INDIAN SETTLEMENTS IN CENTRAL AMERICA. 54! 



saw themselves compelled to crowd the structures as much as could be 

 done, and this closely compressed disposition is hence characteristic of 

 the ground plans of towns on the tableland of Chiapas and Guatemala. 



As an example, I may here mention the well-known ruins of Tonina 

 (that is, stone house), of which, however, I have only drawn the upper 

 part (tig. 8a). The mass of the ruins lies upon a narrow ridge of hills, 

 which in the direction of Tonina Creek, terminates the principal build- 

 ings (shown in fig. 8a) at the eastern end of the same. Already, 

 below in the plain, considerable artificial hills are found. Then we 

 ascend four distinct terraces, also quite high and artificially produced, 

 the second of which is tolerably wide and bears some cross tumuli; and 

 thus we reach at last the fifth, with the palacio (stone house E), which 

 since Stephens's visit has evidently suffered much. Higher up still 

 stand the two great pyramids. All the buildings are closely crowded 

 to save space and evidently mainly intended for defense. 



In Yucatan, however, where the supply of water was always a seri- 

 ous question, and where nature, moreover, had not provided such easily 

 defensive localities, the principal buildings are much more freely scat- 

 tered about, and some of them might have served for defense. But the 

 whole arrangement is such and the decoration of the outer Avails so pro- 

 fuse, that these towns must rather be looked upon as places of residence 

 for their princes and high priests than as fortified places. It is true 

 that I know only a very few such settlements in Yucatan, but if I may 

 judge from Charnay's statements and from the still unpublished plans, 

 drawings, and photographs of Mr. Tompson, in Merida, a like scattered 

 disposition seems to prevail elsewhere as well as inUxmal or Tzibinocac. 



The southernmost Maya buildings, that is to say, the town ruins in 

 Peten, like S. Clemente, and especially grandiose Ticul, show, on the 

 other hand, clearly that they were intended for fortifications. The 

 crowded position, the variety of isolated buildings, and the arrange- 

 ment of many around a court, each one of which formed a new center 

 for defense, prove this beyond all doubt. In spite of Mr. Maudslay's 

 careful researches, we have as yet no really complete account of Ticul, 

 and I was unfortunately unable to trace the ground plan of these grand 

 old town ruins, which are slumbering here in the shade of primitive 

 forests. I can only say that here may be seen a whole series of easily 

 defensible courtyards, which in part lie in the form of terraces one 

 above the other, while in the vicinity of the principal court, surrounded 

 by magnificent buildings of stone, a number of steep, defiant pyramids 

 arise, each bearing a grand stone building on the summit. 



Much simpler and less important, and on that account also much 

 more easily understood, are the ruins of S. Clemente (fig. 9), which 

 had long remained unknown, concealed as they were in the forest, 

 although they were within 200 yards of the riding path from Peten to 

 Belize. The ruins cover a somewhat long hill, over which the buildings 

 were so scattered that they formed a number of courtyards or squares, 



