had come
out with the expectation of seeing its miraculous powers exercised. If
the reader be at all malicious, he will sympathize in my satisfaction,
when all was cleared and ready to be drawn, in paying the men and
walking back to the village, leaving them sitting on the stones.
The untoward circumstances of the morning threw Don Juan into a
somewhat anxious state; he had incurred the expense of preparations,
and was uncertain whether we intended to do him the honour of dining
with him; apprehensive of another bofetada, he was afraid to mention
the subject, but on reaching his house he sent to give notice that
dinner was ready, and to inquire when he should send it to us. To make
amends, and again conciliate, we answered that we would dine at his
house, which he acknowledged through Albino as a much higher honour.
His house was on the principal street, but a short distance from the
plaza, and one of the first erected, and the best in the place. He had
been induced to settle in Iturbide on account of the facilities and
privileges offered by the government, and the privilege which he seemed
to value most was that of selling out. As he told us himself, when he
came he was not worth a medio, and he seemed really to have held his
own remarkably well. But appearances were deceitful, for he was a man
of property. His house, including doors and a partition at one end, had
cost him thirty dollars. The doors and partition his neighbours
regarded as a piece of pretension, and he himself supposed that these
might have been dispensed with, but he had no children, and did not
mind the expense. At one end of the room was a rude frame, supporting
the image of a tutelary saint. Near it was a stick thrust into the mud
floor, with three prongs at the upper end, in which rested an earthen
vessel containing castor oil, with a wick in it, to light up the
mansion at night; a sort of bar with bottles containing agua ardiente
flavoured with anise, for retailing to the Indians, which, with a small
table and three hammocks, constituted the furniture of Don Juan's
house. These last served for chairs, but as he had never anticipated
the extraordinary event of dining three persons, they could not be
brought into right juxtaposition to the table. Consequently, we sent
for our two borrowed chairs, and, with the table in front of one of the
hammocks, we were all seated except our host, who proposed to wait
upon us. There was one aristocratic arrangement in Don Juan's
household. His kitchen was on the other side of the street, a rickety
old frame of poles, and Don Juan, after running across several times,
bare-headed, to watch the progress of the dinner, returned and threw
himself into a hammock a little within the doorway, crying out across
the street, "Trae la comida, muchacha." "Bring the dinner, girl." The
first course included a bowl of soup, a plate of rice, and three
spoons; rather an alarming intimation, but at the same time rather
grand, and much better than the alternative that sometimes happened, of
three plates and one spoon, or none at all; and all apprehension was
dissipated by the reappearance of the girl with another bowl and plate.
Don Juan himself followed with each hand full, and we had a bowl,
plate, and spoon apiece. The contents disposed of, another dish was
served, which, by counting the wings and legs, we ascertained to be the
substance of two fowls; and while attending to them, we were engaged in
the friendly office, which guests but rarely do for their host, of
calculating the expense he was incurring. We had too good an opinion of
Don Juans shrewdness to believe that he was making this lavish
expenditure in mere wantonness, and wondered what he could expect to
get out of us in return. We had hardly begun to speculate upon this
when, as if knowing what was passing in our minds, he called in his
wife, a respectable-looking elderly person, and disclosed another
design upon the Daguerreotype. At Nohcacab he had heard of portraits
being taken, and wanted one of his wife, and he was somewhat
disappointed, and, perhaps, went over the calculation we had just made,
when he learned that, as there were no subjects on which it could be
used to advantage we had determined not to open the apparatus.
But he did not let us off yet. His next attempt was upon Dr. Cabot, and
this, too, was in favour of his old wife. Taking her by the hand, he
led her before the doctor, and, with an earnestness that gave dignity
to his scanty wearing apparel, and ought to have found its way to the
depths of medical science, explained the nature of her maladies. It was
really a delicate case, and made more so by the length of time that had
elapsed since marriage. No such case had ever occurred in my practice,
and even Doctor Cabot was at a loss.
While the matter was under discussion several men came in. No doubt
they had all received a hint to drop in at that hour. One had an
asthma, another a swelling, and there were so many of Don Juan's
friends afflicted that we made an abrupt retreat.
In the evening Don Juan's brother, the alcalde, called upon Dr. Cabot
for advice for a sick child, which the course he was pursuing would
soon have put beyond the reach of medicine. Doctor Cabot made him
desist, and in the morning it was so much better that all the people
conceived a good opinion of his abilities, and determined to patronise
him in earnest.
The condition of the whole country in regard to medical aid is
deplorable. Except at Campeachy and Merida there are no regular
physicians, nor even apothecaries' shops. In the villages where there
are curas, the whole duty of attending the sick devolves upon them.
They have, of course, no regular medical education, but practise upon
some old treatise or manuscript recipes, and even in their small
practice they are trammelled by want of medicines. But in villages
where there are no curas, there is no one to prescribe for the sick.
The rich go to Campeachy or Merida, and put themselves under the hands
of a physician; the poor linger and die, the victims of ignorance and
empiricism.
Dr. Cabot's fame as a curer of biscos had spread throughout the
country, and whenever we reached a village there was a curiosity, which
threw Mr. Catherwood and me into the shade, to see the medico.
Frequently we overheard the people say, "Tan joven," "So young:" "Es
muchacho," "He is a boy;" for they associated the idea of age with
that of a great medico. He was often consulted upon cases for which he
could not prescribe with any satisfaction. Treatment which might be
proper at the moment might not answer a few days afterward, and the
greatest annoyance was that, if our travelling chest could not furnish
the medicine, the prescription had to wait an opportunity of being sent
to Merida; but when the medicine arrived, the case might have altered
so much that this medicine had become altogether improper for it. It is
gratifying to know that, in general, his practice gave satisfaction,
yet, at the same time, it must be admitted that there were complaints.
The terms could not well have been made easier, but the ground of
dissatisfaction was, that he did not always furnish medicine as well as
advice. I do not mention this reproachfully, however; throughout the
country he had a fair share of patronage, and the run reached its
climax at Iturbide. Unluckily, the day on which the inhabitants
resolved to take him up in earnest it rained, and we were kept nearly
all the time within doors, and there were so many applications from
men, women, and children, many of whom came with Don Juan's
recommendation, that the doctor was seriously annoyed. Every latent
disease was brought out, and he could even have found business in
prescribing for cases that might possibly occur, as well as for those
already existing.
The next morning Mr. Catherwood made an effort to visit the ruins. Our
numerous escort of the former occasion were all missing, and, except an
Indian who had a tobacco patch in the neighbourhood, we were entirely
alone. This Indian held an umbrella over Mr. Catherwood's head to
protect him from the sun, and, while making the drawing, several times
he was obliged by weakness to lie down and rest. I was disheartened by
the spectacle. Although, considering the extent of illness in our
party, we had in reality not lost much time, we had been so much
embarrassed, and it was so disagreeable to be moving along with this
constant liability to fever and ague, that here I felt very much
disposed to break up the expedition and go home, but Mr. Catherwood
persisted.
[Engraving 30: Building at Zibilnocac]
The plate opposite represents the front of this building. It is one
hundred and fifty-four feet in front and twenty feet seven inches in
depth. It differed in form from any we had seen and had square
structures rising in the centre and at each end, as seen in ruins in
the engraving; these were called towers, and at a distance had that
appearance. The facades of the towers were all ornamented with
sculptured stone. Several of the apartments had tobacco leaves spread
out in them to dry. In the centre, one apartment was encumbered with
rubbish, cutting off the light from the door, but in the obscurity we
saw on one of the stones, along the layer in the arch, the dim outline
of a painting like that at Kewick; in the adjoining apartment were the
remains of paintings, the most interesting, except those near the
village of Xul, that we had met with in the country and, like those, in
position and general effect reminding me of processions in Egyptian
tombs. The colour of the flesh was red, as was always the case with the
Egyptians in representing their own people. Unfortunately, they were
too much mutilated to be drawn, and seemed surviving the general wreck
only to show that these aboriginal builders had possessed more skill in
the least enduring branch of the graphic art.
The first accounts we heard of these ruins date back to the time of my
first visit to Nohpat. Among the Indians there at work was one who,
while we were lunching, sitting apart under a tree, mentioned these
ruins in exaggerated terms, particularly a row of painted soldiers, as
he called them, which, from his imperfect description, I supposed might
bear some resemblance to the stuccoed figures on the fronts of the
buildings at Palenque; but, on pushing my inquiries, he said these
figures carried muskets, and was so pertinacious on this point that I
concluded he was either talking entirely at random, or of the remains
of old Spanish structures. I noted the place in my memorandum-book, and
having had it for a long time upon our minds, and received more
different accounts of it than of any other, none proved more unlike
what we expected to find. We looked for few remains, but these
distinguished for their beauty and ornament, and high state of
preservation, instead of which we found an immense field, grand,
imposing, and interesting from its vastness, but all so ruined that,
with the exception of this one building, little of the detail could be
discovered.
Back of this building, or, rather, on the other front, was a thriving
tobacco patch, the only thriving thing we saw at Iturbide; and on the
border another ancient well, now, as in ages past, furnishing water,
and from which the Indian attending the tobacco patch gave us to drink.
Beyond were towering mounds and vestiges, indicating the existence of a
greater city than any we had yet encountered. In wandering among them
Dr. Cabot and myself counted thirty-three, all of which had once held
buildings aloft. The field was so open that they were all comparatively
easy of access, but the mounds themselves were overgrown. I clambered
up them till the work became tiresome and unprofitable; they were all,
as the Indians said, puras piedras, pure stones; no buildings were
left; all had fallen; and though, perhaps, more than at any other
place, happy that it was our fortune to wander among these crumbling
memorials of a once powerful and mysterious people, we almost mourned
that our lot had not been cast a century sooner, when, as we believed,
all these edifices were entire.