A crippled Dog.--Island of Cozumel known to the Natives by the Name of
Cuzamil.--Discovered by Juan De Grijalva.--Extracts from the Itinerary
of his Voyage.--Towers seen by the Spaniards.--An ancient Indian
Village.--Temples.--Idols prostrated by the Spaniards.--Present State
of the Island.--Overgrown with Trees.--Terrace and Building.--Another
Building.--These Buildings probably the Towers seen by the
Spaniards.--Identical with those on the Mainland.--Ruins of a Spanish
Church.--Its History unknown.--Vanity of Human Expectations.--Opinion
of the old Spanish Writers.--Their Belief that the Cross was found
among the Indians as a Symbol of Christian Worship.--The "Cozumel
Cross" at Merida.--Platform in Front of the Church.--Square
Pillars.--Once supported Crosses.--The Cozumel Cross one of them.--The
Cross never recognised by the Indians as a Symbol of Worship.--Rare
Birds.--A Sudden Storm.--The Canoa in a Strait.--Fearful Apprehensions.
The next morning, while breakfasting on the old hatch, we saw a dog
peering at us from a distance, as if wishing, but fearful to approach.
The poor, beast was crippled, limped badly, and had his fore shoulder
horribly mangled, the patron said by an encounter with a wild boar. We
endeavoured to entice him to us, but, after looking at us a few
moments, he went away, and never came near us again. No doubt he was
one of the five left by Don Vicente Albino, and, abandoned once, he had
lost all confidence in man. In a few years, if these are not eaten up
by stronger beasts, a race of wild dogs may inhabit this deserted
island.
The island of Cozomel, as it is now called, was known to the natives by
the name of Cuzamil, signifying in their language the Island of
Swallows. Before setting out from home I had fixed upon this island as
one of the points of our journey. My attention was directed to it by
the historical accounts of its condition when it first became known to
the Spaniards. It was discovered accidentally in 1518 by Juan de
Grijalva, who, in attempting to follow in the track of Cordova, was
driven in sight of it. The itinerary of this voyage was kept by the
chaplain-in-chief of the fleet, under the direction of Grijalva, and,
with a collection of original narratives and memoirs, was published for
the first time in 1838 at Paris. The itinerary opens thus:
"Saturday, the first of March of the year 1518, the commandant of the
said fleet sailed from the island of Cuba. On the fourth of March we
saw upon a promontory a white house.... All the coast was lined with
reefs and shoals. We directed ourselves upon the opposite shore, when
we distinguished the house more easily. It was in the form of a small
tower, and appeared to be eight palms in length and the height of a
man. The fleet came to anchor about six miles from the coast. Two
little barks called canoes approached us, each manned by three Indians,
which came to within a cannon shot of the vessel. We could not speak to
them nor learn anything from them, except that in the morning the
cacique, _i.e._, the chief of that place, would come on board our
vessel. The next morning we set sail to reconnoiter a cape which we saw
at a distance, and which the pilot told us was the island of Yucatan.
Between it and the point of _Cucuniel_, where we were, we found a gulf,
into which we entered, and came near the shore of Cuzamil, which we
coasted. Besides the tower which we had seen, we discovered fourteen
others of the same form. Before leaving the first, the two canoes of
Indians returned; the chief of the village was in one of them, and came
on board the vessel of the admiral, and spoke to us by means of an
interpreter (one of the two Indians carried off from Yucatan on the
previous voyage of Cordova), and prayed the commander to come to his
village, saying that it would be a great honour to him....
"We set sail, following the coast at the distance of a stone's throw,
for the sea is very deep upon the borders. The country appeared very
agreeable; we counted, on leaving this point, _fourteen towers_ of the
form indicated. At sunset we saw a large white tower, which appeared
very high. We approached, and saw near it a multitude of Indians, men
and women, who were looking at us, and remained until the fleet stopped
within musket shot of the tower. The Indians, who are very numerous in
this island, made a great noise with their drums.
"On Friday, the sixth of May, the commandant ordered one hundred men to
arm themselves. They embarked in the boats, and landed. They were
accompanied by a priest, and expected to be attacked by a great number
of Indians. Being prepared for defence, they arranged themselves in
good order, and came to the tower, where they found no one; and in all
the environs they did not see a single man. The commandant mounted upon
the tower with the standard bearer, the flag unfurled. He planted this
standard upon one of the facades of the tower, took possession in the
name of the king, in presence of witnesses, and drew up a declaration
of said taking possession.
"The ascent to this tower was by eighteen steps; the base was very
massive, one hundred and eighty feet in circumference. At the top rose
a small tower of _the height of two men placed_ one upon the other.
Within were figures, bones, and idols that they adored. From these
marks we supposed that they were idolaters. While the commandant was at
the top of the tower with many of our people, an Indian, followed by
three others who kept the doors, put in the interior a vase with very
odoriferous perfumes, which seemed of storax. This Indian was old; he
burned many perfumes before the idols which were in the tower, and sang
in a loud voice a song, which was always in the same tone. We supposed
that he was invoking his idols.... These Indians carried our commandant
with ten or twelve Spaniards, and gave them to eat in a hall
constructed of stones very close together, and covered with straw.
Before the hall was a large well, from which everybody drank.... They
then left us alone, and we entered the village, where all the houses
were built of stone. Among others, we saw five very well made, and
commanded by small towers. The _base_ of these edifices is _very large_
and _massive_; the _building is very small at the top_. They appeared
to have been built a long time, but there are also modern ones.
"That village, or bourg, was paved with concave stones. The streets,
elevated at the sides, descended, inclining toward the middle, which
was paved entirely with large stones. The sides were occupied by the
houses of the inhabitants. They are constructed of stone from the
foundation to half the height of the walls, and covered with straw. To
_judge by the edifices and houses, these Indians appear to be very
ingenious_; and if we had not seen a number of recent constructions, we
should have thought that these buildings were the works of the
Spaniards. This island appears to me very handsome.... We penetrated,
to the number of ten men, three or four miles in the interior. We saw
there edifices and habitations separated one from another, and very
well constructed."
On the tenth of February, 1519, the armament of Cortez rendezvoused at
this island. Bernal Dias was again a companion, and was an actor in a
scene which he describes as follows: "There was on the island of
Cozumel a temple containing some hideous idols, to which all the
Indians of the neighbouring districts used to go frequently in solemn
procession. One morning the courts of this temple were filled with
Indians, and curiosity having also drawn many of us thither, we found
them burning odoriferous resins like our incense, and shortly after an
old man in a large loose mantle ascended to the top of the temple, and
harangued or preached to the multitude for a considerable time. Cortez,
who was present, at length called to him Melchorejo, an Indian prisoner
taken on a previous voyage to Yucatan, to question him concerning the
evil doctrines which the old man was delivering. He then summoned all
the caciques and chief persons to come before him, and as well as he
could, by signs and interpretations, explained to them that the idols
which they worshipped were not gods, but evil things, which would draw
their souls down to hell, and that, if they wished to remain in
brotherly connexion with us, they must pull them down, and place in
their stead the crucifix of our Lord, by whose assistance they would
obtain good harvests and the salvation of their souls, with many other
good and holy reasons, which he expressed very well. The priests and
chiefs replied that they worshipped these gods as their ancestors had
done, because they were kind to them, and that, if we attempted to
molest them, the gods would convince us of their power by destroying us
in the sea. Cortez then ordered the idols to be prostrated, which we
immediately did, rolling them down some steps. He next sent for lime,
of which there was abundance in the place, and Indian masons, by whom,
under our direction, a very handsome altar was constructed, whereon we
placed an image of the Holy Virgin; and the carpenters having made a
crucifix, which was erected in a small chapel close to the altar, mass
was said by the reverend father Juan Dias, and listened to by the
priests, chiefs, and the rest of the natives with great attention."
These are the accounts given by eyewitnesses of what they saw on the
first visits of the Spaniards. The later historians are more explicit,
and speak of Cozumel as a place containing many adoratorios and
temples, as a principal sanctuary and place of pilgrimage, standing to
Yucatan in the same relation as Rome to the Catholic world. Gomarra
describes one temple as being "like a square tower, broad at the base,
having steps on the sides, and at the top a chamber covered with straw,
with four doors or windows, with their breastworks or corridors. In the
hollow, which seems like a chapel, they seat or paint their gods. Such
was that which stood near the seacoast."
By these accounts I had been induced to visit the island of Cozumel;
and an incidental notice in the Modern Traveller, speaking of existing
ruins as remains of Spanish buildings, led me to suspect that their
character had been mistaken, and that they were really vestiges of the
original population; but on the ground we asked ourselves where to look
for them. Amid all the devastations that attended the progress of the
Spaniards in America, none is more complete than that which has swept
over the island of Cozomel. When I resolved to visit it I was not aware
that it was uninhabited; and knowing it to be but thirty miles long, I
supposed that, without much difficulty, a thorough exploration could be
made; but even before landing we saw that it would be impossible to
accomplish this, and idle to make the attempt. The whole island was
overgrown with trees, and, except along the shore or within the
clearing around the hut, it was impossible to move in any direction
without cutting a path. We had only our two sailors, and if we should
cut by the compass through the heart of the island, we might pass
within a few feet of a building without perceiving it. Fortunately,
however, on the borders of the clearing there were vestiges of ancient
population, which, from the directions of Don Vicente Albino, we had no
difficulty in finding. One of them, standing about two hundred feet
distant from the sea, and even now visible above the tops of the trees
to vessels sailing by, is represented in the engraving that follows. It
stands on a terrace, and has steps on all four of its sides. The
building measures sixteen feet square; it had four doors facing the
cardinal points, and, as will be seen by the figure of a man sitting on
the steps, it is very low. The exterior is of plain stone, but was
formerly stuccoed and painted, traces of which are still visible. The
doorways open into a narrow corridor only twenty inches wide, which
encompasses a small room eight feet six inches long and five feet wide,
having a doorway opening to the centre.
[Engraving 58: Square Building]
South-southeast from this, near an opposite angle of the clearing, and
five or six hundred feet from the sea, stands another building raised
upon a terrace, consisting of a single apartment, twenty feet front and
six feet ten inches deep, having two doorways and a back wall seven
feet thick. The height is ten feet, the arch is triangular, and on the
walls are the remains of paintings.
These were the only buildings in the clearing, and though, doubtless,
many more lie buried in the woods, we saw no other on the island; but
to us these were pregnant with instruction. The building presented in
the engraving, standing close to the sea, answers, in all its general
features, the description of the "towers" seen by Grijalva and his
companions as they sailed along the coast. The _ascent is by steps_,
the _base is very massive_, the _building is small at the top_, it is
_about the height of two men placed one above the other_, and at this
day we may say, as the Spaniards did, that, _to judge by their
edifices, these Indians appear to be very ingenious_. It is an
interesting fact, moreover, that not only our patron and sailors called
this building a "tower," but in a late article published in the
proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society at London, entitled
"Sketch of the Eastern Coast of Central America, compiled from Notes of
Captain Richard Owen and the Officers of her Majesty's Ship Thunder and
Schooner Lark," this building, with others of the same general
character, is indicated by the name of a "tower." So far as the route
of Grijalva can be traced with certainty, there is strong reason to
believe that the Spaniards landed for the first time in the bay on the
shore of which this building stands, and there is no violence in the
supposition that the building presented is the very tower in which the
Spaniards saw the performance of idolatrous rites; perhaps it is the
same temple from which Bernal Dias and his companions rolled the idols
down the steps. And more than this, establishing the great result for
which we had visited this island, these buildings were identically the
same with those on the mainland; if we had seen hundreds, we could not
have been more firmly convinced that they were all erected and occupied
by the same people; and if not a single corroborating circumstance
existed besides, they afford in themselves abundant and conclusive
proof that the ruined cities on the continent, the building of which
has been ascribed to races lost, perished, and unknown, were inhabited
by the very same Indians who occupied the country at the time of the
conquest.
At the rear of the last building, buried in the woods, so that we
should never have found it but for our patron, is another memorial,
perhaps equal in interest to any now existing on the island of Cozumel.
It is the ruins of a Spanish church, sixty or seventy feet front and
two hundred deep. The front wall has almost wholly fallen, but the side
walls are standing to the height of about twenty feet. The plastering
remains, and along the base is a line of painted ornaments. The
interior is encumbered with the ruins of the fallen roof, overgrown
with bushes; a tree is growing out of the great altar, and the whole is
a scene of irrecoverable destruction. The history of this church is as
obscure as that of the ruined temples whose worship it supplanted. When
it was built or why it was abandoned, and, indeed, its very existence,
are utterly unknown to the inhabitants of New Spain. There is no record
or tradition in regard to it, and, doubtless, any attempt at this day
to investigate its history would be fruitless. In the obscurity that
now envelops it we read a lesson upon the vanity of human expectations,
showing the ignorance of the conquerors in regard to the value of the
newly-discovered countries in America. Benito Perez, a priest who
accompanied the expedition of Grijalva, solicited from the king the
bishopric of this island. At the same time, a more distinguished
ecclesiastic was asking for that of the island of Cuba. The king
advanced the latter to the higher honour of the bishopric of Cozumel,
and put off Benito Perez with what was considered the comparatively
insignificant see of Culhua. Cozumel is now a desert, and Culhua, or
Mexico, is the richest bishopric in New Spain.
But I have a particular reason for presenting to the reader this ruined
church. It is a notion, or, rather, a principle, pervading all the old
Spanish writers, that at some early day Christianity had been preached
to the Indians, and connected with this is the belief that the cross
was found by the first conquerors in the province of Yucatan as a
symbol of Christian worship. Prophecies are recorded supposed to show a
traditionary knowledge of its former existence, and foretelling that
from the rising of the sun should come a bearded people and white, who
should carry aloft the sign of the cross, which their gods could not
reach, and from which they should fly away. The same vague idea exists
to this day; and, in general, when the padres pay any attention to the
antiquities of the country, they are always quick in discovering some
real or imaginary resemblance to the cross. A strong support of this
belief is advanced in the "Cozumel Cross" at Merida, found on the
island of Cozumel, and in the time of Cogolludo, as at this day,
supposed to have been an object of reverence among the Indians before
their conversion to Christianity.
Until the destruction of that edifice it stood on a pedestal in the
patio of the Franciscan convent, and, as we were told, from the time
when it was placed there, no lightning had ever struck the building, as
had often happened before. It is now in the Church of the Mejorada, and
in looking for it at that place, Mr. Catherwood and myself were invited
into the cell of an octogenarian monk then lying in his hammock, for
many years unable to cross the threshold of his door, but in the full
exercise of his mental powers, who told us, in a tone which seemed to
indicate that he had done what would procure him a remission from many
sins, that he had himself dug it up from among the ruins, and had it
set up where it is now seen. It is fixed in the wall of the first altar
on the left; and is almost the first object that arrests the eye of one
entering the church. It is of stone, has a venerable appearance of
antiquity, and has extended on it in half relief an image of the
Saviour, made of plaster, with the hands and feet nailed. At the first
glance we were satisfied that, whatever might be the truth in regard to
its early history, it was at least, wrought into its present shape
under the direction of the monks. And though, at that time, we did not
expect ever to know anything more about it, the ruins of this church
cleared up in our minds all possible mystery connected with its
existence.
In front of the building is a cemented platform, broken and uprooted by
trees, but still preserving its form; and on this stand two square
pillars, which, as we supposed on the spot, had once supported crosses,
and we were immediately impressed with the belief that one of these
missing symbols was that now known as the "Cozumel Cross," and that it
had probably been carried away by some pious monk at or about the time
when the church became a ruin and the island depopulated. For myself, I
have no doubt of the fact; and I regard it as important, for, even
though crosses may have been found in Yucatan, the connecting of the
"Cozumel Cross" with the ruined church on the island completely
invalidates the strongest proof offered at this day that the cross was
ever recognised by the Indians as a symbol of worship.
At noon we had finished all our work, but there was a charm about our
absolute proprietorship of this desolate island which made us regret
that there was not more to give us occupation. Doctor Cabot found in it
a rich field for his ornithological pursuits, but he was rather
unfortunate. Two specimens of rare birds, which he had dissected and
put away to dry, were destroyed by ants. In the clearing was a dead
tree, holding on its topmost branches the nest of a hawk of a rare
species, the eggs of which were unknown to naturalists. The nest seemed
to have been built in apprehension of our visit. The dead branches were
barely able to support it, and would evidently bear no additional
weight. The patron and sailors cut down the tree, and the eggs were
broken, but preserved in fragments.
In the afternoon we picked up shells along the shore, and toward
evening we again took a bath; while we were in the water black clouds
gathered suddenly, thunder rolled, lightning flashed, and sea-birds
flew screaming over our heads. Rain following quickly, we snatched up
our clothing and ran for the hut. Looking back for a moment, we saw our
canoa under way, with scarcely a yard of mainsail, and seeming like a
great bird flying over the water. As she turned the point of the island
and disappeared our fears were roused. From our experience of a little
rough weather we judged it impossible for her to live through a storm
so sudden and violent; and our sense of thankfulness at not being on
board made us feel more sensibly the danger of those who were. The
patron was not familiar with the coast, there was but one place in
which he could find shelter, a narrow passage, difficult to enter even
by daylight, and night was almost upon him; Mr. Catherwood had timed
the precise moment when he turned the point, and we knew that the canoa
would not be able to reach the cove before dark, but would have to ride
through the storm, and, perhaps, be driven to sea. It was fearful to
think of the danger of the poor patron and sailors; and mingled with
these fears was some little uneasiness on our own account. All our
luggage and provisions were on board, as we had intended to sail early
the next morning. The storm had come up so suddenly that though Albino
stood on the bank entreating, the patron would not wait to put a single
thing on shore. We had only our box of table service, with coffee,
sugar, tea, chocolate, and a few biscuit; even if no accident happened,
several days might elapse before the canoa could return, and if she
never returned we should be five Robinson Crusoes, all alone on a
desert island. We had our guns to look to for provisions, but,
unluckily, we had an unusually small quantity of ammunition on shore.
As the storm raged our apprehensions ran high, and we had got so far as
to calculate our chances of reaching the mainland by a raft, finding
some relief in the occupation of moving our hammocks occasionally to
avoid the rain as it beat through the thatched roof, and at length we
fell asleep.