270 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



special judge arrived with his interpreter, Caspar 

 Antonio, from Uxmal, when they reached the chief 

 village of Mani with the other caciques who follow- 

 ed them. The names are all given, and it is said 

 these " ivere brought to this chief village of Mani 

 from Uxmal, with the others named, and the judge 

 Felipe Manrique and Gaspar Antonio, commissioned 

 interpreter." 



Now what was Uxmal I It is clear, beyond all 

 question, that it was a place at which persons could 

 arrive, at which they could be, and from which they 

 could come. I am safe in supposing that it was not 

 a mere hacienda, for at that early period of the con- 

 quest haciendas had not begun to be estabhshed ; 

 and, besides, the title papers of Don Simon Peon 

 show^ that the first grant of it was made for the pur- 

 poses of a hacienda one hundred and forty-four or 

 one hundred and forty-five years afterward, at which 

 time the land was waste and belonged to the crown, 

 and had small settlements of Indians upon it, who 

 were publicly and notoriously worshipping the devil 

 in the ancient buildings. It was not, then, a hacien- 

 da. Was it a Spanish town ? If so, some remains 

 Vv ould have been visible at the time of the grant, 

 and the great object of driving away the Indians 

 and breaking up their idolatrous worship would al- 

 ready have been accomplished. There is no indi- 

 cation, record, or tradition that a Spanish town was 

 ever established at Uxmal ; the general belief is that 

 (here never was any ; Don Simon is sure of it, and 



