April 28, 1892] 



NATURE 



621 



of the towns of Utatlan and Iximche, the capitals of the Quiches 

 and Cachiquels, who were the most powerful tiibes in Guatemala 

 when Alvarado conquered the country. Although the remains of 

 these towns, which were known for certain to have been inhabited 

 at the time of the Spanish conquest, bear some similarity in plan 

 and arrangement to the older ruins, there is the great distinction 

 to be observed that in no instance is there any indication of the 

 former existence of stone-roofed buildings, that there are only a 

 few stones which show any trace of ornamental carving, and 

 that of the roughest description, and that there are no remains 

 of any carved inscriptions. 



It may be as well to say a word of warning against the ex- 

 aggerated accounts of the magnificence of the Indian towns of 

 Guatemala at the* time of the conquest which have found their 

 way into the histories of the country by Fuentes, Juarros, and 

 others, and are still alluded to and sometimes accepted as facts 

 by modern travellers. To give only one instance. In describing 

 the palace of the Quiche kings at Utatlan, dimensions are given 

 for this palace which exceed the whole extent of the land on 

 which any building is possible, for the site of the town is most 

 clearly defined, and limited by the great " barranca " or rift, some 

 hundreds of feet deep, which almost encircles it. It was no doubt 

 this peculiar situation, that of an almost inaccessible peninsula 

 in the middle of an undulating plain, which gave the site so 

 much value in the eyes of the Quiches. 



There is, then, a clearly marked difference between the remains 

 of the towns of which we have some historical knowledge and 

 the more ancient ruins. 



But when one considers the fair state of preservation of some 

 of the buildings at Palenque and Menche, and the presence of 

 sound wooden beams in the temples and houses at Tikal, it is 

 hardly possible to ascribe even to these ruins any very great 

 antiquity. 



From my own observation of the state of the ruins themselves, 

 and the style of art displayed in the carved ornaments and inscrip- 

 tions, I should feel inclined to give to Quirigua the earliest date, 

 Copan the next, then Menche, Palenque, and Tikal, in the order 

 named. 



We must now turn our attention to the province of Yucatan. 



The central portion of the peninsula has always been more 



or less a terra incognita. The Spaniards never really brought 



its inhabitants into complete subjection, and to this day it is 



peopled by hostile Indians, and no Spaniard dares to enter it. 



If this country contains traces of the old civilization, nothing 

 definite is known of them. The northern portion of the pen- 

 insula was brought completely under Spanish control, and is 

 known to be studded with the remains of groups of ancient 

 stone buildings. 



It was on the north-east coast of Yucatan that the Spaniards 

 first came into contact with Indians who used stone as a building 

 material, and there can be but little doubt that some of the many 

 ruined structures now to be seen were inhabited by the natives 

 at the time of the conquest. 



I am myself inclined to the opinion that the north of 

 Yucatan was the last stronghold of the more cultivated branch 

 of the Maya race after that race had either been driven out of, 

 or under the stress of unknown adverse circumstances had 

 retrograded in, the country to the south. But it does not 

 follow that the Indians of Yucatan were at the height of their 

 power and prosperity when the Spaniards came amongst them. 

 In fact, their conquerors learnt from them that for some time 

 previously the country had been troubled with civil wars and 

 dissensions, and that Mayapan, once the chief town, had been 

 destroyed and abandoned. It seems quite probable that this 

 statement may be enlarged on to a considerable extent, and that 

 we may consider the country to have been in a state of decadence, 

 and that not one but many of the chief centres of population had 

 been more or less abandoned. However, the temples and sacred 

 edifices appear still to have been held in reverence after the 

 population had moved away, and were visited during festivals, 

 and may have been kept in some sort of repair by the priests ; 

 much in the same way as I believe the ruined dagobas and 

 temples at Pollonarua and Anuradhapura are reverenced and 

 visited by the people of Ceylon. 



This appears to me to have been most probably the case with 

 regard to the important buildings which still mark the site of 

 what must have once been the large town of Chich^n Itza. 



It has, I know, been stated that Chichen was inhabited at the 

 time of Francisco de Montejo's first abortive effort to conquer 

 Yucatan, and that the Spaniards were for some considerable 

 time encamped in the town ; but this statement does not appear 



NO. II 74, VOL. 45] 



to me to be supported by any sufficient evidence. Nevertheless, 

 religious ceremonies had been so recently observed in Chichen 

 Itza, that, in answer to a despatch from Spain, a committee of 

 the settlers in the neighbouring town of Valladolid were able to 

 give some account of them in the year 1579. 



My personal experience of the ruins in Yucatan is limited to a 

 hasty visit to Labna and Uxmal, and a residence of five months 

 in one of the ruined temples of Chichen Itza. At Chichen my 

 clearings and surveys extended over an area of nearly a mile 

 square, and although this appeared to include all the principal 

 edifices, it was impossible to walk into the bush in any direction 

 from the edge of this area without coming on the traces of stone 

 buildings. 



The surface of the ground, even in the centre of the town, 

 although generally level, was in some places composed of cavern- 

 ous and broken limestone rock, and these portions had apparently 

 been walled off as unfit for buildings. But, wherever the 

 ground was suitable, there were numerous traces of slightly 

 constructed buildings in addition to the more solid structures. 



The hieroglyphic inscriptions at Chichen are few in number, 

 and with one small exception very poorly carved, but there is 

 enough to show that they did not differ in character from those 

 in Guatemala and Chiapas. There is, however, one great distinc- 

 tion between the sculptures in Yucatan and the country to the 

 south which must not be overlooked. In the latter there is an 

 almost entire absence of weapons of war, and the figures of 

 women occupy a prominent position. In Yucatan the change is 

 complete : there are no women represented in the sculptures, 

 and every man is a warrior armed with spears and throwing- 

 stick. 



Whether the Maya civilization extended to Yucatan during 

 the time that it flourished at Copan or Palenque, it is at present 

 impossible to determine ; but I strongly incline to the opinion 

 that all the buildings now standing in Yucatan are of a later date. 

 It may be perhaps allowable to state the case somewhat as 

 follows : — 



That the civilized portion of the Maya race have at some time 

 occupied all the country lying between the Isthmus of Tehuantepec 

 and the western frontiers of Honduras and Salvador (excepting 

 perhaps a strip of country along the Pacific sea-board) ; that this 

 people spoke the same or nearly allied languages, which they wrote 

 or carved in the same script ; that they were followers of the same 

 religion, and built stone-roofed temples and houses decorated 

 with the same class of design and ornament. 



That at the time of the Spanish conquest they had entirely 

 abandoned all their towns and religious centres in the country 

 to the south of Yucatan, although the good state of preservation 

 of many of the buildings at the present time precludes the idea 

 that this desertion of their towns could have ante-dated the 

 arrival of the Spaniards by very many years. That the people 

 whom the Spaniards encountered in this part of the country, 

 although they may have been allied in blood to the Mayas, were 

 undoubtedly in a lower state of culture, and that an examination 

 of the sites of their principal towns yields no signs of the 

 artistic culture which is universally found in the older ruins. 



That in Yucatan, where the Spaniards found a dense popula- 

 tion of Maya Indians, and encountered a fierce and stubborn 

 resistance, there are still to be seen numerous remains of ancient 

 buildings, both larger and in better preservation than those in 

 Guatemala and Chiapas, but built in the same manner, decor- 

 ated with the same ornaments, and with inscriptions carved in 

 the same hieroglyphic script. That there is evidence, from the 

 early Spanish writings, that some at least of those buildings 

 were still occupied at the time of the conquest ; but that both 

 the observations of the Spaniards themselves, as well as the 

 reports subsequently gathered by them from the Indians, point 

 to the conclusion that the country was in a state of decadence, 

 and that many of the larger centres of population had already 

 been abandoned, although the more important religious edifices 

 may still have been reverenced and kept in repair. 



The early Spanish writers make frequent allusion to the lai^e 

 number of books written and preserved by the natives of 

 Yucatan. These books were written in hieroglyphic charac- 

 ters in the Maya language, which, it must be remembered, is 

 still spoken by the whole of the Indian population of Yucatan, 

 as well as by nearly all the half-breeds and Spaniards. 



Unfortunately, every effort was made by the Spanish priests 

 to destroy this literature, which they looked on as the work of 

 the devil ; and it is very doubtful whether a single fragment 

 of hieroglyphic manuscript is now in existence in the whole 

 peninsula. 



