THE "CAKA GIGANTESCA" OF YZAMAL IN YUCATAN. 391 



national intercourse, terraced and paved liigliways were constructed 

 leading" out from Yzaiual toward the four cardinal points. Of these 

 colossal structures, many remnants can still be seen in various parts of 

 the country, while other portions of them are lying hidden in the ahnost 

 impenetrable woods and wilds, covering at present the main part of the 

 surface of the country. In the very vicinity of Yzamal a considerable 

 piece of such an ancient road can be examined within the limits of a 

 village called "Qiticum,"* (pronounced Tziticum,) distant two Spanish 

 leagues west of Yzamal. 



Among the details of our present relic, the head-dress, a mitre in form 

 of an obtuse cone, with its symbolic adornments, at once indicates the 

 sublime dignity of a sovereign, or, at least, of the supreme dispenser of 

 the nation's laws. The cincture encircling it, together with its triple 

 locket or tassel in front, is the emblem of universal i^ower and divine 

 perfection, such as was always and invariably attributed to a sovereign 

 before monarchism had passed its zenith of popular belief. According 

 to the ideas of the ancient nations of this continent, as well as of those 

 of the eastern hemisphere, a single band around the forehead was the 

 badge of a nation's ruler. The mighty kings of ancient Persia, for in- 

 stance, wore nothing else, and it was only in after times that from such 

 a simple adornment the golden ring, the diadem, or crown, originated. 

 Among the numerals the sacred three has ever been considered the mark 

 of perfection, and was therefore exclusively ascribed to the Supreme 

 Deity, or to its earthly representive — a king, emperor, or any sovereign, 

 who, allegorically, stood between God and the nation, and was generally 

 believed to be a descendant of the former. For this reason triple em- 

 blems of various shapes and applications are found on sundry objects of 

 royal adornment, but especially on such as belts, neckties, or any encir- 

 cling fixture, as can be most frequently observed on the works of ancient 

 art in Yucatan, Guatemala, Chiapas, Mexico, &c., whenever the object 

 has reference to divine supremacy. 



Behind and on both sides from under the mitre, a short veil falls 

 upon the shoulders so as to protect the back of the head and the neck. 

 This particular appendage vividly calls to mind the same feature in the 

 symbolic adornments of Egyptian or Hindoo priests, and even those ot 

 the Hebrew hierarchy. Among the many fragments of ancient sculp- 

 ture and architecture strewing the extensive area of Mayapan, at one 

 time the metropolis of Maya empire, several heads of the same aj)pear- 

 ance, and adorned in the same way, occur, though varying a little in 

 some unessential particulars. The same is the case with sculptured 

 heads found at the celebrated Uxmal, (pronounced Ushmal.) A mitre, 

 in shape exactly like those here referred to, also marks one of the resting 

 stations of the Aztec migration, as can be seen on the Histork-IIlero- 

 glyphic Table, which, as a valuable relic of that interesting nation, is 

 preserved in the national museum in the city of Mexico. 



Apparently more difficult to understand in our Yzamal work of art 

 seems to be what is fixed in place of the ears, together with the adorn- 

 ments filling up the space on both sides of the head. To decipher these 

 enigmatic delineations, we have, besides the direct exiilanations of the 

 older commentators of Mexican history, and especially those of Cla\'i- 

 gero, the general character of similar mythographical representations 

 of other ancient and modern nations of this continent as well as those 

 of Asia, which all exhibit the strictest similarity if not congruency, even 

 in detail, if idiographically compared. 



* The inverted C (o) is adopted by the SpauisU iu the Maya grammar to rei)reseut 

 the sound of tz, and can so be conveniently employed. — The Author. 



