164- MEXICO, CENTEAL AMERICA, 'VŒBT INDIES. 



visited by the Guatemalan and Campeacliy traders But all reference to these 

 ruins of Mowhe were of the vaguest character till the year 1868, when they 

 were first distinctly mentioned by Suarez. Since then they have been visited by 

 Rockstroh in 1881, by Maudslay and Charnay in 1882, and the last-mentioned 

 traveller gave them the name of Lorillard City, in honour of the American citizen 

 who defrayed the expenses of his expedition. The ruined city stands on a head- 

 land encircled by the river below its confluence with the Ocociugo, and above 

 the series of rapids extending all the way to Tenosique. Some heaps of stones 

 near the shore look like the hutment of a broken bridge, but they are merely the 

 remains of a sustaining wall at the base of the amphitheatre of houses and temples. 

 To their very summit the escarpments are cut into flights of steps, or else faced 

 with masonry, with large trees now growing through the cracks and fissures ; all 

 the building materials exactly resemble those of Palenque. The largest temple, 

 the façade of which is partly overgrown with interlaced branches and foliage, is 

 disposed in three receding storeys, where traces are still preserved of the original 

 stucco coating and paintings ; the topmost storey is arranged in little regular 

 square niches, each of which was decorated with -sculptures. Pne of the lintels 

 represents two figures suj)porting " Latin crosses," and in the court is seen an 

 idol sitting cross-legged, the hands resting on the ^nees, and the face crowned 

 with an enormous headdress, which takes the form of a diadem of precious stones 

 surmounted by huge feathers. This serene and dignified image, absolutely unique 

 in the New World, recalls the buddhas of the extreme East. The bowls of coarse 

 clay found close b}^ contained a resinous substance, probably the incense which 

 the Lacandons even recently still burnt in honour of the deity. - 



The little town of Tenosique below the rapids, and at the entrance of the plains 

 the village of Balancan, are the chief groups of habitations on the lower TJsu- 

 macinta. Carmen, the only town in this part of the delta, lies on a strait through 

 which the Termines lagoon communicates with the sea. 



The picturesque city of Campeachy {Canipeche), with its irregular streets and 

 houses shaded by cocoanut groves, is surrounded by ramparts and commanded by 

 forts crowning the encircling hills. Campeachy is still one of the most beautiful 

 cities in Mexico, but it has lost the relative importance it enjoyed during the 

 days of commercial monopolies. During the Spanish rule it was one of the three 

 privileged places on the east coast north of the isthmus of Darien — Yera Cruz and 

 San Juan de Nicaragua being the other two — which were open to the trade with 

 Spain, and, thanks to this advantage, it had developed extensive relations with 

 the interior. At that time Campeachy was not only the emporium for the whole 

 of Yucatan, but also served as the outlet for the produce of Tabasco, Chiapas, and 

 even Guatemala. Now, however, these regions have their own direct trade routes, 

 and even Yucatan itself finds Carmen a more convenient outlet for Campeachj' 

 wood and other exports. If Campeachy possessed a real harbour, it would have 

 at least attracted to itself a great part of the exchanges of the peninsula, but the 

 roadstead with its shelving bed is exposed to the full fury of the dreaded norfes ; 

 the pier projecting seawards does not reach sufficient depths to be accessible at 



