THE PENINSULA OF YUCATAN. 183 



Unless these things are appreciated, we can not form a fair judgment as to why the past 

 was so different from the present. 



One of the most impressive features of the ruins is the abundance, size, and solidity of 

 the various structures. For instance, at Chichen Itza, where within a radius of 25 miles 

 on either side there are probably to-day not 5,000 people, there was once a vast city. 

 Mr. E. H. Thompson, whose liome has for years been directly among the ruins, saj'S that 

 the area of dense urban population was at least 6 miles square; that is, it comprised no 

 less than 36 square miles, while beyond it lay abundant suburbs. Such a city, even if it 

 had but two families to the acre, would have contained fully 230,000 people; whereas all 

 Yucatan to-day has a population of only a Uttle over 300,000. Chichen Itza, however, 

 by no means stands alone. Ninety-two ruins are known, according to Mr. Thompson, 

 and manj^ of them must have been towns of large size. Otherwise they could not possibly 

 have possessed the wealth and surplus labor requisite for the construction of temples such 

 as that of Labna, 375 feet long and 3 stories high. Yet Labna is only one of a score of 

 notable ruins lying close together within 15 or 20 miles of Uxmal. All the ruins are mas- 

 sively constructed with carefully dressed stones on the surface and rubble of uncut stones 

 and mortar filling the spaces between the flat-topped, false arches and holding them solid. 

 So firm is the construction, that even in some cases, such as Uxmal, where the lintels were 

 made of zapote timber, which has rotted in spite of its extraordinary durabiUty, the walls 

 have fallen but slightly. 



The size and massiveness of the Yucatecan ruins are no more remarkable than are the 

 originality, variety, and delicacy displayed in their adornment. The intricate patterns 

 carved upon the fagades of scores of temples and palaces vary most interestingly. In 

 some places one finds massive geometrical designs which are made of rectangular stones jut- 

 ting out from the face of some lofty wall. Elsewhere large numbers of columns are seen, 

 some being small and purely ornamental, and others large enough to form colonnades. 

 Still another type of adornment consists of huge stone serpents, strange forms of bird 

 and beast, or grinning, distorted human heads set with great teeth. And lastly, the cul- 

 mination of the ancient Yucatecan art is reached in delicately modeled busts, which can 

 bear comparison with the work of any people except the Greeks and those who have 

 learned from them. At Kabah, a ruin rarely visited by foreigners, two heads, lately 

 exhumed, stand side by side. The plaited hair of these two figures and the high tiaras are 

 not particularly remarkable, although carefulh' executed. The thing which rivets attention 

 is the skillfully modeled features, the hooked noses, Jewish in outhne, but with wider, 

 more tropical nostrils; the curved lips and the sparse, drooping mustaches. The eyes, 

 too, are noticeable, but before one has time to analyze them, his attention is diverted by 

 the curious chain which in each case encircles the left eye, falls down over the cheek, and is 

 brought up to the chin. From the statues I turned to our guide, a Maya Indian, and saw 

 the same features repeated in brown, living flesh. Our Maya driver also had the same 

 hooked nose, wide nostrils, and drooping mustache. The chief difference was in a lesser 

 curvature of the mouth. So well did the old masters work, 1,000 or 2,000 years ago, that 

 although we know nothing of the origin or affinities of the race to which they belonged, we 

 can at least affirm that, in spite of mixture with foreign elements, their blood still flows in 

 Yucatan. 



I dwell on these matters in order to emphasize the fact that the ancient Yucatecos were 

 a highly civilized and prosperous race; they were blessed with a large amount of surplus 

 wealth which they could use to support the architects, sculptors, painters, and engineers 

 who superintended the building of the temples and evolved the myriads of ideas which 

 were everywhere brought to fruition. And there was also wealth to support the thousands 

 upon thousands of workmen who quarried the rock, carried it to the buildings, and hewed 

 it to the exact dimensions demanded by the plans of the masters. Other workmen burned 



