I. 
 
 VIEWS 
 
 ANCIENT MONVMENTS 
 
 CENTRAL AMERICA 
 
 CHIAPAS 
 
 YVCATAN 
 
 F.CATHERWOOD.ARCH 
 
 \ 
 
 ■lil.lSTlHIJ liV F, r.\TI[i;i!\V(l()l). '.), AUGYI.l. I'l.Ai'K 1 I IXI li IN , I i V k 
 
TO 
 
 JOHN L. STEPHENS, ESQ. 
 
 THESE VIEWS 
 
 ANCIENT MONUMENTS IN CENTRAL AMERICA, 
 
 CHIAPAS, AND YUCATAN, 
 
 AKE INSCRIBED BY 
 
 HIS VERY SINCERE ERIENI), 
 
 FREDERICK CATHERWOOD. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 FhE monuments represented in this Volnme seem, from their novelty and peculiar character, to demand some 
 preliminary explanations of the cii'cumstances under which they are found to exist, and the historic interest that attaches 
 to them, as the most important aids we possess, for the investigation of that great unsettled problem — the origin of the 
 inhabitants of the American continent, and the sources from whence their early civilisation was derived. No questions, 
 merely antiquarian, have given rise to more earnest discussions than those involved in this subject; and, until of late 
 years, the hardihood of the disputants has been in proportion to the scantiness of the evidence that had survived the 
 ravages of conquest, and the iconoclastic bigotry of the earlier Christian missionaries. It is only within the present 
 century that the attention of European scholars has been drawn to the fact, that a new and unexceptionable class of 
 testimony, bearing directly on the Anti-Columbian History of the American continent, was within their reach; that there 
 yet mouldered within the Forests of Yucatan and Guatemala, architectural and sculptural remains of vast size and myste- 
 rious purpose, still displaying (though yielding to a daily process of disintegration and decay) a high deo-ree of constructive 
 skill, and attesting, in their ornaments and proportions, to the prevalence of an indigenous and well established system 
 of design, varying from any known models In the old world. The truth of this statement, though at first received 
 with incredulity, has been satisfactorily established by later researches ; and I may appeal to the followino- Drawino-s 
 for its confirmation. They illustrate some of the more striking objects which engaged my notice as an Artist, during two 
 expeditions, undertaken expressly with a view of expl oring the ruined sites of Central America, and preserving some 
 memorials of their present state. The first of these was devoted chiefly to the countries known under the above general 
 title, including the States of Honduras, Guatemala, Chiapas, &c. The ruins at Copan and Palenque were visited durin<r 
 this journey, which occupied part of the years 1839 and 1840. A brief sojourn in Yucatan having shown the richness 
 of the antiquarian harvest that there awaits the gleaner, a second journey, for its more thorough examination, was deter- 
 mined on, in the year 1841 : in its progress most of the Drawings in the present Volume were made. The narrative 
 of these expeditions will be found in the well-known works of Mr. J. L. Stephetis, " Incidents of Travel in Central 
 America, Chiapas, and Yucatan," 4 vols. 8vo., New York and London ; to them, and to the lately published " History of 
 the Conquest of Mexico," by Mr. Prescott, I must refer the reader desirous of further knowledge. In the one, he will 
 meet with all the information that personal observation, directed by enterprise and enthusiasm, can supply ; and in the other, 
 all the light that a most extended range of research through the whole body of existing documentary evidence, can throw 
 
 on the obscurity that shrouds the history of the unrecorded races — beyond the page of written annals whose very 
 
 existence we should be Ignorant of, but for the contemplation of their colossal works, still before our eyes. 
 
 The term Central America is usually appHed to the countries extending from the Republic of New Granada, on the 
 south-west, to the boundaries of the great Mexican Confederation, on the north-east, from 8" to 18" of north latitude 
 They form the central portion of the long isthmus which unites North and South America, and divides the Atlantic 
 Ocean from the Pacific, and are known as the States of Guatemala, St. Salvador, Honduras, Nicarao'ua, and Costa Rica. 
 The peninsula of Yucatan, though pohtlcally distinct, is geographically connected with this region, and projects from 
 its northern extremity into the Gulf of Mexico. 
 
The .mturul charueteristics of this district are as varied as its civil divisions. It may. however, be briefly described 
 as an elevated table-land, broken at intervals by a central range of mountains, rising in some places to the height of six 
 or seven thousand feet (which, by some geographers, is considered as the link connecting the chains of the Andes 
 
 and the Rocky Mountains of the northern and southern continents), and which separates the waters that flow on 
 either side to the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It is traversed in every direction by lateral ranges of hills, forming 
 intermediate valleys, that extend to the coasts. The level of the country dechnes rapidly towards the sea-shores ; they 
 are generally low and swampy, and are intersected by lagoons. They teem with the rankest abundance of tropical 
 vegetation, giving riwe to fevers that jirove fatally destructive to European constitutions. In many parts of Central 
 America few settlements have been made by the Spanish conquerors, and large sections of it are still unvisited by 
 strangers, and in jiossessiun of the indejiendent Indian tribes. 
 
 The district allowed by the Spanish crown to the English, for the purposes of logwood cutting, occupies a portion 
 of the sea-coast on the Bay of Honduras. From the unexplored and impracticable nature of the surrounding country, 
 its boundaries have never been well defined; only a limited communication, liable to frequent interruptions, subsists 
 between it and the adjoining Republics. The peninsula of Yucatan may be regarded as a continuation of the high- 
 land of Guatemala ; it contains two regions, differing from each other in physical character. The southern part, as 
 far as it has been visited by travellers and settlers of European origin, is found to contain vast tracts of alluvial soil, 
 inundated during many months of the year by the swelling of its rivers in the rainy season, and rich in all the articles 
 of tropical produce. Here grow the bnmense forests of logwood and mahogany, from whence is drawn the chief supply 
 of those articles for European consumption. Much of this district is apparently still unappropriated, or in the hands 
 of the native Indians. A line drawn parallel to and between the I9th and 20th degrees of nortli latitude will describe 
 the line of demarcation between tliis region and the northern half of the peninsula, where an entirely different conformation 
 prevails. It has some remarkable physical features, and being the principal seat of the ancient remains delineated in 
 this volume, has received more investigation than any of the neighbouring countries. The division to the north of the 
 above-mentioned line is composed of one mass of limestone, intermi.'fed with silicious matter; its surface is slightly 
 undulating, and, in a few places, rising into hills, which pierce through the stratum of vegetable mould that usually 
 covers it. In the whole of this country there is neither river, rivulet, or spring. 
 
 Though the rains are very abundant in the rainy season, the soil absorbs the whole quantity which falls, and 
 prevents the waters from uniting and forming water-courses or springs. In the depressions some water is collected in 
 temporary ponds, they however are soon dried up. The remains of cisterns and reservoirs, intended to remedy this 
 want, are among the most remarkable works that we find of the ancient inhabitants ; fi:om the decay of population they 
 have mostly been neglected or abandoned, and the country would become unfit for the residence of man or beast, if it 
 were not for the existence of an extraordinary species of natural wells, occurring as caverns in the limestone rock, and 
 forming a succession of passages and chambers of very great depth, at the bottom of which are usually found sources of 
 clear and pure water from ten to twenty feet deep. They are descended by rude ladders, and the whole supply of 
 water has to be brought up by human labour from these subterranean recesses. One of the most singular that we met 
 with, at Bolonchen, is drawn in Plate XX., which will give a better idea of these remarkable places than any description 
 can do. The " Senotes," as they are called, are large natural cavities in the rock, open to the sky, and water is found in 
 them, at a depth of from twenty to one hundred feet from the level of the surrounding ground. The depth of the 
 water is supposed to be very great. The limestone rocks supply excellent building materials, that have been equally 
 made use of by the ancient and modern inhabitants. The Spanish towns are well and substantially built. The churches 
 and monasteries everywhere display a solidity of structure, that bears witness to the enduring character of the religion 
 and ecclesiastical pohty imposed on the country by its conquerors. Owing to the secluded position of Yucatan, and its 
 distance from the highways of commerce, the prevalent state of society has still much of primitive simplicity, and the 
 two races inhabiting it are less distinct from one another in their social relations, than in the other countries once subject 
 to Spain. The population of the towns is chiefly of Spanish extraction. The country is parcelled out in the possession 
 of the great landholders, who spend the larger part of the year in the cities, occasionally visiting then- country-houses, 
 or Haciendas, which stand each in the centre of the surrounding domain, governed by a Major-domo, and encircled by 
 the huts of the farm servants and then- families. The mass of the rural population consists of a nation of aborigines 
 
3 
 
 called in tlieii- own language Mayas, the undoubted descendants of the people who inhabited the country at tlie time of 
 its discovery by Europeans. They retain few traces of the warlike tribes, who for twenty-five years withstood the attacks 
 of the chivalry of Spain, and more than once drove the invaders from their shores. Three centuries of mild and unoppressive 
 servitude has reduced them to the condition of agricultural labourers, mostly attached to the great estates by a species of 
 feudal tenure, derived from the peculiar circumstances of the land. Where the natural wells above described are wanting, 
 the large proprietors have constructed, at a great expense, on their estates, tanks and reservoirs to supjily the deficiency of 
 water, to obtain the use of which the Mayas are obliged to come under obligations of service to the owners. The Mayas 
 have many points of personal resemblance with the North American Indians; they still retain their language, — its structure 
 has been investigated and explained by Spanish writers. Unfortunately for the antiquarian they are totally without 
 historic traditions, nor is their curiosity excited by the presence of the monuments amongst which they live, to more than 
 an indistinct feeling of religious romance and superstitious dread. The political history of Yucatan is told in a few words. 
 From the time of the conquest it existed as a distinct captain-gene ralcy under the Spanish rule, and in such a state ol 
 isolation, that there is no record of its having been visited by any European traveller, from the time of the conquest until 
 the present century. It so remained up to the era when the Mexican states acquired their independence, generally 
 adhering to the government established in Mexico, and forming one of the States of the Mexican confederation. The Federal 
 system of Mexico being superseded in 1835 by a Central government, the change excited discontent in Yucatan, and led 
 to a succession of conflicts, which ended in the expulsion of the Mexicans in 1840. More lately the energies of Santa Anna 
 have been employed in re-asserting the supremacy of Mexico, and from the latest accounts it appears that he has succeeded 
 by negotiation in once more uniting Yucatan to that country. 
 
 The Ancient Monuments of Yucatan and Central America now claim our attention. In addition to the descriptions 
 to each plate, I offer here a few general remarks, followed by a brief account of the principal places visited by Mr. Stephens 
 and myself, and a sketch of the probable opinions as to their builders. The prevailing type of architecture which we 
 are struck with throughout these regions, is the construction of immense artificial pyramidal mounds, or terraces, of greater 
 or less height, not terminating in a point, like the Egyptian examples, but having, on their summits, platforms that support 
 ponderous structures of hewn stone, unquestionably, in most instances, erected for purposes of a sacred character. "Whether 
 these mounds or pyramids are in general solid, or contain, in all eases, passages and apartments, is not ascertained. In the 
 few that have been opened, by accident or design, small arched rooms have been found. The superincumbent buildings 
 are generally long, low, arched, and of a single story in height — a style of building frequently adopted by the Spaniards, 
 on account of the shocks of earthquakes to which many parts of the country are exposed. In a few instances, buildings 
 of two or three stories have been met with. These " Teocalh," or " Houses of God" (as they are still called by the 
 Indians), abound in every part of Yucatan. In front of the temples the statues of their deities were formerly seen 
 conspicuous; and the sacrificial stone, convex on its upper surface, so as to raise the chest of the human victim, has not 
 in all cases disappeared. 
 
 The following account of the Mexican temples and religious sacrifices, from Prescott's " History of the Conquest 
 of Mexico," possesses great interest, as shewing the identity of the religious usages of the ancient inhabitants of the two 
 neighbouring states; and derives confirmation from a comparison with the remains in Yucatan, scarcely any vestiges of 
 such buildings now existing in Mexico Proper, owing, no doubt, to its being more directly the seat of the Spanish sway. 
 
 " The Mexican temples were called " Teocalli," or " Houses of God," and were very numerous. There were several 
 hundreds in each of the principal cities, many of them, doubtless, very humble edifices. They were solid masses of earth, 
 brick, or stone, and in their form somewhat resembled the pyramidal structures of Ancient Egypt, The bases of many 
 of them were several hundi-ed feet square, and they towered to a height of more than a hundred feet. Tliey had staircases 
 leading from the base to the summit, on which stood the temple with altars, on which fires were kept, as inextinguishable 
 as those in the Temple of Vesta. There were said to be six hundred of these altars, on smaller buildings, within the 
 enclosure of the great Temple of Mexico, which, with those on the sacred edifices in other parts of the city, shed a 
 brilliant illumination over its streets through the darkest night. From the construction of then- temples, all religious services 
 were public. The long processions ascending their massive sides, as they rose higher and higher towards the summit, and 
 the dismal rites of the sacrifice performed there, were all visible fi:om the remotest corners of the capital, impressing on 
 
4 
 
 the spectator's mind a superstitious veneration for the mysteries of his religion, and for the dread ministers by whom they 
 were interpreted. Human sacrifices were adopted by the Aztecs, or Mexicans, early in the 14th century, about two 
 hundred years before the conquest of Mexico. Rare at first, they became more frequent with the wider extent of their 
 empire, till at length almost every festival was closed with this cruel abomination. One of their most important festivals 
 was that in honour of the god Tezcatlipoca, whose rank was inferior only to that of the Supreme Being. He was called 
 ' the soul of the world,' and supposed to have been its creator. He was depicted as a handsome man, endowed with 
 perpetual youth. A year before the intended sacrifice, a captive, distinguished for his personal beauty, and without a 
 blemish on his body, was selected to represent this deity. Certain tutors took charge of him, and instructed him how 
 to perform his new part with becoming grace and dignity. He was arrayed in a splendid dress, regaled with incense, 
 and with a profusion of sweet-scented flowers. When he went abroad he was attended by a train of the royal pages, 
 and as he halted in the streets to play some favourite melody, the crowd prostrated themselves before him, and did him 
 homage, as the representative of their good deity. In this way he lived an easy, luxurious life, feasted at the banquets of 
 the principal nobles, who paid him all the honours of a divinity. 
 
 " At length the fatal day of sacrifice arrived. The term of his short-lived glories was at an end. He was 
 strijjpcd of his gaudy apparel, and conducted in one of the royal barges across the lake, which surrounded the capital, 
 to a temple wliich rose on its margin, about a league distant. Hither the inhabitants of the capital flocked to witness 
 the consummation of the ceremony. As the procession ascended the sides of the pyramid, the unhappy victim threw 
 away his gay chaplet of flowers, and broke in pieces the musical instruments with which he had solaced the hours 
 of captivity. On the summit he was received by six priests, whose long and matted locks flowed disorderly over their 
 sable robes, covered with hieroglyphical scrolls of mystic import. They led him to the sacrificial stone, a huge block 
 of jasper, with its upper surface somewhat convex. On this the prisoner was stretched. Five priests secured his head 
 and his limbs, while the sixth, clad in a scarlet mantle, emblematic of his bloody office, dexterously opened the breast 
 of the wretched victim with a sharp razor of zfc/i, — a volcanic substance, hard as flint, — and inserting his hand in the 
 wound, tore out the palpitating heart. The minister of death, first holding this up towards the sun, an object of worship 
 to the Mexicans, cast it at the feet of the deity to whom the temple was devoted, while the multitudes below prostrated 
 themselves in humble adoration. The tragic story of this prisoner was expounded by the priests as the type of 
 human destiny, which, brilliant in its commencement, too often closes in sorrow and disaster. The most loathsome 
 part of the story— the manner in which the body of tlie sacrificed victim was disposed of— remains yet to be told. It 
 was delivered to the warrior who had taken him in battle, and by him, after being dressed, was served up in an 
 entertainment to his friends. This was not the coarse repast of famished cannibals, but a banquet, teeming with 
 delicious beverages and defieate viands, prepared with art, and attended by both sexes, who conducted themselves with 
 all the decorum of civilised life. It is stated that, in some years, twenty thousand captives were offered in sacrifice 
 to their deities." 
 
 We thus see the dreadful purposes to which these edifices were applied, and I think there can be but one 
 opinion as to the altars, idols, and sacrificial stones at Quirigua and Copan having been constructed and used for these 
 dismal rites. Indeed, the channels cut on the upper surfaces of the sacrificial stones is quite conclusive on my mind 
 
 as to this fact. 
 
 Another, and not less distinguishing, feature than their mounds or pyramids, are the arched rooms found in almost 
 all the ancient buildings. I call it an arch, because it has all the appearance of one, and answers most of its purposes, 
 and the inventors were on the very threshold of discovering the true principles of the arch. It invariably consists of stones 
 overlaying each other from opposite walls, until the last meet over the centre of the room; or, what is still more 
 commonly the case, when the last stones approach within about twelve inches of each other, a flat stone is laid on 
 the top. covered either with sohd masonry or concrete. The joints of the stones are all horizontal. The roofs have 
 a slight indlnation, to throw ofl- the rain, and are cemented. This form of arch appears at first sight original, and 
 IS so, masmuch as regards the Indians; but the same principle was used in the earliest times by the Egyptians the 
 Greeks, and the Etrurians, and would, in all probability, suggest Itself to any people who had to construct a stone 
 roof over a space too wide for them to cover with flat stones. 
 
5 
 
 We are not enabled to discriminate with any degree of certainty the original purpose of the remaining classes of 
 ancient buildings. It is impossible to doubt, however, that some of these — as, for example, the Palace at Palenque 
 (Plate VI.)— were intended for the chosen seats of the political and hierarchal authorities. They still (amidst ruin and 
 neglect) show their adaptation for those great exhibitions of barbaric pomp and splendour, the occurrence of which is 
 noticed in all the relations of the Spanish discoverers. Others, as Las Monjas, and the Casa del Gobernador, at Uxmal 
 (Plates VIII. and X.), seem constructed for the residence of ecclesiastical communities not unlike the monastic societies 
 of the Old World), to whom was delegated the performance of the ritual worship of the gods, and whose influence 
 extended through the entire framework of social life. The monohtluc idols at Copan may, with much probability, be 
 referred to a period anterior to that of the Aztec domination, and have some characteristics that appear to connect them 
 with a prior race, either the mysterious Toltecs, wliose disappearance from Mexico took place within the range of historic 
 record, and who spread themselves over the regions of Central America, or the still earlier people whose country they 
 occupied in their migrations. One of the most singular facts attending the consideration of the arts of the people by 
 whom these buildings were erected, is the certainty that they were unacquainted with the use of iron; this is expressly 
 asserted by the Spaniards, and we find no reason to doubt its truth. Masses of meteoric iron, indeed, are met with in 
 all parts of the American continent ; but the natives were ignorant of the process of working this metal, and, in lieu 
 of it, used copper instruments, hardened by the admixture of tin, or some other alloy. Their buildings of stone, and 
 sculptures in granite, were worked with copper tools ; and besides having a perfect knowledge of the processes of stone- 
 cutting and laying, they were well acquainted with various kinds of mortars, stuccoes, and cements, and large masses 
 of excellent " concrete," as it is technically termed, are found in many of their buildings ; they were, in fact, so far as 
 regards the mechanical part, accomplished masons. In another department of the arts, indicating a higher degree of 
 civilisation than that exhibited in the erection of pyramids and temples, they had made a remarkable advance. I allude 
 to the art of painting, and the preparation, mixing, and use of pigments. Their painting is, indeed, superior to their 
 architecture and sculpture: hke the same ai-t amongst the ancient Egyptians, it was applied for purposes of architectural 
 decoration. In the blending of various colours, they hatl attained a step beyond the practice of that nation, approacli- 
 ing more nearly to the less severe style of art found in the frescoes of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Such an assertion may 
 seem to need some corroborative proof: I regret that it is not at present in my power to offer any. These remains, 
 from the very fragility of their nature, have, in too many cases, ixtterly perished. In one place only, at Chiclien Itza, 
 were we gratified with the discovery of large specimens of them, though it is probable that they formed part of the 
 ornaments of every building of consequence when in a perfect state. At this spot, where of all others I desired the 
 full possession of health and strength, I was incapacitated by severe illness and fever from delineating them, and was 
 obliged to leave these most interesting objects to the mercy of accident and wanton outrage, to which they may before 
 this time have fallen victims. 
 
 I should mention, however, that in one of the rooms of a large building at Chichen Itza, are paintings covering the 
 entire walls, from the floor to the ceiling. The apartment (I speak from recollection) may be twenty-five feet long, 
 ten feet wide, and fifteen feet high. The figures are not more than six to eight inches in height ; but most interesting 
 subjects are represented, abounding with life, animation, and nature. In one place are seen warriors preparing for 
 battle ; in another the fight is at its height : castles are attacked, defended, and taken, and various military punishments 
 follow. This forms one section of the wall. In another are labours of husbandry — planting, sowing, and reaping; and 
 the cultivation of fruits and flowers. Then follow domestic scenes, and others apparently of a mythological nature ; 
 indeed, almost everything requisite to give us an intimate acquaintance with Indian life is depicted. The subjects are 
 too numerous to mention, and such was the multitude of figures and objects, that a month would not have sufficed for 
 copying them, and they gave me a much higher opinion of the state of civilisation among the Indians than I had 
 previously entertained. Unfortunately, these beautiful specimens of art are fast hastening to decay, and every day 
 adds to their approaching obliteration. 
 
 I will now give a brief outline of the chief points of interest visited by Mr. Stephens and myself 
 
 The first place we attempted to reach was Copan, in the state of Honduras, to which our attention had been 
 drawn by the account of the late Colonel Galindo, a Spanish officer, in the service of the Republic of Central America. 
 
 c 
 
We sought in vain for information until we arrived at Gualan, within fifty miles of it. The Padre, or Catholic priest, had 
 been there many yeai-s before, but his accounts were so improbable, and evidently drawn so much from a lively imagmation, 
 that we much doubted whether it were worth while to go there at all. By a singular perversion of this gentleman's mind, 
 or by a sad defect in his memory, he minutely described things which could not exist, and never mentioned a single one 
 of the many em-ious objects that meet the travellers gaze on wandering over the ruins of this city. When arrived almost 
 within sight of them, we had unforeseen difficulties to encounter; for some time no guide could be fou]id, and at the 
 only house where we could be lodged (there being no inns in the country), we were inhospitably received. To the 
 praise of the Spaniards, be it said, it was the only instance of the kind we met with in our long journey. Mr. Stephens 
 very truly remarks, " Don Gregorio's house had two sides to it, an inside and an out," to which latter he graciously gave 
 us free access, by securely bolting his door, on retiring to rest, and then wishing us good night. I mention this circumstance 
 to show the difficulties travellers may meet with in visiting these countries, and the perseverance necessary to overcome them. 
 
 Cop,VN may be called the City of Idols, as it abounds with monolithic statues of Indian deities. It stands on the 
 bank of a river, .and was surrounded by walls; that on the river-side is still, in places, from sixty to ninety feet in height. 
 The remains of a vast temple, or collection of sacred edifices, lie scattered about, together with innumerable fragments 
 of mutilated ornaments and statues. The most remarkable of the idols are delineated in Plates I., III., IV., and V. 
 They are about twelve feet in height and four feet square ; the front and back being, in general, representations 
 of human figures, habited in a most singular manner, with towering head-dresses of feathers and skins of animals, the 
 necks adorned with necklaces, the ears with ear-rings, and the feet with sandals, like those of the ancient Romans. 
 The sides are carved with hieroglyphics, which no one has yet been able to decipher. They were all painted. There 
 are no remains of arched buildings here, though no doubt such formerly existed; but immense pyramidal mounds and 
 terraced walls are met with to a great distance in the surrounding forests. If the intelligent Padre of Gualan dealt in 
 the marvellous, it is not surprising that the ignorant Indians went far beyond Inm; I heard wonderful accounts of the Cave 
 of Tibuleo, hut all my efforts to reach this abode of the genii were unavailing. 
 
 QuiRiGuA is the next place of interest in this part of the country; but we did not hear of it for some weeks 
 after our arrival. It is within six miles of the high road we had passed in going to Gualan, and yet, with all our 
 inquiries for ruined cities, no one seemed to be acquainted with it. It is in many respects similar to Copan, but probably 
 more ancient. It consists of ruined mounds and terraces, with many colossal statues, deeply buried in the entanglement 
 of a tropical forest. Some of the statues are twenty-six feet in height, of a single stone ; the sculpture is in lower 
 relief than at Copan; and, as usual, there arc numerous hieroglyphics. I regretted exceedingly not being able to 
 make other than slight sketches of these remarkable monuments; but I was alone, and the difflculties were too great 
 to be overcome single-handed. In order to reach the ruins, I had to descend a rapid and dangerous river in a small 
 rlcketty canoe, and then cut a path, for a mile, ttaough a forest, such as none can fully understand who have not 
 been in a tropical country. The distance which, in descending the river, was performed in an hour, required four in 
 ascending; so that the greater part of the day was taken up in going and returning. 
 
 At Sasia Ceuz del Qoicue, are ruins of vast extent, but so dilapidated, that little remains for the draughtsman. 
 It was here that we first heard of the mysterious Indian city, still existing in all its Pagan splendour, in the midst 
 of a country not yet visited by white man. We were strongly tempted to try the adventure, but prudential motives, 
 and the advanced state of the season, prevented us. From subsequent inquiries, in distant parts of the country, 
 t have little doubt but that such a city exists, but the danger of reaching it would be great. 
 
 At Ocos,..oo, we met with the arch before alluded to, with the usual accompaniments of mounds and terraces, 
 and an ornament over one of the doorways, not unlike the winged globe of Egypt. 
 
 Palehoue, in Chiapas, the most southern province of Mexico, is better known than any other of the ruined 
 American cities: my notice of it will therefore be short. It w.as probably abandoned, and in ruins, when Cortes pa.ssed 
 near ,t, m his celebrated march from Mexico to Honduras, as no mention is made of it in his despatches The 
 principal building is (with reason, I think) called the Palace. It stands on an artifleial mound, whose base is three 
 
7 
 
 hundred and ten feet by two hundred and sixty feet, and forty feet high, with staircases on the four sides. The building 
 itself measures two hundred and twenty-eight feet by one hundred and eighty feet, twenty-five feet high, and is of one 
 story. The front and rear have each fourteen doorways, and eleven on each end. The piers dividing the doorways still 
 present traces of admirable stuccoes, which were painted. The interior is divided into tln-ee court-yards, with a tower 
 in one of thera. Every part appears to have been elaborately decorated with sculpture in stone, stuccoes, and paintings. 
 In several of the apartments, which have the usual triangular arch, I noticed that the walls had been painted several 
 times, as traces of earHer subjects were discernible where the outer coat of paint had been destroyed. The paintings were 
 of the same nature as the frescoes of Italy, — water-colours applied to cement. The other buildings are inferior in size to the 
 Palace, but all on high mounds, richly decorated with numerous stone tablets of hieroglyphics, and sculptures of figures 
 well executed, which have awakened a lively Interest in the antiquarian world. The whole is shrouded in the depths of 
 a tropical forest, which has to be cleared away at every fresh visit of the traveller. Casts were made of the most interesting 
 sculptures, which were subsequently seized by the agents of the Mexican government, and are doubtless ere this destroyed. 
 Plates VI. and VII. will assist the reader in obtaining an idea of this remarkable place. 
 
 We now come to the ruins of Uxmal, in Yucatan, which, for their vast extent, their variety, and being for the most 
 part in good preservation, may claim precedence in this Province of any other remains of antiquity. They impressed my 
 mind at the first glance with the same feehngs of wonder and admiration, with which I first caught sight of the ruins of 
 Thebes. I will not institute a comparison between Uxmal and the " World's great Empress on the Egyptian Plain," 
 but still the several Teocahi, rising higher than any buildings at Thebes- — ^the gigantic terraces supporting immense and solid 
 structures of stone — the vast amount of sculptured decorations, and the novelty and intricacy of the designs — all tend to 
 impress the beholder with sentiments of awe and admiration. 
 
 The " Casa de las Monjas," or House of the Nuns, is a building forming four sides of a square, and inclosing a court- 
 yard, about three hundred feet each way. Each of the four buildings shows a different design, so also do the rear fronts 
 and the ends, presenting no less than sixteen different fafades. All were richly decorated and painted; their present 
 appearance is represented in the Plates XIV. and XV. From these a judgment may be formed of the entire building 
 when in a perfect state, each ornament and moulding reheved by rich and vivid colours, and portions probably gilt. The 
 effect must have been gorgeous in the extreme. 
 
 The grand Teocallis, called by the Indians the " House of the Diviner," stood to the eastward of the last-raentioned 
 building, and within a hundred yards of it. The pyramidal part rose to the height of a hundi-ed feet above the plain, 
 with two noble flights of stairs leading to the platform on the top. Here stood the building represented in the Plates 
 XI. and XII., and I will not attempt to explain by words what is better understood from inspecting the design: viewed 
 from all parts, this edifice was singularly beautiful and graceful. 
 
 The " Casa del Gobernador," or House of the Governor, is next in importance. This immense building is constructed 
 entirely of hewn stone, and measures three hundred and twenty feet in front, by forty feet in depth ; the height is about 
 twenty-six feet. It has eleven doorways in front, and one at each end. The apartments are narrow, seldom exceeding 
 twelve feet, just large enough to swing a hammock, which was, and still is, the substitute for beds tliroughout the country. 
 Some of the rooms are long, measuring sixty feet, and twenty-three feet high. There does not appear to have been any 
 interna! decoration, nor are there any windows. The lower part of the edifice is of plain wrought stone, but the upper 
 part is singularly rich in ornament, as dehneated in Plates IX. and X. Taking the front, the ends, and the rear of the 
 building, we have a length of seven hundred and fifty-two feet of elaborate carving, on which traces of painting are still 
 visible. The peeuhar arch of the country has been employed in every room. The lintels of the doorways were of wood, 
 a more costly but less durable material than stone, and from its hardness more difficult to be worked. 
 
 Unfortunately they have all decayed, and the masom-y they supported has fallen down, and much of the beauty 
 of the building is thus destroyed. The Casa del Gobernador stands on three terraces ; the lowest is three feet high, 
 fifteen feet wide, and five hundred and seventy-five feet long; the second is twenty feet high, two hundred and fifty feet 
 wide, and five hundred and forty-five feet long ; and the third is nineteen feet high, thirty feet broad, and three hundred 
 
and sixty feet long. They are all of stone, and in a tolerable state of preservation. These are the principal buildings 
 at Uxmal, and the others are much inferior in size and condition. 
 
 We found at Kabah, in addition to richly-decorated fafades, some very curious specimens of internal decoration 
 (see Plate XVII.); at Zayi, an immense edifice, of three stories in height; at Labnah, a handsome gateway, of which a 
 drawing will be fomid at Plate XIX. ; at Bolonchen, a natural curiosity in a deep subterranean well, the descent to which 
 is by long ranges of ladders, of dangerous construction (see Plate XX.) ; at CiiicnEN Itza, ruins little inferior in extent 
 or interest to those of Uxmal (a drawing of a facade of one of the buildings is given in Plate XXI.) ; at Tuloom, a 
 walled city, of which there are two drawings (Plates XXIII. and XXIV.) ; at Izasial, some large mounds and a colossal 
 head (Plate XXV.); and, finally, at Ake, a collection of large stones on a high mound, not unlike a Druidical monument. 
 
 It is impossible to survey the monuments now described without feehng some curiosity respecting the people by 
 whom they were built, and the state of society which led to their erection. Nor has the question been unproductive of 
 discussion, though hitherto a desire to theorise has preceded a complete and accurate survey of the monuments themselves, 
 from whence the only safe foundations for theory can be derived. Two circumstances may be noted in all the writers 
 who have made researches on this topic^ — a general, and, perhaps, natural, wish to carry their antiquity up to a very 
 early period, and a constant effort to connect them, in any possible way, with the history and traditions of the Old World. 
 Thus, the work of Lord Kingsborough (unquestionably the most splendid example of private munificence ever applied to 
 the promotion of antiquarian literature) appears to owe its origin chiefly to the author's conviction in the truth of his 
 favourite hypothesis, — the colonisation of America by the lost tribes of Israel. Other writers have even attributed 
 them to an antediluvian period. Waldeck, a careful explorer of these ruins, infers, from the growth of trees and the 
 accumulation of vegetable soil in some of the court-yards at Palenque, that they cannot be less than from two thousand 
 to three thousand years old. My own observations have led me to differ from these conclusions, and to consider 
 them as founded on insufficient data. 
 
 The growth of tropical trees has not been sufficiently studied to make them a safe criterion to judge of the age 
 of monuments ; and the only trees of lai'ge dimensions I met with, were those of quick growth ; one, in the village of 
 Tied, of six feet diameter, having attained that size in thirty years, as I was informed by the person who planted it. 
 I am, moreover, inclined to the opinion that very ancient trees are not to be met with in tropical latitudes ; and that 
 rapid decay generally, or always, accompanies rapid growth. The accumulation of vegetable mould to the depth of nine 
 feet, is another proof that has been adduced in favour of the high antiquity of the buildings where it occurs ; and, 
 doubtless, in a northern climate, it would indicate a remote age, but not so in the tropics ; vegetation there is so rank 
 and rapid, that within less than twelve months from our first visit to Uxmal, we found the whole place so overgrown with 
 shrubs and small trees, that nothing but the high teocalli and the outline of the other monuments were visible, and a 
 thick deposit of vegetable mould covered the places we had so short a time before cleared away. I have met with no 
 physical marks, surely indicating a high antiquity ; on the contrary, the whole course of my observations have led me to 
 form an opposite opinion. It is true there are mishapen mounds, so utterly destroyed that they might belong to any 
 time or any people ; but I have little doubt that excavations would prove them to have been built by cognate races to 
 those who inhabited the country at the time of the conquest. It is also proved, by undoubted testimony, that many of 
 the buildings we now see in ruins, were in use by the Indians at the time of the Spanish invasion. I do not think we 
 should be safe in ascribing to any of the monuments (which still retain their form) a greater age than from eight hundred 
 to one thousand years ; and those which are perfect enough to be delineated, I think it likely are not more than from 
 four to six hundred years old. The roots of trees and the tropical rains are the chief elements of destruction, and 
 daily and hourly is the work going on. Another century will hardly have elapsed, before the whole of these interesting 
 monuments will have become indistinguishable heaps of ruins. 
 
 With regard to the various theories that have been formed to trace the nations that peopled the American 
 continent, through their migrations, to their original habitations in the Old World, we find them all restino' for 
 support upon a few vague similiarities of rites and customs, more or less common amongst every branch of the human 
 family. Besides, the idea that civilisation, and its attendant arts, is in every case derivative, and always owing to a 
 
9 
 
 transmission from a cultivated to an unpolished people, is eminently unphilosophical, as it only removes further liack, 
 without explaining the original difficulty of invention, which must somewhere have taken place; and if at any time in 
 one country, undoubtedly a similar train of circumstances may have led to similar results in another. The latest writer 
 on this subject (Mr. Prescott) has come to the conclusion, after a dispassionate and unprejudiced view of the existing 
 evidence, that though " the coincidences are sufficiently strong to authorise a belief that the civilisation of Anahuac 
 (ancient Mexico) was in some degree influenced by Eastern Asia, yet the discrepancies are so great as to carry back 
 the communication to a very remote period, so remote, that this foreign influence has been too feeble to interfere materially 
 with the growth of what may be regarded, in its essential features, as a peculiar and indigenous civilisation." The 
 results arrived at by Mr. Stephens and myself, after a full and precise comparative survey of the ancient remains, 
 coincide with this opinion, and are briefly :— that they are not of immemorial antiquity, the work of unknown races ; 
 but that, as we now see them, they were occupied, and possibly erected, by the Indian tribes in possession of the 
 country at the time of the Spanish conquest,— that they are the production of an indigenous school of art, adapted 
 to the natural circumstances of the country, and to the civil and rehgious polity then prevailing, — and that they 
 present but very slight and accidental analogies with the works of any people or country in the Old World. The 
 reader will find the general argument ably treated in the " Incidents of Travel in Yucatan," Vol. II. T will content 
 myself with a few illustrative remarks. 
 
 1st. These buildings coincide, in the minutest particulars, with the descriptions of the old Spanish historians, 
 and contemporary chroniclers of the conquest, who speak with wonder and astonishment of the stately stone buildings 
 that met their eyes in their progress through the country; and we often read of them in connection with com- 
 mendations bestowed on the praiseworthy zeal which caused their devastation, and the almost entire destruction of all 
 traces of Mexican civilisation. So completely was this effected, that we find the historian, Robertson, writing — " At 
 this day there does not remain the smallest vestige of any Indian building, public or private, in Mexico, or any 
 province of New Spain." The fallacy of this assertion is too obvious to need remark; coming fnmi a respectable 
 source, it gained credence, and has tended to needlessly obscm-e the true facts. 
 
 2nd. The architectural remains in Yucatan testify to the existence of a state of society, which, from other sources, 
 we know to have prevailed in the neighbouring countries. Reasoning, a priori, from a survey of these ruins, and putting 
 out of view the historical information at our command, it is obvious,— that, in the construction of these stupendous works, 
 at a period when the mechanical resources for facilitating labour were imperfectly known, immense numbers of artisans 
 must have been employed,— that these works are not of apparent utility, or such as would suggest themselves to the spon- 
 taneous and undirected energies of a nation, but that there must have existed a supreme, and probably despotic, power, 
 with authority sufficient to wield and direct the exertions of a subordinate population to purposes subservient to the display 
 of civil or rehgious pomp and splendour, — that, for the sustenance of masses of people thus brought in contact, a certain 
 progress must have been attained in the agricultural and economic sciences, — that many experiments must have foiled, 
 and many attempts been made, before the degree of proficiency in building, sculpture, and painting, which we now see, 
 was reached, — and that, in a country where only the rudest means of transmitting knowledge from one generation 
 to another was employed, it is probable the traditionary facts acquired by experience would be preserved by a sacred 
 caste or tribe of priests, by whom, and for whose use, many of these buildings were undoubtedly erected. All these 
 circumstances (and the same train of reasoning might be pursued to a much greater extent), existed in the civilisation of 
 ancient Mexico. They were found by the Spaniards a numerous and thickly settled people, in possession of all the 
 necessaries, and many of the comforts, of life, governed with absolute power by their king or cazique, and subject to 
 the domination of a powerful hierarchy, — the sole depositories of scientific knowledge, and pervading with their influence 
 every relation of social life. 
 
 3rd. Architecturally considered, the ancient buildings of Yucatan show many features which imply an aboriginal 
 character, derived from an imitation of natural objects. In Herrera's " Account of Yucatan" we find it remarked, 
 " that there were so many and such stately stone buildings that it was amazing, and the greatest wonder was that, 
 having no use of any metal, they were able to raise such structures, which seem to have been temples, for their 
 houses were all of timber and thatched." This original style of house (in use, no doubt, from the earliest period, and 
 
 D 
 
10 
 
 still found exclusively in India,, Tilh.ges,-the walls constructed of bamboo canes, or t,-u„ks of trees, placed upright, 
 and bound togetlier by withes, with lattice-work apertures for windows, and an ovcr-hangiug. heavily-thatched roof), seems 
 to have been the prototype of ,nuch that we find peculiar among the ornamental architectural work of the country. If 
 the Vitruvian theory, by which the characteristic forms of the early Grecian temples are traced to the influence of 
 their original timber construction, be correct, a similar inference may fairly be drawn in this instance. The peculiarities 
 of imitation are ,nost evident in the plainer (and. no doubt, earlier) buildings; these, as less generally interesting, are 
 not included in the illustrations of the present work. A reference to the plates of the second volunre of .Stephens' 
 " Incidents of Travel in Yucatan." which represent t],e ruins of Chunlruhu, Kewick, Sabachtschc, Zayi, and many 
 others, will show more clearly than the most laboui-ed description, the fi,ct that is now stated. 
 
 4t],. The old Spanish and native historians inform us, that a nation, called the Toltecs, coming from the north, 
 entered and took possession of the great valley in which the city of Mexico stands, about the close of the seventh 
 century. We shall for ever ren,ain in ignorance of the history of this people (except from such shght accounts and 
 traditions as have come down to us through their successors, the Mexicans), unless we succeed in decipherjng the 
 hieroglyphic writing found at Palenque, Copan, and other places; and which seen, to indicate an advance beyond the 
 ,nere picture-writing of the Mexicans, being evidently ccnpound characters, for,ned by abbreviation of the original pictorial 
 signs, like the Chinese characters at the present day. The Mexicans described the Toltecs to the Spanish conquerors 
 as having been well acquahited with agriculture, the mechanic arts, and working in metals. After holding sway for four 
 hundred years, they disappeared before the more ferocious Aztecs, or Mexicans, who are said to have come fro,n the 
 north-west. The Toltecs, it is supposed, went to the south and east, taking possession of Central America and Yucatan, 
 entering the latter by way of Honduras and Bacala,-, first founding the cities of Quirigua and Copan, The period when 
 they entered Yucatan is not known, nor an, I inclined to place much reliance on the dates before-mentioned. At all 
 events, it is probable that the Toltecs and their descendants erected the buildings we have been considering ; and 
 the Mexicans, or Aztecs, adopted the arts and civilisation of their predecessors, used the sa,ne method of 
 astrono,nical calculation, and were probably, in all essential pecuharities, a kindred race. 
 
11 
 
 PLATE I. 
 
 IDOL, AT COPAN. 
 
 ON STONE, BY A. PICKEN. 
 
 Tlie ruined city of Copan being described in general terms in tbe Introduction, it is only necessary liere to enter into more minute 
 detail as regards the monolithic statues, or idols, which form her characteristic feature. The Plate gives a front view of one 
 of the most perfect of a group of eleven. They were all deeply buried amidst ti-opical trees when iirst discovered, and it was with 
 no small difficulty that a sufficient space was cleared away to admit of a drawing being made. The Idol is carved out of a single 
 block of compact limestone, and measures eleven feet eight inches in height, and three feet four inches on each side, atandin"' on 
 a pedestal six feet square. It is surrounded by a circular stone curb or rim, measuring, in its outer diameter, sixteen feet six 
 inches. A sacrificial stone, or altar, stands in front of it, at a distance of eight feet ten inches, but is not introduced into the 
 drawing, as it would have liidden the lower part of the figure. It is placed diagonally towards the Idol, measuring seven feet 
 across. There is every probability (from the deep groovings, or channels, on all the altars) that they were used for the immolation 
 of human victims. The Idol, viewed in front, represents a woman of middle age, with the arms curiously raised and bent before 
 her ; the wrists are adorned with bracelets of beads, and the neck profiisely covered with necklaces ; on either side of the head 
 decends a tress of hair; the ears are large, unnatural in their shape, and are decorated with ear-drops; immediately over the 
 forehead appears a row of beads attached to the hair. The head-dress is not easy to describe: it is veiy lofty, and one of its 
 peculiarities is a skuU, or upper part of the head of some animal, the lower jaw being wanting. Whether the remainder of the 
 head-dress is intended to represent feathers, or flowers, or a mixture of the two, is doubtful. The lower part of the dress has the 
 appearauce of a cotton robe (cotton being indigenous to the country, and much used), ornamented with chequer work, and fringed 
 with beads. The feet are clothed in sandals of precisely the same form as are found in some of tlie old Roman statues ; tliey 
 apjiear to have been a consi)icuous part of the dress. The sides of the Idol liave rows of hieroglyphics, and the back is as elabo- 
 rately carved as the fi-ont, but the subject is totally different. It presents a mask, surrounded by comjilicated ornaments, with a 
 gracefidly disposed border, and, at the base, rows of hieroglyphics. 
 
 PLATE II. 
 
 PYRAMIDAL BUILDING AND FRAGMENTS OF SCULPTURE, 
 
 AT COPAN. 
 
 ON STONE. BY H, WARREN. 
 
 This drawing represents one of the most remarkable and perfect moiuiments at Copau. It is a pyramidal structure, or per- 
 haps, more correctly speaking, part of an immense terraced mound. The top, being broad and level, was probably used as a 
 foundation for small temples, or for statues, though no traces of the former remfiin ; and of the latter, the fragments are so much 
 shattered, that it is impossible to ascertain where they originally stood. The height of the pyramidal terrace is about thirty-five 
 feet ; it is composed of small stones, well laid in mortar, and when in a perfect state was encrusted with a coating of stucco. 
 Several fragments of sculptured ornament have been introduced into the foreground of this Plate, though found at some distance 
 from the building. The colossal skull of a monkey is seen in the left-hand corner : it was, perhaps, an object of worship. The 
 monkey tribe inhabit the forests of Copan in great numbers, and may frequently be seen watching attentively the movements of the 
 traveller, or leaping from branch to branch on the tops of the high trees, causing a noise hke the rushing of a fierce wind. In 
 the foreground is a round altar, or sacrificial stone, with the grooves visible, by which, probably, the bJood of the victim ran to 
 the ground. Standing against the tree is the bust of a warrior, or cacique; and next to it, the portrait of some distinguished 
 chieftain. The head-dress is unfortunately broken. To the right of the picture are the feet and sandals of a statue, which, in 
 point of design and workmanship, would not have disgraced a Roman artist of the olden time. 
 
12 
 
 PLATE nr. 
 
 BACK OF AN IDOL, AT COPAN. 
 
 ON STONE, BY H. WARREN, 
 
 The Kuhj(!ct of this Plate is tlie l>ack of one of ttie stone Idols at Copan. The design consists of five wreaths, enclosing 
 hieroglyphics. They are sculptured with the greatest care, and traces of red paint are in some places just disccrnihle. The outer 
 border appears intended to represent leaves tied together with ribbon, forming bows. The whole composition is at once chaste and 
 elegant, and very unlike the generality of tlie sculpture at Copan, which would seem rather intended to insph-e fear and horror than 
 any gentler emotion; this, on the contrary, is so graceful and pleasing, that instead of human sacrifices, it may well be supposed 
 that nothing but fi-uits and flowers were offered before it. The entanglement of a tropical forest is given in the back-ground. 
 
 PLATE IV. 
 
 BROKEN IDOL, AT COPAN. 
 
 ON STONE, BY II. WARREN. 
 
 Tins Idol, in its mined state, is one of the most bcautifnl in Copan; and in workmanship, is eqnal to the best rem.ains of 
 Egyptian art. Its present condition may give some idea of the scene of desolation and ruin presented at Copan. The whole 
 region is an overgrown forest; and, amidst the prostration and wreck of buildings and terraces, one "Idol- is seen displaced from 
 Its pedestal hy monstrous roots.-another locked in the close embrace of branches of trees, and almost lifted out of the earth -and 
 another hurled to the ground, and bound down hy large vines and creepers; of this, the fallen part was thus completely lamnd to 
 the earth, and, before it could be drawn, it w-as necessary to unlace them, and tear the fibres out of the crevices. 
 
 This fallen statue is of about the same dimensions with the others. The paint is very perfect, and has preserved the stone 
 which makes it more to be regretted that it is broken. The altar is buried, with the top barely visible, which, by excavating we 
 made out to represent the back of a tortoise. 
 
 PLATE V. 
 
 IDOL AND ALTAR, AT COPAN. 
 
 ON STONE, BY W. PARROTT. 
 
 enormous fangs, and distended eyes, adding To d^It .b T ■ b V™'^'™" " ""™^' 
 
 »ere enacted on it. Certain chLels ^ Z^i::^ ^'"'""^ """" ""'^ """^ 
 
 victim; and to render the operation of cutting open .h b eist^ 1^^^ "'7 77' """^ """^ ""^ 
 
 stone is shghtly convex, agreeing with the ac ounT orthe el an ' 'T """^ ^"^'"^ 
 
 sanguhrary a ritual. The Idol, to whom the sacihce wa off d st, at dT' 'T' ^ ^° 
 
 was ottered, stands at a distance of twelve feet from the sacrificial stone. It 
 
13 
 
 is eleven feet nine inches high, and three feel square, cut ont of a single bloclt of stone, and has elaborate carvings on the back 
 and sides. It is conjectm-ed to be the portrait of some deified hero or chieftain, from certain traces of individuality in the features. 
 There are remains of a beard and moustache, and the whole iignre is enveloped and overladen with a compKeated dress and head 
 ornaments. It stands at the foot of a pyramidal terrace, or wall, which probably supported a sacred ediSce. 
 
 PLATE VI. 
 
 GENERAL VIEW OF PALENaUE. 
 
 ON STONE, BY A. PICKEN. 
 
 The ruins of Palenque are the first which awakened attention to the existence of ancient and unknown cities in America. 
 
 They he twelve miles distant, in a south-easterly direction fi-om Palenque, the last village northward in the State of Chiapas. 
 They have no other name than that of the village near which they are situated, but in the neighbom-hood they are called Las 
 Casas de Piedra," or, " the Houses of Stone." 
 
 The extent of the ruins is not very gi-eat,-at least, so far as we were able to survey; and we visited all the buildings 
 mentioned by Del Rio and Dupaix. A square space, one thousand yards each way, would include them all; but the extent of ground 
 is apparently much larger, which deception, no doubt, arises fi-om the difficulty and time required to pass fi-om one spot to another, 
 from the extreme denseness of the tropical vegetation. 
 
 The largest and most important structure is called the Palace,— seen to the left in the drawing. The principal front faces 
 the east, and is the opposite one to that shown by the drawing. It measures two hundred and twenty-eight feet, and the same on 
 the rear. The two side-fi-onts each measure one hundred and eighty feet. Its height does not exceed twenty-five feet, and all 
 ai-omid it had a bold projecting cornice of stone. It stands on an artificial momid, forty feet high, three hundred and ten feet 
 front and rear, and two hundred and sixty feet on each side. These are its principal dimensions. The front and rear had each 
 fourteen doorways, and the ends, eleven. The openings are about nine feet wide, and the piers between six and seven feet. The 
 entire building was of stone, stuccoed and painted, with spirited has rchefs on the piers, and projecting borders of hieroglyphics, 
 and other ornaments. It had three principal court-yards, the largest of which is given in the following Plate. There are several 
 interesting portions of stone sculpture, and of paintings in colom-s, connected with this building ; the latter, especially, is hem-y fast 
 obhterated by the excessive dampness prevailing the greater part of the year. The vegetation, at the time of our visit, was close 
 and rank, and it was not without considerable labour, in the cutting away of trees, that the entire design of the buildiu" could 
 be made out. 
 
 In the foro-gi-ound of the drawing is seen an elevated pyramidal mound, which appears once to have had steps on all its sides. 
 These steps have been thrown down by the growth of trees, making the ascent very difficult. The mound, measured on the 
 slope, is one hundred and ten feet. On the platform, at top, is a stone Casa, or House, seventy-six feet in front, and twenty-five feet 
 deep. It has doors and piers still standing, the end piers bemg ornamented with hieroglyphics, and the centre ones with figures. 
 The mterior of the building is divided into two corridors, running lengthwise, with cedings formed of over-lapping stones, rising nearly 
 to a point, and floors paved with lai-ge square stones. The comdors are each seven feet wide, separated by a massive Jail, and 
 the back one divided into three chambers. The centre room contains a stone tablet of hieroglyphics, and there are two others in the 
 front corridor. The roof is inclined, and the sides are covered with stucco ornaments, now much broken, but enough remains to 
 show that it must, when perfect, have been rich and imposing On the top was a range of smah square piers, covered by a layer 
 of flat projecting stones, which gives it the appearance of a low open balustrade. 
 
 The two Casas in the distance, and to the right of the high mound, are very similar in construction to the one just described. 
 They were richly ornamented both with sculpture and painting, as also with works m stucco. Each stands on its respective mound, 
 with stone staircases, now overgrown with trees and shrubs. There are two other Casas of smaller dimensions, but so much ruined that 
 little more than their outline remains. 
 
 Tlie high hill, in tlie back-ground of the picture, appeared so regular that, but for its great heiglifc (nearly one thousand feet), 
 we should hiive supposed it artificial. On the summit are the remains of an ancient structure. 
 
14 
 
 It is due .o the reader to state, that this general view of Palenque is composed of separate sketches of each Casa. or Bu>ld,ng, 
 and from the gr-ou„d-pla. each is ,nade to occupy its respective position. No other method could be adopted, as the large s,» 
 of the trees and derrse nature of the forest, precluded any idea of mating a clearing sufBcient to embrace them all m one view. The 
 clearing is, therefore, not real, but imaginary. The remamder of the drawing may be considered as qmte faithful. 
 
 PLATE VII. (UPPER SUBJECT.) 
 
 PRINCIPAL COURT OP THE PALACE AT PALENaUE. 
 
 ON STONE, BY H. WARREN. 
 
 In the preceding Plate, a distant view of the Palace at Palenquc is given. The present drawing represents a portion of the 
 principal court-yard, which is eighty feet long, and seventy wide, and surrounded on the four sides with open conMors. A portion of 
 this corridor is given in the Plate; each opening is nine feet wide, and the piers six feet. These latter are of stone, covered with 
 stucco, and ornamented with figures, painted. The lintels were of wood, and have in all cases fallen. The superincumbent masonry 
 was covered with stuccoed ornaments, now nearly obhterated. We found large trees growing on the roots. A flight of stone steps, 
 thirty feet broad, leads down into the court-yard (see Plate). On either side of the steps arc grim and gigantic figures, carved on stone, 
 in basso relievo, nine feet high, inclined back towai-ds the conidor at the same angle as the steps. The attitudes of the figures are 
 constrained and awkward, but not altogether destitute of expression. Two of the figures have hieroglypliics cai-ved on what appear to be 
 aprons suspended from then- waists, and all have oniaraeiltal head-dresses, with necklaces, ear-rings, &c. 
 
 PLATE VII. (LOWER SUBJECT.) 
 
 INTERIOR OF CASA, No III., PALENQUE. 
 
 ON STONE, BY H. WARREN. 
 
 This Iiiteriov is given with a view of showing the peculiar triangular arch of the country, fonned of stones, eacli projecting beyond 
 the other, until at last they nearly meet at top, and are covered by a fiat stone. The ancient manner of hanging doors is also seen. 
 Semicircular holes were cut in the door jambs, holding small round stones, on which, by a simple contrivance, the doors might be made to 
 turn. The building measures, on the outside, thirty-eight feet by twenty-eight, and stands on a lofty mound. It has three doorways 
 leadmg to a corridor, thirty-two feet long by nine feet wide, which communicates with three rooms ; the centre one measures eighteen feet 
 by nine feet, and contains some interesting has reliefs, beautiftilly cut in stone. The whole exterior of the front was richly ornamented with 
 painted stuccoes. 
 
IS 
 
 PLATE VIII. 
 
 GENERAL VIEW OF LAS MONJAS, AT UXMAL. 
 
 ON STONE, BY J. C. BOURNE. 
 
 This view is taken from tlie upper teiTace of the Govemoi-'s House (Casa del Gobernador), lookiug northwards. It embraces the 
 whole of the buildings called "Las Monjas" (or the "Nuns"), fomiing the centre distance of the drawing. This building is quadi-angular, 
 with a court-yard in the centre, two hundred and fourteen feet wide, and two hundred and fifty-eight feet deep. The centre building, 
 and the most distant, is two hundred and sixty-four feet long, standing on a terrace twenty feet high; and above the cornice, fi-om one 
 end to the other, it was ornamented with sculpture.^ — (For a specimen, see Plate XV.) The ascent to the terrace is by a gi-and, but 
 ruined staircase, ninety-iive feet wide, having ruined buildings on either side. The height to the second cornice is twenty-fiye feet, and 
 the highest portions were forty-two feet. The stone carving was most elaborate. There are several statues remaining on this front, 
 representing players on musical instruments. The instiiunents resemble the modern harp and guitar. The back fi-ont was also 
 elaborately ornamented, and several of the figures and the decorations still remain. This building encloses one of older date ; the 
 doorways, walls, and wooden hntels of the latter are all seen, and a richly ornamented cornice is visible where the outer building is 
 destroyed. The fi-ont had fomieen outer doorways, and fourteen inner doorways, leading to twenty-eight rooms, all of which are covered 
 with the triangular aich. The building which forms the right, or eastern side of the quadrangle, is one hmidred and fifty-eight feet long, 
 with five doorways and fomieen rooms, richly decorated on the exterior and ends. The edifice on the left, or western side, is one 
 hundred and seventy-three feet long, with seven doorways and fourteen rooms. On the fa9ade are the remains of a colossal serpent. ^ — 
 (See Plate XIV.) This interesting subject is, unfortunately, in a most dilapidated state, and the little that remains is in such a tottering 
 condition, that a few more rainy seasons will probably prostrate the whole. Tlie front centre building is two hundred and seventy-nine 
 feet long, having twenty doorways and as many rooms. In the centre is an arched doorway, ten feet eight inches wide, which leads 
 into the great court-yard, and was appai'ently the only entrance to it. The facades of this building are not so richly ornamented 
 with sculpture as either of the others ; but they possess a chasteness and simphcity which give them a peculiar interest. 
 
 On the right of the drawing is seen the great TeocalUs, or the Diviner's House, surmounted by a building described at Plate XII. ; 
 and just beneath it, westward, is the gateway described in Plate XI. There were staircases both on the east and west sides of this 
 Teocallis. 
 
 PLATE IX. 
 
 ORNAMENT OVER THE PRINCIPAL DOORWAY, CASA DEL 
 GOBERNADOR, UXMAL. 
 
 ON STONE, BY W. PARROTT. 
 
 The " Casa del Gobernador," or House of the Governor, is one of the most extensive and important of the ancient buildings at 
 Uxmal, in Yucatan. It is constructed entirely of hewn stone, and measures three hundred and twenty feet in front, by forty feet 
 in depth. The height is about twenty-six feet. It has eleven doorways in front, and one at each end. The apartments are narrow, 
 seldom exceeding twelve feet, just large enough to swing a hammock, which was, and still is, the substitute for beds thoughout the 
 country. Some of the rooms measure sixty feet in length, and are twenty-three feet liigh. There does not appear- to have been any 
 internal decoration in the chambers, nor are there any windows. The lower part of the edifice is of plain wought stone, but the upper 
 portion is singularly rich in ornament, — a fragment of it is shown in the drawing. Taking the front, the ends, and the rear of the building, 
 there is a length of seven hundred and fifty-two feet of elaborate carving, on which traces of colour are still visible. The peculiar arch 
 of the country has been employed in every room. The lintels of the doorways were of wood, a more costly material to work than 
 stone, but less durable. Unfortunately they have all decayed, and the masonry they supported has, in places, fallen down (see Plate), 
 and much of the beauty of the building is thus destroyed. The central ornament over the principal doorway was a seated figure, of 
 which but slight traces remain. The head-dress of feathers is more perfect, and appears totally disproportioned to the size of the figure. 
 On either side are parallel bars of stone, between which are well sculptured hieroglyphics. The cornice was perhaps intended to represent 
 
1(] 
 
 the coilings of a serpent ; it is continued from one extremity of the building to the other, and goes entirely round it. The Casa del 
 Gobernador stands on three terraces, the lowest is three feet high, fifteen feet wide, and five hundred and seventy-five feet long ; the 
 second is twenty feet high, two hundred and fifty feet wide, and five liundred and forty-five feet long; and the thii'd is nineteen 
 feet high, thu-ty feet bread, and three hundi-ed and sixty feet long. They are all of stone, and in a tolerably good state of 
 preservation. 
 
 PLATE X. 
 
 ARCHWAY; CASA DEL GOBERNADOR, FXMAL. 
 
 ON STONE, BY A. PICKEN. 
 
 ■\Vithin about sixty feet of either end of the Casa del Gobeniador, are situated the arched gateways, — of which one is shown in 
 the drawing. They appear to have been blocked-up by the original builders, as the style of the masonry is precisely similar to that 
 of other parts of the edifice. The triangular arch is distinctly seen, forming the prominent feature of the design. At the angles are 
 hideous masks, one over the other, the projecting trunk, or proboscis, being in the place of the nose. An elegant ornament is carved 
 on either side of the arch, very similar to those found on Greek and Roman buildings. The twisted cable, or rope ornament, is also 
 of firecfuent occurrence in Yucatan ; it is to be found, I beheve, in all countries which have made any advance in the art of buildin"-. 
 The portion represented in this drawing may be considered as a continuation of the last Plate. They both form a part of the "reat 
 facade of the Governor's House, and are not less remarkable for their novelty of design, than for their beautiful workmanship. 
 
 PLATE XI. 
 
 GATEWAY OF THE GREAT TEOCALLIS, UXMAL. 
 
 ON STONE, BY T. S. BOYS. 
 
 The great Teocallis at Uxmal is called, by the Indians, the "House of the Diviner;" and also the " Dwarf's House." It is a lofty 
 pyramidal mound, about two hundred and thirty-iive feet long, by a breadth of one hundred and fifly-iiTe feet. Its height is dghty-ei<-ht 
 feet, and to the top of the building, one hundred and five feet. At the height of sixty feet is a solid projecting platform, formerly reached 
 by a steep flight of steps, now thrown down. 0„ this platform stands the gateway represented in the drawing. It measures twenty- 
 two feet m front, and is twenty-two feet high, and was most elaborately adorned with sculptured stone-v,ork. The ornaments are of similar 
 desrgn to those of the Casa del Gobe„,.dor, but executed perhaps with a greater degree of deheacy. The remains of two statues are seen 
 and most hkely the niche in the centre was for the reception of a larger one. The doorway is five feet five inches wide, and ten feet high' 
 w.th hutels of sapote wood .till in their places. The interior is divided into two apartments,-the outer, fifteen feet long, by seven fee^ 
 wtde, and nineteen feet high; and the inner one, twelve feet long, four feet wide, and eleven feet high. Both are entirely destitute of 
 ornament, and ,t ,s not easy to coniecture to what end they served, as they are small, and have no apparent connection with the rest 
 ot the buiidmg. 
 
ir 
 
 PLATE XII. 
 
 ORNAMENT OVER THE GATEWAY OF THE GREAT 
 TEOCALLIS, UXMAL. 
 
 ON STONE, BY W. PAUROTT. 
 
 This elegant specimen of Indian design and workmanship forms part of the front of the upper building of the Diviner's House, 
 mentioned in the preceding description. The edifice is seventy-two feet in length and twelve feet deep. The interior is divided into 
 thi-ee apartments, the centre one twenty-four feet by seven, and the side ones nineteen feet by seven. These apartments did not 
 communicate with each other ; the side ones had each a doorway opening to the eastward, and the middle room a doorway facing 
 the west — now destroyed — of which the position is shown in the drawing. The ornament is somewhat different in chaa'acter to 
 that of the other buildings at Uxmal. The rehef is low, and, unassisted by bright colours, would hardly have been visible from the 
 ground, even aided by the transparent atmosphere of a tropical climate. There can be little doubt (speaking from analogy) that the 
 entire facade was painted, although all traces of coloui' have disappeared. The pedestals and remains of eiglit statues are visible on 
 this fa9ade. 
 
 PLATE XIII. 
 
 GENERAL VIEW OF UXMAL, TAKEN EKOM THE ARCHWAY 
 OF LAS MONJAS, LOOKING SOUTH. 
 
 ON STONE, BY A. PICKEN. 
 
 This view embraces several of the most remarkable ruins at Uxmal, and the remaining ones are shown by Plate VIII. To 
 the extreme left, in the distance, is the " Casa de la Vieja," or of the "Old Woman,"~a small teocallis, having at its base the rudely 
 sculptured statue of a woman, from which it derives its name. The second and most colossal terrace of the Casa del Gobemador 
 is seen extending to the right; and in the centre of the view is the casa itself, seen endwise:— for a description of it, see Plate IX. 
 Beneath it, and a httle to the right, is the "Casa de las Tortugas," or "House of the Turtles:" this name was given to it by Padre 
 Carillo, of Ticul, from a bead, or row, of turtles, which goes entirely romid the builduig on the upper cornice. The length of this 
 edifice is ninety-four feet by a depth of thirty-four, and, in size and ornament, contrasts strikingly with the Casa del Gobernador. 
 It wants the rich and gorgeous decoration of the former, but is distinguished for its justness and beauty of proportion, and its 
 chasteness and simplicity of ornament : imhappily it is fast going to decay. In 1839, it was trembling and tottering, and by 1842, 
 the whole of the centre had fallen in, and the interior was blocked up with the ruins of the fallen roof. Beyond the Casa de las Tortugas 
 are two large teocalli, on the nearest of which are no rem^is of building, but the furthest has on its summit the ruins of an edifice, 
 somewhat similar in its plan to the structure on the Great Teocalhs, or " House of the Diviner." In front of the last building stands 
 the " Casa de Palomoa," or " House of the Pigeons :" it is two hundred and forty feet long, composed of a double range of rooms, from 
 the dividing wall of which rise pyramidal structures, not unlike the gables of an Elizabethan or Gothic house. The small oblong 
 openings give them somewhat the appearance of pigeon houses, whence the name. 
 
IS 
 
 PLATE XIV. 
 
 PORTION OF A BUILDING; LAS MONJAS, UXMAL. 
 
 ON STONE, BY A. PICKEN. 
 
 The engraving represents a portion of tlie fa9ade, on tlie left, or western side, entering the court-yard. It was, when entire, one 
 hundred and seventy-three feet long; and is distinguished hy two colossal seqients, entwined, running through and encompassing nearly 
 all the onmments throughout its whole length. Only two portions of this facade now remain; the plate exhibits that towards the north 
 end of the buildino-. The tail of the sei-pent is held up nearly over its head, and has an ornament upon it hke a turban, with a 
 plume of feathers. The marks on the extremity of the tail are probably intended to designate a rattlesnake, with wliich species of 
 sei-pent the country abounds. The head of the serpent has its monstrous jaws wide open, and within them is a human head. The 
 other portion remaining shows two entwined serpents, enclosing and running through the ornaments over a doorway. The principal 
 feature in the ornament enclosed, is the figure of a human being, standing, but much mutilated. The bodies of the serpents, according 
 to the representations of the same design in other parts of the sculpture, are covered with feathers. The plate shows about one-tenth 
 of the whole facade ; tlie other nine-tenths were enriched with the same mass of sculptured ornaments ; and, towards the south end, 
 the head and tail of the serpents corresponded in design and position ivith the portion still existing at the other. Don Simon Peon, 
 the proprietor of Uxmal, said, that in 1835 the whole front stood perfect, and serpents were seen encircling every omaraenfc in the 
 building. These have since iiillen, and lie in confused heaps at the foot of the monument. 
 
 PLATE XV. 
 
 PORTION OF LA CASA DE LAS MONJAS, UXMAL. 
 
 ON HTONR, BY A. PICKEN. 
 
 This is the Plate rcfen-ed to in the Introduction, and in the description of the general view of Las Monjas, Plate VIII. It 
 forms part of an exceedingly rich and highly-decorated fafade, two himdred and sixty-four feet long; and which, for profusion of orna- 
 ment, rivals, if it does not surpass, the front of the Casa del Gobernador. It is useless attempting to explain by words that which is so 
 much more perfectly understood by inspection of the drawing. The only remark perhaps neccssai-y is this : there are, or rather were, 
 five similar structures in the facade, and, altliough at a cUstance, they appear exactly alike — and are so, as regards general outline and 
 size— yet the detail and making-up of the ornaments differ in each ; and this observation wiU apply equally to the facades of neai-ly all 
 the buildings at Uxmal, in which occur endless varieties in the detail of the decorations. 
 
 PLATE XVI. 
 
 GENERAL VIEW OF KABAH. 
 
 ON STONE, RY A. PICKEN. 
 
 The rmns of Kabah 1,8 on the common lands of the village of Nohcacab. Perhaps they have been known to the Indians from lime 
 rmrnemonal, but, .-.s „e were informed by the Padre of the vihago of Nohcacab. until the opening of the road to Bolonchen thev 
 were utterly unknown to the white inhabitants. This road parsed through the ancient city, and revealed the great buildings over^-rown 
 and. m some ca.es, towering above the tops of the trees. The discovery, however, created not the slightest sensation- the' intellLnce 
 
19 
 
 of it had never reached the capital ; and though, ever since its occnrrence, the great edifices were visihle to all who passed along 
 the road, not a white man in the village had ever turned aside to look at them, except the Padre referred to. The TeocalHs, to the 
 left of the drawing, is the &st object that meets the eye; grand, picturesque, mined, and covered with trees, towering above every other 
 object on the plain. Loaviig this, and following a path to the distance of three or four hundred yards, we reach the foot of a terrace, 
 twenty feel high, the edge of which is overgrown with trees; ascending this, we stand on a platfo™, two himdred feet in width] 
 by one hundred and forty-two feet deep. In the centre of the platform is a range of stone steps, forty feet wide and twenty in 
 number, leading to an upper terrace. On this terrace stands a building, on the extreme right of the drawing, one hundred and 
 fifty-one feet in front, remarkable for the extraordinary richness and ornament of its fafade. In sU the buildings of Uxmal, without a 
 single exception, up to the cornice which runs over the doorway, the buildings are of plain stone, but this was ornamented fi-om 
 the very foundation, two layers mider the lower cornice, to the top. The ornaments are of the same character with those at U.xmal, 
 alike complicated and incomprehensible. The cornice running over the doorway is very elegant and graceful in its design, and would 
 not disgrace the architecture of a more pohslled people. 
 
 This building has five doorways in front, communicating to as many outer rooms ; and these again to five other inner rooms, 
 entirely dark, except the light which enters through the doorways. Windows are not found m the Yucatan buildings, but there is 
 an occasional substitute for them, in small narrow openings, fom- or five inches wide and twelve inches high, admitting a Kttle fight 
 and air. 
 
 The Casa, or building, next the last-mentioned, stands on a platform, one hundred and seventy feci long, by one hundred and 
 ten feet broad. It consists of two stories, the lower one almost enth-ely ruined. The chambers are very small, with doorways opening 
 on to the platform. A little to the right in the di-awillg is a TeocalHs, measuring one hundred and forty feet on one side, and one 
 hmidred and six on the other. It consists of three distinct stories, each receding from, and being smaller than, the one imder, and 
 terminating with a broad platform on the top, with a handsome stone staircase on one side. 
 
 In the distance is seen a building, called by the Indians "Casa de la Justicia," or House of .lustice. It measures one hundred and 
 thirteen feel in front, and has five chambers, each twenty feet long and nine feel wide, and aU perfectly plain. The exterior is sfightly 
 ornamented. At the foot of the Teocallis is a solitary arch, fourteen feet in the opening, and constructed after the peculiar fashion 
 of the country. From its position, it would seem to have been one of the tnain entrances into the city, or, possibly, a commemorative 
 triumphal arch. 
 
 PLATE XVII. 
 
 INTERIOR OF THE PRINCIPAL BUILDING AT KABAH. 
 
 ON STONE, BY A. PICKEN. 
 
 The exterior of this building is described at the preceding Plate. The interior consists of two parafiel chambers, the one in front 
 being twenty-seven feet long and leu feet six inches wide; and the other of the same length, but a few inches narrower, communicating 
 by a doorway in the centre. The inner room is raised two feel eight inches higher than the front, and the ascent is by two 
 steps, carved out of a single block of stone, the lower one (see Drawing) being in the form of a scroll. The sides of the steps are 
 enriched with a similar ornament to that of the facade of the building Extending from either side of this ornament to the ends of 
 the apartment arc small engaged columns, without either base or capital. The whole composition is graceful and pretty, and tile scroll 
 step in particular is one of the most appropriate designs to be met with in Yucatan. 
 
20 
 
 PLATE XVIII. 
 
 WELL xlND BUILDING AT SABACHTSCHE. 
 
 ON STONE, BY H. WAKREN. 
 
 The Rancho of Sabachtsche lies on the Camino Real from Tieul to Bolonehen. It is inhabited entirely by Indians, and is distinguished 
 by a well, built by the present proprietor of the Raneho. Foi-morly the inhabitants were dependent entirely upon the well at Tabi. six miles 
 distant. ' Besides its real value, this well presented a curious and hvely spectacle. A group of women was around. It had no rope or 
 fixtures of any kind for raising water, but across the mouth was a round beam, laid upon two posts, over which the women were letting 
 down and hoistiirg up Httle bark buckets. Every woman brought with her, and carried away, her own bucket and rope, the latter coiled up 
 and laid on the top of her head, with the end hanging down behiird, and foniring a sort of head-dress. The building which appears 
 in the engraving, stands in the suburbs of the Rancho, just beyond the huts of the Indians. We found it overgl-own by trees, and beautifully 
 picturesque. On one comer of the roof a vulture had built her nest, and, scared away at our approach, hovered over our heads, looking 
 down upon us. The front of this building appeared tasteful, and even elegant in design, and, when perfect, it must have presented 
 a fine appearance. It has a single doorway, opening into a chamber twenty-tive feet long, by ten feet wide. Above the door is a portion 
 of plain masonry, and over this a cornice, supporting twelve small pilasters, having between them the diamoird ornament; then a massive 
 cornice, with pilasters and diamond work, surmounted by another cornice, making in all four cornices, — an arrangement wo had not 
 previously met with. 
 
 PLATE XIX. 
 GATEWAY AT LABNAH. 
 
 ON STONE. BY .J. C. BOURNE. 
 
 This may be considered as one of the most pleasing arciiitectural designs to be met with among the ruined edifices of Yucatan. 
 It is the mner fB9ade of an arched gateway, ten feet wide, leading into what was formerly the court-yard of a large building. Under 
 the aich are two doorways, giving entrance to two smah rooms, twelve feet by eight, which also have openings towards the area. Over 
 each doorway is a square recess, flanked by small pilasters, and supporting a mass of masonry pyi-amidally disposed. In the recesses 
 are the remains of rich ornaments in stucco, with marks of colours still clearly visible, perhaps intended to represent the face of the sun 
 surrounded by its rays, and probably to the Indian an object of superstitious adoration. The construction of the arch is the same as is found 
 all over the country. The stones a,-e laid horizontally, each projecting a little beyond the under one, until at last they nearly meet, 
 and a flat cover-stone completes the arch, if it may be so called. This species of roof has its advantajjes ; there is no lateral thrust! 
 and frequently ,vhen one side of an apartment, and, consequently, hatf the roof had fallen, the other remains entire. The cement used 
 was very good, equal, in many instances, to that found in the ancient Roman buddinos. 
 
 PLATE XX. 
 WELL AT BOLONCIIEN. 
 
 ON STONE, BY H. WARREN. 
 
 Bolonehen derives its name from two Maya words,-«»to,, which signifles "nine- and Cim "wll j 
 Prom time immemo.al, nine wehs formed at this place the centre of ! population, ^rr^;.: •or n^r;^ o^ 
 Then ongm ,s as obscure and unknown as that of the rmued cities which strew the land, and as little thought of 
 
21 
 
 The custody and supply ot these ivcUs form a principal part of the business of the village authorities, but mth aU their care the 
 supply ot water lasts but seven or eight months in the year. At the period of our visit the time was approaching when the wells would fail, 
 and the ulhabitants be driven to an extraordinary cavern, at half a league's distance fi-om the village. 
 
 There was one grand difficulty in the way of our i-isiting the cavern, or well. Since the commencement of the rainy season 
 it had not been used ; and every year, before having recourse to it, there was a work of several days to bo done in repairing the 
 ladders. 
 
 Setting out, however, fi-om the village of Bolouchen, by the Campeachy road, we turned off by a well beaten path, following 
 which we fell into a ivinding lane, and, descending gi-adually, reached the foot of a rude, lofty, and abrupt opening, under a bold 
 ledge of overhanging rock, seemhig a magnificent entrance to a gi-eat temple for the worship of the God of natui-e. 
 
 We disencumbered ourselves of superfluous apparel, and followhig the Indians, each with a torch in his hand, entered a wild 
 cavern, which, as we advanced, became darker. At the distance of sixty paces the descent was precipitous, and we went down by a 
 ladder about twenty feet. Here aU light fi-om the mouth of the cavern was lost, but we soon reached the brink of a great perpendicular 
 descent, to the very bottom of wliich a strong body of light was thrown from a hole in the surface ; a pei-pendicular depth, as we 
 aflerwai-ds found by measurement, of two hundr-ed and ten feet. As wo stood on the brink of this precipice, under the shelvmg of 
 an immense mass of rock, seeming darker from the stream of light thrown dowu the hole, gigantic stalactites and huge blocks of stones 
 assumed all manner of fantastic shapes, and seemed like monsti-ous animals or dieties of a subten-aneous world. 
 
 Trom the brink on which we stood, an enormous ladder of the rudest possible construction led to the bottom of the hole. It 
 was between seventy and eighty feet long, and about twelve feet wide, made of the rough trunks of sapHugs lashed together lengthwise, 
 and supported all the way down by horizontal trunks braced against the face of the precipitous rock. The ladder was double, having 
 two sets, or flights, of rounds, divided by a middle pai-tition, and the whole fabric was lashed together by withes. It was very steep, 
 seemed precarious and insecure, and confirmed the worst accounts we had heard of the descent hito this extraordinary well. 
 
 Our Indians began the descent, but the foremost had hardly got his head below the surface, before one of the rounds broke, and 
 he only saved himself by clinging to another. The ladder having been made when the withes were green, these were now dry, cracked, 
 and some of them broken. We attempted a descent with some httle misgivings ; but by keeping each hand and foot on a different 
 round, with an occasional crash and shde, we all reached the foot of the ladder ; that is, our own party, our Indians, and some three 
 or four of our escort, the rest having disappeared. Plate XX. represents the scene at the foot of this ladder. Looking up, the view of 
 its broken sides, with the light thrown down from the oriflce above, was the wildest that can be coirceived. As yet we were 
 only at the mouth of this well, called by the Indians, " La Senora escondida ;" or, " the Lady hidden away : " and it is derived from a 
 fanciful Indian story, that a lady, stolen fi'oni lier mother, was concealed, by her lover in this cave. On one side of the cavern is an 
 opening in the rock, entering by which, we soon came to an abrupt descent, down which was another long and trying ladder. It was 
 laid against the broken face of the rock, not so steep as the first, but in a much more rickety condition : the rounds were loose, 
 and the upper ones gave way on the iirst attempt to descend. The cave was damp, and the rock and the ladder were wet and 
 slippery. It was evident that the labour of exploring this cave was to be greatly increased by the state of the ladders, and there 
 might be some danger attending it ; hut, even after all we had seen of caves, there was something so wild and grand in this 
 that we could not bring ourselves to give up the attempt. Fortunately, the Cura had taken care to provide us with a rope, and 
 fastening one end round a large stone, an Indian carried the other down to the foot of the ladder. We followed one at a time; 
 holding the rope with one hand, and with the other grasping the side of the ladder : it was impossible to carry a torch, and we were 
 obliged to feel our way in the dark, or with only such hght as could reach us from the torches above and below. At the foot of this 
 ladder was a large cavernous chamber, with u-regular passages branching off in different directions to seven deposites or sources 
 of ivater, from which the village of Bolonchen is supplied. 
 
 PLATE XXI. 
 
 LAS MONJAS, CHICHEN-ITZA. 
 
 ON STONE, BY G. MOORE. 
 
 The plate represents the end facade of a long majestic pile, called, like one of the principal buildings at Uxmal, the " Monjas," 
 or "Nmis." The height of this facade is twenty-five feet, and its width thirty-five. It has two cornices of tastefid design; over the 
 doorway are twenty small cartouches of hieroglyphics, in four rows, five in a row, and to make room for which the lower cornice is 
 earned up ; ovc>r them stand out, in a line, six bold projecting curved ornaments, resembling an elephant's trimk ; and the upper centre 
 
, . , ■ 1 . in wl.irh nortioni of a seated figure, nitli a licail-dress of feathers, still remain, 
 space over the doorway is an irregular circular niche, m wlucu [wrtions oi a „ , 
 
 , , , 1 J- u t„n., ehm-ieteristic of the ancient American cities, and unlike the designs of any other 
 
 The rest of the ornaments «re of that distmctiTe stamp, chaiacteristic oi uie a , . » „ - 
 
 people. The buildmg is co,.posed of two structu.-e. entirely different W eaclr other ; one of which fonn. a sort o wmg to the prm- 
 cipd edifice, .nd has at the end the facade presented. The whole length is two hundred and twenty-e.ght feet, and the depth o the 
 principal structure is one hundred and twelve feet. The only portion containing interior chambers is that which we have called the 
 wing. The great struch^re to which the wing adjoins is apparently a solid mass of masonry, erected only to hold up the two ranges 
 of buildings upon it A grand staircase, fifty-six feet wide, the largest we saw in the country, mns to the top. Tins staircase is thirty- 
 two feet high and has thirty-nine steps. On the top of the stmctnre stands a range of buildings, with a platform of fourteen feet m 
 front extending aU around. From the back of this platform the grand staircase rises again, by fifteen steps, to the roof of the second 
 ran-e which forms a platform in front of the third range. The circumference of this building is six hundred and thirty-eight feet, and 
 its height when entire, was sixty-five feet. The art and skill of the bmldcrs seem to have been lavishly expended upon the second range: 
 this is'' one hundred and fom- feet long and thirty feet wide; and the broad platform aroun(i it, thougli overgrown with grass several feet 
 high, formed a noble promenade, commanding a magnificent vie^v of the whole suiTounding country. 
 
 PLATE XXII. 
 
 TEOCALLIS, AT CHICHEN-ITZ A. 
 
 ON STONE, BY A. PICKEN. 
 
 The I'uins of Chichen-Itza ai-e nine leagues from Valladolid.— (See Map.) Tliey lie on a Hacienda, called by the name of tlie 
 ancient city. 
 
 The Cammo Real to Valladolid passes through the field of mins. The gi'eat buildings tower on botli sides of the road in full 
 sight of all passers-by ; and from the fact that this road is much travelled, the rums of Ctnchen are perhaps more generally known 
 to the people of the country than any others in Yucatan. The Plate represents the Castillo, or Castle, the first building seen on 
 approachuig the ruins, and, from eveiy point of view, the grandest and most conspicuous object that towers above the plain. The 
 mound measures at the base, on the north and south sides, one hundred and ninety-six feet ten inches ; and on the east and west 
 sides, two hundred and two feet. It does not face the cardinal points exactly, though probably so intended; and in all the buildings, 
 from some cause not easily accounted for, while one varies ten degrees one way, that immediately adjoining varies twelve or thirteen 
 degrees the other. It is built up, apparently sohd, from the plain to the height of seventy-five feet. On the west side is a staircase, 
 thirty-seven feet wide ; on the north, being that presented in the engraving, the staircase is forty-four feet wide, and has ninety steps. 
 On the gi-ound at the foot of the staircase, forming a bold, striking, and well-conceived commencement to this lofty range, are two colossal 
 serpent's heads, ten feet in length, with months wide open and tongues protruding, as shown by the fragment in the foreground of the 
 drawing : no doubt they were emblematic of some religious belief. 
 
 The platform on the top of the mound measures sixty-one feet from north to south, and sixty-four from cast to west ; and the 
 building measures, in the same directions, forty-three feet and forty-nine. Single doorways face the east, south, and west, liaving massive 
 lintels of sapote wood covered with elaborate cai-vings, and the stone jambs are ornamented with figui-es. The sculpture is much 
 worn ; but the head-dresses, ornamented with plumes of feathers, and portions of the rich attire, still remain. The face of one of the 
 figures is well preserved, and has a dignified appearance ; it has, too, earrings, and the nose bored, which, according to historical account, 
 was so prevalent a custom in Yucatan, that long after the conquest the Spaniards passed laws for its prohibition. 
 
 All the other jambs are decorated with sculpture of the same general character, and all open into a corridor six feet wide, 
 extending round three sides of the building. 
 
 The doorway facing the north, represented in the engravhig, presents a grander appearance, being twenty feet wide, and Iia™g 
 two sliort massive columns, eight feet eight inches high, with two large projections at the base, entirely coyered with elaborate sculpture. 
 This doorway gives access to a corridor forty feet long by six feet tour inches wide and seventeen feet high. In the back wall of this 
 corridor is a single doorway, having sculptm-ed jambs, over wMch is a richly-carved sapote beam, and giving entrance to an apartment 
 nineteen feet eight inches long, twelve feet nine inches wide, and seventeen feet high. In this apartment are two square pillars nine feet 
 fo™ hiches high and one foot ten inches on each side, having sculptured figures on all their sides, and supporting massive sapote beams, 
 covered with the most elaborate carving of cm-ions and intricate designs, but so defaced and time-worn, that in the obscurity of the 
 room, hghted only from the door, it was difficult to make them out. The impression produced on entering this lofty chamber so 
 entuely different fi-om all ,ve had met with before, was perhaps stronger than any we had yet experienced. We passed a whole day 
 withm It, Irom time to time looking down upon the ruined buildings of the ancient city, and an immense field stretching on all sides 
 beyond. 
 
23 
 
 PLATE XXIH. 
 
 CASTLE, AT TULOOM. 
 
 ON STONE, BY A. PICKEN. 
 
 The mined City of Tuloom is situated on a ledge of rocks on the eastern shore of Yucatan. The building given in Plate XXIII., 
 although called a Castillo, or Castle, was, there can be little doubt, a place used for the religious ceremonies of the Indians. At the time 
 the di-awing was made, trees obstructed the view, which had to be cut down before the design of the edifice could be made out. The 
 building, including the wings, measures at its base one hundred feet in length. The grand staircase is thirty feet wide, with twenty- 
 four steps ; and a substantial parapet on each side— still in good preservation— gives it an unusually imposing character. In the door- 
 way are two columns, making three entrances, with square recesses above them, all of which once contained ornaments; and in the 
 centre, and one of the side ones, fragments of statues still remain. The interior is divided into two corridors, each twenty-six feet 
 long; the one in front is six feet six inches wide, and had at each end a stone bench or divan. A single doorway leads to the back 
 corridor, which is nine feet wide, and has a stone bench extending along the foot of the wall. There were, in this room, traces of fire 
 and copal, making it probable that some Indians had recently been engaged in celebrating their ancient religious rites, which they 
 still adhere to when not within observation of the Spaniai-ds. On each side of the doorway are stone rings, intended for the 
 support of the door, and m the back wall are oblong openmgs, which admit breezes from the sea. Both apartments have the triangular 
 arched ceiling, and both were conveniently and pleasantly arranged for living apartments. The wings are much lower than the principal 
 building. Each consists of two ranges ; the under one standing on a low platform, from which are steps leading to the upper. The 
 latter consists of two chambers, of which the one in front is twenty-four feet long and twenty wide, having two columns in the doorway, 
 and two in the middle of the chamber. The centre columns were oniamented with devices in stucco, one of which was a masked 
 face, and the other the head of a rabbit. The walls were entire, but the roof had fallen ; the rubbish on the floor was less massive 
 than that formed in other places by the remains of the triangular arched roof, and of different materials ; and there were holes along 
 the top of the wall, as if beams had been laid in them, all of which induced the belief that the roofs had been flat, and supported by 
 wooden beams resting on the two columns in the centre. From this apartment a doorway, three feet wide, close to the wall of the 
 prmcipal building, leads to a chamber twenty-four feet long aud nine feet wide, also roofless, and having the same indications that the 
 roof had been flat and supported by wooden beams ; whicli opinion was afterwards verified, by the discovery of wooden roofs still entire 
 in the adjoining buildings. 
 
 PLATE XXIV. 
 
 TEMPLE, AT TULOOM. 
 
 ON STONE, BY W. PARROTT. 
 
 The Temple at Tuloom faces towards the east, and is distant two hmidi-ed aud fifty feet from the Castillo, or Castle, described in 
 the last plate. Although the distance is but trifliug, the whole area is so blocked up with trees, tliat it was by mere accident this buildiirg 
 and several others were discovered. It stands on a terrace six feet high, with a staircase in the centre. The fiont of the building 
 measm-es forty-five feet by a depth of twenty-six. There are two stout pillars stih standing in the principal doorway, supporting wooden 
 beiuns; and over the centre are the remains ot a head, surrounded by a profusion of feathers. The interior is divided into two principal 
 and parallel apartments ; and at the north extremity ot the inner one is a smaller chamber, containing an enclosed altar five feet long 
 by thi-ee feet six inches deep, for burning copal The roof had taUen, and trees were growing out ot the floor. 
 
24 
 
 PLATE XXV. 
 COLOSSAL HEAD, AT IZAMAL. 
 
 ON STONE, BY H. WARREN. 
 
 Izaiiial, at the height of its prosperity, must hare been one of the most important of the Indian cities of Yucatan. There is 
 iibinidant testimony to prove tliat it was inhabited at the time of the Spanish conquest. There are still remaining several mounds, one 
 of which is the largest in Yucatan, but so dilapitated and disfigurecl, as to defy accurate measurement : it may be about seven hundred 
 feet long and sixty high. It is said to contain interior chambers and colossal statues ; but no entrance at present exists to tliese 
 subterranean apartments. The great church and convent of the Franciscan monks stands on the upper platform of one of these ancient 
 teocalli, and the open area fronting the church is probably not less than two hundred feet square, surrounded on three sides by an 
 open colonnade, forming a noble promenade, overlooking the modern city of Izama! and the surrounding country to a great distance. On 
 the side of a mound about two hundred feet long, and which formerly had stone and stucco ornaments from one end to tlie other, is tlie 
 Colossal Head— |)crhaps of some deity— represented in the plate : it is seven feet eight inches in height, and seven feet in width. A stone, 
 one foot six inelit's long, protrudes from the chin, intended perhaps for burning copal on. 
 
IDOL AT CUI'AN.