Chapter IV: Antiquities of Guatemala and Belize (1)

THE STATE OF GUATEMALA -- A LAND OF MYSTERY -- WONDERFUL
REPORTS -- DISCOVERIES COMPARATIVELY UNIMPORTANT -- RUINS
OF QUIRIGUA -- HISTORY AND BIBLIOGRAPHY -- PYRAMID,
ALTARS, AND STATUES -- COMPARISON WITH COPAN -- PYRAMID OF
CHAPULCO -- RELICS AT CHINAMITA -- TEMPLES OF MICLA --
CINACA-MECALLO -- CAVE OF PEÑOL -- CYCLOPEAN DÉBRIS AT
CARRIZAL -- COPPER MEDALS AT GUATEMALA -- ESQUIMATHA --
FORTIFICATION OF MIXCO -- PANCACOYA COLUMNS -- CAVE OF
SANTA MARÍA -- MAMMOTH BONES AT PETAPA -- ROSARIO AQUEDUCT
-- RUINS OF PATINAMIT, OR TECPAN GUATEMALA --
QUEZALTENANGO, OR XELAHUH -- UTATLAN, NEAR SANTA CRUZ DEL
QUICHÉ -- ZAKULÉU NEAR HUEHUETENANGO -- CAKCHIQUEL RUINS
IN THE REGION OF RABINAL -- CAWINAL -- MARVELOUS RUINS
REPORTED -- STEPHENS' INHABITED CITY -- ANTIQUITIES OF
PETEN -- FLORES -- SAN JOSÉ -- CASAS GRANDES -- TOWER OF
YAXHAA -- TIKAL PALACES AND STATUES -- DOLORES --
ANTIQUITIES OF BELIZE.

[Sidenote: GUATEMALA.]

Above the isthmus of Honduras the continent widens abruptly, forming between the Rio Motagua and Laguna de Terminos on the Atlantic, the Rio Paza and bar of Ayutla on the Pacific, a territory which stretches some five hundred and fifty miles from north to south, with a nearly uniform width of two hundred miles from east to west. Dividing this territory into two nearly equal portions by a line drawn near the eighteenth parallel of latitude, the northern part, between the bay of Chetumal and Laguna de Terminos, is the peninsula of Yucatan; while that portion lying south of the dividing line constitutes the republic of Guatemala and the English province of Belize, which latter occupies a strip along the Atlantic from the gulf of Amatique northward. The Pacific coast of Guatemala for an average width of seventy miles is low and unhealthy, with few inhabitants in modern, as, judging from the absence of material relics, in ancient times. Then comes a highland tract which contains the chief towns and most of the white population of the modern republic; succeeded by the yet wilder and more mountainous regions of Totonicapan and Vera Paz, chiefly inhabited by comparatively savage and unsubdued aboriginal tribes; from which we descend, still going northward towards Yucatan, into the little-explored lake region of Peten. At the time of its conquest by the Spaniards, Guatemala was the seat of several powerful aboriginal kingdoms, chief among which were those of the Quichés and Cakchiquels. They fought long and desperately in defence of their homes and liberty, and when forced to yield before Spanish discipline and arms, the few survivors of the struggle either retired to the inaccessible fastnesses of the northern highlands, or remained in sullen forced submission to their conquerors in the homes of their past greatness--the aboriginal spirit still unbroken, and the native superstitious faith yielding only nominally to Catholic power and persuasion. Here and in the adjoining state of Chiapas the natives probably retain to the present day their original character with fewer modifications than elsewhere in the Pacific States.

By reason of the peculiar nature of the country, the grandeur of its mountain scenery, the existence of large tracts almost unknown to white men, the desperate struggles of its people for independence, their wild and haughty disposition, and their strange and superstitious traditions, Guatemala has always been a land of mystery, particularly to those who delight in antiquarian speculations. A residence at Rabinal in close contact with the native character in its purest state first started in the mind of the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg the train of thought that has since developed into his most startling and complicated theories respecting American antiquity; and Guatemala has furnished also many of the documents on which these theories rest. Few visitors have resisted the temptation to indulge in speculative fancies or to frame far-reaching theories respecting ancient ruins or possibly flourishing cities hidden from the explorer's gaze in the depths of Guatemalan forests and mountains.

And yet this mysterious land, promising so much, has yielded to actual exploration only comparatively trifling results in the form of material relics of antiquity. The ruins scattered throughout the country are indeed numerous, but with very few exceptions, besides being in an advanced state of dilapidation, they are manifestly the remains of structures destroyed during the Spanish conquest. Important as proving the accuracy of the reported power and civilization of the Quichés and Cakchiquels, and indirectly of the Aztecs in Anáhuac, where few traces of aboriginal structures remain for our study, they are still unsatisfactory to the student who desires to push his researches back into the more remote American past.

[Sidenote: RUINS OF QUIRIGUA.]

Beginning with the province of Chiquimula, bordering on Honduras and composed for the most part of the valley of the Motagua and its tributaries, the first ruin of importance, one of the exceptions noted above to the general character of Guatemalan antiquities, is found at Quirigua, fifty miles north-east of Copan, on the north side of the Motagua, about sixty miles above its mouth, and ten miles below Encuentros where the royal road, so called, from Yzabal to Guatemala crosses the river. The stream is navigable for small boats to a point opposite the ruins, which are in a cedar-forest on low moist ground nearly a mile from the bank.[IV-1] Our only knowledge respecting this ancient city comes through Mr Catherwood and Dr Scherzer. The former, traveling with Mr Stephens, visited the locality in 1840 in company with the Señores Payes, proprietors of the estate on which the ruins stand, and by his description Quirigua first was made known to the world. Mr Stephens, on hearing Catherwood's report, entered into negotiations with the owners of the land for its purchase, with a view to shipping the monuments to New York, their location on the banks of a navigable stream being favorable for the execution of such a purpose; but the interference of a European official so raised the market value of ancient real estate that it was found necessary to abandon the scheme. Dr Karl Scherzer's visit was in 1854, and his account, published in the Transactions of the Royal Austrian Academy of Science, and also reprinted in pamphlet form, is the most extensive and complete extant.[IV-2] Nothing like a thorough exploration has been made even in comparison with those of Copan and other Central American ruins; but monuments and fragments thus far brought to light are found scattered over a space of some three thousand square feet, on the banks of a small creek which empties into the Motagua. The site is only very slightly elevated above the level of the river, and is consequently often flooded in times of high water; indeed, during a more than ordinary freshet in 1852, after Mr Catherwood's visit, several idols were undermined and overthrown. No aboriginal name is known for the locality, Quirigua being merely that of a small village at the foot of Mount Mico, not far distant. There being no plan extant by which to locate the different objects to be mentioned in this old centre of civilization, I will give the slight descriptions obtainable, with very slight reference to their arrangement, beginning with the pyramid which seems to occupy a somewhat central position round which the other relics are grouped. Catherwood's description of this structure is limited to the statement that it is "like those at Copan, with the steps in some places perfect," and twenty-five feet high. Scherzer's account only adds that it is constructed of neatly cut sandstone in regular oblong blocks, and is very much ruined, hardly more, in fact, than a confused mass of fragments, among which were found some pieces of fine white marble. But under this structure there is, it seems, a foundation, an artificial hill, or mound, of rough stones without mortar. The base is an irregular square, the dimensions of which are not stated, with a spur extending toward the south. The steps which lead up the sides to the super-imposed structure are only eight or nine inches high and six or seven inches in width, remaining intact only at a few points. In the upper part of the mound are two or three terraces, on the first of which several recesses, or niches, of no great extent are noticed; they are lined with small rough stones, plastered, and in a good state of preservation, details which indicated to the observer that these niches may be of more modern origin than the rest of the ruin. There are no traces of openings to show that the hill contained underground apartments; neither are there any sculptures on the hewn stones of the pyramid itself, nor any idols or carved fragments found on the surface of the mound.

Very near the foot of the mound Mr Catherwood found a moss-covered colossal head six feet in diameter, and a large altar, both relics being within an enclosure.[IV-3] Scherzer also describes several monuments near the pyramid, some of which may be identical with the ones mentioned by Catherwood, although he says nothing of an enclosure. The first is a stone of a long oval form like a human head, six feet high and thirty-five feet in circumference, the surface being covered with carved figures in demi-relief, which for some reason have been better preserved and present clearer outlines than other carvings at Quirigua. One of the most clearly defined of these sculptures represents a sitting female, whose legs and hands are wanting, but whose arms hang down to the ground. A prominent feature is her head-dress, sixteen inches high, the upper part of which is an idol's head crowned with a diadem. The forehead is described as narrow, depressed above and projecting below. The features are indistinct, but the form of the head is of what Scherzer terms the Indian type. On the south side of this block, or altar, is the rude figure of a turtle five feet high. The top is covered with ornamental figures representing plants and fruits, all the varieties there delineated being such as still flourish in this region. The sides bear also faint indications of hieroglyphics. Dr Scherzer believes that the stone used in the construction of this altar must have been found on the spot, since by reason of its great size it could not have been brought from a distance with the aid of any mechanical appliances known to native art.[IV-4] The second of these monuments is like a mill-stone, four feet in diameter and two feet thick, cut from harder material than the other objects. A tiger's head nearly covers one side of the disk, and the rest of the surface, including the rim, is covered with hieroglyphics, several of these mysterious signs appearing on the animal's forehead. The third of the relics found near the pyramid is a fragment eighteen feet long and five feet wide, the upper portion having disappeared. The human face appears at different points among its hieroglyphics and ornaments.

[Sidenote: STATUES OF QUIRIGUA.]

Three or four hundred yards northward from the mound, and at the foot of a 'pyramidal wall,' concerning which we have no information beyond the mention of its existence, is a group of sculptured idols, pillars, or obelisks, standing in the forest like those in the sacred enclosure at Copan. Indeed, they bear a strong resemblance to the latter, except in their greater height and less elaborate sculpture, which is also in lower relief. Twelve of them are definitely mentioned, the smallest of which is nine feet high, and the largest twenty-six feet above ground, increasing in size toward the top, leaning twelve feet out of the perpendicular, and requiring, of course, some six or eight feet below the surface to sustain its weight in such a position.[IV-5] They are from two to three feet thick and four to six feet wide. In most instances a human face, male or female, appears on the front or back or both; while the sides are covered for the most part with hieroglyphics, which are also seen on various parts of the dress and ornaments. One statue is, however, mentioned, which, although crowded with ornaments, has no character, apparently, of hieroglyphic nature. One of the idols, twenty-three feet high, stands on a stone foundation projecting some fifteen feet; and another, circular instead of rectangular in form, rests on a small mound, within a wall of stones enclosing a small circular area.[IV-6] In one the human figure has a head-dress of which an animal's head forms a prominent part, while in yet another the head is half human and half animal. In both cases the aim of the artist would seem to have been to inspire terror, as in the case of some Nicaraguan idols already noticed. Mr Catherwood made sketches of two of the obelisks, including the leaning one, the largest of all; but as he could not clean them of moss in the limited time at his disposal, he makes no attempt to give the details of sculpture, and a reproduction of the plates is therefore not deemed necessary. The two monuments sketched by him could not be found at all by Dr Scherzer. The Quirigua idols have not, like those at Copan, altars in front of them, but several altars, or apparently such, were found buried in moss and earth, and not carefully examined by either of the explorers. They are usually of round or oval form, with hieroglyphically inscribed sides; and one of them, within the circular wall with steps, already mentioned as enclosing one of the statues,[IV-7] is described as supported by two colossal heads. Many fragments were noticed which are not described; and here as elsewhere monuments superior to any seen were reported to exist by enthusiastic guides and natives; in which latter class of antiquities are eleven square columns higher than those mentioned, and also a female holding a child, and an alligator's head in stone.[IV-8] The material of all the stone work of Quirigua is a soft coarse-grained sandstone, not differing materially, so far as I can judge, from that employed at Copan. It is the prevalent formation at both localities, and may be quarried readily at almost any point in the vicinity.

Absolutely no traditions have been preserved respecting Quirigua in the days when its monuments were yet intact, when a large town, which has left no traces, must have stood in the immediate vicinity.[IV-9] The idols scattered over the surface of the ground, instead of being located on the pyramids, may indicate here as at Copan that the elevations served as seats for spectators during the religious ceremonies, rather than as temples or altars on which sacrifice was made. Both observers agree on the general similarity between the monuments of Quirigua and Copan,[IV-10] and the hieroglyphics are pronounced identical. Indeed, it seems altogether probable that they owe their existence to the same era and the same people. Mr Stephens notes, besides the greater size and lower relief of the Quirigua monuments, that they are "less rich in design, and more faded and worn, probably being of a much older date." Dr Scherzer speaks of the greater plumpness of the sculptured figures, and has no faith in their great antiquity, believing that the low-relief carvings on so soft a material, would, when exposed in an atmosphere so moist, have been utterly obliterated in a thousand years.[IV-11]

[Sidenote: CHAPULCO AND CHINAMITA.]

At Chapulco, a few leagues below Quirigua, on the opposite side of the Motagua, one traveler speaks of a quadrilateral pyramid with terraced sides, up which steps lead to the summit platform, where débris of hewn stone are enveloped in a dense vegetation. Also at Chinamita, some sixteen miles above Quirigua on the same side of the river, the same authority reports a large area covered with aboriginal relics, in the form of ruined stone structures, vases and idols of burned clay, and monoliths buried for the most part in the earth. Of course, with this meagre information, it is impossible to form any definite idea of what these ruins really are, and whether they should be classed with Quirigua and Copan, or with a more modern class of Guatemalan antiquities. The same remark will apply also to many of the localities of this state, of whose relics we have no description in detail.[IV-12]

At Micla, or Mimilla, some three leagues north of lake Guijar, or Uxaca, which is on the boundary between Guatemala and Salvador, traces of a sacred town with its cues and temples are spoken of as visible in 1576. They are represented as of the class erected by the Pipiles who occupied the region at the time of the conquest.[IV-13]

[Sidenote: CINACA-MECALLO.]

Still farther south-west towards the coast, a few miles south, of Comapa, are the ruins of Cinaca-Mecallo, a name said to mean 'knotted rope.' The Rio Paza here forms the boundary line between the two states, and from its northern bank rises abruptly a mountain chain. On the summit, at a point commanding a broad view over a large portion of Salvador, is a plain of considerable extent, watered by several small mountain streams, which unite and fall over a precipice on the way to the river below. On the highest portion of this summit plain interesting works of the former inhabitants have been discovered by D. José Antonio Urrutia, padre in charge of the church at Jutiapa.[IV-14] The remains of Cinaca-Mecallo cover an oval area formerly surrounded by a wall, of which fragments yet remain sufficient to mark the line originally followed. Within this space are vestiges of streets, ruined buildings, and subterranean passages. Padre Urrutia makes special mention of four monuments. The first is what he terms a temple of the sun, an excavation in the solid rock opening towards the rising sun, and having at its entrance an archway known to the natives as 'stone of the sun,' formed of stone slabs closely joined. On these slabs are carved in low relief figures of the sun and moon, to which are added hieroglyphics painted on the stone with a very durable kind of red varnish. There are also some sculptured hieroglyphic signs on the interior walls of this artificial cavern. The second monument is a great slab covered with carved inscriptions, among which were noted a tree and a skull, emblematic, according to the padre's views, of life and death. Next is mentioned the representation of a tiger or other wild animal cut on the side of a large rock. This monument is, it appears, some distance from the other ruins, and is conjectured by Urrutia to be a commemoration of some historical event, from the fact that the natives still celebrate past deeds of valor by dances, or scenic representations, in which they dress in imitation of different animals. Mr Squier suggests farther that the event thus commemorated may have been a conflict between the Pipiles and the Cakchiquels, in which the latter were driven permanently from this district. The fourth and last of these monuments is one of the subterranean passages which the explorer penetrated until he reached a kind of chamber where were some sculptured blocks. This underground apartment is celebrated among the natives as having been in modern times the resort of a famous robber chief, who was at last brought to bay and captured here in his stronghold. The material employed in all the Cinaca-Mecallo structures is a slate-like stone in thin blocks, joined by a cement which resembles in color and consistence molten lead. Some of the carved blocks were sent by the discoverer as specimens to the city of Guatemala. Outside the walls are tumuli of earth and small stones, with no sculptured fragments. These are supposed to be burial mounds, and to vary in size according to the rank and importance of the personages whose resting-places they mark.

Proceeding now north-eastward to the region lying within a circle of fifty miles about the city of Guatemala as a centre, we have a reported cave on the hacienda of Peñol, perhaps twenty-five miles east of Guatemala, which is said to have been explored for at least a distance of one mile, and is believed by the credulous natives to extend eleven leagues through the mountain to the Rio de los Esclavos. In this cavern, or at least on the same hacienda, if we may credit Fuentes, human bones of extraordinary size were found, including shin-bones about five feet in length. These human relics crumbled on being touched, but fragments were carefully gathered up and sent to Guatemala, since which time nothing is known of them.[IV-15] On the hacienda of Carrizal, some twenty miles north of Guatemala, we hear of cyclopean débris, or masses of great unhewn stones heaped one on another without cement, and forming gigantic walls, which cover a considerable extent of territory on the lofty heights that guard the approaches to the Motagua Valley.[IV-16]

[Sidenote: COPPER MEDALS AND FORTIFICATIONS.]

The immediate vicinity of Guatemala seems not to have yielded any antiquarian relics of importance. M. Valois reports the plain to be studded with mounds which the natives regard as the tombs of their ancestors, which others have searched for treasure, but which he believes to be ant-hills.[IV-17] Ordoñez claims to have found here two pure copper medals, fac-similes one of the other, two inches in diameter and three lines thick, a little heavier than a Mexican peso fuerte, engraved on both sides, as shown in the cut, which I give herewith notwithstanding the fact that this must be regarded as a relic of doubtful authenticity. M. Dupaix noticed an indication of the use of the compass in the centre of one of the sides, the figures on the same side representing a kneeling, bearded, turbaned man, between two fierce heads, perhaps of crocodiles, which appear to defend the entrance to a mountainous and wooded country. The reverse presents a serpent coiled round a fruit-tree, and an eagle--quite as much like a dove or crow or other bird--on a hill. There are, besides, some ornamental figures on the rim, said to resemble those of Palenque, and, indeed, Ordoñez refers the origin of these medals to the founders of that city. He kept one of them and sent the other to the king of Spain in 1794.[IV-18]

About 1860, a stone idol forty inches high was dug up in a yard of the city, where it had been buried fifty years before, having been brought by the natives from a point one hundred and fifty miles distant. Its discovery was mentioned at a meeting of the American Ethnological Society in 1861, by Mr Hicks. The same gentleman also spoke of the reported discovery of a great city in ruins in the province of Esquimatha, buried in a dense forest about fifty-six miles from the city.[IV-19]

A few leagues west of the city are the ruins of Mixco, a fortified town of the natives down to the time of the conquest, mentioned by several authorities but described by none. Fuentes, however, as quoted by Juarros, speaks of a cavern on a small ridge by the side of the ruins. The entrance was a Doric portico of clay about three feet wide and high. A flight of thirty-six stone steps leads down to a room one hundred and twenty feet square, followed by another flight still leading downward. This latter stairway no one has had the courage to fully explore, on account of the tremulous and insecure condition of the ground. Eighteen steps down this second flight, however, is an arched entrance on the right side, to a passage which, after a descent of six steps, has been explored for a distance of one hundred and forty feet. Furthermore, the author tells us there are some extravagant (!) accounts not worthy of implicit belief, and consequently not repeated by him. Hassel states that gigantic bones have been found here, and that the cave is natural, without any artificial improvements whatever.[IV-20]

In this same valley, where the Pancacoya River enters the Xilotepec, Juarros speaks of "a range of columns curiously wrought, with capitals, mouldings, etc.; and a little farther on there are several round cisterns formed in the rock." The cisterns are about four feet in diameter and three feet deep, and may have served originally, as the author remarks, for washing auriferous earths in the search for gold.[IV-21] The Santa María River, near its junction with the Motagua, is said to flow for a long distance underground, and at the entrance to its subterranean channel are reported some carvings, the work of human hands, but from superstitious fears the interior of this bewitched cave has never been explored.[IV-22]

[Sidenote: PETAPA, ROSARIO, AND PATINAMIT.]

Petapa, twelve or fifteen miles southward from Guatemala on Lake Amatitlan is another of the localities where the old authors report the discovery of mammoth human bones, including a tooth as large as a man's two fists. Such reports, where they have any other than an imaginary foundation, may probably result from the finding of animal bones, by which the good padres were deceived into the belief that they had come upon traces of the ancient giants reported in all the native traditions, which did not seem to them unworthy of belief, since they were told elsewhere that "there were giants on the earth in those days."[IV-23]

At Rosario, eight or ten miles south of the same lake, we have a bare mention of a beautiful aqueduct in ruins.[IV-24] Twenty-five or thirty miles west of the lake, at the western foot of the volcano of Fuego, Don José María Asmitia, a Guatemalan official of antiquarian tendencies, reports the discovery on his estate of a well-preserved aqueduct, constructed of hewn stone and mortar, together with nine stone idols each six feet in height. He proposed to make, at an early date, more thorough explorations in that vicinity. Like other explorers he had his theory, although he had not personally seen even the relics on his own estate; deriving the American culture from a Carthaginian source.[IV-25] Farther south on the Pacific lowlands, at a point called Calche, between Escuintla and Suchiltepeques, the Abbé Brasseur speaks of a pyramid cut from solid stone, which had been seen by many Guatemalans.[IV-26]

[Sidenote: RUINS OF PATINAMIT.]

Passing now north-westward to the region lying about Lake Atitlan, and noting that the town of Sololá on the northern lake-shore is said to be built on the ruins of the aboriginal Tecpan Atitlan,[IV-27] we come to the ruins of the ancient Patinamit, 'the city', the Cakchiquel capital. It is near[IV-28] the modern town of Tecpan Guatemala, fifteen miles south-east of the lake, and forty miles north-west of Guatemala. The aboriginal town, to which Brasseur de Bourbourg would assign a very ancient, pre-Toltec origin, was inhabited down to the time when the conquistadores came, and was by them destroyed. With the state of the city as found and described by them, I have, of course, nothing to do in this volume, having simply to record the condition of the ruins as observed at subsequent periods, although in the descriptions extant the two phases of the city's condition are considerably confounded. The remains are found on a level plateau having an area of several square miles, and surrounded by a ravine from one hundred to four hundred feet in depth, with precipitous sides. The plateau is accessible at one point only by a path artificially cut in the side of the barranca, twenty to thirty feet deep, and only wide enough to permit the passage of a single horseman. At the time of Mr Stephens' visit nothing was visible but confused irregular masses, or mounds, of fallen walls, among which, however, could still be made out the foundations of two buildings, one of them fifty by one hundred feet. Two sculptured figures were pointed out by the natives, lying on the ground, on one of which the nose and eyes of some animal were discernible. Fuentes, who wrote in the century following the conquest, observed, during his examination of the city, more definite traces of its former grandeur. Two gates of chay-stone afforded entrance to the narrow passage which led up to the plateau; a coating, or layer, of clay covered the soil to a depth of two feet; and a trench six or eight feet deep, faced with stone and having also a breastwork of masonry three feet high, running north and south across the table, divided the city's site into two portions, inhabited, as is suggested, respectively by the plebeian and aristocratic classes of its original citizens. The street-lines, crossing each other at right angles, were traceable, indicating that the city was regularly laid out in blocks. One of the structures whose foundations were then to be seen was a hundred yards square, besides which there remained the ruins of what is described as a palace, and of several houses. West of the city, on a mound six feet high, was "a pedestal formed of a shining substance, resembling glass." Brasseur also mentions 'vastes souterrains,' which, as usual, he does not deign farther to describe. The modern town is built to a considerable extent, and its streets are paved, with fragments of the hewn stone from Patinamit, which have been carried piece by piece on the backs of natives up and down the sides of the barranca. The aborigines still look with feelings of superstitious respect on this memorial of their ancestral glory, and at times their faithful ears detect the chimes of bells proceeding from beneath the hill. A famous black stone was, in the days of aboriginal independence, an object of great veneration in the Cakchiquel religious rites connected with the fate of prisoners, its shrine being in the depths of a dark ravine near at hand. In Fuentes' time it had been consecrated by the Catholic bishop and placed on the altar of the church. He describes it as of singular beauty and about eighteen inches square. Stephens found it still on the altar, the object of the people's jealous veneration; and when his Spanish companion had, with sacrilegious hand, to the infinite terror of the parish priest, ripped open the cotton sack in which the relic was enveloped, there appeared only a plain piece of ordinary slate measuring ten by fourteen inches. Brasseur de Bourbourg, however, believes that the former visitors were both in error, and that the original black stone was never permitted to fall into the hands of the Spanish unbelievers.[IV-29] At Patzun, a native pueblo near Tecpan Guatemala, two mounds were noticed, but not opened.[IV-30]

Quezaltenango, the aboriginal Xelahuh, is some twenty-five or thirty miles westward from Lake Atitlan. In the days of Quiché power this city was one of the largest and most powerful in the land. I find no evidence that any remains of the town itself are to be seen, though Wappäus speaks of such remains, even classing them with the most ancient type of Guatemalan antiquities. Two fortresses in this vicinity, however, Olintepec and Parrazquin, supposed to have guarded the approaches to Xelahuh, are said to have left some traces of their former strength.[IV-31]

[Sidenote: RUINS OF UTATLAN.]

Thirty miles farther back in the mountains north-eastward from Quezaltenango, toward the confines of Vera Paz, was Utatlan, 'road of the waters,' in the native language Gumarcaah, the Quiché capital and stronghold, at the modern town of Santa Cruz del Quiché. This city was the richest and most magnificent found by the Spaniards south of Mexico, and at the time of its destruction by them was, unlike most aboriginal American towns, in its highest state of prosperity. Slight as are the ruins that remain, they are sufficient to show that the Spanish accounts of the city's original splendor were not greatly exaggerated; this, with the contrasts which these ruins present in the absence of statues, sculpture, and hieroglyphics, and in other respects, when compared with those of Quirigua and Copan, constitutes their chief importance in archæological investigations. Like Patinamit, Utatlan stood on a plateau, or mesa, bounded by a deep ravine on every side, a part of which ravine is believed to be of artificial construction. The barranca can only be crossed and the site of the city reached at one point, from the south-east. Guarding this single approach, at the distance of about half a mile from the village of Santa Cruz, are the ruins of a long line of structures of carefully laid hewn stone, evidently intended as fortifications and connected one with another by a ditch. Within this line and more immediately guarding the passage, is an immense fortress, El Resguardo, one hundred and twenty feet high, in the form of a square-based pyramidal structure, with three ranges of terraces, and steps leading up from one to another. A stone wall, plastered with a hard cement, incloses the area of the summit platform, in the centre of which rises a tower furnished with steps, which were also originally covered with cement. Crossing the barranca from the fort Resguardo, we find the table which was the site of the ancient city covered throughout its whole extent with shapeless masses of ruins, among which the foundations of a few structures only can be definitely made out. The chief edifice, known as the grand castle, or palace, of the Quiché kings, and said to have been in round numbers eleven hundred by twenty-two hundred feet, occupied a central position. Its upper portions have been carried away and used in the construction of the modern town, but in 1810, if we may trust the cura of the parish, the building was still entire. The floors remain, covered with a hard and durable cement, and also fragments of the partition walls sufficient to indicate something of the original ground plan. A plaster of finer quality than that employed on the floors and pyramids, covers the inner walls, with evident traces of having been colored or painted. The ruins of a fountain appear in an open court-yard, also paved with cement. Another structure, El Sacrificatorio, still visible, is a pyramid of stone sixty-six feet square at the base and, in its present state, thirty-three feet high, the plan and elevation of which are shown in the cuts. Each side except the western is ascended by a flight of nineteen steps, each step eight inches wide and seventeen inches high. The western side is covered with stucco, laid on, as is ascertained by careful examination, in several successive coatings, each painted with ornamental figures, among which the body of a leopard only could be distinguished. The pyramid is supported by a buttress in each of the four corners, diminishing in size toward the top. The summit is in ruins, but our knowledge of the Quiché religious ceremonies, as set forth in the preceding volume of this work, leaves little doubt that this was a place of sacrifice and supported an altar. No sculpture has been found in connection with the ruins of Utatlan. Its absence is certainly remarkable; but it is to be noted that the natives of this region have always been of a haughty, unsubdued spirit, ardently attached to the memory of their ancestors; and the destruction or concealment of their idols with a view to keep them from the sacrilegious touch and gaze of the white man, would be in accordance with their well-known character. They have the greatest respect for the holy pyramid on the plateau, and at one time when the reported discovery of a golden image prompted the destruction of the palace in search of treasure, the popular indignation on the part of the natives presaged a serious revolt and compelled the abandonment of the scheme, not, however, until the walls had been razed. Flint arrow-heads are mentioned as of frequent occurrence among the débris of fortifications outside the barranca, and a Spanish explorer in 1834 found a sitting figure twelve inches high, and two heads of terra cotta exceedingly hard, smooth, and of good workmanship. One of the heads was solid, the other and the idol were hollow. The annexed cut shows the sitting figure. Under one of the buildings is an opening to what the natives represented as a subterranean passage leading by an hour's journey to Mexico, but which only revealed to Mr Stephens, who entered it, the presence of a roof formed by overlapping stones. This form of arch will be described in detail when I come to speak of more northern ruins, where it is of frequent occurrence. That a long time must have passed between the erection of Copan and Utatlan, the civilization of the builders meantime undergoing great modifications, involving probably the introduction of new elements from foreign sources, is a theory supported by a careful study of the two classes of remains. For an account of Utatlan and other Guatemalan cities as they were in the time of their aboriginal glory, I refer the reader to Volume II. of this work.[IV-32] The cura at Santa Cruz del Quiché said he had seen human skulls of more than natural size, from a cave in a neighboring town.[IV-33]

[Sidenote: RUINS OF HUEHUETENANGO OR ZAKULÉU.]

North-westward from Utatlan, thirty or forty miles distant, in the province of Totonicapan, is the town of Huehuetenango, and near it, located like Utatlan on a ravine-guarded plain, are the ruins of Zakuléu, the ancient capital of the Mams, now known popularly as Las Cuevas. These remains are in an advanced state of dilapidation, hardly more than confused heaps of rubbish scattered over the plain, and overgrown with grass and shrubs. Two pyramidal structures of rough stones in mortar, formerly covered with stucco, can, however, still be made out. One of them is one hundred and two feet square and twenty-eight high, with steps, each four feet in height and seven feet wide. The top is small and square, and a long rough slab found at the base may, as Mr Stephens suggests, have been the altar thrown down from its former position on the platform. There are also several small mounds, supposed to be sepulchral, one of which was opened, and disclosed within an enclosure of rough stones and lime some fragments of bone and two vases of fine workmanship, whose material is not stated but is probably earthen ware. One of them is shown in the cut, and bears a striking resemblance to some of the burial vases of Nicaragua.[IV-34] Another burial vault, not long enough, however, to contain a human being at full length, at the foot of one of the pyramids, was faced with cut stone, and from it the proprietor of the estate took a quantity of bones and the terra-cotta tripod shown in the cut. It has a polished surface and is one foot in diameter. At a point on the river where the banks had been washed away at the time of high water, some animal skeletons of extraordinary size were brought to light. Mr Stephens saw in the bank the imprint of one of these measuring twenty-five or thirty feet in length, and others were said to be yet larger.[IV-35]

[Sidenote: RUINS IN RABINAL VALLEY.]

Extending eastward from the region of Huehuetenango to that of Salama in the province of Vera Paz, a distance of nearly one hundred miles, there seems to be a line of ruins, occurring at frequent intervals, particularly in the valley of the Rabinal and about the town of that name. A map of Guatemala now before me locates seventeen of these ruins, and M. Brasseur de Bourbourg incidentally mentions many of them by name, none of them, however, being anywhere described in detail. It is much to be regretted that the last-named author, during a residence at Rabinal, did not more fully improve his opportunities for the examination of these remains, or, at least, that he has never made known to the world the result of his investigations. All the ruins along this line would seem to belong to the class of those occupied by the natives, chiefly Cakchiquels, at the time of the conquest, most of them being the remains of fortresses or fortified towns, built on strong natural positions at the river-mouths, guarding the entrance to fertile valleys.

Opposite the mouth of the River Rabinal, where the Pacalah empties into the Chixoy, or Usumacinta, are the ruins of Cawinal, visited by the Abbé Brasseur in 1856, and by him pronounced the finest in Vera Paz. They are situated on both sides of the stream in a fine mountain-girt valley, the approach to which was guarded by a long line of fortifications, pyramidal mounds, and watch-towers, whose remains may yet be seen. Among these structures is a pyramid of two terraces, forty feet high, ascended by a stairway of three flights, with the ruined walls of three small buildings on its summit. Near many of the old towns, especially in the Rabinal district, tumuli--_cakhay_, 'red houses'--very like in form and material to those of the Mississippi Valley are said to be numerous.[IV-36]

Besides the ruins actually seen and vaguely described, there are reports of others. The province is large and comparatively unexplored, its people wild and independent, and both have ever been to travelers the object of much mysterious conjecture, increasing in intensity as the northern region of Peten is approached. In 1850 Mr Squier wrote, "there has lately been discovered, in the province of Vera Paz, 150 miles north-east of Guatemala, buried in a dense forest, and far from any settlements, a ruined city, surpassing Copan or Palenque in extent and magnificence, and displaying a degree of art to which none of the structures of Yucatan can lay claim."[IV-37] The cura of Santa Cruz had once lived in Coban, some forty miles north of Rabinal, and four leagues from there he claimed to have seen an ancient city as large as Utatlan, its palace being still entire at the time of his visit.[IV-38] One Leon de Pontelli claims to have traveled extensively in these parts in 1859, and to have discovered many ancient and remarkable ruins of great cities, at points impossible to locate, somewhere about the confines of Vera Paz and Peten. Pontelli is not regarded as a trustworthy explorer, and no positive information whatever is to be obtained from his account.[IV-39]

Not only are cities in ruins reported to exist, but also somewhere in this region, four days' journey from Utatlan towards Mexico, an inhabited city in all its aboriginal magnificence is said to be visible, far out on the plain, from the summit of a lofty sierra. The cura of Santa Cruz before mentioned had gazed upon its glittering turrets and had heard from the natives traditions of its splendor, and the failure of all attempts on the part of white men to approach its walls for the purpose of a closer examination. One other man had the courage to climb the sierra, but on the day chosen for the ascent the city was rendered invisible by mists. The intelligence and general reliability of the good cura inclined Mr Stephens to put some faith in the accuracy of his report; others, however, not without reason, are sceptical about the matter.[IV-40]

[Sidenote: PROVINCE OF PETEN.]

Leaving the lofty highlands of Vera Paz, we descend northward to the province of Peten, a comparatively low region whose central portion is occupied by several large lakes. It is in this lake region chiefly that antiquities have been brought to light by the few travelers who have penetrated this far-off country, less known, perhaps, than any other portion of Central America. The Spaniards found the Itzas, a Maya branch from Yucatan, established here, their capital, Tayasal, a city of no small pretensions to magnificence, being on an island now known as Remedios, in Lake Itza, or Peten, where the town of Flores is now situated. Flores is built indeed on the ruins of the aboriginal city, which, however, has left no relics of sculpture or architecture to substantiate the Spanish accounts of its magnificent structures, which included twenty-one adoratorios. Rude earthen figures and vessels are, however, occasionally exhumed; and M. Morelet heard of one vase of some hard transparent material, very beautifully formed and ornamented. This relic had passed into the hands of a Tabascan merchant. Sr Fajardo, commissioner to establish the boundary between Mexico and Guatemala, furnished to Sr I. R. Gondra drawings of some _nacas_, or small idols, found in the Peten graves. Sr Gondra pronounces them similar to those of Yucatan as represented by Stephens.[IV-41]

On the north side of the lake is the small town of San José, and a spot two days' journey south-eastward from here--although this would, according to the maps, carry us back across the lake--is given as the locality of three large edifices buried in the forest, called by the natives Casas Grandes. All we know of them rests on the report of an Indian chief, who was induced by M. Morelet to depart from the characteristic reserve and secrecy of his race respecting the works of the antiguos; consequently the statement that the buildings are covered with sculptures in high relief, closely analogous to those of Palenque, must be accepted with some allowance.[IV-42]

Two days eastward of Lake Peten, on the route to Belize, is the lake of Yaxhaa, Yachá, or Yasja, one of the isles in which is said to be covered with débris of former structures. Col. Galindo, who visited the locality in 1831, is the only one who has written of the ruins from personal observation, and he only describes one structure, which he terms the most remarkable of all. This is a tower of five stories, each nine feet high, each of less length and breadth than the one below it, and the lower one sixty-six feet square. No doors or windows appear in the four lower stories, although Galindo, from the hollow sound emitted under blows, supposed them not to be solid. A stairway seven feet wide, of steps each four inches high, leads up to the base of the fifth story on the west, at which point, as on the opposite eastern side, is an entrance only high enough for a man to crawl through on hands and knees. This upper story is divided into three apartments communicating with each other by means of low doors, and now roofless, but presenting signs of having been originally covered with the overlapping arch. The whole structure is of hewn stone laid in mortar, and no traces of wood remain. It is evident that this building is entirely different from any other monuments which we have thus far met in our progress northward, and further north we shall meet few if any of a similar nature. So far as the data are sufficient to justify conclusions, this may safely be classed with the older remains at Copan and Quirigua, rather than with the more modern Quiché-Cakchiquel structures. There are no means of determining with any degree of accuracy whether these buildings of Yaxhaa were the work of the Itzas or of a more ancient branch of the Maya people.[IV-43]

[Sidenote: RUINS OF TIKAL.]

About forty miles north-east from the eastern end of Lake Peten, in the foothills of the mountains, but in a locality inaccessible from the direction of the lake except in the dry season, from January to June, are the ruins of Tikal, a name signifying in the Maya language 'destroyed palaces.' So dry is the locality, however, during this dry season, that water must be carried in casks, or thirst quenched with the juice of a peculiar variety of reed that grows in the region. A more thorough search might reveal natural wells, which supplied water to the ancient inhabitants, as was the case further north in Yucatan. The ruined structures of Tikal are reported to extend over a space of at least a league, and they were discovered, although their existence had been previously reported by the natives, in 1848, by Governor Ambrosio Tut and Colonel Modesto Mendez. From the pen of the latter we have a written description accompanied by drawings.[IV-44] Unfortunately I have not been able to examine the drawings made by Sr Mendez, whose text is brief and, in some respects, unsatisfactory.

[Sidenote: TIKAL PALACES.]

The chief feature at Tikal is the occurrence of many palaces or temples of hewn stone in mortar, on the summit of hills usually of slight elevation. Five of these are specially mentioned, of which three are to some extent described. The first is on a hill about one hundred and forty feet high, natural like all the rest so far as known, but covered in many places with masonry. A stairway about seventy feet wide leads up to the summit, on which stands a lofty stone palace, or tower, seventy-two by twenty-four feet at the base and eighty-six feet high, facing the east. The walls of the lower portion, or what may be regarded as the first story, are plain and coated with a hard cement. There is a niche five or six feet deep in the front, covered on the interior with paintings and hieroglyphics, and furnished with wooden rings at the top, as if for the suspension of curtains. At this point an attempt to penetrate to the interior of the structure showed the lower story to be solid, filled with earth and stones. The upper story has an ornamented and sculptured front, and there are ruins of a fallen balcony, or more probably a staircase which formerly led up to the entrance. Nothing is said of the interior of the upper portion. The second structure is of the same dimensions as the first, and is built on a hill opposite, or eastward, which seems, however, to have no steps upon its sides. It is much damaged and fallen, but several of its rooms are well preserved, having the triangular-arched roof of overlapping stones, walls decorated with paintings and hieroglyphics, and corridors six and a half feet wide and over one hundred feet long, with windows, or air-holes, two and a half by four feet. The walls are nearly seven feet thick, and the top of the doorway at the entrance is of rough zapote beams. The third palace differs in no respect from the others, except that the zapote architrave of the chief entrance is carved in ornamental and hieroglyphic figures. In a kind of a court at the foot of the hill in front of the first palace were found eleven stone idols from five to six feet high. Three of the number stood on large round stone disks, or pedestals. About twenty of these disks, without idols, were also found, seven or eight of which bore indistinct medallion figures sculptured in low relief, and the rest were rough and apparently unfinished. Three oval stone disks were also dug out, as implied by Mendez' text, from the excavation under the first palace, although it is difficult to explain the presence of sculptured relics in such a situation. One of the stones measured five and a half by four by five and a half feet, and bore on one side the figure of a woman with decorated robe. The second bore the outlines of a supposed god, and the third a figure which the explorer profoundly concludes to have represented an eagle or a snake, but which may perhaps be taken for some other insect. On the road, just before reaching the ruins, fragments of pottery were noticed, and Governor Tut had also seen the figure of a bull well cut from stone lying on the bank of a lagoon some eight miles distant. It is evident that at or near Tikal was formerly a large city, and when we consider the extent and importance of the ruins, the preceding description unaccompanied by plates may seem meagre and unsatisfactory. But after a perusal of the following chapter on the ruins of Yucatan, the reader will not fail to form a clear idea of those at Tikal; since all that we know of the latter indicates clearly their identity in style and in hieroglyphics with numerous monuments of the peninsula further north. It is therefore very probable that both groups are the work of the same people, executed at approximately the same epoch.

Colonel Mendez, while on his way to visit Tikal for the second time in 1852, accidentally discovered two other groups of ruins in the neighborhood of Dolores, south-eastward from Lake Peten and at about the same distance from the lake as Tikal. One group is south-east and eight miles distant from Dolores, and the other the same distance north-west. The former is called by the natives Yxtutz, and the latter Yxcum. There seem to have been made a description and some drawings of the Dolores remains, which I have not seen. Traces of walls are mentioned and monoliths sculptured in high relief, with figures resembling those at Copan and Quirigua rather than those at Tikal, although the hieroglyphics are pronounced identical with those of the latter monuments. Other relics are the figure of a woman dressed in a short nagua of feathers about the waist, fitting closely and showing the form of the leg; and a collection of sculptured blocks upon a round disk, on which are carved hieroglyphics and figures of the sun and moon with a prostrate human form before them.

[Sidenote: RELICS IN BELIZE.]