"The stone used is the pale-yellowish and reddish-gray, obscurely marbled limestone of the locality.... The facings and ornaments are all cut and sculptured with a masterly handling not surpassed where chisels, picks, and hammers of iron and steel are used, and the faces and contact margins are hewn with perfect precision. Though the finish of the surfaces was often secured by means of abrasion or grinding, picking or pecking were the main agents employed, and the indents of the tools are often apparent and wonderfully fresh-looking. The stones were set in mortar, although in many cases the joints are so perfect that the mortar does not appear on the surface."
The extensive ruins of Uxmal, although only a part of the treasures concealed in the forests of Central America, express with an eloquence not as yet fully appreciated the advanced stage of culture and refinement attained in America from the growth of indigenous ideas. Some of the special features illustrated by them from which the degree of mental development of their builders can be judged is the presence of the wedge-shaped but not of the true arch. The character of the simplest and perhaps the first style of arch constructed by the awakening peoples in many lands are shown in the accompanying sketches, borrowed from Holmes's most instructive report. Columns, both square and round, were used, and statues both in bas-relief and in the round are common. The designs, whether of animals, grotesque
monsters, feathers, or plants, are in strong relief, either cut in stone or moulded in stucco. These designs are not confined to single stones, but embrace several blocks, and together with the diaper fretwork extend the entire length of even the larger structures. Accompanying the well-wrought figures of men, and at times forming separate inscriptions, are many hieroglyphics, the meanings of which are still unknown. All or nearly all of the structures stand on artificial platforms, which are terraced. A terraced pyramid, with a broad flight of steps on one or more sides, surmounted by a well-proportioned rectangular building, faced with cut stone, highly decorated, and with a flat roof, are the larger features of the Maya ruins.
Fig. 39.—Sculptured Façade of Governor's Palace, Uxmal, Yucatan.
This very handsome and elaborate piece of work is a section of the embellished entablature zone of the palace. The height from the lower or medial moulding below to the coping course above is about 10 feet. The entire length, covering the four walls of the building, is some 725 feet. If we allow that the stones employed average 6 by 12 inches in surface dimensions, this deeply coffered and relieved mosaic would comprise upward of 20,000 pieces, all specially cut and a large percentage elaborately sculptured. Two plain coping courses are seen at the top, followed by a twined fillet moulding, while under this is a line of very ornate snouted masks. The broad space below is filled with bold fretwork, set on a lattice ground and interrupted by the wonderful overdoor trophy, the central feature of which is a human figure, fully life size, sculptured in the round and seated in a niche with festooned base. The head [now displaced] was surrounded by an elaborate and colossal head-dress, most of which remains. The horizontal bars terminating in serpent heads at both ends are separated by lines of hieroglyphs.—W. H. Holmes.
All of this and more, as can be read in the elaborately illustrated books of Stephens, Holmes, and others, shows that the Maya people, at the time they were crushed by the more than cruel Spanish invasion, had reached a stage in their development but little short of true civilization.
Ethnological Studies.—The native dress of the Indians, their boats, ornaments, and still more their customs, systems of government, religions, myths, traditions, etc., offer attractive subjects for study, which are being earnestly pursued by many students at the present time. The closing decade of the nineteenth century witnessed a true awakening
of the white people of America to an interest in the many relics of ancient earthworks, buildings, utensils, etc., found throughout the continent, and a healthy growth of an earnest desire to record all that can be learned concerning the representatives still remaining of the vanished peoples to whom they pertain.
In the van of this important work is the Bureau of Ethnology of the Smithsonian Institution. Important work has also been carried on by the Peabody Museum of Archæology, situated at Cambridge, and more recently has been taken up in an energetic manner by the American Museum in New York and the Field Columbian Museum at Chicago. The National Museum of Mexico has assembled rich stores of archæological and ethnological material pertaining to the native races of Mexico, and the Mexican Government is doing much to preserve the priceless prehistoric monuments of the republic from vandalism. There are also many private antiquarian collections and many individual students who are doing good work along their chosen historic, linguistic, and other branches of research. One phase of this work, particularly in reference to ancient earthworks, buildings, and also the observations of early travellers, missionaries, explorers, etc., is the removal of the incrustation of romance, and in part of fable, that has been formed about them. As shown by W. H. Holmes, in reference to many reputed finds of the relics of men in various glacial and other deposits; by W. H. Henshaw, in respect to certain animal carvings; by Cyrus Thomas, in the case of the earthwork of the eastern part of the United States; by L. H. Morgan, in connection with the history of the Mexican and Central American aborigines and other similar examples, imagination has only too frequently taken the place of critical study and hasty generalizations have been given publicity. It is perhaps not too strong a statement to say that the fascinating histories pertaining to Mexico and Central America, written by Irving, Prescott, and Bancroft, need to be thoroughly revised and rewritten from the standpoint of the scientific ethnologist. This clearing of the field of an underbrush of fancy is as necessary as the work of the axe or