MAYA ARCHES.
[CHAPTER XXXIII.]
A CHAPTER ON ARCHÆOLOGY.—NUMBER AND EXTENT OF THE RUINED CITIES OF YUCATAN.—MAYAPAN, THE ANCIENT CAPITAL.—PYRAMID OF MAYAPAN.—AKÉ AND ITS PICOTÉ.—AN ANCIENT WHIPPING-POST.—PYRAMIDS AT AKÉ.—HISTORICAL CONUNDRUMS.—KABAH AND ITS MOUND.—SCULPTURE OF A MAN ON HORSEBACK.—CHICHEN-ITZA.—CHURCH, NUNNERY, CASTLE, AND TENNIS-COURT AT CHICHEN.—EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF THE SCULPTURES.—STORY OF THE CONQUEST OF CHICHEN.—SKILFUL RETREAT OF THE SPANISH CAPTAIN.—OTHER RUINED CITIES.—IDOLS OF COPAN.—PROBABILITIES OF CITIES YET TO BE DISCOVERED.
As before stated, the most interesting of the mined buildings of Uxmal are the Dwarf's House, the House of the Nuns, and the Governor's House, and these three we have already described. The ruins of other cities are not far away, and when they had finished with Uxmal our friends proceeded to visit those that were the most convenient. The information obtained in their personal explorations, added to what they gathered from residents of the country and the books already mentioned, was embodied in the following joint work of Frank and Fred:
YUCATEO SCULPTURE.
"There are not less than sixty ruined cities in Yucatan whose location is known; who can tell how many more are hidden in the dense forests of the rarely visited country of the rebellious Indians, and awaiting the efforts of the explorers?