And the Cenote of Sacrifice, that famous well, so vividly described by the early Christian priests, is now but a deserted shrine. Trailing vines, ferns, and palms almost cover the precipitous sides. The dark green waters are almost concealed by the slime of decaying vegetation. But the sight of the silent, sinister pool, surrounded by the unbroken forest, makes it easy, even now, to picture the scenes of sacrifice which it has witnessed.
The country is still peopled by the Mayas but their greatness is a thing of the past. The present-day native may well pause to wonder what the ruined buildings of his country were really for. He knows only what his white masters have told him. “They are the temples of your ancestors who have had a past unequaled in the early history of the New World, a past stretching back almost to the beginning of the Christian Era.” He only shakes his head and murmurs in his adopted language, “Quien sabe.”
The Maya civilization formerly embraced the whole peninsula of Yucatan, Chiapas and Tabasco, states of Mexico, the greater part of Guatemala, British Honduras, northern Honduras, and northern Salvador. This country is still occupied in general with peoples speaking various dialects of the Maya language.
The Mayas, both linguistically and culturally, are distinct from the Zapotecs in Oaxaca and the Nahua-Aztec peoples of Central Mexico. There is little doubt, however, that all the cultures of Mexico and Central America go back to a common origin. The Maya civilization is older than that of the Toltecs in Mexico which, in turn, preceded that of the Aztecs. The Toltec culture greatly influenced the late Maya of northern Yucatan about 1200 A. D.
MAYA CHRONOLOGY (CHICHEN ITZA)
?-200 A. D. Period of migrations. 200-600 Chichen Itza founded. 520 Chichen Itza abandoned. 640-960 Itzas at Chakanputun. 700-960 Chichen rebuilt. League of Mayapan. 960-1200 Old Empire. Great cities of Guatemala and Honduras flourished. 1200-1442 Toltec influence, especially at Chichen Itza. 1442 Fall of Mayapan and end of Maya civilization.
The historical accounts upon which parts of our story are based are:
Molina, J. Historia del discubrimiento y conquista de Yucatan, 1896, pp. 47-51
Herrera, Historia General, 1601-1605.
Prescott, Chapter III, after Herrera, Torquemada, etc.