MAYArAN— UXMAL. 1G7 



the surrounding gardens. Here M. Charnay discovered certain wall-paintings, 

 which afford a clue to the decorative system of the Mayas. As usually happens 

 with most holy cities, Izumal has become a much-frequented market-place, priests 

 and sacrifices being succeeded by traders and their wares. Between Izamal and 

 Merida are seen the finest remains of the old causeways, which have been 

 compared by the archaeologists to the Via Appia. These roads were partly 

 destroyed by the Yucatecs themselves, to arrest the advance of the Spanish 

 conquerors, and since then they have been utilised as quarries to supply materials 

 for buildings, enclosures and other highways. Raised above the level of the 

 plain, which was occasionally flooded, these causeways were slightly arched and 

 provided with footpaths, and covered to a depth of about sixteen inches with 

 a layer of cement, which has become as hard as the solid rock. According to 

 Landa this cement was made of lime hardened with water in which the bark of 

 some species of tree had been steeped ; but the present inhabitants have no know- 

 ledge of the process. Ruins are numerous in the whole district. One of the 

 most remarkable is the pyramid of Aké about midway between Merida and 

 Izamal. This pyramid is one of the oldest Yucatec structures, judging at least 

 from the surrounding pillars, which are formed of huge rough-hewn blocks put 

 together without any mortar, and presenting a somewhat cyclopean aspect. 



Some twenty miles south of Merida is the site of Maijapan, " Banner of the 

 Mayas," which, as indicated by its name, was long a cajDital of the Maya nation. 

 Some traces are still preserved of its temples, notably a cone-shaped pavilion over- 

 grown with agave and other plants, and enclosed by a ruined rampart three 

 miles in circuit. After the destruction of Mayapan in the fifteenth century, the 

 residence of the Maya sovereigns was removed farther south to Maui, which in its 

 turn was destroyed by the Spaniards, and where appear to have also perished the 

 Yucatec manuscripts said to have been burnt by order of Bishop Landa. The 

 most numerous Maj'^a monuments occur south-east and south of Merida, along the 

 little ridge of low limestone hills running south-east and north-west towanls the 

 angle of the peninsula. Uxmal, or " Olden Time," near the north east extremity 

 of this ridge and above some underground reservoirs, is the most famous site in 

 this group, and the richest in remarkable structures. One of these, the so-called 

 " Governor's Palace," is one of the best preserved of all the Maya palaces, and 

 may be considered the type of many similar Yucatec monuments. It forms a 

 long narrow quadrilateral with a double row of apartments, which are separated 

 by corridors with walls inclining towards each other and covered by a horizontal 

 roof. The upper storey is richly embellished with crescents, rhombs and other 

 ornamental devices attesting a highl}^ inventive faculty. One of the outer decoia- 

 tions has been taken by certain archaeologists for an elephant's trunk. The 

 "nunnery," a still larger edifice, is even more sumptuously decorated; nowhere 

 else in Yucatan can be seen a greater variety of motives executed wilh more 

 success. Innumerable heaps of stones, mounds and pyramids reduced to the 

 form of wooded knolls, are crowded round the vicinity of Uxmal, Ticul, Tel-ax, 

 and along both slopes of the ridge which stretches south-eastwards to NoJqmt, 



