We must now leave this interesting section of Yucatan, though only a few places have been mentioned. The reader is well aware of the difference of opinion with which these ruins are viewed. Some of them are unquestionably temples. If we regard the others as palaces and the public buildings of great cities, we are at once puzzled to account for their great numbers. If we look on the majority of them as communal residences of the inhabitants, we are amazed at the mass of decorations with which they are adorned. But our admiration stops there—we are accustomed to speak of them as stately edifices. This is owing to their exterior ornaments, and their position on terraced mounds. The houses are often of great length, but not striking in other regards. The rooms, in the majority of cases, are small, low, dark, and ill ventilated. A great amount of useless labor was bestowed upon the walls, which were unnecessarily massive.
Near the center of the northern part of the peninsula is seen a place marked Chichen, to which is generally added the word Itza, making the entire name of the place Chichen-Itza. In this case the ancient Maya name has come down to us with the ruins—Chichen meaning the “mouth of wells,” having reference to two springs which supplied the place with water. Itza is the name of a branch of the Maya people. This place is of interest to us in several ways. It was, unquestionably, a renowned city in aboriginal times. Here the Spaniards met with a very severe repulse. As a ruin it attracted the attention of early writers, and it has been the subject of antiquarian research in recent times. The description of the buildings will not detain us long. They are, evidently, the work of the same people as those whose structures we have already described.
One of the most important buildings is known as the Nunnery, reminding us at once of the collection of buildings of that name at Uxmal. In this case, however, the pyramid is represented by a solid mass of masonry one hundred and twelve by one hundred and sixty feet, rising with perpendicular sides to the height of thirty-two feet. This is seen to be a departure from the method of constructing pyramids hitherto described. The proprietor of the estate on whose grounds these ruins are located used this mound as a stone-quarry. An excavation of thirty feet revealed no secret chambers.
The probabilities are that it is solid throughout. A grand staircase, fifty-six feet wide, leads up to the top of this mound. Mr. Stephens tells us that three ranges of buildings occupied the summit, and his drawings represent the same. The roof of the one forms a promenade in front of the one above. So each range of buildings rests on a foundation solid from the ground. Mr. Bancroft describes this mound as having but two ranges of buildings on the summit. Of these buildings the second range was, seemingly, the most important. Several of its rooms contained niches in the back wall, extending from floor to ceiling. From traces still visible, they were once covered with painted ornaments. One of the rooms was fifty-seven feet long and nine wide.
In the rear wall of this room were nine of these niches. “All of the walls of this room, from the floor to the peak of the arch, had been covered with painted designs, now wantonly defaced, but the remains of which present colors, in some places, still bright and vivid; and among these remains detached portions of human figures continually reappear, well drawn, the heads adorned with plumes of feathers and the hands bearing shields and spears.” To this pile of masonry, at one end, a wing had been attached. This building was similar in design to other buildings in Yucatan. Theoretically we would expect this wing to be much later in time than the buildings on the mound. That it is so, is proven by the fact that in two rooms the internal core of masonry, as described at Zayi, had not been wholly removed.
We have noticed in all these structures, the builders first threw up a mound or pyramid to support the building. In one of the Chichen edifices the earth had been excavated from all around it, so as to still present the appearance of a mound. Perhaps the most prominent object at this place is a stately pyramid, with an imposing building, represented in the plate below. The mound itself is nearly two hundred feet square, and rises to the height of seventy-five feet. On the west and north sides are ruined staircases.
On the ground, at the foot of the stairway on the north side, “forming a bold, striking, and well conceive commencement to this lofty range, are two colossal serpents’ heads, ten feet in length, with mouths wide open, and tongues protruding. No doubt they were emblematic of some religious belief, and, in the mind of an imaginative people passing between them, to ascend the steps, must have excited feelings of solemn awe.” The temple on the summit of this pyramid has some peculiar features about it. It is nearly square—forty-three by forty-nine feet—only one door in each side. In the room within, instead of partition walls supporting arches, were two immense beams, resting on square pillars, and supporting two arches—the only instance in the ruins of Yucatan of such use of beams.