The parallel ranges of hills already spoken of as extending half-way across the peninsula from north-west to south-east contain within their enclosed valleys the ruins of the first group, more numerous than in any other section of the state, and all comprised within a parallelogram whose sides would measure about thirty and forty miles respectively.

RUINS OF UXMAL.

Uxmal is the most north-western of the group, in latitude 20° 27´ 30´´, thirty-five miles south of Mérida, on a hacienda belonging, by a deed running back one hundred and forty years, thirty-five years ago,—and very likely still, as real estate rarely changes hands in Spanish American countries,—to the Peon family, and at one time cultivated by its owners as a cornfield.[V-4] The derivation and meaning of the name Uxmal,[V-5] like that of so many American cities of the past, is unknown; it is even uncertain whether this was the name of the city at all in the days of its original greatness, or only an appellation derived from that of the hacienda on which it stands, in comparatively modern times. Waldeck and some other writers take the latter view, identifying the ruins themselves with the city of Itzalane, ancient capital of the Itzas, although the authorities indicate only very vaguely that a city named Itzalane ever existed. Brasseur de Bourbourg, on the contrary, believes it to have been, under its present name of Uxmal, the capital of the Tutul Xius in the ninth century; Mr Stephens also believes that Uxmal was an inhabited city down to the days of the conquest.[V-6] The ruins are situated in the foothills of one of the ranges mentioned, notwithstanding which fact the locality seems to be one of the most unhealthy in the state. Fever and ague, especially during the rainy season, and ravenous mosquitos have ever been the chief obstacles encountered by travelers. The vegetation, although dense and of the usual rapid growth, has been a lesser hindrance here than in many other localities, by reason of the ruins' proximity to a hacienda and the frequent clearings made.[V-7]

The exact extent of the ruins it is of course impossible to determine, since the whole region abounds with mounds and heaps of débris scattered in every direction through the adjoining forest,[V-8] and belonging originally to Uxmal or to some city in its immediate vicinity. A rectangular space, however, measuring in general terms something over one third of a mile from north to south and one fourth of a mile from east to west would include all the principal structures. The annexed plan will show their arrangement within the rectangle, as well as their ground forms and dimensions more clearly than many pages of descriptive text. Except in a few instances I have not attempted on the plan to represent the grades of the various terraces, which will be made clear in the text, but have indicated the extent of their bases by dotted lines and by the omission of the foliage which covers their sides and platforms as well as the surrounding country.[V-9] It will be seen at a glance by the reader that none of the structures face exactly the cardinal points, and that no two of them face exactly in the same direction. It is customary for writers on American antiquities to speak of all the principal ruined palaces and temples as exactly oriented, and all the visitors to Uxmal, except Stephens, make the same statement respecting its structures, or so represent them on their plans. But in this case we are left in no uncertainty in the matter, for a photographic view of the southern ruins from the courtyard of the building C, agrees exactly with Stephens' plan, and proves beyond question that the structures A and C, at least, cannot lie in the same direction.[V-10] To prove that any of them face the cardinal points will require more careful examination than has yet been made.

PLAN OF UXMAL

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UXMAL—CASA DEL GOBERNADOR.

In the southern central portion of the space comprised in the plan is the edifice at A, known as the Casa del Gobernador, or Governor's House. It may be remarked here that the names by which the different structures are known have been given them, generally by the natives, but sometimes by visitors, in accordance with what they have fancied to have been their original use. There is only a very slight probability that in a few cases they may have hit upon a correct designation, although many of the names, like that of this building, are certainly sufficiently appropriate.[V-11] The terraced mound that supports the Governor's house demands our first attention. Its base, with its irregularities in form on the west and south, is shown on the plan by the dotted lines a, b, c, d: and measures on its perfect sides, ab, and bc, about six hundred feet. At a height of three feet from the ground a terrace, or promenade, mostly destroyed at the time of observation and not indicated on the plan, extends round the mound. From this rises the second terrace to a height of twenty feet, supporting a platform whose sides measure five hundred and forty-five feet. Somewhat west of the centre of this platform rises the third terrace, nineteen feet high and supporting the summit platform e, f, g, h, whose dimensions are about one hundred by three hundred and sixty feet, and whose height above the original surface of the ground is something over forty feet.[V-12] The material of the body of this mound is rough fragments of limestone thrown together without any order; the terraces are supported, however, at the sides by solid walls built of regular blocks of hewn limestone carefully laid in mortar nearly as hard as the rock. So far as can be determined from the drawings, these walls are not perpendicular, but incline slightly inward towards the top, and the corners are not square but carefully rounded. It is not improbable that the platforms were also paved originally with square blocks, as M. Charnay believes, although now covered with soil and vegetation. By means of an excavation, solid stone was found in the interior above the surface level, showing that the builders had taken advantage of a natural elevation as a labor-saving expedient in heaping up this massive artificial stone mound. There are no traces of stairways by which access was had to the second platform,[V-13] but a long inclined plane without steps, one hundred feet wide, on the southern side, apparently furnished the only means of ascent. From the second platform, however, a regular stairway of thirty-five steps, one hundred and thirty feet wide, leads up to the summit at i, being in the centre of the eastern side, or front.