Vestiges of the Mayas
Vestiges of the MayasVESTIGES OF THE MAYAS.RA.ANA OR DIS.ANATABIL OR ENUBELTISHEA OR HOA.DAV-KINASIN OR HURKISAN OR SANSI,VUL OR IVA,ISHTAR OR NANA,URUKH.ASSYRIA.Copyright
Vestiges of the Mayas
Augustus Le Plongeon
VESTIGES OF THE MAYAS.
Yucatan is the peninsula which divides the Gulf of Mexico
from the Caribbean Sea. It is comprised between the 17° 30´ and 21°
50´, of latitude north, and the 88° and 91° of longitude west from
the Greenwich meridian.The whole peninsula is of fossiferous limestone formation.
Elevated a few feet only above the sea, on the coasts, it gradually
raises toward the interior, to a maximum height of above 70 feet. A
bird’s-eye view, from a lofty building, impresses the beholder with
the idea that he is looking on an immense sea of verdure, having
the horizon for boundary; without a hill, not even a hillock, to
break the monotony of the landscape. Here and there clusters of
palm trees, or artificial mounds, covered with shrubs, loom above
the green dead-level as islets, over that expanse of green foliage,
affording a momentary relief to the eyes growing tired of so much
sameness.About fifty miles from the northwestern coast begins a low,
narrow range of hills, whose highest point is not much above 500
feet. It traverses the peninsula in a direction a little south from
east, commencing a few miles north from the ruined city of Uxmal,
and terminating some distance from the eastern coast, opposite to
the magnificent bay of Ascension.Lately I have noticed that some veins of red oxide of iron
exist among these hills—quarries of marble must also be found
there; since the sculptured ornaments that adorn the facade of all
the monuments at Uxmal are of that stone. To-day the inhabitants of
Yucatan are even ignorant of the existence of these minerals in
their country, and ocher to paint, and marble slabs to floor their
houses, are imported from abroad. I have also discovered veins of
good lithographic stones that could be worked at comparatively
little expense.The surface of the country is undulating; its stony waves
recall forcibly to the mind the heavy swell of mid-ocean. It seems
as if, in times long gone by, the soil was upheaved,en masse, from the bottom of the sea,
by volcanic forces. This upheaval must have taken place many
centuries ago, since isolated columns ofKatuns1m. 50c. square, erected at
least 6,000 years ago, stand yet in the same perpendicular
position, as at the time when another stone was added to those
already piled up, to indicate a lapse of twenty years in the life
of the nation.It is, indeed, a remarkable fact, that whilst the surrounding
countries—Mexico, Guatemala, Cuba and the other West India
Islands—are frequently convulsed by earthquakes, the peninsula of
Yucatan is entirely free from these awe-inspiring convulsions of
mother earth. This immunity may be attributed, in my opinion, to
the innumerable and extensive caves with which the whole country is
entirely honeycombed; and the large number of immense natural
wells, called Senotes, that are to be found everywhere. These caves
and senotes afford an outlet for the escape of the gases generated
in the superficial strata of the earth. These, finding no
resistance to their passage, follow, harmlessly, these vents
without producing on the surface any of those terrible commotions
that fill the heart of man and beast alike with fright and
dismay.Some of those caves are said to be very extensive—None,
however, has been thoroughly explored. I have visited a few,
certainly extremely beautiful, adorned as they are with brilliant
stalactites depending from their roofs, that seem as if supported
by the stalagmites that must have required ages to be formed
gradually from the floor into the massive columns, as we see them
to-day.In all the caves are to be found either inexhaustible springs
of clear, pure, cold water, or streams inhabited by shrimps and
fishes. No one can tell whence they come or where they go. All
currents of water are subterraneous. Not a river is to be found on
the surface; not even the smallest of streamlets, where the birds
of the air, or the wild beasts of the forests, can allay their
thirst during the dry season. The plants, if there are no chinks or
crevices in the stony soil through which their roots can penetrate
and seek the life-sustaining fluid below, wither and die. It is a
curious sight that presented by the roots of the trees, growing on
the precipituous brinks of thesenotes, in their search for water. They go down and down, even a
hundred feet, until they reach the liquid surface, from where they
suck up the fluid to aliment the body of the tree. They seem like
many cables and ropes stretched all round the sides of the well;
and, in fact, serves as such to some of the most daring of the
natives, to ascend or descend to enjoy a refreshing
bath.Thesesenotesare immense
circular holes, the diameter of which varies from 50 to 500 feet,
with perpendicular walls from 50 to 150 feet deep. These holes
might be supposed to have served as ducts for the subterranean
gases at the time of the upheaval of the country. Now they
generally contain water. In some, the current is easily noticeable;
many are completely dry; whilst others contain thermal mineral
water, emitting at times strong sulphurous odor and
vapor.Many strange stories are told by the aborigines concerning
the properties possessed by the water in certain senotes, and the
strange phenomena that takes place in others. In one, for example,
you are warned to approach the water walking backward, and to
breathe very softly, otherwise it becomes turbid and unfit for
drinking until it has settled and become clear again. In another
you are told not to speak above a whisper, for if any one raises
the voice the tranquil surface of the water immediately becomes
agitated, and soon assumes the appearance of boiling; even its
level raises. These and many other things are told in connection
with the caves and senotes; and we find them mentioned in the
writings of the chroniclers and historians from the time of the
Spanish conquest.No lakes exist on the surface, at least within the
territories occupied by the white men. Some small sheets of water,
called aguadas, may be found here and there, and are fed by the
underground current; but they are very rare. There are three or
four near the ruins of the ancient city of Mayapan: probably its
inhabitants found in them an abundant supply of water. Following
all the same direction, they are, as some suppose, no doubt with
reason, the outbreaks of a subterranean stream that comes also to
the surface in the senote ofMucuyché. A mile or so from Uxmal is another aguada; but judging from
the great number of artificial reservoirs, built on the terraces
and in the courts of all the monuments, it would seem as if the
people there depended more on the clouds for their provision of
water than on the wells and senotes. Yet I feel confident that one
of these must exist under the building known as the Governor’s
house; having discovered in its immediate vicinity the entrance—now
closed—of a cave from which a cool current of air is continually
issuing; at times with great force.I have been assured by Indians from the village of Chemax,
who pretend to know that part of the country well, that, at a
distance of about fifty miles from the city of Valladolid, the
actual largest settlement on the eastern frontier, in the
territories occupied by the Santa Cruz Indians, there exists, near
the ruins ofKaba, two
extensive sheets of water, from where, in years gone by, the
inhabitants of Valladolid procured abundant supply of excellent
fishes. These ruins of Kaba, said to be very interesting, have
never been visited by any foreigner; nor are they likely to be for
many years to come, on account of the imminent danger of falling
into the hands of those of Santa Cruz—that, since 1847, wage war to
the knife against the Yucatecans.On the coast, the sea penetrating in the lowlands have formed
sloughs and lakes, on the shores of which thickets of mangroves
grow, with tropical luxuriancy. Intermingling their crooked roots,
they form such a barrier as to make landing well nigh impossible.
These small lakes, subject to the ebb and flow of the tides, are
the resort of innumerable sea birds and water fowls of all sizes
and descriptions; from the snipe to the crane, and brightly colored
flamingos, from the screeching sea gulls to the serious looking
pelican. They are attracted to these lakes by the solitude of the
forests of mangroves that afford them excellent shelter, where to
build their nests, and find protection from the storms that, at
certain season of the year, sweep with untold violence along the
coast: and because with ease they can procure an abundant supply of
food, these waters being inhabited by myriads of fishes, as they
come to bask on the surface which is seldom ruffled even when the
tempest rages outside.Notwithstanding the want of superficial water, the air is
always charged with moisture; the consequence being a most equable
temperature all the year round, and an extreme luxuriance of all
vegetation. The climate is mild and comparatively healthy for a
country situated within the tropics, and bathed by the waters of
the Mexican Gulf. This mildness and healthiness may be attributed
to the sea breezes that constantly pass over the peninsula,
carrying the malaria and noxious gases that have not been absorbed
by the forests, which cover the main portion of the land; and to
the great abundance of oxygen exuded by the plants in return. This
excessive moisture and the decomposition of dead vegetable matter
is the cause of the intermittent fevers that prevail in all parts
of the peninsula, where the yellow fever, under a mild form
generally, is also endemic. When it appears, as this year, in an
epidemic form, the natives themselves enjoy no immunity from its
ravages, and fall victims to it as well as unacclimated
foreigners.These epidemics, those of smallpox and other diseases that at
times make their appearance in Yucatan, generally present
themselves after the rainy season, particularly if the rains have
been excessive. The country being extremely flat, the drainage is
necessarily very bad: and in places like Merida, for example, where
a crowding of population exists, and the cleanliness of the streets
is utterly disregarded by the proper authorities, the decomposition
of vegetable and animal matter is very large; and the miasmas
generated, being carried with the vapors arising from the constant
evaporation of stagnant waters, are the origin of those scourges
that decimate the inhabitants. Yucatan, isolated as it is, its
small territory nearly surrounded by water, ought to be, if the
laws of health were properly enforced, one of the most healthy
countries on the earth; where, as in the Island of Cozumel, people
should only die of old age or accident. The thermometer varies but
little, averaging about 80°Far. True, it rises in the months of July and August as high as
96° in the shade, but it seldom falls below 65° in the month of
December. In the dry season, from January to June, the trees become
divested of their leaves, that fall more particularly in March and
April. Then the sun, returning from the south on its way to the
north, passes over the land and darts its scorching perpendicular
rays on it, causing every living creature to thirst for a drop of
cool water; the heat being increased by the burning of those parts
of the forests that have been cut down to prepare fields for
cultivation.In the portion of the peninsula, about one-third of it, that
still remains in possession of the white, the Santa Cruz Indians
holding, since 1847, the richest and most fertile, two-thirds, the
soil is entirely stony. The arable loam, a few inches in thickness,
is the result of the detriti of the stones, mixed with the
remainder of the decomposition of vegetable matter. In certain
districts, towards the eastern and southern parts of the State,
patches of red clay form excellent ground for the cultivation of
the sugar cane and Yuca root. From this an excellent starch is
obtained in large quantities. Withal, the soil is of astonishing
fertility, and trees, even, are met with of large size, whose roots
run on the surface of the bare stone, penetrating the chinks and
crevices only in search of moisture. Often times I have seen them
growing from the center of slabs, the seed having fallen in a hole
that happened to be bored in them. In the month of May the whole
country seems parched and dry. Not a leaf, not a bud. The branches
and boughs are naked, and covered with a thick coating of gray
dust. Nothing to intercept the sight in the thicket but the bare
trunks and branches, with the withes entwining them. With the first
days of June come the first refreshing showers. As if a magic wand
had been waved over the land, the view changes—life springs
everywhere. In the short space of a few days the forests have
resumed their holiday attire; buds appear and the leaves shoot; the
flowers bloom sending forth their fragrance, that wafted by the
breeze perfume the air far and near. The birds sing their best
songs of joy; the insects chirp their shrillest notes; butterflies
of gorgeous colors flutter in clouds in every direction in search
of the nectar contained in the cups of the newly-opened blossom,
and dispute it with the brilliant humming-birds. All creation
rejoices because a few tears of mother Nature have brought joy and
happiness to all living beings, from the smallest blade of grass to
the majestic palm; from the creeping worm to man, who proudly
titles himself the lord of creation.Yucatan has no rich metallic mines, but its wealth of
vegetable productions is immense. Large forests of mahogany, cedar,
zapotillo trees cover vast extents of land in the eastern and
southern portions of the peninsula; whilst patches of logwood and
mora, many miles in length, grow near the coast. The wood is to-day
cut down and exported by the Indians of Santa Cruz through their
agents at Belize. Coffee, vanilla, tobacco, india-rubber, rosins of
various kinds, copal in particular, all of good quality, abound in
the country, but are not cultivated on account of its unsettled
state; the Indians retaining possession of the most fertile
territories where these rich products are found.The whites have been reduced to the culture of the Hennequen
plant (agave sisalensis) in order to subsist. It is the only
article of commerce that grows well on the stony soil to which they
are now confined. The filament obtained from the plant, and the
objects manufactured from it constitute the principal article of
export; in fact the only source of wealth of the Yucatecans. As the
filament is now much in demand for the fabrication of cordage in
the United States and Europe, many of the landowners have ceased to
plant maize, although the staple article of food in all classes, to
convert their land into hennequen fields. The plant thrives well on
stony soil, requires no water and but little care. The natural
consequence of planting the whole country with hennequen has been
so great a deficiency in the maize crop, that this year not enough
was grown for the consumption, and people in the northeastern
district were beginning to suffer from the want of it, when some
merchants of Merida imported large quantities from New York. They,
of course, sold it at advanced prices, much to the detriment of the
poorer classes. Some sugar is also cultivated in the southern and
eastern districts, but not in sufficient quantities even for the
consumption; and not a little is imported from Habana.The population of the country, about 250,000 souls all told,
are mostly Indians and mixed blood. In fact, very few families can
be found of pure Caucasian race. Notwithstanding the great
admixture of different races, a careful observer can readily
distinguish yet four prominent ones, very noticeable by their
features, their stature, the conformation of their body. The
dwarfish race is certainly easily distinguishable from the
descendants of the giants that tradition says once upon a time
existed in the country, whose bones are yet found, and whose
portraits are painted on the walls of Chaacmol’s funeral chamber at
Chichen-Itza. The almond-eyed, flat-nosed Siamese race of Copan is
not to be mistaken for the long, big-nosed, flat-headed remnant of
the Nahualt from Palenque, who are said to have invaded the country
some time at the beginning of the Christian era; and whose advent
among the Mayas, whose civilization they appear to have destroyed,
has been commemorated by calling thewest, the region whence they came,
according to Landa, Cogolludo and other historians, NOHNIAL, a word
which means literallybig noses for our
daughters; whilst the coming of the bearded men
from theeast