THE HOME OF A FORGOTTEN RACE 



601 



water — these and many other things we 

 have the desire to depict and describe, 

 but time and space forbid. 



WHEN WAS THIS CITY FOUNDED? 



How old is this great city of stone- 

 built temples and myriad carvings? For 

 years we have sought among its fallen 

 columns and toppled walls for that which 

 would tell us clearly of its age. 



To a certain extent the search has not 

 been in vain. We have found a tablet 

 of stone covered with hieroglyphs, and 

 among them are signs that fix a date, an 

 epoch. Keen minds and trained are now 

 at work on the tablet, and the time may 

 not be far distant when we shall know 

 whether it be 2,000 years old or less, as 

 some students claim, or over 11,500 

 years, as claimed by Le Plongeon. 



The margin between the two "guesses" 

 is certainly wide enough. 



Meanwhile, like the Sphynx in the 

 East, the gray, old human faces carved 

 high on the massive walls gaze down un- 

 changingly, unmindful of modern man 

 and his futile guesses. 



We have perhaps more information on 

 the early history of this ancient group 

 than we have of any other center of the 

 Maya civilization. 



But as that keen scholar, the lamented 

 Dr. Thompson, was fond of impressing 

 upon his pupils, ''Gentlemen, informa- 

 tion may or may not be facts, and unless 

 it be of proven facts is not knowledge." 

 Even "information" concerning these 

 ancient builders and their buildings is 

 only too scanty, and actual proven facts 

 still more so. 



THE LEGEND OF CHICKEN ITZA 



The earliest information concerning 

 Chichen Itza is given in a curious docu- 

 ment found by Don Juan Pio Perez, a 

 Yucatan scholar and antiquarian, among 

 the dusty old records and archives in the 

 Town Hall of Mani. 



The document commences thus : "Lai 

 u tzolan katun lukci ti cab ti yotoch 

 Nonoual" — I might continue on in this 

 way for some time, but all might not un- 

 derstand the text as clearly as could be 

 wished. In fact, the fear of a sudden 

 rupture of relations between writer and 



reader induces me to forego, and in place 

 give a broad interpretation of the an- 

 cient writings in those parts where allu- 

 sion is made to Chichen Itza. 



Translated, the document commences 

 thus, the brackets being my interpola- 

 tions : 



"This is the series of epochs that 

 elapsed from the time of their departure 

 from the house of Nonoual in the land 

 of Tulapan. 



"Then took place the discovery of 

 Bacalar. Sixty years they ruled in Baca- 

 lar, when they came here. 



"During these years of their govern- 

 ment of this province of Bacalar oc- 

 curred the discovery of Chichen Itza. 

 120 years they ruled in Chichen Itza. 

 when they left it and went to Champu- 

 tun, where the Itzaes, holy men, had 

 houses. 



"260 years reigned the Itzaes in Cham- 

 putun, when they abandoned it and re- 

 turned in search of their homes. 



"For several epochs they lived in the 

 woods and the caves, under the unin- 

 habited hills. 



"After forty years they returned to 

 their homes (Chichen Itza) once more, 

 and Champutun knew them no more. 



"Two hundred years they reigned in 

 Uxmal, Chichen Itza, Mayapan. The 

 governor of Chichen Itza (Chac xib 

 chac) was deposed because he mur- 

 mured disrespectfully against Tunac-eel, 

 the governor of Mayapan. Ninety years 

 had elapsed, but the tenth of the 8th 

 Ahau was the year in which he was over- 

 thrown." 



The unknown native writer keeps on ; 

 but I will stop, as he mentions Chichen 

 Itza no more. 



Neither the name nor the history of its 

 writer is known ; but from the perfect 

 command of both the native vernacular 

 and the Spanish letters it would seem to 

 have been the work of an educated na- 

 tive and written within a few decades 

 after the conquest. This would not be 

 strange, for many bright young natives, 

 sons of the nobles and of the reigning 

 families, were taken by the church or by 

 high lay officials and educated in Spanish 

 learning. 



Thus Caspar Antonio Xiu, the lineal 



