April 28, 1892] 



NA TURE 



619 



without the aid of numerous plans and drawings, to give an 

 adequate account of the ruins as they can now be seen, but the 

 following short summary gives the characteristics of the prin- 

 cipal groups found to the south of Yucatan : — 



Quirigtta. — Thirteen monoliths covered with elaborate carved 

 decoration and inscriptions. These are of two classes, upright 

 stelae, of which six still stand erect, the tallest measuring 

 25 feet high from the ground, 5 feet across back and front, and 

 4 feet across the sides, and large rounded blocks of stone cut 

 into the form of some grotesque animal, the largest of them 

 weighing about 20 tons. No buildings remain standing, but 

 there are numerous mounds, only one of which has been dug 

 into, and was found to contain on its summit the ground-work 

 of a stone-built temple. 



Copan. — Sixteen stelce averaging 12 feet in height, of which 

 eight are now standing, and numerous other sculptured monu- 

 ments. Both figures and inscriptions are carved in higher 

 relief than at Quirigua. Numerous stone-faced mounds, which 

 can be ascended by well-laid stone stairways. There is no 

 sign of a wall either of house or temple above ground, but the 

 lower parts of both temples and houses can be found by digging 

 into the masses of broken masonry on the tops of the mounds 

 and terraces. Broken stone ornaments, which once decorated 

 these buildings, are found lying in profusion at the foot of the 

 mounds. 



Menchi. — A town built on stone-faced terraces rising one 

 above the other from the banks of the River Usumacinta. I'here 

 are many mounds of stone, and there are a few stone-roofed 

 houses and temples still standing with carved stone lintels over 

 the doorways. No separate carved monolithic monuments of 

 importance. 



Tikal. — Five cell-like temples with enormously thick walls, 

 raised on pyramidal foundations of great height. The measure- 

 ment of the largest, from the ground to the top of the temple, is 

 about 160 ft., the base of the foundation measuring about 280 fc. 

 square. These temples had beautifully carved wooden lintels over 

 the doorways. Some of this carved wood is now preserved in the 

 Museum at Basle, and some (a few smaller pieces) in the L5ritish 

 Museum. There are several other smaller temples and numerous 

 houses with sloiie roofs still standing. All these buildings had 

 wooden lintels over the doorways, and some of the wooden 

 beams are in a perfect state of preservation. There are seven or 

 eight small stelae, usually flat slabs of stone with carving on the 

 front and sides only, all unfortunately much damaged and 

 weather-worn. 



PaUttque. — One group of stone-roofed houses, commonly 

 known as the palace, raised on a high stone-faced foundation. 

 Four separate temples on similar fDUiidations, and numerous 

 other temples, houses, and tombs, some half-ruined, and others 

 mere heaps of stone and rubbish. Only one carved monolith 

 has been found which stood apart, but several large stone sla')S 

 beautifully carved with figures and inscriptions lu low relief 

 were let into the interior walls of the temples, and almost all 

 the buildings have been lavishly ornamented with figures and 

 inscriptions moulded in a hard and durable stucco. 



The principal fact ascertained from the examination of the 

 remains throughout this district (including Yucatan) is that the 

 art as exemplified both by monuments and buildings is one and 

 the same, and that the inscriptions are all carved in the same 

 characters. 



The chief difference to be noted is that whereas in the ruins 

 which I assume to be of earlier date the art and workmanship 

 is lavished on the decoration of large monoliths, whilst the 

 temples and other buildings are comparatively insignificant, as 

 time went on the elaborate carving of separate stone monuments 

 was neglected, and the whole efforts of the artists were devoted 

 to the erection and adornment of larger and more imposing 

 buildings, and the carved stone glyphs of the monoliths gradu- 

 ally gave way to stucco and painted inscriptions on the walls of 

 the temples and to manusciipt books. 



The age to be ascribed to these remains is purely a matter of 

 conjecture ; but there are some historical facts which bear on the 

 subject which I have already called attention to in another 

 publication, but which may with advantage be here repeated. 



Hernando Cortes, after the conquest of Mexico, started from 

 that city in the year 1525, accompanied by some hundreds of 

 Spaniards and a large number of Indians, with the intention of 

 marching direct to Honduras. When Seiior Don I'ascual de 

 Gayangos, in the year 1867, translated for publication by the 

 Hakluyt Society the letter written by Cortes to Philip II. of 



NO. I 1 74, VOL. 45] 



Spain, giving an account of this expedition, he states in the 

 preface that : — " To determine the spots visited by him in this 

 extraordinary march through almost impenetrable forests, 

 swampy plains, or lofty mountains, has by some writers been 

 pronounced a hopeless task ; and though we possess the narrative 

 of the stout-hearted and sturdy soldier, Bernal Diaz, who formed 

 part of the expedition and carefully noted down its principal 

 events ; though the various provinces traversed by the devoted 

 army have smce been more or less explored by travellers of all 

 nations, few are the indications— and those very slight— of the 

 route they followed. He must have passed near the ruins of 

 Paleiique, since the small village of Las Tres Cruzes is said to 

 derive its name from three wooden crosses left in that locality." 



A comparison of the recent and more accurate maps of Ta- 

 basco published by the Mexican Government, and of my own 

 surveys in the region of the head waters of the Sarstoon and 

 Mopan Rivers, with certain old maps and documents which have 

 recently been brought to light from the Archives of the Indies 

 at Seville, now enables us to trace Cortes's line of march with 

 some degree of accuracy. 



After passing the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, he found himself 

 involved in the intricate waterways of the delta of the Tabasco 

 and Grijalra Rivers. He and his follower.-, suffered the greatest 

 hardships, but after cutting their way through the tangled vege- 

 tation of the swamps, and with infinite patience and labour 

 building bridges over the almost innumerable streams and 

 lagoons, he crossed the River Lsumaeinta, somewhere in the 

 neighbourhood of Fenosique. 



There can be no doubt that towards the end of this part of 

 this march, at a time when Cones and his followers, lost in the 

 forests of the delta, were suffering the last extremities of hunger, 

 and were eagerly searching for a track which might lead them 

 to an Indian settlement — they were traversing a plain actually 

 overlooked by the temples of Palenque, and not more, and prob- 

 ably much less, than twenty miles distant from them. If Palenque 

 had then been the great centre which it at one time must have 

 been, and it the foot-hills of the Sierra on which it stands had 

 then beeu as thickly peopled as the numerous remains indicate, 

 it would have been impossible for a body of men as numerous 

 and as much on the alert as were the followers of Cortes, to 

 have missed the discovery of the many tracks which must have 

 led thiiher. 



Moreover, Cortes had been furnished with a map of the 

 country, prepared by the Indian chiefs at Guacacualco ; and 

 although it has been suggested that the chiefs systematically 

 deceived him so as to prevent his visiting their richest and most 

 sacred towns, such deception was not likely to have been suc- 

 cessful with him, and it is still less likely to have imposed upon 

 the large number of Mexican Indians who accompanied him. 

 Yet, U Palenque was then inhabited, we are compelled either 

 to believe that Cortes and his followers were indeed successfully 

 imposed upon, or to give credit to the still more unlikely alter- 

 native that the Indian auxiliaries preferred to suffer such 

 extremities of hunger that they were driven to eat the boaies of 

 their companions who had died by the way, rather than give 

 any information which would have been of service to their 

 foreign leaders. 



It hardly appears possible, therefore, to resist the conclusion 

 that, in the year 1525, Palenque was already abandoned, and 

 lost in the foiest. 



But if the iniormation afforded to Cortes is to be relied on, 

 then the same fate must also have overtaken the town of Meuche 

 on the Usumacinta, for Cortes was strongly advised by the 

 natives not to continue his march along the banks of the river 

 (and if he had done so he must have passed near the site of 

 the ruins of Mencne), as the country in that direction was 

 uninhabited. 



Accepting this advice, Cortes took the road by Acala and 

 Peten, and thence through part of what is now British Honduras, 

 to the mouth of the Rio Dulce. 



The inhabitants of Acala appear to have been more civilized 

 than any others whom Cortes met with during his lopg march. 

 He states that the country was thickly peopled, and that the 

 towns were large and full of mosques or idol-houses , yet no 

 important ruins have ever been found ir that district, and 

 neither Cortes nor Bernal Diaz gives us any desciiption which 

 would lead us to suppose that they ever met with such imposing 

 buildings as those still standing at Palenque or Menche. 



J- rom Acala the expedition marched through a very thinly- 

 peopled country until they arrived at the Lake of Peten. 



