Often, in entering the disturbed villages of Central America, among intoxicated Indians and swaggering white men, all armed, Mr. Stevens felt a degree of uneasiness. The faces that looked upon him seemed scowling and suspicious; he always apprehended insult, and frequently was not disappointed. But the Yucatecos looked at him with curiosity, without distrust; every face bore a welcome, and gave him a friendly greeting.

A stranger on his first arrival in the country is at a loss where to place the Indian in the scale of social life. He sees him mingling with the whites without distinction. To have Indian blood is no reproach; but there is an appearance of apathy in his looks and actions, which seems to carry with it the signs of a broken, or at least a subdued spirit resting upon him like a melancholy vision, a dreamy remembrance of better days. Their features remind one of those of the Asiatic more than of any other. Their stature is short and thick-set, having but little resemblance to that of the North American Indian. It is said they have no pastimes except the fiestas of superstition. They seldom dance or sing. Their leisure hours are spent in the hammocks, or else in silently squatting about the corners of the streets. They wear the outside show of freedom, but are degraded to the condition of serfs. Always in debt, and their creditors, by the law of the land, have a claim upon their services until their debts are cancelled. Originally portioned out as slaves, the Indians remain as servants. Veneration for masters is the first lesson they learn, and these masters, the descendants of the terrible conquerors, in centuries of uninterrupted peace, have lost all the fierceness of their ancestors.

The attachment of the Indian to his home is a striking feature of his character. He is rarely harsh to his wife, and the devotion of the wife to her husband is always a subject of remark. They share each other's pleasures, as well as their labours; go up together with all their children to some village fiesta, and one of the most afflicting incidents in their lot is a necessity that takes the husband from his home. When a death occurs in a family, the neighbours assemble, as at an Irish wake; but, in some respects, the ceremony is different in the case of grown-up persons, and that of children. In the latter, as they believe that a child is without sin, and that God takes it immediately to himself, the death is a subject of rejoicing, and the night is passed in card-playing, jesting, and story-telling. But in the case of grown-up persons, as they are not so sure what becomes of the spirit, they have no jesting, or story-telling, and only play cards. Mr. Stevens adds the generous reflection, "that though all this seems unfeeling enough, yet we must not judge others by rules known only to ourselves. Whatever the ways of hiding or expressing it, the stream of natural affection runs deep in every bosom."

Grains of cacao (chocolate) circulate among the Indians as money. Every merchant, or vender of eatables, has a pile of these grains, which they are constantly counting and exchanging with the Indians. There is no copper money in Yucatan; silver is the basis of the circulation, of which the Spanish sixpence is the smallest coin. 250 grains of cacao are considered equal to the sixpence; of these, five grains are the smallest amount ever received in trade. This curious currency has always a real value, and is regulated by the quantity of cacao in the market. But its use illustrates a page in the history of the country. When the Spaniards first made their way into the interior of Yucatan, they found no gold or silver, or any other species of metal coins, but only grains of cacao; and it is a strange circumstance that while the inanners and customs of the Indians have undergone an immense change, while their cities have been destroyed, their religion dishonoured, their princes swept away, and their whole government modified by foreign laws, no experiment has yet been made upon their currency.

The same native language is in use throughout the whole peninsula, and is spoken even by the whites. It is called the Maya tongue; it is very barren of expression, and, to a stranger, difficult of pronunciation. The Maya now spoken, partakes very little of the ancient language of the country, more especially in the neighbourhood of large cities and towns. The ancient inhabitants are well known to have been far advanced in civilization when first discovered. Their calendars have been deciphered, and their

In some of the provinces of the Mexican Confederacy, pieces of soap pass as a circulating medium, and lose none of their estimated value by a few washings.

astronomical symbols have been identified with those of the Mexicans. They had also their picture-writings, called analshes, which were executed upon the bark of trees, folded up in the same shape as books. But they had no written language. The idioms now in use were put into their present shape by their conquerors, from sounds representing things, gathered from the lips of the Indians.

MODERN CITIES OF YUCATAN.

The country is divided into five districts, namely, that of Campeachy to the westward, Izamal northward, Merida, which lies in the north-west corner, Valladolid in the northeast, and Tekax in the centre, southerly. Each district has a chief city of the same name.

In

We have already mentioned the early foundation of MERIDA. Its present population is about twenty-three thousand. It stands upon a great plain of limestone rock, and the temperature and climate are very uniform. The general aspect of the city is Moorish, as it was built at a time when the Moorish style prevailed in Spanish architecture. The houses are large, generally of stone, one story high, with balconies to the windows, and large courtyards. In the centre of the city is a great square of about six hundred feet. Eight streets lead from this square, two in the direction of each cardinal point. The streets are distinguished in a manner peculiar to Yucatan. the angle of the corner house, and on the top, stands a painted wooden figure of an elephant, a bull, a flamingo, or some other visible object, and the street is called by the name of this object. On one corner there is the figure of an old woman with large spectacles on her nose, and that is called the street of the old woman. As the great mass of the inhabitants are unable to read, lettered signs would have been of no use; but every Indian knows the sign of an elephant, a bull, or a flamingo. The middle of the street is the lowest, forming a passage to carry off the water. Candles are used for lighting the city; but, of course, for that purpose are almost useless.

The distinguishing character of Merida, as of all the cities of Spanish America, is in its churches. The cathedral is a structure that would attract the attention of the

traveller in any part of the world. It has well-proportioned domes, pinnacles, turrets, and lofty windows, and occupies, with the bishop's palace, one entire side of the large square. All religions are tolerated; but the Roman Catholic is protected.

The city of CAMPEACHY has not the clean appearance o. Merida, owing to the extreme humidity that accompanies the sea winds; but it displays more wealth and taste. The streets are narrow and irregular, and have a natural pavement of flat stone, which is much broken, and makes an exceedingly rough route for carriages. Campeachy is built entirely of a calcareous hewn stone, and stands upon a foundation of the same material. This rock extends throughout the whole peninsula, retreating from the sea-shore with a gradual elevation, until it reaches the height of five hundred feet, the level of Sierra Alta, near Tekax. It was this stony deposit from some primæval ocean that furnished material before the conquest, for the construction of those stupendous temples, and other magnificent buildings, that now constitute the ruins of the country.

Campeachy rests upon a subterranean cavern, supposed to have served the original inhabitants as catacombs for their dead.

VALLADOLID was founded at an early period of the conquest, and was built in a style commensurate with the It bears the marks of lofty pretension of the conquerors. ancient grandeur, but is now going to decay. The roads leading to it, and the very streets, are overgrown with bushes. The public and largest buildings are all more or less dilapidated. The same melancholy tokens are visible in the private houses. In the principal street stand large buildings, roofless, without windows, or doors, and with grass and bushes growing from crevices in the walls; while, here and there, as if in mockery of human pride, a tottering front has blazoned upon it the coat of arms of some proud Castilian, distinguished among the daring soldiers of the conquest, whose race is now entirely unknown.

The number of inhabitants in Valladolid is estimated at about fifteen thousand. The place is noted throughout the peninsula for the salubrity of its climate; and no better evidence need be adduced, than the simple fact of there not being a single doctor, or apothecary, in the whole district.

IZAMAL is celebrated throughout Yucatan for its fair. As in the other towns, the principal feature is its church, which is built upon an artificial and ancient elevation. In the turret, Mr. Norman discovered a rare piece of mechanism-a live Indian stationed beside the clock to strike the hours. The view of Izamal, with its elevated church, and the flat-rooted Moorish houses, with the trees of the tropics interspersed, and the tall cocoa, varying the surface of the extended country in the distance, presents a charming scene rarely to be met with in Yucatan.

The streets

TEKAX stands at the foot of a mountain. are wide, the houses large and in fine order. There is an appearance of life and business in the city which distinguishes it from the listless character of the preceding places. These five cities, Merida, Campeachy, Valladolid, Izamal, and Tekax, will serve as so many fixed points from which we will now proceed to investigate the antiquities of Yucatan. RUINS OF MAYAPAN.

Mayapan, the capital of the fallen kingdom of Maya, lies ten leagues to the south-east of Merida. According to the best accounts, the region of country now called Yucatan, was known to the natives, at the time of the Spanish invasion, by the name of Maya. The name Yucatan was given by the Spaniards, but the origin of the word is not exactly known. The natives to this day call their land by the softer name of Maya. One language, called the Maya, extended throughout the whole peninsula; and though the country, at the time of its conquest, was split into petty lordships, at an earlier period of its history the whole land of Maya was united under one head. This great chief held the populous city of Mayapan as the seat of the government. The tributary lords threw off their yoke about one hundred years before the arrival of the Europeans, and destroyed the city of Mayapan. The remains of the wall that encompassed the place, can still be traced at intervals through the woods. The main feature of the ruins is an artificial mound, 60 feet high, and 100 feet square at the base, overgrown with trees, but retaining its original proportions. Four grand staircases, each 25 feet wide, ascended to an esplanade within six feet of the summit, and from this the top was reached by smaller steps. These led to a plain stone platform, 15 feet square, and was probably the mound of sacrifice, on which the priests, in the sight of the assembled people, cut out the hearts of human victims.

Mr. Stevens, after a careful exploration of both, concluded that the ruins of Mayapan bear the same general character as those at Uxmal. They were erected by the same builders, but are, probably, of older date, and have suffered more from the corrosion of the elements, or been visited more harshly by the destroying hand of man.

UXMAL.

Further particulars respecting this city were obtained by Mr. Stevens during his second visit, which will complete the description given in the foregoing volume. Uxmal formed the centre of a dispersed and scattered population, who resorted to it for the observance of pagan rites at a distance from the eyes of the Spaniards, for one hundred and forty years after the foundation of Merida. Nothing whatever is known concerning its earlier history. Its name signifies "times past," in the Maya tongue.

The soil about Uxmal is rich, principally of red sandy loam, capable of producing corn, tobacco, and almost any other produce that the limited industry of its inhabitants may be disposed to cultivate. The face of the land is somewhat undulating. There are ponds in the vicinity, which together with the rank vegetation that borders them, produce considerable sickness during the autumnal months. It was, probably, on account of its insalubrity, that the Spaniards founded no city in the neighbourhood, which rendered it the last stronghold of native superstition.

So rapid is vegetation in Yucatan, that structures which were bare at the time of Mr. Stevens' first visit, were now covered with high grass, bushes, and young trees twenty feet in height. "Vines were rioting on the façades, and mounds, terraces, and ruins were a mass of destroying verdure. A strong and vigorous nature was struggling for mastery over art, wrapping the city in its suffocating embraces, and burying it from sight. It seemed as if the grave was closing over a friend, and we had arrived barely in time to take our farewell. Another cause of the deSee Saturday Magazine, Vol. XXI., p. 178.

struction of the ruins is the superstition of the Indians, who believe that all the ornaments are animated and walk at night. In the daytime it is thought they can do no harm, and for ages, the Indians have been in the habit of breaking and disfiguring them, for the purpose of quieting their | wandering spirits."

The long, low, and narrow building, called the Casa del Gubernador, is constructed entirely of stone. Up to the cornice, which runs round it, and along its whole length, the façade presents a smooth surface; above it is one solid mass of rich, complicated, and elaborately sculptured ornaments. The grandest ornament, which imparts a richness to the whole façade, is over the centre door-way. It shows the remaining portion of a figure seated on a throne, from whose lofty head-dress proceed enormous plumes of pendent feathers. The roof is flat, and had been covered with cement. The walls are of the most durable kind of limestone, and the finish of the angles of the blocks is as smooth as if the material had been cut with a sharp knife. The back wall, throughout its whole length of 270 feet, is nine feet thick of solid masonry. The ceiling forms a kind of triangular arch without the key-stone. Next to the building itself, and hardly less extraordinary and imposing, are the three great terraces which hold it aloft, and give it the grandeur of its position.

At the northermost corner of the platform of the second terrace of the Casa del Gubernador, stands the House of the Turtles, so called from a bead-work of turtles running round the cornice. This building has a frontage of 94 feet long and 34 feet deep. It wants the rich and gorgeous decorations of the former structure, but is distinguished for its neatness and beauty of proportions, and its chasteness and simplicity of ornament. The interior is filled up with the ruins of the roof, which had lately fallen in. With a few more returns of the rainy season it will be destroyed, and, perhaps, in the whole continent of America, there will be no such monument of the purity and simplicity of aboriginal art.

On a line with the back of the Casa del Gubernador, rises a high and nameless mound. It was covered with trees and a thick growth of herbage, which gave a gloomirity, and a single belt of sculptured stones barely visible at ness to its grandeur of proportions, and but for its regulathe top, it would have passed for a wooded and grass-grown hill. Its vast sides were all cased with stone, in some places highly ornamented, but completely hidden from view by the foliage. The height of this mound is 65 feet, and it measured at the base 300 feet by 200 feet. On the top was a platform of solid stone, three feet high, and 75 feet square. The great structure seemed raised only for the purpose of holding aloft this platform. Probably it had been the scene of grand religious ceremonies. It commands a full view of every other building. From it, alone, is fully felt the sublimity of these mysterious ruins. The House of the Nuns, at Uxmal', is quadrangular, with a court yard in the centre. It stands on the highest of three terraces. Its front is 279 feet long, and above the cornices, from one end to the other, it is ornamented with sculpture. In the centre is a gateway 10 feet wide, spanned by a triangular arch, and leading to a court-yard. On each side of this gateway are four doorways, opening to apartments averaging 24 feet long, 10 feet wide, and 17 feet high to the top of the arch, but having no communication with each other. The building that forms the right or eastern side of the quadrangle, is 158 feet long; that on the left, is 173 feet long, and the range at the end of the quadrangle, measures 264 feet. These three ranges of buildings have no doorways outside, but the exterior of each is a dead wall, and above the cornice, all are ornamented with the same rich and elaborate sculpture.

Passing through the arched gateway, we enter a noble court-yard, with four great façades looking down upon it, each ornamented from one end to the other with the most intricate carving known in the art of the builders of Uxmal, presenting a scene of strange magnificence, surpassing any that is now seen among its ruins. The whirring flight of the quail alone disturbed the silence and desolation of the place. The façade to the left of the visiter, entering the court-yard, was the most richly ornamented. It is 173 feet long, and is distinguished by two colossal serpents entwined, running through and encompassing all the ornaments throughout its whole length. A portion of this range is represented in the first engraving in our present number. The p. 174.

• See Saturday Magazine, Vol. XXI.,

tail of one serpent is held nearly over the head of the other; the extremity of the tail is marked, probably to indicate a rattlesnake, with which species of serpent the country abounds. The lower serpent has its monstrous jaws open, and within them is a human head, the face of which is distinctly visible on the stone. The bodies of the serpents are covered with feathers. So late as the year 1835 this superb façade stood entire; the serpents were seen encircling every ornament in the building.

The façade at the end of the court-yard, and fronting the gate of entrance, stands on a terrace 20 feet high. The ascent is by a grand but ruined staircase 95 feet wide. It has thirteen door-ways, over each of which arose a perpendicular turret-like wall intended to add to the grandeur and effect of the composition. The whole great façade, including the turrets, four of which remain, is crowded with complicated and elaborate sculpture, conveying an idea of vastness and magnificence rather than of taste and refinement. The façade upon the right of the court-yard is the most entire. It is, too, the most chaste and simple in design and orna-ment. All these façades were painted; traces of the colour are still visible, and the reader may imagine what the effect must have been when all this building was complete, and according to its supposed design, in its now desolate doorways stood noble Maya maidens, like the vestal virgins of the Romans, to cherish and keep alive the sacred fire burning in the temples.

From the House of the Nuns the traveller descends to the House of the Dwarf, or House of the Diviner. This is not exactly pyramidal, for though it diminishes as it rises, its ends are rounded. A representation of this structure accompanies the present paper. At the height of 60 feet is a solid projecting platform, on which stands a long and narrow building laden with ornaments more rich and elaborate and carefully executed, than those of any other edifice in Uxmal. A great doorway opens upon the platform. The emblems of life and death appear on the walls in close juxta-position, confirming the belief of the existence of the worship practised by the Egyptians and all other eastern nations as prevalent among the people of Uxmal. Without doubt this lofty building was the great temple of idols worshipped by the people, and consecrated by their most mysterious rites.

"The high priest, upon the occasion of sacrifice, had in his hand a broad and sharp knife made of flint. Another priest carried a wooden collar wrought like a snake. The persons to be sacrificed were conducted one by one up the steps, naked, and as soon as laid on the stone had the collar put upon their necks, and the four priests took hold of the hands and feet. Then the high priest with wonderful dexterity ripped up the breast, tore out the heart, reeking, with his hands, and showed it to the sun, offering him the heart and steam that came from it."

The body of the slaughtered victim was then hurled down the steep stairs of the pyramid, and the mutilated remains were gathered up by the savages beneath, who prepared with them a cannibal repast to complete the work

of abomination.

ZAYI.

Not many leagues from Uxmal, in the south-easterly direction, are the ruins of Zayi, or Salli. These are situated in the midst of a succession of beautiful hills, forming around them, on every side, an enchanting landscape. An immense pile of white stone, called by the Indians the Casa Grande, adds to the loneliness that surrounds them. After felling a vast number of trees which had buried the edifice in obscurity, Mr. Stevens discovered it to consist of three stories or ranges. In the centre are the remains of a grand staircase, 32 feet wide, rising to the platform of the highest terrace. The lowest of the three ranges is 265 feet in front, by 120 in depth. It had sixteen doorways opening into apartments of two chambers each. The branches of fallen trees so encumbered the interior, that after these had been chopped in pieces and beaten down with poles, only a small portion of it could be seen. The doorways on the second terrace have two columns in each, roughly made with square capitals, resembling those of the Doric order, but wanting the grandeur that belongs to Grecian architecture. The two lower ranges had been elaborately ornamented with sculpture, the third and highest being plain. The top of this building commands a grand view of the undulating woodlands.

Towards the north-west, crowning the highest hill, was a lofty mount covered with trees, and the remains of ruins. In front of the Casa Grande, at the distance of 500 yards

stands an edifice which at first sight would appear to be a cotton-factory. It is built upon a terrace, and may be considered as consisting of two separate structures, one above the other. The lower one does not differ from the ranges above described, but along the middle of the roof, unsupported and entirely independent of everything else, rises a perpendicular wall to the height of about 30 feet. It is of stone, two feet in thickness, having oblong openings through it, about two feet long and six inches wide, like small windows. It had been covered with stucco, which had fallen off and left a face of rough stone and mortar. It seemed built merely to puzzle posterity.

About the distance of a mile south-south-west of the Casa Grande, the whole intermediate region being desolate and overgrown, may still be seen upon a large but broken terrace, another range of ruins, 170 feet by 84 feet, which contains sixteen apartments. And probably other buildings lie buried in the woods.

The very name of Zayi, till Mr. Stevens' visit, had not been uttered among civilized men, and was unknown in Merida. It was strange and almost incredible that with these extraordinary ruins before them the natives never bestowed upon them one passing thought. The question who built them never appears to have crossed their minds. The great name of Montezuma*, which had gone beyond them to the Indians of Honduras, had never reached their ears, and to every question the same dull answer was received, Quien sabe? Who knows? They, however, believe them haunted, and said that on Good Friday of every year music was heard among the ruins.

RUINS AROUND TICUL.

A little to the south of Mayapan lies the modern Ticul, from the towers of whose church it is said can be counted in the dry season, when the trees are bare of foliage, as many as thirty-six pyramidal mounds, every one of which had once held aloft some building or temple. The ruins that stand nearest to the village of Ticul have served for generations as a quarry to furnish the inhabitants with building stone, and are consequently too dilapidated to be described. The remains of Uxmal had been searched in vain for ancient sepulchres, but the inquiry was continued with success at Ticul. An entire stone structure, with sides four feet high, was selected for inspection by Mr. Stevens. The inner side of the outer wall and the whole interior was found to be composed of loose earth and stones, with some layers of large flat stones, very roughly put together. After much labour a skeleton was discovered. It had no covering or envelope of any kind; the earth had been thrown in upon it as in a common grave, and as this was removed, the skeleton fell to pieces. It was in a sitting posture, with its face towards the setting sun. The knees were bent against the stomach, the arms doubled from the elbows, and the hands clasping the neck or supporting the head. "It was strangely interesting," says Mr. Stevens, "with the ruined structures towering around us, after a lapse of unknown ages, to bring to light these buried bones. Whose were they? The Indians were excited, and conversed in low tones. They are the bones of our kinsman,' said they, and 'What will our kinsman say at our dragging forth his bones?" "

In collecting the fragments of the skeleton, one of the Indians picked up a small white object, which would have escaped any but an Indian's eye. It was made of deer's horn, about two inches long, sharp at the point, with an eye at the other end. They all called it a needle, and the reason of their immediate and unhesitating opinion was the fact that the Indians of the present day use needles of the same material. One of the Indians jocosely said that the skeleton was either that of a woman, or a tailor.

The position of these human remains was not in the centre of the sepulchre, but on one side, and opposite to them, but separated by a mass of stone, was found a large vase of rude pottery. The state of preservation of the bones completely destroys all idea of the extreme antiquity of the buildings. Upon anatomical examination, the skeleton proved to be that of a female of adult age. The bones of the hands and feet were remarkably small, and delicately proportioned. The skull was very flattened at the back, and of great breadth. Some mummies from Peru have been found to have the same peculiarly-formed skull, which is supposed to have been produced artificially by mechanical pressure during infancy; a similar custom being prevalent among a living tribe of North American Indians. The * See Saturday Magazine, Vol. VI., p. 42.

Peruvian mummies had likewise the same remarkable delicacy of the hands and feet with the skeleton found at Ticul. Dr. Morton, an American physician, who made these comparisons, examined nearly four hundred skulls of individuals belonging to the ancient nations of Mexico and Peru, and of skulls dug from the mounds in the western districts of the United States. He found them all formed upon the same model, and conforming in a remarkable degree to the skeleton of Ticul.

This

In the ecclesiastical district of Chemax, which is situated to the east of Valladolid, and sixteen leagues from the coast, the Indians, while engaged in excavating some ancient mounds for stone for building, found three skeletons, but all unfortunately so much decayed, that in attempting to remove them they fell to pieces. At the head of the skeletons were two large vases of terra-cotta, with covers of the same material. In one of these was a large collection of Indian ornaments, beads, stones, and two carved shells. The carving on the shells is in bas-relief, and very perfect. The other vase was filled nearly to the top with arrowheads, not of flint, but of obsidian, which is a natural volcanic glassy substance. As there are no volcanoes in Yucatan from which obsidian can be procured, the discovery of these proves intercourse with the volcanic regions of Mexico. But beside these, and more interesting and important than all, on the top of these arrow-heads lay a penknife with a horn handle. The horn handle was much decayed, and the iron or steel was worn and rusted. penknife could never have been made in the country. How came it in an Indian sepulchre? Mr. Stevens answers, that when the fabrics of Europe and this country came together, the white man and the red man had met. The figures carved on the shells, which are similar to some representations on the vase found in the sepulchre of Ticul, identify the crumbling bones with the builders of those mysterious cities that now lie shrouded in the forest, and those bones were laid in their grave after a penknife had found its way from Europe into Yucatan. The inference is reasonable, if not irresistible, that at the time of the conquest, and afterward, the Indians were actually living in and occupying those very cities on whose remains we now gaze with wonder. A penknife (one of the petty presents distributed by the Spaniards,) reached the hands of a cacique, who, far removed from the capital, died in his native town, and was buried with the rites and ceremonies transmitted by his fathers. A penknife is at this day an object of curiosity and admiration among the Indians, and perhaps in the whole of Yucatan there is not one in the hands of a native. At the time of the conquest it was doubtless considered precious, worthy of being buried with the heirlooms of its owner, and of accompanying him to the world of spirits. THE RUINS OF KABAH,

Lying to the east of Uxmal, were first visited by Mr. Stevens. The first object that commands the traveller's eye is a grand, picturesque, and ruined pyramid, covered by trees, and towering above every other structure in the plain. It is about 180 feet square at the base, and rises to the height of 80 feet. The steps are all fallen, and the sides present a surface of loose stones, difficult to climb, except on one side, where the ascent is rendered practicable by the aid of trees. The top offers a grand view.

One

At the distance of 300 or 400 yards is a terrace 20 feet high, the edge of which is overgrown with trees. The top of this forms a platform 200 feet high, and 142 feet deep, on the right of which stands a lofty ruined structure. immense wall runs from the back of this ruin perpendicular to the bottom of the terrace; and in the centre of the platform a range of 20 stone steps, 40 feet wide, leads to another terrace, on which is raised an extraordinary rich and ornamental façade. The ornaments are of the same character with those at Uxmal, alike complicated and incomprehensible, and from the fact that every part of the façade was ornamented with sculpture, even to the portion now buried under the lower cornice, the whole must have presented a greater appearance of richness than any building at Uxmal. The cornice running over the doorways, tried by the severest rules of art, would embellish the architecture of any known era, and amid a mass of barbarism, of rude and uncouth conceptions, stands as an offering by American builders worthy of the acceptance of a polished people.

On the top of this central building is a structure which at a distance, as seen indistinctly through the trees, has the appearance of a second story. To this there was no stair

case or other visible means of communication, either within or without the building. Its use, except for ornament, was not apparent. On both sides of the centre doorway were two other doorways opening into apartments, each of which contained two chambers. At the rear, and under the same roof, were found two corresponding ranges of apartments, the whole edifice forming nearly a square, and covering almost as much ground as the Casa del Gubernador at Uxmal, and probably from its lavish ornament, containing more sculptured stone.

To this building Mr. Stevens gave the name of the First Casa of Kabah. To many of these structures the Indians have applied senseless and unmeaning names, which have no reference to history or tradition. This they call Xcoopoop*, which means a straw hat doubled up; the name having reference to the crushed and flattened condition of the façade and the prostration of the rear of the building.

Springing up beside the front wall was observed an elm, the growth of which well illustrates the rankness of tropical vegetation that is hurrying these interesting ruins to destruction. Its fibres had crept into cracks and crevices, and become shoots and branches, which, as the trunk rose, in struggling to rise with it, unsettled and overturned the wall, and still grew, carrying up large stones fast locked in their embraces, which they held aloft in the air when Mr. Stevens visited the place. At the same time the roots of the elm had girded the foundation wall, and formed the only support of what is left. Great branches overshadowed the whole, and no description can convey a true idea of the ruthless gripe in which these gnarled and twisted roots encircled sculptured stones.

The rapidity of the growth of trees in Yucatan is far beyond the experience of the inhabitants of temperate climates. In front of the burying-ground of San Francisco, near Ticul, stood, at the time of Mr. Stevens' exploration of the ruins, a noble tree, named the seybo tree. The inhabitants said it was only twenty-three years old. Its age was as well known as that of any person in the village. The trunk, at five feet from the ground, measured 174 feet in circumference, and its great branches afforded on all sides a magnificent shade. "This tree," says Mr. Stevens, "confirmed me in my opinion that no correct judgment could be formed as to the antiquity of these buildings from the size of the trees growing upon them." A plantation of seybo trees was afterwards pointed out, which was made by Señor Trego, one of the most energetic and enlightened agriculturists in Yucatan. The oldest of these was of but twelve years' growth, and was more extraordinary for its rapid luxuriance than that of Ticul.

Not far from the First Casa of Kabah stands a building named by our traveller the Second Casa. This, when entire, was perhaps the most imposing structure of the two. It measured at the base 147 by 106 feet, and consisted of three distinct stories, or ranges, one on the roof of the other, the second smaller than the first, and the third smaller than the second, having on each side a broad platform in front. On the side opposite to the rear of the First Casa arose a gigantic stone staircase from the plain to the roof, on which stood the second range of apartments. The steps of this staircase had nearly all fallen, the buildings on the top are ruined, and many of the doorways so encumbered that there was barely room to crawl into them. Two of these doorways are supported by pillars. This was the first time that Mr. Stevens met with pillars used according to the rules of architecture, namely, as a support, and not merely for ornament.

Beyond the Second Casa is to be seen the House of Justice, so called by the Indians. This presents a simple, but not inelegant frontage of 113 feet, and contains five apartments, all perfectly plain. On the opposite side of the First Casa is a lonely arch, having a span of 14 feet, standing upon a ruined mound in solitary grandeur. Darkness rests upon its history, but in that desolation and solitude, among the ruins around, it stood like the proud memorial of a Roman triumph. Perhaps, like the arch of Titus, which at this day spans the Sacred Way at Rome, it was erected to commemorate a victory over enemies.

ricana, with its points as sharp as needles. Two edifices stand against this terrace; the first is 217 feet in length, and has seven doorways in front, all opening into single apartments except the centre one, which had two apartments, each 30 feet long. The other range is 142 feet in front, and 31 feet deep, with double corridors communicating, and a gigantic staircase leading to the roof, on which are the ruins of another building. Under the arch of this grand staircase, two doors lead into two central apartments. The whole wall of that on the right hand was covered with prints of the red Indian hand, as distinct as if but newly made. "Often as I saw this print, it never failed to interest me. It was the stamp of the living hand; it always brought me nearer to the builders of these cities, and at times, amid stillness, desolation, and ruin, it seemed as if from behind the curtain that concealed them from view was extended the hand of greeting."

On a tent presented to the American traveller, Mr. Catlin, by the chief of the powerful, but now extinct tribe of Mandans, in North America, among other marks were two prints of the red hand. The same symbol, it is said, is constantly seen upon the buffalo robes, and skins of wild animals, brought in by the hunters on the Rocky Mountains. In fact, it is a sign recognised, and in common use, by the North American Indians of the present day. It denotes supplication to the Deity, or Great Spirit; and stands in the system of picture-writing as the emblem of strength, power, or mastery derived from above.

All the lintels over the doorways of the building last mentioned, were of wood. That nearest the staircase was finely sculptured. Mr. Stevens removed it to Washington, in the United States, where it perished by accidental fire, together with the whole of his collection of antiquities of Yucatan. It consisted of two beams. The subject of the carving was a human figure standing upon a serpent. The head-dress was a plume of feathers, and the general character of the figure and ornaments was the same with that of the representations found on the walls of Palenque*. The lintel over the corresponding doorway on the other side of the staircase, was still in its place, and in good condition, but perfectly plain, and there was no other sculptured lintel among all the ruins of Kabah.

There is no account of the existence of iron or steel among the aborigines on this continent. The general and well-grounded belief is, that the inhabitants had no knowledge whatever of these metals. How, then, could they carve wood, and that of the hardest kind? Bernal Dias, in his account of the first voyage of the Spaniards along the coast of Guacaulco, in the empire of Mexico, says, "It was a custom of the Indians of this province to carry small hatchets of copper, very bright, and the wooden handles of which were highly painted, as intended both for defence and ornament. These were supposed by us to be gold, and were, of course, eagerly purchased, insomuch that within three days we had amongst us procured above six hundred, and were, while under the mistake, as well pleased with our bargain as the Indians with their green beads." Knives of copper, one of which is alloyed with a small portion of tin, and sufficiently hard to cut wood, have been brought from Peru. Several copper instruments resembling modern chisels, which, it is not improbable, were designed for carving wood, were likewise found in the ancient sepulchres of the same country. It would appear, therefore, most reasonable to conclude that copper was the working material of the Mayas.

Mr. Stevens was prevented by illness from a further examination of the ruins of Kabah. "The fever came on, and I was obliged to dismount and lie down under a bush. Doubtless more ruins lie buried in the woods, and the next visitor, beginning where we left off, if he be at all imbued with interest in this subject, will push his investigations much farther. We were groping in the dark. Since the hour of their desolation and woe came upon them, these buildings had remained unknown. Except the priest, who first informed us of them, perhaps no white man had wandered through their silent chambers."

ZABNA.

* ɔ is a letter like an inverted c reversed; it is peculiar to the Maya language, and very difficult of pronunciation.

doorways, of which one, with eight feet of the whole struc*See Saturday Magazine, Vol. XXI., p. 169.