A Glimpse at Guatemala / And Some Notes on the Ancient Monuments of Central America

by Anne Cary Maudslay; Alfred Percival Maudslay

Alvarado had now subdued two of the strong tribes of the country, and was in alliance with the third, so was free to continue his march; and after a most arduous journey and frequent collisions with other and less important Indian tribes he succeeded in reaching Cuzcatlán, a town in what is now the Republic of Salvador. By the month of July he was back again in Iximché, and the ceremony which then took place of founding there the city of Santiago and the subsequent changes of locality which the city underwent have been described in an earlier chapter.

Interesting as Alvarado’s letters are in showing us his method of procedure in dealing with the Indians and the nature of the resistance he met with, they give us very little information about the natives themselves, the way in which they lived, or the culture to which they had attained. For these particulars it has been usual to rely upon later writings, and especially on the ‘History of Guatemala,’ written between 1808 and 1818 by Domingo Juarros, who, in his turn, relies for much of his information on the ‘Recordacion Florida,’ a manuscript account of the kingdom of Guatemala written, in 1690, by Francisco Antonio Fuentes y Guzman, and still preserved in the city of Guatemala.

The following description of Utatlan is taken from Baily’s translation of Juarros:—

“The history of this place is singular, as it was once the large and opulent city of Utatlan, the court of the native kings of Quiché, and indubitably the most sumptuous that was discovered by the Spaniards in this country. That indefatigable writer Francisco de Fuentes, the historian, who went to Quiché for the purpose of collecting information, partly from the antiquities of the place, and partly from manuscripts, has given a tolerably good description of this capital. It stood nearly in the situation that Santa Cruz now occupies, and it is presumable that the latter was one of its suburbs; it was surrounded by a deep ravine that formed a natural fosse, leaving only two very narrow roads as entrances to the city, both of which were so well defended by the castle of Resguardo, as to render it impregnable. The centre of the city was occupied by the royal palace, which was surrounded by the houses of the nobility; the extremities were inhabited by the plebeians. The streets were very narrow, but the place was so populous as to enable the king to draw from it alone no less than 72,000 combatants, to oppose the progress of the Spaniards. It contained many very sumptuous edifices, the most superb of them was a seminary, where between 5000 and 6000 children were educated; they were all maintained and provided for at the charge of the royal treasury; their instruction was superintended by 70 masters and professors. The castle of the Atalaya was a remarkable structure, which being raised four stories high, was capable of furnishing quarters for a very strong garrison. The castle of Resguardo was not inferior to the other; it extended 188 paces in front, 230 in depth, and was 5 stories high. The grand alcazar, or palace of the kings of Quiché, surpassed every other edifice, and, in the opinion of Torquemada, it could compete in opulence with that of Moctesuma in Mexico, or that of the Incas in Cuzco. The front of this building extended from east to west 376 geometrical paces, and in depth 728; it was constructed of hewn stone of different colours; its form was elegant, and altogether most magnificent: there were 6 principal divisions, the first contained lodgings for a numerous troop of lancers, archers, and other well-disciplined troops, constituting the royal body-guard; the second was destined to the accommodation of the princes and relations of the king, who dwelt in it and were served with regal splendour, as long as they remained unmarried; the third was appropriated to the use of the king, and contained distinct suites of apartments, for the mornings, evenings, and nights. In one of the saloons stood the throne, under four canopies of plumage, the ascent to it was by several steps; in this part of the palace were, the treasury, the tribunals of the judges, the armory, the gardens, aviaries, and menageries, with all the requisite offices appending to each department. The 4th and 5th divisions were occupied by the queens and royal concubines; they were necessarily of great extent, from the immense number of apartments requisite for the accommodation of so many females, who were all maintained in a style of sumptuous magnificence; gardens for their recreation, baths, and proper places for breeding geese, that were kept for the sole purpose of furnishing feathers, with which hangings, coverings, and other similar ornamental articles, were made. Contiguous to this division was the sixth and last; this was the residence of the king’s daughters and other females of the blood royal, where they were educated, and attended in a manner suitable to their rank. The nation of the Quichés, or Tultecas, extended its empire over the greatest portion of the present kingdom of Guatemala; and, on the authority of the manuscripts mentioned above (which were composed by some of the Caciques, who first acquired the art of writing), it is related that from Tanuh, who commanded them, and conducted them from the old to the new continent, down to Tecum Umam, who reigned at the period when the Spaniards arrived, there was a line of 20 monarchs.”

To show how far these statements can be relied on, it will now be worth while to pass in review the remains of Utatlan as it can be seen at the present day. I visited both Utatlan and Iximché in January 1887, and made surveys of the sites. Utatlan lies about two miles to the W.S.W. of the modern town of Santa Cruz del Quiché. On the left of the track from the town, just before reaching the great barranca, there is a natural mound, the sides of which have been terraced, and on the top is a more or less level space measuring 200 by 150 feet. Within this space are several mounds surrounding a level plaza. A reference to the plan will show that two of the mounds are nearly square at the base, and these probably supported small “cués” or temples; the other two mounds are longer, and may have supported long houses. If these houses were built of stone with stone roofs they probably contained two parallel corridors or rooms not more than 9 feet wide and 200 feet long, divided off by transverse partitions into smaller chambers. If the lower part only were built of stone and the upper part of the walls and the roof were of wood and thatch, then the breadth of the houses may have been 20 to 25 feet, as no longitudinal partition-wall would have been needed. At the present time no traces of house or temple walls are to be seen, and the stone facings have even been stripped off the foundation mounds, for the whole group of ruined buildings has long been treated as a quarry by the people of Santa Cruz. There can be no doubt that this group of mounds represents the guard-house or Castle of Resguardo; but it is quite clear from the plan that the buildings were of the same nature as those found throughout the country, and they stand grouped together in the usual manner. The position they occupy is a naturally strong one, and would offer great facilities for defence, but there is nothing especially characteristic of a fortress about the buildings themselves.

After leaving this hill a walk of about two hundred yards brings one to the edge of the barranca and to the narrow natural causeway by which alone the city or stronghold of Utatlan could be approached. On crossing this narrow bridge one finds oneself on a fairly level space of ground about eighteen acres in extent, with almost precipitous sides, over which one can look down to the bottom of the barranca four hundred feet below.

Nearly the whole area affords some trace of ruined buildings, but almost all the stonework has been stripped from the foundations, and the buildings which stood on them have altogether disappeared. Stephens, who visited the ruins in 1840, gives the following account of the principal temple:—“The most important part remaining of these ruins is that which appears in the engraving, and which is called ‘El Sacrificatorio,’ or the place of sacrifice. It is a quadrangular stone structure, sixty-six feet on each side at the base, and rising in a pyramidal form to a height, in its present condition, of thirty-three feet. On three sides there is a range of steps in the middle, each step seventeen inches high, and but eight inches on the upper surface, which makes the range so steep that in descending some caution is necessary. At the corners are four buttresses of cut stone, diminishing in size from the line of the square, and apparently intended to support the structure. On the side facing the west there are no steps, but the surface is smooth and covered with stucco, grey from long exposure. By breaking a little at the corners, we saw that there were different layers of stucco, doubtless put on at different times, and all had been ornamented with painted figures. In one place we made out the body of a leopard, well drawn and coloured.

“The top of the Sacrificatorio is broken and ruined, but there is no doubt that it once supported an altar.... It was barely large enough for the altar and officiating priests and the Idol to whom the sacrifice was offered.”