Rancho of Jalal.--Picturesque Aguada.--Excavations made in it by the
Indians.--System of Aguadas.--Journey resumed.--Lose the Road.--An
Effort in the Maya Language.--Grove of Orange Trees.--Ruins of
Yakatzib.--Dilapidated Edifice.--Stony Sierra.--Village of
Becanchen.--Hospitality.--Sculptured Stones.--Wells.--Running
Stream of Water.--Derivation of the Word Becanchen.--Rapid Growth of
the Village.--Source of the Water of the Wells.--Accident to an
Indian.--The Party separate.--Aguadas.--A Trogon.--Hacienda of
Zaccacal.--Visit to the Ruins.--Stone Terrace.--Circular Hole.--Two
Buildings.--Garrapatas.--Black Ants.--Return.
[Engraving 33: An Aguada]
At seven o'clock the next morning we started, and at the distance of a
league reached the rancho of Jalal, from which we turned off to the
aguada to water our horses. The plate opposite, represents this aguada.
When we first came down upon its banks it presented one of the most
beautifully picturesque scenes we met with in the country. It was
completely enclosed by a forest, and had large trees growing around the
banks and overhanging the water. The surface was covered with water
weeds like a carpet of vivid green, and the aguada had a much higher
interest than any derived from mere beauty. According to the accounts
we had received at the rancho, ten years before it was dry, and the
bottom covered with mud several feet deep. The Indians were in the
habit of digging pits in it for the purpose of collecting the water
which filtered through, and in some of these excavations they struck
upon an ancient well, which, on clearing it away, was found to be of
singular form and construction. It had a square platform at the top,
and beneath was a round well, faced with smooth stones, from twenty to
twenty-five feet deep. Below this was another square platform, and
under the latter another well of less diameter, and about the same
depth. The discovery of this well induced farther excavations, which,
as the whole country was interested in the matter, were prosecuted
until upward of forty wells were discovered, differing in their
character and construction, and some idea of which may be formed from
the engraving that follows. These were all cleared out, and the whole
aguada repaired, since which it furnishes a supply during the greater
part of the dry season, and when this fails the wells appear, and
continue the supply until the rains come on again.
[Engraving 34: System of Aguadas]
Leaving this, we continued again upon a plain. Albino had not come up
with us, and passing through one Indian rancho, we came to another, in
which were many paths, and we were at a loss which to take. The men
were all away, and we were obliged to chase the women into their very
huts to ask directions. At the last hut we cornered two, who were
weaving cotton, and came upon them with our great effort in the Maya
language, "Tush y am be--" "Is this the way to--" adding Yakatzib, the
name of the rancho at which we were told there were ruins. We had
acquired great facility in asking this question, but if the answer went
beyond "yes" or "no," or an indication with the hand, as was the case
on this occasion, it was entirely beyond our attainments. The women
gave us a very long, and probably a very civil answer, but we could not
understand a word of it; and finding it impossible to bring them to
monosyllables, we asked for a draught of water and rode on.
When we had gone some distance beyond the rancho, it occurred to us
that this might be Yakatzib itself and we turned back. Before reaching
it, however, we turned off into a grove of large orange trees at one
side of the road, dismounted, and tied our horses under the shade to
wait for Albino. The trees were loaded and the ground covered with
fruit, but the oranges were all of the sour kind. We could not sit down
under the trees, for the ground was teeming with garrapatas, ants, and
other insects, and while standing we were obliged to switch them off
with our riding whips. Soon Albino came thundering along on the
trotter, and we learned that we had really passed Yakatzib, as the
women had no doubt told us. While we were mounting to go back, a boy
passed on a miserable old horse, his bare body perched between two
water-kegs with which he was going to the aguada. For a medio he
slipped off, tied his horse to a bush, and ran before us as our guide
through the rancho, beyond which, turning off to the right, we soon
reached a ruined edifice.
It was small, and the whole front was gone; the door had been
ornamented with pillars which had fallen, and lay on the ground. The
boy told us that there were ruined mounds, but no other remains of
buildings. We turned back without dismounting and continued our
journey.
At two o'clock we reached the foot of a stony sierra, or mountain
range, toilsome and laborious for the horses, but Mr. Catherwood
remarked that his pricked up his ears and trod lightly, as if just
beginning a journey. From the top of the same sierra we saw at its
foot, on the other side, the village of Becanchen, where, on arriving,
we rode through the plaza, and up to a large house, the front of which
was adorned with a large red painting of a major domo on horseback,
leading a bull into the ring. We inquired for the casa real, and were
directed to a miserable thatched house, where a gentleman stepped out
and recognised Mr. Catherwood's horse, which had belonged to Don Simon
Peon, and through the horse he recognised me, having seen me with Don
Simon at the fair at Jalacho, on the strength of which he immediately
offered his house for a posada, or inn, which offer, on looking at the
casa real, we did not hesitate to accept.
We were still on the great burial-ground of ruined cities. In the
corridor of the house were sculptured stones, which our host told us
were taken from the ancient buildings in the neighbourhood; they had
also furnished materials for the foundation of every house on the
plaza; and besides these there were other memorials. In the plaza were
eight wells, then furnishing an abundant supply of water, and bearing
that stamp which could not be mistaken, of the hand of the ancient
builders. Below the plaza, on the declivity of the hill, was water
gushing from the rocks, filling a clear basin beneath, and running off
till it was lost in the woods. It was the first time in our whole
journey that we had seen anything like a running stream, and after the
parched regions through which we had passed, of almost inaccessible
caves, muddy aguadas, and little pools in the hollows of rocks, it was
a refreshing and delightful spectacle. Our Indian carriers had taken up
their quarters under a brush fence, in sight and within reach of the
stream, and to them and the muleteers it was like the fountain to the
Arab in the desert, or the rivers of sweet water promised to the
faithful in the paradise of Mohammed.
The history of this village has all the wildness of romance, and,
indeed, throughout this land of sepulchred cities the genius of romance
sits enthroned. Its name is derived from this stream of water, being
compounded of the Maya words _Becan_, running, and _chen_, a well.
Twenty years ago the country round about was a wilderness of forest. A
solitary Indian came into it and made a clearing for his milpa. In
doing so he struck upon the running stream, followed it until he found
the water gushing from the rock, and the whole surface now occupied by
the plaza pierced with ancient wells. The Indians gathered round the
wells, and a village grew up, which now contains six thousand
inhabitants; a growth, having regard to the difference in the resources
of the country and the character of the people, equal in rapidity to
that of the most prosperous towns in ours.
These wells are all mere excavations throng a stratum of limestone
rock, varying in depth according to the irregularity of the bed, and in
general not exceeding four or five feet. The source of the water is
considered a mystery by the inhabitants, but it seems manifest that it
is derived from the floods of the rainy season. The village is
encompassed on three sides by hills. On the upper side of the plaza,
near the corner of a street running back to the elevated range, is a
large hole or natural opening in the rock, and during the whole of the
rainy season a torrent of water collects into a channel, pours down
this street, and empties into this hole. As we were told, the body of
water is so great that for a week or ten days after the last rains the
stream continues to run; and at the time of our visit it was eighteen
inches in diameter. The water in the wells is always at the same level
with that in the hole. They rise and fall together; and there is
another conclusive proof of direct connexion, for, as we were told, a
small dog that had been swept into the hole appeared some days
afterward dead in one of the most distant wells.
Doctor Cabot and I descended into one of the wells, and found it a
rude, irregular cavern, about twenty-five feet in diameter; the roof
had some degree of regularity, and perhaps, to a certain extent, was
artificial. Directly under the mouth the water was not more than
eighteen inches deep, but the bottom was uneven, and a step or two
beyond the water was so deep that we could not examine it thoroughly.
By the light of a candle we could see no channel of communication with
the other wells, but on one side the water ran deep under a shelving of
the rock, and here there were probably some crevices through which it
passed; indeed, this must have been the case, for this was the well in
which the dog had come to light.
When we emerged from this well other business offered. Having little or
no intercourse with the capital, this village was the first which
Doctor Cabot's fame had not reached, and our host took me aside to ask
me in confidence whether Doctor Cabot was a real medico; which fact
being easily established by my evidence, he wanted the medico to visit
a young Indian whose hand had been mangled by a sugar-mill. Doctor
Cabot made some inquiries, the answers to which led to the conclusion
that it would be necessary to cut off the hand; but, unluckily, at the
last reduction of our luggage he had left his amputating instruments
behind. He had a hand-saw for miscellaneous uses, which would serve in
part, and Mr. Catherwood had a large spring-knife of admirable temper,
which Doctor Cabot said would do, but the former flatly objected to its
conversion into a surgical instrument. It had been purchased at Rome
twenty years before, and in all his journeyings had been his travelling
companion; but after such an operation he would never be able to use it
again. Strong arguments were urged on both sides, and it became
tolerably manifest that, unless amputation was necessary to save the
boy from dying, the doctor would not get the knife.
Reaching the house, we saw the Indian sitting in the sala, the hand
torn off to within about an inch of the wrist, and the stump swollen
into a great ball six inches in diameter, perfectly black, and
literally alive with vermin. At the first glance I retreated into the
yard, and thence into the kitchen, when a woman engaged in cooking ran
out, leaving her vessels boiling over the fire. I superintended her
cooking, and dried my damp clothes, determined to avoid having anything
to do with the operation; but, fortunately for me and M., Catherwood's
knife, Doctor Cabot considered that it was not advisable to amputate.
It was ten days since the accident happened, and the wound seemed to be
healing. Doctor Cabot ascribed the lad's preservation to the sound and
healthy state of the blood, arising from the simple diet of the Indian.
At this place we determined to separate; Mr. Catherwood to go on direct
to Peto, a day and a half's journey distant, and lie by a few days to
recruit, while Doctor Cabot and I made a retrograde and circuitous
movement to the village of Mani. While speaking of our intention, a
by-stander, Don Joaquin Sais, a gentleman of the village, told us of
ruins on his hacienda of Saccacal, eight leagues distant by a milpa
road, and said that if we would wait a day, he would accompany us to
visit them; but as we could not, he gave us a letter to the major domo.
Early the next morning Doctor Cabot and I set out with Albino and a
single Indian, the latter carrying a petaquilla and hammocks. We left
the village by the running stream, and rode for some time along a deep
gully made by the great body of water which rushes through it in the
rainy season. At half past nine we reached a large aguada, the banks of
which were so muddy that it was impossible to get down to it to drink.
A league beyond we reached another, surrounded by fine shade trees,
with a few ducks floating quietly upon its surface. As we rode up Dr.
Cabot shot a trogan, one of the rare birds of that country, adorning by
its brilliant plumage the branches of an overhanging tree. We lost an
hour of hard riding by mistaking our road among the several diverging
tracks that led from the aguada. It was very hot; the country was
desolate, and, suffering from thirst, we passed some Indians under the
shade of a large seybo tree eating tortillas and chili, to whom we rode
up, confident of procuring water; but they either had none, or, as
Albino supposed, hid it away as we approached. At one o'clock we came to
another aguada, but the bank was so muddy that it was impossible to get
to the water without miring our horses or ourselves, and we were
obliged to turn away without relief from our distressing thirst. Beyond
this we turned off to the left, and, unusually fatigued with the heat
and hard riding, although we had come but eight leagues, to our great
satisfaction we reached the hacienda of Zaccacal.
Toward evening, escorted by the major domo and a vaquero to show the
way, I set out for the ruins. At the distance of half a mile on the
road to Tekax, we turned off into the woods to the left, and very soon
reached the foot of a stone terrace. The vaquero led the way up it on
horseback, and we followed, dismounting at the top. On this terrace was
a circular hole like those before referred to at Uxmal and other
places, but much larger; and, looking down into it till my eyes became
accustomed to the darkness, I saw a large chamber with three recesses
in different parts of the wall, which the major domo said were doors
opening to passages that went under ground to an extent entirely
unknown. By means of a pole with a crotch I descended, and found the
chamber of an oblong form. The doors, as the major domo called them,
were merely recesses about two feet deep. Touching one of them with my
feet, I told him that the end of his passage was there, but he said it
was tapado, or closed up, and persisted in asserting that it led to an
indefinite extent. It was difficult to say what these recesses were
intended for. They threw a mystery around the character of these
subterranean chambers, and unsettled the idea of their being all
intended for wells.
Beyond this, on a higher terrace, among many remains, were two
buildings, one of which was in a good state of preservation, and the
exterior was ornamented all around with pillars set in the wall,
somewhat different from those in the facades of other buildings, and
more fanciful. The interior consisted of but a single apartment,
fifteen feet long and nine feet wide. The ceiling was high, and in the
layer of flat stones along the centre of the arch was a single stone,
like that seen for the first time at Kewick, ornamented with painting.
This building stood in front of another more overgrown and ruined,
which had been an imposing and important edifice. The plan was
complicated, and the exterior of one part was rounded, but the rounded
part was a solid mass, and within the wall was straight. In the back
wall was a recess, once occupied, perhaps, by a statue. Altogether,
there was much about this edifice that was new and curious; and there
were other cerros or mounds, of undistinguishable ruins.
Short as my visit was, there were few considerations that could have
tempted me to remain longer. The garrapatas would soon be over, but
they continued with the rainy season, and, in fact, increased and
multiplied. I discovered them the moment I dismounted, and at first
attempted to whip them off, but wishing to get through before night, I
hurried round this building, creeping under branches and tearing aside
bushes, and, actually covered with the abominable insects, started for
the road.
In hurrying forward I unwittingly crossed the track of a procession of
large black ants. These processions are among the extraordinary
spectacles of that country, darkening the ground for an hour at a time;
and the insect has a sting equal to that of hornets, as I quickly
learned on this occasion. When I reached the road I was almost numbed
with pain, and when I mounted I felt that nothing could tempt me to
live in such a country. The hacienda was in an unusually pretty
situation. Opposite was a long line of hills; the sun was setting, and
it was precisely the hour and the scene for a country ramble; but the
owner of thousands of acres could never diverge from the beaten path
without bringing these pests upon him.
I returned to the house, where the major domo kindly provided me with
warm water for a bath, which cooled the fever of my blood. At night,
for the first time in the country, we had at one end of the room the
hammocks of the women, but this was so bad as ants or garrapatas.