Journey resumed.--An Aguada.--The Aguadas artificial, and built by the
Aboriginal Inhabitants.--Examination of one by Senor Trego.--Its
Construction.--Ancient Wells.--Pits.--A Sugar Rancho.--Rancho of
'Y-a-Walthel.--Rancho of Choop.--Arrival at Macoba.--The
Ruins.--Lodgings in a miserable Hut.--Wells.--Ruined
Buildings.--Another Aguada.--Pits.--Astonishment of the
Indians.--Falling in Love at first Sight.--Interesting
Characters.--Departure.--Thick Undergrowth.--Rancho of Puut.--An
Incident.--Situation of the Rancho.--Water.--Ruins of Mankeesh.
[Engraving 31: An Aguada]
The next morning after breakfast we again set out. Senor Trego escorted
us, and, following a broad wagon road made by him for the passage of
the horse and cart, at the distance of a mile and a half we came to a
large aguada, which is represented in the plate opposite. It was
apparently a mere pond, picturesque, and shaded by trees, and having
the surface covered with green water plants, called by the Indians
Xicin-chah, which, instead of being regarded as a blot upon the
picturesque, were prized as tending to preserve the water from
evaporation. Indians were then filling their water jars, and this
aguada was the only watering-place of the rancho. These aguadas had
become to us interesting objects of consideration. Ever since our
arrival in the country, we had been told that they were artificial,
and, like the ruined cities we were visiting, the works of the ancient
inhabitants. At first we had considered these accounts unreliable, and
so nearly approaching the marvellous that we put but little faith in
them; but as we advanced they assumed a more definite character. We
were now in a region where the people were entirely dependant upon the
aguadas; all considered them the works of the antiguos; and we obtained
at length what we had long sought for, certain, precise, and definite
information, which would not admit of question or doubt.
Failing in his attempt to procure water from the well, before referred
to, in the plaza, in 1835 Senor Trego turned his attention to this
aguada. He believed that it had been used by the ancients as a
reservoir, and took advantage of the dry season to make an examination,
which satisfied him that his supposition was correct. For many years it
had been abandoned, and it was then covered three or four feet deep
with mud. At first he was afraid to undertake with much vigour the work
of clearing it out, for the prejudices of the people were against it,
and they feared that, by disturbing the aguada, the scanty supply then
furnished might be cut off. In 1836 he procured a permission from the
government, by great exertions secured the co-operation of all the
ranchos and haciendas for leagues around, and at length fairly
enlisting them all in the task, at one time he had at work fifteen
hundred Indians, with eighty superintendents (major domos). On clearing
out the mud, he found an artificial bottom of large flat stones. These
were laid upon each other in this form,
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and the interstices were filled in with clay of red and brown colour,
of a different character from any in the neighbourhood. The stones were
many layers deep, and he did not go down to the bottom, lest by some
accident the foundation should be injured, and the fault be imputed to
him.
Near the centre, in places which he indicated as we rode along the
bank, he discovered four ancient wells. These were five feet in
diameter, faced with smooth stone not covered with cement, eight yards
deep, and at the time of the discovery were also filled with mud. And,
besides these, he found along the margin upward of four hundred
casimbas, or pits, being holes into which the water filtered, and
which, with the wells, were intended to furnish a supply when the
aguada should be dry.
The whole bottom of the aguada, the wells, and pits were cleared out;
Senor Trego portioned off the pits among families, to be preserved and
kept in order by them, and the dry basin was then given up to the
floods of the rainy season. It so happened that the next year was one
of unusual scarcity, and the whole country around was perfectly
destitute of water. That year, Senor Trego said, more than a thousand
horses and mules came to this aguada, some even from the rancho of
Santa Rosa, eighteen miles distant, with barrels on their backs, and
carried away water. Families established themselves along the banks;
small shops for the sale of necessaries were opened, and the butcher
had his shambles with meat; the aguada supplied them all, and when this
failed, the wells and the pits held out abundantly till the rainy
season came on, and enabled them to return to their several homes.
Throughout our journey we had suffered from the long continuance of the
rainy season, and at this place we considered it one of the greatest
misfortunes that attended us, that we were unable to see the bottom of
this aguada and these ancient wells. Senor Trego told us that usually,
at this season, the aguada was dry, and the people were drawing from
the wells and pits. This year, happily for them, but unluckily for us,
water was still abundant. Still it was a thing of high interest to see
this ancient reservoir recovered and restored to its original uses,
and, as we rode along the bank, to have indicated to us the particular
means and art used to render it available. Hundreds are perhaps how
buried in the woods, which once furnished this element of life to the
teeming population of Yucatan.
Leaving the aguada, our road lay over a level and wooded plain, then
wet and muddy from the recent rains, and at the distance of a league we
reached the sugar rancho of a gentleman from Oxcutzcab, who had been a
co-worker with Senor Trego in clearing out the aguada, and confirmed
all that the latter had told us. A league beyond we came to the rancho
of 'Y-a-walthel, inhabited entirely by Indians, and beyond our road
opened upon a fine savanna, in which were several aguadas. Beyond this
we reached the rancho of Choop, and came into a good road, different
from the usual milpa paths, and like a well-beaten camino real, made so
by the constant travelling of beasts with water kegs to the aguadas.
In the afternoon we passed the campo santo of Macoba, and very soon,
ascending a hill, we saw through the trees the "old walls" of the
ancient inhabitants. It was one of the wildest places we had seen; the
trees were grander, and we were somewhat excited on approaching it, for
we had heard that the old city was repeopled, and that Indians were
again living in the buildings. It was almost evening; the Indians had
returned from their work; smoke was issuing from the ruins, and, as
seen through the trees, the very tops seemed alive with people; but as
we approached we almost turned away with sorrow. It was like the
wretched Arabs of the Nile swarming around the ruined temples of
Thebes, a mournful contrast of present misery and past magnificence.
The doors were stopped with leaves and branches; the sculptured
ornaments on the facades were blackened by smoke rolling from the
doorways, and all around were the confusion and filthiness of Indian
housekeeping. As we rode up the Indians stared at us in astonishment
and the scared women snatched up their screaming children and ran away.
Among these ruins a rancho had been erected for the major domo, and as
everything we had heretofore seen belonging to the cura of Xul was in
fine order, we had no fears about our accommodations; but we found that
nothing in this world must be taken for granted. The rancho was
thatched, and had a dirty earthen floor, occupied by heaps of corn,
beans, eggs, boxes, baskets, fowls, dogs, and pigs. There were two
small, dirty hammocks, in one of which was swinging an Indian lad, and
from the other had just been taken a dead man, whose new grave we had
seen at the campo santo.
The major domo was a short, stupid, well-meaning old man, who
apologized for the confusion on account of the death and burial that
had just taken place. He was expecting us, had his master's orders to
treat us with all due consideration, and we directed the rancho to be
swept out. As night approached, we began to feel that our discomforts
might be increased, for our carriers did not make their appearance. We
had no apprehensions of robbery. Bernaldo was with them, and, knowing
his propensities, we supposed that he had stopped at some rancho,
where, in waiting to have some tortillas made, he had got belated, and
was unable to find the road; but, whatever the cause, we missed the
comforts of our travelling equipage. We were without candles, too, and
sat in the miserable rancho in utter darkness, listening for the sound
of the approaching carriers, until Albino procured a broken vessel of
castor oil with a wick in it, which, by faintly illuminating one
corner, disclosed more clearly the dreariness and discomfort of the
scene.
But worse than all was the prospect of sleeping in the flea-infested
hammocks, from one of which the body of a dead man had just been taken.
We got the major domo to remove them and hire others, which, perhaps,
were in reality not much better. Albino and Dimas had to lie down on
the earthen floor, but they could not remain long. Dimas mounted
lengthwise upon a log, and Albino doubled himself up in a bano, or
bathing-tub, which kept him from the bare ground, but not above the
jump of a flea. Fortunately, we suffered excessively from cold, which
prevented us from being thrown into a fever, but it was one of the
worst nights we had passed in the country.
Early in the morning Bernaldo made his appearance, he and the carriers
having had a harder time than our own. They had been lost, and had
wandered till ten o'clock, when they came to a rancho, where they
learned their mistake, but were too much tired to carry their loads any
farther, and, with an Indian from the rancho to guide them, had set out
two hours before daylight.
The rancho of Macoba had been established but four years. It was
situated in the midst of an immense forest; as yet it had been used
only for the cultivation of maize, but the cura intended the ensuing
year to commence a plantation of sugar. His inducement to establish a
rancho at this place was the existence of the ruined buildings,
which saved the expense of erecting huts for his criados; and
he was influenced also by the wells and other remains of ancient
watering-places. In the immediate vicinity of the buildings, without
inquiring or seeking for them, we came across four wells, but all
filled up with rubbish, and dry. Indeed, so many were known to exist,
and the other means of supply were so abundant, that Senor Trego was
about becoming a partner with the cura, under the expectation of
clearing out and restoring these ancient reservoirs, furnishing an
abundant supply of water, and calling around them a large Indian
population.
In the mean time the cura had constructed two large tanks, or cisterns,
one of which was twenty-two feet in diameter, and the same in depth,
and the other eighteen. Both these were under a large circular roof, or
top platform, covered with cement, and sloping toward the centre, which
received the great body of rain-water that fell in the rainy season,
and transmitted it into the cisterns, and these furnished a supply
during the whole of the dry season, as the major domo said, for fifty
souls, besides fowls, hogs, and one horse.
[Engraving 32: Building a Macoba]
The ruins at this place were not so extensive as we expected to find
them. There were but two buildings occupied by the Indians, both in the
immediate neighbourhood of our hut, and much ruined, one of which is
represented in the plate opposite. A noble alamo tree was growing by
its side, and holding it up, which, while I was in another direction,
the Indians had begun to cut down, but which, fortunately, I returned
in time to save. The building is about 120 feet front, and had two
stories, with a grand staircase on the other side, now ruined. The
upper story was in a ruinous condition, but parts of it were occupied
by Indians.
In the afternoon Doctor Cabot and myself set out for a ride to the
aguada, induced somewhat by the forest character of the country, and
the accounts the Indians gave us of rare birds, which they said were to
be found in that direction. The road lay through a noble piece of
woods, entirely different from the usual scrubby growth, with thorny
and impenetrable underbrush, being the finest forest we had seen, and
abounding in sapote and cedar trees. At the distance of half a league a
path turned off to the right, overgrown, and hardly distinguishable,
following which we reached the aguada. It was a mere hollow basin,
overgrown with high grass. We rode down into it, and, dismounting, my
first step from the side of my horse carried me into a hole, being a
casimba, or pit, made by the Indians for the purpose of receiving the
filtrations of water. We discovered others of the same kind, and to
save our horses, backed them out to the edge of the aguada, and moved
cautiously around it ourselves. These pits were no doubt of modern
date, and we could not discover any indications of ancient wells;
nevertheless, such may exist, for the aguada has been disused and
neglected for an unknown length of time. Soil had accumulated, without
removing which, the character and construction of the bottom could not
be ascertained.
I returned from the aguada in time to assist Mr. Catherwood in taking
the plan of the buildings. Our appearance in this wilderness had
created astonishment among the Indians. All day, whenever we drew near
to the buildings, the women and children ran inside, and now, when they
found us entering their habitations, they all ran out of doors. The old
major domo, unused to such a commotion among the women, followed us
close, anxiously, but respectfully, and without uttering a word; and
when we closed the book and told him we had finished, he raised both
hands, and, with a relieved expression, exclaimed, "Gracios a Dios, la
obra es acabada!" "Thank God, the work is done!"
I have nothing to say concerning the history of these ruins. They are
the only memorials of a city which, but for them, would be utterly
unknown, and I do not find among my notes any memoranda showing how or
from whom we first received the intelligence of their existence.
March 2. Early in the morning we were again preparing to move, but,
when on the eve of setting out, we learned that Bernaldo wanted to vary
the monotony of travelling by getting married. He had met at the well
an Indian girl of thirteen, he himself being sixteen. While assisting
her to draw water, some tender passages had taken place between them,
and he had disclosed to Albino his passion and his wishes; but he was
trammelled by that impediment which all over the world keeps asunder
those who are born for each other, viz., want of fortune. The girl made
no objections on this score, nor did her father. On the contrary, the
latter, being a prudent man, who looked to the future well-establishing
of his daughter, considered Bernaldo, though not in the actual
possession of fortune, a young man of good expectations, by reason of
the wages that would be due to him from us; but the great difficulty
was to get ready money to pay the padre. Bernaldo was afraid to ask for
it, and the matter was not communicated to us until at the moment of
setting out. It was entirely against hacienda law to marry off the
estate; Don Simon would not like it; and, in the hurry and confusion of
setting out, we had no time to deliberate; we therefore sent him on
before us, and I am sorry to be obliged to say that this violence to
his affections never made it necessary to change the appellation which
we had given him very early after he came into our possession, namely,
the fat boy.
We found among our carriers another youthful example of blighted
affections, but recovering. He was a lad of about Bernaldo's age, to
wit, sixteen, but had been married two years before, was a father, a
widower, and about to be married again. The story was told us in his
hearing, and, from his smiles at different parts of it, it was
difficult to judge which he considered the most amusing; and we had
still another interesting person, being a runaway Indian, who had been
caught and brought back but a few days before, and upon whom the major
domo charged all the others to keep a good look-out.
Our road lay through the same great forest in which the ruins stood. At
the distance of a league we descended from the high ground, and reached
a small aguada. From this place the road for some distance was hilly
until we came out upon a great savanna covered with a growth of bushes,
which rose above our heads so thick that they met across the path,
excluding every breath of air, without shielding as from the sun, and
exceedingly difficult and disagreeable to ride through. At one o'clock
we reached the suburbs of the rancho of Puut. The settlement was a long
line of straggling huts, which, as we rode through them under the blaze
of a vertical sun, seemed to have no end. Mr. Catherwood stopped at one
of them for a cup of water, and I rode on till I reached an open plain,
forming a sort of square with thatched houses, and on one side a
thatched church. I inquired of a woman peeping out of a door for the
casa real, and was directed to a ruined hut on the same side, at the
door, or, rather, at the doorway of which I dismounted, but had hardly
crossed the threshold when I saw my white pantaloons speckled with
little jumping black insects. I made a hasty retreat, and saw a man at
the moment moving across the plaza, who asked me to his house, which
was clean and comfortable, and when Mr. Catherwood came up the women of
the house were engaged in preparing our dinner. Mr. Catherwood had just
experienced the same kind of good feeling at an Indian hut. Water, in
the Maya language, is expressed by the word _ha_, but, being that
morning rather out of practice, Mr. Catherwood had asked for _ka_,
which means fire, and the woman brought him a lighted brand. He
motioned that away, but still continued asking for _ka_, fire. The
woman went in, sat down, and made him a straw cigar, which she brought
out to him. Sitting in the broiling sun, and perishing with thirst, he
dropped his Maya, and by signs made her understand what he wanted, when
she brought him water.
Our host, who was a Meztizo and ex-alcalde, procured for us another
empty hut, which, by the time our carriers arrived, we had swept out
and made comfortable.
The situation of this rancho was on a fine open plain; the land was
good, and water abundant, though not very near at hand, the supply
being derived from an aguada, to which we sent our horses; and they
were gone so long that we determined the next morning, as the aguada
lay but little out of our road, to ride by it and water them ourselves.
From this place we intended to visit the ruins of Mankeesh, but we
learned that it would require a large circuit to reach them, and, at
the same time, we received intelligence of other ruins of which we had
not heard before, at the rancho of Yakatzib, on the road we had
intended taking. We determined for the present to continue on the route
we had marked out, and it so happened that we did not reach the ruins
of Mankeesh at all, which, according to more particular accounts
received afterward, when it was too late to profit by them, merit the
attention of the future traveller.