46 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [ Nov. 7, 
desirable, and those children of nature consider their feelings 
more than their appearance. They are not educated, because 
the white people fear that instruction would make them am- 
bitious, unwilling to work in the fields and to carry burdens. 
Among the many ancient cities scattered over the peninsula is 
Mayapan, in utter ruin, it having been destroyed by the natives 
themselves in the year 1447, when king Cocom, the last of his 
dynasty, was put to death with his sons, because he was a tyrant 
and introduced Mexican mercenaries to support him. Cocom’s 
skull was not preserved as those of his ancestors had been. 
After death, their heads were severed and boiled till the flesh 
came from the bone. The posterior part of the skull was then 
sawed off, the front being preserved with the jaws and teeth. 
Upon this they moulded a sort of putty, imitating in appearance 
the flesh that had been removed and making an exact portrait 
of the deceased. ‘These faces were kept in private chapels and 
regarded with great reverence. But the last of the Cocoms was 
blotted out with the place in which he lived; the city being 
sacked and burned when the king and his sons were killed. 
Dr. Le Plongeon discovered at that place a gnomon that had 
served to make astronomical computations. 
Aké, 24 miles east of Merida, and said, though erroneously, 
to be the site where the Spaniards won the first battle with 
the natives, is a place of particular interest, because of the 
chronological record, called Katwns. ‘These stand on an oblong 
structure consisting of three superposed platforms, the upper 
projecting over the one beneath. On it there are 36 columns, 
four feet thick, formed of roughly hewn stones, placed one 
above another. These are the Katuns. The people of Yucatan 
divided their time into eras of 20 years, subdivided into periods 
of 4 years, each year consisting of 365 days. The era of 20 
years was a Katun. At the conclusion of each Katun they put 
a hewn stone upon those already piled up. There seems also 
to have been a great era of 180 years, for in each of these 
columns there are 9 stones which, multiplied by 20, give 180. 
People reckoned their age by these stones. A man 60 years old 
would say: ‘‘I have three stones of years.” On the summit of 
this structure at Aké there are 3 rows of columns, 12 in 
each, making in all 324 stones. ‘These, multiplied by 20, give 
us 6,480 years from the time the first stone was put in place 
until the 36th column was crowned, which may, for aught 
we know, have been long previous to the 16th century, when 
the Spaniards arrived. We are therefore safe in saying that 
these terraces were built at least 7,000 years ago, for to the 6,480 
we must add 369 years, elapsed since the conquest. We may 
also remark that these columns standing as they are would show 
