It is strange that so little is known concerning the ancient rites and ceremonies performed by the priests upon these high altars. Immediately after the conquest these Indian customs ceased, and all the signs of their religion and religious usages disappeared like a dream. When Grijalva’s expedition reached the Bay of Campeachy, they saw a large Kue which must have been similar to that we were examining. Bernal Diaz in his history relates that they landed to get a supply of water for the ships near a spot where there was a village. The natives came down to the beach in a friendly manner, and asked them if they arrived from the spot where the sun rose. They then proposed that they should go with them to their pueblo, and took them to a large building made of stone and mortar. Whilst the Spaniards were looking about them and observing the habits of the people, “Ten Indians dressed in long white cloaks came out of another adoratorio. Their long thick hair was clotted with blood and so twisted, that it could not have been combed or spread without cutting it off. These men were sacerdotes of the idols, and in New Spain they called themselves Pápas. Again I say that in New Spain they called themselves Pápas, and thus I shall name them henceforwards. These Pápas brought to us perfumes like a kind of resin which they call copal, and with earthen braziers filled with fire they commenced to incense us.” Diaz thought that the stone buildings were altars, and he saw numerous idols, and “it appeared to us,” he says, “that at this time they had been sacrificing to the idols certain Indians to give them the victory over us.”
On their further voyage near another part of the Mexican coast, where is now situated the town of Vera Cruz, the fleet arrived at the Island of Sacrificios, a name that was given to that land in consequence of what was observed to take place there. The island was explored by the Spaniards, and they discovered two Kues made of lime and stone, and ascended by steps. “In these altars,” observes Diaz, “were idols of evil figures which were their gods, and here they had sacrificed on the previous night five Indians. Their breasts were opened and their arms and thighs were cut off and the walls were covered with blood.” It happened that the Chaplain-General of the Fleet wrote an itinerary of this voyage, and he also visited these temples. He mentioned the extraordinary fact of having noticed within one of the shrines “some bordered stuff made of silk, similar to what was worn by the Moors and which were called by them “Almaizales.”[87] At another temple, situated near the coast, four Indian priests were seen, who had lately been performing sacrifices. In this instance they had sacrificed two young boys. Their breasts had been opened and their hearts had been taken out and placed before the idol as an offering. The Spaniards were surprised when they observed that these priests were dressed like Dominicans and wore long cloaks and capes. This, together with their manner of using incense, seemed in some inexplicable degree to resemble the observances of their own monastic fraternities.
In the various accounts that have been given by the conquerors concerning the Indians, there is nothing mentioned about the burial customs, and even at the present time the subject is obscure. I was therefore interested in listening to the contractor’s remarks about some discoveries made by his workmen when excavating along the line of road. They found the ruins of several houses. Each of them contained beneath the centre of the principal room a vaulted tomb, in which it was supposed that the proprietor had been buried when he died. They also found, when tracing the direction of the work, several small Kues of pyramidal shapes, around the sides of which were numerous small stone cells. The contractor told me that he had measured and surveyed these carefully. He had come to the conclusion that they were burial places.
These discoveries were important, and corroborated in every essential particular the statements of several Indian caciques dwelling beyond Uxmal, in the sixteenth century. They informed the Spanish missionaries that it had been customary, with the common people in Yucatan, to bury their dead either inside their houses or at the back of them. In certain cases they afterwards abandoned these dwellings and moved elsewhere. The bodies of caciques and chiefs were burnt, and the ashes were placed in urns. Small pyramids or temples were sometimes raised over them.[88]
I was sorry when it became necessary to proceed on our journey. The road contractor was an official who took a comprehensive interest in whatever related to the ancient inhabitants, and his practical knowledge was invaluable.
It was late when we finished the survey of the pyramid and its chambers; we consequently travelled throughout the night at our best speed. We passed through the pueblos of Tenabon and Hekelchakan and reached Señor Escalanta’s house in Tzibalché at daylight. We were received by the ladies of the establishment with cold and tranquil apathy. Without saying a word, they turned out of their hammocks, and proceeded to carry out their respective household duties. It must be understood that the arrangements with all Ladino families are very simple. In the tierras calientes or hot regions every one sleeps in a hammock. The hammocks are slung to the cross poles in the principal, and often, only apartment. At night when the ladies wish to go to bed they turn in, to use a sailor’s expression, all standing. The women of all ages, young or old, wear but one dress which is always a long cotton garment reaching from the shoulders to the feet. This is worn day and night. The languid indifference of men and women, towards each other and to all around them, is a marked characteristic of the whole of the Ladino race throughout Central America. Nothing seems to arouse their indolent natures, and although many of them are fairly educated, they do not appear to have those qualities which form the foundation of a good and energetic population. It cannot be considered that the enervating influences of a tropical climate are chiefly the cause of this inertness, for it exists in varying altitudes. It should, however, be acknowledged that this half-caste race retains much of the old-fashioned courtesy of their Spanish ancestors. The Ladinos have ceased to intermarry with the Indians, and there is now no sympathy between the two races. The Indians have almost as great a dislike to them as they have to the Spaniards.
At Tzibalché I enlisted in my service an Indian, named Anastasio, and after some difficulty, hired a horse of doubtful merit. Anastasio declared that we could avoid the long round to Uxmal by the main roads, as he knew a short cut across the country which would shorten the journey. By that path, he said, the distance to the hacienda at Uxmal did not exceed nine or ten leagues. Accordingly we quitted the village at sunrise and soon afterwards entered the bush.
This part of Yucatan was covered with a thin light kind of brushwood which grew to a height of about twelve feet. Our path was cut through this bush which excluded all view to the right or left. Occasionally we passed through a few acres of open land where the Indians were cultivating some crops, but the soil was poor and stony. At noon we arrived at a farm; the proprietor was inclined to be hospitable and gave me food and shelter. I was suffering from a recurrence of what I had endured at Campeachy and could scarcely bear the fatigue of the journey, especially as the rays of the nearly vertical sun were very powerful.
During the afternoon, whilst resting in the shade, I listened to the loud, discordant, and grating sounds pronounced by the Indians around me. The language spoken was Maya, which has been ascertained to be the parent stock of most of the languages and dialects spoken in Guatemala, Yucatan and the bordering territories. I asked my host to give me a specimen of their dialect. He replied that he would tell me what had happened in the morning, and he leant forward and said:—“Ti lé kin béhilá, kuch yuayé humpel tzul ingles, bin tiar ten. Tumentin, katah uchi y etel tin káhol ta hatchutz apockzi chalé; katin kámá tin nayle, katin sah balu hante kati álá téné bin ku bétic Uxmal, tacthoh cásumac tuh lú mil.” “This day came here an English Señor and spoke to me. Having questioned him and knowing him to be of a good heart, I received him in my house and gave him to eat. Then he told me that he was going to Uxmal, and thence to Merida and afterwards to his own land.”
Towards the end of the day, when the sun was low, I ventured out of the hut, mounted my horse, and pushed forward rapidly towards Uxmal. After passing through several plantations of sugar-cane attached to small Indian farms, we reached some rising ground and I saw, about four miles distant towards the east, the great building, called the Casa del Gobernador, with its terraces and adjacent pyramids standing out high and distinct. The sun had disappeared below the horizon, and the sky was brilliant with the vivid colouring of a tropical sunset. The Casa del Gobernador was clear and well defined in the midst of this magnificent frame of evening splendour, looking scarcely less beautiful than a Greek temple on some lofty headland, when seen at twilight from Ægean seas.