THE HOME OF A FORGOTTEN RACE 



599 



All the chambers within this second 

 story of the edifice have within the wall 

 spaces opposite the entrances various 

 niches about the height of the entrances, 

 but narrower. None, even the smaller 

 chambers, have less than two, and the 

 long, narrow middle chamber on the 

 south face has five. 



These may have been doorways, origi- 

 nally giving entrance into the primitive 

 structure, closed when the central por- 

 tion was made into a solid core ; but vari- 

 ous circumstances, among them being the 

 presence and position of the recesses in 

 the walls of the end chamber, cause me 

 to throw aside this hypothesis. To me 

 they have all the appearances of having 

 been true niches. 



the records of this ancient people 

 were destroyed by the spaniards 



They give, in the mind of the student 

 of these old structures, the appearance 

 of having been repositories. Perhaps 

 within these niches were stored the rolls 

 of parchment, the folded books on deer- 

 skin and agave paper, the plans and rec- 

 ords, and all the written lore of this city 

 of the Maya wise men, the "Itzaes." 



Who knows but their contents formed 

 part of that funereal pyre of ancient 

 Maya literature made by the zealot, 

 Bishop de Landa, on the Mani common. 



De Landa, seeing on these old rolls of 

 deerskin and volumes of maguey paper 

 signs that he could not read and symbols 

 that he could not understand, concluded 

 that they were cabalistic signs of a dia- 

 bolical nature, and caused them, together 

 with many other objects of inestimable 

 value to science, to be destroyed by fire 

 on the public square in the Pueblo de 

 Mani. 



At that time the old chroniclers tell us 

 there were destroyed 5,000 idols of dis- 

 tinct forms and sizes, 13 altar stones, 22 

 stones, carved and of small sizes ; 27 

 rolls of ancient hieroglyphics on deer- 

 skin, 197 vases of all sizes and patterns, 

 and many other unrecorded objects. 



An ancient Spanish chronicler states 

 naively that the natives who witnessed 

 the destruction by fire were much af- 

 flicted and made a great outcry of woe. 



Is it to be wondered that they made a 



great outcry of woe? They saw not only 

 the sacred things calcining in the fervent 

 heat, but also the written lore, accumu- 

 lated knowledge of their race, going up 

 in smoke and red cinders. Naturally the 

 thinking ones among them "made great 

 outcry." 



Around the corners and on the un- 

 broken portions of the smooth, hard fin- 

 ish in the recesses are traces of broad 

 red, blue, and green bands forming the 

 paneled outlines for the detail figures 

 within. On the ceiling in places are still 

 the fragmentary outlines of houses, trees, 

 city walls, and nondescript animals. 



On the inner walls of the eastern end 

 chamber can be clearly seen the impress 

 of the "red hand," another of the un- 

 solved problems. 



The third upper story is small and pre- 

 sents the idea of incompleteness, although 

 its state of ruin prevents the last word 

 being said until excavation and investi- 

 gation have taken place under some com- 

 petent person. 



The last and least important of the 

 seven structures yet standing is the so- 

 called "House of the Dark Writings." 

 The structure is a huge one-story edifice. 

 Large forest trees grow over its flat roof, 

 and were it not for its vertical wall faces 

 of well-carved stone one could easily be- 

 lieve that he was treading the primeval 

 forest floor. 



The name, Akab tzib, House of the 

 Dark Writing, was given to it by the na- 

 tives because in the gloom of an inner 

 chamber can be seen a lintel of stone, 

 covered with glyphs and having on its 

 under surface a seated figure in the act, 

 apparently, of offering up some kind of 

 burnt sacrifice. 



This ends the list of the still existing 

 structures ; but the wonders to be seen 

 prostrate and those hidden have not yet 

 been mentioned. 



We have not mentioned the sepulchers 

 of the high priests, 90 feet beneath the 

 crown of the pyramid, 50 feet in the 

 solid rock; the rock carvings; jaguars 

 carved on the ledge surface ; the great 

 natural well from whence this ancient 

 city received its water supply ; the caves, 

 with their prehistoric defenses, stalac- 

 tites, grottoes, and pools of clear, cool 



