Don Manuel Orosco y Berra, says of the Indian inhabitants, “their revengeful and tenacious character makes of the Mayas an exceptional people. In the other parts of Mexico the conquerors have imposed their language upon the conquered, and obliged them gradually to forget their native language. In Yucatan, on the contrary, they have preserved their language with such tenacity, that they have succeeded to a certain point in making their conquerors accept it. Pretending to be ignorant of the Spanish, although they comprehend it, they never speak but in the Maya language, obeying only orders made in that language, so that it is really the dominant language of the peninsula, with the only exception of a part of the district of Campeachy.”[9-†]
In Cogolludo’s Historia de Yucatan, the similarity of ruins throughout this territory is thus alluded to: “The incontestable analogy which exists between the edifices of Palenque and the ruins of Yucatan places the latter under the same origin, although the visible progress of art which is apparent assigns different epochs for their construction.”[10-*] So we have numerous authorities for the opinion, that the ruins in Chiapas and Yucatan were built by the same or by a kindred people, though at different periods of time, and that the language which prevails among the Indian population of that region at the present day, is the same which was used by their ancestors at the time of the conquest.
Captain Dupaix, who visited Yucatan in 1805, wrote a description of the ruins existing there, which was published in 1834; but it was reserved for M. Frédéric de Waldeck to call the attention of the European world to the magnificent remains of the Maya country, in his Voyage pittoresque et archaeologique dans la province de Yucatan, pendant des années 1834-1836, Folio, with plates, Paris, 1838. This learned centenarian became a member of the Antiquarian Society in 1839, and his death was noticed at the last meeting. Following him came the celebrated Eastern traveller, John L. Stephens, whose interesting account of his two visits to that country in 1840 and 1841, entitled Incidents of travel in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan, in two volumes, and Incidents of travel in Yucatan, in two volumes, is too familiar to require particular notice at this point. It may not be uninteresting to record the fact, that Mr. Stephens’ voyages and explorations in Yucatan were made after the suggestion and with the advice of Hon. John R. Bartlett, of Providence, R. I., a member of this Society, who obtained for this traveller the copy of Waldeck’s work which he used in his journeyings. Désiré Charnay, a French traveller, published in 1863 an account entitled Cités et Ruines Américaines, accompanied by a valuable folio Atlas of plates.
The writer of this report passed the winter of 1861 at Mérida, the capital of the Province of Yucatan, as the guest of Don David Casares, his classmate, and was received into his father’s family with a kindness and an attentive hospitality which only those who know the warmth and sincerity of tropical courtesy can appreciate.[11-*] The father, Don Manuel Casares, was a native of Spain, who had resided in Cuba and in the United States. He was a gentleman of the old school, who, in the first part of his life in Yucatan, had devoted himself to teaching, as principal of a high school in the city of Mérida, but was then occupied in the management of a large plantation, upon which he resided most of the year, though his family lived in the city. He was possessed of great energy and much general information, and could speak English with ease and correctness. Being highly respected in the community, he was a man of weight and influence, the more in that he kept aloof from all political cabals, in which respect his conduct was quite exceptional. The Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg, in his Histoire des nations civilizées du Mexique, acknowledges the valuable assistance furnished him by Señor Casares, whom he describes as a learned Yucateco and ancient deputy to Mexico.[12-*]
Perhaps some of the impressions received, during a five months’ visit, will be pardoned if introduced in this report. Yucatan is a province of Mexico, very isolated and but little known. It is isolated, from its geographical position, surrounded as it is on three sides by the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean; and it is but little known, because its commerce is insignificant, and its communication with other countries, and even with Mexico, is infrequent. It has few ports. Approach to the coast can only be accomplished in lighters or small boats; while ships are obliged to lie off at anchor, on account of the shallowness of the water covering the banks of sand, which stretch in broad belts around the peninsula. The country is of a limestone formation, and is only slightly elevated above the sea. Its general character is level, but in certain districts there are table lands; and a mountain range runs north-easterly to the town of Maxcanu, and thence extends south-westerly to near the centre of the State. The soil is generally of but little depth, but is exceedingly fertile.
There are no rivers in the northern part of the province, and only the rivers Champoton, and the Uzumacinta with its branches, in the south-western portion; but there are several small lakes in the centre of Yucatan, and a large number of artificial ponds in the central and southern districts. The scarcity of water is the one great natural difficulty to be surmounted in most parts of the country; but a supply can commonly be obtained by digging wells, though often at so great a depth that the cost is formidable. The result is that the number of wells is small, and in the cities of Mérida and Campeachy rain water is frequently stored in large cisterns for domestic purposes. From the existence of cenotes or ponds with an inexhaustible supply of water at the bottom of caves, and because water can be reached by digging and blasting, though with great effort and expense, the theory prevails in Yucatan that their territory lies above a great underground lake, which offers a source of supply in those sections where lakes, rivers and springs, are entirely unknown.
A very healthful tropical climate prevails, and the year is divided into the wet and the dry season, the former beginning in June and lasting until October, the latter covering the remaining portions of the year. During the dry season of 1861-2, the thermometer ranged from 75° to 78° in December and January, and from 78° to 82° in February, March and April. Early in the dry season vegetation is luxuriant, the crops are ripening, and the country is covered with verdure; but as the season progresses the continued drouth, which is almost uninterrupted, produces the same effect upon the external aspect of the fields and woods as a northern winter. Most of the trees lose their leaves, the herbage dries up, and the roads become covered with a thick dust. During exceptionally dry seasons thousands of cattle perish from the entire lack of subsistence, first having exhausted the herbage and then the leaves and shrubbery.
The population of the peninsula is now about 502,731, four-fifths of which are Indians and Mestizos or half-breeds. The general business of the country is agricultural, and the territory is divided into landed estates or farms, called haciendas, which are devoted to the breeding of cattle, and to raising jenniken or Sisal hemp, and corn. Cotton and sugar are also products, but not to an extent to admit of exportation. Some of the plantations are very large, covering an area of six or seven miles square, and employing hundreds of Indians as laborers.
Farm houses upon the larger estates are built of stone and lime, covered with cement, and generally occupy a central position, with private roads diverging from them. These houses, which are often very imposing and palatial, are intended only for the residence of the owners of the estate and their major-domos or superintendents. The huts for the Indian laborers are in close proximity to the residence of the proprietor, upon the roads which lead to it, and are generally constructed in an oval form with upright poles, held together by withes of bark; and they are covered inside and out with a coating of clay. The roofs are pointed, and also made with poles, and thatched with straw. They have no chimneys, and the smoke finds its way out from various openings purposely left. The huts have no flooring, are larger than the common wigwams of the northern Indians, and ordinarily contain but a single room. The cattle yards of the estate, called corrals, immediately join the residence of the proprietor, and are supplied with water by artificial pumping. All the horses and cattle are branded, and roam at will over the estates, (which are not fenced, except for the protection of special crops), and resort daily to the yards to obtain water. This keeps the herds together. The Indian laborers are also obliged to rely entirely upon the common well of the estate for their supply of water.
The Indians of Yucatan are subject to a system of péonage, differing but little from slavery. The proprietor of an estate gives each family a hut, and a small portion of land to cultivate for its own use, and the right to draw water from the common well, and in return requires the labor of the male Indians one day in each week under superintendence. An account is kept with each Indian, in which all extra labor is credited, and he is charged for supplies furnished. Thus the Indian becomes indebted to his employer, and is held upon the estate by that bond. While perfectly free to leave his master if he can pay this debt, he rarely succeeds in obtaining a release. No right of corporal punishment is allowed by law, but whipping is practiced upon most of the estates.